We came home from our trip to Alaska and as we normally do, we placed our potted plants where they can get watered, in our planting beds.
All that TLC helped my blueberry plant.
It is hard to see, but click on the image and you will see that my bush is full of blueberries.
I am impressed with it and can't wait to eat a few of them.
A plant that keeps on giving.
If I remember, it does even better if you add coffee grounds to the dirt, once in a while.
To change the PH to a bit more acidic.
This is Ketchikan.
Remember I mentioned that I would show you the photo taken looking backwards from Whale Park and the totem pole?
This is what I saw.
A ship totally dominating the tiny town of Ketchikan.
I don't even want to think about the tiny town, when 2 or 3 ships drop anchor and let all their passengers out.
My Husband and I are truly happy that we cruised at the very beginning of the season.
We had the town all to ourselves. No overly crowded areas and no overwhelmed shopkeepers.
It must be tough for them.
It seems that accidents are getting more and more frequent, here in LA.
I spent the weekend at home, partially because there was a major gas spill, on the 14 Freeway. 3,800 gallons of the gas ended up on the roadway. Personally, I was glad it was 10 miles away from me.
The next day, Monday, it was a tanker carrying a huge amount of Hydrogen Peroxide on the I-5, north of where we live.
I had wanted to go to the Valley and visit my Husband's Family at the cemetery, but each day I decided the roads were probably too backed up, from both these incidents to travel.
Oh well, home we stayed, cutting the pine trees and bushes.
By the way, the photo is of an accident we passed in our van recently.
I saw and took photos of many Totem Poles, starting in Ketchikan and going all the way to Victoria, Canada.
This was our first one, just a block or two from where the ship was berthed. It is named the Chief Kyan Totem and it sits in Whale Park. You will see the reverse of this photo, later on in the week.
I have memories of seeing a park in Victoria that has a group of Totem Poles, but unfortunately, we passed it via bus and did not get to go out and take photos of them.
I enjoyed the many I did see in Alaska.
Each totem pole is different and many are over 100 years old. The paint is all natural and made from soil and plants.
This one was done in 1993, in case you care.
My Water Post For Today.
I have shown you the Harbour at Victoria before, but this is the side that shows off the Inner Harbour and the Downtown area.
What makes this shot more interesting, is the fact that a helicopter is taking off and it made little waves in the water.
If you were not looking for it, you would probably miss it.
Cool, none the less.
I hope you enjoy.
I have been to 48 out of 50 States.
I have a very demanding career, that gives me small vacations and I never use all the days off that I have, so how did this happen?
It all started when I was a child. My parents loved the Civil war and took us down to the South, many times. By the time I was 18, I had visited many of the battlefields of the Civil War. It gave me an appreciation of the fact that we do not EVER want this to happen again. (Try to find common ground people.)
We visited my Mother’s sister many times and she lived in Florida. That meant that we drove down on I-95 (many times before it was even finished). When you hit a stretch of road that was incomplete, they sent you on the backroads of that area. It seemed that the state of Georgia was the last one to finish, so we passed many run down houses on back roads with trucks driving on them, too. It always made me sad to see the conditions these people lived in. All these trips meant that I had visited the entire Eastern Seaboard, minus New England (above Connecticut). From all those trips, I had a deep appreciation for South of the Border, Howard Johnson’s, Stuckey’s Restaurant and 10 States.
When I was 19, my family decided to take 6 weeks off and visit the United States. I was their oldest child and would soon be leaving home and they wanted us to experience this vast Country of ours. We did the upper and middle going West and then returned via the South. This added 17 more states to my tally. 5 years later, my friend and I decided to move West, to make our fortune. Once again, we drove the Southern route, though a few states were added at that time. Such as Tennessee and Arkansas.
I started my career and one of the things we had to deal with, was attending conferences. Most were in Virginia, but occasionally a Mid America State was the destination. That is how I added Colorado and Missouri to my list. On several occasions, since I had settled and married in California, we would drive up to Canada. That added Oregon and Washington to my ever expanding list. None of these decisions were made with the purpose of getting to all 50 States, until we visited my family in the Boston area. We decided to do New England at that time and thus added Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to the list. Beautiful States and worth a visit, btw.
The big change, as we got older and the 9/11 TSA air checkpoints got worse and worse to deal with, was the decision to start riding the Amtrak trains, to get places.
The first trip we took was one I would hear called as I waited on the Metrolink Train Platform, at LA Union Station. Every evening they would call the station stops and after years of this, I finally asked my Husband if we could ride this train (The Southwest Chief), so I could see some of these places. We did this trip in 2010 and added Kansas (in the middle of the night) to the list. Note, I woke up when we were in Topeka, so I have a great memory of their Capitol building, all lit up.
The next year we did an interesting trip from NY Penn Station to Pittsburgh on The Pennsylvanian (spent a few days there) and then rode the Capitol Limited to Washington, DC. That brought us through West Virginia, a new State for us. The Appalachian Mountains are just stunning and you follow the Potomac River, almost from its source, to DC. Again, a highly recommended trip.
2012 brought us to a trip I have wanted to take for quite a bit, The Empire Builder. We started in Oregon and I went through four new States, along the way to Chicago. A wonderful station was in Glacier Park in Montana. Maybe someday we will return and stay a few days. That was definitely God’s Country and so easy to get to, via Amtrak.
2013, I decided to go back to college almost 3,000 miles from home. On our way to the school, we shipped our car out and took the train. The Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle were our routes and my Husband added Arkansas to his list.
2014 and Graduation from College came along. On our way home we took the Lakeshore Limited and then the California Zephyr. We had some trouble along the way and they detoured us through Wyoming, which was a new State for my Husband. He and I added Nebraska to our growing lists.
