Saturday, February 19, 2011

Our Firenze Holiday

Wednesday, February 16

Our bags have returned to us from their own mini-holiday!  There were moments when I seriously doubted we would ever see them again.  Now, we have clean socks...and other important things.

Today, it is raining.  Today, we collect our rental car.  Today, we drive to Lucca...in the rain, and turn around and return to Firenze.  We take the wrong exit and get quite lost, which is really kinda cool because it gives us a chance to see parts of Firenze we would normally not see, and, it gives us a chance to get the feel of our new, if temporary, home.

We are staying in the Hotel Santa Maria Novella with a room that overlooks the Piazza Santa Maria Novella; I set up my tripod and get a time exposure of the piazza and the Grand Hotel Minerva.  The benches in the piazza are pretty cool; a number of them have lights that shine from under the edges.


Piazza Santa Maria Novella

Our Firenze Holiday

Tuesday, February 15

I got up this morning and  called the "Lost & Found Baggage" people and got some good news, and some not so good news.  Our bags have been found and have been dispatched to Firenze; the "not so good" news is that the Firenze airport was fogged in and the flight with our bags was diverted to Bologna.  Compounding the "not so good" news is the news that the only flight from Bologna to Firenze gets in at 11:30 pm, an hour and a half after the "Lost & Found Baggage" counter closes.  So, the glass is half empty, but at the same time, it's half full.

We take breakfast in the hotel (it's included!) and head out to do some self-guided walking around the old part of town.  I capture some images; the wife finds a yarn shop (I'm shocked!); we find an out of the way Cafe' (it somehow seems they're all "out of the way"!) and had a couple Lemon Sodas...delicious!


Il Duomo



Il Duomo2



Il Duomo Window



Hogre Non Esiste



La Bicicletta Blu



Light In The Balance



Scooters


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Our Firenze Holiday

Later that same day...

We went out for a bit of a walk around town, not the whole town, mind you, but just some of the central portion, some of the older part, that we could get to on foot without too much effort.  We were searching for some personal items, shampoo, toothbrushes, etc, to get us over the hump until, and if, our luggage arrived from whatever far-flung clime it was taking its own holiday.

After we got our personal items taken care of, we wanted some soda (for the aforementioned "Duty Free" liquid libation...hey, we'd earned it!) and some snacks.  We encountered a lovely young woman who gave us her personal recommendation on some local potato chips.  Erin, the lovely young woman, turned out to be from Spokane, WA, just 300 miles or so from our home, and she is in Florence studying "Art Conservation", "Art Restoration" or something along those lines.  And, it turned out she is about 10 years older than the early twenties we pegged her at.  Huh!

We returned to our room to cache our newly acquired booty, and went in search of something to eat.  We ended up at an out of the way trattoria where we encountered a good bottle of wine, an OK bistecca and an interesting Englishman, "Mike", who regaled us with stories of his travels and experiences.  It seems his favorite place to holiday is Gabon (Or was it Gambia?  Now I've got myself questioning myself.) where he likes to go fishing.  Interesting fellow.

More to follow...

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Our Firenze Holiday


We were collected by the airport shuttle at 5:00 am on Sunday, after having been up for most of the preceding 24 hours. We boarded our 8:10 am flight right on time, then spent the better part of the next 2 hours waiting to commence our flight while some maintenance folks did whatever it was they needed to do to clear a code in the cockpit that the pilot had deemed important enough to keep us out of the sky. That's my kind of pilot; if you're going to err, err on the side of caution. While the natural inclination for an airplane may be to fly, gravity is a powerful and tenacious opponent, and it always wins.

We arrived at Toronto, our intermediate destination, about an hour and a half late, which instead of a leisurely stop-over, left us with a mad dash, via immigration control, to our connecting flight; we made it with little time to spare. Our transatlantic journey was comprised of 10+ hours of reading, cat napping, working word puzzle books, movies, cat napping, a meal, some beverages, cat napping, movies, reading, cat napping...well, you get the picture.

Upon arrival at Frankfurt, and after standing in two frustratingly long security check-point lines, we finally got that the liquid spirits we had acquired at the Air Canada in-flight "Duty Free" shop while over the Atlantic would have to be stowed as checked baggage during our next and final flight. So, we put our libation in a duffel, checked it with Lufthansa and made another mad dash toward our next flight; but, strategically placed between us and our gate was yet another security check-point, which slowed our forward progress to the point that by the time we arrived at our assigned gate, the bus to our aircraft was already two minutes gone.

The nice Lufthansa lady booked us on the next flight to Florence, which was two and a half hours later, and it was at this point that we found out that there was every likelihood we would be continuing our journey without our luggage. No, not our "Duty Free" liquid libation that was safely ensconced in a nylon duffel and checked with Lufthansa, but our "real" luggage that we had checked in Seattle. So it was that we arrived in Florence two and a half hours late without so much as a change of socks.

We took a cab to our hotel, checked in, went to our room where I took off my shoes to give my tired and blistered feet a well deserved rest.

To be continued...


Friday, February 11, 2011

Project 52 - Week 7

A photo a week...for a year.  Fifty-two weeks; 52 images, minimum.

I didn't have much opportunity to get out and shoot this week.  I did get a few images, but mostly of the "ho-hum" variety.

