Razzmatazlady

Author: CherylK

  • This and That

    Here’s a picture I took a couple of years ago of the mailboxes at home after digging them out of a snowbank! It’s a good reminder of why we decided to pursue housesitting in the winter. I love this picture! You could hardly even see our house. Now, that’s a lot of snow.

    We’re all settled in and have finally put that nightmare of a train ride behind us, I think. I wonder how those other poor people are. I am amazed that total anarchy didn’t erupt. Wouldn’t have taken much more to turn many of us into blithering idiots…

    I have to say that it doesn’t get much more peaceful than it is here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s like therapy, really. And, boy, did we need a good dose of therapy!

    I plan to work diligently on my new website. I’d love to have it well under way by the time we leave here. It’s so much more complicated than I thought it would be but that’s because a blog is much easier to create than a website. I think.

    I just need to stay focused. It’s going to be hard work and it’s going to be a steady job but, hey, I wanted a new niche…

    There is a Zen Buddhist Proverb that pretty much says it all:

    Before enlightenment – chop wood, carry water.

    After enlightenment – chop wood, carry water.

    O.K. I can do that.

  • A Ferry Ride to Bainbridge Island,WA

    I took some photos while we were on the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. It’s a gorgeous view from any vantage point on the ferry.

    I took this shot of another ferry heading from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. You can see the famous Space Needle which was constructed for the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. It’s towers to a height of 605 feet (184 meters).

    This is a cool shot of a sailboat we passed with a view of Mount Baker (10,778 feet) in the distance. Mount Baker is an ice-clad volcano in the North Cascades of Washington State. “After Mount Rainier, it is the most heavily glaciated of the Cascade volcanoes” (United States Geological Survey-USGS).

    According to the USGS, it’s located 31 miles due east of Bellingham, WA. And considering that Bellingham is 78 miles north of Seattle, that’s one heck of a distance!

    From the other side of the ferry I could see Mount Rainier volcano (14,410 ft) in the distance. Hard to believe that it’s about 100 miles south of Seattle!

    Although I was looking into the sun, I still got a great shot. It’s our third trip to Bainbridge Island to housesit. It’s good to be back.

  • Why I will never ride the train again. (The Sequel – Part II)

    I snapped this picture through the window of the train as we were going around a curve.

    After our “very good night’s sleep” we left the hotel and hailed a taxi to take us to Los Angeles’ Union Station which I am certain is one of the most beautiful train stations in the country. Not that I’ve seen all that many. But it’s got to rank up there in the top ten.

    We boarded Amtrak Coast Starlight Train #14, Car 2412 in great anticipation of the beautiful scenery we would surely see along the way. As hesitant as I was to continue traveling via railway, I was being a good sport. (Jack’s bribe of a kitchen remodel played only a very small part in my newly revived enthusiasm. Really.)

    We were assigned seats #29 and #30 and after stowing our carry-on bags above our seats we settled in for a pleasant journey. The train glided out of Union Station. It was a beautiful sunny day.

    Seated just behind us were two guys who introduced themselves to each other and then decided to go to the lounge car for a beverage. They came back a few minutes later, each carrying a beer. It was about 10:30 a.m. Not a good omen.

    They settled in their seats and proceeded to get acquainted. One of them (I dubbed him Chatty Chuck) talked non-stop. I mean, NON-STOP. And he was LOUD. And he was an expert on EVERYTHING. After more then an hour of not being able to concentrate on my book we found the conductor and requested new seats at the front of the car.

    Our request was granted. It was great. We could barely hear Chuck and his new friend. We traveled this way for quite some time just enjoying the scenery and visiting and feeling quite smug that this train trip would be a piece of cake. Wrong.

    And now a brief commentary of the “very unfortunate events” that unfolded:

    • Near San Luis Obisbo, California – The train came to a stop and we were told that there was a car stuck on the tracks. An hour or so later we moved forward.

    • Near San Jose, California – The train came to a stop (again) because there was a car crash near the tracks and we could not proceed until the tracks were examined to be sure there was no debris on the tracks. An hour or so later yadda, yadda, yadda…

    • Near Chico, California – Well, this time the train couldn’t come to a stop and actually sliced a vehicle in half! As it was explained to us, a young woman who was extremely intoxicated got her 4 x 4 stuck on the tracks. She ran down the tracks toward the approaching train to try to get it to stop. As intoxicated as she was, she did think to jump out of the way just in time to save herself but, of course, we were traveling much to fast to stop before hitting her car. Investigation ensued and shortly thereafter we were moving, again.

