Got the mixer out. Very pleased with the result.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Furloughed
On the first day of the shutdown, after going through an "orderly-shutdown" I wandered around the mall area.
"Shutdown" |
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Frank Lloyd Wright - Fallingwater
We went to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright designed house Fallingwater last summer. For some reason, I am just now looking through a ton of pictures from my camera.
The trip started with a journey out to and overnight stay in Morgantown, WV. It pour rain on the ride out, to such an extent that we had to pull off the highway and take refuge in a parking lot.
We stopped at Weavers in Hancock, MD on the way out. Very awesome pie and food there. I highly recommend it. We had also intended to stop at Mountain City Coffeehouse on the way out, but found it closed. A shame, because they make really great sandwiches for lunch and the coffee is also very tasty. We settled for pizza at a local shop.
When we finally did make it to Morgantown, we found that it was such exciting place that we decided to take no pictures of it, and leave as soon as possible lest we have too much fun. In fact, we had so much fun there, we are never going to have to go back. All the fun was had, can't have anymore.
The next morning we ventured off to Fallingwater. It is set back in the hills of Pennsylvania near to Pittsburgh. It was built as a vacation home from the Kaufmann family between 1936 and 1939. The thing that make the home so unique is that it was built over a waterfall. The Kaufmanns originally intended for Frank Lloyd Wright to build the home on the bluff facing the waterfall. Wright decided that it would make a greater impact to embed the home into the waterfall and make it part of the natural surroundings. The resulting design, has made it one of the most iconic homes in America.
You are required to tour the home with a guide, which is actually a nice tour. You are taken through both the main house and the guest house that sits on a hill above the main house.
This is spot, facing the waterfall, where the Kauffmans wanted the home built.
On our way home we stopped in Cumberland, MD to visit the Queen City Creamery. There are a lot of great places to eat and get sweets along I-70 and I-68, but Weavers, Queen City and Mountain City are, in my opinion, the best.
While in Cumberland we visited the end of the Great Allegheny Passage trail, and coincidentally the trail head of the C&O Canal. If you were so inclined you could hop on a bike in Georgetown, DC and bike all the way to Pittsburgh, PA.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Turkish Odyssey - Trip Home
3/26/13:
The day dawns cold and gray...this city lives seems to live under a steel gray sky. There can be some leisure in the pace of the morning but time melts away and our 9:00am departure time rolls rapidly around. We bus to the airport with US expats who live in Panama and outwardly project affluence and wealth (vis-a-vis the Real Housewives). One questions how much wealth each has, if they were on a budget tour. Though there is nothing wrong with frugality.
The day dawns cold and gray...this city lives seems to live under a steel gray sky. There can be some leisure in the pace of the morning but time melts away and our 9:00am departure time rolls rapidly around. We bus to the airport with US expats who live in Panama and outwardly project affluence and wealth (vis-a-vis the Real Housewives). One questions how much wealth each has, if they were on a budget tour. Though there is nothing wrong with frugality.
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 11
3/25/13:
A bittersweet day. We are on the road at 7:30am bound for Istanbul, not Constantinople. The scenery is mostly the same as every other day. We work on puzzles and doze. Stopping for lunch at yet another Turkish roadside cafeteria with the same food as all the others, but today we have a secret weapon. Leftovers from the market! Certainly not the most scenic of places for a picnic, a curb in the parking lot at a truck-stop, but that lunch was one of the best, if not the best on the trip. I find myself loving oranges and shall begin to eat them in earnest upon our return. Well the cliffside stop was pretty good too. On the road again, and I am thankful the collywobbles have mostly passed. Few more hours to the city. Crossing from the Asian side to the European again I am struck by the enormity of the city. We travel down the golden horn past the second more modern of the Sultans palaces, and arrive at the ferry terminal where most disembark for the river cruise. We, however, leave and wade into the throng of humanity in and around the spice market. What feels like an eternity later, we find the market entrance. The streets around the market are packed with people and shops and dudes delivering tea on silver platters. The whole scene is too chaotic for photographs and out of control, but we are on a mission and dive into the market.
