a Review from the Top

Chapter fourteen Mercedes Benz GLE 450E

2024-02-22T13:17:00.000-06:00

We needed a car that we could take on road trips, and not worry about charging stations. But we liked the ability to run full electric in the city, so a hybrid seemed like the right choice. We test drove many of them and decided that the Mercedes was the best for us. I am very happy with this decision after a trip to Milwaukee and back. It is the most comfortable driving car I have ever owned.

The dog likes it, too.

Chapter thirteen 2018 Tesla Model 3 LR

2024-02-22T13:01:00.003-06:00

This is an incredibly fast (make that quick) car. Very fun to drive, as are most electric cars. You get 100% torque at 0 RPM, as any engineer will tell you.

Plus, it is red:

Not the prettiest car I've ever owed (that is still the Mercedes E420) but it does the job:

Dan's Famous Bean Soup

2023-03-10T14:07:00.000-06:00

I was asked to document my process for making Dan's Famous Bean Soup. So I took a few photos (for this particular batch) so that everyone can see what it takes.

Of course, you can start with any beans, but the best beans we have are the Rancho Gordo beans. In this case, I am using the Vaquero Beans, which look like Holstein Cows.

(In case you didn't know, for every cow there is an equal and opposite bean. See here.)

Rancho Gordo Vaquero Beans

As with most of my bean soups, I like to use some fresh herbs. In this case, I have some thyme growing on the back porch:

Fresh Thyme

And I like the way fresh bay leaves liven up the soup:

Bay Laurel Tree

Thyme, cut

Fresh Herbs, thyme and bay leaves. Feel free to put in whatever you have. Oregano, parsley, sage. But keep in mind that the high pressure will smooth out all these flavors. If you want to preserve them, you may want to add some right before you serve.

Thyme and Bay Leaves, washed and ready to go

Now, of course you will need the vegetables. Again, use what you have on hand. Hard to make soup without onions and garlic, though.

Yellow Onions

I use soup as an opportunity to use vegetables that might be a little past their prime. Here is an example of some old celery, that will be delicious in the soup:

Celery

I did pick up some fresh peppers, though, This red pepper was HUGH! Almost a pound. beautiful, though.

Red Bell Pepper

I always feel bell peppers are interchangeable. Red, green, orange, what have you. Pick them for their size and their color if you want.

The green one is much smaller than the red one.

Green Bell Pepper

I like jalapeños in my soup! You may not. These are not really too hot.

Jalapeño

Of course, you need carrots. What is a soup without carrots?

Carrots

And garlic is a necessity as well. I like lots of garlic. I think it is very hard to put in too much garlic.

Garlic

And here is the whole ensemble:

Looks delicious, doesn't it?

This is olive oil in the pressure cooker. Put it in, and turn the heat on as low as it can go. Let it heat up the whole pot.

Olive oil in pressure cooker

And of course, you need salt. This is salt from Argentina, the salt beds in the northern part of the country. You can see where it came from here.

Salt from Salta, Argentina

In case you didn't know, the carrots must be peeled. We don't name inanimate objects in this house, but if we did, the device we use to perform this function would be called Emma Peel.

Peeled Carrots

Since this is going into a pressure cooker, you don't need to be to precise in the chopping. If I were just going to cook the soup on top if the stove, I would probably chop them finer.

Chopped Carrots

Into the bucket.

Vegetable Bucket with carrots

Chopped celery.

Chopped celery

Put it all in the bowl.

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots and Celery

These are good looking beans. That is one pound

Vaquero Beans

You need to wash them and look for field debris. I have never seen field debris in any Ranch Gordo beans

Washing Beans

Washed Beans

Now you chop the other vegetables while the beans drain.

First, the red bell pepper, As I said earlier, this is a HUGE pepper.

Heading and footing red bell pepper

Unroll the pepper so you can turn it into matchsticks

Unrolling the pepper

Then you line them up and getting ready to chop

Lining up the matchsticks

Chopped red bell pepper

Chopped Red Bell Pepper

Add the peppers to the vegetable bucket

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper

Do the same with the Green Bell Peppers

Chopped Green Peppers

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers

Now chop the Jalapeño

Prepping the Jalapeño

I like to chop the Jalapeño fine, and leave the seeds in to give it a little extra heat

Chopped Jalapeño

Vegetal Bucket getting full

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño

Now the onions. I did two, a big one and a medium one. But like garlic, it is hard to have too much onion

Onions, peeled

I use an onion technique I learned from a Knife Skills book. You cut the onion in half, then slice it radially. Finally, you chop it into slices

Onion, ready to chop

Then you chop it.

Chopped Onion

Add it to the bucket.

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño, and one Onion

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño, and Two Onions

Of course, you have to dispose of the scraps.

Peels, seeds, etc

My Coffea Arabica plant as a palate cleanser.

Coffea Arabica

Then you put is all in the pressure cooker

Everything dumped into the pressure cooker

Stirring the pressure cooker

Now, on to the garlic. More is always better.

Garlic

I chop the garlic fine.

Finely chopped garlic

You can add any spices you want. These are whitish beans, so I usually use lighter spices. If I had darker beans, I would add cumin, for example. Here, just oregano and cayenne pepper

Spice and Herb

Once the onions get translucent, I add the stock

Softened vegetables

I use my frozen stock. It is VERY concentrated, so two cups is about four cups of normal stock. I back-fill with water

Softened vegetables and stock

Then I add the beans. Aren't they pretty?

Beans in!

Then I chop up some frozen ham I had in the freezer. Adds flavor and some fat

Frozen ham

About 360 grams, but add what you have. A smoked ham-hock would also do well.

I chop it into bite size pieces

Chopped Ham

Then I dump it all together and add enough water to cover.

Ready to pressurize!

Locked and loaded!

Heating up!

Now, about that waste

Ready to compost

We have a small compost bucket on the back porch

Compost

Then I cleaned everything up before Doreen came home

Clean dished in sink

Coffea Arabic on a clean counter

Now you wait.

It takes about 10 minutes to get this pressure cooker, with this much liquid up to temp

Pressurizing

This is the perfect pressure.

At Pressure

I let it get a little out of hand...

Over Pressure (too hot!)

But it turned out perfect.

15 minutes under pressure, natural release.

Finished soup

I love cooking bean soup

Geneva

2019-09-01T16:39:00.001-05:00

The trip to Geneva (described in the last post) proceeded like, well, clockwork:

(we love these Stoptogo Swiss clocks. We bought one for our kitchen)

And that was a good thing. We arrived in Geneva around 1:30, and had tickets for a guided tour of CERN at 3:00. (Doreen really indulges me). I had to get up at 1:30 AM 15 days ago to get these tickets.

The hotel (Hotel de la Paix) was great - they gave us a three day Geneva Pass, so we could just take the metro to the site.

It is quite a place, but not really set up as a tourist site. Doreen described it as NASA before it became Disneyfied.

There is real work going on here, and they haven't taken too much time to cater to fans of the Big Bang Theory.

Me, CERN, and Sputnik. All from 1957.

The first piece of equipment installed at CERN was the Proton Synchrotron (now decommissioned)

This was the machine used to confirm the pion (pi meson) theory:

π+	→	e+	+	ν e
π−	→	e−	+	ν e

in 1958. Very cool.

Some of the original office equipment. An adding machine and a manual typewriter.

Big wrenches.

Here I was, trying to free the Pions!

This is what the Large Hadron Collider tubes look like:

The Atlas experiment building:

They have painted the outside to look like what the equipment is inside - to scale.

A magnet (prototype)

Atlas control room:

Demo stuff.

Then back to our hotel. (It was very hot. Not because of radiation from CERN, plain old solar radiation)

This is the view from our hotel room:

The Jet d'Eau! Famous all over the world as the symbol of Geneva.

Geneva's Flower Clock

Lenin lived here:

Another mechanical clock with little figures that appear at noon.

This IS Switzerland, after all.

And a diorama of Geneva in 1814!!!

I love this sort of thing.

And this sort of thing! John Calvin's chair!

I was afraid to touch it, but then I remembered that Calvin believed in predetermination. So it doesn't matter what I do, I'll be in heaven if that is what is ordained no matter what I do!

Happy at the realization.

But was this a sign?

We climbed to the top of the cathedral. It was very scary, but the view was nice.

