Category: travel

down the stream, or up the creek (friday foto finder: stream)

Given that yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US, I find myself being nostalgic for the many Thanksgivings I had at my grandmother’s house growing up. Unpacking various pieces of china and serving ware to put away in our new house, assorted family heirlooms that I remember from my childhood, and using the buffet that was from my grandmother’s house has filled me with a steady stream of memories. It is no surprise, then, that seeing this week’s friday foto finder theme of “stream” brought to mind one body of water: the one in the town where my grandmother had lived.

These photos are from May of 2005, the last time I visited that town. The creek that runs through Beulah, Colorado ranges from a tiny trickle in times of drought (which Beulah sees quite often) to a rushing torrent in the spring, gushing with the runoff from the snowmelt up in the higher mountains. During that visit, the creek (pronounced “crick” by many locals) was quite high.

My mother and I walked down to see the place where the creek crosses Central Avenue. At this junction, the creek calmly flows under the road through some pipes for much of the year. But in the spring, the creek insists on crossing the road. Cars and trucks typically drive right through the creek, but happily there is a little bridge for pedestrians who aren’t wearing their waders.

To see what other streams are flowing, merrily row yourself over to the fff blog.

looking up

To follow up on yesterday’s post of spirally gates and grates in Boston, here are some spiral-adorned balconies in Sevilla, Spain. While walking through the streets one evening during my visit there in 2009, I looked up to admire the shadows of the balcony gates.

This particular building had lights shining in several directions, producing a pleasing tangle of spirally shadows.

I also enjoy the contrast of the bright orange walls and the dark metal.

Today was a much better day, by the way, and I did not have to fight the urge to stay curled up in a little ball. Things are definitely looking up when I have gotten a bit more sleep.

5 arched gates

Here are 5 photos of arched gates that I have come across over recent years.

Malahide, Ireland, 2014


Sevilla, Spain, 2009


New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 2005


Portland, Oregon, USA, 2012


Shanghai, China, 2012

This is another unintentional series of photos. Had I had the series in mind, I likely would have framed gates more similarly. (Also, I do wish I could go back in time and replace the point-and-shoot camera I was using in 2005 on my trip to New Orleans. I suppose it would also be worthwhile just to go back to New Orleans…)

3 more gates, in silhouette

Yesterday’s featured gate reminded me that I have many other gates in my photo archives, several of which I also photographed in silhouette. These 3 very different gates were ones I saw on my travels of recent years.


Paris, France, 2007


Sevilla, Spain, 2009


Beijing, China, 2012

gate of chains (friday foto finder: links)

This gate caught my eye on my visit to the Park Güell in Barcelona, Spain back in 2009. Neither a chained gate nor a gate of chain link fencing this particular gate was itself made of made of heavy iron chain links.

I also find it cool to see how different the same gate looked from different angles, with different lighting conditions. These next 2 images were from a photo with the bright light shining on the gate, whereas the others show the same gate silhouetted.

This week’s friday foto finder theme was “links.” I have shared quite a few links before (both the chained gates and chainlink fences mentioned, and linked to, earlier.) But I don’t believe I’ve shared these particular links before. To see what other kinds of links have been sighted, follow the link to the fff blog!

6 unrelated photos

Here are 6 photos I took over the past 9 years or so, on various travels to other countries, as well as to places closer to home.

London, England, 2005


Volklingen, Germany, 2007


Sevilla, Spain, 2009


Massachusetts, United States, 2011


Macao, 2011


Dublin, Ireland, 2014

Can’t see the thicket for the trees.

This week’s friday foto finder theme is “thicket.” While I have some idea of the meaning of the word, I can’t say it’s one that is frequent use for me. I was a bit stumped about what to post. I even went so far as to look up the definition of the word on Dictionary. com: “a thick or dense growth of shrubs, bushes, or small trees.” Living in the woods as I do, I can’t say I particularly would tend to notice the dense growth of small trees, largely because the landscape is so dominated by tall trees. And most of the shrubs and bushes I see around here are either undergrowth, or used in somewhat sparingly in landscaping. I’m sure there are thickets to be found in Massachusetts, but I don’t seem to have photographed them…

This photo was taken a couple of summers ago at our town park. At least I think it was at the park. It could have been any number of places in the area that are dominated by tall trees.

On the other hand, I did find a couple of photos from the Irish countryside with clumps of shrubs and small trees that are more suggestive of thickets.

I think the rows and clumps of tall bushes and small trees could reasonably be called thickets. What do you think?

To see what are thickets are to be found, pay a visit to the fff blog.

A few shy of a parliament (friday foto finder: rook)

This week’s friday foto finder theme is “rook,” which gives me the excuse to post these photos of this little guy I met in Howth, Ireland back in May. After pecking around on the ground scavenging for crumbs from my snack of oatcake, this rook hopped up on a railing and posed for a few photos.

I was not entirely sure that this bird was a rook, and not some other type of crow, but according to the Wiki entry for rook, he seems to fit the bill:

Rooks are distinguished from similar members of the crow family by the bare grey-white skin around the base of the adult’s bill in front of the eyes.

This one does indeed have that telltale gray skin about the beak.

In my research, if skimming through a Wikipedia page counts as such, I also came across this tidbit:

Collective nouns for rooks include building, parliament, clamour and storytelling.

Such a lovely bit of information to come across. I had certainly heard of a murder of crows, and would have guessed that a collection of rooks might be similarly called a murder. In a delightful coincidence, my friend at Mouse-traps and the Moon shared a post today as part of a series on beautiful books about collective nouns:

…four collections of visually witty takes on those delightful and often improbable collective nouns for animal groupings: A Drove of Bullocks (animals) A Filth of Starlings(birds), A Shiver of Sharks (sea life) and A Crackle of Crickets (insects).

Clearly, there are many more collective nouns out there for me to learn!

To see what other types of rooks have been sited, and maybe even a whole clamour or storytelling of them, flock over to the fff blog.

flagging

This sculpture is in Larkspur, California. I have vague memories of seeing this regularly while growing up, as I lived in this part of Northern California for many of my childhood and teen years. I never actually knew anything about the sculpture, but its stark silhouette caught my eye during my trip to California earlier this year while we drove towards the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge one evening after an excursion to the Marin Highlands.

The wonders of Google allow me to learn that this is a statue of explorer Juan Batista de Anza, something I hadn’t known. Really, I just picked this photo for the flag because the word “flagging” had popped into my mind to describe the way I am feeling. In my tired state, I can see the statue as the pose of a weary traveller.

It’s been a really hectic stretch, with even more rushing around than normal, and tonight my energy is flagging. I will keep pushing forward, but I really just want a break.