Richard arrives home tomorrow afternoon.

Just arrived in Frankfurt for a 24 hour layover before heading home on Saturday. Might get a chance to go to the art museum and enjoy one of the beer gardens that line the River Main. 

Here’s some pictures from yesterday!

Kuroishi Sushi

We had lunch here yesterday with Liz....always fun to see her! We had a very good dinner here a couple of weeks ago with Donna. It's quite new and we weren't aware of it before Donna mentioned it although it's in our stamping ground of W.10th.  Liz said it was a bakery before.

We got talking so forgot to take photos other than the one I took of the interior when we arrived but we were really impressed with the lunch Bento Box. This one has tempura which I was missing from our DoDo Sushi a few blocks away. I think this will be our go to place for Japanese food.

Liz has chosen "Brave New World" for the book she is hosting for her bookclub later in September so she was really pleased that Jim can come to give a little talk about the book. Her bookclub has a tradition of lunch and wine...works for us!

There was way too much food for Liz or I to eat so we both took home the California Roll.  I'm always impressed with places that give you some chopsticks, napkin, and soy sauce with the doggie bag. And I think it was the best California Roll I've had in a while. Very copious real crab and rolled in sesame seeds...wow!

Set on a background of a placemat with a scene of Paris and a tablecloth I bought in our wonderful market in Carqueiranne.

We get our view back again...

Photos taken at 8pm Thursday evening from the balcony.

We've been missing seeing Vancouver Island...wonderful!

Meanwhile in a Church in France....

Sounds like Richard is going to get in a bit of sightseeing.

Hi Mom,

We just wrapped up our training today! Tons of work to pull it off but sverything went swimmingly. Looking forward to a nice stiff drink at the hotel bar before heading to bed early. Tomorrow we’re getting up early so that we can go on a lion and tiger safari at a nearby national park. Then it’s off to Mysore Palace and a little bit of sightseeing before our flight to Frankfurt. All of this wouldn’t be possible without having a very capable driver at our disposal. We’ve been very lucky since the company that’s hosting us has handled all the logistics for us.

Love,

Richard

This is probably the place where he's going.  I hope he sends some photos!

VISION OF THE BIOLOGICAL PARK

The vision of the Bannerghatta Biological Park is to create an opportunity to the citizens - specially to children of Bangalore Metropolitan City to have a Biological Recreation Center very close to the city in the midst of the forests in the valley of the famous Champakadhama hills inside the Bannerghatta National Park. To accomplish this vision, a mini zoo was created in 1972' which gradually grown into the present Biological Park by 2002. With the creation of Bannerghatta Biological Park, the vision was enlarged to meet the ever growing demands of the Bangaloreans/ tourists from outside for recreation/ education of younger generations; and also to create awareness on the importance of conservation of flora and fauna - the biodiversity of the nature for the benefit of the future generation in addition to the conservation of the gene pool of the endangered species of wild animals of the region/country

LION SAFARI

It is an open enclosure created in an area of 5.00 Ha of Ragihalli Reserve Forest during 1979. All around the 5.00 Ha of forest area, a tall chain link mesh with the height of around 15 feet has been erected. Further a big moat all round the chain link mesh fence has been created to avoid the tress pass of any wild animals living in the area. The animal house is provided with 11 holding rooms and all the 11 holding rooms are provided with retrieval area for the day time rest. The identified groups of animals are only allowed into safari on a rotational basis regularly for the benefit of visiting tourists.

Presently there are 19 lions (10 male and 9 females) are housed in lion safari

TIGER SAFARI

The peripheral boundary has been created for all the 3 units by digging open moat and erecting chain link mesh fence. Indira Gandhi Tiger Safari has the facility of 11 holding rooms. The Appaiah Tiger Safari has the facilities of 02 animal housing complexes. Both animal houses together has 10 animal holding rooms. The White tiger safari has the facilities of 02 animal housing complexes. There are totally 08 animal holding rooms. All the holding houses are provided with basic facilities of water and sanitation. The identified groups of animals are only allowed into safari on a rotational basis regularly for the benefit of visiting tourists.

Presently there are 26 (15 male and 11 females) normal tigers and 7 (3 male and 4 females) white tigers are housed in tiger safari.

http://bannerghattabiologicalpark.org/safari.html

Ambavilas Palace (Kannada: ಅಂಬಾ ವಿಲಾಸ್ ಅರಮನೆ), otherwise known as the Mysore Palace (Kannada: ಮೈಸೂರು ಅರಮನೆ), is a historical palace and a royal residence at Mysore in the southern Karnataka state of India. It is the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. The palace is in the centre of Mysore, and faces the Chamundi Hills eastward. Mysore is commonly described as the 'City of Palaces', and there are seven palaces including this one; however, 'Mysore Palace' refers specifically to this one within the Old Fort. 

The land on which the palace now stands was originally known as puragiri (literally, citadel), and is now known as the Old Fort. Yaduraya built the first palace inside the Old Fort in the 14th century, which was demolished and constructed multiple times. The current structure was constructed between 1897 and 1912, after the Old Palace was burnt ablaze.

Mysore Palace is now one of the most famous tourist attractions in India, after the Taj Mahal, with more than 6 million annual visitors.^[1]

And now "flexitarians" and "reducetarians"

I'm glad to hear of this trend as I really could never figure out what vegans actually ate. Also, it seems that "vegan and vegetarian"  are  words that have negative connotations for a lot of people so now the marketing is for "plant based" products.  Quite clever but I wonder if this term will take on negative connotations as well.

Now these vegan foods look quite yummy....

I can see clearly now...

And some interesting sky from the other night...not sure if the black parts are rain clouds or smoke.  The air seemed clear and Vancouver has been been at "low risk" for air quality yesterday and today.

If we only could...

I got a laugh out of this and I reminisced about how Jim (we had only know each other for about five months) gave me 1984 to read on the train going to Expo 67 in Montreal. It wasn't the greatest book to read on a three day train trip especially going across the Prairies and around 36 hours of basically nothing to look at. I thought this must be what Hell is like.  I still married him...

Kerry and I had a lot of fun on this trip.  Our first really big adventure on our own!

And Linda posted some cool T-Shirts on her blog recently.

For more go to:
http://linfish69.blogspot.com/2018/08/kids-tees.html

Sunflowers

I so love sunflowers and was very interested in an artcile in The Vancouver Sun about new varieties....especially ones that are smaller.

"Sunrich Orange Summer"

"Moulin Rouge"...well, so perfect as a name!

Pro Cut White Night

Richard safe and sound in Bengaluru

Hi Mom,

Just wanted to let you know that I’m all settled in here at the hotel in Bengaluru and just trying to fight off the jet lag. 

I’ve got a couple days to recover before training begins on Monday. 

I had my first dosa in India for breakfast. Dad would appreciate how spicy it was. Here’s a picture...

Lots of love,

Richard

That sauce looks too spicy for me!  It looks like kind of a pancake. 

Some info on Bangaluru:

Bengaluru (also called Bangalore) is the capital of India's southern Karnataka state. The center of India's high-tech industry, the city is also known for its parks and nightlife. By Cubbon Park, Vidhana Soudha is a Neo-Dravidian legislative building. Former royal residences include 19th-century Bangalore Palace, modeled after England’s Windsor Castle, and Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace, an 18th-century teak structure.

Area: 709 km²

Local time: Saturday 9:10 p.m.

Weather: 24 °C, Wind W at 5 km/h, 74% Humidity

Population: 12.34 million (2017)

Bangladore Palace

Now that the smoke has cleared out...a bit of humour about it.

Finally....

Blue sky, fresh air, and we can see Vancouver Island and the North Shore Mountains again. Maybe there will be a great sunset although I would be thrilled to see rain!

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Indian Artists at Work"

"Indian Artists at Work" by Ulli Seltzer

Steltzer died recently and I read an article about her in the Sun. She sounded like a pretty interesting person and photographer. She recorded the names of the artists in her photographs as up until then, works were identified only as Haida, Salish, etc. What I really liked about this collection of photographs of artists and their work was she made no commentary and just used the artists' words.  It was a very effective way to present the artwork.

I've put a hold on this one and look forward to learning more about this fabulous sculpture that I pass in the Vancouver International Airport all the time. It really is amazing.

"Spirit of Haida Gwaii is one of the great sculptural masterpieces of our time. It was created by artist Bill Reid, who has spent his life helping to resurrect the artistic traditions of his Haida forebears while honoring the European art tradition and techniques in which he was trained. Full-size versions of the sculpture are on display at the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC; the new Vancouver International Airport; and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.The Spirit of Haida Gwaii is a canoe eighteen feet long, filled to overflowing with the creatures of Haida mythology -- Raven, Eagle, Grizzly and his human wife, Mouse Woman, and Dogfish Woman. At its center stands a human being holding an ancient staff in which the story of creation is told."

Forest Fire Sunset

August 20th, 2018 — I really dislike sunset photographs but this one at Spanish Banks was too good to resist.

Photo by John Denniston

I can't wait to photograph lots more non forest fire sunsets. It's cooler today and the air is clearing....yeah!

John and I have an ongoing joke.  He groans when he sees another sunset photo on my blog and I groan when I see another cycle race photo on his blog :)

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Ashenden"

"Ashenden" by Somerset Maugham

We saw a wonderful film biography of Maugham recently and I was intriged to read his espionage stories based on his experience as a spy in WW I. I really enjoyed them and his often very amusing development of characters.

From the book jacket:

"The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting on the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrgue and treachery, as well as its absurdity."

It's a book!

These are funny (thanks to Linda for posting on her blog) but happily books are still a big deal and may they remain so. I love my Kindle but there is nothing quite like reading a real book.

Richard and Grace came for dinner last night

It was great to see them especially since Richard leaves for Bangalore tomorrow for five days then he and Grace are off to Japan Sept 3-24. They are flyng to Osaka and visiting Kyoto and Tokyo among other places. They will stay with some of Grace's cousins for a few days. It's always nice to get the view of the "locals"!
 
This is a rather interesting article on "20 top start-ups in Bangalore".

https://bizztor.com/in/top-startups-in-bangalore/

It looks like there is some amazing architecture.

It's still hazy here but I suppose it could be worse. Photos just taken from the balcony. There is some blue sky and sunshine at the moment.

If you look really hard you can see a bit of the North Shore mountains on the right beginning to come into view. It will be interesting to see if things get better or worse over the course of the day.

Nicola Wheston

 I found this artist quite interesting and certainly has a range.  She has a unique artist statement on her website. John was at a show she had on Saltspring

Artist Statement

Detail of “Boundaries, What Boundaries”

I am a figurative and landscape artist living on Salt Spring Island. I come from a traditional background and training in painting —painting the figure from life and capturing the landscape plein air. Painting what I observe has challenged me for all of my adult life. It is a never-ending process of perception, intentions, trials and solutions.

I feel fortunate to have two distinct bodies of work. Through my figurative painting, I explore relationships, boundaries and interpersonal connections. My landscape painting allows me to emphasize the dynamic interplay of natural systems and express the drama of trees, plants and skies.

The figurative paintings focus on the psychological aspects of our humanity, including all the foibles and eccentricities of our daily lives, as well as the relationships we have with each other, ourselves, our pets and our surroundings. The experiences of my own life have always been an influence on my work. I frequently use my body as model to explore private moments, absurd situations and aging. In my portraits of others, I tend to portray solitary poses that are often intimate and personal, even secretive. My recent paintings have focused on household products, the junk we collect and the horror of it all. I recently cleared out a relative’s estate and my experiences underscored the pathology of consumption and the degree to which it can trap us.

I learned to paint landscapes many years after starting to work with the figure. I brought to landscape my sense of painting as research into form, structure and light, and the challenges of translating the three-dimensional world onto two-dimensional canvasses. Painting outdoors also brings weather, wind, insects and animals, and the trials of keeping the work clean. I am drawn to trees more than open expanses because trees are like figures to me. Painting the landscape is as psychologically intense as the figurative work.

Some of her landscape paintings:

John Denniston photos.



August 7th, 2018 — Guests at the opening of Nicola Wheston’s show at Artspring Gallery on Saltspring Island take a very close look at one of the large panel paintings from her series, “The Beginning and the End of Stuff”. Below is Nicola earlier in the day preparing for the opening.