London II

If you go to London with a musician, especially a guitarist, don't miss Denmark St. Lots of 1960s and 1970s rock and roll was recorded there. A couple recording studios are still in operation. Nearly every other storefront sells guitars. Jeremy tried out a vintage Les Paul electric guitar with a maple fretboard. We did not spend over £3000 on it, although one of us wanted to. 

I didn't take many pictures inside the Tower of London, but the Tower is well worth a visit. Built by William the Conqueror as a home and fortress, the original walls are fifteen feet thick at the base and eleven feet thick at the top. Great Britain has a bloody history and the Tower has many reminders of that. Yes, the object on the green is a trebuchet. 

The Tower Bridge can be seen from the Tower of London. (This is not the London Bridge.)

Skyline showing the Shard and the Tower of London.

I took this picture of the Buckingham Palace gates in the afternoon after the crowds who came to see the Changing of the Guard had left. 

Are you watching Victoria on PBS? This statue decorates the fountain across from the palace. 

The changing of the guard happens daily in the summer and every other day in the winter. We arrived an hour early, and already the crowds had all the prime viewing locations. Jeremy took these pictures because he's tall enough to hold the camera over the heads of other onlookers. The changing of the guard often includes musical accompaniment. Surprisingly, we heard several pop numbers including Latin-Jazz fusion. 

I heard a few wrong notes, then Jeremy said, "Don't lock your knees! That's band camp 101." Apparently one of the trombonists became disorientated and started to sway. His companions grabbed his arms and eased him down before he or his trombone hit the pavement. 

Finally, a use for selfie-sticks. The only way I could see the changing guard was to look at the screens of cell phones on sticks. 

This guy plays a flaming tuba outside the Tate Modern. In my view, that museum is not worth the time and effort to get there.

We didn't have an opportunity to go inside St. Paul's Cathedral. It's supposed to be lovely, and if you get there in the evening, you can hear evensong. 

I hope my friends who are visiting London soon enjoyed these two posts. 
Again, click on the pictures to enlarge them. 

London I

I recently had an opportunity to go to London with my husband and my younger son, Jeremy. Our older son couldn't go with us as he is in graduate school. I'm planning to divide my pictures and discussions over two or three posts. 

Several of my friends are planning to visit London soon, so I through I'd turn these posts into a travel guide. Get Rick Steves' book, LONDON. He describes where to stay (Victoria Station Neighborhood or South Kensington Neighborhood), how to get around (The Underground) and where to eat (everything from pubs to tea shops). His descriptions of sights, museums and landmarks are detailed so you can choose what interests you. 

We started with Rick's "Westminster Walk." I included the picture of Big Ben to prove that the sky was blue once while we were in London. 

If you've read any British historical fiction, you've heard of Horse Guards.

Westminster Abbey is a wonderful place. Read up on the people and features before you go. The audio tour was excellent. (You can't take pictures inside.)

This is the London Eye (Ferris Wheel) and a view of the Thames. The Thames river boat cruises are supposed to be great. Unfortunately, the weather was mostly cold and rainy while we were there, so we opted not to spend time on the river. 

Trafalgar Square is fun on its own, but it's near the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery has an impressive collection of paintings. We were particularly taken with the Impressionist wing. I've never before seen a Monet in person. The collection also includes several paintings by Van Gogh, including The Sunflowers. See the National Portrait Gallery after you've seen Westminster Abbey and learned about some of the historical figures of Britain. 

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is fun. It's located, of course, at 221b Baker St. Some of the rooms are made up to look like the descriptions of Watson and Holmes' home in the books. They also have mannequins dressed up to depict scenes from favorite stories. 

Of course, I had to take a picture of Holmes' chemistry set.

Abbey Rd is near Baker St. Here's my favorite rock star.

The Abbey Rd. recording studio is still in operation. Jeremy says it has the best compressor in the world. Also nearby are the Beatles Store which is okay, but doesn't have anything out of the ordinary, and the Rock and Roll store which carries Rainbow Rising T-shirts, if you're in desperate need of a couple. 

As I said, there's more coming - after I crop and resize another set of photographs. 

Click on the pictures to enlarge. 

