Spring Pictures Continued With Additional Photos

Here are some additional pictures for the 1st of May, Happy Beltane.



The Weeping Cherry tree has finished blooming and these beautiful little blue flowers have taken centre stage. I had to dig up all the moss that took over the area around the tree. What once was grass, was displaced by moss this winter. It has been seeded and we're waiting for the new grass to fill in the bare spots.



We planted more of them over by the deck and there are lilies in the right of this picture.


I do not know what this flower is but it looks suspiciously like a smaller version of Greg's ( Midnight Garden ) Bleeding Hearts. These are not red like his, but are pink. If anyone recognises what this plant is, kindly comment. For all I know, it could be a beautiful weed. ;-)


Here are some additional pictures of the Magnolia tree where the blossoms have opened much more. Unfortunately, they do not last very long and are starting to drop their blossoms.



These were taken in the evening where the light played some interesting effects on the tree and I played around with the hues and brightness to bring them out even more.



No, your eyes are not failing you, I'm having some fun with adjusting the colours, contrast, brightness and hues.



The sun had rested its head under the horizon's blanket when I took this last one as the last rays of light extinguished the day into night.

The "Rights" ( Rites ) of Spring

These are the "right" things about Spring that I like. The flowers are starting to bloom here and there around our home. These first two pictures were taken later in the day after they started to open.




The Magnolia tree started blooming yesterday afternoon after waiting for the temperature to rise.




I was playing around with the colours, brightness, contrast, etc. This picture has this "electric" quality I thought was interesting.



This is a strange tulip that is unlike all the others that bloom in the Spring. I do not know the name for it but, find it interesting. It opened a bit more later in the day.



Our Dandelions are doing remarkably well this year, don't you agree? ;-)

The Nisqually Earthquake of 28-Feb-2001 Revisited

Last week the Mid-West had an earthquake, which was rare compared to the numerous ones that have happened on the West coast. Blogger, Patrick of "Loose Ends" was interested in reading about the earthquake we had in 2001 and the connection I made to the "birds on the telephone lines" that were viewed in the artist's pictures on his blog. I dedicate this entry to Patrick.

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The Nisqually Earthquake happened on 28-Feb-2001 on a Wednesday at 10:54AM Pacific Time. It was measured at 6.8 on the Richter’s Scale. Damage occurred from Olympia, Wa., the capital of the state, to Seattle and all the areas falling into the quake zone.

I was at an hospital in Tacoma seeing a patient at the time, when I happened to look out the window watching the birds on the telephone line whilst listening to my patient when suddenly, the earth jarred, jolted and started rolling for about 45 seconds. The act of the earth rolling back and forth moved the telephone poles apart from each other and in the process, the birds became projectiles, not unlike a stone in a slingshot. It was interesting seeing them one moment resting on the lines and the next second being shot off of them. My next thought was to look over at Mt. Rainer, an active volcano in the Cascade chain of the Rockies, to see if it had started an eruption. It was fine, so of course, we all came to realize we were having an earthquake. We were better off staying where we were so I reassured the patient and made sure we were not near a window that could explode during the stress of the building moving back and forth. Dust came out of the tile drop ceilings and we hung on and waited for it to stop.

The hospital has had many different sections added to it, at different phases of its growth. The towers, where the patient’s rooms were located, continued to move back and forth for an additional three to five minutes after the quake stopped. It was designed to do just that, in dispensing the force created by the earthquake. This hospital had virtually no damage done to it as a result of its design.

I tried my cell phone to call my other half and see if he was ok, and at his building in Olympia, the parking lot looked like a roller coaster whilst the earthquake was active. He helped one of his employees up off of the ground when she lost her balance during its movement. He was fine and when I tried calling him about an hour later, all the cell lines were busy, so I got through to him before everyone went to the phones to check the status of their own loved ones.

This was the third earthquake I have experienced whilst living in the Pacific North West and certainly, the worst one so far.

Here are some additional pictures of the city of Olympia and the last one of Seattle.

The 4th Avenue bridge had to be completely replaced due to the extensive structural damage.




There were many buckled sidewalks and roadways around Capitol Lake near the Capitol Building.




Luckily, no one was injured when all of this fell from this building during the earthquake.




This car was totalled by all the falling bricks from that heavily damaged building in Seattle.

Arghhhhhh!! What Happened to Spring?

I awoke this morning to, guess what? Snow. There were huge snow flakes falling so I picked up the camera and took these pictures. This is April 19th, mind you, and this is the Pacific North West. This should not be happening.

One can not see how large these flakes are from the pictures I took, but they are huge.