    At this point we were running just a couple of hours late. Not so bad.

    • Klamath Falls, Oregon (about 100 miles north of Klamath Falls, actually) – The train came to a stop (yet again). We were told that there was another train stopped ahead of us for some reason or other and we couldn’t proceed until it did. An hour or so later we were advised that there was an eight foot mud slide on the tracks ahead of us. WHAT????

    So it was decided that we would pull forward to a spot where the engine pulling our train could be moved from the front of the train to the back of the train and it would take us back a hundred miles to Klamath Falls. There were busses at Klamath Falls which would take us to our various destinations. I cannot tell you how disturbing that news was. I cannot describe to you how much I dislike bus trips. We wracked our brains trying to decide what alternatives there might be when we got to Klamath Falls.

    • In the meantime, we were chugging along for who-knows-how-long when we came to yet another stop. The railroad track was broken and we could go no further. I am not lying. That’s exactly what happened. How we got over that broken track going north, I couldn’t tell you. So we were trapped between an eight foot mudslide and a broken railroad track. Great.

    A repair team was dispatched to our location. The track was repaired. By this time I have lost all track of time. It was probably three hours or so later before we were again on the move. We arrived in Klamath Falls. There weren’t enough busses. We were herded onto a bus that was just one step up from a school bus. No, maybe one step below a school bus. It was supposed to be a tour bus and let me tell you that it totally put me off the idea of a bus tour.

    That was about 7 p.m. Five hours and two stops later we pulled into the Amtrak station in Portland, Oregon. There was a train waiting to take us to our final destination, Seattle, Washington. Arrived in Seattle at approximately 4:30 a.m.

    We’re flying back to Los Angeles. Already have our tickets.

  • Why I Will Never Ride The Train Again (The Sequel – Part I)

    “Begin at the beginning and go to the end, then stop.” (White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland)

    O.K., will do. Let’s see…the Beginning? Well, that would be when we checked into the hotel in downtown Los Angeles to spend the night at the “newly remodeled” Ritz Something-Or-Other. The name is not important unless you’re planning to stay there (and in that case please contact me for the name so you can find other lodging). It looked lovely from the outside and even from the lobby. The Very Reasonable Rate should have tipped us off. We’re from the midwest and we tend to give the benefit of the doubt, however.

    Went up to our room on the eleventh floor. On a positive note, it did pass my “clean” test (and believe me, if you traveled with me you’d realize the enormity of that statement). It was recently painted. The bathroom was very clean. Basically, the room was just large enough for the bed. There was a shabby dresser perpendicular to the shabby nightstand but you couldn’t open the drawers because the nightstand was about two inches too deep. Not that I had any intention of using the drawers, of course. Obviously the remodel did not include the furnishings.

    The telephone did not work. No dial tone. Went down to the front desk to report it. The desk clerk sent a young lady up with a new telephone. She removed it from its box and plugged it in. It worked.

    There were little wires exposed between two sections of the internet cable. I was skeptical but bravely plugged it into our laptop. It worked. So far, so good. We doubt that these particular accomodations would have passed an electrical inspection as there were little wires running from the ceiling lights in the bedroom and bathroom. They were “disguised” with paint that matched the walls. Didn’t fool us, though.

    Long story short – we had a good night’s sleep and caught a cab to Union Station early Friday morning. It was a very good thing that we had a good night’s sleep…

    To be continued…

  • A Quickie Post Before Boarding The Train

    We’ll be leaving for the train shortly so this has to be quick. We had a fine trip from Phoenix. It’s only about six hours to Los Angeles from there. The scenery is not breathtaking by any means because it’s mostly desert but you have time to really observe what IS out there (tongue in cheek). For example, just east of Quartzite, Az is a road called Sore Finger Road. Yep, Sore Finger Road. Makes you wonder who’s finger it was and why it was sore, doesn’t it? And where it might lead.

    Then right around Palm Springs there are fields and fields of wind farms. Hundreds of wind turbines generating energy. I really do think they’re pretty. They rotate slowly, almost lazily. Rhythmic. Reminds me of dancers with their arms stretched wide. A silent ballet.

    Then you travel through towns like 29 Palms and Thousand Palms. Wonder how they got their names. I’ll have to check that out.

    Well, time to go – I probably won’t be able to post anything until we reach Seattle. But here’s a website that I stumbled upon that looks yummy! Check it out. http://www.extremechocolate.com/

  • Seeing The Sights

    What a wonderful trip we had, yesterday! We drove to Sedona, AZ which is famous for it’s beautiful red rock formations.

