Halloween is NOT lame...

Been reading 'round the blog-sphere (my little corner of it, anyway) that Halloween is lame. That's lame.

There are some things about Halloween that have deteriorated over the years that may be behind that notion, though.

Like when the scariest monsters turned out to be the strangers with candy.

Or when our collective imaginations became so jaded and atrophied by endless exposure to bad movies that we forgot the fun of designing and making our own costumes. Those were always the best.

And when the calculated horror in those movies that drew entirely upon those imaginations was replaced by mere gore -- which to me is much more nauseating than frightening. Not what I'm going for.

It takes a lot more time (and, frankly, intelligence) to draw us in, disarm us, then scare us to death with the bump in the night. Not seeing what's out there is far more scary than seeing. At least for those of us blessed with a vivid imagination.

I always enjoy Jorge Garcia's blog (Dispatches from the Island). He is a true Halloween afficionado, and for all the right reasons. He decorates, dresses up and carves the coolest pumpkins ever...and shares it all with his readers. I love his character (Hurley) on Lost -- one of the more complex characters in the plot IMHO, but I love reading the real guy's posts even more -- especially 'round Halloween.

So I will follow Jorge's blog, enjoy the Travel channel's tours of scary places, watch a well-crafted horror movie or two (Silence of the Lambs scared me a heckuva lot more than any Saw movie ever could -- The Shining is another), wish I had a costume party to go to (or a kid to dress up), and enjoy my candy corn for one more week.

What do you think of Halloween, dear reader? (And I know that there's just the one of you -- maybe two on a good day).

Day is done

There's something poetic about a sunset. May be something poetic about sunrise, too. I don't see enough of them to know. But everyone...and I mean everyone...stopped their activity to watch. I like the pause reflected in this picture. Seems as though they realize it's time to pack up and go for the day, but don't really want to leave.

I took this on our way from Saturday evening mass at St Augustines on Waikiki to dinner at Seafood Village (opakapa in black bean/ginger sauce and sizzling shrimp satay), the night before my 15th Komen Race for the Cure.

We have started using the race as an excuse to play tourist for a weekend on Waikiki. We do this largely for the same reason that I do the race each year -- because we CAN. For me, it is a celebration of life. For us, it's a celebration of our life in paradise.

Our Scotland branch has gotten into the house-swapping thing for vacations. This is the pool for the house that they had for 2 weeks this summer, just north of LA.

The house itself is lovely, but the backyard was exceptional. On the side of a hill, they managed to capitolize on the slopes and view beautifully.

There's more to Disney than the mouse house...

The swoops and swags of the Disney Concert Hall's exterior -- iconic. I didn't grab an exterior shot because we were kind of pressed for time both pre and post concert (Cal Phil doing "Swords and Chivalry" -- excellent! And this place has unbelievable acoustics.).

You can see it here: http://www.laphil.com/about/wdch_overview.cfm

And if you ever get the chance to hear a concert there -- don't miss it!

I did pull off a couple of interior shots during intermission...like this Escher-esque stairwell:

And these beautiful supports:

A friend of ours worked on the design team for this project. I have so many questions I wish that I could ask him, now that I've seen (and heard) it for myself. But he's gone now. Damn cancer.

Ya done good, Scott.

Tranquility

Cruising through the Lesser Gorges off the Yangtze was a breathtaking way to spend a leisurely morning.

God Bless America!

Land that I love.....

Want to Feel Really Small?

Stand on something really really BIG!

Like the Great Wall of China. This photo was taken on the Wall at Badaling. One more for the bucket!

Because it has to be said....

One inescapable fact of foreign travel, especially in Asia for some reason (but not exclusively there), is the scarcity of what is delicately described as "Western facilities".

Now, in my own defense, my need for the Western-style 'throne' is purely physiological...I simply cannot easily arise from a squatting position. Simply stated: weak knees + fat ass. And since the women in my travels are for the most part strangers, and would frown on my husband coming in to help me up....there you have it.

Fortunately, our guides have always been most helpful in identifying 'acceptible' facilities. In China, we had a rating system:
5-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper, seat covers
4-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper
3-Star: clean, Western 'throne'

I never went below 3-Stars. I do carry my own travel kit of seat covers and travel TP (after a particularly traumatic experience in Moscow years ago).

