going home . . . i hope

"and hope is a good thing".  (Shawshank Redemption reference). i am trying for the 730a flight home to LA. it is full so i might be "riding the jumpseat" but if that is what it takes . . .

more about Edinburgh and the music festivals and the Piper's Trail and the bonny Scottish weather and Kelvingrove and my all-male crew when i get home. and of course, many photos and video too.

Home Again

and what a homecoming.  within 15 minutes of stepping in my front door we had a nice little earthquake.  i think i heard it was around a 5.8 something and centered somewhere in the valley.  no damage here in the south bay.  the water in the pool was swaying.  and inside my apartment my windchimes were chiming.  i grabbed my camera and was ready for "the big one" but all i got on film was a few seconds of the sounds of windchimes. i have always been pro-windchime so . . . " i've got that going for me".

no, i had no kiss waiting for me at home. i took this on saturday in Edinburgh near the Royal Mile after the Mardi Gras/ Blues Festival at The Grassmarket.  more photos and videos to follow (my nap).

girl on the train from Waverly to Queen Street

Scotland . . .somewhere near Falkirk High or Linlithgow or was it Croy

Lyndon Anderson.  wait to you hear him sing and play the harmonica.

and what was the umbrella for?  sun?  rain?  no. . . for dancing with the Criterion Brass Band

The Grassmarket runneth over

cheeseburgers, chips and a castle

for a few hours more

soon i will be on my way back to Philadelphia.  and then "if all goes as planned", i will be on my way to Glasgow, Scotland and if things continue to go as planned, i will be in Edinburgh on saturday for the Mardi Gras at the Grassmarket and then at the "jazz on a summer's day" on sunday.  and then back to Philly on monday.

  

a peaceful moment from this past tuesday morning in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin, Ireland

home . . . soon . . . and then . . . not home . . . again

if all goes well, i will be home tonite. it is always nice to get home and even nicer to get paid to go home.

Thing did not go well. . .  i just got home . . . next day service from Philadelphia to LA.

more later in today's post on why it took over 10 hours to "fly" from PHL to LAX.   think summer storm.  think big summer storm.  think over 5 hours with a plane full of mainly non-English speaking passengers sitting on the plane waiting (patiently?) to fly 5 hours to LA.  think long day and night for many people.  quote of the day "how long can you keep us prisoners on this plane?"

and that was about two hours into the delay. followed by "i will be calling my lawyer when we land."  of course, that person spoke English very well.  most amusing question "how long is it going to rain?"  yes, how long indeed.  

St. Stephen's Green cygnets and Temple Bar rocks

another fun day in Dublin yesterday (monday). more on everything when i have more time. time for a little walk before we fly back to Philly.

homeward bound

another fun time in San Francisco on wednesday. more stories, photos and videos when i get home tonite. . . i think it is friday?

HOME again.  guess who i met in the Philadelphia airport and then talked with on my flight home to LA?  i will give you a hint . . . the World's Greatest Athlete.

hard to believe that was 32 years ago.  i hope i thanked him for taking the time to talk with me.  one of my co-workers asked if had met any other famous people in my 20 years of flight attending (if there is such a word).  yes, i have met a few. here are a few favorites.  hmmm, who is the most famous star i've met?  she is one of the most beautiful and most famous and most recognized woman in the world (not sure if that grammar was correct)(not even sure how to correct whatever it was i was trying to say) but when i met her she was not so famous. i think i will find the photos she autographed and scan them in before revealing her name. then there was that guy who washed up on a deserted island after he had AIDS and after he played the piano in FAO Shwartz and that was a long time after he and his bosom buddy had a tv show.  Batman was nice but which Batman did i meet?  who was that radio DJ in Alaska on his way to his home in West Virginia?

i think he played in movie about a wedding but it is Greek to me what the title was.

i am not sure if it was Wayne or Garth but he and his friends were enjoying their

flight home to Chicago. he told me one of the funniest jokes.  enough for now.

the Big Apple Day

more tonite when i return from NYC . . . hopefully.

