New York Christmas

Well, the family said they wanted to go to New York City, in December,
to see the Christmas decorations.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The big tree at Rockefeller Center...

I said..."well, what about the grand-daughter ?  
Can she handle all the walking we'd do in a New York trip ?..."

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The front face of Saks Fifth Avenue...

"...and what about the cold ??...it will be De-cem-ber...??..."

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

"Window dressing" at Saks, which is just across 5th Avenue...

...from Rockefeller Center.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But the little one was a champ.  Handled all the walking,
and her mom had her bundled well.
She handled the near-freezing cold as well as the rest of us.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Skating Rink at Bryant Park.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...including some tiny beginners...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

More "Christmas windows" at Macy's...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Rather popular with the passers-by...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A holiday-decorated model train store...
...in Grand Central Station.  Very popular with the kids.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

And...the little one got to see snow for the first time !
And it was the perfect amount of snow...a light accumulation,
which never got to be a mess on the roads.

All in all, it could not have worked out better,
logistically, weather, things we got to see, everything.
We had fun !

Y'all take care,
-Mark

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A quiet moment…

…in the middle of Times Square.

No, I wasn’t there at some odd hour, when no one was around.  As I understand, there are no moments like that in Times Square, the center of activity, at least tourist activity, in New York City.

No, I was there on a Monday morning, at about 10 am.  It had been raining, but it had stopped.  It was snowing the evening before, but that had blown through.  The square was full of people, hundreds of them.

I had taken a walk, by myself, a break from the activity of our vacation.  Just a short walk in the cold morning air, no need to hurry along, nothing to rush to, just a moment to stand, and look, and maybe take a photo.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But I noticed, as I stood just about in the center of the open area, an eerie silence.  Just before, as I had walked along 7^th Avenue, several of the store fronts had music blaring, and one lady hawked with a megaphone, “Discount Tickets!…Everybody gets a Discount!”, as they competed for attention from the passers-by, competing in that flashing, light-filled, usually very noisy space that fills Times Square.

There were people all around, but they were taking photos of their own, or talking just to each other, barely audible.  Traffic was heavy, but with hardly any honking horns (people in India just won’t get that…”how can city traffic move, without the power of those horns ?”).

No, there was just an eerie silence, maybe just coincidence, just a few seconds when the voices, and music, and horns, and cars were quiet for a moment, when that fellow with a jack-hammer up the block took a break.

But then, I heard the sound of an ambulance siren, heading just past me, a policeman’s whistle joined in, telling drivers to get out of the way, a bus driver jumped on his squealing brakes, the jack-hammer guy went back to work, and there she was again…“Discount Tickets!…Everybody gets a Discount!”

(…never did make it into that huge Victoria’s Secret store…maybe next time!)

- Mark

12-Dec-2016

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A few more ... (Scotland - III)

We took a tour out of Edinburgh, with one stop being Dunfermline Abbey,
resting place of Robert the Bruce.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Behind it is a very old section, whose roof is long gone...
...an ancient sort of place.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Just down the road, we got our first views of Stirling Castle in the distance.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Next day, we struck out walking, hitting the beautiful Edinburgh Botanical Garden.  They have a rather extensive hot-house/tropical rainforest environment, likely to contain the large number of plants that wouldn't thrive outdoors in such a northern environment.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A mum and daughter out for a stroll...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

LOTS of tropical plants...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Then we entered a warm, dehumidified area, which was a desert display.  I don't recall seeing a Prickly Pear Cactus in a botanical garden back home in Texas... 

If we want to see one of those, we just go outside !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Another view of the "threatening gloomy beautiful" Edinburgh Castle.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Our final event was to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia.  The ship was used by the British Royalty for a number of years, it's beautifully restored and maintained, well worth a tour.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The Britannia is docked just on the back-side of a cool, multi-level shopping mall.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Ok, that's it for now.
Y'all take care,
- Mark

Donkeys...

