Ships on Parade - and picture of the week!

I’m thinking I need to start a photo of the week posting…or month…a week may be too much pressure. Either way here is the photo of the week and its story.

Yesterday I had the chance to ride in the parade of ships that circled the sound and the Seattle piers as part of Seafair. (A traditional Seattle summertime festival of parades, hydroplanes, the Blue Angles, marathons, marching bands, the milk carton derby (my personal favorite), and of course the crowning of a local girl as Miss Seafair.)

So through people, relations, and those kind of odd connections that give you access to new things, I rode on the USS Princeton in the parade of ships. We boarded at the way too early hour of 8 am for breakfast, set sail, and filled our time parading around the Puget Sound with tours of the ship and meeting a few sailors. It was interesting even eye-opening—did you know that the severe gunmetal grey exterior of a navy ship is actually squishy and soft to the touch. It surely was a glimpse into a life far outside my own. Although I couldn’t shake the feeling of how odd it must have been for the many sailors to have three hundred or so guests crawling all over their home.

The USS Princeton was the lead boat in the parade and as such got to fire a seventeen-gun solute to honor an admiral that was sitting on one of the piers in Seattle’s waterfront. A sincere thanks to all the sailors for their stern advice about wearing the earplugs they passed out!

But the photo of the week (or month)!! By the end of the day everyone seemed to feel very comfortable on the ship, maybe a little too comfortable for life on a guided missile carrier. I couldn’t really wrap my brain around it. People milling about, talking, napping, even snogging on the missile launch pad! I’m not sure I would lie down in complete peace on the hatch door of a missile launcher. Are they crazy!?

The Saddest Thing

One thing has always stood as a symbol of change, rebirth, beauty, grace, hope...and that would be a butterfly. What else? A butterfly has always been a sign of good things in the world. Yesterday I watched a butterfly die.

I told my mom I would help her prune bushes in her yard and when I got to my first bush there was a beautiful swallowtail butterfly spread across the front of the bush. I stood for a moment to watch it. It just sat there slowly flapping it wings. So I quickly ran for my camera, knowing it would be gone by the time I got back, but hoping it would still be there. It was. I took my picture and then waited for it to fly away. It didn't.

I stepped around the bush and began pruning from the back to give it space. By the time I got to the front, it was still there. Slowly I transferred the butterfly, encouraging it to crawl to another branch. I trimmed the branches all around it (couldn't believe how close I got) and transferred it to yet another branch. Its wings flapped slower and slower. Finally when I couldn't get it to crawl anymore, I clipped the branch it was hanging from and slowly set it aside. Its wings only twitched and its body moved but once. At the end of the day it was still where I had set it - laying on its side, wings folded slightly up. It didn't move at all.

Somehow it just seemed like one of those mysteries in life you're not suppose to see. No one wants to see a butterfly die! I know this isn't an adventure tale, but it truly was one of the saddest things I've seen.

Big Sky Country

The last destination on this summer tour was Montana. Fairmont Hot Springs was the first stop, which was filled with tons of good food and lots of just sitting (a much need thing). And I mean you can't well go to Montana and not order a steak the size of your head.

Fairmont has a ton of pools which are filled with water cooled down to various temperatures from the hot springs. But here is a photo of a stream I took there which has nothing to do with anything because no one needs to see a photo of me in a swim suit, or flopping out of a water slide, or the brilliant red shade my back turned after too many hours in the sun.

After the Fairmont was a brief drive and short stay outside Helena at the log cabin of a family friend. (Resting up for the long haul back to Seattle the next day.) For a Montana summer it was clear and mild in temperature - perfect. This is the view of Lone Tree from the cabin, the ever so aptly Montana named hill in the distance with the single, lone tree a top it.




A true benefit of being out in the hills with no city lights or other people around are the stars! It just so happened to be a full moon the night we were there and the bright star in the sky wasn't a star at all. I took this photo as the moon was rising (exploring yet another setting on my camera). The single bright dot in the upper right side is Jupiter! And looking through a telescope, I could see the planet and four of its moons!! Way too cool!


Now the long haul home to rest. I'm looking forward to not having to fish around the bottom of my bag every night for my toothpaste...at least for a bit.

City views

The east coast tour is wrapping up - I fly out tomorrow to head back to Seattle, pick up a suitcase and drive out the following morning for Montana. Not the best laid plans as the jet lag driving could potentially be brutal, but we'll see how it works out.

So this last week in Boston has been good, catching up with people and even seeing some sights I haven't seen before. I took this picture from the fortieth floor of an apartment building downtown on the wharf. Can't say that I've ever seen a view like this of the city or been up on the fortieth floor of any apartment building in the city while I lived here.

