myxer

  I read this in an obituary recently:  In lieu of flowers or cards,  Jim would want you to write a card or letter to someone that is special to you. Dear Travel Penguin Blog Readers, I never met Jim, kinda wish I had.  He lived near where I was born and raised, I often check obits there, people around my age are often people I crossed paths with when I was growing up.  Those 20-30 years older are often the parents of people I grew up with. Sadly sometimes the younger ones are the children of my classmates.   You are special to me.  I know a handful of you. I wake up everyday looking forward to interacting in the comments. The statistics tell me there are many more that read, than I have never seen a comment from.  I write for everyone of you.  My sincere hope is that a photo I have posted, or a phrase I have crafted, makes your day a little better.    I hope through these photos and words I am able to express that life will be...

The City of Alexandria Virginia, redid the waterfront at the end of King Street (main street - high street.) This was a long involved process including moving the yacht club.  The new space has expanded public access and a larger park, including a public arts space that hosts rotating exhibits.  The current one is fabulous, I Love You, with lots of light and bright.  The previous exhibit was a bunch of knee hight posts, representative of the pilings for piers along the waterfront, it was not as fabulous.  I need to get down there at night, it lights up. 

I am working on a post that will appear in a couple of weeks of things that piss me off.  This week added a couple of things to the list.  We succeeded at ordering appliances for the kitchen replacement.  With luck the cabinets should be ordered in the next week or so. Appliances are still in short supply, the total sorcery cooktop we wanted is delayed at least 6 months, and the cooktop is an essential to the job.  We found a slightly less magic model in stock, it will be delivered this week.  The appliance dude didn't seem very enthused about what I thought was a rather large order. When we went into pay, there was an invoice laying on the counter, the first item was a refrigerator, I had to look twice, I didn't believe my eyes, the first item was a $10,000 refrigerator, makes my order look insignificant. Still I have bought new cars for less.   The world here has turned green, the last of the trees are starting to leaf out (the one outside my  b...

My oldest brother had a low draft lottery number, so he enlisted in the Navy the year he finished high school.  After basic training, he was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier Enterprise (now decommissioned and the last I knew it was being dismantled.) Someplace in southeast Asia he bought a Canon Ftb, a nice 35MM SLR. There was also a tripod, the gray zippered case above their arms is the case for the tripod. Looking at this it was taken with the camera on the tripod, and either a cable release or the self timer,  I suspect the self timer as Dale is almost blurred from having tripped the timer and rushed back to be in the picture.  This would have been taken in one of the crew living areas on the ship.  I think Dale only took a couple of rolls of film on the camera, this roll of slides ended up with dad's meaning it was probably in the camera when Dale came home on leave, and somehow Dad ended up keeping the camera.  Dad gave it to me a few years b...

Artisans, craftspersons, farmers, chefs, I love watching them work.  Historic sites sometimes have live demonstrations of how things were done, metalsmiths,  spinners, weavers, broom making, furniture, historic farming making are all fascinating to watch.  They are also often a financial loss for the venue, the cost of the demonstrations far exceeds the value of what is produced.  The glass blower working in a demonstration shop, produces less at the same cost as a glassblower working in the back room without the distraction of an audience.  So we see fewer of them.  When we lived in Kentucky nearby Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, had a thriving demonstration program, until a new director mandated that they had to pay their way or go.  The last time I was there one craftsman was working.  Sad that.   Non-profit does not mean free to operate, or exempt from the economic realities of the world.  That is why there are admission fees, ...

May there be light at the end of this tunnel.