Lake Powell Part 2

We found a secluded cove where we anchored the boat and ate lunch. Afterwards I went for a swim and the water was almost warm enough. Late May 2004

Jardin Majorelle

Majorelle Garden in Marrakesh, 1996

Francophone, Paris 2001

John Jordan yaks on a Parisian pay phone in this image made from multiple video frames. It was late, we caught the Metro to La Defense but the trams from there to Suresnes had stopped running so we had to hoof it a couple or three kilometers back to Mike's house. Of course we had no maps and had never made the trip on foot before so it was a very indirect route until we finally got some where that looked familiar.

Congolese Marching Band on a Side Street in Brussels 2002

Because they just appeared unexpectedly, seemingly coming out of nowhere, this makes me think of a scene from a "Pink Panther" movie or the old "Get Smart" TV show. I can just see Clouseau or Max following someone up this alley and trying to get by these guys as they keep pushing him back! I ended up seeing them later in the Grand Plaz where they were performing for some official EU gathering. I'll post those pics later.

The Casbah of Ourzazate

A really nice casbah. The place is pronounced Where-Zuh-Zat.

My Dad Vs. The Moose

My dad outruns a moose while my mom stays calm, cool, and collected enough to get the shot! Nice going! He had been shooting photos of the scenery on the other side of the fence when the moose came galloping down the fence line towards him. This brings back memories of Sunday mornings when I was kid. My mom would drag me to church while my dad stayed home and watched Rocky and Bullwinkle. I was very envious.

Michelle's Blue Bottle Collection Circa 2002

Michelle kept her blue bottle collection on the window sill by her front door. I contributed the glass Milk of Magnesia bottle with the flowers in it. I found it when I was a kid spending part of the summer with friends who moved to a farm in West Virginia. We were exploring the ruins of an old farm-house that we had run to after being scared by the sounds of "The Motorcycle Mamas" gang as we called them (yes it was the 70s) coming down the road on their choppers. Once inside we poked around and I found that beautiful blue bottle and kept it for years until I found it a better home, with "family" on Michelle's windowsill.

Paris Video Montages 2001

A couple of images stitched together from video frames. My first time visiting Mike in Paris.

Let's Kick It!

San Francisco, March 2000: For me the highlight of the first Flashforward conference ever held had to be Joe Sparks' presentation where I was introduced to Radiskull and Devil Doll and became a fan as soon as the boys started to kick it! If you aren't familiar with them do yourself a favor and check out the first episode below.

Radiskull #1: Radiskull & Devil Doll

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Cartoons | The Classics

Placencia, Belize, Formerly Undiscovered Tropical Paradise

The old Turtle Inn was a rustic, laid back little string of palm roofed huts on the beach in Placencia, Belize. When I visited in 1999 the first dirt road had just reached the isolated fishing village that sits at the tip of a lush, sandy peninsula separating a tranquil lagoon from the beautiful blue-green Caribbean Sea. Placencia was remote, peaceful and had no streets, just wooden sidewalks through the sand. It was in the process of being discovered and developed though, and walking along the beach revealed rickety wooden scaffolding rising occasionally from sandy lots where I suppose hotels may have grown. The Turtle Inn and it's palms were leveled by Hurricane Iris a couple of years after these photos were taken and a new upscale Turtle Inn owned by Francis Ford Coppola now exists on the same spot.

Back here in cold, snowy, New England, on winter days like today I think back to that hammock in the shade of the palms on the warm, sunny beach in Placencia and smile. Hammock photo by Kara.

Tikal, Guatemala

Looking somewhat as it must have to those who rediscovered it, an ancient stone pyramid appears to grow out of the jungle at the ancient "Mayan Metropolis" of Tikal in the hinterlands of Guatemala.

Western Cloud Mountains

Glenmalure, County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland

Even the green hills of Ireland get a little brown during the winter, and December 1996 was downright frigid. There was plenty of good company to warm our spirits though. The island's population swells between Christmas and New Years Day when Irish emigres from around the world return for the holidays.

Pumpkin Paradise

Picking a pumpkin on a beautiful Autumn day in Connecticut.

Tinfou: End of the Line

We'd left Marrakesh before dawn, crossed the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass and the entire High Atlas range by late morning, and then refueled in Ourzazate by noon. The Anti Atlas and the Draa Valley were behind us by mid afternoon and soon afterwards we successfully found Garren and drove on past Zagora out to the desert, by late afternoon where we stopped, rode some camels on the dunes at sunset and slept in the courtyard of the Auberge at Tinfou. That night the milky-way flowed brightly across the sky and I felt very, very far away from my normal life and my normal world. More from a previous post here.

Over the High Atlas

Somewhere beyond the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass on the way from Marrakesh to Ourzazate. 1997

Making Muffins

Olivia on the dunes

Cousin Becky's House of Stuff

The Purple Van

Where have all the Vikings gone?

The Viking ship sculpture in Reykjavik is a reminder of Icelanders' early days. It sits overlooking the water and is now watched over by unfinished "viking condominiums" stalled by Iceland's economic disaster and facing an uncertain future.

Sunday driving in Iceland

The road from Thingvellir to Laugarvatn is a great place to get away from the maddening crowds of Reykjavik. Well actually there didn't seem to be any maddening crowds in Reykjavik but out in the countryside it's almost uninhabited so in comparison Reykjavik seems downright frantic, teeming with hustling and bustling masses of Nordic humanity.

Me and the girls at Gulfoss

Joana snaps one of me and the girls during the last gasp of magic hour (which can last a really long time in Iceland.)

Illinois Back Road

Tooling around the back roads of western Illinois, we dodged high water from the floods as we headed from Galena to Nauvoo.

Twilight in Iceland

A row of bare trees is silhouetted by the long twilight at the end of an Icelandic day in early November. Coming from New England I was struck by the lack of trees. Most seemed to have been planted intentionally.

Nauvoo, IL

After many detours due to the rising floodwaters of the Mississippi we finally arrived in Nauvoo, where Joseph Smith and the Mormons settled after being driven from Missouri. It was here that they set up shop and created a successful community that operated autonomously from the areas around it. Later Smith was killed and the Mormons were forced to leave Nauvoo and ultimately resettled in Utah.

Here Comes Momma, Lock the Gate!

Communing with the Grove

Olivia gets in the groove with a grove of Lace Leaf Japanese Maple Trees. Harkness Memorial State Park, Waterford, CT 2008

Here Comes The Sun... flowers

Our first try at a colorful crop of Sunflowers was pretty successful!

Lazy Potomac on a Hazy Day in July

At a bend in the river the Potomac flows slowly past the town of Hancock, MD. My friend John and I walk along a section of the C&O canal that once followed the river all the way to Washington D.C. Maryland in the summer can be a hot, humid, somewhat oppressive place even up in the "highlands" of the piedmont and mountain areas. The river has that smell that rivers have and it made me wish we had a canoe so we could set off down stream.