A bittersweet day. We are on the road at 7:30am bound for Istanbul, not Constantinople. The scenery is mostly the same as every other day. We work on puzzles and doze. Stopping for lunch at yet another Turkish roadside cafeteria with the same food as all the others, but today we have a secret weapon. Leftovers from the market! Certainly not the most scenic of places for a picnic, a curb in the parking lot at a truck-stop, but that lunch was one of the best, if not the best on the trip. I find myself loving oranges and shall begin to eat them in earnest upon our return. Well the cliffside stop was pretty good too. On the road again, and I am thankful the collywobbles have mostly passed. Few more hours to the city. Crossing from the Asian side to the European again I am struck by the enormity of the city. We travel down the golden horn past the second more modern of the Sultans palaces, and arrive at the ferry terminal where most disembark for the river cruise. We, however, leave and wade into the throng of humanity in and around the spice market. What feels like an eternity later, we find the market entrance. The streets around the market are packed with people and shops and dudes delivering tea on silver platters. The whole scene is too chaotic for photographs and out of control, but we are on a mission and dive into the market.
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 10
3/24/13:
The day dawns clear and crisp. Unfortunate trouble has befallen my stomach. Between Lunch or dinner the day before, my intestines were poisoned somewhere along the way. I am thankful that it is only a minor case, but enough to take me off my game. An army marches on its stomach after all. We are on the bus for most of the day. Stopping for rice and restrooms. Thankfully the latter is not needed in any major capacity while on the road. We reach Ankara and the Turkish capital and stop at the mausoleum of Ataturk. A giant grand stone building on a bluff in the city center. His tomb sits 45ft below a large pink marble sarcophagus. Guarded by stoic members of the military. They stand for 2 hours at a time before the guard is changed. They don't move and hardly blink. One hand on their rifle and the other on their bayonet. It is a mix of Lincoln memorial and Jefferson/GW grave site. A blitz through the Ataturk museum and back on the bus.
The day dawns clear and crisp. Unfortunate trouble has befallen my stomach. Between Lunch or dinner the day before, my intestines were poisoned somewhere along the way. I am thankful that it is only a minor case, but enough to take me off my game. An army marches on its stomach after all. We are on the bus for most of the day. Stopping for rice and restrooms. Thankfully the latter is not needed in any major capacity while on the road. We reach Ankara and the Turkish capital and stop at the mausoleum of Ataturk. A giant grand stone building on a bluff in the city center. His tomb sits 45ft below a large pink marble sarcophagus. Guarded by stoic members of the military. They stand for 2 hours at a time before the guard is changed. They don't move and hardly blink. One hand on their rifle and the other on their bayonet. It is a mix of Lincoln memorial and Jefferson/GW grave site. A blitz through the Ataturk museum and back on the bus.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 9
3/23/13:
The weather can not make up its mind today. Cold it is always, but things vacillate between snow and sun and wind for much of the day. Looking across the valleys of Cappadocia, you can see a wide sunny patch while a harsh cold wind blows snow into your eyes. This weather adds to the atmosphere of the place. Somehow we have driven into a Dr. Seuss landscape. Volcanic rock deposited over softer sandstone leading to mushroom shaped formations. I would love to describe the beauty of the place, and I imagine Islamic poets and scholars have done this, but I fail to find an adequate way to write of what I have seen. I think of pictures of the grand canyon, only in reverse. Rather going down, land rises up. Mountains that were once hard edged like the Rockies have been mellowed by wind rain and time. If you use the soften tool on a photo of the Rockies, perhaps you get close. Better yet, the US southwest has painted hills, and perhaps that is a better fit. There are strata clearly visible on the hillsides and the mushroom shaped "fairy towers" are all over.
