Madrid, Spring 2008

3 days in Cabo

In Los Angeles, the New Year comes in February

A quick trip to Reno

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Forever 29

A Happy Christmas

San Francisco, where hearts are left

Sometimes it snows in Seattle

Are we selling this condo, or what?

A Galloway Baby

His name is Henry

He is very small

Happy Halloween

Air traffic control: you are cleared for dancing

Free light show included with ticket price

Two sausage related costumes

Lincoln Kurtz, 3 days old

Seattle by air

Three intrepid explorers

Beth makes a photo

Our house!

Sydney by night

Chloe pets a Wallaby

Chloe, Dad and I in a bush plane!

Termite mound

My family's reach extends globally

Which wayward Byers were sent packing to Australia, I wonder?

Paris, day six. The deluge.

On Friday, we took on the art museums. We went to Musee d' Orrsy, which is a converted rail station, to see the classics. Then we went to the Louvre (outside only ... line was huge). Then we went to Pompidou, which is full of modern art.

There we saw a number of impressive temporary exhibits, including a Gorky exhibit, an hommage to Samuel Beckett, and an installation called 'Air of Paris,' which is collection of modern art whose focus drifts around Paris and the 30th anniversary of the Pompidou.

The building is cool ... it's got all the escalators and HVAC systems on the outside of the building. It was also air conditioned, which was a welcome respite from the weather. Did I mention that it was insanely hot in Paris? About halfway through our trip there we decided to go to the roof-top cafe for some espresso and lo and behold, we saw some stormy clouds coming in. I actually managed to get a photo of some lightning!

It became quite breezy and then ... the deluge. It rained like a tropical monsoon for about two hours, finally bringing the humidity and ambient temperature down to something a little more comfortable. We waited out the storm by touring the permanent installation, seeing works from Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Manet, Degas and a bunch of other works I recognized but can not remember the names of.

There was even an exhibit of inflatable furniture. After the rain, we went to a fancy tea joint and enjoyed mayonaisse sandwhiches and some white port. Also, macaroons.

After that, we went back to the apartment, had some sherry, and I packed up for the flight home.

Paris, day five. Revenge of the suckling pig.

Thursday. The big day. Candice's graduation.

But ... the night before, after the big basque lunch with the wine, the beers before dinner, the fancy five course meal for dinner, the wine at dinner, the three beers at the bar and going to bed at 3:00 am, I am awakened, ill.

Everything seems oppressive. I am convinced that the air coming in through the window is 'thick with smog,' thus making me nauseous. I have a glass of water and take a quick shower. I ask Tina to escort me to the local pharmacy to make a purchase of Mylanta.

They don't have Mylanta, but they do have Maalox. Funny thing is, the Maalox comes in little packets (like pixy stix). I shoot a few packets. Feeling a little better. Hop on the bus with the family. Approximately twenty seconds after getting on the bus, I start to get 'drooly-mouth,' the standard precursor to unpleasantness.

I press the exit button, afraid I'm going to lose it on the bus. Some quick negotiation with Tina and we've got her cell phone and our tickets to the graduation. The bus stops and I'm off to the local cafe for a visit to the men's room.

Fifteen horrible minutes later, I'm out. Chloe suggests I get some 7up and some pretzels. I do. I feel a bit better. We catch the next bus, and I manage to Keep It Together for the rest of the ride. We get to the theater in which the graduation is being held.

It's hot. I mean, really, really hot. You know how I mentioned it was hot in Paris? Imagine how hot it is in third-row balcony seats in a theater packed with people with no air conditioning. Super hot.

The nausea waves begin to return. I wander downstairs to find the men's room. I wander back up to the third floor, each step hotter than the one before. At the top of the third floor stairs is a couch. I sit down on the couch and thankfully doze away for about an hour. I miss nothing of the ceremony ... it started late anyway.

There was a good speech and there were four bad ones. So go graduations. Afterward, there's a reception. Candice appears to have gone to school with people who are featured in W magazine.

Everyone reeks of old money. There's even some private security detail surrounding a couple of the particularly elite classmates. Most of the young women are tall and leggy. Most of the old women are well preserved and draped in gold, Gucci and leapord prints.

The men are all in tailored suits with watches that cost about the same as my new car. Appearences aside, though, they are all quite friendly. Our party drifts away to a local sandwhich shop. It's still so hot I can barely breathe. After lunch, we go back to the apartment. I fall into a deep sleep until around 7:45pm.

We get up, go to yet another nice dinner. This time I rember the name of the place ... something something 'Moelle.' Fantastic food. Very nice. After dinner, I come home and sleep like the dead until morning.

Warning: may cause break-dancing

I just love signs in foreign countries.

Sunset over Darwin, Australia

Puerto Vallarta, you are warmer than Seattle

View from my lounge chair. And Semaj Booker is nowhere to be seen.

Scarjo? Eat your heart out

I attended my grandmother's memorial service in El Paso, Texas last weekend.



There were two touching services. The first was a wake (of sorts) with touching stories, great photos, lots of family members, old friends, new family members, etc. The second was a military burial for my grandmother's ashes at Fort Bliss National Cemetery.



I learned a lot about my extended family this weekend. I met a lot of relatives that I hadn't seen since I was an infant and some that I had never met. I also found out a lot about my grandmother. I guess I only knew my grandmother as an older woman. She was nearly 60 when I was born, and in her late sixties before I really started forming memories of her.



I don't know how to put this delicately, so I'll just say it. My grandmother was a fox!



Other things I learned:



She was a super-mom. This I knew, of course; how else could my mom and aunts have turned out so well?



She was a talented artist. This I did not know. A poet and a painter? I did not know.



She was a seamstress. She sewed most of my mother and her sisters' clothes. This, I think I had heard (as a kid) but I think I had filed it away with the 'uphill both ways to school in the dark with no shoes in the snow' sort of stories that parents are always going on and on about. However, recently revealed photographic evidence suggests that she was, in fact, a talented and prolific seamstress.



She and her husband were very photogenic. Mostly, he enjoyed photographing her. Let's be honest. Who wouldn't want to take a picture of this woman? Scarlett Johansson? Eat your heart out.



In the photo below: my grandmother at 50, Scarlett at whatever, and a creepy (in case you don't see the similarity) wash I made of both of them.

Aside from inspiring Scarlett Johansson's look 50 years ahead of her time, my grandmother did many amazing things. For example: she potty trained me. She also could do the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle in approximately the same amount of time it takes to fill in all the boxes. (After 60 years of doing crossword puzzles, I guess there's not that many new clues. And not many three letter words that can be described by an abstruse pun.)



I love you, Mar.

Somewhere in Texas is a gravestone with your name on it

This last weekend, we flew down to El Paso to go to my grandmother's memorial service.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and I am always happy to catch up with my extended family (even if under less-than-ideal circumstances.)

One afternoon, we took a drive to El Paso's "old" cemetery.

There lies the family plot of my great-grandfather on my mother's side.