Eureka!! I finally captured an "Alien" light hovering in our backyard on the camera. I can check that off the list of, " To Do" things. ;-)

Seán loves the snow. He looks like a front loader running around in the yard with his nose in the snow snorting and cavorting about. He still has a wee bit of snow on his nose after shaking in doors, of course.

This is his favorite part of the deal. I get to wipe him down after sojourns in the rain or snow. He just loves it.

I imagine Mother Nature will have the last word upon whether there will be snow or not. I humbly, step back into the shadows and await Her benevolence.

Boating Season Is Just Around The Corner

I have added some pictures to the original entry. This is the start of the sunset that Steve likes best. The last picture is of the same view though, later on in the sunset phase.

This is Steve rowing back to the boat from shore.

This is a view of the boat standing near the bow looking back. We were underway which always makes it interesting walking about the boat.

This is an island view of the sea.

And we are back at the first entry.

The weather is changing so much in this area that I am starting to miss the boat we owned and sold a few years ago. Her name is Roisín Dubh (raw-sheen doov) which means Black Rose. This name was one of the metaphors for Ireland, herself during the oppressive times of English rule. The Irish were not allowed to sing patriotic songs or read patriotic poetry, the war-pipes were outlawed because it stirred the Irish soul to fight when played. The bards and priests were killed if they could be found and the speaking of Irish Gaelic was outlawed. It was a bad time to be Irish. The Irish wrote about their country in the form of the metaphor to be able to still sing about her and evidently, got by the British. I chose one of those names for the boat.



I'm at the helm in this picture. We had taken an holiday boat trip to the San Juan Islands in the very northern part of Puget Sound. This is very beautiful country and a good distance from where we live, which is at the most southern end of Puget Sound.




This is Steve, my other half and first mate. ( in many, many ways ) Over 13 to 14 years we have spent boating around the Sound with friends or just ourselves. Many a good meal was cooked and eaten, breaking bread with friends and sharing companionship.





This picture of Mt. Rainer was taken from our boat at anchor near Primrose Point, Washington.




This has to be one of my most favorite sunsets, just sitting on the aft-deck, with a glass of Glenlivet, a hat and jacket on, a lighted candle in a lantern on the a serving table, and this beautiful view right out of the "backyard" of our boat at anchor. They say, the best two days of your life are when you purchase your boat, and when you sell it. I would concur. I now enjoy the many pictures and memories we have collected.

Addendum to "It's Spring Time"

I'm updating some of the pictures I took recently around the house. The weeping cherry tree has just started to drop some petals, ( most likely the recent rain started yesterday.) Enjoy!

A closer view of the blossoms.

Oma's Daffodil

This flower bloomed the day of her funeral so I named it in her memory. Cooper wrote a beautiful entry about this lovely lady out of his past.

This is a decorative Plum in full bloom. The Magnolia tree is almost ready to bloom. On the road entering where we live, there are a few Magnolias that are in full bloom. They have more sun light exposure than we, I imagine. Ours should be making its grand opening, soon.

Ever Wonder What Became of Wonder Woman?

( This one is for Greg, of Midnight Garden )

Have you ever wondered what happens to our super-heroes when they are a wee past their prime? One can see in the first picture that she is at her top form and ready for action.

Here she is again, on guard, and ready for the fiend's attack. Then, she was gone,disappeared, and out of the public eye. Dropped out of sight without any forwarding address, no clues to where she may have gone all those years... nothing.


Until now...


Luck would have it that a paparazzi saw her and photographed her on a street getting ready to drop into one of the local establishments for a "quick one."

Here she is:

Wonder Woman!!

Click on the photo to enlarge it. ( If you dare. ) ;-)

(Apologies to Linda, a.k.a. Wonder Woman and to Greg.)

When Insults Had Class

I have always enjoyed good wit, especially when shown in the art of debate or bantering. Enjoy!
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"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." Winston Churchill"

A modest little person, with much to be modest about" Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend... if you have one." George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." Winston Churchill, in reply.

Storm's a brewin'.

National Tartan Day

Today, April 6th is National Tartan Day in the United States. Here are two of my Scottish friends and the clan tartans they represent. On the left is the Buchanan tartan, mine is an Irish one, the Tara tartan, on my father's side of the family, and on the right is the Wilson tartan, part of the Gunn clan.
Again, the Wilson tartan, ( Gunn clan ) and the O' Farrell Clan tartan, one of the older Irish clans that is on my mother's side of my family.
Here's an enlarged view of the O' Farrell clan tartan.

Happy National Tartan Day to all my Scottish, Welsh and Irish friends.

