Photo Challenge: Containers

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Photo Challenge: Containers  From “Don’t judge a book by its cover” to “Don’t look at the jug, but at what it contains” (an old Rabbinic saying), we’re constantly taught that the contents of things are more important than the vessels, wrappers, and boxes that hold them in place. This week, let’s give outer shells their due and focus our lenses on things that contain other things.

I have been learning all sorts of new things from my friend who has dairy cattle on her farm.

Cedo checks the milk storage tank at her farm.

Cedo checks the milk storage tank at her farm.

The milk truck comes every other day to collect the milk.

The milk truck comes every other day to collect the milk.

Before the milk is in the tank, it is in these containers.

Before the milk is in the tank, it is in these containers.

Future containers

Future containers

This one was contained only days before, and may become the father of future containers in the future.

This one was contained only days before, and may become the father of containers in the future.

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Photo Challenge: Relic

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Photo Challenge: Relic  Share a photo of what “relic” means to you — it could be your still-running 1979 Honda Accord Hatchback, an historic building in your town, or an old, rusted farm implement poking up through the long grass in a field.  

relic1

A little old house I passed while riding in the country.

This building is right in town, and appears to have been a school for little kids.

The walls are made out of bricks of earth or mud.
There is no roof, and we startled some chickens in the building.
Don’t run – No Corras
I think the plants growing on the kitchen counters add a special touch.
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Everyday Greetings

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

It is always interesting to go back to the US and see how it feels. I think the longer I live in Panama the more I notice the differences because Panama has now become my”normal”. What differences struck me the most this time?

People in the US still seem really tall. At first I had to remind myself to speak English. Everything is expensive. I thought imported items cost a lot here but they seemed even more expensive in the US – not that I buy a lot of anything that isn’t local so I’m no expert, but just daily costs of living are much more. Everything seems neat, tidy, manicured, and cared for. There are generally no holes in the roads and sidewalks, the grass is neatly trimmed, farms are planted in rows, cities are zoned, and there are no chickens running through the neighborhoods.

Most of all, I miss the greetings. People in the US generally don’t make eye contact, don’t greet you, and are a bit startled if you greet them. It just isn’t the way things are done. When you live where everyone greets everyone, all the time, everywhere, you feel like a welcomed part of the community. That is very easy to get used to. Funny how such a simple thing can make daily life feel so different.

In the US, things feel easier. I am totally fluent in the language. Even in an unfamiliar city I have a general idea of how things work. Google will navigate you through bus transfers and roads are clearly marked. In Seattle, all traffic stops if you try to cross the road! But, easy is not what I want. I want the challenge of a new country, culture, and language. I want to see how others think, how they live, how they feel about their world. And, I want to be part of my new world. I want the everyday greetings. My trip was a wonderful and very precious time with important people, but it is also good to be home again. There is a tranquility, an openness, and a joy of living here that I really love.

Posted in culture, Panama, travel | Tagged | 22 Comments

Triathlon

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Sunday morning in Seattle, my daughter’s husband competed in a triathlon. I had never been to such an event and wanted to see it. It was better than I expected, and quite inspiring!

The event started at 6:30 AM! Some of the participants are getting a feel for the water while the first wave of competitors lines up farther away. Each category had different colored caps and left in groups 10 minutes apart, so after a while there were swimmers everywhere. There were two races, the Olympic which went first, and then the sprint which was for shorter distances.
This is the transition area where gear was kept and contestants changed from wet suits to bicycles and then to running gear.
Many wet suits are now hanging on the lines as swimmers have left on their bicycles. One of the leaders has completed his bike ride here and is going to grab his running shoes. The bicycles had pedals that clipped to shoes, and many contestants left their shoes clipped to the bike pedals to make the changes faster.
Another contestant has finished swimming and is leaving on her bicycle. There were a total of 1400 people participating in both races lengths and groups left about every 10 minutes so soon there were people in every stage of the race in the transition area.
As the “masters” group came in with their bikes and left for the run, there were many very interesting and expensive professional type bikes in the front of the transition area.
But, not everyone was a super duper athlete. There were people from 5 yr old to 72 yr old, and all shapes and sizes. For me, this was the most exciting and inspirational part of the whole experience! Ordinary people, even people like me could participate in something like this.
Elizabeth and I biked to the event which was much easier than trying to park a car. This is Drew’s cyclo-cross racing bike which he let me ride while I was there! At first I couldn’t even get on it but once I figured it out, it was great fun.
Drew comes back from the bike ride and takes off for the run. He is looking strong and fast!
We head to the finish line
The first woman crosses the finish line.
Drew comes in looking great
and he is at the finish line!
Every participant is marked with their number and age. This guy is 50! Drew explained that you can easily see if someone is in your age group and if you need to pass them to raise your standing in your group.
There is a crowd gathering at the results tent, but no results until they make sure the computers recorded everything correctly. Everyone has a computer chip so their times are recorded at various points and at the finish.
Results are in, but the award ceremony isn’t for a while so we decide to go watch the kids race. Here they are getting ready for the swim, the first part of the event.
It was a short swim and anyone who couldn’t swim could wade through. Here are some kids coming out of the water and heading for the transition area.
Kids head out on their bikes
Parents weren’t allowed in the transition area, only the race volunteers. Lots of parents were shouting from over the fence – “Get your helmet! Put on your shoes!” It was like the adult race in that the kids had to change from swimming to biking gear, and then to running gear (though there were a few kids biking in bathing suits, running in biking helmets or bathing caps, and other such details.) That is a lot for a little kid to manage!
Some of the bikes are coming back in and the kids are heading out for the run, while others are finishing the swim and getting on their bikes.
Some of the kids were really little, and so cute!
Kids are running the last part of the race, sometimes with parents running along outside the fence.
“Go that way! Go that way!”
Those people in blue cheered and clapped for every kid that came through.
The female top two finishers.
The male top two finishers. The winner is in red, and the second is only 17 years old.
Our winner, 3rd in his age group, and 30th of 400 who finished the Olympic level triathlon!