I am not too happy.

Art in the museum. That is a painting of the Jungfrau.

Lake Geneva

Me with Frankenstein's Monster. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (or The New Prometheus) on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1818. She was 17 years old.

Mont Blanc in the distance:

That's our hotel.

Then we went home. Via Washington, DC - a very nice connection.

Murren and the Berner Oberland

2019-09-01T16:13:00.005-05:00

After Zurich, we took a train to Mürren in the Berner Oberland. Well, let's me more precise. Zurich to Bern. Bern to Interlaken Ost. Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunner. Lauterbrunner to Grütschalp. Grütschalp to Mürren. It was complicated and troublesome, but as you can see below, worth it. Never more than seven minutes between trains)

Because this is the view from our hotel room:

The Jungfrau:

The Eiger and the Mönch:

AND us:

It is hard to capture the beauty of this place.

If you like mountains

I goofed up this photo. It is supposed to look like a James Bond title shot:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed here.

Mountains

More Mountains

and more mountains

Here we are, begging for asylum:

A warning

Which Doreen ignored:

The crows of Piz Gloria:

An Ibex!!! I mean, an actual IBEX!!!

We were on the last cable car down for the night. There were only these few hardy souls who stayed up that long. One of those Japanese women came a took a photo of my phone, with this photo on it. Very meta!

This is an edelweiss.

I can tell you this, it was not white, clean, or bright.

The Eiger and Mönch at sunset.

We took a couple of very long (about nine mile or so) hikes up there in the Berner Oberland:

a perfect U-shaped valley:

And cows

And waterfalls. We took our lives in our hands to get to this little beauty. I am very afraid of heights, and this took all my nerve to get to. (Not as bad as the Bridge of Death in Quebec, but bad none the less)

Here is the sign to the waterfall. (The Sprutz. Hahahahhaah!) You'll note it says "Vorsicht!" which in Swiss German means "Almost Certain Death!"

The next day we decided to do it again.

Here is Doreen pointing out our path - to the bottom of the valley:

We went by beautiful meadows:

These folks use a lot of wood. Or at least they store a lot of wood:

A lot of wood!

Touching the water. That's one of our things.

This was the "Dia de los Chorros" or the day of the waterfalls.

I'm not posting all of them, because there were do many!

That U-shaped valley.

The trails are called "Wanderweg" in German. Wander ways. Nice.

That's where we came down from! And yes, we walked.

Cows with bells.

Good looking cows.

That's where we were. But no, we did not walk back up.

Our hotel

Last view

And down on the train, starting our trip to Geneva. (Mürren to Grütschalp. Grütschalp to Lauterbrunner. Lauterbrunner to Interlaken Ost. Interlaken Ost to Bern. Bern to Geneva.)

Bern

2019-09-01T15:40:00.002-05:00

Since this is the year of Friends, Family, and Funerals, we made arrangements to see my first cousin Margaret and her German/Canadian husband Peter in Bern:

We had a great meal (Fondue, Rostie, Raclette, and beer!)

We had great fun. And we saw the Bern Bears:

The cathedral is impressive:

And the BIG Stoptogo clock in their train station:

Details of the Gates of Heaven and Hell on the Cathedral:

A beautiful City:

They have a clock there that does some fanciness at noon(ish)

and lots of these statues posted all around town:

The Rathskeller:

Oslo then Zurich

2019-09-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Doreen and I flew to Europe. United was cobranding their kits with Spiderman:

Doreen went off to Germany to see family (This is the year of Friends, Family, and Funerals, after all. More on that by and by)

I went to Oslo for a board meeting and a strategy session. I won't talk any more about that.

But we did take a cruise around the Oslo Fjord.

That was fun.

Oslo is still beautiful:

But then I flew to Zurich, and met Doreen, who flew in from Berlin.

We stayed at the Dolder Grand, which was a very nice hotel. They upgraded us to a suite, and it had a sweet view of Lake Zurich:

Doreen came from Germany bearing wursts.

I have no idea what sort of wursts these were, but oh my goodness, they were quite delicious.

We ate them for snacks, we ate them for lunch, and sometimes we just ate them,

Zurich is a very German city. The architecture is Wiener Werkstätte all the way.

and they have some great open spaces:

And, of course, a river. The Limmat.

Our first night in town we walked to the old center and ate at a place recommended by the hotel called the Kindli. Great Swiss food!

It's a beautiful thing to see.

And since this is the year of Friends, Family and Funerals, we had the opportunity to see Doreen's high school friend Susie, who lives very near Zurich. We had dinner at a delightful little places called Restaurant Bauernschänke.

We had a great time.

The next day we borrowed the hotel's electric bicycles.

That's Doreen looking up at the hotel.

I didn't mention that the hotel is at the top of a big hill. Essentially at the top of Zurich.

These bikes solved that problem. They were fantastic!

There is a lot to see and do in Zurich.

But we took it pretty easy

This is a Corbusier House. Yes, a real house! Someone lived there for years. It looked very livable.

Almost every trip into town we took this little Funicular:

(If you look closely, you will notice the "Stoptogo" Swiss Train Clock on the left)

Illinois Sojourn Day Three

2019-06-30T17:54:00.001-05:00

On our last day here, we drove from Bloomington to Elgin to visit Doreen's Uncle Chuck, Aunt Ella Mae, and cousin Dana and Dana's husband Roger.

We had a great conversation, and another meal where we just ate too much.

Now, we're stuck at ORD waiting on a late flight. Oh well, into each trip some delays may fall.

This has been a fantastic trip. We'll do something like this again.

Illinois Sojourn Day Two

2019-06-30T17:48:00.000-05:00

Every room on our floor of the hotel was named after a famous train. Ours was the General Pershing.

Here is a photo:

But we packed up and after a considerable delay because Enterprise Rent-A-Car was not prepared for the onslaught of renters, we headed into Illinois.

The first stop was the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Location. Well worth a stop. Cahokia was the second largest city in the Americas in the 10th or 11th centuries. What, something like 50,000 people! Isn't that crazy? All that is left is a few mounds:

some pottery:

and some stone drawings:

They are something to see.

So close to St Louis you can see its skyline from the top of Monk's Mound:

On the way to Springfield, we stopped in Litchfield (not too far from Hillsboro, Coffeen, and Greenville. My neighborhood when I lived here) and ate at Jubelt's on Old Route 66.

Our first stop in Springfield was the Lincoln Museum:

It was something:

Great giftshop:

We stayed in an old converted rooming house, the Inn at 835. (the street number was 835). It was very nice, and the staff was very friendly.

Just two blocks from the State Capitol!

And a short walk to Lincoln's House.

That night we ate at Maldaner's a nice local place that has been open since the late 19th century. Also on Old Route 66. Thought it might have been on Historic Route 66. Always hard to tell.

There is a very well preserved 1904 Frank Lloyd Wright house in Springfield - the Dana Thomas House. Build for a rich widow (aren't they all?) who gave FLW an unlimited budget, it was finished for $60,000. (Using a CPI deflator, that would be about $1.7 million today. But that is honestly way too low). You can read about it on their site, but the short story is that it was bought by a publishing company in 1948 (for $12,000!), kept in great shape and then bought by the State of Illinois for $1,000,000 in 1981. Free tours, $10 donation suggested (which we were happy to pay). Well worth the time.

Doreen loved this little state building:

Then we were off to Bloomington, and the Knapp Family Reunion!

This was at the Chenoa Family Restaurant. Doreen will have to fill in the names. It is in Chenoa, IL.

We had great fun.

Then we went to her cousin Link Roth's farm:

Which is fantastic.

Here is Doreen, her cousin Linc, and his wife Debra.

and here is a youtube of Linc's farm from last year's harvests:

Brings tears to your eyes. Some day I will write more about that story. It is a good story. This is the Heartland, baby.

The on a great cross country, no GPS (thank goodness for our Illinois State Map!) to visit her family that lives on Lake Bloomington:

A great time was had by all!

Illinois Sojourn Day One

2019-06-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

Doreen and I made a trip to Illinois to trace her roots in light of her father going to his great reward last week. We thought this would be a good way to reflect on where she came from, and meet family that I have never seen, and whom she has not seen for many years.