The weather can not make up its mind today. Cold it is always, but things vacillate between snow and sun and wind for much of the day. Looking across the valleys of Cappadocia, you can see a wide sunny patch while a harsh cold wind blows snow into your eyes. This weather adds to the atmosphere of the place. Somehow we have driven into a Dr. Seuss landscape. Volcanic rock deposited over softer sandstone leading to mushroom shaped formations. I would love to describe the beauty of the place, and I imagine Islamic poets and scholars have done this, but I fail to find an adequate way to write of what I have seen. I think of pictures of the grand canyon, only in reverse. Rather going down, land rises up. Mountains that were once hard edged like the Rockies have been mellowed by wind rain and time. If you use the soften tool on a photo of the Rockies, perhaps you get close. Better yet, the US southwest has painted hills, and perhaps that is a better fit. There are strata clearly visible on the hillsides and the mushroom shaped "fairy towers" are all over.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Turkish Odyssey - Day 8
3/22/13:
After yesterdays long bus journey, todays short jaunt across a plateau was welcomed. We visit a silk road hotel of long ago. It is a short stop. Not terribly much to see. 3 evil eyes later we board the bus. Lunch, same as it ever was. Passing from the plateau we enter the Cappadocia region. Craggy hills dot the landscape. Houses are cut into the rock. Hillsides look like pictures of the south-western US deserts. We stop at a weaving center. Ladies sit on small cushions weaving all around the room. Silk worms are converted from cacoon to thread and what seems like 1000 rugs are unfurlled around the room. Wool on wool, wool on cotton, silk on silk. The just keep coming.
Reki is provided, an awful liquorice flavored grape based liquor. Wonderful if the taste appeals to you, but I am not appealed. Becky and I fall in love with a 4x7 rug from a region in Western Turkey. Light blue turquoise boarder with 3 crosses in the middle. The issue comes in the price. $1,100 down from the original quoted price of $1,500. We likely could have driven it lower, but not low enough. We must part with it, but a smaller rug from the same region comes out. I am a bad negotiator and tip my hand in the wrong way saying $400 max. The quote $750. Drop to $500, then $450, and finally if we take it home with us...$400. Deal. It is a beautiful rug. Handcrafted and lovely. Not the rug, but a lovely substitute that we will love. I feel in my heart that we did well, but my gut nags me with some tiny bits of doubt. If income were disposable I would perhaps feel better, but AAAS has fallen through. No sense in wondering and fretting over what I could have and should have done differently, but I find it hard not to think about it. The more I reflect, the position would have taken me in a direction I have increasingly felt wrong for me. This door has closed. I accept it and will move forward as must be done.
We visit some pillars of stone that are 10 thousand years old, a winery with staff who are not interested in sales and check into a very strange hotel. Peri Tower is made to look and feel like you are in a cliff. It does have a fireplace, which is fun to sit by as I write this.
After yesterdays long bus journey, todays short jaunt across a plateau was welcomed. We visit a silk road hotel of long ago. It is a short stop. Not terribly much to see. 3 evil eyes later we board the bus. Lunch, same as it ever was. Passing from the plateau we enter the Cappadocia region. Craggy hills dot the landscape. Houses are cut into the rock. Hillsides look like pictures of the south-western US deserts. We stop at a weaving center. Ladies sit on small cushions weaving all around the room. Silk worms are converted from cacoon to thread and what seems like 1000 rugs are unfurlled around the room. Wool on wool, wool on cotton, silk on silk. The just keep coming.
Reki is provided, an awful liquorice flavored grape based liquor. Wonderful if the taste appeals to you, but I am not appealed. Becky and I fall in love with a 4x7 rug from a region in Western Turkey. Light blue turquoise boarder with 3 crosses in the middle. The issue comes in the price. $1,100 down from the original quoted price of $1,500. We likely could have driven it lower, but not low enough. We must part with it, but a smaller rug from the same region comes out. I am a bad negotiator and tip my hand in the wrong way saying $400 max. The quote $750. Drop to $500, then $450, and finally if we take it home with us...$400. Deal. It is a beautiful rug. Handcrafted and lovely. Not the rug, but a lovely substitute that we will love. I feel in my heart that we did well, but my gut nags me with some tiny bits of doubt. If income were disposable I would perhaps feel better, but AAAS has fallen through. No sense in wondering and fretting over what I could have and should have done differently, but I find it hard not to think about it. The more I reflect, the position would have taken me in a direction I have increasingly felt wrong for me. This door has closed. I accept it and will move forward as must be done.
We visit some pillars of stone that are 10 thousand years old, a winery with staff who are not interested in sales and check into a very strange hotel. Peri Tower is made to look and feel like you are in a cliff. It does have a fireplace, which is fun to sit by as I write this.
