a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
It’s been a long day since I got up at 4.00 am Seattle time to make my 7.00 am flight. We left Seattle a little late, and there was light rain in New York City when I arrived, but everything went according to plan. I had dinner with a colleague and then we went for a short walk to Times Square. We also went down to the World Trade Center site. The 9/11 Memorial had already closed, though.
I leave very early Tue morning to go to New York City to attend a training course set up by my firm (yes, the old dog can still learn a few new tricks). I will arrive at Newark Liberty airport, and I need to get right into Manhattan. I will take several trains to get there : Newark Airtrain shuttle to the Newark Airport station, the New Jersey Transit to Penn Station in Manhattan, and then the New York subway train to get me to two blocks of the hotel.
It was just too perfect a day not to go outside for a walk, and so I did. I walked down from my house to the Japanese Garden, adjacent to a much larger park called the Washington Park Arboretum. It’s no more than a mile or so. The pictures are all from inside the Japanese Garden.
I always look for the posters for Seattle’s annual music and performing arts festival called ‘Bumbershoot*’. This one was one a newspaper box on the street.
*Bumbershoot means umbrella! Bumber- (alteration of umbr- in umbrella) + -shoot (alteration of -chute in parachute). First Known Use: circa 1896. [source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bumbershoot].
.. it is simply the second full moon in a calendar month, and they come by every two or three years. So this Friday most of the world had a blue moon, but not everyone. For earthlings that live in the far eastern parts of the globe such as New Zealand, the full moon came on Sept 1. (Japan’s blue moon came in at 10.58pm on Friday night, so with an hour to spare).
We still have blue skies here and dry weather here in Seattle’s late-summer, with mild day temperatures (68°F/ 20°C). In fact, it is clear that August 2012 will the driest in Seattle history with less than .01 inch of rain to show. (Information from http://cliffmass.blogspot.com).
This is an old house close to 15th Avenue and Republican Street that is now all covered up in embroidered and knitted cloth. It used to be a second-hand and antiquarian book store. If the house is meant as a public work of art, no mention of it is made on the fencing around the house. And it’s about to start raining every day here in Seattle – better take the cloth down before it becomes bedraggled with rain water, no?
So the Republican National Convention started a day late .. tropical storm Isaac passed by on the west of Tampa and became a Category 1 Hurricane as it made landfall in New Orleans. The countdown to the USA presidential election now approaches 60 days, and most polls show president Obama in the lead in the ‘battleground’ states, though. (The winner of each state gets a number of ‘electoral college’ votes, and first to 270 wins the election).
I love my Scrabble on my iPad. I had time on Sunday to haul out my other Scrabble sets as well. As far as I can tell there are no on-line versions yet for my Afrikaans edition of Scrabble, or the German one I bought in Vienna some years ago. And check out the Japanese word game I bought just recently.
This is the back of my house, on a beautiful late-summer Saturday evening in Seattle. The happy faces in the picture have not had their burgers, apple pie and ice cream yet .. but they will soon. (We are all happy because I made it up into the picture without knocking the camera over, or falling onto my face as I ran around the table). Nothing like having guests over to motivate one to clean your house and fill up your fridge with some beer and food, and so that’s what I did !
The 2012 Republican National Convention is set to start on Monday in Tampa, Florida .. or will it have to be canceled due to Tropical Storm Isaac set to arrive there just in time to make for a lot of rain and wind? And did you know that in the politically-charged and possibly protest-filled streets around the convention center, water guns will be strictly prohibited? Concealed handguns, on the other hand, will be perfectly legal. Republican Governor Rick Scott refused a request from the police to issue an executive order prohibiting the transportation of firearms in downtown Tampa during the convention.
I am still opening my little souvenirs from Japan. I found this world map with a set of Doraemon refigerator magnets in Tokyo, and felt compelled to buy it (because I think it is cute, not because I plan to travel to every country in the world!). Doraemon is the intelligent robotic cat (from a manga series created in 1969), who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a schoolboy, Nobita Nobi.
I was running late for a meeting downtown and had to park near the Seattle library. With no time left to search for parking, I turned into a downtown parking garage; thought the parking would be similar to that for Pacific Place a few blocks away – $6 for 1½ hrs. But no-o-o : 1½ hrs cost 17 big bucks. Ouch – and oh well. (Yes, I saw the rates on the board going in, but I couldn’t back out!).
I could not get myself to throw this cool aluminum can in the recycle bin, so it came home with me all the way from a vending machine in Tokyo! And what would ‘gokuri’ mean? It is a Japanese adverb, roughly meaning (drink down) gulpingly or noisily.
I was just leaving the Half Price Books store on Capitol Hill on Sunday night when the sun was setting, etching out the Space Needle in the distance. I tried to get a good picture with my phone camera, but the contrast between the bright sky and the dimly lit foreground was too great to get it all in one shot. So here’s what you do: you take TWO pictures, and then use Photoshop to combine them. Yes, it’s a little work, but didn’t the combined picture come out great?
I took it easy today, just resting up and reading the Sunday newspapers. I did walk down eight blocks to Starbucks on Olive Way to have some coffee and a slice of lemon pound cake -as birthday cake! .. I will look to celebrate it later, such as next weekend. One does not need a birthday for throwing a party, right?
Everything after the Narita Express train ride to the airport went very well : picked up the stowed suitcase, get the luggage out of the way at the check-in, buying a last souvenir at the airport shops and stamps at the airport post office, and onto the plane. It was 9 hrs to Seattle, and I got in on Saturday morning after leaving Tokyo on Saturday afternoon.
I’m out of clean clothes, my camera’s battery is almost dead and the charger is in the bag I 
left at the airport – and I did what I wanted to do in Tokyo! I’ve got my ticket, and about to go downstairs to check out. A short trip on Tokyo Metro to Tokyo Station and then on the Express to the airport.
I had to go check out the area around Shinjuku station .. lots of people, lots of places and a nice vibe. It is warm even at night (of course).
Alright, so I tried !.. but couldn’t make it up to the Skytree’s observation decks (there are two). I got there a little after 12 noon and the line was so long that they sold tickets for 4 pm. School is still out here, so everyone was out in full force. To make matters ‘worse’ there is a whole Skytree Town built at the Tree’s base : souvenir shops, stores, a food court and an aquarium as well.