That was certainly worth getting up for in the morning. I was so inspired by the participants who were as old and older than me. There is no reason you can’t be fit and active at any age. I am definitely getting on my bicycle as much as possible!

This is the end of my photo collections from my USA trip, so I will posting about Panama news for the next month. After that, there are more adventures and travels in the works 😀

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Microsoft “City”

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

I know Microsoft is a big company that had thousands of employees all over the world, but the reality hit home when we went to visit my daughter’s work. She was in Bellevue but when they reorganized the teams and moved some people around, she was moved to Redmond where most of the offices are located.

We started on the main campus which is similar to a college campus, with common areas and many buildings for different teams and parts of the company. Then we visited the East campus where her building is one of many more.

We started in the parking garage at the main campus which looks like it goes on forever, and there are four floors of this!
The large common area in the middle has many shops and restaurants.
The bicycle shop caught my eye.
More restaurants
I’m not sure what this cool elephant was doing in this space, but I liked it.
More and more restaurants and shops
The outside areas are also very attractive.
A map of the area, with arrows to three other campuses.
On to the East campus, and my daughter’s building
My daughter’s office! (I photoshopped out anything on the white boards just in case it is classified information)
We walked around her campus a bit which is also very attractive with lots of trees and green space.
There is a pretty pond over there.
There are more restaurants on this campus. She said this place is packed during the work week.
I love the touch screen drink dispenser which will give you about anything you can imagine.
There is also space here for tons of cars, and she said these parking areas are also full during working hours.
There was a game of soccer and two games of cricket going on here.
Some huge tent was being dismantled and packed up.

It is one thing to hear numbers, but quite another to actually go somewhere and see what is going on. I cannot imagine starting a little company in my garage, and then seeing it grow to something this immense! How many people work here and what are they all doing?! It looks like every bit of office space is being used, and there are bulletin boards and white boards in the hallways. Even this is only a part of it. There are other offices literally all over the world. If I was young and energetic, it would be so exciting to be a part of something like this.

But, since I am old and at this stage of my life work is considered a four letter word, I was happy to be just a visitor and see the company through my daughter’s eyes.

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Orcas!

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

We have returned to Panama, but I still have some photos and adventures from our USA visit to catch up on. One of the highlights was a trip to the San Juan Islands to look for orcas. We had problems that turned out to be blessings in disguise.

We had made arrangements to go from Seattle to the islands on the Victoria Clipper, take a whale watching tour, and then return to Seattle that evening. We had a very enjoyable morning trip up through the beautiful islands and waterways to the San Juan Islands. After dropping off passengers, the same boat set out for the whale watching excursion. We were only a few minutes away from the dock when the boat stopped, and then announced that one of the engines wasn’t working properly and we needed to return to the dock.

It was now about noon and the whale watching was cancelled. Arrangements had been made to take the passengers on the 3:30 ferry to Anacortes where they would be met by a bus to Seattle, ETA about 7:30 PM. There were other whale watching tour companies but none of them could get us out and back in time to catch the ferry.

