PICTURE THIS!!! - The new picture thread of YOU!

[Me-Ike]

Some pictures from my Canada trip:

Canadian Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton

I should go on vacation with guys more often. Then at leasts it's cool museums instead of another clothes store.

I continue to occasionally just take random self portraits.

That is beautiful!
So which books are there? Can't make out most of them. Oh, you look good as well.

 

[Holdfast]

Went for a walk with a friend, and had my camera with me, so took a few snaps:

Mmm, giant mushrooms that look like omelettes:

 

[Me-Ike]

^ That is lovely. It makes me think of the English parks of the 19th century, which were usually quite artificial but not overtly so. Which intended to look natural and often achieved that; in contrast the French style of clear lines and open artificiality.

Either that or a Lorrain painting.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Went for a walk with a friend, and had my camera with me, so took a few snaps

Walking with yourself does not equate to walking with a friend.

 

[Holdfast]

^ That is lovely. It makes me think of the English parks of the 19th century, which were usually quite artificial but not overtly so. Which intended to look natural and often achieved that; in contrast the French style of clear lines and open artificiality.

Exactly so! The parks I was in are very much in the English tradition of a tamed romantic version of the countryside rather than formal geometric spaces. It was indeed designed in the mid-late 19th century.

Either that or a Lorrain painting.

Too much harsh green for a Lorrain though and no random folly in the scene (yes, yes, the folly was holding the camera...)

I'd need to pass it through a sepia filter or two to Lorrainify it. Probably more in the Constable vein as it is.

 

[Mallory]

I just figured you guys built moats around everything.

 

[Holdfast]

I just figured you guys built moats around everything.

Only around my heart.

And it's more of a ha-ha than a moat.

 

[Me-Ike]

Exactly so! The parks I was in are very much in the English tradition of a tamed romantic version of the countryside rather than formal geometric spaces. It was indeed designed in the mid-late 19th century.

England clearly beats France in the big garden/park face-off. My golden Towel of Approvel lies on the English canvas chair on this one.

Too much harsh green for a Lorrain though and no random folly in the scene (yes, yes, the folly was holding the camera...)

I'd need to pass it through a sepia filter or two to Lorrainify it. Probably more in the Constable vein as it is.

Heh.

You know, the water also clearly doesn't look right. I reflects way more realistically in Half Life 2. Nature just isn't any more what it used to be.

 

[SmoothieX]

LOL! Funny, I was going to say the very same thing about you, then I saw your Alaska reference earlier.

We sailed from Vancouver, BC; stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway where we took the old White Mountain Pass railroad trip into the mountains on the way to the Yukon, the ferried over to Haines and took an amazing river raft trip through the Chilkat Eagle Preserve. Then, it was 2 days of "scenic cruising" in Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. Disembarked in Whittier and took the train to Talkeetna (cool little town) where we took another boat tour. Stayed at a McKinley Wilderness Lodge, then off o the Denali Lodge from where we took an 8 1/2 hour trip into the heart of Denali National Park (a very long day, but saw amazing wildlife including a grizzly and her 2 cubs up close.) Flew home from Fairbanks where I took a pic of the hubby outside the airport at 12:30 a.m. with the sun still well above the horizon hanging over his right shoulder (red eye flight home). The sun never going down was intriguing, but got sorta freaky after awhile.

We'll have to compare more notes.

Oh, and I'll add some more pic's after I've set up a Photobucket account. thanks again for the advice, everyone!

It sounds like you did a very similar itinerary to what we did, albeit water based instead.

The 'best buns' pic I posted above was on the highway that roughly parallels the Skagway-Yukon railroad line. I saw the rail line several times. The drive from Whtiehorse to Skagway was oustanding. It got sunny as soon as we hit the BC portion of things.

Skagway was a great town. We got there around 5 PM and it was a total blur with all the bus and rail tours getting back and the people scrambling back to their cruise ships.

We ducked into a bar in town and had a couple pints of local beer around 6, walked out about 7 and it was a ghost town.

We took the Alaska Marine Highway from there down to Juneau, camped over by Mendenhall Glacier for the night, then grabbed a puddle jumper (not the Atlantis kind, but almost as cool) over to Gustavus, which is the town outside Glacier Bay.

We did a B&B package there for 3 days. The first day we had to just explore. We picniced by the town dock, which was an active fishing port. We were told to come back and check it out late afternoon, when the fishing boats return to port.

I thought it was to see someone gutting a halibut, which was cool in its own right. But its mainly to see the bald eagles, who go nuts for the leftover fish guts and bait. I must have seen 25 of them at a time, which is more than I've ever seen total in 29+ years (I don't mean 29+ like a lady who won't admit her age, just that 29<me<30.)

They did this thing on the pier where they would swarm all around to get the bait, the sort of move out of the way to let me pass. Words don't really do it justice, and I was mildly nervous about all those talons, but it was an amazing experience.

