Alison's photo site

Dublin, December 2008

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:03:47 -0500

I tried to capture some of the multicultural yet tradisionally-Irish atmosphere of the city. The contrast between the huge, stainless "spire", and the streets of Temple Bar. I enjoyed being in Dublin. I really enjoyed my taxi-ride conversations.

Beijing, March 2008: people

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:34:43 -0400

Faces of Beijing, March 2008. Visitors to the Forbidden City included many three-generation families, grandparents, parents, and one grandchild. Young people in city clothes. Old faces with character. Through the Hutong. to a palace (note to self, add the info), and Friday afternoon at the Summer Palace

Bejing 2008 Forbidden City

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:37:15 -0400

Somehow the photos have been imported in reverse order. I haven't done any PhotoShopping yet, just some cropping. The Forbidden City is being renovated, probably in preparation for the influx of visitors during the Olympics. Buildings closer to the main entrance near Tiannamon Square have been restored or are cloaked in scaffolding. Those closer to the rear entrance are faded and damaged, more so than when I last visited, about ten years ago. I wonder how often they are repainted? I suspect it's like painting the Forth Bridge: once you've finished, it's time to start all over again.

Beijing 2008 Hutong

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:03:43 -0400

We toured the Hutong by rickshaw; visited two courtyard homes and the Bat temple (that's not the real name! but it had 9,999 bats carved all over it). The traditional Hutong houses are fast disappearing, being replaced by more modern homes--mostly high-rise apartments--with modern facilities such as bathrooms. Some of the Hutong, mostly to the north-west of the Forbidden City, are being restored and repaired, with a few of the homes turned into museums. One that we visited has a tiny restaurant (one round table), another has bed-and-breakfast facilities for students or other visitors. During the cultural revolution, these small family homes were taken from their owners and used by five or more families, one per room. They have been returned to the families of the original owners only during the past few years.

Beijing 2008 Summer Palace

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:43:58 -0400

The day was not clear; hazy, smoggy air. We saw maybe a quarter of the gardens in an afternoon. There are hills, gardens, small lakes, a canal/river, and one huge lake with a long, arched bridge. Many houses, temples, towers, courtyards. The secret garden was filled with cherry blossom, ready to burst. We could not find a way in, so peeked between the doors.

Beijing 2008 cityscapes

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:07:15 -0400

Pictures from the streets; many not in focus, taken through the windows of a taxi, stuck in traffic, air full of smog and dust. But they give a feeling of the city, the people, the atmosphere.

Singapore, March 2007

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:41:20 -0400

I visited HP Singapore on the Friday after my days in Beijing. Singapore is a six-hour flight from Beijing, in the same time zone, but a completely different climate. Hot, humid and tropical.

Singapore orchids

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:31:39 -0400

Singapore's Botanic Gardens. The Orchid is Singapore's national flower--you're going to see a lot of them!

Beijing, March 2007

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:07:25 -0500

Arrived in Beijing early Saturday evening, and spent Sunday with Julie and Larry from Garmin, and a tour guide called Michael, and his driver (whose name I didn't catch). On Tuesday evening, Julie, Larry and I, with Sophie and Chris from SDL, went to eat near the Hutong. On Wednesday evening, Marisa took us to the Silk Road market, and for a wonderful dinner!

Long Island, February 2007

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 14:26:39 -0500

A weekend with Jade and Karli on Long Island. Temperatures low, sun shining. House-hunting.

Long Island, NY, October 2006

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:24:00 -0400

Dylan and I travelled to Long Island, New York on Thursday: Jade and Karli came to join us on Friday evening, after work. They took a train from Penn Station and we met them at Ronkonkoma--the journey took them just over an hour. We stayed in a hotel in Farmingville but spent most of our time around Shirley, Patchogue and further along the coast into the Hamptons!

Warszawa, November 2006

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:03:57 -0500

This was my fourth visit to Poland. The first two times were in the summers each side of the fall of the Berlin wall. We saw communist Poland, and her first steps afterwards, in the north of the country in a village called Rodowo, not far from Malbork. The last time I was here was in 1999, in the capital, Warszawa (Warsaw). At that time, it looked as if the west were taking over: McDonalds signs everywhere, all the trams painted with advertisements for French supermarkets, lots of progress but in a very non-Polish direction. This time, it looks as if a balance has returned. Yes, there is a western, global presence, and yes, there are new skyscraper-hotels and banks and businesses. Yet at the same time, there is an even stronger re-emergence of Polish history, Polish style, Polish home. Rebuilding is continuing, but it's not making Warsaw like New York or Chicago or London, it's making Warsaw Warsaw, and making it beautiful. Ancient streets are being rebuilt with traditional stone paving. Even the Soviet apartment buildings, now supplemented by new housing districts, are being beautified with coats of paint--and surprisingly, it works. Magazines created in Poland--not translated imports--are full of stylish furniture and design ideas. How to remodel your apartment? How to fit a table into a tiny kitchen, or where there's a door or a french window? Farmers from outside the city gather on a street corner near a market to sell their produce. Honey and vegetables. Mushrooms, dried on strings or pickled in jars. There are many new restaurants and fast-food places, but more Kebab than McDo. A chain of Egyptian-style restaurants, "Sphinx", fed us very well one evening. Ruch kiosks are still on every corner. I bought Krowki at a small baker's shop near the site of the Warsaw ghetto. The shop was full of cakes and pastries, and the building was being worked on outside, scaffolding and workmen everywhere. The only food queue I saw--reminiscent of communist food lines--was in the market. There were two queues at different stalls. I walked around to see what everyone was waiting for. It was ogurki, pickled cucumbers, straight from the barrel, home- or farm-pickled. Some things are worth waiting for. Around the old city, restaurants serve traditional Polish food. My meal the evening before I left was Barszcz, Bigos and Sernik. Watched over by the head of a huge wild boar, looking down from the wall of the restaurant.

