Life in the key of E flat minor

My last myPics entry was an example of using a different angle for taking a picture of a popular objet d'art in Dublin as mentioned in a Budget Travel article . Again, in the same story, San Francisco’s Union Square ranked higher on the list and I have an recent example of, what I’d like to believe to be, a not so hackneyed shot of that landmark. I like that the picture isn't prefect.  The monument to Admiral George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila Bay isn't solo in the photo, though it is in mostly in the center, but the Hyatt adds an interruption to the intense blue sky and parallels the monument.

As fall shines through with its cool weather and vibrant hues ranging from arboreal tan to brilliant orange, from stunning yellow to fiery red, I open up my palate to non-chocolate flavors.  Any other time of year, I will not even consider a dessert if it’s not chocolate.  However the season makes me crave spicy flavors and autumn fruits, sweetened with sugar or honey or molasses to satisfy my sweet tooth. A box of the spice wafers, image courtesy of PaGeneralStore.com - follow to order some Since I was a little boy, Sweetzels Spiced Wafers have always played a part in my fall. A local Philadelphia tradition pushing over 100 years now , the Spiced Wafers are the company’s revival of a colonial Spice and Molasses Cookie recipe. My maternal grandmother would have boxes of them for our enjoyment, serving them with milk or, on the rare but fun occasion, apple cider. The cookies are crisp with a slight hint of chewiness from the molasses that develops after the first bite. ...

I’m not a skier. When I head up to the Poconos for a ski trip, I sign up for the lessons and the lift ticket package. I re-learn everything that I have about skiing and then I’m sent to the slopes. I ski for about two or three hours, and I return battered, bruised and tired. It’s a lot of fun, but exhausted. A snow slope So, why would I want to go a ski resort town without being a skier this February? Because I’ll be heading up with friends and there’s more to skiing to Killington. Plus I love to après ski. Potential lodging I was looking for activities to do in Vermont during the winter. There are many outdoor options that don’t involve any skis. I don’t know if I will end up doing this, but I could ice fish in Vermont. Lake trout and northern pike are two of the many fish that inhabit the state’s frozen lakes. Local guides are available for hire and can help to rent an ice shanty and to get bait and tackle for a day of ice fishing. An unexpected waterfall The Ve...

When I came back from Australia in 2005, I was profoundly changed.  I had wanted to go there since I was seven, thanks to good marketing from the Australian Tourism Board.  25 years later, I made it there and the country lived up to my probably-unrealistic expectations. This is what was so profound; whatever I imagined and whatever I hoped for, Australia delivered. In January of 2006, I had added writing more to my list of New Year's Resolutions.  So I decided to blog.  Yet, I needed a name and a concept.  Being so moved by Australia, I continued to do my research into the country, culture, colonization and Aborigines.  I was impressed that Aboriginal beliefs are the longest, continuous belief system in the history of man.  One tenet of this is the songline, a path across the land or sky that which marks the route of a creator-being during his creation process.  The way to connect with a songline is to go on walkabout to find and travel along t...

I was reading a Budget Travel article, 25 Most Photographed Places on Earth , that sites the work of Cornell researchers who "analyzed 35 million Flickr photos and discovered that we all shoot the same places—from the same angles." In reading the piece, I quickly learned that Dublin was on the list, but surprisingly I had a new - and not clichéd - angle for Ireland's most photographed place. The GPO and the Spire, Dublin, Ireland Budget Travel counts down the top 25 locations and give tips from the magazine's photo editors for ways to shake up things in taking the world's most photodocumented sites .

Monday, I ran up to Boston for an event that evening.  While I was running to a meeting, I spotted this obviously die-hard Bruins fan heading to an afternoon game on the Red Line.  Unfortunately, I found out that evening that the Bruins lost that game.

I'm in the airport this morning, waiting on my flight with a crew delay. So I thought that I would try to jot a wish list entry via my mobile. Returning from Ireland, I watched a travel show as part of Continental's in flight entertainment. The show was about hiking the Larapinta Trail in Northern Territory, Australia. The trek was amazing; starting outside of Alice Springs, the trail heads westward following the Larapinta River. The name comes from the local aboriginal language for salty river. At one point along the hike, the host and her guide sampled the river water to show thai it was indeed salty. The location of the trail was based on John McDouall Stuart's travels across Australia from the south to the north. Even today, the trail demonstrates the hardships that Stuart came up against while trying to open up the interior of the continent. While I'm not ready to go off and hike that particular trail right now, I'd like to add more hikes into my weekends. ...

This lion guards the entrance to Westport House, stately home of the Marquess of Sligo in Westport, Co. Mayo. Founded on one of the residences of pirate chieftain Gráinne Ní Mháille ( Grace O'Malley ), the manor house was built under the auspices of her great-great grandson-in-law.

A former co-worker has a recipe for a black bean soup that is fantastic.  The soup is rich, flavorful, slightly spicy and great for fall.  I would make it all the time and in big batches to freeze for later. However last fall, my grocery store would run out of black beans often.  I wanted that rich, bean based soup for the cooler, crisper weather.  Without black beans, I could not have black bean soup.  I decided to make a different soup with other beans to get my soup fix. I am usually well stocked with beans – mostly black, red kidney and cannellini beans.  I wasn’t too sure about a red bean soup, but cannellini beans seemed like a great base for the soup. I always think of cannellini as a staple of Central Italy cuisine.  I’ve had many Tuscan dishes featuring the bean including many a Tuscan bean dip, an appetizing Italian answer to hummus. I took out my cans of cannellini and went straight to the internet, searching “herbs and spices of Tuscan ...

I have a friend who lives in the Middle East and I was fortunate enough to get to visit her last year.  While I was able to make the trek there, not all of my friends have that flexibility.  It’s a long time to get there and return – almost 21 hours there and almost a full day back via Frankfurt.  It’s a culture shock too. For those reasons, I’ve been working on a plan to get us to get together somewhere in Europe so that others can join up for the vacation. Il Ponte dei Sospiri (The Bridge of Sighs) in Venice, so named since my Iberian choices were overruled Spain and Portugal lie roughly along the half way point between the nearly 7,000 miles between Philadelphia and Abu Dhabi.  So I propose that, looking into ideas for Lisbon or Barcelona. However, I’m overridden and my posse calls for Italy. Il Torre di Pisa - in Italian, it's just a tower Outside of the distance being a little askew (about 2,700 miles from AUH and 4,300 from PHL to Rome), Italy could b...