Just got back from Manhattan
so much to see, so much seen. so much to do, not enough time. more stories and photos when i get home on friday. i will
say i almost was able to see and probably/maybe meet one of my favorite Japanese pianists/composers/musicians but i could not figure how to get back from Manhatten in time for my 645a check-in tomorrow morning. i thought about staying out
all night (remember Austin) but the first flight back tomorrow from La Guardia would get me here too late. i also checked on a Greyhound bus but problems there too. i did hear some good jazz in two different locations in the big and beautiful Central Park. it was an absolutely gorgeous day. oh, and i almost saw a parade honoring . . . the baseball All-Star game that is now on tv as i type from the lobby on the Days Inn here in Chester, PA. there was red carpet on 6th Avenue for the parade. i did see that after walking from Times Square to Rockefellar Plaza to 5th and then 6th Avenue before continuing on to Central Park. i arrived in New York around 830a. more on how i got there when i get home. i will say it cost less for me to fly from Philadelphia to New York's LaGuardia airport and then take public transportation into the city than it would cost for me to take the train into downtown Philadelphia from the Philadelphia airport.

the sounds of summer . . . and more

this past thursday morning i walked to Japantown in San Francisco on my way to see the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square Park.  i thought the sound of the sprinklers sounded like summer.  and then Marco and Polo showed up . . .

a Tanabata wish from Japantown . . . i'd like a baboon and a boat.

the Painted Ladies.  

that was Day 2 of my 4-day trip.  more photos from Day 1 in San Francisco later.  now i am home in LA on an easy 2-day trip.  tomorrow, i fly back to Philadelphia. still not sure what i will do while waiting to start another 4-day trip on wednesday. i am thinking of going to Manhattan on tuesday just for the day.  it has been awhile since i have been in New York City.

4-day is over, 2-day tomorrow

if all goes well, i will be updating my blog with a story or two and photo or two or three from San Francisco sunday afternoon (my tomorrow). there will be a little video of two Golden Labradors in Alamo Park. it is cute. i think one was named Marco and the other Polo. and hopefully tomorrow my mac.com mail will be working. i haven't been able to access it from the road in a few days. tonikaku, more when i get home tomorrow, sunday.

Tanabata, Tanzaku and Teriyaki

july 7th . 7/7.  Happy Tanabata Day.  no, i didn't make a wish for teriyaki on a tanzaku, but. . . now it is time for my chicken teriyaki lunch (a late lunch) from Teriyaki Inn near Mitsuwa Market.  more later on Tanabata and why i took two buses to get to Mitsuwa Market today, and of of course, two buses to get back.

oishikatta! おいしかった!

earlier today i found my Japan Rail pass that i bought back in March for my cherry blossom journey to Japan.  it is only good for three months so i needed to get a refund for it.  i only bought the 7 day rail pass but $280 is $280. (with my airline discount my airfare is less than the rail pass but i won't mention that) and since today was Tanabata Day, i thought that Mitsuwa Market might have some decorations and maybe even some kind of event.  the JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) has an office inside the Mitsuwa Market or shall i call it Market Place because it is more than a grocery store.  they have a book store, stationary shop, video/dvd rental shop as well as a food court.  on the #8 Torrance bus i was checking to make sure i didn't forget the rail pass exchange order in my haste to get to the bus stop... i have done things like that before.  the first thing i noticed was that i had the wrong receipt/invoice.  for some reason the exchange order for this year's rail pass was with the receipt for last year's rail pass.  not good.  on the #3 bus, i noticed the last year's receipt said that a refund will only be given with the original receipt.  not good part 2 but i kept going.  i hoped that  the nice people at the JTB office could make a copy from their computer records of this year's receipt.  long story short, they could,they did, minus 10%.

they also checked on a flight to Osaka for me for september.  the best deal is about $1000 on EVA Airlines (from Taiwan).  not good part 3.  i will seriously have to think if i want to try for the 3-month leave-of-absence since i cannot buy a discounted ticket when i am on a leave.  anyways, my refund will be credited to my charge card with a few weeks.  i stopped by the market to buy some tofu, tonkatsu sauce, gogo tea and frozen takoyaki.  on my way to the favorite teriyaki cafe called Teriyaki Inn i passed by another teriyaki cafe.  now is a good time to mention which two Hello Kitty towels i was carrying.  in case you don't know or don't remember, i have a big big collection of the these little towels which are my usual omiyage (souvenir) when traveling around Japan.  i use one HK towel to hold my little digital camera in when i am walking.  and i usually use another to wipe the sweat off my brow when i am walking.  there was a time when i used them on my runs to and along the beach but that is when i was a runner and that was about. . .7 years ago.  everything changes.  tonikaku, i also have quite a few given to me by friends who know i collect these little towels.  well, the two i had today were from Kagoshima and Kyoto.  here is where today's coincidence comes in. 