House for sale!

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:10:41 -0500

Now the house is on the market. This is what it looks like--all ready for buyers to visit!

Home improvements

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:28:10 -0500

Small things that I'm doing around the house... smaller projects that have been nagging...

Grenoble November 2006

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:20:16 -0500

Sunday morning, November 19th 2006

Halloween and Fury

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:53:41 -0500

She dressed up. Well to tell the truth, I dressed her up and she was very very patient about it.

Christmas 2006 and more Fury photos

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:56:19 -0500

Karli was home for Christmas and Fury was happy!

New York September 2006

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:51:12 -0400

Visiting Jade and Karli in New York, September 2006. Arrived on Thursday afternoon, left on Monday morning. Not a lot of time but we saw a lot! We saw everything!

California State Fair, Sacramento, September 1st 2006

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 14:19:12 -0400

Dylan and I went to the State Fair on Friday afternoon. It's hard to time a visit to the fair, because you want to be there in the daytime (to see the animals), but it's always really, really hot. And the fairground is better in the everning, with all the lights and sounds and candyfloss and fairground scents.

Snakes on a Dog

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:55:55 -0400

Enough is enough! We'd had it with that **** dirt and the **** loose hairs! Fury went to the dog-wash, and as a reward, has a new friend. Snake.

Our home

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 14:46:44 -0400

A few pictures of our home... some of the changes, some of the things that go on there.

A day in the life of Fury Dog

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 10:38:31 -0400

Pictures of Fury for Karli

sanfrancisco-july606

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 10:03:49 -0400

July 4th, 2006

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 18:36:41 -0400

Dylan, Aubrey, Chris and I went to Tiffany's house, where Grandma had prepared her famous bean dip and baked beans (beans, molasses, brown sugar and maple syrup in secret amounts, cooked in the oven... yum!) There was a barbeque... at dusk, we went to the park to wait for the fireworks. We stashed some of ours at home for our own display later.

Knitting projects

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:46:20 -0400

These are some of my knitting projects, and some knitting blogging.

Lake Tahoe, California, June 23rd 2006

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:33:40 -0400

While Chris was here, visiting from England, we made a day-trip to Lake Tahoe. It's about 90 miles from our house, uphill all the way (and downhill all the way back). We drove up highway 50, went to South Lake Tahoe, stopped at a beach for lunch (we bought sandwiches and beef jerky and soda and coffee from a general store, then paid $7 to go to the beach and picnic area). Dylan went for a swim. I played around with new camera. We watched the ants. Later, we drove to Emerald Bay, with a stop on the way to walk in the hills overlooking the lake. That's where the big fallen treetrunk was. And a million termites, doing the things termites do. At the end of the day, we were in Tahoe City, at the north of the lake; sitting on a wooden (splinter-rich) jetty in the sun, eating ice-cream, and chatting with a cigar-smoking man-in-a-kayak who wanted to know how the Queen was. Drove back ("40 miles down grade") down I-80, big-rig trucks going just-a-little-much-faster than the recommended 50 miles an hour, whizzing past the "Runaway Truck Ramps" that are kindly located every few miles so that demon drvers can plough their engines into a heap of gravel instead of something less forgiving, like a sheer drop. Or my little truck. I think I like driving 50 better than 80!

Family together for Derek's funeral, May 4th, 2006

Mon, 15 May 2006 06:22:29 -0400

The family were together for Derek's funeral on May 4th, 2006. Judith, her husband Shimon and their daughters Ella and Eden came from Israel, Sara and Louise from their homes in Leicestershire, and Alison from California. Many of our cousins from the Carvell side were there, and Aunty Kath (who was married to Uncle Dick). On the Saturday after the funeral, we went to Syston, to the Hobby Horse pub, for dinner. Mother's best friend, Maureen Condon, and her husband Dennis came too.

The garden in May 2006

Tue, 02 May 2006 04:12:43 -0400

It is really starting to look like a real garden now. Still a long way to go, and of course there is the very quiet time during June to August, when the heat hits and the grass is all yellow, and the roses go to sleep until it cools down a little. The side/back garden--the one with the steps and the steep hillside--is looking good on the right-hand side, where there are lots of day lilies now, the flowering cherries, lavender and rosemary. The other side, towards the neighbours, needs more work, especially the hillside. The rhododendrons are are growing and becoming established at the bottom of the hill in the shade from the fences, but I didn't see them flower this year--they are purple--must have been while I was travelling.