Sky Watch Friday

Today we went for a walk to a place that is very popular in Bend and that is Pilot Butte. We have lived here for 15 yrs and have never made this climb before. The weather was perfect for this kind of a climb, it is 1.75 miles one way,And a climb UP the hill. For 2 people that is really out of shape, this was a work out for us. But the view once we got there was amazing. I will post more photos later on as well. Click on the photos for larger version Pilot Butte is an instinct volcano, it is a cinder cone which rises nearly 500 ft above the surrounding plains. Bend is one of the very few cities in the United States with volcanoes located within there boundaries

This is Mt Jefferson from here you can see so many of the mountain ranges.

Old doors: wondering what's behind them

Like many travellers I have an obsession with photographing doors. It started in Mexico many years ago and has stayed with me throughout my travels. The more colorful, faded, and older they are the better. If there's paint peeling off them, wonderful. If there are wooden shutters somewhere on the facade that match, perfect. Like the painted blue chairs in Greece, antique wooden doors are something we associate with atmospheric neighborhoods, characterful back streets, ramshackle buildings... it's about having those romantic notions of what an old village should be like satisfied, about having those travel expectations met. But for me, it's something more as well. I also want to take a look behind them. I want my curiosity about what's inside sated. I dream of an amiable little old lady in a headscarf and apron opening the door and inviting me in for tea and showing me around her home. If she offers me her photo album, I'll be in heaven. My ideal 'tour' is one where a guide shows me around a village or town for a day, inviting me into the homes of the locals. I want to be a fly on the wall and see how people live their lives. But then I'll be just as happy to join them for lunch. And I won't mind one bit doing the dishes afterwards.

Klamath Lake

Nearly 30 miles long and up to eight miles wide, and covering 133 square miles, the lake is largest body of freshwater west of the Rockies, filling a basin created when the earth's crust dropped along fault lines on both sides.
I thought this cloud looked like Flipper, what do you think?

Expressive hand gestures

Italian language is reach on expressive hand gestures, they are different from region to region and the most popular is this way of communication in Naples, I think. First of all, because historical origins of this language is different as in other parts of Italy. For different centuries kings of the region had roots in Catalonia, so the dialect of Naples is more easily comprehensive for Catalonians as for Italians -and the gestures dialect too.

The best example is "yes".
What do you do, when you say "yes"? Probably you bend your head forward down-up.
If you are Bulgarian, you rock it left-right.
Neapolitan click with the tongue and bend the head up-back.

Nothing terrible, if you don't understand it.

Sometimes gestures language is not so innocent as we think about it. When you plan a trip in a place that you did not visit before, you have to control the most popular and offensive gestures common for that place. To understand where they've sent you, at least.

An other popular gesture is "ok"
Something like in this photo.
Very well -if you are American or Russian
Great job -the hand moves from right to left "closing a zip" -in Italy

but......
it has indecent sense in Brazil
offensive -you are zero -if you show it to a person in France or Germany
money -in Japan
I'll kill you -in Tunisia
Go to devil -in Siria

Do you understand? Take your hands well bended, when you travel!

Different sources. Maybe not very attendible (my opinion). Correct me, if you find errors.

The ebb and flow of Crete's cafe society

Crete's cafe life is tidal. It ebbs and flows throughout the day and night. It follows a rhythm, a regularly recurring pattern of activity. But each cafe, in each different town, dances to a beat of its own. By day it's rhythm is directed by the movement of the sun and the cycles of the seasons. One cafe may be more popular at a particular time of day simply because of its terrace in the sun. It may be packed in the morning when the sun shines on the tables outside while the afternoon sees it empty when it's in the shade. In summer, it's a different story when the locals welcome the warmth of the morning sun but in the afternoon seek shelter from the sweltering heat. And then there are the winter cafes that only open in the evening when their patrons head inside to take advantage of an open fireplace. Unless you stay in a place at least a few days it's impossible to pick up the rhythm, to identify the time of the tides. You may follow a guidebook suggestion and wonder why you're the only couple lunching at 1pm. When the locals start to arrive at 3pm as you're finishing dessert and the place is packed when you ask for the bill fifteen minutes later you'll understand why. Our first night in Rethymno we went out around 10pm in search of a restaurant for dinner. All of the tavernas recommended to us by the hotel staff and listed in our guidebooks were empty. We took a risk at one anyway, only to find the place filling as we were finishing close to 11.30pm. The next night we went out at 11pm and all the tavernas were buzzing. It was much easier for us to make our choice. Midnight we were in the thick of the local action and able to gauge the scene so much better. By 1am we were enjoying our raki and sweets with the last of the regulars. A good case for slow travel and taking time to get to know the rhythm of towns.

