Published on Friday, August 6th, 2010 by LisaDiane
Joey and I went to visit our cousins, Lisa and Tim, in Brooklyn, NY. We also got to spend time with our dear friends, Burke and Michele.
We ate our way through New York, and walked across the rest of it (to make up for all the calories we ate). Lisa actually took the week off work to show us around. We fell in love with the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. Tim and I took a Saturday morning jog in Prospect Park, which is just a few blocks from Tim and Lisa’s place. We had a totally fantastic time!
Here are a few of the places we went:
We also visited a number of parks: Central Park, Prospect Park, Madison Square Park, Washington Square Park, Battery Park.
I only had the camera in my iPhone, but I did take a few pictures. Lisa and Joey did an excellent job of cataloging our activities. Below are some links to my favorite pics in Lisa’s NYC Staycation 2010 Flickr photostream. Joey took tons of pictures as well. I am sure he will post them at some point….
LisaDiane and Joey in Central Park
Standing Lisa, Standing Woman with Hat in the Brooklyn Museum
Looking up at the ceiling installation of Kehinde Wiley’s “Go”
Published on Monday, March 8th, 2010 by LisaDiane
I previously posted about a crazy drive around Texas, during which we were in three cities in fourteen hours. Well, this past weekend I completely topped that when I went to see my mom and dad! I started in Raleigh, North Carolina at around six in the morning. I flew to Baltimore, Maryland, where my mom and dad picked me up. We drove through Maryland and Virginia on the way Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, where my mom works.
I got to see Mom’s building, office, and classrooms. We walked around Shepherstown, and had lunch in a nice tea shop. I browsed through the shops on the main street before getting back in the car and driving toward Mom and Dad’s house. We passed through Maryland again, and finally made it to Greencastle, Pennsylvania around 15:00 in the afternoon. Five states in nine hours.
I had a great time getting to see Mom and Dad’s new place. Dad showed me his projector and screen set-up. We also checked out his amazing outdoor kitchen. Dad grilled some fantastic steaks for dinner, and mom made sweet potatoes and sauteed spinach with leeks. Yum!
The visit ended too soon, and I had to get back on a plane and head back to Raleigh for another week of work in North Carolina.
Published on Monday, January 18th, 2010 by LisaDiane
Joey’s maternal grandfather, RD Cline, passed away last week. We all called him Granddaddy.
One of my favorite memories of him occured the first time I first met him. We were introduced, and within five minutes, he had opened up his wallet, which was full of pictures of his children and grandchildren, and pulled out a picture that he had of Joey and Joey’s former girlfriend. He handed the picture to Joey and said, “I like LisaDiane. This picture is no good anymore. I need a new one with LisaDiane.” We actually got a picture taken right away and sent it to Granddaddy. That was the first of many portraits we have had made together. Granddaddy was always the first person to get the new picture whenever we had one taken.
Granddaddy’s funeral will be in Texline, Texas on Tuesday, but there was a memorial for him in Port Arthur on Saturday, 16 January 2010. Joey and I decided that we wanted to attend. We drove five hours to Port Arthur, stopping along the way for breakfast.
BTW – there is a decided lack of Sonics in Houston. I don’t know what the appropriate forum is, but I would like to lodge an official complaint!
We made it to the United Methodist Temple in Port Arthur a little before 10am. We got cleaned up and changed in the very nice bride’s room at the church. Joey’s cousin Marty was in attendance, having travelled down from Providence, Rhode Island. We don’t get to see him very often, and we were glad of the opportunity, despite the sad circumstances!
After the service we had lunch and visited with Marty, Aunt Jan, and Uncle Ray. Joey shared the pictures of Granddaddy that he had found amongst the hundreds of slides of family photos that he got from his parents house last year.
We got back on the road at about 2:30, and drove to Dorie’s house in Houston. She was good enough to let us stop, rest, and visit with her. After catching our breath, we got back on the road to head for home. We managed to find a Sonic on US 290 on the way out of Houston. Good ice, at long last!
We finally got home, took care of the dogs, and then fell into bed! We were exhausted!
Sum up (this is for you Debra – I know you love the numbers):
Depart Austin: 04:45
Arrive in Port Arthur: 09:45
Depart Port Arthur: 14:30
Arrive Houston: 16:30
Depart Houston: 17:45
Arrive Austin: 20:45
Number of cities: 3
Total drive time: 10 hours
Total time way from home: 14 hours
P.S. Thanks to Lee and Billy for swinging by the house to look after KatyDog and Elanor! They were most appreciative, and so are we.
