Reflecting Back

 Since I have not been out and about with my camera lately, I have not had any reflection photos to share in recent Weekend Reflections. So while poking around in my files, I discovered some fun shots from the cruise ship when we went to Alaska a few years ago.

When your cruise is not somewhere particular, the ship itself offers some interesting shots.

When you are visiting glaciers, the icebergs and  the ship's photographers going out in a small boat for special photo projects offer some great reflections.

Weekend Reflections is hosted at Newtown Daily Photo.

Reflection All Chock Full of Geometry

So here is my quandry. I've been saving this reflection from a cruise ship for some weekend when I needed a quick reflection for Weekend Reflections. But I got to looking at it and realized that it was a Monday Geometry picture. Look at the circles, perpendicular lines, parallel lines, rhombuses. Someone will pop in and see ovals and arcs and a variety of other things. Then if I were going to do Shadow Shot Sunday, there are shadows in the reflections of the circles with the......

You see. What do I do with this picture? Ah, well, for the moment, it's a Weekend Reflection which I will go mention at James' Newtown Daily Photo where Weekend Reflections is hosted. I've not done Shadow Shot Sunday, but you might run across others who are doing that. And it will still be here on Monday for the geometry.

In the meantime, I've gotta go. My book club is meeting this morning--I think.

Musically speaking

I've been saving this reflection from the grand piano on our cruise for a rainy day. I don't know if it's raining or not, as I have scheduled this post. Maybe I will find a better reflection while I am out and about this weekend....then again, maybe I will get wet.    James sponsors Weekend Reflections. Pay him a visit.

ABC Wednesday--V is for...

Vancouver, B. C.

These are some shots I didn't show before from the early morning arrival of our cruise ship to Vancouver, B. C. The city had changed since I had last been there. And there is a lot of construction and sprucing up getting ready for the Winter Olympics.

This blogpost is brought to you by the letter V. Another letter on the way to the end of the alphabet again. Look for other samples of the letter V at the ABC site.

ABC Wednesday -- O is for...

O is for October

What is October to you?

Does this leaf represent October? It may if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. The other day I was looking out the window through the blinds and I thought it was snowing. The wind was blowing all the leaves off our big birch tree in the yard and they were drifting like huge snowflakes. Nights are very chill and I have to scrape frost from my windshield if I go somewhere in the morning.

October is a carnival of color.

Or maybe this represents October for you.

When our kids were growing up they did not wait till October to start thinking about their Halloween costume. But when they started asking in July or August, my answer was, any costume worth wearing can be made in the days before Halloween. It doesn't take months and I refused to think about it that early. Now, the giraffe costume took some time for the paper maiche and paint to dry. The robot took a trip or two to town for boxes and dryer vent and silver spray paint. (The arms and legs were that expandable plastic venting, Really cool effect!) But most costumes were thrown together no more than the day before from stuff around the house.

Halloween is coming this Saturday, and though where we live we don't usually see many trick or treaters, they will be out and about haunting the streets in town. I hope they have as much fun with costumes as we did. If Halloween celebrations are not common in your country, do you have a holiday when kids dress up?

All the color and fun aside, October is also a serious month.

It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This is especially important to me because of my mother and my sister and other relatives and friends. It is important to me because I have daughters, daughters-in-law and granddaughters. It is important to me becasue I am a woman.

In the summer of 1993, both my Mother and my sister Ann were diagnosed with breast cancer. They had surgery a day apart. Mother had radiation; Ann had chemo and radiation and continued to work as well as care for many of mother and dad's needs. In January of 1995, twelve weeks after Dad died of another cancer, Mother followed him. They would have celebrated their 61st anniversary the next month.

The day of Mother's funeral my cousin Terry was in surgery. (Her mother, my Aunt Grace, had fallen to the disease two years before.) They identified four different kinds of breast cancer cells in her breast tissue.

Ann's cancer returned a few years later, and she lived with it until October of 2003 and died the day after her 48th anniversary. Terry is well, and enjoying her retirement.

Make an appointment for a mammogram.

Do a monthly breast exam.

My list of those directly affected by breast cancer grows. It includes other relatives, many friends, and many friends of my friends and relatives. I carry the names of about 75 on my hat and have quit adding names to it because there is no more room. the names are not only women, but also men who have had breast cancer.

I'm walking again. During our recent cruise, on a day at sea, my husband and I joined others for 5K in "On Deck for the Cure". (8 laps around the deck in case you wondered.)  And because the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation took place in Seattle while we were gone, I am signed up to do the walk in Arizona in two weeks.

I still desperately need more sponsors. So if you want to do something to bring an end to this disease which affects so many, please consider  clicking my shoes in the sidebar and donate five or ten or more dollars to my sponsorship.

Watch in the next couple of days for some special items I will be offering as an incentive to sponsors. I just have to get the pictures taken.