    I took pictures but, honestly, none of them do justice to the beauty of those soaring red cliffs. They are truly magnificent! Amazing!

    Spectactular!

    Ya gotta see it to believe it! Here’s a picture just to prove we were actually there, though!

    The weather was cool and crisp but no wind and the sun was out. Perfect.

    Then we went to Montezuma Castle National Monument whic is about half way between Sedona and Phoenix. It’s the site of a prehistoric village of the Sinagua, an Ancestral Pueblo people who lived in the area for centuries before Columbus discovered the New World.

    According to the National Park Service, it has been described as the best preserved and most dramatic cliff dwelling in the United States. Check out this picture! We learned that it was the women who constructed the cliff dwellings!! The men were out hunting and gathering, I guess.

    A very fine day of sightseeing.

    Tomorrow we’re leaving Arizona. Heading back to Los Angeles where we’ll leave our vehicle and catch the train for Washington State.

    I know, I know… I said I’d never ride the train again but you will recall that Jack bribed me with the promise of a new kitchen. I am admitting that I can be bought.

  • A Little News Flash…

    A follow-up to my post about visiting the Titantic exhibit. I just found out that my grandfather, William Coburn, WAS one of laborers who worked on the Titantic!

    He was a brass fitter. I’m so excited about that! This is an actual picture of the Belfast dock workers – I can just imagine Grandpa Coburn – he would have probably been just a teenager – going to work on the ships in the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

    The brass fittings included the Titanic’s bells and Gothic patterned windows for the ship’s bars and dining rooms and much more, of course.

    Off to Sedona, today, with my sister and her husband who are here in Phoenix on business. But the “business” doesn’t start until tomorrow so we’re doing touristy stuff, today. Yesterday was a trip to Tucson and lunch at El Charro, the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country! We had a chance to see their son, Tim, who was in Tucson on business, as well. I’ll post more about our adventures

  • A Little Silliness

    There’s a bookstore here in Mesa that has earned my respect. It’s called Changing Hands (www.changinghands.com) and it’s an independent bookstore that was named Bookseller of the Year 2007 by Publishers Weekly. They have new and used books, gifts, storytime for preschoolers including sign language and bilingual storytimes, and a very impressive calendar of events.

    Changing Hands donates books to veterans groups, senior citizens, and prison inmates just to name a few. They also support local Girl Scout and Boy Scout book drives, school book drives, etc.

    And get this…they offer bus fare reimbursement and a bike rack for their employees!

    Anyway, we were over there, today, and I bought a (used) trivia book called This book of More Perfectly Useless Information. It’s great. Pure silliness. Here are a couple of little gems that are on the very first page:

    “Trivia was a Roman goddess to whom sacrifices were offered at crossroads. Because travelers often engaged in idle gossip at crossroads, Trivia’s name (referring to three roads coming together) came to be associated with the sort of information exchanged in such places.”

    “Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head.”

    In the category of “Onlys”, we find these snippets:

    “Almonds and pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the bible.”

    “The only two people in the Baseball Hall of Fame who had nothing to do with baseball are Abbott and Costello.” (Go ahead, check it out.)

    And this little gem, “Snails make only once in a lifetime, but it can take up to 12 hours.”

    Well, that was fun!

  • A Worthwhile Exhibit and a Worthwhile Link

    The Titantic Exhibit at the Phoenix Science Museum was just wonderful. We first watched the IMAX movie Titantica and then went to the exhibit.

    That was definitely the way to do it because the items that were recovered from the ocean floor were so much more meaningful after seeing them on the ocean floor in the movie! It took the two little submarines 2 1/2 hours to reach the ocean floor! Unbelievable.

    http://www.freerice.com/

    As for the worthwhile link, Michael Werner of Dream Jobs Dialog posted a bit about a terrific website that is both fun and worthwhile at the same time. Click on this link and check it out! I was fascinated You’ll learn something, for sure!

  • Jumping Ship!

    It’s gorgeous and sunny this morning. I’ve got to get this written and get myself ready for today’s adventure. We’re meeing the Davidson’s (neighbors from home) to go see the Titancic Exhibit in downtown Phoenix. I’ll tell you all about it tonight (or tomorrow). Should be very interesting.

    Then it’s back to business…I have to figure out this new blog/website stuff so, for the next few days I’ll concentrate on that. I refuse to think that I have bitten off more than I can chew. The good thing about documenting this stuff is that it will hold me accountable and that’s something that has always stopped me in my tracks in the past…not being accountable. Making a decision to do something and then, when the going gets a little tough, packing it in.

    Hopefully, I won’t go down with the ship…