Tony and Kagoshima Hello Kitty towel.  Kagoshima is where i took a "sand bath" .  

the kitty towel from Kyoto depicted an interesting "special police" samurai from Japanese history and more recently from the drama of the same name . . . Shinsengumi.  the name of the teriyaki take-out cafe is . . .

Hello Kitty was dressed in the power blue "jacket" which the samurai of Shinsengumi wore over their kimono.  well, here is where the today's slight disappointment comes in. somehow, i lost the towel somewhere between getting on the #3 bus and changing to the #8 bus on my return home.  the good news is that since it was from Kyoto, i will be able to get another one on my next visit to Osaka.  it would have been harder to get one from Kagoshima which is in southern Japan. actually, i will look thru my collection as i might have another Shinsengumi one.  

here is another Tanabata photo from Mitsuwa Market. . .

i saw a Japanese comedian/actor on tv last night and he showed how to make a Tanabata decoration.  i will make one later and take a photo of it, if it looks ok, i will add it to this Tanabata post.

i think it was 1992 when i was riding my bicycle from Ibaraki-ken to Hokkaido when i passed thru some town in the Tohoku area of northern Honshu.  i had ridden all day in the rain and was very tired and very wet.  it was one of the few nights in the month-long ride that i slept in a hotel. i think it was July 7th as there were big Tanabata decorations displayed along the town's main shopping street.  if i can find them (sometime before next Tanabata Day), i will add them to this post also.  i should be preparing to fly back east tomorrow for my 4-day trip on wednesday but i think i will turn the pages of my life back 16 years and find those photos.

Via La Selva

my favorite street. ok, one of my favorite streets.  i have been walking on this street since i moved to this area in 1998.  and this morning was no exception.  i walked up Vista Montana to Via Las Tortugas and then a left turn and up another beautiful street called Calle de Arboles before taking a left on Via Colusa.  there is a nice walkway/path/hiking/dog-walking trail which separates two neighborhoods and keeps the traffic to a minimum except for walkers, joggers and bikers who can pass thru an opening at the end of a dead-end street.  i turn right on Via La Selva and start walking thru this botanical-garden of a street in the direction of the ocean.  the word "la selva" in Spanish means forest or jungle, some type of land with lots of trees.  Via la Selva is lined with trees, many trees, all kinds of trees especially eucalyptus.  the tree in the photo above is the jacaranda with a few purple blossoms still in bloom.

flowers and more flowers   花　花　花

and peach trees too

surfboard for sale . . . $300 . . . brand new

"no body rides for free" or at least that is what it says on the back of the van

finally, the beach.  June/July gloom starting to burn off.

time to walk home.

missing but not forgotten

Bonus Video 

a hummingbird having sunday brunch

my new favorite Kuma Hula . . . not that there's anything wrong with with that

昨日

i had to look up that word too.  a "kuma hula" is a hula master.  the guy (who is truly in incredible shape)(not that there is anything wrong with that) is the Kuma Hula for a local halau (hula dance group) called Hula Halau o Keali'i o Nalani (try saying that three times in a row) here in  West Los Angeles.  his name is Keali'i Ceballos and of course, the guy singing is the wonderful million cd-selling singer and also hula dancer Keali'i Reichel.  Keali'i the singer said he was grateful to have Keali'i the dancer as his friend.  i liked that he said that.  grateful, such a great word and feeling to have for someone.  tonikaku, the first song i remember hearing of Keali'i Reichel is  E O Mai (which is also name of the cd that the song is on and the cd i am listening to now).  Tracy, Ryan and i were on our way to Oahu in october of 1997.  the song was played on the inflight entertainment video featuring the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands and the songs of Keali'i Reichel.  it was played in the Honolulu airport.  it was played in shops and on the radio during our week in the land of Aloha.  and if you know me well enough,  you will remember who Tracy and Ryan were.  and if you remember them, you will remember why we went to Hawaii.  that was 10 years and another lifetime ago.

