View allAll Photos Tagged AllInOne
Let me tell you, it gets DAMN HOT in St. George Utah!
Yes, you read the title right, it's the end of the road (for now at least). We were in St. George Utah when our rooftop AC decided that 100° F outside wasn't quite hot enough and decided to start pumping out hot air! When the temp inside the van was reading 115°F we decided that we needed to rethink our plan and make some modifications.
What this means is that we're currently back in Tucson for a couple of months. The plan is to take the van into the dealer and have some warranty work done to get everything shipshape. Once that's completed we'll probably take a short trip over to San Diego to see our friends Mike and Marie for a day or two, make sure EVERYTHING is working right. Come back to Tucson and hang out till September and then hit the road again. We're going to try and make North Carolina to see Rod and Danielle for a few days then make a beeline down to Georgia to see our friends Carole and Barb. Hang out with them for a few days then head back home along the Gulf Coast.
We've come to the realization that it's just too warm in June, July, and August to be traveling around in a big metal box that's something like a solar oven on wheels. We're lucky that we have the flexibility to come and go as we see fit, I feel bad for those folks who are stuck having only the Summer months to try and get away.
So, last picture from the road (for now) but don't worry. I've got a ton of ship shots from our Panama Canal cruise that I'll be posting, along with any lightning shots I might get. The monsoon season is just around the corner for AZ!
"Lunch was a vegetarian delight straight from the garden!
Another stop we made in La Crucecita was at a garden spot where pretty much everything was edible! I didn't get many shots of plants though since for the most part they looked pretty boring.
All the plants they were growing were used in some way, either medicinal, or as a a food source. At the end of the garden tour the folks had prepared a small spread made from the garden which was delicious!
Now I don't think I'd ever go full vegetarian since I do enjoy an occasional hunk-o-meat grilled over an open flame but it's pretty amazing what you can concoct when you've just got a handful of veg to choose from!
Interesting to me is that there's a distinct lack of firepower visible. How are they supposed to keep the pirates at bay?
Although they're not a huge fleet they do serve an important purpose in keeping the people of Barbados free from the baddies that wander the 7 Seas.
BCG is responsible for the enforcement of provisions of every law relating to the regulation of any harbour or port of Barbados, quarantine, immigration, fisheries, territorial waters and economic zones, safety at sea, the detection and prevention of the contravention of laws relating to revenue and customs; the prevention or persons from boarding, holding or clinging on to any vessel without the permission of the master of the vessel, and, if necessary, the removal of any such person from the vessel. For the purposes of carrying out their duties, the members of the BCG have the same powers, authorities and privileges as are conferred by law on members of the Police Force. In accordance with the Defence Act, BCG has particular powers of arrest under 16 enactments of Law.
The motto of the Barbados Coast Guard is ‘Per Deo Per Mare’, which translates to “By God, By SEA”.
www.bdfbarbados.com/the-barbados-coast-guard/
BTW, most of the people we talked to on the island refer to themselves not as Barbadians but as Bajans (pronounced /ˈbeɪdʒən(z)/ BAY-jənz)
Am I trying to curry favor with the admin of
Absolutely!
On our RV trip to San Diego we had an opportunity to come across a flock (?) of pelicans just chilling in the bay. Now I think they might be called Mexican Brown Pelicans but I'm not sure since I'm not a birder. I'll defer to Jim or Keith when it comes to identification!
Niccy and I packed up the family (Tater Tot and Mushi-Mushi) and headed out on our first adventure!
We took the RV on a short shakedown cruise over to San Diego, specifically Point Loma Naval Base.
There's a nice camping spot on the base, right on the water. No electric, no water, but since we're self contained it wasn't a problem We spent a couple of days doing absolutely nothing except watching the world (and all the boats) pass us by. Exactly the kind of experience we were looking for.
PS:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. For some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used. One thing I've noticed is this lens has a lot of vignette to it at a distance!
More bus adventures in Puerto Vallarta!
Once we'd finished doing the tourist thing down on the Malecón we decided to head back to the ship. We figured since we got here on the bus we assumed we'd get back by the bus. Well, you know what they say about assuming...
We saw this bus had Walmart listed as a stop so we paid our 10 pesos and settled in for the ride. The Walmart Super Center and Sam's Club are right across the street from the cruise terminal so we had a good landmark to go off of.
The driver takes off, goes around the corner, up the street for about a half mile then stops at a bus stop. Everyone gets off the bus but us and the driver is looking at us like Hey, you need to get off the bus. I asked him in Spanish ¿Vas a walmart? (Do you go to Walmart) and he says (in Spanish) "No, No, esta es la última parada de autobús.",(No, this is the last bus stop). Since my Spanish is limited and he wasn't looking too friendly we got off the bus.