We started in St Louis, as all good journeys do:

The Mississippi was still in flood stage, and you could see that from the air:

We like to stay in interesting small hotels and properties, so Doreen found out that the old Union Station in St Louis was converted to a hotel.

The lobby was fantastic:

With lots of Art Deco glass and statues. The building was built in 1904, or there about.

Every evening they perform several light shows (on the hour, from 6:00 until 11:00). We saw two of them. One was a tribute to Queen. The other was a tribute to the station.

The front desk at the hotel was terrible. They could not be bothered to answer any questions, or be useful in any way, shape, or form. But one of the doormen was great. We asked about someplace interesting to have lunch, and he sent us to The White Knight a couple of blocks away. He said he ate there almost every day for 30 years. (The front desk told us to eat in the hotel).

On the way, we passed the World Chess Hall of Fame. We didn't stop in, though, as we had an appointment at the Arch later.

Here we are at the White Knight. It was tiny. We got great service when we said "Randy sent us". It's good to know someone.

The movie The White Palace was filmed (partly) in this restaurant. Susan Sarandon and James Spader were the stars. It was filmed in 1990, and they still have memorabilia on the walls.

Then we walked back to the Hotel/Train Station. This is it:

We then walked down to the Arch, passing some classic early skyscrapers (some by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright)

The City of St Louis has a surprising amount of what I would classify as Fascist Art. None of these would feel out of place in 1930s Milan.

We passed by a big Richard Sera installation. You can see why he is not loved by the locals who use the space.

And an installation where we were participants.

The Wainwright Building.

And the Arch. It is always fabulous.

Always.

Those light poles are on the river side of the riverfront road. Now underwater.

The PR guy for the Arch Park met us and gave us a tour - Tom Nagle. A great guy, very knowledgeable about the part and St Louis.

Then we met one of Doreen's fellow alumni. This is a view from his office:

Cars Chapter 12 BMW M3

2019-02-24T17:27:00.001-06:00

I am late in talking about this car.

As I mentioned in my last chapter, I traded in my BMW 550i for this new BMW M3 (E90, which means four door)

A fantastic, fast, and fun car. There is NO WAY I am a better driver than this car is a car. 0 to 60 in a very, very short amount of time. DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission) that shifts like a dream.

And a beautiful car, besides.

Some may say it is a little Boy Racer - ish, but what the heck. You only live once.

I will have this car until next Wednesday, three days from now.

Paris 2018. D'Orsay, lunch, Basquiat, Home

2018-12-30T16:56:00.002-06:00

I mentioned we got tickets to the Picasso Blue and Rose show that was at the D'Orsay. Well, it was sort of a mess. It took 1/2 hour to get into the museum because of security, and this was with priority tickets. And then the exhibit was really crowded. They allow photos, no flash, but I only took this one. There were tons of people taking hundreds of photos. I just wanted to be in the moment. Oh, and take this photo of Doreen in a Picasso frame.

Very cool:

We relaxed in the D'Orsay (which has rebranded itself as the D'O. Sounds like a Homer Simpson thing to me)

Here we are, taking a break:

Then we walked to a wonderful place for lunch, L'Ami Jean. It is so good! And fun besides. We had the "business lunch" four courses for only €35. Here is the Chef at the pass:

Lots of Gemütlichkeit in that place.

This is a typical street scene in Paris.

The next morning we went back to the Hotel de Ville and got tickets to the Basquiat show that was at the Fondation Louis Vitton. We had been to the building before, but it looked much different.

It was quite a show. Much of his art is in private hands, so it must have been quite a deal to pull it all together.

He was a troubled young man.

The grounds has white peacocks.

On our way home, we had lunch on the Rue de Martyrs, a street described in the book, The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Sciolino. A fun read if you like Paris.

Later we walked over to the Galleries Lafayette, the biggest department store in Paris.

It was really crowded!

But it was cool.

For our last dinner in Paris we ate at Chez la Vielle - a new Daniel Rose restaurant. We loved his place Spring, since closed. This was a tiny, tiny place - maybe ten tables. I am never sure how Doreen gets these reservations, but she does. It was great.

Then we walked home past the Louvre, and took in this big old glass piece.

Crazy.

Then we flew to Washington, DC (IAD) on a 787:

and had a very easy transfer - one of the best I have ever had.

Then we came home on the last leg in a little 737:

The home was welcoming:

and all was right with the world again:

Paris 2018, a museum and a surprise dinner

2018-12-30T16:24:00.002-06:00

The next morning we walked over to see if we could get into the D'Orsay museum to see if we could get into the (supposedly) sold out Picasso "Blue and Rose" show.

We could not get in.

But we walked over to the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) where they have a tourist bureau, which sold us tickets for the next day.

So then we walked to the Picasso Museum, newly reopened.

On the way, we saw our only indication of the Gilet Jaunes, or yellow vests. And this was really about squatters. The sign says something like, "Mr Macron, stop punishing the poor!" which sort of sums up the Gilet Jaune argument overall.

We got to the Picasso Museum, and it is amazing. Completely redone from the last time we saw it. The sad thing is that the last time you saw a lot of the house that was the museum, now that has pretty much disappeared behind the art.

The are was great.

This is about all you saw of the building:

Doreen loves goats.

and so, apparently, did Picasso:

This is the Hotel de Sens, which we passed on our way back to the apartment. It's very old.

We love this city.

That night we tried to visit a restaurant run by a friend. He happened to be on vacation, but we did get to see the Champs Elysees:

and the, of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Cool.

Since we had no dinner reservations, we decided to stop at a place in the Quai Branly Museum called Les Ombres, which I think means "The Shadows". It had quite a view!

We were there long enough to see the Eiffel Tower light show twice:

A nice day.

Paris, 2018. Christmas

2018-12-30T16:01:00.002-06:00

We rented an apartment in St Germain again, a place we know right well. This place was huge, and had great windows. It was beautiful and owned by some very wealthy folks. Louis Malle's daughter-in-law, to be precise. (You know Louis Malle, right? Married to Candice Bergen for a while, as I understand it. My Dinner with Andre was his big hit in the US.)

The apartment had a great kitchen:

and wonderful views of the streets of Paris:

That night we had dinner reservations at L'Atelier d'Joel Robuchon. A great place to pass the time.

This place just feels great, and the food is fantastic:

I only took this one food photo, of Doreen's dessert:

But I should have taken one of the following dessert. They gave her six little tart pieces and then sang Happy Birthday in French! Tres Bien!

Paris doesn't go in for lights the way London does, but it was still pretty:

and we love Paris!

The apartment was very close to St Sulpice church, so we stopped in on Christmas eve.

As it was Christmas Eve, there was no Baby Jesus in the manger:

And the church was empty. It was eerie.

The Place St Sulpice:

More decorations:

On Doreen's Birthday, better know in some quarters as Christmas Day, we started with the Christmas Service at the American Cathedral (Episcopalians!)

It was a lovely service. The priest was from New Orleans!

Then we had a late lunch at the Bofinger, an old-fashioned Paris Brasserie. Oh what fun this was!

We had fireworks!

and champagne!

in a beautiful room:

You can spot us each the the above two pictures. This should help:

Our only sunny day in Paris, and it was pretty chilly. We walked home past Notre Dame:

and stopped in to St Sulpice to insure that Baby Jesus had arrived:

and made it back for a nice, quiet evening.

London 2018

2018-12-30T15:39:00.003-06:00

2018 was a hard year. And I am not even talking politically. Doreen spent many hours recovering her momma's house from the effects of Hurricane Harvey. (That in and of itself deserves a long and thorough discussion. But perhaps for another day.) And we did much more work on our house than we intended (cascading work - not so much "money pit" as "well, we've had this much done, so let's do that, too") starting with electrical, moving to plumbing, painting, foundation, porches, roof, HVAC, more painting, and well, I think you get the picture. And not to mention, I took a job.

So we decided to slip away for Christmas and Doreen's birthday, and make New Year's Eve a small (three dish) affair for when we returned. So we bought tickets to London, Eurostar to Paris, then home in only slightly over a week.

As always, the hardest thing to leave was The Dog (aka Lulu) but I think we miss her more than she misses us:

We hopped on a plane:

and made it to London in time to have lunch at a place called "Mother Mash" which serves, as you may have guessed, mashed potatoes. (pick the mash, pick your sausage or pie, pick your gravy)

All delicious.