ABC Wed. Letter "F"

" F" for Flowering Cactus " F" for Flowering Cactus



" F " for Friends gathering for a Birthday Party

" F " for Fire" F " for Fence

5 Star Blog Award


Julie or better known Green Bucksteacherjulie in the blogosphere gave me an award called the 5 Star Blog Award.
Thank you Julie for my very first award.I am glad that you enjoy my traveling photos.

Now, I bestow this award to the following wonderful bloggers ,quintarantino ,Sandy Carlson ,imac ,Old Wom Tigley ,RuneE For there continued support.

Blasting Questions answers




Saturday i posted some photos of the blasting they did for the new Sonics Restaurant that is going in next door. And some of you had some questions that i would like to answer.

Paulie said...

I can't believe they did any work that made a disruption to households before 8:00 AM

Paulie,
they can start work anytime they want too so thankfully most of the people that we had here at the motel already were gone. So i was glad of that because they didn't warn me the day before as to the time they were going to blast, to warn anyone that was staying here.

Old Wom Tigley said...

Why are they doing this?

Because were we live, we have many lava beds. Which basically we sit on land from eruptions of volcanoes.Meaning we have a lot of rock around here. Need some?



Located in the Deschutes National Forest is Newberry National Volcanic Monument near Bend, where NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trained for lunar explorations between 1964 and 1966. Today, visitors can walk alongside the world's largest obsidian flow, trek through the Lava Cast Forest, venture into the Lava River Cave, climb to the top of Lava Butte to examine the region's ancient volcanic features, and visit the Lava Lands Visitor Center.

showing Paulina and East Lakes, and Big Obsidian Flow





They dug this hole so they can put in storm drain pipes.

And the last photo is the truck that hauls off a lot of the rocks to have recycled for smaller rocks .


Blue Chairs: imagining Greece, the perception & reality

I couldn't help but capture a snap of these bright blue cafe chairs at a taverna on the waterfront at Chania, Crete, yesterday. How often have you seen similar images on Greece Tourism television ads, in travel guidebooks, or on postcards? This is one of those quintessential scenes that creators of travel images and architects of representations have reproduced innumerable times in the media to feed our desire for postcard-perfect pictures of those destinations we dream of going to for that ideal vacation. This is how we imagine Greece thanks to clever branding, strategic marketing, unimaginative picture-editing, and our willingness to accept the perpetuation of myths. But, Greece's blue chairs aren't entirely a myth... we've seen them all over, from Santorini to Samos, and today in a small town on the south coast of Crete we saw taverna owners taking advantage of the off-season to paint their chairs - Mediterranean blue! And when you travel in Greece you can't not love the blue chairs. They just make those holiday snaps so pretty. But the reality can sometimes be very different to the perception. Visits to tavernas aren't always the idyllic dining experiences you imagine. There are the annoying touts who try to get you in. The menus in four different languages. The menus with pictures. The 'traditional' Greek menus that feature hamburgers and schnitzel. The poor and disinterested service once they've sat you down. The extras added to the bill (and not the kind we like). And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. As we wandered by this taverna in Chania yesterday the female owner was making her small son lunch. As soon as she saw us she stood and started to call us in. Her voice was desperate. She was pleading almost. But the place was empty. Locals were heading to the tavernas on either side of hers. Tavernas with plain wooden chairs. I felt sorry for her and wanted to go in. But as a travel writer I knew there was a reason for the lack of local patronage (always the best indicator of where to eat) and it had nothing to do with her seating. A couple of hours later when we strolled by after eating an excellent meal at a nearby restaurant that was crowded with locals we saw that her taverna was closed. Sadly, I regretted not giving it a go. But in the end, it takes more than blue chairs to entice.

Biosphere 2



Last year we went to the Biosphere 2 I did a short piece on this back in 2007 but i wasn't really blogging yet and really didn't know how to add photos all that much so didn't get but a few photos on, but i did want to share this again. Click here to find out more about the beginning of the tour.

Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability.






This was there kitchen area
This is one of the labs


If you click on this next photo you may be able to read part of what there life was like
Part of the rain forest

If you ever get to Arizona stop and check it out, they are now doing some other research there.

Sweets in Crete: loving those little extras!