Mackinac Dahlias

The gardens on Mackinac Island were also an inspiration for me. I don't have the space, sunlight or time to recreate such lavish displays, but I did get some ideas for color combinations for next spring's annuals. One of the B&Bs on Main Street had gorgeous dahlias. 

I don't grow dahlias. In Michigan, the bulbs need to be overwintered inside, and that seems like too much trouble. I am fond of the flowers at least partially because they remind me of Aunt Dahlia from the P.G. Wodehouse stories. 

Mackinac Butterflies II

I had too much fun at the butterfly house.

another orange one

hanging by one foot

Mackinac Butterflies I

The Somewhere in Time conference included a plein air painting session with Lori McElrath Eslick. Due to inclement weather, we met in the butterfly house on Mackinac Island. I took lots of pictures and will post my favorites over two blog entries today. 

Some species of butterfly pose better than others. There was a beautiful striped green one that simply could not stop beating its wings while it slurped nectar. Some butterflies had electric blue on the tops of their wings. We could see them flying around. When they rested, they shut their wings so only the brown outsides with an eye pattern showed. We got to see a defensive mechanism in action. 

Mackinac Meadow

I think that's a little spider. 

a touch of purple in the fall palette 

I'm probably never going to photograph a fly in perfect focus.

Mackinac Island

I just returned from SCBWI-MI’s fall conference, “Somewhere in Time,” on Mackinac Island. A huge thank you goes out to all who worked to set up this conference. I’m feeling inspired and motivated. 

My YA fantasy novel, THE WIND DJIN, won second place in the mentorship competition. My pitch for an old trunk novel, GEEK AND CAPTAIN BONZO STEEL, received positive comments from the panel of experts. I couldn't be more thrilled.

I took almost 200 pictures, and I’ll be posting a few of them over the week. Today’s selection includes the bridge that connects Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, the ferry and a couple lighthouses. As I sort through the pictures, I’ll post some wildflowers and insects, some dahlias and formal gardens, and butterflies from the butterfly house. Please stay tuned. 

from the ferry

funny effect through a lake water-splattered window

I was fooling around with a very deep depth of field. A different lens would have worked better. 

Sensory Tour of Texas

Sight:

To my surprise, Eastern Texas does not look like the set for a John Wayne movie. They get lots of rain so the grass is lush and the trees are tall.

Sound:

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the insects. These 2-3 inch grasshoppers chirp constantly, and the cicadas sing.

Smell:
There are agricultural smells, exhaust and dust. Trucks and SUVs are popular; the distances are long. (The landscape is green, but the population mostly isn’t.)

Taste:
The Texas barbecue and Mexican food was delicious but less spicy than I expected. 

Touch:

The heat and humidity are astounding to someone who has lived in MI for 25 years. This is the old stage coach road after the trees and brush had been cleared. This type of yard waste is typically burned in Texas, and the picture shows several burn piles. Imagine a huge bonfire on hot and humid summer day. (No one seems to worry about the carbon footprint.)

Tastes Like Home

Last summer when I accompanied my husband to a scientific meeting in Italy, one of the graduate students at our table took a bite of salmon and said, “Mmmm. Tastes like home.”

That phrase evokes strong images. For me, it is ripe strawberries. When I was little, before Southern Californian property values skyrocketed, Japanese immigrants had strawberry farms in an area known as Portuguese Bend. When my mom took us to her favorite stand, the elderly woman who worked there would pick two of her biggest strawberries and give them to my brother and me. Those fresh-picked berries, still warm from the sun, had a million times more flavor than the grocery store kind.

What tastes like home to you?

What tastes like home to your characters?  

Another Airport Bookstore Story

Our flight to New York was delayed for over two hours. After accompanying the kids on a red train tour of the Detroit airport, I pulled out Hunger Games. Possibly, I was the only female on the trip who hadn’t already read it. My lack of tears at the end of the first chapter shocked my fellow chaperones, but that wasn’t sheer hard-heartedness on my part. I, like everyone else in America, knew what was going to happen.

As compensation for the flight delay, Delta Airlines graciously granted us $25 coupons to spend in the airport shops, so I again chased my charges around the airport as we searched for ways to spend free money. I was making fast headway through Hunger Games, so I searched for Catching Fire and finally found it in hardback. As I was standing at the cash register, one of the tenors held up Mockingjay.