Monday, August 26, 2013
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 7
3/21/13:
As eventful as the last two days have been, 7 hours on the bus a lackluster lunch and a mausoleum dedicated to a 13th century Islamic Dervish prophet hardly bears recording. We shopped at a Turkish version of Super-WalMart and stocked up on a few things in Koyna. A conservative town in central Turkey. Even the landscape is repetitive and sleep inducing. Otel Özkaymak is comfortable enough.
As eventful as the last two days have been, 7 hours on the bus a lackluster lunch and a mausoleum dedicated to a 13th century Islamic Dervish prophet hardly bears recording. We shopped at a Turkish version of Super-WalMart and stocked up on a few things in Koyna. A conservative town in central Turkey. Even the landscape is repetitive and sleep inducing. Otel Özkaymak is comfortable enough.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 6
3/20/13:
We have gone off the map so to speak. I am no longer sure what comes next. Ephesus was the place I most wanted to see, and now we enter the central part of the country and the unknown. A word about the Turkish countryside. Small town, overcrowded with marketplaces and shops punctuate a largely agrarian landscape. Ramshackle houses, herd of sheep and goats tended by shepherds, half built concrete shells, tractors and gas stations dot the landscape at regular intervals. As I write this and reflect, it reminds me of West Virginia of Morgantown, of places near the farm. The ingenuity of the farmer is not exclusively an American trait. It is on full displace in the Turks we pass. No mega-agro-complex here. At least, I see no sigh of them. They grow what grows best in that area. While I am sure they use chemicals as well, the farming appears closer to show it should be done. That is to say, it looks that way from the bus window at 90km/hr, for what thats worth.
Day 6. We must sadly depart our very nice hotel. A further disappointment comes when we find our bus seats with leg room that is 3 sizes too small. Torture chairs is perhaps too hard a description, but not far off from the pain this arrangement causes in foot knee and back. Mercifully it is a short bus day with many breaks. The first comes 20 minutes in at Pöpülar Leather.
We are subjected to an unfortunately awkward fashion show of 2013-2014 "looks." The Turkish models were too stern and very clearly part-time. One man had a scar across the back and top of his head, leaving me wondering during the whole show, where that had come from. Post show we are herded into a show room with very expensive leather coats and goods. The experience is unseemly and I desire to leave immediately upon entry. The tour groups must recoup some cost by taking a fee for dropping us there, no other reason to do this. Makes senses that our trip is cheap, if we stop at places like this. Crammed back into our sardine tin we depart for Pamukkale and Hierapolis.
[We also are told at this point that Levent may be leaving us that evening to return home to his wife who has been injured in an automobile accident. She is OK but is in the hospital, and Levent is clearly feeling the effect of not being able to go to her, which is understandable.]
I had no expectation of the place, and no idea it was home to thermal calcium carbonate waters and deposits that cover several cliff sides. The Romans built baths and a city on top of the waters as part of a large clinic area. People would come to soak in the waters to be healed. The pure snowy whiteness of the cliffs is amazing. You can still walk and swim in the pools and also swim in an "ancient pool." The introduction to the place is mercifully short and we are given several hours to explore the site and eat. We love this site and immediately hike to the highest point of it. Out efforts are rewarded with the Martyrium of St. Phillip and his tomb. At least we hunted for the tomb, but without the correct staff height we looked in the wrong place and found no informative signage. [Just discovered that we did actually see it. It was in a small church below the Martyrium] As the hill was such a distance from the more "touristic" parts of the site, we are nearly alone on the peak. A polish woman that scaled hills like a mountain goat was the only other. The view of the valley below was stunning. You could see why the spot was picked even without the white cliffs.
We have gone off the map so to speak. I am no longer sure what comes next. Ephesus was the place I most wanted to see, and now we enter the central part of the country and the unknown. A word about the Turkish countryside. Small town, overcrowded with marketplaces and shops punctuate a largely agrarian landscape. Ramshackle houses, herd of sheep and goats tended by shepherds, half built concrete shells, tractors and gas stations dot the landscape at regular intervals. As I write this and reflect, it reminds me of West Virginia of Morgantown, of places near the farm. The ingenuity of the farmer is not exclusively an American trait. It is on full displace in the Turks we pass. No mega-agro-complex here. At least, I see no sigh of them. They grow what grows best in that area. While I am sure they use chemicals as well, the farming appears closer to show it should be done. That is to say, it looks that way from the bus window at 90km/hr, for what thats worth.