Dad has a small farm, out west of Houston.  
We stopped by yesterday for a look around.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Early morning fog... 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The cows all came up to check us out.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...as did the donkeys.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

An avid photo-volunteer, this one's nose 
is just a couple of centimeters from my wide angle lens.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Don't leave anything sitting around within their reach...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

There are a few prickly pear cactus on the place.  In Spring and Summer, they have brilliant yellow flowers on them.  The petals finally fall off, then, the base of the flower swells in the fall, until it's fat, round and purple.  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

If you go a bit farther south, into Mexico, the fruits grow larger and fuller. They cook them down to make a sweet, tart purple jelly.  Perhaps a sign of the environment getting warmer, these seem larger and fuller than the ones I remember from years ago...

Y'all stop on by,
-Mark

Neighborhood Faces

Just back from another trip to India. 

We had a couple of hours before we'd head to the airport (Mumbai), so my friend and I headed out into the neighborhood near the hotel to see what we might see. It was cool.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Great sun for once !  And time for a short walk and some photos,

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Busy intersection, seen from a second floor perch...perfect !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Typically, for the Blog, I don't show faces, or name names, without specific permission to so post. For some photos, you may notice I retouched some faces, to make hem less recognizable.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But sometimes dealing with faces...
...is no problem at all !!!

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Lots and lots of tiny stalls and businesses on the streets of India...millions.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

We noticed that the (yellow) auto-rickshaw didn't give "grand-ma" a very wide berth in the street. Makes me crazy trying to cross a street, gringos especially need to pay attention, since we obviously don't know they "system".  ;-)

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Bright day, busy, busy...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Must have been several schools nearby, 
and must have been time to get out on Friday afternoon.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Phones, always phones !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 ...and a phone...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 And always, color !!

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

This lady was selling stainless and plastic ware door-to-door, or rather, "gate-to-gate".  As she did, she sung out, in local language, holding the last note for a second, announcing her presence.  

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Many buildings on the block were 5-6 story apartments.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I like this one  It's actually from Pune, a few hours drive south of Mumbai, a couple of days earlier than photos above.  I wonder what they are looking at.  Maybe some beautiful young girl, singing sweetly as she hangs out her laundry.  I suppose only the boys will ever know.

Y'all take care,
- Mark W. Laughlin

Loch Ness and the Highlands ... (Scotland - II)

For part of our journey to Scotland, we took a commercial tour

through the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness and Glencoe. 

Beautiful, and quite remote.

We met the bus in central Edinburgh and headed out early.  As you leave the city, the first thing you see is the Firth of Forth Bridge, a large (huge) railway bridge, one of the first large structures built of steel, completed in 1890.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The anchor for one of the great cantilever sections.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The tour bus links up with a tour boat.  You buy a box lunch on land and take it with you onto the boat, nice interior seating, with a top deck for the parts in between the rain.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...and the rain wasn't far off.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The boat travels a short bit up the lake and stops

to swap some passengers at the ruins of a cool (former) lakeside castle.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The cloudy-sky-lighting was a bit of a challenge,

but as I say, you deal with what you get.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Lots of moisture in the air.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The roadway runs right down one side of the 1-mail x 65-mile long lake. 

There are only two such roads going up into the highlands,

and as you will see below, this one isn't a big road.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Only a few houses, guest houses and small hotels

are scattered along the lakeshore on the one side.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The stone in the shallow water (about 3-4m diameter) is said to be a "Witches Stone". 

Apparently, in the distant past, two powerful witches lived on either side of the loch,

and occasionally hurled insults, and large boulders, at one another. 

This one is said to have landed on the side of the hill, and rolled back down to the water's edge.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The road on the lakeshore is narrow.  There was not much room

between the bus and oncoming trucks, a bit unnerving in the rainy weather.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

At the bottom end of the lake we turned back east, into Glencoe ("glen" is valley in Scottish), beautifully sculptured by volcanic action.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Imagine living in that tiny, isolated little farm house.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

When the rain is falling, you can see the myriad large and small water falls

as the rain water cascades off the mountain. 

The locals called these "weeping mountains", and you can see why.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Stirling Castle.  We stopped and toured it actually on the following day,

on a shorter tour, with more stops at castles, abbeys, etc.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A "Highland Cooo" !

The Longhorn's Scottish cousin.  ;-)

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A Scottish thistle, a national emblem,

perhaps indicative of the kind of hard-scrabble life

one finds in such rugged country.

Y'all take care now,

- Mark W. Laughlin

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Long Live Nessie !!!