A Bit of a Snow Storm

Our back deck, Saturday morning about 7:30.

So it has been snowing here - sometimes more, somethings less - since about 9:30 yesterday morning. I tried to keep about half of the back deck cleared most of the day so we could get out to feed the birds and basically just get out. What you see on the table above started accumulating about 2:-00-3:00 in the afternoon when we got tired of cleaning it off.

I did run the snow blower yesterday afternoon about 2:30 or so to keep things from getting crazy. Clearly I failed in that aim. I cannot now tell that I did anything in the driveway and it is deeper than it was when I plowed yesterday.

It is still (time now is 9:30 AM) snowing pretty hard out - big flakes and lots of them. I shoveled about a foot or a little more off the back deck this morning and after about an hour and a half, I had nearly two more inches.

I sitting here trying to work up the gumption to run the blower again and knock the top off of the driveway and sidewalks. We're told that it will be nearly 40 F tomorrow and it will all be ok. Eventually.

In just over a month, I will be in Maun, Botswana where it is in the low 90's every day. Anyone for seasons? Looking forward to it.

After Lemon Tree Passage

Kangaroos grazing near Pebbly Beach.

South of Sydney is Murramarang Naional Park which contains Pebbly Beach. Located at this site are a series of "shacks", small holiday cabins where you can stay near the beach. Near the beach where the kangaroos graze! We have booked a couple nights towards the end of November to stay in one of the shacks and just be at the beach, and enjoy the kangaroos.

A Few Details

I have a Rokinon 14 mm lens for my Nikon D800E that I have found very useful for photographing churches, cathedrals, and other architectures of interest. Extra care is required since the lens is manual focus. Since we have all gotten used to autofocus, it is a real effort to handle a manual focus lens. Especially when using the lens in places that are not brightly lit.

For a "normal" lens, focusing is not all that hard, but for a wide angle lens it is a bit tricky since the variation in focus is slow with a turn in the focus ring. So much is in focus, or nearly so, it is hard to tell what you are doing through the viewfinder. So let's change the game and simplify the process.

Filling in the Details

A Google map's eye view.

We have booked the second stop on our Australian tour: Lemon Tree Passage. It is in New South Wales located about a 45 minute drive from Newcastle and a couple hours from Sydney. Two dogs and a cat are waiting for us.

This visit is for a half a month and looks like a perfect place to walk the dogs, enjoy the beaches, and with a little luck, see some koalas in the wild. Ah... to be at the beach in November!

About Stockholm

I write this from the airport, having finished a breakfast sandwich and some coffee that would have powered the entire 7th Fleet for a week. The instant caffeine headache is slowly subsiding. It seems like a good time to post a few thoughts on our first visit to Sweden.

Waiting for the tram on Strandvägen.

Biskvi!

Steve has been encouraging me to contribute to our blog. Fossilized Catholics such as myself can't imagine anyone being interested in our mundanity, but I've compromised by agreeing to write about my favorite topic -- yummy, interesting, special food treats.

Meet, the biskvi. The biskvi is a Scandinavian Christmastime treat we discovered by serendipity in Cafe Kladdakan, a cozy coffee shop in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. Biskvi is composed of a chewy almond macaroon base with buttercream filling, clothed in chocolate that crackles when you bite into it. Loosen your stays, ladies, the combination of textures and flavors will make you swoon.

Speaking of swooning, biskvi are also called Sarah Bernhardt Cookies, but most of the US recipes I found lean more toward marshmallow than buttercream. Here's a recipe that sounds right to me.

I'm not kidding you when I say this is the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

Stockholm Stadshus

Stockholm City Hall from the "inside.".The building is an open rectangle.

The Stockholm Stadshus (City Hall) is an impressive structure. Outside, it has a great tower in one corner and sits directly across the lake from our hotel. Inside, however, it is a special place.

The LogInn Hotel

MS Kronprinsesse Märtha, a cruiseship ordered in 1928 was built by the "International Ship-building and Engineering Co" in Danzig. It was delivered in the summer of 1929 to Stavanger, Norway.

The MS Kronprinsesse Märtha.

Vasa!

In the early 17th Century, Sweden was at war with Poland. King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, decided to build a ship that was to be a game changer. Very few ships at this time had two decks of guns. He wanted that. He wanted a heavily armed ship that was fast. As you can tell by trying to push your hand through water palm-first or to the side with all fingers following in a line, a narrower ship is going to be easier to move through the water faster.

