Wednesday, November 30, 2011

England on strike

England is experiencing the "biggest public sector strike in a generation" today, as schools, hospitals, and border control at Heathrow all grind to a standstill except for emergency services.

Hey if you're going to make me feel like I'm in Greece, how about some warmer weather too?

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Not my favorite Dutch invention

Apparently a researcher in Rotterdam led a team that created a mutated version of avian flu that could potentially kill half the planet.

Stick to good beer and football teams, boys.

Monday, November 28, 2011

England

Back in the saddle for work this week (which yes, feels weird) in the U.K.

My buddy Martin picked me up at Heathrow and fed me a great chicken dinner at his cozy Portsmouth-area home (his wife & kids are so great!) last night, and today we drive over an hour to Woking for the first day of work.

Schiphol goes big on holiday decorations

60 minutes free internet, but if you need more or need to recharge, the airport has you covered

Why can't all airports do this???

England, The Thames

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Curiosity

NASA has launched its largest-ever exploration vehicle to another planet, the 'Curiosity' rover is a 1-ton "monster truck" of planetary exploration and is on its way to Mars.

Atlas V launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida


Friday, November 25, 2011

Back in Amsterdam

Cold, clear winter day on Thanksgiving, really helped get me back on European time to walk around out in the sun.


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Glen's House

My condo I'm now responsible for faces south into the bay.

My friend Glen's house faces the opposite direction at North Beach, about a 10 minute drive across town.

Glen's yard, Straits of Juan de Fuca ... islands and then Canada straight across ... this is where every large commercial and military vessel entering Puget Sound hangs a right and goes south coming in from the Pacific

Whidbey Island

Glen's sitting room, fireplace

Glen's house

A dog named Boo ..... "Throw something!  Pleaaaaaase."

Facing west, Protection Island barely visible ... straight shot through the Straits to the Pacific
View from the kitchen sink

"Oh boy, a full boatload of holiday crap from China!"

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Autobashed

Yikes, I drove this exact stretch of the autobahn back in September:

A 52-vehicle pile-up on a motorway in northwest Germany has left three people dead and 35 injured, according to police. The accident occurred on the A31 autobahn near the town of Gronau, on the border with the Netherlands. It is believed to have happened in foggy conditions. Hundreds of emergency workers were called to the scene, which closed a 10km stretch of the motorway for 24 hours.
NZ Herald 

Saturday, November 19, 2011

November 19th

Nice little dusting of fresh snow on the Cascades with chilly, clear blue skies on the day of mom's memorial:


Friday, November 18, 2011

Improved Weather

Chilly but beautiful:




Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Surf's Up

Stormy winds straight out of the south aimed at the patio ... not so many sailboats on the bay today!


Progress

I have a functional living room and dining room!



Art Moved to Preservation Facility

Jefferson County Historical Society has *just* finished their conservation facility just outside town, and we moved 80+ pieces of mom's art there today:

Nice day for it!

Living room

Loading up the trucks

Preservation Facility

Nice location

Sliding lockers, turn the handle and they move along the floor

Hanging displays for paintings/prints

O-kay

Photo Preservation Room

Loading dock

Some of mom's collection where they'll be inventoried, cleaned, prepped for storage

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Art Day

Mom had a large collection of art in her condo, many pieces being valuable examples of work by prominent Northwest artists.  Before she passed away she talked to an old family friend about donating the work to the County Historical Society, which has a brand new, state of the art facility for art storage.

The art is being inventories and packed right now as I try to stay out of the way, then it will be loaded into vehicles and transported to storage.  Eventually there will be a website with the work digitally accessible.

Hard to watch some of it go, but of course I'm keeping several pieces with personal meaning to me because of how Mom felt about them.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Duck Days

Big storm last night stirred up a bunch of junk from the bottom in the water and ducks are on the prowl for snacks below my deck:


Seattle trip

Drove to Seattle to return my rental car, stay overnight on Roy's couch, dinner with Bob & Jackie (their kids grow SO fast, amazing) and return to Port Townsend with Bob & Jackie's SUV for moving big objects to storage/garbage this week.

Of course, Seattle weather sucks compared to what I had all week!


Thursday, November 10, 2011

Thursday, November 3, 2011

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