Breakfast on the boat as we pass the cruise ship dock.
The boat had two powerful engines and made good time through the water.
The area was beautiful and the day was perfect, sunny and calm.
The scenery was great.
The day just seemed to get more beautiful with each passing hour.
Sometimes when we were close to land we could spot bald eagles in the trees.
There were areas where the currents came together and rocked the boat a bit.
One of the ferries makes it way through the water.
After dropping off some passengers, the boat leaves the dock followed by a couple sea planes. (little did we know at the time!)
The sky was so beautiful!
We are ready to go find some orcas.
And now we are back at the dock. I snap some photos while we try to decide what to do.
It’s a pretty town with flowers everywhere.
Arrangements were made to put the passengers on this ferry, which would be met by a bus to take us back to Seattle. But, the little Kittiwake in front is where we actually ended up.
These huge mushroom type things were growing under the dock.

What to do? What to do??  It is a wonderful thing to have kids with good jobs and the means to make things happen when necessary!

Plan B – book a tour, and hire a sea plane to take us back to Seattle!

We ended up on this little boat with 10 passengers, a captain who had been doing tours for years and knew the habits of the orcas, and a naturalist who was full of information about the orcas as well. It was wonderful to be out with a couple people who were so passionate about these whales and the wildlife in the area, and loved sharing it with others. The other big boat could never had been a wonderful as this tour, and we also got extremely lucky. Even the pros were saying we saw more orcas and more interesting behavior that most people see in weeks on the water with these animals.

 

ORCA!
Another orca
and another
The boat captains talk with each other so everyone knows what the orcas are doing, and this captain was quite familiar with their habits. He was able to stop the boat where he knew they were headed, and just wait for them to swim by.
Another whale watching boat
A mother and baby were playing and splashing together.
There were quite a few seagulls resting on the floating kelp.
It was a gorgeous day and the scenery was beautiful even without the orcas.
Another orca
Here we were in a spot where two groups of orcas were traveling towards each other, and we got to see them greet each other.
Here is the mother and baby again.
A pretty sailboat
The gray spots on this island are seals. I wish I was able to get a better photo of them.

I wish I had better photos! I had ordered a camera and the company took 11 days to ship it so I had not only left CA when it arrived, I had left the USA. Grrrrr! So, all I had was my iPad.

Anyway, after a fantastic few hours with the orcas, we made our way back to town, had some dinner, and then took the sea plane back to Seattle. What a fun experience!

Drew and Elizabeth waiting for the plane.
The plane arrives, and the guy pulls on the ropes to coax it to the dock.
A family and their dogs relax on the dock nearby.
The passengers get off.
The captain prepares to leave. One of the passengers got to sit in the copilot seat!
The guy pulls on the rope to help pivot the plane away from the dock.
We are airborne, leaving the town, the ferry, and the boats behind.
It was a beautiful evening and the scenery was fantastic.
We watched the clouds and the islands below.
In only a little over 1/2 hour, Seattle is ahead.
We landed in this lake. I’m not sure how he managed without hitting any of the many boats and kayaks below, but all was well.

We spent the rest of the evening walking back to the car through interesting neighborhoods, along the waterfront and through a sculpture garden. We wouldn’t have done this either with our original plans. Sometimes when things go wrong, they can go way better than expected. And, when my daughter called the next day she learned that the boat was going to refund the money for the entire trip! How nice to find out the dent in her bank account wasn’t going to be quite as big as it could have been.

What a day of wonderful experiences!

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The Ferry to Bainbridge Island

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Thursday I decided to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, a spot not far from Seattle. It was an easy trip on the bus downtown and a short walk to the pier. The day started off cool and overcast but soon cleared up and became another sunny, beautiful, northwest summer day so it was a really scenic trip.

The ferry terminal has lots of places to eat and sit.
The city recedes in the background as we leave the pier.
It is a large boat with plenty of places to sit outside and inside, and space for a lot of cars below.
As we pull into Bainbridge Island, I see all these tiny sailboats. Sailing class?
The vehicles make their way off the ferry.
One of the first things I notice about Bainbridge Island is all the beautiful flowers.
Most open spaces are full of flowers
This bush was especially colorful
There were a number of these trees in town. This one said “I am inspired by… ” and you were supposed to write your answer on a piece of paper and hang it on the tree.
“The biggest change I want for myself is …. “
There are frogs all over town. I especially like this one.
This frog was down by the waterfront where I went to enjoy the scenery
“Words I live by are… “. Found down by the waterfront
This is the Main Street in town with lots of restaurants and interesting shops, and more flowers everywhere.
When I decided to leave the ferry was just boarding. This one had a very comfortable inside seating area.
As we leave the dock, Seattle is just visible in the distance.
The scene is more beautiful the closer we get and many passengers are taking advantage of the photo op.
A bird, and a plane, and a lucky shot
There was a big container ship in the water, and lots of cranes in the distance.
The city is beautiful
We are back again!
Vehicles are waiting to get on the ferry, but first the others must get off. I saw cars, bicycles, motorcycles, vans, trucks, and even a tow truck.

