India Ink

Rainbow Architecture

I have a thing for multi-colored buildings. They always catch my eye and demand a photo stop.

Reykjavik, Iceland (2010)

French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana (2009)

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (2011)

Fredericksburg, Virginia (2011)

Singapore (2004)

Prince Edward Island, Canada (2008)

Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland, Canada (2008)

Sand Sculptures

From a sand sculpting competition in Virginia Beach, VA, part of the annual Neptune festival, in honor of the Roman god of water and the sea. Sculptures were created on the beach, then enclosed with a tent for the 10-day display. Puts my feeble attempts at sand castle building to shame!

 

Where:
Virginia Beach Boardwalk, Virginia

Oasis

Because I need respite from remembering.

Images from the peaceful Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia

African lily - Agapanthus x Headbourne hybrid

Lotus flower

Oakleaf hydrangea - Hydrangea quercifolia

Passionflower

Passionflowers

Bench with Black-eyed Susans

Queen of the Night - Selenicereus grandiflora (Jamaica & Cuba)

Bird of Paradise - Strelitzia reginae

'Diamond in the Rough' - Stick sculpture by Patrick Dougherty
Made of red maple and sweet gum saplings

Corn still life

Pollinator

American beautyberry - Callicarpa americana

Purple fountain grass - Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks'

Unidentified flower - West Island garden

Purple pods vine

Flower cottage

 

Where:
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia

Ladybug

Ladybug, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

My New Favorite Place: Shenandoah Valley

I have added a new item to my To Do Wish List: hike the length of the Appalachian Trail. The 2000+ mile trail goes from Maine to Georgia and takes 5-7  months to cover by foot; I got a tiny taste of the experience while camping in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia last week. Miles and miles of forests and mountains, about 90 minutes from D.C.  Breathtaking!

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

This buck plopped himself down next to my campsite.

My first-ever bear sighting!
This guy was (literally) hopping around in the woods.

Being highly allergic to bee stings, I was more nervous about taking the bee shot,
than the bear shot. But anything for my blog readers...;o)

This little stinker, who normally only ventures out at night, sauntered right out in front of my car.

View from Hughes River Gap overlook along Skyline Drive.
I plan to return here in October, when the autumn foliage is at its peak.

 

Where:
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Shenandoah Caverns

Underneath the Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia is a series of limestone caves known as Shenandoah Caverns. A half mile-long guided tour takes you through 17 connecting chambers filled with spectacular geological formations.

The snowy white color comes from limestone deposits

Stalactites, which grow from the ceiling down (as opposed to stalagmites, which grow from the floor up)

Left: Diamond Cascade, made of calcite crystals
Right: Capitol Dome formation

"Breakfast bacon" formations  made of naturally red-striped limestone

A stalactite with its companion stalagmite

 

Where:
261 Caverns Road, Quicksburg, Virginia

 

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Earthquake East Coast Style

I was in India when the tsunami hit, in Iceland when the volcano erupted, and in Kathmandu when a military coup shut down the country. So when a 5.8 earthquake, the strongest on the East Coast in my lifetime, hit Virginia, where do you suppose you could find me?  Where else, but Virginia?!

Do I cause trouble wherever I go, or do I just have a good nose for sniffing out where crazy events are going to take place? 

For the East Coast, this was the strongest trembler since 1944; for the Washington area, there hasn't been one bigger since 1897. With 10 years of California living behind me, it wasn't a new experience for me, but it was definitely new for many of my East Coast colleagues. This past weekend, I visited the spectacular Shenandoah Caverns (a blog entry in the making), where I asked the tour guide whether they've ever had people in the caverns during an earthquake. "I've lived here my whole life,  and we've never had an earthquake," she said.  Maybe I jinxed things? I am one powerful woman.... ;o)

Even on the West Coast, I don't think I've ever felt one that lasted this long.  The West Coast quakes that I recall always felt like quickies, the kind where the shaking is over before you realize what it is.  This one just seemed to keep going, going, going...we could feel the shaking for almost a minute. There was minor damage throughout the area, but the only serious disruption was to phone service, as millions of people whipped out their cell phones, crashing the major networks.

Funny that after years of L.A. living, my most memorable quake will be one on the East Coast!

Do You Uni?

Some eighteen years ago in Texas, I tried my hand at unicycling (below) on my friend Zjaleh's shiny wheels. (Umm...wheel?) I didn't get very far; I couldn't balance long enough to pry my hands off the fence. Zjaleh and I moved to opposite ends of the world shortly thereafter (me to New Zealand, she to Iran) and I haven't been on a unicycle since.

Me and a unicycle, Austin Texas, 1990

Last week, I took advantage of a business trip I had to make to Virginia, to look up my old unicycling friend, whom I haven't seen since the picture above was taken. I was tickled to learn that she was still unicycling -- and she gave me a second chance to try my unicycling skills. I'd be lying if I said that I mastered it this time. BUT! There was definitely improvement. This time, I could actually balance and make my way around the track while clutching the fence with only ONE hand. And my form is much better now, wouldn't you say? ;o)

   
Repeat performance: Virginia, 2008

There was even a split second when I managed to get BOTH hands off the fence...

...but the result wasn't pretty...

 
How the pros do it, in bare feet no less - my unicycle coach ZJ

Photographs by Zjaleh