I got sausage:

Doreen got pie:

Then before the show (Company, by Stephen Sondheim, a birthday treat for Doreen) where Bobby is Bobbie and played by a woman. I can tell you this - society, even today, looks at an unmarried 25 year old woman differently than it looks at a 35 year old man. Think about that.

London Christmas decorations:

Before the show we had dinner at a restaurant we have walked by many times, Quo Vadis. It was much better than we had anticipated. Get the smoked eel sandwich if you go.

And that was all the same day we landed!

The next day we walked to the Tate London museum to see both the Burns-Jones exhibit and the Turner prize. On the way we stopped by the Empty Plinth and saw this:

Moving.

Doreen has studied Burn-Jones in college. One of the pre-Raphaelites, you know.

Great stuff. Here is Andromeda being saved by Perseus:

and here is a mermaid dragging a hapless sailor to his watery death:

The less said of the Turner prize this year the better. You can look it up yourself if you want.

We had lunch at Nopi, one of our favorite places in London, and tea with one of my old friends from the PGS board.

The next morning, Christmas Eve, we took the Eurostar to Paris.

Security and Immigration were painful but we made it.

And then we were in Paris!

Quebec and Montreal

2018-09-02T12:58:00.000-05:00

We're just back from a week and a half trip to Quebec and Montreal. Both great cities, both had excellent food.

I will fill in some details below, but the long and the short of it is that we have never been on bikes more on any vacation, and we have seldom had such a great selection of food.

But as always, we start at home, with poor Lulu being left behind. (Luckily, she loves her Aunt Linda, who cares for her while we're gone)

Outbound we flew through Chicago:

Where United met us with Tarmac transportation! This is the first time they've done this for me. The connections were a little tight, and it really helped.

But we made it to Quebec without incident. And this is the view from our hotel:

and that is our hotel:

You don't see signs like this in Houston:

If you ask anyone about food in Quebec, you are likely to hear about poutine. French fries with gravy and cheese curds. It tastes exactly like you think it does.

We had ours at a place called the Le Buffet de l'Antiquaire. We sat outside, and it was delicious.

We also had a meat pie:

The next day we went on a tour of Old Quebec. (the best C$5.00 spent!) we saw this dog:

And a cannon captured from the Russians in the Crimean War:

For lunch, a fantastic meal at the Boulay Boreal Bistro. They offer mostly local ingredients, and this is the time of year for that. Below is a beef plate with potatoes, beets, pine nuts, onions, and more:

It may be obvious from the photos above, but Quebec is build on a hill, so you have a lot of climbing to do:

That evening we ate at Le Clocher Penche, which is an informal, yet outstanding restaurant. We started with Bison Tongue, and ended with a big bowl of seafood with rice.

The next day we stopped by the old market to get sandwiches for a bike ride to Montmorency Falls:

It was about eight miles:

which isn't too bad. Mostly flat

It is a beautiful place. 90' higher than Niagara Falls:

With a scary bridge

And a beautiful view

But we had to walk down these terrifying stairs.

But we made it back to Old Quebec in one piece

The building at the base of the funiculaire was Jolliet's house! (from Marquette and Jolliet) He lived his final years here.

That night we ate at L'Initial, probably the fanciest place in town. No photos, we just enjoyed ourselves.

The next day we took another bike ride in the other direction.

This gave us the chance to touch the St Lawrence River:

and to ride across the scariest bridge I have every crossed in my life:

The Pont d'Quebec failed twice during construction, and is the reason why Canada now certifies Professional Engineers.

The pathway is a kilometer long, and only about 1 meter wide. Two bikes cannot pass each other. The rail is low, the wind is strong, and the drop is far. I was terrified the whole time I was on that bridge.

But I survived. (Doreen has no fear of heights, and would have danced on the railing had I let her. I was scared enough for the two of us)

Here I am, pointing to my nemesis:

But we had a nice picnic afterwards.

View of the hotel from across the river:

That night we ate at a placed called Le Pied Bleu. The chef was from Lyon

We had profiterols

and duck giblets

and sausage and things. Here is the chef. He was very funny.

Finally, the day we left for Montreal, we saw a dynamic diorama (those of you who know me know I love dioramas!) of the history of Quebec. Life doesn't get much better than this!

We crossed the Pont d'Quebec on the train as well. I thought I was done with that bridge.

We happened to be in Montreal at the same time that one of Doreen's old high school friends was dropping her son off at McGill university.

We had a great time for dinner and drinks:

Did you know that Montreal is named after Mont Royal? Huh.

Beaver lake:

We used the bike share "bixi" bikes to get around Montreal. But in this case, it was way uphill. We should have metroed up and bixied down.

You can see Leonard Cohen in this photo if you know where to look:

When people talk of food in Montreal, they talk of poutine (as above) but also of smoked meats and bagels. Schwartz's is the most famous smoked meat place.

They smoke their beef for a couple of weeks. I think we call this pastrami in the US.

They serve it in a big pile with rye bread on the side:

It's delicious. You have to wait in line about 20 minutes to get a table, and they only take cash.

The Old Port on Montreal uses shipping containers for their services. It is very well done.

I haven't seen black squirrels in Houston for a long time, but we saw a couple in Montreal.

The Marches in Montreal were really fantastic. This one is the Marche Jean Talon.

Later that day, we ate at Joe Beef at brother Matthew's recommendation.

Excellent food.

We went through the Archeological Museum, which had greta exhibits, using the small walls that were left in place.

It amazes me that the first European showed up in Montreal in 1535 - that is only 43 years after Columbus landed in the new world! That must have been some half century.

A great lunch at Olive and gourmando's. We had to wait in line here, too.

Montreal has a project called Cité Mémoire, where they are projecting videos on a number of buildings around town. Very interesting. This one is Joe Beef's Funeral:

This is housing built for the olympics - called Habitat '67.

and the Biosphere:

The Notre Dame Cathedral also has a multi-media show called Aura. I'm OK with that.

We also saw the Botanic Garden,

Which has a couple of Patrick Dougherty's installations! (Doreen's park had one a couple of years ago)

The Atwater market offered some amazing sausages:

and a butcher shop called Grinders offered some aged beef:

Our last night in town we ate at Candide. The best of all possible restaurants at that place at that time.

And then we said goodbye to Montreal.

But not without some souvenirs.

The restaurants I didn't get photos of (I don't do that so much anymore. The older I get, I figure I can just look at other people's pictures) were:

Graziella's - an upscale Italian place close to our AirBNB in the Old City. Great service, great space, great food.

Fairmount Bagels - one of the two bagel places in the Bagel Wars of Montreal. The other is St Viateur Bagels. We did not eat at that one.

Au Pied de Cochon - almost too much. They talked us into one too many pieces of Foie Gras - delicious, but just too much.

But they have the best logo:

Toqué! - another grown up restaurant. We had lunch here, and enjoyed it. The desserts left something to be desired, though.

We ate at the two markets above - oddly enough, both times we had William Walter sausages!

MultiGrain Sourdough

2018-06-03T21:40:00.002-05:00

This is the recipe I use for our daily bread.

The mother comes from Dr John, an old friend, who says it is from the California Gold Rush. I have no reason to doubt him.

I start by making a biga the night before. You start with 90g unbleached flour:

add 90 water:

and 90g "fed" starter:

This is what my fed starter looks like. It could be a little more vigorous, but you bake with the starter you have, not the starter you want.

While the scale says "182" there are really 270 g worth of stuff in there.

Mix it so it forms a loose and shaggy biga.

and let it sit overnight.

The next morning, take 540 g (or ml, take your pick) of water and heat it up in the microwave for about 3 minutes

Add it to 100g Bob's Read Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal:

1/4 c butter and 1/4 cup sweetener. I usually use Steen's Can Syrup.

Go for a walk while it sits.

Your biga should look something like this in the morning:

Then take 220 g whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur's)

and 440 g bread flour (same)

and mix it in with your hot cereal.

It will be another shaggy dough. Let it autolyses for an hour or two:

and get your seeds ready. I use sunflower and pumpkin:

This is post autolyse:

add 1 Tablespoon of salt:

Now the bigs is looking great!

Add it after the salt:

Mix it up.

Add the seeds

Mix them up, too.

Now you're ready for the first rise (first proof)

I knead it by hand to make sure it feels right.

then add oil to the mixing bowl, which doubles as my proofing bowl. (I know. Lazy baker.)