Published on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 by Joey
Published on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 by LisaDiane
Our hotel is right across a major street from the major textile selling area of town. The main street in this area is Arab Street, although “Textile District” is used almost interchangeably. Purvi and I had gone to the restaurants in this area several times, but we had not made it early enough to go to the shops.
Today we got back from work early and walked all along the various stores filled with all kinds of fabric and other textiles. All the fabric was so beautiful, I just wanted to take it all home! We enjoyed the atmosphere of the street – there were tons of people out walking around and enjoying the evening. We stopped by an ice cream vendor and got a treat (dessert first!) that is called “Biscuit Ice Cream” because you get a slab of ice cream between two waffle textured cookies (or biscuits if you speak British). I am holding two ice creams, but one is Purvi’s, no really!
When the shops began to close, we stopped into Ambrosia, the restaurant I mentioned in an previous post. We had a fun evening of shopping, and a pleasant dinner. It was a great way to unwind from the two weeks of training!
Published on Monday, April 27th, 2009 by LisaDiane
The Merlion symbol was designed as a logo for the Singapore tourism board in 1964. The Merlion has a fish tail and the torso of a lion. According to an article written by Cornelius-Takahama, Vernon in the Singapore Infopedia section of the Singapore National Library website:
The lion head alludes to the legend of Singapore’s founding by Sang Nila Utama, a Palembang Prince who, on his arrival on the island, saw what he thought to be a lion and thereafter renamed Temasek, Singapura or “Lion City”. The fish-tail represents Singapore’s links to the ancient sea-bound island which was Temasek and its long and successful association with the sea, reflecting how our forefathers traversed the oceans to come to Singapore and our subsequent dependence upon it as a port.
Naturally, I wanted to see this mythical creature! My co-workers in Singapore thought my strong desire to see the Merlion was hysterical, so they decided to join me. We had a lovely team dinner at a Thai restaurant at the Esplanade. I had a Tiger beer, which was very refreshing and went very well with the spicy green curry we ate.
The Esplanade is just across the bridge from Merlion Park, so after dinner we walked over to see the Merlion. There are actually two Merlions in Merlion Park. One is 8.6 meters tall, and the other is two meters tall. The smaller Merlion is sometimes referred to as the Merlion cub. They were just as fantastic as I knew they would be! The larger Merlion actually spits water out of its mouth into the Singapore River! I had a great time pretending to catch the water in my mouth or wash my hair – my team had a great time taking pictures of my antics. Despite the fact that they started out thinking my obsession with the Merlion was silly, they all had a great time, and we laughed very hard!
The outing produced tons of great pictures of some of the most iconic tourist attractions in Singapore! You can see me (having the worst hair day ever!) and my co-workers along with the skyline of downtown Singapore, the Merlion, and the Esplanade (aka The Durian). There is even a picture of the Singapore Flyer.
Published on Monday, April 27th, 2009 by
Friday night Lee and I went to see the Ruby Jane Show at Central Market. They were spectacular. We were treated to some blue-ribbon bluegrass and high-spirited fiddle work as Ruby Jane Smith led her band through a set of original songs and standards. The cafe was standing room only as about 400 people crowded in to enjoy the music, but somehow I managed to take a picture when only a few people were between our table and the stage.
Ruby Jane’s fiddle work was wicked splendid, her exchanges with the crowd and her band were warm and charming, and her smile was electric. If you’ve not had a chance to hear Ruby Jane play you should go see her. You’re in for a wonderful time.
Check out the Ruby Jane Show at TheRubyJaneShow.com
So here’s a cute trick from the show – lyric substitution in the middle of Folsom Prison Blues (Imagine Ruby Jane hitting those Johnny Cash lows). Y’all know the original:
I hear the train a comin’
It’s rollin’ ’round the bend,
And I ain’t seen the sunshine,
Since, I don’t know when,
I’m stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin’ on,
But that train keeps a-rollin’,
On down to San Antone.
One of her band mates ran a verse from the Who (same tune, new verse):
Ever since I was a young boy
I’ve played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton
I must have played them all
But I ain’t seen nothing like him
In any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball
Click on the cover to read more about Ruby Jane Smith at Austin360 (From The Austin American Statesman XL magazine):
Published on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 by LisaDiane
Orchard Road is a major shopping area in Singapore. It has several large malls all right next to each other, plus stores along the street itself. All the stores are high-end, fancy stores like Louis Vuitton and Burberry, and lots of boutiques.
Purvi and I decided to go down and see what all the fuss is about. Saturday night the stores all stay open until 23:00, so we ate dinner and then went up and down the street window shopping. We stopped at a stall that sold fresh juice. I had a slush with mango and dragon fruit – delicious! We also found a sweet shop. Not at all like what we have in the US! The lady behind the counter was quite helpful. She helped us pick out some things to try. I had a candy made of red bean and sticky rice. I also had a sticky rice and coconut candy. We had a great time walking up and down the street, peaking into the shops and people watching!
