June 2017 Free Calendar Download - Cardiff, Wales

Occasionally I travel for work, and in 2016 I spent a week in the UK. I visited my sister who lives in London before taking the train to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. This port city has experienced significant development over the years, yielding a vibrant waterfront center with commercial, entertainment and sporting venues.

And while I am not a Dr. Who aficionado, I learned the current series was filmed around Cardiff, so the area is a draw for fans of the series.

My previous trips to the area were during winter months, so I never had the chance to see the waterfront in the daylight! I got lucky this time with a couple of clear, temperate days. I took the photo below from Waterfront park, looking back at the Pierhead Building.



To download this month's calendar, click on this link from Box.com
Link -> June 2017 Desktop Calendar - Cardiff, Wales

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The Catch Up - May 2016 - More Horses, Travel and Concerts

I'm back, this time with an update from May.

IHSA Nationals
Erica competed in the Intercollegiate Horse Show National Competition in the “Horse Capital of the US”, aka Lexington, Kentucky, held at the Kentucky Horse Park. The event was held in the Alltech Arena – a world class facility. She hit the big time!

Scenes from Kentucky Horse park, simply idyllic with the gently rolling hills and green pastures, speckled with horses (of course):


We made friends with this big boy:




In this shot of the arena, the course is set up for the jumping events and gives you an idea of how big the place is.



The staging area for the horses looked like a mosh pit of horses...


In Competition:




While she didn’t place in her event, this experience as a freshman in college means she’s going to work harder to earn another chance to compete at the National level. I am super proud of my horse loving daughter!

Trip to the UK (London and Cardiff)
The day after Nationals, I got on a plane and traveled to the UK to run a training session for work. Highlights – I got to visit with my sister and her family in London and the weather was sunnier than normal.

...so sunny and warm that ice cream with a chocolate flake was in order for the kids. The flake pops out of the top of the ice cream like a straw. I ended up buying a box of it on my way home.

As usual, we made our way down to the Thames.


The wisteria was in full bloom, adorning all the doorways.


The training session I ran was held in Cardiff, Wales, about a 2 hour train ride to the west. I was able to explore the city of Cardiff, Wales via the lens of daylight (the last time I was there in the perpetual darkness of winter), met some new running friends and ran some cool routes.

Cardiff Castle Along my Run Through Bute Park

The Pierhead Building at Cardiff Bay

Along Waterfront Park

Wales Millennium Center

On the “Dimmer” side, I managed to catch the intestinal bug my sister was harboring and well, that was not fun. Fortunately, the brunt of that hit mid-week; I delegated sections of the training course to my work colleagues and quarantined myself to the hotel room. The hotel was quite accommodating, supplying me with complimentary room service and whatever else I wanted (Yeah, I get that they didn’t want me wandering the halls and spreading this to other guests). I only missed one day of the training and didn’t have any issues traveling back to the US.

May Birthdays
Scott and I celebrated our “last birthday” before the big 5-0. My friend, Jill, had extra tickets to see James Taylor in concert, so I got a special birthday gift from her. It is amazing that he is almost 70 years old, still performing on tour and sounding great.

And I'm 49

The kids officially wrapped up the school year and settled into their summer routines - May was gone in a flash.

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Throwback Thursday - Windsor Castle

Last week's training session brought back memories of the last time I ran the class, way back in January, 2008, in the decidedly "cooler" location of Wales, UK. Friend Mark had just started in the role of IT Project manager for the system we were training on and the training torch was being passed from cohort number three, Anthony. Each training session brings along with it interesting travel adventures that serve as great fodder when reminiscing.

When Mark visited last week, I walked him through my LightRoom work flow and re-edited some photos I took from that 2008 trip. We both agreed that my new edit of Windsor Castle surpasses my 2008 edit when I was using Nikon View NX.



I wrote up a detailed blog post on our visit to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, which may be read here: Visit to Windsor Castle and Stonehenge, 2008.

Here's another throwback photo from that visit - the training group participants. It's always fun to go back in the past.


I've been [slowly] going through my previous years' photos and incorporating them into my Lightroom catalog. This is quite a task as I have digital photos spanning back from 2003 and only started using Lightroom in 2011. Hopefully, I'll be able to incorporate more Throwback posts here in the blog.

Have a great Thursday!

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London Times | Chiswick House and Gardens

My sister has Friday's off from work, so we set out that morning for a nice walk along the Thames via the Chiswick Mall. It was a perfect morning - a little cloudy with an occasional glimpse of the sun.



The walkway, or Mall along the river was dotted with pubs, restaurants and private houses with beautiful gardens.




Most of the gardens were in a strip of land between the river's retaining wall and the walkway. The house would then be located across the street - you had to cross the street and the walkway to get to your garden. Because of this arrangement, most of the gardens were tucked behind gates and privacy hedges.