Here it is, ready to proof.

Two hours later.

Following Brother Mark's suggestion, I now use Crisco to grease my pans:

This is a good looking boule!

and almost 2 kg. About what I like:

I use wheat germ to cover the loaves. I used to use corn meal, but I like the texture of wheat germ better.

Cover, and second proof.

about five hours later:

Boil some water for humidity. (We don't have enough humidity in Houston)

The bread looks pretty good. Six hours for the second proof.

Boiling water in the small bread pan:

Get ready for an egg wash and seeding the top

One egg and about 1 T of water

Whip it up

Paint the top of the loaves. You can see the egg wash on the right loaf, but not the left one.

Add sesame seeds

poppy seeds

Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

and sunflower seeds.

Boiling water in the pan

Everything goes in the oven

I pre-heated to 500, drop it to 350 when you put the loaves in:

Bake for 42 minutes

Beautiful

Take it out when golden brown

That is the backside

Looks good.

Both look great.

And we have eight breakfasts ready to go.

100% sourdough!

Egypt

2018-03-14T13:46:00.001-05:00

We took a trip to Egypt just recently.

I am posting some stories here.

2017

2017-12-29T11:21:00.000-06:00

2017 is coming to a close. I'll leave politics aside here, but want to reflect on some other things.

In the past, I've kept up this blog regularly. With the addition of new social media platforms, in particular Facebook, and now a family WhatsApp group, the compelling need to blog seems to have declined.

But I miss it personally. First, I like to write. Contrary to Samuel Johnson's edict - I don't get paid money for this. (Call me a fool). But I derive other benefits. Mainly by preserving memories. Restaurant names and impressions, hotel preferences, funny travel stories, they all go away with time. Perhaps they should, I don't know. But I will attempt to grab a couple of them here.

Anyway. Let's get started.

Lulu is very excited about this post.

We always try to get out of town for MLK day. Doreen has it off, and if I happen to be working, I take it off as well. This year, we went to Oaxaca. (This trip is pretty well documented below, so only a couple of photos. Let me say that it is an interesting city, and well worth the trip)

2017 was the year that I once again fully embraced sourdough bread. I can't possibly post all the photos of all the sour-dough bread that I baked, so let me show a couple of them. This is a "no-knead" (ie Sullivan Street Bakery style) boule:

Here is a multi-grain version that I adapted from Cook's Illustrated. This is our standard breakfast bread that we have toasted almost every morning. It is delicious:

At the end of February, we took a tour of a recently rediscovered Cistern that was built in 1926 for drinking water storage for Houston. The Buffalo Bayou Partnership has made it accessible to the general public and has allowed at least one art installation. This photo does not do it justice, and I did not really try to capture its essence. But I can say that you should visit it (see link just above) and enjoy.

Before our friend David moved to Costa Rica and took his dog BB (the blue merle below) she would come over and sometimes spend the night. Dogs need friends, too.

At the end of February, I was named the Chair of the Bike Houston board. It was at our new, annual Bike Summit, held at the St Arnold's brewery. A very fun event, and I am honored to be a part of this great organization.

And of course, the rodeo comes to town every year. We always try to stop by and watch the parade.

An added bonus this year was this Yard Sale sign we saw on our way home. Ya Dangus!

We were invited to a delightful birthday party for my goddaughter (and grandgoddaughter, too!). She is cuter than anyone can stand!

When my sainted father died, none of us could decide who would get the Momos - little wooden monkeys that have been around the house (We think our father bought them for our mother many years ago) forever. We came up with a tontine to solve the problem. We pass them (Momma Momo and Baby Momo, below) once a year down the family by age, on our father's birthday. I have them right now (for the second time). It is always nice to have the Momos at home. (It's a tontine because as each of the siblings go to our great reward, that family gets skipped in the rotation. When there is only one of us left, the Momos go to their kids, or to their survivors as designated):

To cheer us all up again, my godson (and nephew) Quinn and his delightful wife Roxy. While we don't do resolutions, it would be good to see more of them in 2018. None of us are getting any younger.

Doreen is on the Board of Inprint, a local non-profit that supports creative writing and writers in Houston. This year, George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) came to town. He is from Chicago, but worked for a while as a geophysicist in Texas. His accent is exactly like an old college buddy of mine. If I close my eyes when he talks, I see Don Arneson.

This is my brother Mark and his wife Becky. I thought I had uploaded this photo since it was their 40th anniversary. But that is wrong, it has to be the 41st. That is a long time.

We took a trip to London. This was a funny thing. I usually have a business meeting in London in March. This year, at the last minute, it was changed. So as I had already purchased our tickets to London (and our subsequent onward journey. See below) I had to get a round-trip LHR - OSL flight as well. No harm, no foul. But more travel that I would have liked on this trip.

First world problems. Here we are in Trafalgar Square, near the empty plinth.

We went from London to Paris:

and to the Vuitton Foundation museum in the Bois de Boulogna. Just fantastic.

While in Paris, I was able to eat at our very favorite place, Le Petit Verdot du 17e, because it is run by an old friend (Vincent. Pictured. If you go to Paris, you should eat there, and mention our name. The food is fantastic for such a tiny place. It is not visited by tourists, usually just neighborhood locals. really, you should eat there)

We then took the ICE intercity train to Berlin.

We went to Berlin many years ago, but only for a couple of nights. I think we were here this time a week. This is the red city hall.

Berlin is an interesting city. Since it is essentially new since 1945/1989 you see a lot of pomo apartments and such. But also an occasion really interesting bit of architecture. It is a real working city, and embraces the future as opposed to trying to live in the past. (re: Houston/New Orleans, Berlin/Dresden)

Also some really good restaurants - but they are sort of lost to time. This is the problem with not blogging contemporaneously with the events. I'd steer away from the currywurst, though.

We did get into, and on, the Reichstag. It started with a lecture in the visitor's gallery. Very interesting history! The building was not used as the center of government for very long. Fires, you know.

It was chilly, but Doreen had her pussy hat, and we saw remnants of the Wall.

and some great archaeological artifacts.

But the best part of the trip was visiting with Doreen's cousin, her aunt, her first cousins once removed, and the fathers of the kids. (It is a little more complicated than that, and that sounds complicated!) but suffice it to say, This is Family!!! The warmth and love in the room was tremendous. And coincidentally, the guys lived across the street from the AirBnB we rented! Just crazy.

Because we were flying out of Frankfurt, we spent one night there, too.

We got back to town just in time for the Hermann Park Kite Festival. That's my sister with her kite flying!

And I was able to participate in the Cyclists in Suits lobbying event in Austin, trying to convince the useless Texas legislature to pass some bike friendly rules. They were more interested in bathrooms.

Time for a break.

a nice break.

after a bike ride

and before a trip

looking for a comfortable place to nap

Joe Turner, the head of the Parks Department for the City of Houston, retired. He was a good guy, and had the job for quite a while.

And then Rodney Ellis was elected as a County Commissioner. We in the biking community (that is John Long, the head of Bike Houston on his left, and Mary Blitzer, our former head of advocacy on his right. She moved to Minneapolis and is now working for the Sierra Club) like Rodney quite a bit. He bikes, he does what he says he is going to do, and he is accessible. Especially if you are willing to meet him on a bike.

Doreen had a parks conference in Washington, DC. I tagged along and had a fantastic time

Here I am, wearing the dome as a hat. You might call it a "Cap"itol.

Hahahahahah!!!

Our sweet cats. More on them later. They don't really like each other. Not sure why - when they were kittens, they would snuggle and play like any other cats. But for years and years they just don't like each other. Here, they are just old.

Dig my new do.

My godmother/aunt, two of her daughters(my first cousins) and one first cousin once removed (the boy) and one first cousin twice removed (the baby girl). You can figure it out if you want. It's not as hard as it sounds. (you need to think in generations.)

Little Guy. Staking his claim on this box.

We went to a circus in Houston. The Ring Master looks just like a friend of mine.

Below was a circus of a different type. A bunch of right-wingers planted some lies about Antifa wanting to tear down the statue of Sam Houston that lives in Hermann Park. (There was never such a movement) but then about 500 well armed Republic of Texas types showed up to "defend" General Sam.

