Thanksgiving... giving thanks?

One of my best friends blogged something yesterday that made me ponder; oh yeah, I ponder... sometimes! See http://cautionadultsatplay.blogspot.com/

A few years ago, I remember looking up the details of what thanksgiving was all about; did you know President Lincoln set forth a proclamation back in 1863 making the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens? Check out http://www.classicallibrary.org/lincoln/thanksgiving.htm for the genuine document. I don't remember that from school.

My favorite memories of Thanksgiving range from making hand turkeys in school to those awesome leftover sandwiches packed with stuffing and dripping with gravy; try making a shepherds pie, they're real good too! Back then I did not know what to be thankful for, school just told us that the pilgrims and the Indians had get togethers, but left out all the religious notations that Lincoln wanted us remember. My family always said to be thankful for our blessed lives, health and family. Again, not quite what Lincoln had planned for us, but that is OK.

Over the years, I have spent several Thanksgivings away from family and friends, which has brought a more meaningful understanding of this and all holidays. Thank the Lord, for which none of this is possible; thank your parents, siblings, family and friends, for they are your bond to humanity; be thankful for the hard times, because without them the good times just wouldn't be that good; and finally be thankful you live in the greatest place on earth... with all it's flaws, you could have been born where you do not have rights, privileges and chances to be who you are now.

Again this year I spend this holiday in a foriegn land and along with all the thankfuls I have already mentioned, I am thankful for the opportuinities my job has given me and the places it has taken me. Time spent away from those you care about, especially during the holidays, only makes the reunions that much more enjoyable.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Jeff

Hong Kong... Part 1

Part One? I Know! So the story ends like this...

Right now I am still dealing with the jet lag and it sucks, and I leave tomorrow to go back... just enough time to not get a good night's sleep. NICE!

Ok enough of my wining. Lets start with a picture.

Alright this is a neat city, island, harbor, whatever you want to call it. You can hike, which I will do this next week, kick it on the beach and drink a beer, take a tram to the Peak and have dinner overlooking the city or work like me. I will definitely have to make it back here on my own time. The picture above is taken from my hotel bedroom in Kowloon, the mainland side of Hong Kong.

The night scene is pretty awesome, we had dinner up on 'the Peak' and took in all the views. You can not believe all the tall buildings; just like Manhattan, but a bit smellier and warmer. The only day my boss and I were able to escape and do anything fun was Sunday; we headed out to Stanley Market on the east side of Hong Kong Island where you can shop for every trinket and fake brand name shoes, purse or jeans you can think of. You can also just chill beach side and have a few beers and chat with other like-minded guys from Wales. Boy that San Miguel beer is good!

Well I do not have may stories to tell on this trip, but I have to talk about the hotel I stayed at. The W Hong Kong is definitely swank! I mean just check out the pool!

Located all the way up on the 76th floor the infinity pool over looks the harbor and city. The hot tub, right behind from where I took the picture of the pool, is also an infinity and was quite nice way of preparing for a day at work after getting a nice workout in the gym.

Well I will leave you with this. The building right next to the hotel had some cool architectural features, like a pool on the floor that bridges the two legs. That's right the red arrow is pointing to it. In the evening you can see the water shimmering.

Tomorrow off to Hong Kong again and will have another story to tell next week...

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a view!

I have been fortunate over the past 5 years to have a job the sends me around the world. One of the negatives is are the flights themselves coupled with the jet lag. Sitting and NOT sleeping on an 11 hour flight will take its toll, but I am not complaining. Sometimes you get to see some absolutely incredible views and I just had one of those flights.

As you know the shortest distance from one point to another is a straight line and on a curved surface such as our planet a flight path may take you over areas you may find desolate, but interesting. Take flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Los Angeles, you would not follow the longitude line but climb over Greenland to Canada then down.

I have flown this route over a dozen time and have only twice seen it where the skies were clear. Trust me when I say that these pictures do not do the view ANY justice, but I had to share them with you.

The views went on for miles, I tried to take some pictures of the glacial flows, but they only came out white... go figure! Speaking to the regular flight attendants, who were also gawking out the door window, they said that they have only seen this once or twice before; usually there is cloud cover.

Hope one day you will be able to see it!

Fall Fishing

Another October and another fall fishing trip. This year we saw early snow when heading up Saturday morning.

This is Lake Mamie, located just above the town of Mammoth Lakes. When we pulled through town it was just before noon, 18º F, snowing with a light breeze. The fishing was slow, but I was sorta glad since catching a fish would mean getting my hands wet and it was just too cold for that.

Being our 2nd trip this year, we stay up at June Lake (Gull Lake to be more precise) and drive around to different lakes, reservoirs and streams. The semi-annual trips was started years ago by my dad, uncle Dick (my mom's brother-in-law), Dick's brother Jim, and an old friend of theirs' Kenny.

For the fall trips we have been staying a large condo near the June Mountain Ski Resort on Gull Lake. You can see June Mountain way in the background, Gull Lake and the condo right behind me. I took this picture up on a ridge that sits north east. The large house that is in the lower right corner is owned by the 99¢ Store guy. Wait, here is a better picture...

It is the house on the left with the circular drive way... frigg'n huge!

4 great days just fishing, relaxing and taking in the great views.

This is of Big Virginia just north of Tioga Pass, East Gate; this is also one of my favorite styles of photographs... landscape with mirror image.

And a final picture of my dad and I up at Saddlebag Lake (Tioga Pass). Without him, Rick and I would never have fell in love with fishing and the great outdoors!

Thanks Dad!