Kintyre Way: Tarbert to Clonaig

N.B. This is the first of 6 posts about my trip to Scotland in 2009.
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The Kintyre Way is on a peninsula in southwestern Scotland and is apparently one of the newer walks. The waymarked route runs north to south, but zigzags across the peninsula east and west. We stayed in Tarbert overnight, then strolled down to the edge of town, just a few doors past The Corner Bistro where we'd enjoyed dinner the night before, to begin the walk.

A pleasant initial ascent gave us a view of the harbor:


About 5 minutes into the walk, we took a small detour to see this ruined castle up close:

Once we got there, it turned out to be mostly facade -- much like those Hollywood sets, for instance a street in ye olde fashioned Western town for the big showdown sequence. (Yes, my Disney and Universal Studios visits made a big impression on me - also, I think they played with this concept in Blazing Saddles.) Still, it was cool to see this castle turned haven for the local flora:

As we continued on, the paths wound up and around hills flooded with heather. We were often rewarded by glimpses of the sea and the hilly islands behind them:


Day 1 was a relatively short day, about 10 miles. We made it to Clonaig on foot, then got ahead of ourselves by car and actually stayed in Clachan.

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Edinburgh to Tarbert

Made it to Edinburgh - after some excitement with the transportation (car service showed up at 5 am instead of 5 pm, checked in to wrong terminal, gate change as I approached the gate --to the opposite side of terminal). But it's all good now with coffee.

Bill graciously picked me up at the airport and we drove out to Tarbert. We took a tour of this cool church:



En route, we'd discussed that in the U.S., "9/5" means September 5, whereas to much of the rest of the world it means either May 9 (which was obviously inapplicable) or 9:05. But luckily, he didn't have to wait for me - he just thought I'd arrived a bit early.

Summer Night in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

This was the last "Members' Night" at the BBG this summer (where they keep the garden open longer just for members). I took advantage of the opportunity for a rare mid-week visit after work.

For the first time, I saw some little chili pepper plants; the peppers looked like mini Christmas lights in yellow, red, and purple:



There was an Easter Egg Plant, whose bright yellow bulbs were a bit past their prime but still showed the reason for the popular name. Jimson weed has spherical green pods with spikes like a medieval weapon. A Mignon Single Dahlia was indeed mignonne.

The "Elle" rose was lovely: soft pink outer layers surrounding soft orange and yellow inner layers:

I took many pictures of perforated (bug-eaten) leaves in silhouette. Some were quite beautiful, but I thought this design was interesting as well:


It was lovely to stroll the grounds as darkness fell.


There were flat-petaled pale blue flowers that looked like the insides of egg shells in the twilight:


Sounds of insects (crickets and others) swelled, at times drowning out the traffic noises. Bats swooped raggedly in the dusk. And I wandered off following the will-o-the-wisp fireflies among the trees.... Thinking, of course, of the Owl City song ("I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs as they tried to teach me how to dance. A fox trot above my head, a sock hop beneath my bed; a disco ball is just hanging by a thread...").

Mostly Mozart Festival: Haydn's Creation

I love Haydn's "Creation", though I found myself wondering how many of the singers are theists. Obviously they are professionals and need not believe what they sing; I just wonder about it, particularly in NYC. A few highlights from my point of view: I loved that the bass and soprano parts were perfectly tailored to the animals they sing into existence (e.g., the bass sings the whale, while the soprano flutters the wings of a bird). The musical phrasing for the tiger was sublime -- somehow the music itself seemed striped at that point.

My friends and I were on the stage near the percussionist (presumably Michael Strauss on the timpani according to the program), which was a treat in itself. Mr. Strauss was clearly in his element. Short of a Timpani Concerto (should such a thing exist) or the 1812 Overture, I can't think of another classical piece with such a prominent role for percussion. He could not contain a broad grin at the conclusion of the piece. Very cool!

FN: Lincoln Center may need to rethink the title of this summer festival. Two of my three MMF concerts were not exactly "mostly Mozart" (one was all-Beethoven, the other was all-Haydn). And the third, with Joshua Bell, was barely 50% Mozart (if that). Not that I'm complaining, or anything. Just sayin'

A Recurring Theme

Scenario 1: I've just taken a trapeze class to see what it's like. It's exhilarating. I mention this to Z.

Z: Where is this leading? Are you going to join the circus?

Scenario 2: I'm picking up shells on the beach that have perfectly drilled holes in them, to see if I can make an interesting pair of earrings that will remind me of happy times by the sea. I mention this to Z.

Z: Are you going into the jewelry business?

Scenario 3: I'm showing off a few photos I'm particularly proud of, to Z and some others.

Z: Are you going into the photography business?

As of press time, I'm happy to report that I will be immediately switching careers to become a camera-wielding trapeze artist who specializes in making jewelry out of photographs taken mid-swing. Operators are standing by to take your order.

BBG in August

Lovely in every season. Here are some pictures from mid-to-late August.

View of black-eyed susans through the branch of a twisted tree:

A large flower (this is actually a double-portrait; look for the reflection in the sunglasses):

Tree reflected in the lily pond:

Water lilies with the softness of watercolor (thanks, Monet):

Lotus blossom, easily THE most photogenic plant in the garden:

A visitor to the BBG:

Small butterfly, big flower:

Snapdragons!!!!

I love the vibrant color of these:

Rose garden still has some blossoms, even though Rose Month was back in June:

This one reminded me of the lotus flowers, but it's still a rose:

No skating in the garden, sorry:

A picture from one of my few hiking trips this summer, to Anthony's Nose (near Bear Mountain):

Public Enemies

Some of the HFG gang went to dinner (Penelope's) and a movie (Public Enemies). I grew very sleepy during the movie. It seemed almost as if the film-makers were trying too hard not to favor either the outlaw or his nemesis... and in the process left me completely indifferent to both sides. My main impression of the movie is white guys in dark suits with bowler hats and machine guns. Plus one former hat-check girl (gotta love Dillinger's courtship technique).

I was a lot more impressed with the views from the theater: the Empire State Building in fog.







Dinner was nice as well. It reminded me of Home restaurant on Cornelia Street, though more bright, open and airy.

NY Philharmonic

It was a lovely evening under the pink balloons:

Two of our company enjoying the last rays of sunshine:

We were close enough to the stage that the speakers were behind us:

Alec Baldwin was the surprise guest MC before the show. I think he told us how to vote on the encore:

This time, I didn't even bother trying to vote. Luckily, the audience chose what I would have voted for: a Mendelssohn scherzo.

A view over the shoulder of someone with a much better camera than mine (he's taking a picture of Alec Baldwin):

It was a nice concert, though I was sad not to see any fireflies this time. They've been scarce most of the summer (just saw them at the graveyard in Stony Point). There were at least some fireworks after the encore, though further away and less elaborate than in previous years. Maybe they figured people would bring their own.

Yankee Stadia

Two views in June, very atmospheric, though more impressive in the original full-size pictures:

Vitamin Z 2009

Enjoying pictures after breakfast:

A young commuter running for the train?


Riding the carousel at Bryant Park:

Tickled to pose with Elmo in Times Square:

Face painting at the Central Park Zoo:


Putting on a lion face:

Extra-strength lily pads:

Rabbit sculptures:

Crocodile on the Q:

Picnic in Prospect Park: