Taliesin!

This is Taliesin, the home of the brilliant architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and I had the chance to tour it!  By accident.  While sitting on the plane for two and one-half hours on the taxiiway at LaGuardia, I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me.  She said she was headed to Wisconsin to visit friends, and that they were going to Taliesin.  I have known of this house, and the stories about it for years, but it was not in my mind exactly where it was.  It is only one hour from Madison, where I have been staying.  So, I woke the next morning, called them, and was able to get a reservation for a two hour tour, both inside and out.  Unfortunately, we are not allowed to photograph inside the house, but it was just stunning to be able to have plenty of time to walk around in this amazing home.  It is not possible to give you any idea of the structure in just one photograph, but this photograph probably gives the best sense of part of it.

"Could you take a picture of us, please?"

I left early to walk to the restaurant, so that I could look at the Wisconsin State Capitol Building.  The sun had already set, and the building looked beautiful in the fading light.  I slowly walked around it as the light faded, and then the lights illuminating the building came on.  I was taking a picture from this angle when these two lovely young ladies walked up to me and asked if I could take their picture, with their iPhone.  I said "sure," snapped a few and then realized "Whoa!  This would be a great shot for me too" so I asked if I could take a picture with my camera, and they said "sure."  After I took the picture, we talked a bit.  The woman on the left is from Madison.  The girl on the right is from Austin, Texas.  I said "My favorite barbeque place in the world is "The Iron Works" in Austin, where my friends take me when I go to visit.  She got a funny look on her face, and said "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I don't like barbeque!"  I said "What?  But you're from Texas!"  "Yes," she said, and I am only tellying you this because we are in Wisconsin!"  It's a cute shot isn't it?

Airplane Jumble

I boarded a flight from LaGuardia to Milwaukee, and at noon we pushed back from the gate.  We taxied to the end of a long line of aircraft waiting to take off.  The pilot made an announcement that we were number 22 for departure!  Seems there were a couple of thunderstorms west of LaGuardia and when they got close, they shut down arrivals and departures.  For half an hour.  Then the thunderstorms passed by, and the line started to move again.  Originally our flight was due to leave at 12:30 PM and arrive in Milwaukee at 2:30 PM.  We finally took off at 2:30 PM from LaGuardia!  So we sat on the ground for as long as the flight would have been!  Yikes!  Nothing anyone could do - it is all about the weather and safety.

The Ivy Doesn't Quit

I told you several weeks ago that the garage ivy was coming up the side of the garage and beginning to cover the windows.  I took a photo and said that it was time to remove the ivy.  Guess what?  I haven't done that yet.  I noticed that now the ivy has come around the corner and is climbing up the front of the garage.  So I photographed it, and now I promise to rip it all off.  It is not good for the paint.

Remember Floppy Disks?

When was the last time you saw one of these?  The Floppy Disk.  I found a box of these the other day, and realized I hadn't needed to use one of these in a long time.  The last two ThinkPads that I owned had external Floppy Disk drives that came with them.  The next to last Windows tower computer that I built had a floppy drive, but the newest tower does not, and the new ThinkPad does not.  I decided that it was time to toss a bunch of these.  What is interesting is that I have the original floppy disks for Photoshop 2.0!  I will keep those for a while, as historic.

Our New Pastor

This is our new pastor, Father Tony.  We finally got to attend a Mass that he was celebrating, and he is such an enthusiastic speaker and his homily was beautifully crafted.  He has wanted to come to St. Brigids for years, he said - this is his dream assignment.  It is always difficult to lose a pastor who we have come to love, but it is so nice to have the prospect of someone really special to lead us in the times ahead.

So this is a first...

I have decided to post another version of the same shot, not cropped as tightly, and with the crucifix lightened.  See which one you like best! I am thinking that this version IS better.  I shouldn't do my blog posts so late at night!   :-)

Citibike

It appears that the New York Citibike program is successful, based on my observations of one bike station.  :-)   The top photograph was taken at 12 Noon, on Broadway, around 41st Street.  The second photograph was taken at 5 PM, same location.  So there are a lot of bikes out being used, on the streets of Manhattan.  The way it works is that you insert a credit card into the device that holds the bike, and purchase a 24 hour or 7 day pass, then you take the bike, ride it around, and then return it to any location.  Cool way to get around!