Oh there was a lot to unpack here. For example - while Sam did own slaves, he resigned as Governor as Texas rather than secede from the Union. And let's not get into the fact that the reason the Texians wanted independence from Mexico is that Mexico had outlawed slavery.

They didn't mind having their photos taken, though. The black guy was not with the armed fellows.

To celebrate Pride week, an intersection very near our house was painted with rainbow colors.

This was nice. You can still see the colors seven months later.

As summer pulled into full flower, we had a pair of Cooper's Hawks nest behind our house.

and we grilled corn. Because that is what you do in the summer.

You see, there really was a family.

Four of them!

And who doesn't like an image of shorty black socks with boat shoes?

We did see the Astros play the Yankees. We won! A come from behind victory. This was one VERY fun team to watch this year. Oh yeah! We won the World Series!

and we also saw The Village People. Sponsored by AARP. (No kidding!)

And we celebrated the 4th of July at Freedom over Texas. Doreen called that my "Yankee-doodle-do-rag"

Sort of burying the lede here, but I turned 60 this year on July 6th. Historically, birthdays have not bothered me at all. Not 30, 40, 50...

But I think that in each of those years I had been exceeding my own expectations. I have led a very lucky life. Good friends, successful at work, interesting places to live, best wife in the world.

And not that 60 is any different. I could not possibly be happier. Doreen is the best wife ever, and I know she puts up with a lot from me and makes my life better than it could be. We don't worry about our health, and if I pull my hand out of my pocket too fast, I might drop a couple of $50 bills.

I think that at 60 you just can't kid yourself that you are not on the downhill slide. When I turned 50, I did a whole year of blogs about it. (Called, cleverly enough, The Year of Turning 50). I figured I would do the same thing about 60 (you got it. The Year of Turning 60). The first was much more dynamic, and covered the year as the year went by. The second was sort of a confessional I write just days before my birthday. Not really all that interesting.

But yet, here I am.

My birth photo

Must be what, about one?

Looks like first grade

Probably fourth grade or so

Sixth, maybe?

My official graduation photo

My photo that was in the Appleton Post Crescent taken during the graduation ceremony.

Working in Peru a year later

and in Wyoming a couple years after that

In Denver in 1982

In the Lofoten Islands last summer

So we all grow up. The alternative is not attractive. As the Germans say, Die Toten wachsen nicht alt

I'm slowly getting over it.

Later in the summer, Doreen had another Park's conference. This one was in Minneapolis/St Paul.

I've never spent any time there. The hotel was right on the Mississippi River, so we took the opportunity take a look

and we used their Bike Sharing system (NiceBike! You've heard of Minnesota Nice? Well, that is where it comes from. Everytime I would see someone else on one of these bikes I would shout "Nice Bike!" Sometimes they would say, "Thanks!" and some other times they got it. Made me laugh every time)

That's Minnehaha Falls

and that is art.

While Doreen was working, I took the opportunity to visit Mark and Becky (see above)

They like their fire up there in Wisconsin.

After Doreen's conference was over, we went up to Duluth. An interesting little town. Doing very well economically. I hear it gets cold in the winter.

The Great Lakes Aquarium

Some spectacular scenery around there

By the time we got home, our sweet cat, Little Guy was ready to go to his great reward in Kitty Heaven.

It made us all very sad.

Then we went up to St Louis to see the Great American Eclipse.

If you've never seen a total eclipse, you owe it to yourself to do so. There is nothing like it in the world. We ended up at Washington State Park about 80 miles south of St Louis. Very close to the longest point of totality - just short of 3 minutes. The whole anticipation is great, people are happy, and we were lucky. Both in terms of where we picked to watch the eclipse (on a ridge with clear sight lines to the horizon) and the weather (fluffy clouds that did not interfere).

As the time gets close, you notice nothing. You must use the eclipse glasses to keep track of how much of the sun is covered. But until you get to about 98%, it feels just like a cloudy day. They, all of a sudden, the air gets cool, the light changes (in our case to a strange amber) and POP! The sun is gone, and there is a black hole in the sky with a corona of flames around it.

People shout, cheer, yell, kiss, and just look around. You just can't believe it.

There is nothing like it in the world.

Crescent suns in the shade of the trees:

Just go. You must go.

This was a week later, on our way to Oslo. Another board meeting for me, and Doreen tagged along so we could do a little touristing in Norway. I have been going there for 10 years and haven't seen any of the country before this year.

You can tell we were excited.

That white building is their new Opera House.

The Palace.

Vigeland Park. Lots and lots of naked statues.

Columns of naked people

And we saw a circus there, too! (We love these little circuses)

Soon enough we were up in the Lofoten Islands, north of the Arctic Circle.

We saw plenty of rainbows.

and vikings

and cod heads.

They dry all the cod they catch there to make stockfish. That is just dried (not salted) cod. Almost all of it gets exported to Italy. I would like to understand how that trade started.

I love this photo, for some reason:

This is a stunning part of the world

More cod heads

These are pallets and pallets of stock fish.

After the Lofoten Islands, we went to Bergen. A nice, pretty little town. Again, we had some good food - sort of lost to the ages. The weather was beautiful. Everyone told us to be prepared for rain, but it was like this the whole time we were there.

From Bergen we took the Flåm Railroad, often billed as the prettiest rail in the world.

It is hard to argue with that.

This is a typical view.

They stop the train and let you take photos, and then the "hulda" or witch of the mountains comes out to dance, and try to lure the men to untimely deaths.

Nobody on our train was fooled. We were a little late in the season, so the train wasn't crowded. You could move from one side of the train to the other, and the views were unimpeded.

The train ride ends, and then you get on a ferry in the Nærøyfjord. It is the narrowest fjord in Europe, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which means no zodiacs (Called RIB boats here) zipping around making noise.

There was a lot of scenic beauty on this trip.

Cold scenic beauty

And then reality intervened.

While we were in Norway, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, and hit Houston hard.

And Doreen's mother's house (Let's call her Trouta, since that is her name) got slammed by the release of water from the west Houston reservoirs. Four feet of water for a week is devastating.

It is hard to do anything from 5,000 miles away, so Doreen cut short her trip. She came home to this:

I had to stay in Oslo for work, and I saw this:

That water should not be there.

These Good Mormons came by to help with the house.

I eventually got home and was able to help. You should not be able to see any water in this photo.

But Trouta was safe., and in a new place with flowers

and Kringle.

We are a resilient bunch. Life moves on, and Doreen's friend Izumi came by and we had a nice lunch

and we went on the Park to Port bike ride

and saw our favorite County Commissioner again

and I Moonlight Rambled.

Then we made a trip to Wisconsin to see Family and because of my work with the University of Wisconsin.

Very pretty colors.

We saw Noey and Mel, which was very good.

And all sorts of niblings and grand niblings!

Herreras

The Littlest Herrera

The Littlest Bechle

The Big O Bechle!

All the assorted Bechles at the new Bechle Mansion!

a bunch of mining and geological engineers

Close up of the Bechles with Doreen!

Oh! I got an award! That was nice.

And I gave a talk. It was very interesting.

The Bechles went to the Homecoming game!

We went to Milwaukee

To see Sisters

Brothers and Sisters in law

Brothers in law and sisters

This was a good trip. We missed Gus, but otherwise saw everyone back in Wisconsin. Everyone was happy, we had a few beers and generally enjoyed ourselves. Heading back in April, and looking forward to it.

Came home to Houston, and soon, we had this!

What could be better?

I suppose this. I met Ted Cruz.

And we saw the parade!

I helped a friend after his divorce:

Saw this spectacular white raptor. (That is a pigeon in its talons. No, it is not a kite. Almost certainly a leucistic red-tailed hawk)

I fixed our hot water heater. And no, the house has not blown up.

I like this photo of the two of us.

Lulu was taking a break, but watching me closely.

We lost our other cat, too. Djimmah was the first pet we got together. It was very sad to see her go. A beautiful cat in her youth. She had an attitude.

and we prepped for one more trip.

Santa was hanging with the Momos

and Lulu was not too happy we were leaving.

The Amsterdam airport was a big, wet, stinking mess.

Yet, eventually we made it to Tromsø. Our last trip of the year.

Why Tromsø?

Northern Lights.