2015 We had a wedding in Boston and so on our way home, we took the Crescent to New Orleans and spent a day there and then The Sunset Limited back to LA. My Husband added new States and I did not. The time spent in New Orleans was worth it, though. I hope to travel back to that lovely City again.
2017 I planned a trip to New York and on the way back home, we landed in Oklahoma City and spent two days there, looking around, visiting the OKC Bombing Site (much better than the 9/11 Site we had visited a few days earlier). This took another State off our lists.
2019 we booked a cruise to Alaska for my Husband’s 76th Birthday. He wanted to revisit old places he had been to over 40 years earlier and it worked out well for me, because I have added a new State to my list. Two States to go.
Hawaii will be a trip in the near term (probably on a cruise ship) and a visit to my family in North Carolina will get us close to Kentucky (for both of us) and Tennessee (for my Husband). That leaves South Dakota for my Husband and we close this thing out.
I have so many great memories of places I have visited, over the years and I thank my work place for sending me places I would never go and Amtrak for bringing me to America. Oh and also my Parents, who started this whole thing, all those years ago. Thanks for giving me an appreciation for History and a love for this vast Country of ours.
As I mentioned a few days ago, my cat has been quite clingy, since we came home from our 12 day adventure.
She rubs us, she sleeps on the ottoman, once again and she seems so sad, when I have to go off to work.
I feel bad about the work thing...but I only have 7 more months to go, so she won't have to wait for years to get me home again.
It is nice having all this attention, though I am sure it won't last forever.
Then it is back to being ignored all the time. :-)
Way back when...in 2011, my station left PBS.
One of the things they forced me to do, is take home anything connected to PBS and our 40 year history with them.
This poster was one of those things.
I swore I would bring it back, someday.
This week, I finally did it.
I don't have walls to hang it on, but I did the next best thing...it sits by by desk.
Reminding us all that loving and nurturing children, is one of our main jobs.
Welcome back, Sesame Street Poster, you have been missed.
I admit this.
I wore my Alaska shirt 2 times last week.
Minus my Alpaca Hat, it is the only real souvenir I bought on our trip.
I like the minimalist design on the front of the shirt...though the back has a larger wolf image with Princess mentioned.
The sale was 2 for $20, and so my Husband and I both bought one. His says Skagway, btw.
For the price, it can't be beat.
We came home from our trip to Canada and lamented the fact that there were no roses at Butchart Gardens.
Well, I went out to my backyard the other day and there they were.
My roses were blooming all over the backyard.
Here are just a few of the roses, that congregate around the kitchen area of my yard.
They are (left to right)
Ketchup and Mustard
Iceberg
Olympiad
Julia Child
Wild Blue Yonder
I love my roses and thank you very much, my Husband, for cutting them back in the winter so they bloom so profusely in the spring.
I don't usually highlight programs that my station produces, but this one, Broken Bread, made both my Husband and I stand up and applaud.
Roy Choi, who brought the food truck idea to LA, with his Kogi BBQ trucks, is the host of this show.
In the first episode, he goes out to talk with several people, including Homeboy Industries creator Greg Boyle.
He also profiles a young girl who came from the Pacoima Projects and is managing to not only run a successful pizza business, but save drug addicted young adults, at the same time.
She had a dream of setting up a second Dough Girl pizza parlor right outside those very projects she grew up in.
I was so impressed with this young adult and hope that getting her some exposure, gives her the wider audience that can help her realize her dream.
Oh, on KCET, it got a .5 rating, which is pretty substantial for a minor PTV station. :-)
If you have the time, please click the link and watch it.
My Water Post For Today.
I really got into this island that we passed in Glacier Bay.
I am not sure about this, but I think it might be Russell Island.
No matter what, I loved the colors of the rocks and the fact that something so "colorful" was in Glacier Bay.
This was the area where we went into an inlet with John Hopkin's Glacier in it. The Island was there, where we turned around.
The water, is so clear in this inlet, compared to the ice in the main channel.
Serenity and beauty and rain and cold.
I hope you enjoy.
My Nephew and his wonderful wife have had the enviable (or not) task of taking care of a newborn, which I mentioned in THIS post.
So much of what I see in their first photos, brings back many memories of our own experience 28 years ago.
The lack of sleep showing in the faces of the new parents.
The baby looking at the faces of her parents.
The baby holding hands in the air all the time and, of course, the lack of sleep of the parents...
It is all there in the photos and videos.
They have allowed us to see photos on a private site and even offline, the photos were trying to get to me. One of my most precious memories, of the 12 day cruise, were those photos.
She seems to be growing, so predictably and I am so happy for them all.
We just planned to have a quiet dinner with our Magic "Son" on Friday.
Instead, I realized that it was his birthday week and so we decided to make it a good one.
I went over to the hospital and got a card for him and found a present, too.
It's a tiny zen garden. Probably Japanese, but it has a Buddha in it, so I thought it was close to appropriate.
Our two waitresses brought over 3 pieces of pie and so we sang Happy Birthday to him and he blew out the candles and ate the pie, too.
Well, we helped him.
He is very busy right now, with some Netflix stuff and (of all things) getting sound recorded correctly from Fender Guitars.
Pretty sure some of them are Strats.
Happy Birthday my other "Son". We love you.
My Son moved while we were boarding the Ship a few weeks ago.
This was our first chance to see the new digs.
Seriously, it looks a bit bare. :-)
The dining room table came from a friend. He helped move her to her house, a few weeks ago.
The table has no chairs, which is a problem.
Otherwise, wires all around...it looks like his room used to look, back in the day.
Oh, he has his snow tires over in the far left corner.
A few weeks more and he will be coming here to visit and then bring his girlfriend over to Michigan.
He just seems to be vamping, til they get things going as a team.