I asked our guide if they (the guides) all thought that all of we female Western tourists (a) had extraordinarily weak bladders because we were always taking advantage of stops and (b) were incredibly picky. He politely dodged the question.

Here's a shot taken in a 4-Star. It isn't particularly well composed, because when you are taking a photograph inside a ladies restroom it's best to start with a vacant one and take the shot really fast, lest someone come in and think you a pervert.

The sign on the right means 'for mom's - has changing table'. The next is, of course, the 'Western throne' and rest are all the more traditional 'squat' toilets.

To be fair, they were all quite clean...everywhere we went. And I really think that we're being the picky ones. And I totally appreciate the fact that other societies are indulging us our weakness.

And I'm still peeved that men don't even have to think about this stuff!!!!!

Just a couple of days in Beijing...

Here is one of the buildings in the Lama Temple. It's actually a series of buildings containing many variants on the Buddah, including an amazing 26 meter statue of Maitreya (the future Buddah) that is impossible to photograph.


My niece recommended that we visit Lama, and it wasn't on our tour itinerary, so we made sure to include it on our first self-tour day. It was a spiritual way to launch our exploration -- a really peaceful place within a bustling Beijing.

This is the detail on one of the archways to the Lama Temple. The detail was very impressive.


Our next day of self-touring started off with the daunting Temple of Heaven complex. Not just a single building, but two main structures and several adjunct buildings for each, plus a prayer mound...none of which are actually called the Temple of Heaven. The iconic focal point is the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest:

Each of the points of interest in the complex had it's own entry arches.

And the interiors of the two central structures are as fascinating and intricately done as the exteriors.


We then went for a walk along the Ming city wall in Beijing...enjoying the (somewhat rare) blue sky.


More to follow...

Best. Feetshot. Ever.

Just got back from 2 weeks touring China and haven't had time yet to sort the 1200+ photos I took, but had to get this one up as soon as I could...it's just so cool!

This was taken while I was standing on a glass platform in the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower...I was about 800 feet above the traffic. Very weird feeling!

Here's the Tower from the ground up -- the platform I was standing out on is at the base of the second "pearl" (this also shows that it was raining that day -- the only real rain we experienced over the whole 2 weeks.)

We were very busy the entire time seeing things like the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Lama Temple (Yonghegong) in Beijing, the Xian terracotta warriors, Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, and the beautiful gorges along the Yangtze River, to mention a few.

More photos to come (after I get caught up at work and get some laundry done)!

On the road agaiiiinnnn...

You know that vacation I need? Getting there...see you later. Film at 11!

I think I need a vacation...

...or at least a local kine photo safari. Just haven't taken any new photos of note lately. So I dug into the archives (circa early 2006) to find one that captures my current mood -- I want to be on a ship!

This particular shot is in St Thomas, but I'll take any ol cruise, thankyouverymuch).

This is my wallpaper shot for a reason. A couple of them, actually.

Nothing artsy

Just some really pretty plumeria. You can almost smell them...

Welcome back!

After a massive renovation, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel will reopen this weekend. We spent our wedding night there. Unfortunately, after the renovation we can't afford even the one night now!

Shine a light, shine a light...

I love lighthouses. There's just something kind of romantic about them.

Near my hometown is the Ponce Inlet - a particularly treacherous passage -- and the lighthouse there has fascinated me since childhood.

They've done a terrific job of maintaining it and turning it into a really interesting museum of the history of that part of Florida and the life of the lighthouse keepers and their families.

If you're interested, their website is http://www.ponceinlet.org/

And yes, I have climbed to the top, but not in a long, long time.

A little bit of Odessa

I thought of our brief time in Odessa last summer when I saw the Ukraine in the news again today. The buildings in downtown Odessa looked like they were crafted by Wedgewood. I liked this detail.

New Beginnings

There is nothing like the promise of a new year...no matter the clouds, when hope shines through.

"To Gnome is to Love Me"

Happy Birthday, kiddo. I miss you.

Mele Kalikimaka

Santa and Tutu Mele say Merry Christmas, Hawaii kine!

Too postcard-y?

Maybe. A little too "stock beach photo". But the weekend I took it (on Waikiki playing tourist) it just looked so right!