Monday, July 23, 2012

Imagine - Love, Hope & Peace - Now, more than ever...



Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

-John Lennon, 1971

Peace.

~R

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Beyond Starbucks... Travels in Seattle & Whidbey Island, Washington

Day 1: Monday, 23 July 2012.  9:15 p.m.  There's a plane on the runway waiting to be boarded.  Headed to Seattle and then onto a ferry to Whidbey Island.  The Puget Sound beckons.  The Pacific Northwest is the last part of the contiguous USA to be explored.  Stay tuned for the excitement is nary a day away...  Peace.
~R

Day 2: Wednesday, 25 July 2012. 12:06 a.m.  'A picture is worth a thousand words'.  Here's 14,000 words through my lens.... 

Birdhouses in Coupeville, Washington

More birdhouses...
The second oldest commercial dock in Washington, c. 1853.

Just happened upon the place...

A picture of the restaurant called 'Knead & Feed' for the blog titled 'Need to Feed'...!  Best Breakfast Buns ever...

Fresly picked Loganberry (cross between a raspberry and a blackberry) - tart and sweet!

I truly love and appreciate the Maillard Reaction, which is a form of nonenzymatic browning.  It results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat, in this example - olive bread.  For taste and appearance it is vitally important in the preparation and presentation of food.  The process itself is named after a French chemist, Louis-Camille Maillard, who first described it in 1912 while attempting to reproduce biological protein synthesis...


The makers of the bread, above.  We're going back on Friday - for breakfast...  Three chefs having lunch on the outside deck.  4, counting me...

The lighthouse keeping watch over the Mukitelo Landing Ferry.  On the way to Whidbey Island.

A roadside treat.  Pick-your-own raspberries.  O.k.  We will.  Thank you.

Textures.  Lichens on wood.  Inspiration.
 
Ferry on Puget Sound.

It is, indeed, the 'Evergreen State'.
Washington potatoes.  It's not just about Idaho...

Peace.

~R

Day 3: Vacation.  Camera.  Imagination.  Kayaking.  Puget Sound.  Eagles.  Harbor Seals.  French Bistro.  Glass Blowers.  Flowers.  Chocolate.  Sights, colors & food of Langley, Washington....

A seed grows anywhere...

Barnacle-crusted rocks.

A view from the rocky beach...

Birdhouses are everywhere.

Blown glass and the solar furnace...

The sound.  The coastline.  The Cascades.

La truffe au chocolat.


A corner plant....

Dancing in the rain...

Glass work

Kayaks waiting for kayakers...

Langley Marina

Rooftops lichens and moss.

Totemic ancestors.

Modern totemic.

Old dock.

Pate de campagne, filberts, cornichons, moutard

Prima

The Sound.

Self-portrait...

Not a self-portrait...

Sweet Mona's Chocolate Boutique

Textures and inspiration.


'The Gazer'.


Land and sea scape...


Boats on the sound.


The *


Tongue twister.


Useless?  Never.


Rocky views...


Weathered outlook.


On the Farm.


and, of course...


~R

Days 4-7.... Whidbey, Dale Chihuly, Deception Pass, Public Market.  All @ 66 degrees F.
 Seattle Fish Market

 Ferris Wheel, Downtown Seattle

 The EMP Museum


The incredible Dale Chihuly Glass Exhibit...

 The Space Needle

 Deer in the backyard @ Whidbey Island

 Native American Wood Sculpture - 'Orcas'

 Deception Pass

More Public Market, Fish, Gastropods & Produce!


The Lavender Wind Farm, Whidbey Island


The Straits of Juan de Fuca

Things that interest me...


Sand and Beaches


Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula


Chanterelles

Seagrass Sculpture


Dungeness...


Green Beans...


'You call that a knife...?'


Salmon


Reflections


'Super' Fast


Au revoir, mes amis....

Peace.


~R