Olivia Does Key West, Part 1

Ken let Olivia drive the last leg of the trip into Key West. (I thought it set a bad example for the boys, what with her being unlicensed and all, but she brings out the scalawag in everybody!) He had to work the gas and brake, of course.

It turned out Olivia was well-know in the southernmost city; here, Ken and Alex give her a boost so she can pose next to her name on the street sign:

Well. I can't begin to tell you how excited Olivia was when we arrived in Key West to find out her name was all over town. She was pleased as punch to have so many photo ops, but I confess I didn't do a very good job of lighting her in the street scenes. Mea culpa, sweetheart. We'll shoot more in the daytime next trip.

Olivia Does The Keys, Part 2

Our pale-pigskinned beauty does not (perish the thought!) have a tanned hide, as you know, but the beach at Bahia Honda was so beautiful, Olivia couldn't resist a brief go at sunbathing:
She basked in the sunshine on Ken's T-shirt for a few glorious, golden moments, until the delicious aroma of bacon began to draw a crowd...

then everyone cooled off with a little snorkeling:

Sooner than we thought, it was time to head home.

Olivia kept the boys entertained with all sorts of rascally antics during the long drive back to the airport.

Despite a few diva-licious moments that I promised Olivia were forgiven and forgotten, she once again proved herself a hardy, adaptable little traveling companion who plays well with others.

The Rest Of The Vacation Slides

Okay! No more twee stories about insensate objects; let's just breeze through a few last photos from our weekend in Niagara. Leaving out pictures of the people we were with (they're shy,) wineries that pretty much look like wineries anywhere else, and more pictures of Big Water, here's what we're left with: We visited the butterfly conservatory in Niagara Park's botanical garden:

Did I mention that Olivia came with us? She had a blast:

And look! everywhere we go: baby birds!

The Niagara River is a major nesting area, especially for gulls, and we were there in the middle of chicky-time! Above is a common herring gull and chick. There were hundreds of thousands of gulls around the falls and in the islets on the Niagara River.

In the Dufferin Island nature area we saw red-winged blackbirds, including one who opened a can of Hitchcockian whoop-ass on Ken for trying to take her picture. (She must have had a nest nearby.) There is no photograph of her for that reason.

Flowers were more cooperative:

A wooden walkway crossing part of the river had wide spaces between its slats, and you could look through them and see thousands of little fish in the turquoise water.

And finally:

This! The misty, shady area around the "Cave of the Winds" at the base of Bridal Veil Falls encourages some mighty fine tree fungus.

And that's it! For some moving images of the Big Water, visit my YouTube channel, where there's a clip of the view from our hotel window, as well as a brief moment from the Journey Behind The Falls. Almost like being there! Except you're not wearing a poncho.

Olivia's Spring Break

So, guess who stowed away in Ken's carry-on when he went to Florida last week?

The little girl had to be in the center of the action.

Olivia tried some extreme sports while down south......although the sailing lessons didn't go well...

She had a great time hanging out by the pool, enjoying the flowers...

...and relaxing in the shade.

In the evening she hung out, goofing around with the guys. Here she is posing with Ken as though she's got Daffy Duck on the end of her fishing pole. What a stitch!

Of course, spring break came to an end, as all things do, but the memories would be there forever.

We're Back

As time goes by, everything naturally goes....south. And so do we, every so often.

We took a few days last week to visit friends and family in southeast Florida. Here's Olivia enjoying the ocean breezes. It was her first visit to the Sunshine State, and she made the most of it, insisting on a visit to the beach despite the cool temps and overcast skies. Although a few hardy tourist-types braved the waves in swimsuits, we kept our black-leather New York uniforms on and just enjoyed the wildlife.

The egrets danced along the edge of the water:

And the blue heron stalked, elegant, with now and then a sudden down-and-up swoop, like an erratic sewing-machine bobbin, catching tiny creatures swept in by the waves:

The white ibis preferred the inland waterways, nearer the hotels. This photo was taken by Ken during a morning run around the commercial district:Another highlight of the trip (at least as far as I was concerned) was this - a mall wall! I'd scrambled over a small share of the Shawangunks, albeit in a most casual manner, sans equipment, in my college days, but since then I've always wanted to essay one of these faux rock walls.

Here was my chance to do it! Here was my chance to climb *almost* to the top, turn around, and shout out to those below, "Does this harness make my butt look fat?!"

How could I resist?I can't understand why nobody else wanted to try. Oh well. (Photo by DH)

The church named after me was still in business:

The bougainvilla was in bloom:
And we saw signspinners on the drive from Cooper City to West Palm Beach.

On the way home, we noticed the Southwest Airlines Gate at Palm Beach International Airport had gone all out for Valentine's Day:


Friends and family: well and happy. Who could ask for more?

A Coupla Links

I realize I didn't post any pictures from the Corning/Watkins Glen leg of our recent upstate vacation, but I did put a couple or thirty on my Flickr page. You can also find a video clip on YouTube of Ken in the glassworking lesson.

Cooperstown Hall of Fame Game Parade

Olivia relaxes with Ken before the parade starts. She knows she'll have a good view from here. Ken's photos came out much better than mine, so the following are all his:

This man on the train float is firing explosives from a miniature cannon.

Mighty Casey waves to the crowd. He and his fellow dead heroes Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were the friendliest players there.

The Aqua String Band

Fire Truck

The Big Green Monster

The Money

So we're back from a few days of vacationing in Corning, Watkins Glen, and Cooperstown, New York.

The last day we were in Cooperstown, the Cubs and the Padres were in town to play the Hall of Fame Game, a tradition since 1940, now coming to an end as a result of contract negotiations.

There's a big parade before the game, featuring the players riding in a trolley. The townspeople put on a great line-up, with the Cooperstown Community Band on a flatbed, the Edward P. Maloney Memorial Pipe Band (and another pipe band whose name I didn't catch, that's two pipe bands,) a fire truck, a lawman of some kind on a very large horse, Mummers from Philly, special appearances by Micky Mantle and Babe Ruth, and lots more, interspersed with cool classic cars (from a major sponsor.)