Tromsø is at about 70° North Latitude, or about 66 miles north of the arctic circle. (Further north than we were before, in the Lofoten Islands). We knew that the odds were pretty good that we get a chance to see the lights, but you never know. First you need to have clear skies. Then, you need to have solar activity. (even though the sun does not break the horizon this time of year).

We signed up with Chasing Lights on a mini-van tour. These guys were great. They had clothes (you can seem them further below) and our guide Merak, really knew how to find the lights. He also took all the photos below, and asked for no credit.

The silouette was Merak's idea. Having everyone point was my idea.

It was a pretty fun little group.

We stopped at three different locations, saw lights at two of them. We left Tromsø at 6:15 PM, got back to the hotel at 2:30 AM. Worth every minute. Worth every NOK.

Dog Sledding is the second reason we went to Tromsø.

We chose Tromsø Husky for this part of the trip. Again, a professional and well run group. They picked us up at the hotel at 12:30 PM, and drove us about 40 minutes north of the city.

We got dressed and ready to ride!

The dogs were nothing if not eager to run.

For the first half of the run Doreen was the passenger (in the Sam McGee position) and I was the musher.

This is as light as it ever got in Tromsø.

We were ready to go, too!

The dogs loved to run

For the second half of the ride I was in the Sam McGee position. Much less work, and just as much fun! Doreen needed plenty of advice to keep from running off the track or running down the other sleds.

Two sleds got lost! Well, they took the wrong turn. I would have been happy to spend more time on the sled as well.

It was a real treat.

The Third reason to visit Tromsø was Lutefisk! A delicious Christmas meal!

And the final reason to visit Tromsø was Sami Reindeer Stories! For this trip we used Tromsø Arctic Reindeer. Another well run group. Again, they picked us up at the the hotel (10:00 AM this time)

They told us Sami stories, we fed the "wild" reindeer, and when on a short (10 minute, thank goodness. No need for more than that) reindeer sled ride.

They were very friendly.

And I loved the Sami Hat.

We got back to Tromsø and took a quick stroll around town before heading back to Oslo, and then back home.

But not before finding these little Bertil gingerbread men, all with only one leg. You remember the story about how he had to feed his leg to the fox to get over the river, right?

Gruesome, but delicious.

and to cap off the year, a Christmas Goose.

The Great American Eclipse

2017-08-22T08:49:00.001-05:00

It was a great day.

Started early (well, maybe late last night). None of the weather forecasts were cooperating. We kept checking and checking every site we could find. They all said the same thing - more likely than not to have rain or at least cloud cover starting at 1:00 PM.

So I woke up at about 3:30 AM - thinking that by looking at the forecast again it would get better. It didn't. But we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and decided (at sort of the last minute) to go PAST De Soto and get into Washington State Park. If it was cloudy, at least we would be in a state park.

The path of totality

The details of totality at Washington State Park

The drive down was as smooth as silk. No traffic at all, and when we got to the park it was practically wide open. Now, it was about 9:30, so we had some time to wait.

We met several other Eclipistas, and did a couple of small hikes, rescued a tortoise who was looking like he wanted to walk across the road, and saw some petroglyphs (A Thunderbird, some snakes, a "three legged" man...) and just passed the time.

The Great Serpent

The Thunderbird

The Tortoise Eclipse of the Sun

It was HOT, and it was SUNNY! We were HOPEFUL!!!

We had purchased some treats (Cheese, sausage, bread, cole slaw, buttermilk pie) from Straub's Deli in St Louis (Thanks Gary!) and some nice cold water (Remember, I was driving back to the airport later in the day) for lunch. Right as the first bite was taken out of the sun (11:49) we cheered (Still sunny!) and then ate lunch on a shady picnic table.

After we ate, we wandered up to the main Eclipse Viewing Area in the park (where the petroglyphs live) and chatted with everyone we met.

As the event grew closer, we grew more nervous. Ten minutes from totality (about 1:16 here) a big fluffy cloud passed in front of the sun. The crowd sighed.

About four minutes before totality, the cloud passed away. The crown cheered!

And then it happened. I can only describe totality the way Hemingway described going bankrupt. It happened slowly at first, and then all at once.

You wait and wait and wait and nothing happens. Then, minutes before totality, the light changes drastically. In our case, the whole sky turned amber. Like looking through ski goggles. Then BOOM! The sun is gone, it is dark, the horizon (in all directions) is orange, and there is a black hole where the sun used to be, surrounded by a stunningly beautiful corona. Stars and planets appear where they have no right to be. Photos do not do it justice.

Then 2 minutes and 37 seconds fly by (the fastest 2'37" in your life) and it's over. The process reverses itself, and all you have left are crescent suns in the dappled light under the trees.

I can't think of anything that compares.

Monte Alba

2017-01-20T15:04:00.000-06:00

For our last full day in Oaxaca, we visited the Monte Alba, a Mixte site that was founded in about 1,000 BC (BCE), and abandoned about 1,000 AD (CE). Our guide was a Mixte. he said you could tell the difference between Mixte and Zapotec because the Mixte were so much better looking.

There is a lot of speculation about what went on here, since it was abandoned so long ago.,

Here is a diorama of the site:

You'll see more of that later.

There are a number of tombs on the site, here is one you see as you walk from the entrance.

According to our guide, Juan the Communist, these trees supplied both the fabric that the Mixtecs wore, and the name of the mountain. (the white blossoms inspired the Spaniards to name the place Monte Alba)

The excavations have uncovered a huge site, with many small (well, not really that small) buildings that look like this:

It is a beautiful setting, in the Sierra Madre mountains.

We learned something from Juan the Communist on this tour. When archeological sites are reconstructed, they insert small pebbles in the mortar so that subsequent researchers can distinguish the original from the new. Clever. One of my archaeologists friends confirmed this, and said it was a relatively new technique, but one that is rapidly gaining acceptance.

Much of this site has been reconstructed.

Below is the ball court. You may have heard stories about how the winners of games would be sacrificed, as victory was a sign of favor from god (the gods. I am not sure if they were monotheistic or not), and it was an honor to be sacrificed. J the C was not convinced of this, and neither were we.

It is hard to appreciate the scale of this place.

We liked the buildings that had some detail

and some writing.

I am not sure if these have been translated or interpreted.

Neat stuff

You can see buildings that have been partially restored

and some that have not been restored at all

A view of the site looking north

and looking south

My lovely bride

Me, for scale

Doreen was very happy to be there

The stelle of the three women gods. Goddesses, I suppose you could call them

It was fun to see the carved stones in the jumble.

See where we are? (Above and below)

And here is where we were earlier.

The following two stones are called "The Dancers" (there are a couple more) but they are more likely enemy soldiers being castrated and eviscerated.

A communal tomb.

Goodbye buddy!

Tule, Mezcal, San Jeronimo Tlacochahuaya, and Mitla

2017-01-19T15:03:00.002-06:00

When we travel to a new place, we use all available resources to know what there is out and about the city. In Oaxaca's case, that also included the cab driver, Marcelo, who took us from the airport to the hotel.

(Short aside here: We had booked a car through the hotel to pick us up at the airport for a nominally higher cost than a street cab. That is one thing I like - having a car waiting for me at the airport. Sometimes it doesn't work out - the driver wasn't waiting. That completely eliminates any reason to pre-book. I won't wait for the car. So we just took an airport taxi, got Marcelo, whom we used to drive us around while in town. The hotel wasn't too happy with us, but I told them that the driver wasn't there when we were.)

Marcelo told us that the "Oldest tree in the world" was very close to Oaxaca. We looked it up, and sure enough, either the oldest, or maybe the widest, tree in the world was in the town of Tule, a hop, skip, and a jump from Oaxaca.

And it is in a nice little public square. You can see the City Hall below, and the tree to the right:

It is a big, old tree:

If you can't read all that, it says that the tree is a Taxodium Mucronatum, more than 2,000 years old, a circumference of 58 meters, height of 42 meters, diameter of 14.05 meters, a volume of 816,829 cubic meters, and a weight of 636,107 tons (I assume metric tons)

It is in front of this cute little church.

It is one big tree!

This tree isn't quite so big.

It is the son of the biggest tree!

They had a little garden, with these cool plants.

After we left Tule, Marcelo asked if we wanted to see the San Jeronimo Tlacochahuaya church. Of course!

