New Pictures Up!

Jason & I have been spending this weekend holed up inside, generally trying to get caught up on things. 5 loads of laundry later and 600+ pictures sorted through, we now not only have a living room full of damp clothes but also 5 exciting new sets of pictures to share!

2 were mentioned in the post I just put up (London Snow + Amsterdam). However, be sure to check out the other 3 new albums listed at right. A quick bit about each:

Christmas in Portsmouth (38 pictures):
Jason & I received a beautiful new camera (Nikon digital SLR) from my parents for Christmas. We then took over 300 pictures in Portsmouth, just messing around. The first half of this album are pictures I took Christmas morning with my old, now forgotten, Fuji FinePix. The second half are also more point + shoot candids taken with the new camera but also a few scenery pictures of downtown Portsmouth we took whilst playing with our new toy. [NB: I'm trying to adopt 'whilst'. It's sort of working.]

Long Beach (45 pictures):

Other than a few pictures of Doug's yard on Kallin Ave, these pictures come from 2 locations. The first is Los Alamitos High School's baseball diamond. We went to see Paramount High School's freshman team play -- may seem kind of random but our friend Cameron is head coach at Paramount. Good chance to try out some action shots! The second location is El Dorado Nature Center. It's about 5 minutes from Doug & Kathi's place, yet Jason hasn't been there since an elementary school field trip. We walked around for a couple hours on New Year's Day -- it gave us something to do since it was a lovely 60-something degrees outside, and of course it was an ideal spot for some more picture taking! Please note: I excersised extreme control in not posting my 20+ pictures of ducks. Just the best ones are there, and they are good!!

Santa Barbara (49 pictures):

We wrapped up our visit to the States with an overnight trip to Santa Barbara; sort of a vacation from our vacation. The first day we spent touring wineries -- after all, this is Sideways country. I must admit here that I have not seen the movie, and Jason saw it on a plane but didn't particularly care for it. However, it has done wonders for the tourism in the area, it seems! Every other winery had a sign boasting "As seen in Sideways!" We visited (in order): Gainey, Blackjack, Zaca Mesa, Melville, and Foley. I thought Black Jack & Foley had the best-tasting wines, while Zaca Mesa was the worst experience overall (staff were indifferent, atmosphere very commercial). The other 2 might have been better experiences if not for the throngs of people who had the same brilliant idea we did on the Friday after New Year's! We went out to dinner at the marina, and golfed at Glen Annie Golf Course the next day. Conditions were perfect, which is more than I can say for my game, but we had the course to ourselves, and a very relaxing, enjoyable day.

I've noted the # of pictures in each album in the hope of proving that they're manageable viewing! Hope you enjoy!

Crippling Snowfall! Willeys Stranded!

Monday morning, 2nd Feb: Jason leaves me at Schipol airport (Amsterdam) and I continue up to Rotterdam for a day of meetings. Jason boards 8:50am EasyJet flight to Gatwick, delayed about 45 mins. Arrives at Gatwick, 9:30ish. Hangs at Gatwick til noon, or so.

Why, you ask? Somewhere between 3 & 6 inches of snow shut down all public transportation in the whole of London. I'm amazed his flight took off; indeed, it was one of the last to land at a London Area airport that day. Heathrow: Closed. City: Closed. Gatwick: Closed. No trains operating, no buses running. Hence, I had to stay on more night in the Netherlands, after having been there since the previous Thursday for business. Offices were closed Monday, those in the 'burbs (like mine) were closed Tuesday, and I have reports that some schools were even closed Wednesday. Check out our pictures and see for yourself the crushing snow we got! (Admittedly, if this was the worst in 17 years, well... I guess I understand that even a few flakes would have people freaking out.)

Riding by Clapham Common in my taxi early Tuesday morning, I noticed a huge amount of large snowballs, like bottoms of snowmen, littering the park. It seems everyone did enjoy the novelty of snow that stuck! Here's a scene found practically right outside our door:


In other news, you may have taken note that we were in Holland for the weekend. I have been traveling to the Netherlands on average about once a month since I've been here: it's where my R&D colleagues work. (You may remember my pictures of lovely Vlaardingen from a post back in July.) Since I had meetings Thurs, Fri & Mon, we thought it was the perfect chance to do our first traveling of the year.

I met Jason in Amsterdam on Saturday morning, and we essentially spent the weekend roaming the city, exploring its various neighborhoods, drinking its beer, and taking in the sights that make it a particularly unique city. It was very very cold for just wandering (in the 30s), but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

I didn't know what to expect of Amsterdam other than the stereotype (which does exist -- our noses let us know when we passed by 'coffeeshops', and we spent a little time wandering the windows of the ladies of the night -- but as you might know, isn't really our scene). So, I was really pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the city. The buildings themselves have an abundance of personality -- both in their varied shapes and in the way they dare the occupants to take their lives in their hands to dwell in them. You get the sense it's a bit of roulette - 'Will this building sink too far to the left while I'm a resident, or will it maintain integrity long enough for me to find something more stable?'!

So, we wandered around canals, admiring and marvelling after the architecture. We were astonished by the sheer number of bikes scattered around the city (in use or not), and how not one bicycle seemed to be less than 10 years old. We somberly toured the Anne Frank house, and took in an impressive collection of paintings by the city's favourite son, Van Gogh. There's a lot still to do, but given the number of trips I'll likely be taking to Holland in the coming year, I'm sure we'll be back. Hopefully when it's a bit warmer!!