Travel

A lovely, lazy weekend at Scott and Monica’s ranch in Wimberley. Thursday night started off with a bang when Monica discovered a snake in the chicken coop, bulging with the two eggs it had just stolen from the hens’ nests. Scott quickly dispatched the snake, a few feet long, with his rifle. It kept moving after it was killed, heightening my sense of how creepy snakes are.

Hanging out at the ranch is always a time for nature exploration. Aside from all the animals they own and actively tend to, there are a host of wild critters easily available to view. Dave spotted this jackrabbit by the way the sunlight made his ears pink.

This orb spider has woven a huge web outside Monica’s office window.

Care for a close-up? Click here OrbSpiderFull.

There are also teeny wild deer and a family of wild turkeys. We spotted one toad (larger than my fist) on Thursday night and another one Friday morning before the dew burned off. There was a spiny lizard sunning himself on the back porch, too. Monica keeps lots of hummingbird feeders out and it’s not unusual to see a half dozen or more hummers circling about. She also has some fabulous birds - we saw cardinals, titmice, and chickadees, along with a number of buzzards.

Me hard at work.

And Bizarro hard at work.

Be back home Sunday.

Jeni and Dawn - aren’t we cute?

Jonathan (my brother) and Jeni

Dave and Jeni 

Nolan is a HAM

Nolan and Jonah, sacked out in the car

Jonah and his iPhone

Jonah loves his Uncle Dave

UPDATE
This cover from the Ziggy Stardust Cover Contest really shows how the cover relates to the scene now. Apologies for not giving props to whoever created this - it’s not listed on the site that I could fine. Hi-C, thanks for pointing this out to me!!

So, while in England Alba and I visited the site where the photo for the cover of the Ziggy Stardust album was taken.

Here is the original.

It took us a bit of time to find it. We were wandering around holding the picture above, squinting at all the building facades, when a helpful passerby said “It’s over there.” I think he worked there and must have been used to seeing people hunt for this landmark.

This is from the end of the street. You can see the site on the right-hand side of the street. On the building at the end of the street (which is The Living Room), note the wood framing over the first floor and the side-by-side rectangular windows at the top of the building. You can see those very clearly in the album cover. Strangely enough, what Graham told me didn’t really jibe with what we saw - the site does not really appear to be part of the building that houses The Living Room.

Here is a sideway view of the building, looking to the right corner. It’s not clear which doorway the picture was taken from.

Looking down the street from the far corner of the building. The picture was taken further down the building, but all of the markers, the light, the K.West sign, the boxes, are all gone.

So, we found it! With the restaurants that lined the entire street all filled with patrons, it was impossible to get in to the actual site, but we got close!! It was fun to have a mission to accomplish, and satisfying to have accomplished it. I probably should have taken more pictures, but I’m happy with what I got.

So, on my flight home I intended to get in about 6 solid hours of HP Book 7. That didn’t happen, due to my interesting seat neighbor.

Nick is a professional photographer who splits his time between London, France, and wherever the jobs take him. He’s got an unique outlook on life and seems to both send and receive information from a different perspective. I certainly didn’t mind that he stole my Harry time from me.

His hobbies are quite varied and he makes for an interesting conversationalist. (Plus, he’s met David Bowie. It’s like I’m that much closer to living my dream.) He didn’t make too many enquiries into my life, which I hold as the most important skill of any talented conversationalist, but I think that was probably appropriate, seeing as how we were perfect strangers and it could be construed as creepy to do so. He was a perfect gentleman, even letting me eat off his plate. It was really a lovely trip.

I have rudely stolen two images from his site to post here. I strongly encourage you to check all of them out yourself. You will appreciate his sense of humor, I think. Also, give his iN-PUBLiC street photography website a look.

(Note: If you are on low bandwith and/or your monitor resolution is at or lower than 1024 x 768, find another computer for your visit to Nick’s site.)

A Camera in the Tate: An exploration of the relationship between people and art at London’s Tate Gallery.

Trading Life: Street photography from the Financial District of London.  

While Alba and I were in Cambridge, we toured several of the Colleges of Cambridge, including St. John’s, Trinity, Kings’, Queens’, and Clare College.

A very fun thing to do in Cambridge is to punt down the river. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was sunny, mid-70s and simply gorgeous. Alba rented a punt from her alma mater, Clare, and punted us the whole way. The river was quite crowded.

Alba did such a good job! It’s a rather difficult thing to do. According the the guide book, “no one else knows what they’re doing, either.” You can hire professionals to guide you down the river, but what’s the fun in that?

It was wonderful to be in the boat, gently rocking, feeling warm under the sun and getting to take in all the sights along the Cambridge River. I could have fallen asleep, laying there.

The Bridge of Sighs (St. John’s College)

Magdalene Bridge

Clare Bridge

The Mathematical Bridge

Trinity or Kings’ College Bridge?

A Pirate Punt!

For MFA…

Proof that you shouldn’t do Sudoku, even a gentle one, at 6 AM when you’ve had only four hours of sleep.

The inflight status tracker was very accurate, including the two circles we made to kill time because we arrived early.

Thursday night, I arrived around 8 PM and caught the 2 1/2 hour coach up to Cambridge. Alba met me at the bus station and we took a cab home. Then we went to sleep!

Friday morning, she made me a lovely breakfast with coffee, fresh fruit and eggs.

I went, and now I’m back! Pictures to come when I can get around to it.

“You got a toothbrush? We’re going to London. Do you hear that, Doug? I’m coming to London!”  (NSFW)

Remember that soundbite from the Snatch sountrack? Well, it’s true!! I’m going to visit my BFF Alba, who is from Colombia but is visiting Cambridge for a summer research program.

We are going to be spending two nights in Cambridge and two in London.

The one thing I want to accomplish while I’m there, besides QFT with Alba? I was inspired by Cristin’s Bowie album cover recreation. Now, I don’t have the mad skillz she possesses, but I will be in London so I want to revisit the site of the Ziggy Stardust album cover.

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Left work at 3:30 to make my 5 o’clock to Cleveland. We’re having a big pig roast/luau on Sunday with tons of people. Should be fun.

During the flight, we kept banking left and right to avoid these monster thunderstorms. They were so beautiful to look at.

Downtown Cleveland in the distanceLanding