One of my co-workers approached me a couple of weeks ago about doing some portraiture work.  We haven't been able to set up a session yet, but one day this week she was in my office and I saw something...  While we were talking I pulled my camera out of my bag and took a few frames.  This is my favorite.


Sheri

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Worth a Look (The View From The "Big End") - Vol II Edition 3


Not only am I a visual person, but a photographer as well.  As such, I enjoy looking at photographs, and every now and then I'll go wandering through the listings for the Photographers Of Etsy to do just that...look at photographs. I usually frequent the "Big End" because I want to catch them before they expire, give them another chance at discovery if you will.  Here are just a few of the images that recently caught my eye.

Enjoy!

And artists, please don't forget to renew your listings before they expire!  We'd hate to lose them.

(Note:  The "Big End" is what I call the the oldest of the POE listings. To get there, conduct a search on Etsy under "All Items" for "POE team".  You will get a list of probably somewhere around 400 to 500 listings; the "Big End" is the end of the list with the highest numbers, and these are the ones about to drop off and expire.)

(Note 2:  It should be noted that the only search criteria I use to find the images for this feature is "poe team".  You'd be surprised how many times I go into a member's shop to link to the listing I found in my search, only to find another image I like better!  Sadly, because of my self-imposed rules, I can't use the other "better" image because, and only because, "poe team" was not included in the list of 14 tag words.  So, if you're not including "poe team" in your tag words, you're missing the boat.  

Hey, I'm just sayin'...)

Snow Gauge - rrobertsphoto



Chucks - lilacpopphotography



The Rustic Wooden Door - RaeoLight



Winter Canoes - KhoKreative



Niagara Gull - HolgaJen



Taking Off - mariterecr



Rusted Gear - HouseofSixCats



Brooklyn bridge - Lazyfish



Field at dusk - posidonia



Electric Shadow - PhotoGrunt

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Tagline Roulette - Volume II, Edition 2 - "Teal"


I have a list of words, currently numbered at 161, and periodically I go to an online random number generator to get...(Wait for it!)...a  randomly generated number! I use this number to point me to the tag word that I'll use to create a pool of images by Etsy POE Team members.  As words get used, I cross them off the list, give the other words a chance, you know?   


It should be noted that the "tag word" in no way dictates a theme, it is merely part of the search criteria used to create the image pool.  This time out the random word turned out to be "Teal" which produced a collection of 6 pages, 234 listings and a collection of 26 images.  


Please take a look; I hope you enjoy them as much as I have, and as always, please feel free to send me your word suggestions!


Nuance - greenislandstudios



bix - zuppaartista



Glacial Waters - jenndphotography



seagull 3 - enchantedpond



All Shut Up - reflectionsoflight



Pecos River No. 2 - rrobertsphoto



Miss Violet at the Starting Line - kellywarrenphotoart



Spring Cactus Blossoms - CreateLoveLaugh



Ode to Aspara-guys - joystclaire



Roots Of Exposure - CatamountDigital



Vintage Chevrolet Bel Air - EyeShutterToThink



Wasser Mit Gas - buckscountyframes



Country Breeze - bbrunophotography



Teal Door - RaeoLight



Copper Lion Fountain - intrinsicvalue



The Lone Horseman - Briole



Troy Bay Door - PhotoGrunt



all things european - levansphotography



Preservation - bbrunophotography



Red Shadow - studiocvh



Annie's Town Hotel - SouthernHippie



Solar Powered - dsbrennan



Abstract Two - CoyPhoto



Old chair with telephone - seabelly



Fermenting Department - jalinde



Dive - ellemoss

Friday, February 4, 2011

Worth a Look (The View From The "Big End") - Vol II Edition 2


Not only am I a visual person, but a photographer as well.  As such, I enjoy looking at photographs, and every now and then I'll go wandering through the listings for the Photographers Of Etsy to do just that...look at photographs. I usually frequent the "Big End" because I want to catch them before they expire, give them another chance at discovery if you will.  Here are just a few of the images that recently caught my eye.

Enjoy!

And artists, please don't forget to renew your listings before they expire!  We'd hate to lose them.

(Note:  The "Big End" is what I call the the oldest of the POE listings. To get there, conduct a search on Etsy under "All Items" for "POE team".  You will get a list of probably somewhere around 400 to 500 listings; the "Big End" is the end of the list with the highest numbers, and these are the ones about to drop off and expire.)

(Note 2:  It should be noted that the only search criteria I use to find the images for this feature is "poe team".  You'd be surprised how many times I go into a member's shop to link to the listing I found in my search, only to find another image I like better!  Sadly, because of my self-imposed rules, I can't use the other "better" image because, and only because, "poe team" was not included in the list of 14 tag words.  So, if you're not including "poe team" in your tag words, you're missing the boat.  

Hey, I'm just sayin'...)

Sunset Over Hartland Point - Lhosphotography



Freedom - bluemoonstudio



Brant Point Sunset - Knight27



Flower 1 - heatherkingdesigns



Abandoned Farmhouse in Canola Field - rrobertsphoto



Detroit Alley - lilacpopphotography



Had You Gone You Knew In Time We'd Meet Again - CBMLphoto



Black and White Tulips - PhotoGrunt



Simply Country - SouthernHippie



The Test of Time - FotogirlCreations



Eastern State Penitentiary - JohnSturgisPhotos



Misunderstood - siriusimagery