Day 6. We must sadly depart our very nice hotel. A further disappointment comes when we find our bus seats with leg room that is 3 sizes too small. Torture chairs is perhaps too hard a description, but not far off from the pain this arrangement causes in foot knee and back. Mercifully it is a short bus day with many breaks. The first comes 20 minutes in at Pöpülar Leather.
We are subjected to an unfortunately awkward fashion show of 2013-2014 "looks." The Turkish models were too stern and very clearly part-time. One man had a scar across the back and top of his head, leaving me wondering during the whole show, where that had come from. Post show we are herded into a show room with very expensive leather coats and goods. The experience is unseemly and I desire to leave immediately upon entry. The tour groups must recoup some cost by taking a fee for dropping us there, no other reason to do this. Makes senses that our trip is cheap, if we stop at places like this. Crammed back into our sardine tin we depart for Pamukkale and Hierapolis.
[We also are told at this point that Levent may be leaving us that evening to return home to his wife who has been injured in an automobile accident. She is OK but is in the hospital, and Levent is clearly feeling the effect of not being able to go to her, which is understandable.]
I had no expectation of the place, and no idea it was home to thermal calcium carbonate waters and deposits that cover several cliff sides. The Romans built baths and a city on top of the waters as part of a large clinic area. People would come to soak in the waters to be healed. The pure snowy whiteness of the cliffs is amazing. You can still walk and swim in the pools and also swim in an "ancient pool." The introduction to the place is mercifully short and we are given several hours to explore the site and eat. We love this site and immediately hike to the highest point of it. Out efforts are rewarded with the Martyrium of St. Phillip and his tomb. At least we hunted for the tomb, but without the correct staff height we looked in the wrong place and found no informative signage. [Just discovered that we did actually see it. It was in a small church below the Martyrium] As the hill was such a distance from the more "touristic" parts of the site, we are nearly alone on the peak. A polish woman that scaled hills like a mountain goat was the only other. The view of the valley below was stunning. You could see why the spot was picked even without the white cliffs.
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 5
3/19/13:
Ephesus! Grand Damé of them all.
Breakfast as good as supper, but 15 minuets extra sleep resulted in a mad dash through our meal.
Climbing a massive hill we find the church built over the foundation where Mary spent her last days with St. John. The house dates to the 1st century, and the church to the 3rd. Leah spoke of places where the distance between earth and God shrinks, this place felt like one of those spots. It was a shame that many in our group did not seem to respect the holiness of the place. It was a small simple structure, but it served its purpose. Descending, we can see Ephesus for the first time. It was a grand city. The 3rd largest in the ancient world behind Rome and Constantinople. We enter by Roman baths where all must bath on entrance to the city. An agora stretches around us, marble lined colonnaded streets and several theaters at both the upper and lower gates. You begin to get some sense of how big the place is, but only just.
Ephesus! Grand Damé of them all.
Breakfast as good as supper, but 15 minuets extra sleep resulted in a mad dash through our meal.
Climbing a massive hill we find the church built over the foundation where Mary spent her last days with St. John. The house dates to the 1st century, and the church to the 3rd. Leah spoke of places where the distance between earth and God shrinks, this place felt like one of those spots. It was a shame that many in our group did not seem to respect the holiness of the place. It was a small simple structure, but it served its purpose. Descending, we can see Ephesus for the first time. It was a grand city. The 3rd largest in the ancient world behind Rome and Constantinople. We enter by Roman baths where all must bath on entrance to the city. An agora stretches around us, marble lined colonnaded streets and several theaters at both the upper and lower gates. You begin to get some sense of how big the place is, but only just.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Merry-Go-Round Rabbit
As an intermission to the Turkish trip posts, I present this fine thing. And just think it could be yours!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 4
3/18/13:
Day 4 will take us from Çanakkale to Pergamum, home to a Roman health center and a giant hillside theater. The theater and top of the old city are unfortunately closed because the tour buses were causing damage to the ruins. It was all the same because we were taken through a Roman health center. Sick persons were not allowed in and those persons who were shown in were treated to more an ancient world spa than a hospital. A marble slab heated from below was used as a table on which a person would lay. A masseur would then come and "make massage with hot oil" while a physician whispered "you will be well." We are increasingly left with only 15-20 minutes to explore sites on our own. This has started to feel akin to a cruise. A land cruise...watch out for land sharks.