Okay, here's a bunch of links for you:

ABC Wednesday is in it's fifth season. Visit the site to see what others have found for O. Please also visit our ABC hostess Denise, who is grieving the death of her beloved pet Wilma.

For more information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, visit the 3-Day site.

For information about Breast Cancer and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, look here.

And if you would like to sponsor me, here are my shoes again.

Okay, I can't make the pictures into links, the links are above in the text.

Skies and Reflections---good-bye Alaska--Hello, Vancouver

We left Ketchikan in the evening, spent a day and a night "at sea", arriving with the dawn in Vancouver, B.C. A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are ten thousand.

Cruise terminal

Longshoremen waiting to tie up the Coral Princess. Look at the size of those ropes.

More Skies for Friday are here.

More Weekend Reflections are here.

ABC Wednesday--N is for...

N is for Nightlife on an Alaska Cruise.

I've been describing all the neat stuff there was to do during the days of our tour and cruise. Side trips, sights, adventures. But then night falls and what do you do?

I've described the Cruise Ship as a city unto itself. In size--population so to speak--it is certainly smaller than my small rural Eastern Washington community. But in amenities, it is closer to the metropolitan areas we think of as city. The ship has fancy restaurants in addition to its elegant main dining rooms. It has a variety of bistros and lounges, a casino. And it has shows. A cruise ship has its own small orchestra, its own dance troupe, its own comedians, its own singing sensations. You can choose to spend your night in the Crooner's Bar listening to the old favorites, or go to a full production show. OR, you can sit back in your jammies in your suite and watch old Love Boat episodes.

The first night's nightlife consists of muster drill.

Our muster station was in the Universe Lounge, whose Art Deco styling would host more fascinating shows on other evenings.

The Princess Theater was always ready for an event.

The dance presentations were some of the best, featuring music and styles from around the world.

And when all was said and done, you might go back to your room and find...

ABC Wednesday Link Site--Its originator.

Alaska Bits -- 21 -- Glacier Bay National Park

Our next visit--can't call it a stop, can I?--was Glacier Bay National Park. We sailed in in the morning, picking up our Park Rangers, who guided us on what we were seeing and set up a mini Visitor Center on board. You can see from the railing above what kind of weather we faced that day.

A Ranger we had worked with was at Glacier Bay this summer, but his season ended a week or so before our visit, so we missed seeing him. We had an excellent group from the Park Service, though, very knowledgeable and informative. This seal was enjoying the view, too.

Glacier Bay is a tremendous treasurehouse of tidewater glaciers. Among those we saw were the Marjorie, the Reid, and the Lampough. When Jon Muir discovered the bay in 1879, he was traveling in a canoe. I recall seeing kayaks on our previous visit ten years ago. Some sort of boat is the only way to see this natural marvel.

BTW, a hundred years before John Muir came there, explorers found a wall of ice. (Early indications of climate change? Watch for participants in Blog Action Day tomorrow who will be exploring the topic of climate change. I will be back with some other glacier pictures and climate change speculation.)

But let's get on with our visit.

Cr-r-r-raaaaaack!

Did that sound like a rifle shot? Tidewater glaciers (those that reach the water's edge) break off chunks of ice, forming icebergs. This is called calving. Perhaps that sound I heard belonged to this chunk ready to float off into the bay.

High on the wall of the bay between the glaciers forests begin to grip the cliffside. I love these mist enshrouded views.

Out on deck that day it was pretty wet. But it did not spoil the view (which could be watched on the TV nice and cozy in the cabin, too, if the rain was too much for you.) And before we left the bay the fog was lifting and clouds clearing.

Alaska Bits -- 19 --Whittier

As a destination, no one would choose Whittier. But as a connecting link, it is an important point on the map. Whittier is the port connection for Anchorage to Prince William Sound. The waters surrounding Anchorage itself are too shallow and sandy to allow for large ships. Prince William Sound is a great place to visit by boat, so there is moorage for craft of all sizes.

Whittier is where we emerged from the tunnel.

...and saw our cruise ship for the first time.

That's our balcony that I circled.

Whittier is where we went through the boarding process in that dockside building.

Which was harder for some of us than others.

Most of the residents of Whitier live in two buildings. This is one of them. There is a small hotel and restaurant with a general store and a one room maritime museum.

From the dock, you can walk there through this pedestrian tunnel that goes under the railway and the highway.

But unless you have run out of shaving cream or something, there is not much reason to do so. Because the fudge information is on the harbor side with a few tourist shops.

...and a variety of watercraft of all sizes.

I did say ALL sizes.

So all in all, if you have to go through Whittier, Alaska, it will be an interesting adventure. If you want to get out on some water, see some glaciers, it is a good place to start. If you have to spend much time there, well...

...you can get some interesting reflection shots.