"Here's lookin' up your kilt!"

Vietnam - 1969

This picture of a sunset, in an harbour in Vietnam, of which I have long forgotten its name, was taken 15-Apr-1969, 39 years ago this month. ( I'm finding this hard to believe since it only feels like yesterday to me at times.)


With that feeling in mind, it was 1968 when I received my notice that I had been "drafted" to service in the United States Army. ( what to do... ) There were some choices, one could travel to Canada and ask for asylum; one could refuse to go and be tried by a court and jailed for a certain amount of time; one could be against war for religious reasons; one could ignore the draft notice; if one were in school, that would work, or one could "check the box." The last one was referring to a question asked on one of the written exams that was given during the "physical" which determined whether you were fit or not to serve your country. The question was about whether you had any homosexual tendencies or not. It was a "black and white" question, and nothing in between. To give you a little history of the times, homosexuality was diagnosable as a "mental-disease" and acting upon it was against the law. It wasn't until 1973 that this "disease" was taken off the books and became a variation of normal. So... this was 1968 and those were my options. Running away to Canada would have shamed my family and their families. Refusing to serve would amount to the same thing. I was in enough fights with my peers growing up that trying to pass as a non-violent pacifist would never work no matter how I felt about fighting or killing for that matter. It all boils down to whether I would have the cojones to "check the box" or not. I chose not to check it and was drafted knowing full well that as a gay man, I could have gotten out of it if I pushed it. One has to remember that gays were only known as stereotypes during this time. "Weak, limp-wrist ed, lisping, effeminate," you get the picture. ( not that anything is wrong with naturally having one of those traits ) I was not recognized as having any of those "mannerisms" and worse, couldn't even fake it and one truly needed to present one or more of these actions to convince them you were gay. There were straights who were checking the box by the way. ;-)


This is a picture of me piloting the "Delta Queen," ( how ironic, eh?! ) a ship of 130 feet in length and handling 300 Tons. The fellow who took it had to yell at me to get my attention due to the very loud engines, hence, my look.
Here are two of the ships I used to run up and down the Mekong River and some of its tributaries. The Mike Boat is around 69 to 70 feet long and the "Delta Queen" is behind it. Our company had one more sister ship of the "Delta Queen" named the "Beta-Saigon." It had a more affectionate nick-name which was, "The Wrinkle Neck." I will have to explain that one another time, and hopefully, will bring a laugh. ;-)


We were all getting ready to jump into the water on this very, very hot day. Temperatures have been over 120 degrees F. ( 48.8 degrees C. ) I recall now that if the temperature dipped below 80 degrees F. (approximately 28 degrees C.) I would start shivering and would need to throw a blanket on myself. Now, I do not like hot weather and start wilting from 70 degrees F (around 22 degrees C.) and up.


This was a picture of me posing in front of our M-14 rifle rack in Basic Training. Basic Training for me was at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. I weighed around 205lbs. in this picture and did not lose an ounce during Basic Training. When I came back from Vietnam I was 158 lbs. and hadn't realized I had been losing weight until I tried putting on some of my "civilian" clothes and the belt didn't have a hole in it that would hold up my pants. You may be able to see the difference from this last picture and some of the previous ones. Those pictures were taken in April and I left Vietnam in early January of 1970 so I had continued dropping weight without knowing it.

Would I change my decision if I had to make it today? First of all, I was against the war then and I am against this debacle our "Fearless Leader" has gotten us into in Iraq, now. I hope he and his minions pay for this in the future. That being said, today, I would be proud to "check the box." This country is not ready for us and doesn't want gays and lesbians tempting their straight soldiers. :-) I have found from personal experience that it is usually the straight boys coming on to you, if you look receptive. The gays I knew did their jobs and weren't "trying to undermine the morale of the troops." ;-) Most were worried they might be caught and stayed away from the temptation. A straight boy, after the deed was done, would have afterthoughts of guilt, ( because they are not gay of course ;-) and it has to be someone else's fault they were weak and forced to do it. ) and you can guess who would have been blamed. It will be great when this is not a problem anymore. One only needs to look at the many rapes that have been brought to light recently, to know that there are huge problems in morale with many of the straight soldiers and using gays or lesbians as the scapegoat is not holding much water anymore. Perhaps, in my lifetime, we will see this government appreciate all of its citizens and especially those, no matter their orientation, who are willing to lay down their lives for their fellow man.

Today's thoughts are on the present "troubles" in which my country continues to find itself and there are many questions as to why we are doing this when there are so many other pressing issues. This song says it well, sung by Pink, entitled: "Mr. President."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW7SrM1RfB0