Friday, January 27, 2017

EVERYONE LOVES PENGUINS, RIGHT?

The Penguins of the Falkland Islands

It's been nearly a year since I traveled via a Holland America cruise to the Falkland Islands off the southeast coast of Argentina. 
Torn between which land excursion to take, King Penguin 4x4 Adventure or North Pond Penguin Colony, my partner and I chose the latter. 
As a result we were able to stroll among the colonies of Gentoo and Magellanic penguins that call this stretch of South Atlantic beach their home.

Penguins are found only in the Southern Hemisphere, but not exclusively in the ice and snow of Antarctica. 
In fact, the Falkland Islands is one of the world's great penguin capitals.


As many as a million penguins nest in the Falklands in the summer, representing five of the world's species -- 
Gentoo, Magellanic, King, Rockhopper, and Macaroni.



Gentoo Penguins are the world's third largest species, 
and the Falklands are the home to the largest population of Gentoo Penguins on earth. 



So what's the difference between Gentoo and Magellanic Penguins? 
Gentoo Penguins have reddish orange beaks, yellow feet, and a broad white chest.
They nest in colonies in above-ground nests.



Magellanic Penguins have black beaks and black feet. 
But the most distinguishing feature is the white striping 
around the eyes and above the white chest
They live in below-ground burrows. 



Since we were there in February which is nearing the end of summer, 
these juvenile Magellanic Penguins were in the last stages of molting 
hence the abundance of downy feathers on the ground.



This is a test: 
Gentoo or Magellanic?



Gentoo or Magellanic?





Sunday, January 8, 2017

IT IS SAID THAT CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN . . .

THEN SHOES MUST MAKE THE WOMAN



One of my favorite Facebook posts during my trip to Milan 
was this photo of a window display in a shoe shop 
in Milan's China Town neighborhood where we stayed. 
While Milan is known as a major fashion center 
throughout Europe and the world, 
I have a feeling these shoes are not the high-end fashion 
for which Milan is famous. 
But what fun I had asking my audience which pair seemed most like me. 


More shoe choices, though not nearly as much fun 
as the stacked and/or spiked heels.
But I know all women need several pairs 
of functional shoes in addition to the funky fashionable ones.


And as long as your at it, why not a colorful wig to match?





Saturday, January 7, 2017

Friday, January 6, 2017

THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THIS ANYMORE

Milano Centrale Railway Station
Piazza Duca d'Aosta

The central train station in Milan is a hodge-podge of architectural styles 
including Liberty and Art Dec, but certainly not limited to those.


It is adorned with numerous sculptures.


Its facade is 660 feet wide and its vault is 236 feet high, a record when it was built.
It has 24 platforms. Each day about 330,000 passengers use the station,
totaling about 120 million per year.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

A GIRL SHOULD BE TWO THINGS: CLASSY AND FABULOUS

--Quote by COCO CHANEL

With the train station in Milan being in the news recently, 
I was reminded of this picture I took in May of 2015. 
Dolce & Gabbana is a luxury Italian fashion house founded in 1985 
by two Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbano. 




Bata is a family-owned global footwear and fashion accessory manufacturer and retailer 
with acting headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Monday, January 2, 2017

WHO LIVES HERE?

Guessing from the two bicycles, one a woman's frame 
and the other a man's frame with a rear child seat, 
I think it's a young family of three. 
The laundry hanging on the second story supports my guess. 
What do you think? 


This was a photography two-fer for me--
hanging laundry and bicycles--two favorite subjects. 
It's always important to look up as I walk. 
If I hadn't, I could have easily missed this shot.


Taken on Lido di Venezia, 7-mile sandbar in Venice, home to 20,000 residents. 
It is also a favorite summertime weekend getaway for Italians and foreign tourists alike.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

SCENES OF LAUNDRY DAY


There's something about the sight of hanging laundry that appeals to my photographer's eye. The articles being dried reveal tiny glimpses into the people who wear them, enough to create characters for each child-sized striped T-shirt or brightly colored soccer jersey. I also love the banner-effect of the colorful array of items suspended from a clothesline.

These are pictures I took while on the train between Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco. We were returning to the airport to (hopefully) retrieve Doug's suitcase that had been lost somewhere between Paris and Casablanca. 