We were glad we did. The church was build in the late 16th century by the Dominicans (the Dominicans were in charge of the souls in this part of Mexico. The Jesuits were in charge of the souls in the north)

It was a painted church, and retained a lot of its charm

As in a lot of these old churches, they have statues that they parade around town during feast days.

I am sure that this one is used on Palm Sunday:

The details were really nice. It was nice to think that these were all done by people of faith as part of their tradition of worship

There was also a very old organ in the church - from the early 18th century (1730 according to some notes)

It was really something

Most interesting were the faces painted onto the pipes:

They still play it!

But I wouldn't want to be the guy who pumps the bellows.

So off we went to the most touristy and commercial part of our trip.

The obligatory Mezcaleria!

Here we are with the "pineapples" of the agave plants.

After they are harvested, they cooked for a couple of days on charcoal.

Then they are ground up on this stone mill:

With a horse!

Then distilled:

Three times:

Finally, we had to try some.

We have to try plenty:

And eat those damned chipolinos.

Grasshoppers. You can keep 'em as far as I am concerned.

After all that, we finally were on the way to our main destination, the archeological ruins at Mitla.

We've started hiring guides at these places, especially when we haven't done our homework. Mitla is a Zapotec site. While the area has been occupied since about 100 AD (or common era, CE, for you sticklers) but the ruins date from mainly about 800. The Zapotecs were one of many civilizations that existed in this part of the world.

One of the reasons we like getting local guides is that you get the local propaganda about the history of the place. Our guide was Zapotec. He pointed out that the Zapotes had named this place "Lyobaa" or the Place of Rest. But when the Spaniards arrived, it was being called Mictlan, or The Place of Death, by the Mixtes. (Oh, complicated. And the Mixte had aligned themselves with the Aztecs, who, of course, had dominated the are when they arrived. The Zapotecs saw the Spaniards as saviors, so they helped them out, thinking that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Big mistake)

It is a very cool site.

The details are not carved, but mosaics. The stones are several feet long, and they make the decorations by pushing in and pulling out stones:

The guide said that it took about 100 years to make all the buildings. They were used for religious purposes.

The Zapotecs were one of the few new world people who had developed writing. We didn't see any writing at this site.

Amazing classic Greek Key designs in the walls.

Some of these walls have been reconstructed, but many were extant.

These pillars were quarried, and worked, on the hills about 5 miles from the site.

They held up a roof.

This gives you a sense of scale.

They had four tombs in one of the courtyards. You could enter one of them

You had to crawl on your knees to get into the tombs.

An SP in front of one of the walls.

You can see what a beautiful day it was. The temperature was probably 75 or 80. A little warm, but not bad at all!

When we got back to Oaxaca, we had to go to the Cafe Brujula, with the several dissolute expats.

We had some chocolate.

It was delicious.

Oaxaca for the long weekend

2017-01-18T14:34:00.004-06:00

We like to take a short trip on MLK weekend. Doreen gets the day off, it is just far enough from the holidays that you don't feel like you are cheating, and it is usually pretty easy to get flights.

So this past weekend we took a flight to Oaxaca, Mexico.

United has one non-stop a day, and it flies the little planes:

I don't really mind them too much, as long as we get the exit row or the bulkhead. You gate check your bags, and it loads and unloads really fast.

We stayed in the Quinta Real on the advice of friends. The hotel had been a convent, built in 1576. In the 1860s, Benito Juarez took over all Catholic property, and booted the cloistered nuns into the street. Since then, the building has been a jail, a storage facility for public records, the Weights and Measures department for the state, a courthouse, and much more. In the 1990s, it was converted to private use, and then turned into a hotel.

It is very pretty:

And it is on a nice street:

It still has the big chapel, which is now used for entertainment. There was some folkloric dancing in there when we arrived.

That first night, we walked to (you can walk to everywhere in the historic district of Oaxaca) a restaurant called Catedral.

It was a very nice place, and a nice meal. We started with a Tlayuda, which is sort of like a huge quesadilla. (They have quesadillas, too. Not all of them have cheese in them interestingly enough)

We found them very delicious. We also had two different kinds of mole. One was an "Amarillo" mole, which is not yellow:

The other is called Manchamanteles, which is a pork mole (the above is beef):

We also drank several different mezcals. They serve them in these mezcal glasses:

which has a cross in the bottom. So when you are done, you are crosses up!

Earlier in the day, we stopped by the Templo de Santo Domingo and noticed this statue of the Peruvian saint, San Felipo de Neri. Notice he is holding a cacao pod, and holding a broom.

Here is the outside of that church. You can see Doreen below

The walls of many of the buildings in Oaxaca are decorated. This one uses colored beans:

An SP near the Basilica of Our Lady of Solitude,

Baby Jesus

We had a fun meal here (enchiladas and entomatados, see below. Total cost, 100 pesos. Or about $5.00. And a ten peso tip to the guitar player)

Enchilada

Entomatado

Wandering through the market (Mercado de la Merced) we saw the font of all Moles:

And Spices:

It was a good day.

Milan on the flop

2016-07-19T15:25:00.002-05:00

The final leg of our trip took us back to Milan.

Driving in any city where you don't know exactly where you are going can produce anxiety. But with Doreen navigating, and the Google Lady telling us where to go we were able to get to the hotel and drop off our bags, and the drive to the rental car drop off location without any problem at all.

And Milan is not exactly a "grid" city!

The drop off location was very close to the main train station in Milan. We have been there before, and I just love the brutal, fascist architecture. (what does that say about me?)

Bold train stations are great. Soaring spaces, and plenty of room.

You can no longer get to the trains without a ticket, but you can use your imagination to think about what it looks like.

Or, I could dig back in my archives and find these images:

those are all from 2000

Now, we are no longer traveling rough.

This is the view from our hotel:

Much more upscale from where we have stayed in the past.

It is very close to this monument to Leonardo da Vinci.

The bike share program in Milan has kid's bikes, too!

wandering around the city, we found this plaque. It was on a building that used to be a hospital, the very hospital where Hemingway recovered from his wounds as an ambulance driver, and subsequently came up with the novel "A Farewell to Arms"

We've been in Milan before, but we've never seen The Last Supper.

This time, we had tickets.

It is in this church:

and it looks like this:

You only get 15 minutes with the painting (dry fresco). YOu had to go through two different air locks to get to the thing

This is inside the church associated with the painting.

Since this was the last day of our trip, we walked down to the Piazza del Duomo, and found a great place to have a spritz, looking at the square

and the Duomo itself

What a view!

Then we came home.

Luckily, Lulu remembered who we were.

Mira, Venice, and Palladian Mansions

2016-07-18T17:29:00.000-05:00

Leaving San Cassiano was sort of sad. We enjoyed the town, had some good meals, enjoyed the hiking and the people.

But time marches on, and so did we.

On the way to Mira (our base in The Veneto) we drove up to Mt Grappa, the scene of intense fighting in WWI.

The road to the summit was perilous.

There must have been 50 switchbacks, and in some cases our little Fiat Panda barely fit on the (two way) road. We were lucky we didn't face a bus coming down.

It was scary.

THEN, when we got to the top, the clouds moved it. I didn't take any photos at all. Apparently you can see all the way to the Adriatic from there. But we couldn't even see into the Veneto.

We did, however, see this guy cutting hay by the side of the road.

We saw this is San Cassiano as well.

Mira was a place to park ourselves while we ventured about the region.

For example, to Venice!

While it is nicknamed La Serenissima it is very crowded in the main squares.

We sought out the by-ways.

But we did stop for a Spritz on St Mark's Square.

I had to try on Doreen's cool blue glasses when she stepped away.

And we always like the mosaic of St Mark's body being smuggled past the Turks in a basket full of pork.

a very cool place

Doreen then had the good idea to take a cruise down the Grand Canal!

It was very hot, but a fun (and beautiful) ride

I love Venice. If I were a rich man, I would buy one of these palazzos.

Maybe near The Rialto Bridge

What a place

The Bridge of Sighs

St Maria Salute.

The Doge's Palace

We left venice and returned to Mira.

The next day, we rode bikes to see the Villa Foscari, one of the first villas designed by Palladio.

Pretty.

Nice grounds

Quite a place

Here is Doreen, pretending she lives there.

Then we rode our bikes back.

Here is a strange thing that Google did to us before we left.

A nice, quiet day.