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 3
3/17/13:
Day 3 comes at 5am as an Imam cracks the mic and gets to the serious business of intoning. We are to eat, pack, deposit bags outside the door and depart at 8am. Somehow time on the first leg of the bus journey flies by. Levent's anecdotes about Turkey help, but also lull one to sleep. We lunch at a fish market style restaurant next to the ferry dock. The ferry takes us from European Turkey to Asian Turkey. Once in Asia, we visit Troy, which is mostly a non-site. A few walls and a reconstructed house dot the sight. I am again at a loss with just how old these ruins are. From Troy I to Troy XI a thousand years? 500 hundred? Cartoon lengths of time either way.
Day 3 comes at 5am as an Imam cracks the mic and gets to the serious business of intoning. We are to eat, pack, deposit bags outside the door and depart at 8am. Somehow time on the first leg of the bus journey flies by. Levent's anecdotes about Turkey help, but also lull one to sleep. We lunch at a fish market style restaurant next to the ferry dock. The ferry takes us from European Turkey to Asian Turkey. Once in Asia, we visit Troy, which is mostly a non-site. A few walls and a reconstructed house dot the sight. I am again at a loss with just how old these ruins are. From Troy I to Troy XI a thousand years? 500 hundred? Cartoon lengths of time either way.
A Turkish Odyssey - Day 2
3/16/13 (Recorded on 3/17):
Day 2 dawns, dark, cold, wet. So much water. Everywhere puddles eat my shoes. Chicken nuggets for breakfast...why not? Here at Hotel Mosaic I think of Hotel Zlaty Andel on that small Czech square. I find myself thinking often of the Czech's here. Same vibe, but the Czech's are a kinder gentler people. Perhaps years of communist rule mellows a country out. Dissertation topic perhaps?
Much to do this day, and buckets of rain with 40ºF temps won't stop our group from standing out and doing them. More hippodrome and more rain. Removing our shoes we enter the Blue Mosque. Over 26,000 blue and red tiles cover the walls and ceiling. For a first visit to a mosque, this is a fairly magnificent specimen.
Day 2 dawns, dark, cold, wet. So much water. Everywhere puddles eat my shoes. Chicken nuggets for breakfast...why not? Here at Hotel Mosaic I think of Hotel Zlaty Andel on that small Czech square. I find myself thinking often of the Czech's here. Same vibe, but the Czech's are a kinder gentler people. Perhaps years of communist rule mellows a country out. Dissertation topic perhaps?
Much to do this day, and buckets of rain with 40ºF temps won't stop our group from standing out and doing them. More hippodrome and more rain. Removing our shoes we enter the Blue Mosque. Over 26,000 blue and red tiles cover the walls and ceiling. For a first visit to a mosque, this is a fairly magnificent specimen.
Location:
Istanbul, Turkey
A Turkish Odyssey - Travel and Day 1
What follows is a direct transcription of my travel journal.
3/16/13 (Recounting 3/14 & 3/15):
In the worlds smallest plane, I fail to stand. We are told to expect turbulance. A fifty min. flight. So fast we never climb over 12,000 feet. Eternities move faster than the final approach. Lurch, jolt, bum. A thesaurus is needed to describe the movement of the plane once we dipped into the marshmallow clouds. Never has joy to thump onto the tarmac been so sweet.
3/16/13 (Recounting 3/14 & 3/15):
In the worlds smallest plane, I fail to stand. We are told to expect turbulance. A fifty min. flight. So fast we never climb over 12,000 feet. Eternities move faster than the final approach. Lurch, jolt, bum. A thesaurus is needed to describe the movement of the plane once we dipped into the marshmallow clouds. Never has joy to thump onto the tarmac been so sweet.
Location:
Istanbul, Turkey
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