Published on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 by LisaDiane
Saturday I went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It is very large, and it is free to get in! There are trees, fountains and flowers all over the garden. There are also benches and picnic areas. There were families relaxing on the lawns, kids playing, people out for a jog. The garden also had an open air theatre where the symphony performs. |
My first stop was the rainforest walk. I immediately saw a lizard sunning himself. He had a very small patch of sun, just big enough for his body. He did not want to move, but he was annoyed by my approach. It was clearly a struggle – in the end he did run and hide, but not before I got a couple of pictures. I am sure he was back as soon as I walked away. |
The Singapore National Orchid Garden is located within the larger Botanic Garden. I had heard great things about the Orchid Garden, and very much wanted to see it. There is a five dollar fee to enter the Orchid Garden, but it was well worth it! The orchids are amazing. The volume of flowers all in one place was staggering. Orchids often grow on trees – not parasites, I learned, because they do not take any nutrition from the tree. They simply perch on the tree in order to get better access to rain water and the nutrients carried in the water. Their roots pick up the water that runs down the bark of the tree they are holding onto. There were many orchids growing on plumeria trees. I found this especially wonderful since I love plumerias. |
It is difficult to describe how many different orchids there were to look at. Everywhere I looked there was another type of orchid growing. There were two special buildings with conditions arranged to meet the needs of particular orchids: The Mist House, and the Cool House. The mist house, as you might imagine, has fine mist sprayed everywhere (It does wonders for your hair, I am sure. I am glad I had a hat on!). The Cool House is climate controlled to simulate the cool air in the mountains. It was so refreshing to walk into that space! I talked with a nice man from Goa, India, who was on holiday with his family. He was good enough to take my picture. If you look at the picture inside the green house, you can see him – his back is to the camera. |
The orchids come is all sizes, shapes and colors. There are some tiny orchids, and some large ones. One really pretty purple orchid was almost big as my palm! The National Orchid Garden is very active in breeding and creating new hybrid orchids. They get to name all the new orchids they create. Sometimes they name them for famous people, and dignitaries that visit the garden. I saw orchids that were named for the Kings and Ministers of countries from all over the world. There was an orchid named for Princess Diana. There was even one named for Ricky Martin; I was a bit sad because it was not blooming, so still do not know what the Ricky Martin orchid looks like! |
Right at the end of my walk through the orchid garden I ran into a most cheeky lizard. Unlike the lizard I met previously, this guy was not the least bit shy. He came right out onto the tree trunk and was showing off. It seemed like he was quite proud of living with all the orchids and wanted to let everyone know! I got a good close-up picture of him, but I also got this one that includes an orchid. Interestingly, if you can look in the bottom left corner of the picture, you just can see some Mexican Heather. They have the Mexican Heather planted as border and filler all over the orchid garden. I was quite proud that the only plant that I have purposefully plated in my own garden made an appearance in such a prestigious garden! |
Published on Friday, April 24th, 2009 by LisaDiane
Tonight Karen, Purvi, and I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Muthu’s Curry in Little India. Little India is the area of Singapore where many people who are originally from India live. Purvi said that it really sounds and looks quite a bit like India. One of the famous stores in Little India is Mustafa. It is a huge shopping complex that is open 24 hours. They have some of everything. There is so much stuff, and so many people crammed into a very small space! The pictures below do not nearly capture the scale of the place. One thing that was very impressive was the jewelry. There was more gold than I have ever seen in one place! When Sujata was planning her wedding, we went to the Indian stores in Houston, and I was impressed there by the huge volume of jewelry, but that was nothing, maybe an eighth, of what I saw in one store at Mustafa. I did not get any pictures of the jewelry because they frown on casing the joint ;-)
|
We had an absolutely fabulous time. Dinner was delicious, and we chatted and laughed the whole time. Karen ordered a Kingfisher beer, and the bottle turned out to be bigger than she expected. We laughed and I reminded her of the time we were in Cambridge together and a co-worker gave her a hard time about her beer, saying, “… and a lady wouldn’t have ordered a whole pint.” I suggested that a lady would not have ordered a giant bottle of Kingfisher either, but, lady or not, Karen was a fantastic host and tour guide for the evening!
P.S. The kid with the cell phone in the picture below was standing right behind Karen while we ate dinner. His family was eating at the table behind ours. He was so engrossed in his game, and I found him to be quite charming. He did not even notice me taking his picture.
|
|
|