We waited at the stop for another bus and several finally showed up. We went to get on one when we realized we didn't have any more pesos, only US dollars and they don't take US dollars on the bus. OK, now what do we do?
There were taxis all around but we weren't ready to pay the price for one so we came up with a different solution. We wandered a bit till we found a convenience store and bought a large bottled water, the cheapest thing we could think of. The store accepted greenbacks and as is usual gave us our change back in Pesos! We went back to the bus stop, found a bus that was going to Walmart and made our way back to the safety of the ship.
It's the little side trips like this that make memories for us.
Blühendes Geißblatt
[ lonicera periclymenum belgica] -
- darkest night! abstracting photos on my computer
- Geissblatt -- lonicera - honeysuckle -
-
____|__click : Large_View__ON BLACK __ © ____|___
-
Schöner Kontrast : Laub und Blüte .
Das Geissblatt blüht im ganzen Sommer (Juni -September).
This was definitely the wettest and rain filled Caribbean cruise we've ever had!
This was our view as we pulled into St. Vincent, not the tropical Caribbean paradise that most the folks were looking forward to. Thanks to Niccy's fantastic planning skills we didn't stick around in St. Vincent, instead we caught a ferry over to the island of Bequia, a nearby neighbor. We did get a little rain over there but nothing like the folks who stayed in St. Vincent got. Somewhere down the road I've got a shot or two of Bequia and our ferry ride that I'll post, let me tell you it was definitely an adventure!
This is a combination of 5 handheld shots that I stitched together with Hugin Panorama Stitcher:
It's a cross platform stitcher that's been around since 2009 and does a really nice job.
To make sure you're headed in the right direction!
The Barbados 1 making sure that the BBC Singapore wasn't going to have any issues while leaving the port. For those who are curious the BBC Singapore made it out without the kiss and headed off into the briny deep!
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. It's a well known issue and for some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
An assortment of pix of me all nicely girdled, Frontal shot of my little boobs: if I didn't wear my all-in-one, I'd have to wear a bra instead now!
What can I say, I like taking pictures of people taking pictures!
One of the stops we made on this cruise was Bonaire, which is a special municipality (officially "public body") of the Netherlands. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC islands, 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of Venezuela, and are outside of the "Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate that attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather all year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs.
First time visit for us and since we don't snorkel or scuba we decided to take an island tour. One of the highlights of the tour is driving around Goto Lake which is a saltwater lagoon in the north of the island and is known as a flamingo meeting place. Bonaire is one of the few places in the world where pink flamingos nest and these beautiful birds are easy to observe from the road that passes high above the lake.
Well, it just so happened that there were a couple of flamingo families nesting when we passed by and the bus driver decided to stop for people to get a picture.
Now I've seen flamingos before and there are probably a million and two pictures of flamingos on Flicker but it's not every day you get to see a bunch of people with cellphones trying to get a shot of some flamingos through a dirty bus window so I decided to make them my subject. Now, every time I look at this shot I'll remember Bonaire and the bus stop at Goto Lake. If I want to see flamingos I'll just search them on Flickr!
The trip isn't over until EVERYONE gets paid!
I was in the train car telling Niccy she should be out on the platform when she said the tour guide had said to keep your eyes open around milepost 20, so I headed back out to the platform. I'd just got back outside when the "Bad Guys" came bursting out of the brush and tearing up the train tracks. I wasn't prepared at all so I fired of a couple of quick shots and this was the best of the bunch.
The train comes to a stop and the "Bad Guys" come onboard to rob everyone of their hard earned cash.
When they got out to the platform they explained that this was a robbery and everyone was expected to be handing over some loot. When they got to me they said "Your money or your life..." I fired back at them with "I'm married. I don't have any money or a life", as I put a donation in their hat. They all started laughing and said they understood completely.
I'm not sure what's up with the 1/250 since I'd been shooting at 1/500 because the train was moving. Maybe I had the camera set in P Mode for some reason?
Something I forgot to add was that for your "contribution" to their cause these guys would pose for a picture with you. One of the guys looked at my camera and said "I dunno if I could operate that or not". I told him "I'll gladly pay you not to operate it"!
changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of our running and all of our cunning
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane
RIP Jimmy Buffet, December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023
As the ship started to pull away from Curacao and the libations started to flow there was a definite "climate change" that took place. Everybody started to loosen up and let go of their worries, exactly what you're supposed to do when you go on a cruise. Niccy and I were hopeful that this attitude would remain for the rest of the trip, I guess we had a Wait and See sort of mindset.
