Name That City!

     I don't get it.  Over the last few years I have become a person who enjoys exploring big cities. I would never have predicted that twenty years ago.  Nowadays, I find big cities to be full of energy, fascinating people, impressive architecture and artworks,  and just packed with cool things to see.  I am not compelled to experience the nightlife, although I am more than willing to go listen to music or see a movie or play.  I don't want to live in a big city; I simply want to spend a few days exploring it.  I go with an open mind, an adventurous attitude, and a lightness that makes all days good, no matter what.

    One of my favorite activities is to photograph everything.  CIties have their unique essence but they also can blend together.  Just for  fun, I am presenting you with the following photographs.  They were taken in Washington DC, New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco, Boston, Portland, and Los Angeles.  It seems to me that any of these photos could have been taken in any of the cities - they are mostly about art, architecture, and visual interest.  There are two photos per city.  See if you can match the photos with the city.

 

   Now the photos are repeated with the identities below each photo.  How did you do?  Any surprises for you?

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
in Washington DC

Bricks on the ground at Monticello (T Jefferson's home)
near Washington DC

Artwork in San Francisco

A well hidden walking path on Telegraph HIll in San Francisco.
If you ever saw the awesome documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph HIll
then you saw this walking path.

Blend of new and old
Boston

Reflections in Boston

Honolulu

Honolulu from Diamond Head

Store window in Portland

Colors in Portland

Union Station in Los Angeles

Sculpture in Los Angles

Reflections in NYC

Alternative view of the Empire State Building
New York City

   

                         This was fun!  Might have to do it again someday!

2012 Update

     Back on January 1, I wrote this post about the new year and the fifty things I was going to do in 2012.  In mid- March I checked in here with my progress.  I didn't go through each item but I selected three that I had been faithful to and three that I could refocus my energies on.   Considering that it is now June, it seems as if it is time for another update.

     The three things that I seemed to be on track with in March were continuing to get daily exercise (via new running shoes purchased in January), writing on a more consistent basis, and learning to say no when someone else's plan for me didn't match my own plan.  I am still hanging in there with those three.  The three things that could deserve more attention?  A daily meditation habit, a trip to Alaska in June, and more frequent afternoon walks for Ellie.  Hmmmmm - all three of those are sitting where they were in March.  Meditation is a should (and in direct conflict with say no to stuff you don't want to do).  Alaska?  That's a no go although I am eager and up for some kind of adventure over the next two months.  Walking Ellie?  She gets lots of morning walks but I am up for some late afternoon walks as summer settles in.

  Okay, so let's see where I am with six other goals.

   #9.  Remember that life is short and then you die.  Yup.  Got that one covered.  Maybe too well.

Qualify as quirky?

   #33.  Take more photographs.  Yup.  Got that one covered too.  These days I carry the iphone and often the little Canon camera on walks and here and there.  My eyes are open to beauty and curiosity everywhere.  I enjoy adding photos and graphics to my blog and my preference is that I take them from my own library.  I am jazzed to expand that library this summer.  I have a million flowers and beach photos.  Looking for quirky, urban and faces now.

   #41.  Repot the house plants.  Yup.  I actually did  that about a month ago.  One sunny Saturday set me in motion on that project and they are thriving.  Checked off for at least another year.

  #1.  Go out to the beach at least once a month.  Nope.  So not on track with that one.  But I am not giving up.  WIth more free time over the next two months, I will make up for some lost time earlier in the year.  I hope to reconnect in a way that I won't lose this in the fall.

Current read

   #46.  Read at some other time than right before I go to sleep at night.  I am getting better at this one and now we are coming into the reading season.  Summer is all about reading.  Reading in the afternoon, reading early in the morning, reading novels and gripping stories.  I read less non fiction and more fiction in the summer.  I can be captivated by stories.  Whoo hoo!

   #48.  Write more love letters.  Ahhhh, I like that one!  I want to refocus on what I love in life and then tell it that I love it.  Fun!  Look for more in the second half of the year than you saw in the first.

     Okay, there it is for all the world to see.  My list of fifty for 2012 is still in my awareness.  Hello, summer!  I will cherish every moment that is you.  Guaranteed.

T: The Trip

      I had another idea for the letter T but my head is full of my recent adventure so that's the account you get to read.  This year's T can wait for next year....

      At this moment, I am sitting at the JetBlue gate at JFK but the adventure began at SFO.  Early on last Thursday morning (and we are talking early, even for me - 3:30 am) I drove my silver bug Oskar down to San Francisco to pick up Sonny Boy.  He lives in the Sunset district so we tooled from there a bit south to SF International, made our way out to the long term parking garage, and then got the shuttle back to the terminals.  Security proved to be a challenge on two accounts, one inevitable and one a result of my carelessness.  I have a 4 inch chunk of metal along my right collar bone so bingo - there goes the metal detector.  Pat down time.  Fine.  While waiting for the TSA person I am asked by another TSA person if the bag she is holding is mine.  Yup.  "Do you have a knife in here?" she asks.  "Heck NO," I assure her. Guess what?  I did have a knife in there.  I was using the backpack that I take to work every day and I carry a paring knife in a sheaf.  Oops.  You know where this is going.  Fortunately, we all actually had a chuckle over it because I think they could tell I was flabbergasted.  I also freely released my paring knife to them.