Also took a quick tour up north near Swampscott for some beach sitting and hanging out. It's yet another view of Boston...way, way in the hazy distance with tooth pick buildings, but it's there. The city as viewed from the suburbs. It was the perfect day for wandering around and beach sitting (very low in the humidity department, but sunny and warm).



This could be called the Boston photo gallery, montage or something. Here's yet another view of the city and for those of you that know the city this picture is unreal. The last time I was here, the wharf area was still under construction from the big dig. It's now a big park and it blows my mind that you can stand at the aquarium and see the garden. That shouldn't be! There should be the highway and elevated train tracks in the way. But yet you can. As I said it blows my mind and makes the city feel that much smaller. I do have admit the park is nice even if does drastically change the look and feel of the city.

Camera works

Boston's South Station has become my second home of late - having gone in and out of there four times in the last week to and from NYC to Boston and on to Martha's Vineyard and back again. Lots of travel, but a relaxing weekend of good peeps and good food.

I thought I'd just post a few pictures. Here's a couple of the fireworks at the big Boston 4th of July celebration (can you tell I found a new fireworks setting on my camera - not very good at it)



And a few from the Vineyard. Look at all the little snails (periwinkle snails) hanging out at the water's edge!


And the giant dead things with slightly foul, rotting smells you find while beach combing.

New York Roaming

So after a rather relaxed few days in Boston, I headed to New York. I didn't have much of a plan other than to write and wander around. I'm beginning to be good at having no plan. So I sat in Central Park and tried to do some writing, but ended up people watching much more. And of course just sitting there opens you up to meeting many strange people. My favorite was the guy with barely any teeth that sat down and asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said no and I'm not looking. He said great I'm not looking for a boyfriend either. To that I had to laugh, but our courtship ended when I wouldn't buy his poem for my special discounted price of $1.

Now when I got off the plane in Boston and walked outside it was like getting hit in the chest with a fist. How did I forget how much I dislike humidity? And the humidity in NYC was much worse than Boston. So finding air conditioned places to escape was key. Some how in all my trips to NYC, I'd never made it to the public library. The Copley Library happens to be my favorite spot in Boston, so I was surprised when I walked passed and realized I'd never been inside the giant New York Library. All I can say is that it's immense, grand, beautiful, a mausoleum where you could walk miles without ever actually seeing a book and above all else well air conditioned. The stairways were endless and the entrance on par with some grand museum or palace (which to my way of thinking is a fitting place for books).


But the one thing I did stumble upon while there (and I do remember being told they were there at some point but I never put it together) were they original Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Kanga, Piglet, and Eeyore dolls. They looked well loved and fitting of their place in the library museum. But I had to walk around the back of the glass case just to make sure Eeyore's tail had actually been pinned back on...it was. In fact his tail looked like it had been stitched, pinned, and stitched together again. All was right with the world and somehow it up held my faith in books.

In the three days of walking around the city I've calculated I walked about 95 blocks - from east 68th street to about west 4th and over and back up. And 57 of those blocks were in one day. My feet were about to fall off. I stopped at many parks, cafes and stores along the way. It was a good visit of lunch with friends, and getting lost in hours of book wondering at the Strand (a must stop for every visit).

I'm heading back to Boston (writing this from the bus - wifi is a marvelous thing) for the big holiday and then off to Martha's Vineyard for the weekend. Hope you all have a Happy 4th of July!

A day behind

I don't know when it happened, but somehow I got a day behind. I stopped in Orem, UT for a fabulous and extremely hot visit with some friends (97 degrees in the evening isn't exactly my idea of fair weather conditions). And sadly I don't really have any pictures from there because I forgot my camera the day we went up to scenic view points and when I did have it I was distracted and forgot to take any at all.

I left Utah and took two days to drive back to Seattle. I left with enough time to get back, do laundry, and repack everything to fly out to Boston. I stopped on the Idaho/Oregon boarder for the night on my drive, but when I got to the hotel that I had made reservations for, they kindly informed that I was a no-show for the previous night. I had made my reservation for the wrong day. I don't even know how that happened. I stood at the counter with my mouth open.

But I got it sorted out and made it home, did my laundry, and repacked. The night before my flight, I logged onto the computer to check-in and ... oops... apparently I fly out on Tuesday night, not Monday night as I had thought and planned. I sat there staring at the computer trying to readjust my brain. It's true - I fly out tonight and I've been packed and ready for two days now. So I'm not quite sure how it happened or where my brain is at, but it seems my next adventure will start when it's good and ready to.