Niccy and I just got back from a 2 week cruise down in the Caribbean, a trip that was supposed to be in the UK but thanks to the whole covid fiasco that was not meant to be. We were on the P&O Britannia and as we quickly found out we were the only Americans aboard! We had a good time, got to see some new ports and enjoyed the weather.
so... what does everyone think?
the device itself is purely amazing, something many have dreamed of for years. but, i must admit, i am very disappointed in the choice of a single carrier, cingular, that must be used with the phone. i understand the technical reasons behind this, but still... i don't want to switch my carrier and be forced into cingular's shitty plans to use this wonderful device :\ priced @ 499 for 4 gig and 599 for 8gig.
most people's opinions so far at work can be summed up by the following IM quote:
[14:35] DK: omg i want to fuck it it's so hot
The USS RAMAGE (DDG-61) docked at Fort Trumbull Pier in New London for the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival.
No need to man the lifeboats though, these guys won't be floating away...
We were parked next to Mein Schiff 3 when I got this shot in St. Martin. These guys were on the aft of the ship. going about their cleaning duties,
In retrospect I think I should've pulled the zoom back in to get more of the ship to show a comparison of their size in contrast to the task at hand.
When you take a cruise holiday your every need is catered to and you've got nothing to worry about.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that there are a LOT of of people both in the front and back of the house that make things happen for your dream vacation to be the best it can be. Folks that aren't on holiday, they're working at their jobs to provide for their families back home.
If you should ever go on a cruise I hope that you won't forget these folks and will let them know that you appreciate the hard work they put in to make things easy for you. They bust their butts so that you don't have to.
PS, my standard disclaimer:
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. It's a known issue and for some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
One of the many reasons we packed up and moved camp.
We planned on spending the weekend at the Fort Tuthill Luke AFB Recreation Area.
It's a campground that is ran by the Air Force, open to active duty personnel, retired personnel, and disabled veterans (30% or more). Really nice place up in the woods, quiet and secure. At least we thought so when we booked.
Come to find out there was a 3 day Electronic Music Festival at the Pepsi Amphitheater (next to the campground) the same weekend we decide to stay. Had it been an evening concert we probably would have stayed but 3 days of EDM combined with the "people" that were attending the festival was a bit too much.
If you're a seasoned citizen like myself you'll probably understand the following, if you're not just ask your favorite "boomer" what I'm talking about. Imagine spending 3 days amongst a modern version of the "Deadheads"....Not at all what we planned on so we wound up pulling out after the first night.
We'll be back there next year but you can rest assured that we'll be checking the amphitheater schedule before we book again.
forttuthill.com/happenings-at-the-fort/
Wish I could have got a better shot of the dog working the cars but sometimes we only get what we get.
The souvenir sellers in St. Maarten definitely got paid on this day!
Three cruise ships tied up at the cruise pier in St. Maarten. Not seen in this shot is the Mein Schiff #3 which is to the right of the Britannia.
St. Maarten is one of our favorite cruise ports so we were able to avoid the crowds for the most part and do the shopping there we like to do.
We take the water taxi down to the main beach area then walk a short distance over to the Fairway Mark It:
www.facebook.com/fairwaymarkitsxm/
where Niccy stocks up on the Dutch candies and cakes she can't get here in the US. We then go back to the beach area and stop for an adult beverage at the Holland House Beach Hotel:
After a cool beverage we water taxi back to the cruise pier and head out into the street for a short walk down to the St. Maarten Animal Welfare Foundation shop and make a donation:
www.facebook.com/p/StMaarten-Animal-Welfare-Foundation-10...
After that we stop at the Amsterdam Cheese and Liquor Store:
to pick up a few more "necessities" for Niccy. We found out that their shop is moving so we'll have to make a small alteration to our trip next time but it's an easy one.
After all this we meander back to the cruise pier, onto the ship, and out to the Lido for a little lunch out on the back deck. A perfect trip in a lovely place!
!
edited
Aviary, Laguna FX (effects)
Wilde Karde auf dem Holderfeld (sumpfiges Naturschutzgebiet) in Tübingen.
======= Oirginal ==>>> View __ On __ White
-
•
Der botanische Name Dipsacus kommt aus dem griechischen dipsa für
Durst:
Nach Regen sammelt sich in den Trichtern der Stängelblätter das -
Wasser, das Vögeln oder Wanderern zum Durststillen dienen kann.
-
A combination ticket counter, depot, and gift shop for the Grand Canyon Railway.
If you're going to ride the train you've got to have a ticket and this is where you get them at. Very nice inside with lots of dark wood and brass, pretty much what I would expect a train depot to look like. I really liked the Art Deco lettering on and inside the station, helps lend an air of authenticity.