Boxing Day Update

Katla on the prowl.

On Christmas and Boxing Days we had some down time and enjoyed the cats we are sitting. One cat, Katla, is, oddly enough, allowed outside. Above is Katla prowling her domain.

Gamla Stan

The Christmas Market in the Stortorget Square in Gamla Stan.

Old Town is a fun place. Lots of old but well maintained buildings and delightful stores. Above is a view of the annual Christmas Market. Although we've been told (repeatedly) on the web that the Stockholm has some of the best markets, it didn't seem to be anything special. Compared to Vienna, it is small. The selection on Gamla Stan is very good, not extensive. Lots of toys and candy. Some choices of mulled wine and sausages, but these are more limited. Of course, compared to the gigantic "market" in Hyde Park, London, this is a backwater. The one in London is what it would look like in the US if we did such a thing - overdone, extensive, exhausting, wonderful, impressive, and expensive.

Exploring Stockholm

View of Gamla Stan (Old Town) from Södermalm.  Please note that this was taken near mid-day.

Stockholm is a beautiful city. In spite of the fact that the winters are dark and (typically) cold, people have been living here a long time - since at least the 6th Century BC. Wikipedia claims that the name first appeared in print about 1252. Today, Stockholm is a large city (about 2.2 million in the metro area), the largest in the Nordic region.

Beverly Street on a Saturday Night

Beverly Street on a Saturday night.

Just a little bit to add to the earlier post about the beginning of the holiday season. It seems we are getting carriage rides in town this December. As you can see above, the horse-drawn carriage is about to negotiate a turn. A delightful evening out.

Strangeness Abounds

I have been very careful to avoid politically charged posts so far. I'm at my limit.

The number of crazy things that are getting put out on the intertubes these days is just astounding. It is difficult to believe that real people in the US are saying these things in public. Perhaps it is really true that we have been invaded by the body snatchers and these aren't people who spout this shit. Maybe all these shows and movies about zombies are trying to tell us something. Maybe I should just take the hint.

'Tis the Season

Now that a) I have at least an interim solution to the image exporting issue, and b) it is now officially Christmas season, it is time for a post on enjoying the sights of the season.

A Time of Family and Friends

Every year we gather many friends with our family to enjoy the community in which we live. We gather for one of Elizabeth's fantastic signature meals and find that, just like Babette's Feast, it transforms us all as we eat and talk. We had about 20 people for our Thanksgiving meal, some were new friends. We all had a great time.

To top this off, on Friday we had another special meal, just with our family to capture the spirit of Babette's Feast. We followed as best we could (no turtle soup, no 1860 vintage wine, etc.) the spirit of the meal. Lots of wine and great food (again). Even with only five of us around the table, we found that openness and communion that all great meals generate. So, this year, we had two magical feasts to celebrate the season of thankfulness.

I hope your celebration were as transformative.

Normally, I would be posting photos of our turkey and some of the folks. However, I upgraded to El Capitan this week and now I can only export images from my photo software that are tinted green with pink highlights. Not good. Hopefully, this will get sorted out soon.

Farmer's Market

This weekend, we are visiting our friends in Arkansas to end our long fostering of their two cats, Patsy  (Cline) and Buddy (Holly). This morning we visited the farmer's market in downtown Fayetteville and found it quite a pleasant experience.

We Get Fog

Nikon 1 V3 -- 18.5 mm,  ISO 160, 1/125 s,  f/1.8

After a recent rain, the sky began to clear about sunset. It was warm. The water soaked ground made a place where lots of pockets of ground fog were generated. And this made for an interesting display of textures across the fields.

Staunton Train Station

Took some time the other day to wander a bit about the Staunton train station to get a few shots. I took my trusty Nikon 1 V3 with the 18.5 mm lens (equivalent field of view to a 50 lens on a FF camera). I was in a B&W kind of mood so I converted all this to B&W using the Nik software.

Birds of Prey

Back in June we did a house sit in Warboys, Cambridgeshire. It was a tiny village that didn't even have a pub. Well, OK, it had a pub but not one I would go in.

What was easy to find was places that rescued birds of prey. I took my Nikon D800E and my

Nikon - AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens to attempt to photograph these birds while roosting (pretty good) and flying (pretty bad). My back hurt for days afterwards.

Below the fold is a selection of some of the photos from visits to two different places.