To anyone who has ever taken a train between major cities whether in the USA or elsewhere, 
you know that railroad tracks rarely go through the nicer sections of town. 


Traveling has taught me not to judge a dwelling by the look of the outside. 
Not everyone in the world is as concerned about curb appeal as western culture, or more specifically, as we Americans.




It's easy to notice the open pipes extending from what appears to be street level or just below. 
I don't know if they are for surface drainage, household grey water, or sewage. I would hope not the latter.




Sadly, this is a sight I see all too often in my travels, particularly in the less prosperous countries, or in the smaller towns and villages away from the bigger cities. Garbage, mostly plastic shopping bags and bottles, have been tossed carelessly and repeatedly over a back wall or down a ditch.


ASSEENBYSUSAN BLOG: Home is Where the Heart Is

Where I Belong

For those readers who also follow my WallaWallaDailyPhoto blog, this is a repeat of my end-of-the-year theme post for City Daily Photo. My apologies. But I think it is a good way to re-start this blog by filling in a few blanks for new readers. I invite you to follow along as I share my life and travels in pictures and words.


I have lived in the Walla Walla Valley since 1987 when I moved here with my husband and two young sons. It was a nostalgic return for my husband since his great grandparents homesteaded here in the mid 1800s, and he was born in Walla Walla in 1930. For me, it was moving to what I would soon refer to as a quintessential small town with good schools, a quaint downtown, and nice homes on tree-lined streets. In short, it was a good place to raise a family.


Nearly 30 years later, it is still a quintessential small town, although both the town and I have undergone significant changes. I divorced after 20 years of marriage, and my children have grown to be thirty-somethings now. As for the Walla Walla Valley, miles and miles of wheat fields interspersed with commercial pea, onion, and asparagus fields have given way to wheat fields and vineyards. . . lots of vineyards. With that change, old-time mom and pop stores in the downtown corridor went out of business and have been replaced with tasting rooms, upscale restaurants, and a variety of retail shops geared more for the new wine tourist than the local customer. But that's not all bad because overall the town and valley have been revitalized with an aesthetically pleasing, low impact wine industry while keeping the charm of a small rural town in Eastern Washington. 
The schools are still good, the downtown is quaint, and the streets remain tree-lined. 
So it's a win-win.

This photo epitomizes "where I belong" for a number of reasons. First, it's been my home for 30 years, longer than I lived in any one place including my childhood home in Birmingham, Michigan. However, it hasn't always been my favorite place. On my first visit to Walla Walla in 1977 while on my honeymoon, I wasn't so enamored. The drive here from Seattle through miles and miles of seemingly lifeless and dry high desert blinded me to the beauty of this tree-filled oasis nestled in the Blue Mountains. To me it was the armpit of the world. It took 10 years along with a new perspective on life as a parent with two school-aged children, that on a second visit to Walla Walla in 1987 I saw its charms. And they captivated me.

Second, it's an aesthetically beautiful setting. The Blue Mountains in the distance hold the valley in a cradle and change visually with the season, the light, and time of day. Likewise, the wheat fields that undulate north into the heart of the Palouse are ever-changing. The curves and folds of the hills are sensuous embodiments of Mother Earth herself--whether under plow, under snow, under combine, or under sunlight. I have had the pleasure of traveling to many beautiful places in this country and the world, but no single place is any more beautiful than the Walla Walla Valley.

And the open road is an important metaphor in my life. I bicycled up and down this very road for years when I was a passionate and younger road cyclist in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The ride toward the mountains reminded me that life is always going uphill even if it appears flat, so it's best to keep my head down and pedal, pedal, pedal. And while the trip away from the mountains was much easier, it was still best to keep pedaling to maintain my momentum. Then in the summer of 1998 this life lesson that I learned by riding on Walla Walla's roads was repeated for 47 days and 3,254 miles on my 1998 Big Ride Across America: 
Roads go up and roads go down, so it's best to just keep pedaling.

Finally, the open road symbolizes my love of traveling. I don't travel on the seat of a bike anymore after a stupid bike accident in 2010 left me with a shattered wrist and shattered confidence. So now I travel in the air, on the sea, in a bus, or on the back of a camel to see the world. But no matter how far I travel or what I see, I always love coming home to the Walla Walla Valley and to this sight. 


It is where I belong.