A little hint to save you a couple of dollars is to make sure you show them your National Park Service Pass if you've got one. If you don't you'll wind up paying the park entrance fee which is between $20-$35 as of today at least.
Admission to Grand Canyon National Park is for seven days ( a good deal) and includes both the South Rim and during their season, the North Rim. No cash is accepted; credit/debit card only. No refunds are given due to inclement weather. Grand Canyon Annual Passes and America the Beautiful passes are available at all three of Grand Canyon National Park's entrance stations. If you happen to be a veteran you can get a free lifetime pass, you just have to show proof of honorable service. I was able to use my VA card to get mine, if you don't have one then I imagine that a DD214 would work as well.
In their day jobs they really are photographers!
These gentlemen are both ship's photographers onboard the Zaandam. I don't remember getting the gentleman's name on the left but on the right is Ivan (pronounced Eevan), a really nice guy.
Earlier, Niccy and I were sitting on the back deck, waiting for our sail away from Puerto Vallarta when I saw these guys sitting at a table next to us. They were watching one of the guests taking several photos of that big blazing ball of orange we call the sun as it was slowly sinking in the West. Me being who I am spoke up and said "It's a shame he doesn't turn around, all the color is right behind him". Ivan said "I see it all the time" and that opened the door to a nice conversation about tourists, being photographers on the ship and photography in general. We talked a bit then they excused themselves and wandered over to the railing to get a nice city shot to send home to friends and family. I saw a bit of irony since they were using their phones to get the shot so I fired off a fast one and this is the result.
We ran into them at our next port and Ivan invited me to come down to his studio when I had a free moment to talk a bit more. Ivan is a specialty photographer, trained in the Black Label method which is low contrast black and white photography with almost a film noir quality to it. His sessions are different than the regular photographers, all are scheduled by the guest and done in his studio, not just out on deck or on the pier.
On our last day at sea I stopped by his studio and we talked for an hour or so between his appointments. He said he's been at it for 10+ years and truly does love his job. I have to say I was a bit envious, getting to travel to so many places and take so many shots sounds like a pretty good way to spend your day!
Good on ya Ivan, I wish you all the very best!
Big things come in small packages!
The BARBADOS II (IMO: 9229221) is a Tug and is sailing under the flag of Barbados. Her length overall (LOA) is 30.82 meters and her width is 10 meters.
The Barbados II in Bridgetown, out doing what she does best. We've been to Barbados several times so the Barbados II is like an old friend, and I look forward to seeing her again!
If you're on a cruise and happen to hit this port keep an eye out for her!
For those in the Show Your EXIF group you should note that the actual lens used is a Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC All-in-One Zoom for Canon APS-C Digital SLR. It's a well known issue and for some crazy reason it always shows up as a Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8, a lens I've never owned or used!
An assortment of pix of me all nicely girdled. I love the smooth satin front panel and the nice smooth stomach line, too!
A Quickie All-in-one Moleskine Diary/Sketchbook in Leather Cover
The day I decided to use the Moleskine 18 months weekly diary from July I knew I would have problem pulling out what I need from my bag. It has the same size and look as the Moleskine sketch book I'm using. Knowing that I will be using both quite often in this coming half year starting from my trip to Tokyo next week, I did something drastic in 30 minutes.
First I ruined the back of these 2 notebooks by putting 4 snaps on them so that they can stick together yet removable if I want to. Note that the two notebooks are snapped together so that the top of one is aligned with the bottom of the other. There is a good enough space in between because of the height of the snaps, so it works well to put a pen holder there. I just punched and set two eyelets to hold the broad elastic band together, then a metal wire is passed through the two eyelets to make a ring which helps to keep the elastic band in place on the spines, again this is removable if I don't need a pen holder.
Assembling it is easy, just put the pen holder in between the back of these two notebooks, snap the notebooks together and there you go. At this stage leather freak like me couldn't stop but made a cover for this so that the metal ring of the pen holder is concealed and I have the look I want.
Finally, to distinguish which side is which notebook, I stamped on the leather cover "Time" for the diary side and "Note" for the sketchbook side. Whenever I feel like using the other side, I flip the notebook vertically. The original Moleskine elastic bands can be used to enclose the leather cover but I like a clean look so most of the time they are enclosing the pages only.
You are probably wondering why there are some flying pigs on one of the Moleskines, that's a gift sketchbook from Steve Light. What's that pen you asked? Pilot 1979 Murex fountain pen, also a gift from a good friend Kelly.
More on Scription blog: scription.typepad.com/blog/2010/07/a-quickie-allinone-mol...