Spain - Fotos

Fan Shop
Seville

Afternoon chat session.
Seville

Seville

Begur

Fans, all shapes and sizes.

Seville

Seattle - Celebrates Obama

Broadway, Seattle WA - USA.
Nov.4th, 2008

Portugal - Fotos

Porto at Night


Famous brand of port wine


Porto, underneath the bridge

Lisbon

Man sun bathing in Porto

Porto - Portugal

My first encounter with port wine was in its birthplace of Porto, Portugal. But it wasn't the dessert wine that I fondly remember this town for, but rather how it marked the beginning of my first solo trip. I spent my first full day mesmerized by the town's picturesque beauty and antiquity. Not to mention, I was high off my independence and loving every street that I turned down. I enjoyed getting lost because it meant I had an excuse to wander down unfamiliar streets. And when I finally emerged at the river banks, I stopped, sat down, waited, and just watched. I stared at ships, people watched, and took an excessive amount of fotos. When I felt it was time to continue walking, I simply kept on my wandering ways. I picked up my first Portuguese fedora from a local vendor and was giddy about the purchase. Later, I crossed the bridge that led me down to the famous wine caves and there I flowed in and out of tasting rooms and scribbled down my favorite ports and how they tasted. Before long, I was tipsy and decided to walk along the waterfront until I came across the quaintest restaurant I could find, took a seat, and ordered the fish of the day. I ate lunch in silence at a tiny, two person table reviewing my notes from the day, looking out over the river, and thinking to myself, "Today, I am happy."

Reflection - Fotos

Bellingham, WA USA


Fidalgo Island, WA USA

Some of my favorite fotos consist of natural reflections or fotos involving mirrors or a "mirror" of some kind. Illusions are the best.


Capitol Hill - Seattle, WA USA

Ode to the Book - Neruda

By far, my favorite poem remains: Ode to the Book. I have loved this poem for years and will always admire it. Hopefully, it will continue to strengthen my ever present desire to find, "Life within life itself," and not merely from the experiences and words of others...

Also, the image above is from the Colchagua Valley in Chile, the same country that Neruda called home and beautifully painted throughout his poetry.

Excerpt from:
Ode to the Book
by Pablo Neruda

When I close a book
I open life...

No book has been able
to wrap me in paper,
to fill me up
with typography,
with heavenly imprints
or was ever able
to bind my eyes,
I come out of books to people orchards
with the hoarse family of my song,
to work the burning metals
or to eat smoked beef
by mountain firesides.
I love adventurous
books,
books of forest or snow,
depth or sky
but hate
the spider book
in which thought
has laid poisonous wires
to trap the juvenile
and circling fly.
Book, let me go.
I won't go clothed
in volumes,
I don't come out
of collected works,
my poems
have not eaten poems--
they devour
exciting happenings,
feed on rough weather,
and dig their food
out of earth and men.
I'm on my way
with dust in my shoes
free of mythology:
send books back to their shelves,
I'm going down into the streets.
I learned about life
from life itself,
love I learned in a single kiss
and could teach no one anything
except that I lived
with something in common among men,
when fighting with them,
when saying all their say in my song.

Morocco - Fotos

Desert Sledding on Sand Dunes.

Tannery at Fes.

Only in the Northwest

"I brake for Rhododendrons." Right, of course you do.

Beauty Shots - The Sky

Napa Valley, CA USA


Begur - Costa Brava, Spain



Sand Dunes outside Ourzazate, Morocco




Costa Brava, Spain

Love - Fotos

Lov'in Boots

San Francisco, CA USA

Symmetry

Cairo, Egypt

Egypt - Mr. Sandman

This character is responsible for one of the most terrifying, but most hysterical moments of my life.

In the summer of 2007, my friend Mary and I decided to take on Cairo, Egypt.

But truth be told, single Westernized women are the number one targets to hustle money from and to treat in a less than respectful manner if unaccompanied by a man .

But we ignored it the best we could and tried to focus on the fact that we were on an epic adventure.

Before we left our hotel for the Pyramids, a place renown for its occupancy of Egyptologists, our manager told us with the strictest of warnings,

"When you reach the pyramids, whatever you do, don't get on a camel."

"Ok," we replied, shook our heads, and slipped out of the hotel toward our cab.

Within minutes of arriving, we rushed toward the ticket booth and were flocked by "guides." Luckily, we bypassed them and pushed ourselves through the pyramid gates. We thought we were in the clear (ha!) because once inside and a blink later, we were resting on camels and trekking off to see the mighty panoramic views of the pyramids. We had been too weak.

Our guide referred to himself as Mr. Sandman... naturally, and wore, what I describe as, "the Onesie," which is similar to a night shirt, but extends all the way down to your feet and, I must admit, looks extremely comfortable.

However, his greatest accessory was...

hands down...

his DEA hat.

Mr. Sandman, all 350 pounds of him, and myself shared Lulu, the camel (lucky me). As we approached our destination, Mary and I proceeded to make like an Egyptian and lined our eyes with black kohl, placed gold bands around our heads, and made... photo history.

After about a half hour, Mr. Sandman reemerged and slyly asked, "Can I take a picture of the two of you?" and as I handed over my precious camera, Mary exclaimed, "Where are the camels?" All I heard was "Click."

Thoughts raced, "Oh my God, I have to somehow grab my camera from Mr. Sandman, make the signal to Mary, and start booking it across this desert... how the hell did I get here?" But those were only thoughts, in reality, Mary and I blindly continued to follow our Mr. Sandman.

He explained how he had no idea where the camels had wandered off to and how our only option was to walk all the way back. Uhh...

I was freaked out, we were too far away from anyone that could potentially help us, we were in the middle of a desert with no map, and alone with a 350 pound man.

But as we approached the bottom of the hill, Mr. Sandman turned around, grinned, and exclaimed with glee and satisfaction,

"Hahahaha, heavy joke, look!" and pointed over to where he had strategically placed the camels underneath the hill so they were not visible from above.

All Mary and I could think was,

"Yes, 350 pounds of Mr. Sandman, was a very, very heavy joke."

Spain - Calimocho

Calimocho, the official drink of the San Fermin summer festival in Pamplona, Spain, is a delicious concoction consisting of Coca-Cola and red wine. At first mention of this combination, your stomach twists and turns but after you experience the biggest theme party of your life, your impression changes, and you slowly begin to appreciate this beverage for all its glory. The evening blasts off with fantastic displays of fireworks, a never ending sing-along and of course, your introduction to calimocho. Evening turns into night and as you enjoy your new friends and comfortable, white outerwear, you realize...hotels' everywhere list, NO VACANCY. This can mean only one thing -- the all-nighter is in full effect. And as you and many other festival goers come to accept this common fate, your attention turns into excited anticipation for the morning Bull Run, so you persevere and continue celebrating. Calimocho becomes your tool, your methodology, and the only thing that will uphold your newly acquired San Fermin persona and allow you to catch the 3 crucial seconds of the legendary Spanish-Bull, run.