      From there it was a jam packed three days. Tons of walking, hundreds of photos, one museum (MOMA), lots of general tourist behavior, and volumes of good conversation with Sonny Boy and my other traveling companion, Kevin.  On Friday evening, we all attended a rehearsal, out-of-towners dinner for the wedding couple.  That was a blast!  Perhaps forty people present, all very engaging and lively people.  That dinner set the stage for the wedding the following late afternoon.  The ceremony was at Prospect Park in Brooklyn.  The weather prediction had been iffy all week and the evening turned out to be cool and breezy but not wet.  Excellent omen.  I was the celebrant and embraced my role as master of ceremonies.  I had a story to tell.  It was really Tim and Sierra's story but I loved performing it.  Again, the guests were wonderful, interesting, energetic people and I do believe the wedding couple have surrounded themselves with a slew of positive and creative people.  It was an electric place to be.

      I won't get home until late tonight but I was smart enough to take tomorrow off from work.  I will need to collect myself before going back to the trenches.  I had been mentally preparing for this trip since late last fall.  My comfort level with the whole thing varied, depending on my exhaustion and confidence levels.  As the trip is wrapping up, I am pleased to report that it is all good.  I learned a lot, I made sweet connections with new and old friends, and my eyes were further opened to life.  Recharged and inclined to more adventure, I remain alive.

N: New York City

      Okay, so I know for those in my audience who live either near or in NYC, this post might be a bore but I just have to give the letter N to New York City.  The comparable place in my world is San Francisco.  San Francisco is quirky and charming with a plethora of cultural opportunities and fantastic natural beauty and views.  But New York CIty?  Oh my!  NYC has  energy unlike any other place.  It is powerful and electric.  It has neighborhoods packed with their own charm and stories.  There is so much history and cultural background in New York.   I wanted to go there for decades but I didn't want to go blind.  I wanted to go with a seasoned New Yorker or, at least, a seasoned New York visitor.  Three years ago, my brother Brian, an experienced New York traveler, and I did a New York adventure together.    His son Tim and Tim's fiance Sierra live in Queens and Brian has traveled there often enough to know the ins and outs of the city.

      That adventure was one of a kind.  I was a kid in a candy store!  Really!  I was delighted to see and do anything.  Brian, Tim, and Sierra went out of their way to make my stay there memorable.  Brian and I spent very little time at our hotel room and tons of time on foot and on the subway getting around.

New York City gave me everything I thought it would.  I loved the people and had not one single negative interaction.  Sure, there were the street beggars and the homeless but I know them from SF and, they are not bad people.  Just different from me.  I loved tasting the flavor of NYC and walking in the places (like Central Park and Wall Street and Brooklyn where the tree grows) that I have always read about.  Unforgettable. 

      And here's the exciting news:  I get to go there again.  THIS WEEK! Thursday, as a matter of fact.  Remember Tim and Sierra from above?  They are getting married on Saturday and I was honored (and, honestly, floored) to be asked by them to be the officiant at their wedding.  Stay tuned for more NYC photos soon.  For now, here is a handful of images that show my wide eyed embrace of the Big Apple.

Yup, that says it all.....

Be Curious

     About a year ago I wrote a post about surprises.  The gist of that piece was that there is a season for everything and maybe surprises only come early in life.  Good surprises, that is.  Bad surprises come all the time but the stuff that influences the path in a positive and life changing way seems to happen in the first two thirds of life.  When I wrote about the humdrum of grownup life,  I was mired in the middle of malaise.  No where to go but to work and to the couch.  At work, I had to be on my game, the one who could/would make decisions and take care of everyone and their issues.  The couch was made more comfortable by drugs of choice (books, writing, thinking and an evening glass of wine) but all that work and the couch were not changing anything.  No surprises.  No novelty to life.

    I'm not saying it's a whole lot different now.  I still find it hard to believe that something good could surprise me at this point.  Too many people say to me, "Wait until you have grandchildren.  They are the best surprise you can imagine."  First, I assure you, I am in NO rush to have grandchildren.  It's okay if they never show up but I also don't want my kids becoming parents anytime in the next five years.  They need more time to figure out who they are before they become parents.  There have been changes in my work world but those have been a blend of fun (the addition of small children to the campus) and painful (the loss of my partner in crime).  Life among family members hasn't varied too dramatically - except for Mark's fantastic re-emergence.   In other words, life seems to be rolling along and I am still looking for passion, adventure, and a little weirdness.

     Just recently, however, I find some piece of hope happening.  I am learning to draw a box around some moments and then just stand outside the box and be curious.  I don't know what to expect while watching the box but perhaps there is transformation on the horizon.  One can only be curious.

I was in Times Square a couple of years ago and could not ignore this marquee for a Eugene O'Neill production.....