Not Your Average Vacation Photos

After being on this planet for a number of years, I have learned that most people couldn’t care less about seeing your vacation pics. I can certainly understand why. Unless you’re a world class photographers, the photos produced from you cannot effectively capture the true essence of the sights you’ve seen, no matter how breathtaking. But this doesn’t stop people from asking you why you haven’t taken any photos on your holidays either. I do want to share my holiday photos, yet at the same time, I don’t want to bore you all. Here are some of the pictures I have put together from my travels to the US in the last month and a half, a combination family reunions/belated honeymoon/birthday.

Here we are in Los Angeles, checking out a few theme parks as part of the Hubs’ birthday present (Disneyworld, California Adventures, and Universal Studios). We also wandered the streets of Hollywood and had dinner at In-N-Out Burger.

Whilst in LA I had to visit one of my favorite gal, Emi of the teeny weeny Pygmy Hippo Shoppe!

Then off we went to Colorado to visit my parents, who were kind enough to take us around to a few places of interest:

(Clockwise from left) We toured the Celestial Seasonings factory, had a gander at the wonder that is The Garden of the Gods, rode the train up to the Pikes Peak summit, and gawped at the amazing chapel at the Air Force Academy.

For our honeymoon we took a cruise in Alaska and had a blast stuffing our faces with the bounty in the myriad restaurants on the boat and marveling at the wonders Alaska had to offer, often with a plate heaped with cake in front of us. I was smart. I packed nothing but elastic waisted pants for this trip in order to accommodate my ever-expanding girth.

Fortunately, the shore excursions prevented us from asking the staff to roll us off the boat at the end of the cruise. I enjoyed a tram ride and hike in Juneau while Anthony biked to admire some glaciers before being taken to a brewery. We sampled salmon in Ketchikan and kayaked a bit and we took a train ride up to the Fraser in British Columbia for yet another paddle.

We went to Kansas to visit our friends whom we haven’t seen in years and spent several days gabbing in their bunker-style home with the knowledge that we’d be safe should a tornado hit this fair state.

After spending a bit more time in Colorado with my family, we flew off to San Francisco to visit another set of family that I haven’t seen in years. There we were fed sumptuous feasts and were given a 5-star tour of this glorious city.

Cousin Carolyn drove us down Lombard Street just for kicks; we saw the Palace of Fine Arts twice, once with Auntie Glendy and the second time on Segways. We admired the gorgeous architecture of San Francisco and looked at the Golden Gate Bridge from many angles.

But the best thing we did was taking the ferry to Alcatraz!

Since I was in San Francisco, there was no reason why I shouldn’t visit Alix Bluh and her gorgeous jewelry/curio shop. She is every bit as delightful and whimsical as the jewelry she creates!

By this time I am bloated beyond recognition, so I’m treating you to some photos of her gorgeous shop:

Can you imagine being surrounded by so much beauty?

So that’s it for my time away from the sweat shop! I’m feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work!

Fawlty Towers

I’ve had this set in mind for the longest time, but of course what with one thing after another, it took a while to produce it. It’s for my friend’s dad’s birthday, and it’s only right he should be getting a Fawlty Towers set complete with the exceedingly rude Basil Fawlty, his domineering wife Sybil; Polly, the only calm and competent staff, and the language deficient porter/waiter Manuel. I remember walking past my friend’s TV set as a child and saw Basil Fawlty goose stepping around the dining room and immediately demanded to know if this was a lost Monty Python episode. Mr. S patiently explained the brilliance of Fawlty Towers to me and at my next play date there, my friend and I watched all 12 episodes, more or less in one sitting.

Here’s Basil, Sybil, Polly Manuel, and Manuel’s pet hamster, which is really a rat, named after Basil.

Years later, when my friend and I were driving around the UK, checking into whatever B&B we came upon at the end of the day, we met a real life Basil Fawlty. Actually, that’s not fair on his part. He was polite but uncomfortably stern. The man did not crack a single smile the entire time we were there. When we returned from a late dinner at the pub, we found him standing in the front hall with his arms folded, bearing the manner of someone who’s been waiting there for a very long time. I thought we’d get a tongue lashing about stumbling in at 10 PM, as we’d been conditioned by Basil Fawlty’s school of hospitality, but really, he just wanted to take our breakfast order. Still, the whole thing was just really really weird and we were simply glad that we didn’t end up buried in his garden.

Let Me Entertain You!

Did I ever mention I was a bona fide musical theater nut? It helped that my BFF from way back when was totally into theater too so we more or less spent our allowances on theater tickets growing up. Later on, when she’s away at school in Boston, she’d make frequent trips back to the Big Apple so we could take in a matinee or two. One of the first musicals we’ve ever gone to see together was “Gypsy” starring Tyne Daly as Mama Rose. Later on, I was the one to make a trip to Boston to see the very same BFF take on the part of Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee at a community theater production. I figured for her very first Bobo Babushka set from yours truly ought to commemorate this musical. Of course, it was a hard choice between Gypsy or the guys from Monty Python, another one of our favorites in our teenage years. What can I say? We did not have a run-of-the-mill childhood.

This one features Mama Rose, Gypsy Rose Lee, Herbie the boyfriend, young Louise and Baby June.

Happy Birthday, Irene! (That’s right, she and I also share the same first name. In her house I was known as “The Other.”) Hope everything’s coming up roses for you always!

Wild at Heart

The best part about painting the cast of the David Lynch film “Wild at Heart?” Nicolas Cage’s snake skin jacket.

I used to have an orange and tan suede fish scale jacket that might’ve looked fine on a pimp, but so wrong for a short female. Wearing it to my painting classes in art school was fine, but not so much when I was confronted by the real world and jobs that required me to fill out a W2 form and hire an accountant once a year (what? Did you think I could be trusted to do my own tax returns? Please). Back then I wish I could’ve utilized this line to its fullest potential:

“This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it’s a symbol of my individuality, and my belief… in personal freedom.”

But of course I’d substitute it with “fish scale jacket.”

Here’s the rest of the cast:

(Clockwise from left)

Marietta Fortune (after she colored her face with lipstick), her daughter Lula, Johnnie Farragut, and Marcelles Santos.

Here’s also Bobby Peru and Sheryl Lee as The Good Witch.