You love those little extras as much as I do, don't you? You know what I mean... a refreshing welcome drink (when you arrive hot and sweaty at a hotel), chocolates on the pillow with turn-down service (just when you're craving something sweet), an amuse bouche before dinner (when you're feeling hungry or just keen to have your appetite whet), or a liqueur after dinner (when you're in the mood for one drink more). Those small gestures of hospitality, whether they're innate to the culture as they are in Thailand or the Middle East, or whether they're a value-adding service, I don't care. I just appreciate that the host has gone that extra mile to make customers feel special. Whether it's about making us feel genuinely warm and fuzzy or about securing repeat business, it doesn't matter if it works and makes us happy. One independent family-owned hotel that recently impressed us with their attention to their guests was the Four Seasons Hotel Limassol, Cyprus (not part of the Four Seasons chain). On arriving in our room we found an enormous platter of fresh fruit and a bottle of Cypriot wine, the next day a small box of sublime chocolates and jellies left on our table, and on our last day, we were presented with a box of aromatic virgin olive oils (thyme & basil - yum!). We did return. And on our second visit, the departing gift was a delicious jar of local honey. The hotel's high rate of return guests is no surprise. In Crete, we've been eating at traditional tavernas and enjoying the complimentary little bottles of tsikoudhia (a clear raki-like brandy... ah, liquid travels can be so pleasurable...) and generous servings of plates of sweets at the end of each meal - preserved figs, oranges, and quinces, fresh local yoghurt, and tasty cheese pastries with honey. Can't help but love those little extras. Sweet.

Wonderful food in Tuscany


All the products that you can at "Hosteria Vecchia Rota" are very good because the Oste only take the best products that he can find changing them depending on the season of the year. If you have the opportunity to be in Marciano in Tuscany in July or in August I would strongly suggest to ask for "Pici all Ocio". Ocio is a big withe duck that you can eat almost only in summer and it is really one of the best meat in the world!

Hosteria Vecchia rota has not got any website so unfortunately I can not put the link for you but if you wish to go I just put below the telephone number and the address.

Hosteria Vecchia Rota
Via XX Settembre 4
Marciano della Chiana

tel: 0575 845362
cell: 335 5912812

If you wish to go I would strongly suggest to call them and to ask for a reservation as it is a very popular Osteria and many locals go every day.

My best regards for all of you!

Simon

Blasting



Yesterday they came by and took photos of our place, the Bombers i call them, I asked the guy what he was doing and that is what he told me, they want to make sure there will be no damages once they blast. I told them they never did it before when the put the cable company in next door.
So anyway at 7:15 am this morning they came and knocked on the door saying that they were going to be blasting in 20 minutes. Well here they are preparing for it.

And here is the blast , boy we felt it in the kitchen almost like it was under us. wonder if it did move the building . Now make sure you click on the photo for this last one, because you can see the after math of the powder, it actually looked more yellow than what it shows in the photo.But you see that reddish hue?

Memorable meals

The most memorable meals don't have to be Michelin-starred dining experiences, and I like to be reminded of that every now and again when I travel. Having said that, we've enjoyed some long leisurely lunches in fine dining restaurants where every dish is so divine it's inspiring, where every mouthful of food is something to be savoured, where the food is matched so well with the wine it's a revelation, where the decor perfectly complements the style of cuisine, and where the service is so good, so intuitive and efficient yet warm and friendly, that you leave the restaurant as if you're leaving a friends, and you're already planning your return. I love those occasions but they're all too rare these days unfortunately. And sometimes we just want a simple meal. But when those deceptively simple dishes - like this deliciously fresh Greek salad smothered in virgin olive oil which we enjoyed yesterday in Chania, Crete - please us as much as a seven course gastronomic tasting menu, you wonder why eating has to be complicated. And why we don't appreciate the simple things in life more? Because sometimes the simplest meals are the most memorable. Don't you think?

Sublime travel scenes

Sometimes scenery we come across when we travel can be so breathtakingly beautiful that they stop us dead in our tracks and make it hard to move on. It may not even be that the particular scene is something that is always stunning, like a natural landscape, but rather at that minute the play of light and colour are just so that the scene we set our eyes on is, at that moment in time, sublime. We grab our cameras quickly hoping to capture it forever, to be able to return to that special place and time some other day. Or perhaps we just stop in that spot and gaze a little longer than we ordinarily might in an attempt to imprint it firmly in our memory. Because we know that it can just as quickly disappear, perhaps with the appearance of a cloud or two, as quickly as it came. This is what happened the other morning in the Venetian harbour in Rethymno, Crete. I'm thankful for that moment, because it's the opportunity to enjoy scenes like these that really make travel cool for me.

Sky Watch Friday


If you would like to participate in Sky Watch Friday Please join Dot
Every Friday
Please click on Photos for better viewing
I took this driving down the road at Lake Havasau


Another time at Quartzite Az.

Do you see the jet ? Photo needs to be large

I took this one last night after the eclipse which i couldn't get one photo to turn out , which really ticked me off. So i hope to see some of yours .



Multiple exposure