Tenor: Mrs. Finkelstein, here’s the third book.

Me: Mmmmm

Tenor: It’s 50% off. I can see that you’re tempted.

Me: But I’ll have to carry it to New York and back.

I didn’t buy the book, and I didn’t have another moment to read until the trip home.

New York Memories

It’s not easy to condense an action-packed New York tour into a blog post or two. As a person who writes for teens, probably the most relevant discussion is about the kids. I was so impressed.

There was no drama, spats, or intra-group resentment.

The kids were polite and considerate.

Before we left on the trip, several of the kids downloaded the music from Newsies and Once so they’d get the most out of the performance.

When my group of boys got tired of shopping in Manhattan, we found a coffee shop. They took out the sheet music they’d purchased earlier and began to study it, tapping out complicated rhythms and discussing guitar chord fingerings.

The 9/11 Memorial moved everyone, even though the kids are too young to remember much about the actual event. 

When asked to perform at the Apollo Theater, several soloists and small groups volunteered to sing – without time to rehearse. 

The picture shows Jeremy and me eating cannoli at a Bleecker Street café, something I’ve wanted to do since I first heard Joni Mitchel sing Tin Angel. While searching for the YouTube link, I also found Bleecker Street by Simon and Garfunkel.  

New York, New York!

This afternoon, I leave for New York City with the high school choir. It should be a wonderful trip. There are a few blog post scheduled while I’m away, so I hope you’ll stop by Words and Pixels. See you next week.

Sunday

across the Charles River in Boston

Rick Steves' Post on Cinque Terre

Rick Steves wrote about his memories of Cinque Terre and the flood.

News from Cinque Terre

I heard from Christine who manages the B&B where we stayed in Manarola. Both of her emails follow: 

Dear Ann,
Thank you for writing to check on us.  All of us in Manarola, Riomaggiore and Corniglia are safe and were incredibly fortunate, as there was only minor damage in our villages from the storm.  The situation in Vernazza and in the old town of Monterosso is tragic.  They have been without water, electricity, gas and telephone service since Tuesday.  The situation is particularly difficult in Vernazza, as it is now only accessible by sea.  My husband went there today by boat with a group of volunteers from Manarola, to bring supplies and help with the cleanup.  He said that the conditions there are even worse than we had imagined.  The heavy rains caused a huge landslide at the top of the village, which diverted the river there onto the main street of the town.  The river brought with it mud and debris which now almost completely covers the main floor of the buildings all along the main street.  Several people are unaccounted for, and nearly all of the businesses in the town have been destroyed.  The cleanup efforts will likely take months, but the people of the Cinque Terre are very resilient, and are determined to recover from this terrible tragedy.  Thanks again for your concern.

Kind regards,
Christine and Family
Carugiu B&B

Dear Ann,
Thank you for the link to your blog.  You are welcome to include my e-mail.  Your pictures are beautiful!
My husband and I went to Vernazza by ferry today to help pump water from a friend’s house, but only residents were allowed to get off there,  so we dropped the pump off and continued along the coast.  The sea is filled with debris, but the mud that turned the water from blue to brown has started to settle.  There are numerous emergency crews working in Vernazza and Monterosso, and electricity has been restored.  Heavy equipment has been brought in by boat to remove the incredible amount of mud in the streets.  The Italian government has declared a state of emergency, so special funds are now available for cleanup and relief efforts.  Support has been pouring in from around the world, and is greatly appreciated by the locals.  Our communities are working very hard to return to normal as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
Christine

Storms in Northern Italy

Tuscany and Cinque Terre have been devastated by storms. (Telegraph Article) I emailed the manager of the B&B where we stayed to ask if she and her family are all right, although I suspect internet connections won’t be working for some time. The damage was horrendous. Monterosso and Vernazza were “all but wiped out.” The people who live this beautiful place are in my thoughts. 

My pictures of Manarola can be seen here and here.

Macro Italy

I took a few macro shots in Italy.

I think this is a type of juniper. They grow everywhere.

twists

spikes

a wild orchid

These lizards are fast. This was the best shot of many tries.

sparkles

Oleander also grow in my hometown.