There are a couple of river access points along the walk - the girls took their cousins down to the muddy banks by mistake (the adults were lagging behind) and subsequently turned back when they realized how muddy it was, but there was an adventurous group of students exploring down along the banks.


We caught a sculling team practicing:


We headed away from the river to the Chiswick House Gardens where we enjoyed lunch outside and the kids played in the playground.


The Chiswick House itself was closed, but the gardens are so nice it didn't matter. The gardens were created in the 18th century and served as inspiration for other grand gardens such as New York's Central Park.
Water flows through the center of the gardens, home to several new families:

Egyptian Ducks:


Then there was the amazing conservatory and formal Italian Gardens in front:


In a large city, Chiswick House and Gardens is a perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of the crowds. We really enjoyed our visit.

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Bird Watching

Just a small collection of the winged species I captured during my trip to the UK:







Shared with Tuesday's Muse and Communal Global.

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London Times | Bath

First, let's get something straight - it's not pronounced "bath", with the 'a' sound as in 'apple' - it's pronounced with the 'a' sound as in 'father'. This link takes you to a website where you can hear it on your computer!

Now that we have that cleared up, here's what we did as we took a side trip to Bath on our way back to London.

In the morning, Sue and I walked down the street to the local church - it is only open on Sundays and serves the small community. We're talking old and rustic here - it's pretty much a single roomed building with no electricity.

Sue tells me they hold a candlelight service at Christmas - I bet that is really amazing.

There's still some remnants of rain and mist on the green pastures. I tried to capture that misty look, but I don't think it happened in this photo:


Regardless, Sue and I had a wonderful walk.


Old college friends are the best.
Sue pulled out several old picture books from our college days - it was fun reminiscing and my daughter got to see photos of me when I was a lot younger!

On our way back to the train station, we stopped off by the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Observatory. Built in the 1800's, it spans the Avon gorge and the Avon River. Being an engineer, I find these things pretty interesting.


The previous day, we viewed the bridge from a different vantage point - down the river:


Oh wait, I was supposed to write about Bath, not about early Bristol landmarks!

We said our goodbyes to Sue and hopped on the train heading to Bath. After a nice lunch at a cafe, we walked to the main center - the famed Roman Baths and Bath Abbey.

The Bath Abbey:


Visitors can take a nice tour of the famous Roman Baths where evidence of Roman architecture abounds. Fed by hot springs, the complex was built over the first three centuries AD.


The main pool serves as the centerpiece of the complex, although there are inner rooms with pools. Spring water still flows through the structure.



Yes, it was steaming and yes, I touched the water - it seemed comfortably warm.

After the Roman Baths, we walked up through the Mall area to the Royal Crescent - a series of houses built in a sweeping arc, high upon the Bath landscape. The structure is very impressive and distinct to the area.


The rain had started to fall when we approached (yes, rain, even with blue skies!) - the photo above was taken with my iPhone using a panoramic app. Looking back now, I wish I had taken the series with my big camera.

There's so much more one can take in while visiting Bath, but sadly, we ran out of time. This only means I'll need to go back some day in the future!

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London Times | Wales Escape

In addition to my sister living in London, one of my college roommates, Sue, lives near the city of Bristol. Bristol is in the Britain territory of Wales, whereas the city of London is part of the territory of England. The last time I visited London in 2010, Sue took the train from Bristol into London to meet up with me. This time I thought it would be fun to visit her - it would give us a different perspective of the UK and the girls would see a bit of the countryside along the way.

The train journey takes about 90 minutes from the Paddington Rail Station:


And along the way, the landscape quickly transformed from cityscape to green countryside.

We arrived a little after noon, under gloomy. drizzly skies. Because of the weather, we didn't explore the city of Bristol by foot - Sue pointed out several of the main areas as we drove along the banks of the Avon Gorge. We made our way to the village of Tintern to visit the remains of the grand monastery, Tintern Abbey.



It serves as inspiration for the Wordsworth Poem, Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.

I didn't have a wide angle lens to capture the entire structure, so I stitched together numerous photos into a panoramic rendering of the backside of the Abbey. The ruins in the back would most likely be the living quarters for the monks. The main church remains partially intact, but roofless.


We also walked across the Wye River and down a walking path to get a better view of the massive structure


Along our walk, we encountered several cottages:


The girls tried to stay dry. but the misty drizzle turned to a steady rain and we retreated.


Sue lives not too far from Tintern and at her home we were met by lush green countryside and sheep! This is the view from her driveway:


Such a great contrast to the hustle, bustle and buildings we left in London!


For dinner, Sue and her husband, Barry, were kind enough to get take out pizza for the girls while they took me out for Indian Curry. I think it was a win-win for everyone (I'm the only one in my family who enjoys Indian cuisine, so I never get any!). We ate in the nearby village of Chepstow and after dinner, walked to the River Wye to see the Chepstow Castle:


Even with the rain, it was a great day of catching up with old friends and enjoying the quiet countryside.

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