Just some personal stories for family and friends and anyone else who stumbles by. Click to See some posts or click the "Blog" tag above. For more about me a...
That is not our ship, but we are heading to New York on a Cunard line ship. We will get there eventually. We boarded the Queen Mary 2 in Hamburg and will disembark in Brooklyn. Right now we are smack-dab in the middle of the Atlantic. "Smack-dab" is the official nautical term, if you are wondering. Last night when we went back to our room, we saw dolphins frolicking in the water (where else would…
Hamburg, DE, 1750 We are in Hamburg, Germany! We are staying in a quaint hotel that is trying very hard to prove that Germans really do know how to have fun, despite everything you might have heard. Kind of an old-timey seafront vibe combined with hipster coolness. If that makes sense. I'd show you some pictures but I didn't take any. I am my mother's son in that regard. My dear mother has many…
Pictured above is a civet cat ( (Civettictis civetta ). It is not actually a cat, but its own lil' beastie, a meso-level carnivore native to Africa and Asia. The other night the menu in the ship's restaurant offered "Braised Wild Mushroom Civit" as an entree. What could that be, I wondered? The only "civet" I knew of was a small carnivorous mammal native to Asia and Africa. "Surely they didn't…
For Iowa, wherever I may find her. I wasn't born in Iowa, but I grew up there. I've lived in nine of theses United States, but still consider Iowa my "home state." Iowa may be the flyoverist of the flyover states. It isn't anyone's destination vacation, unless and Iowan is visiting another part of Iowa. There aren't very many books about life in Iowa and even fewer films: I always recommend The…
We are aboard the Queen Mary 2, the successor to the Queen Mary 1, pictured above. Because we have kids and grandkids who live in Brighton, UK , we fly to the UK two or three times a year. And, while the visits are often lovely, the air travel is not. So, rather than spending an uncomfortable and tiring day in airports and airplanes, we decided to spend a comfortable week in the QM2 from New York…
Today's walk was far from home. I needed to charge the car for our trip out of town. Yes, we have an electric car because we love Mother Gaia (but hate Elon Musk). Unfortunately, I had to charge the car at a mall. A mall ! Like we are still living in the 20th century! Have I mentioned we drive an electric car? And, as you know, this is Thanksgiving week here in the US of A and there is nothing…
The journey through the neighborhood continues. The house: This is the Michigan Library and Historical Center . Not technically a house to the extent that no one lives there. And, ok, if this is a blog about my neighborhood it might not technically be "in my neighborhood" because it is a block east of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and the Westside neighborhood stops at MLK Blvd. And yet, what…
My neighborhood walks . Today's house: This is how I imagine the conversation when they commissioned this house to be built: "Good news! I found an architectural firm to design our new house!" "Great!" "The only drawback is the firm mostly designs churches." "Churches?" "Yes, but they assured me that they could easily do a house and it wouldn't resemble a church even a little bit. No one will look…
What's this all about? Start at the very beginning . (A very good place to start). Today's house: If you look closely at the left-hand side of the pictures, you can see the frame of an awning above the furniture on the porch. But there is no canvas on the frame which means the awning isn't really providing any shade. Not that you need to provide your own shade here in Michigan . It is fairly windy…
Welcome back to my informal but informative tour of my neighborhood. If you are just tuning in you can get the backstory, specifically, the explanation of a stinkfish here . Here is today's house: Take a look at those awnings! I believe this style is called "Funeral Home Chic." The balcony doesn't have the Shakespearian vibe that yesterday's house had. It is more, "Let's go out on the porch and…