This is by no means all of the adventure I had in the Seattle area! If I don’t get anything else posted today, I will have plenty of time to prepare photos and blog posts on the way home. I leave early in the morning, meet up with Joel in Atlanta (he has been in Maine and Kansas visiting other family), and then we finish the trip together back to Panama City and David.

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Next Stop, Seattle

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

My younger daughter lives in the Seattle area. I decided to spend a week here so I could explore the city and the area a bit since I haven’t spent much time here before.  She gave me a card for public transportation so with the help of Google maps and directions, I have been out and about while she and her husband were at work. Except for one unplanned excursion to Tacoma (where I met interesting people on the bus and had fun), I have managed to get where I wanted to go.

It is fun to photograph city scenes, something I don’t usually do. I ordered a small camera which unfortunately didn’t get shipped out in a timely manner so my iPad has been my camera. It takes decent enough photos to keep me entertained for a while though, so I have lots of photos to sort through and share.

First day, take the bus into the city, get turned around, and cross over the highway a couple times. It was a beautiful day and the sun felt great though.
Success! I found REI. I needed a couple bike accessories and a pair of lightweight travel pants. It is hard for me to find clothes in Panama since I am bigger than most Panamanians but I found just what I wanted here.
Next plan, find Goodwill for some t-shirts to wear around the house. The final destination of the bus and the stop I needed are not the same thing so I was surprised when the bus got on the highway and drove us all to Tacoma! There were some fantastic view of Mt Rainer though, and when my seat neighbor saw me taking photos she realized I was a visitor. We had a great conversation all the way to the airport where I knew how to catch the light rail and another bus home.
The next day my plan was to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. This took me downtown to an area with a lot of buildings that were fun to photograph. Again, the weather was gorgeous. (Photos of Bainbridge will be another post)
Steps along a really steep street
The buildings looked beautiful in the sun against the clear blue sky
More buildings
I stopped because the flowers caught my eye, but I also caught a snapshot of life these days. Everyone, everywhere is constantly on their phones.
Elizabeth told me she saw a program on the apartment that is in the top of this tower. Apparently a woman has a really cool home up there.
I sopped on this corner and got sprinkled with water. When I looked up I realized it was from the window washers up there. There was enough water coming down they must have had a hose or something.
Yep, more buildings
We came back from another excursion and saw these guys climbing up to the top of the bridge. Sure enough, they all jumped off and into the water a short time later.
This duck boat passed us with music, and people hollering and waving. It looked like party central!
I think it is required to take at least one photo of the Space Needle while in Seattle. I couldn’t pass up this pretty view.
Elizabeth had heard about a sculpture garden near the waterfront and wanted to check it out. We arrived as the sun was getting lower in the sky and the views were fantastic.
I really like this unusual fountain. The child is reaching for someone who is almost totally hidden in the water.
As we headed back to the car, a train came through town and the traffic had to wait.
The end to another perfect day. As we headed home the mountain was “out”.

These photos were taken over a few days. There will be more coming about specific activities in the days while I have been here. Seattle in the summer is a fantastic place with a lot of both natural and made made beauty, and a lot of things to do.

If you want to know more about the sculpture garden, google “Olympic Sculpture Park”.  It is a part of the Seattle Art Museum.

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Visiting Family

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

We are back in the US. I haven’t posted anything for many days because I’ve been too busy doing things to talk about them. We have been having a fantastic time!

First stop, California, home of my older daughter and family. It was a short visit because they are busy and working and juggling all the things of a young, working family. It was great to see everyone though! Needless to say, my grandson had changed a lot since we saw him last winter. It was so interesting to see his brain in constant motion watching, learning, and mastering new activities.

I am going to master the fork today!
The men have things to talk about
The family
Look, she has a camera!
I fell asleep in the back of the car
How are things on your side of the house? It is fun when friends come over to visit.
I have mastered the walking toys!
Mom helped me over the threshold from my new outdoor play space
Sure, I will take a look at that
What is one supposed to do with a shoe?
I know this handle opens the door somehow
If only I could figure out a way out there

Next stop, Seattle, where I have had more time so I have lots of photos and adventures to share.

Posted in family | Tagged | 8 Comments

New Ads on the Photos

Posted on July 12, 2014 by Kris Cunningham

Apologies to all my readers for the ads on the photos. They look so annoying!

From what I have been able to learn, they are something new from Word Ads, the folks who put the ads on the bottom of blog posts. I think those ads are acceptable and I appreciate that they now earn enough to cover my hosting costs.

These new ads on the photos are apparently from Luminate. I have written to WordPress and WordAds support to ask how to get them removed. I also found this op out link. http://www.luminate.com/opt-out/  It might be worth a try.

I hope to get this resolved soon, and meanwhile I thank you all for your patience.

 

Posted in Panama | 6 Comments