今日

another lazy saturday but i did get a few things done.  i walked to the market for some groceries but first stopped by and talked with Dan at the CVS "one minute clinic".  Dan is the nurse who helped me with my bronchitis a couple of months ago.  today i stopped by hoping he would be working to check my throat.  he checked a few things and suggested . . . white bread and a big glass of water.  and if the pain in my throat persists to see an Ear Nose and Throat specialist in a couple of days.  after talking to him about the state of my airline and the possibility of me taking another leave i took my leave and walked to the dry cleaners to drop off my uniform pants.  Dan also told me he didn't have to go to Iraq.  i was glad to hear that.  i am sure his family and friends are too.  and then i walked to Ralph's for a backpack full of groceries.  on the way home i stopped by Kathy's to see if Tony could give me a haircut.  he did. now it is really short.

i took the bus around 5pm to the end of the beach and skated to Redondo Beach Pier to hear some live Cuban music.  as i skated up, Wayne flagged me down.  we stayed for a very entertaining hour until the band took a break.  there were some very good dancers and a big crowd of Latin music enthusiasts. we walked to his car which was about a 15 minute walk from the beach.  he drove me home for the second night in a row.  i gave him the short cut directions thru the neighborhood where i normally do my long walks.  he had never been thru these backstreets even though he has lived here for 70 or is it 80 of his 90 years.

watching Charangoa

Charangoa

5 or 6 palm trees in Veteran's Park

could it be a real "Aloha Friday"?

happy 4th of July.  i am still thinking should i take it easy and walk down to my beach for some fireworks over the ocean.  or, take a bus and the subway to MacArthur Park for a night of Hawaiian music at the Levitt Pavilion.  this event is a rare opportunity to see some of the most famous singers from Hawaii, and i think there will be some hula dancers too.  the event is called One Hawai'i

It is an "Aloha 4th of July Friday" 

Ladies and Gentleman. . . 

K e a l i ' i   R e i c h e l

One Hawaii. . . Keali'i Reichel, Na Leo Pilimehana and Weldon Kekauoha

Aureana Tseu doing the "do the hula" hula with Na Leo.

well, i think you should be able to tell what i did today.  and i am glad i went.  i almost did not go due to having to wait an hour for a bus to go to downtown LA. apparently the Metro trip planner didn't know it was a holiday today and that the buses were on a "holiday" schedule.  but, i waited and eventually the bus did come. after reaching downtown (about an hour later) and hurrying down the two long escalators i reached the subway platform. i didn't have to wait but a few minutes for the Red Line subway to show up and take me one stop to the West Lakes/ MacArthur Park station.  i am glad i waited the hour for the bus.  the One Hawai'i concert was wonderful but it was made more memorable but my music-listening-friend.  about 15-20 minutes before the concert began, Wayne showed up to hear the Hawaiian music.  if you remember a post or two or three ago, Wayne just celebrated his 90th birthday.  he told me today he was out boating in the morning but felt good enough to drive to north Redondo Beach and then take the Green Line to the Blue Line to the Red Line on the subway in order to make it to the park for this Hawaiian concert.  after the concert we walked back to the subway station but first we stopped to listen to some music at the other end of the park which was having a Mexican 4th of July celebration with rides, food venders and live music. and now for one of the most interesting parts of our journey back to the South Bay... we could see so many fireworks from the subway train as we passed thru the different areas of LA.  while we were waiting for the Green Line subway to show up, we could see more fireworks in more locations at the same time, more than i have ever seen. incredible.  finally we reached the end of the line at Redondo Beach and Wayne drove me home. truly one of my best 4th of julys. . .

since last year in Seattle.

above ground

O'Halloran's music bar on Parnell Street.  the next photo is from the window in this photo.

self-portrait

a "dollar" store in Ennis?  they also have an "everything for 2 Euro" store.

makes sense to me.

Tony enjoying the Irish sunshine and green countryside.

from my walk on the 2nd of july in County Clare.  i was actually on my way to somewhere else but ended up here by "chance". . .  and chance is a good thing.

and by chance, i heard Helen Hayes on Clare FM after my long walk and before my night of "live" music.  i bought Helen's wonderful cd on thursday morning at Custy's.

here is a 48 seconds from another wednesday night "session" at Brogan's.

i sipped on a Bulmers for a couple of hours.  

heard on a late night radio station in Ireland . . . the DJ (presenter, host) of the show was telling a story about his grandfather.  the grandfather was asked "how are you today?"  his reply "above ground".  after a long day of flying from Shannon, Ireland to Philadelphia and then to Los Angeles and then taking the bus, i am home again and still. . . above ground.