We can PM pics and war stories. No one wants to see my slideshow!

How much of Glacier Bay NP did you see. We took the glacier cruise and saw it all, including the waterfall inside this glacier whose name escapes me.

As well as these guys. Fun to see, but you can smell their breath from the boat.

 

[Omnius]

Some pictures from my Canada trip:

Canadian Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/4859/img1037hvv.jpg

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/8750/img1707w.jpg

I should go on vacation with guys more often. Then at leasts it's cool museums instead of another clothes store.

Well, I must admit I did go clothes shopping in Ottawa/Montreal. I had a very hard time finding decent shoes though. No shop had my size .

 

[jamestyler]

Outside the pub after a steampunk event in Glasgow, leaving after the dancers we thought were awful popped in for a pint...

...two of my companions for the day. One made the effort. One didn't.

 

[Holdfast]

Exactly so! The parks I was in are very much in the English tradition of a tamed romantic version of the countryside rather than formal geometric spaces. It was indeed designed in the mid-late 19th century.

England clearly beats France in the big garden/park face-off. My golden Towel of Approvel lies on the English canvas chair on this one.

It's kind of weird when you think about it though.

England "should" have gone with more rational designs based on some elements of its background - Protestantism, Reason, etc, etc and France "should" have ended up with the more romantic, open spaces. But I suspect it stems from more the different political culture (parliamentary vs absolute monarch) leading to a different perspective on the function of a country house?

You know, the water also clearly doesn't look right. I reflects way more realistically in Half Life 2. Nature just isn't any more what it used to be.

There's a term for this, isn't there? Where we expect nature to conform to popular artistic archetypes so when it looks as it actually does, it seems abnormal? Can't remember what the term is though. Memory Fail.

 

[Ruaidhri]

I continue to occasionally just take random self portraits.

That is beautiful!
So which books are there? Can't make out most of them. Oh, you look good as well.

There are two 3 shelf bookcases stacked there, and two more out of the picture to the left.....rather than try to list what's there, here's a closer look. Missing from the first picture is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories, because I'm reading it right now. I need more book shelves, too, as I've got a bunch of bankers boxes full of the rest of what I own. My dream is to have a house with one room converted into a little library.

And thanks!

 

[Ruaidhri]

That's a really neat picture! Sounds like quite the experience.

 

[nevermore]

I spy Incarnations of Immortality! Good choice; that was one of my favorites when I was kid. I've since managed to misplace them though...

 

[Ruaidhri]

Unfortunately the best book in the series is out of the frame on the left. Oh well!

 

[nevermore]

On a Pale Horse?

 

[sidious618]

Love seeing GRRM's series on that bookshelf!

 

[Me-Ike]

Well, I must admit I did go clothes shopping in Ottawa/Montreal. I had a very hard time finding decent shoes though. No shop had my size .

The Dutch are allegedly the tallest people after all. Which quite dramastically minimizes possible international shoe shops for you.

It's kind of weird when you think about it though.

England "should" have gone with more rational designs based on some elements of its background - Protestantism, Reason, etc, etc and France "should" have ended up with the more romantic, open spaces. But I suspect it stems from more the different political culture (parliamentary vs absolute monarch) leading to a different perspective on the function of a country house?

Not necessarily weird. Especially literary romanticism was strong in England in the early 19th century. Of course, then the question arises why that was. Maybe you guys just can't live without your candlelight dinners. Or it's this rebellious streak which you've continuously lived out in pottery and plants?

There's a term for this, isn't there? Where we expect nature to conform to popular artistic archetypes so when it looks as it actually does, it seems abnormal? Can't remember what the term is though. Memory Fail.

No idea. But in order not to lose any brainiac points I will just invent a fancy German word which says basically nothing different from what you have just mentioned and then pretend it's too highbrow for you to have remembered it.

So, what you are thinking of is clearly Erinnerungsanpassungssyndrom. It is quite a hard word, no wonder your memory didn't want to strain itself too much.

There are two 3 shelf bookcases stacked there, and two more out of the picture to the left.....rather than try to list what's there, here's a closer look. Missing from the first picture is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories, because I'm reading it right now. I need more book shelves, too, as I've got a bunch of bankers boxes full of the rest of what I own. My dream is to have a house with one room converted into a little library.

[snip]

Oh, this is fantastic! Beautiful. Thanks for sharing these.
I think my favorite among those is either Lord of the Rings or Dracula. Is Dracula the unabridged original? It looks so relatively thin and I can't make out what it says next to the title.

I have the same plan, by the way. I'm going to fill up the walls with books, until one doesn't know anymore whether this particular part of the house/apartment is being supported concrete or books.

 

[Ruaidhri]

On a Pale Horse?

Yes ma'am!