Amazing Experience in Washington DC

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I wanted to share an experience  I had during a recent trip to Washington D.C. for a work meeting.

On the last morning when I was there getting ready to head downstairs for breakfast and the morning meetings, I happened to turn the local news on (which I had not done any of the other days). I saw about that day being the 70th anniversary of V-E Day, that it was going to be at the WWII Memorial starting around 10:30am, and that Madelyn Albright was supposed to speak. I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to find out about that! I had just enough time between the end of the meeting and when we needed to leave for the airport to go to the memorial and see some of the events.

Unfortunately, Albright apparently had something come up, so she couldn’t be there (I was bummed-really wanted to see her) but she had her sister give her speech, and she did a really nice job.   Listening to her and looking around at all the old veterans, I got choked up many times.

After the speeches and the wreath ceremony, they did the “Arsenal of Democracy” Flyover, and it was amazing. There were over 50 vintage WWII planes that came down the Potomac, came around by the Lincoln Memorial, over us, by the Washington Monument, and down the rest of the Mall. To see them coming around Lincoln and hear the sounds of planes from so long ago was something I will not soon forget.

The part that got me most of all (and got me to full on streams of tears running down my face) was the last group of planes. The announcer said they were going to do the “Missing Man” formation which is an honor to those that have been lost in the war(s). It is still done today in airshows and dates back to WWII. Before they came by, the band played “Taps” and then they came by. There was not a dry eye there as that was playing. How can you NOT get choked up during Taps?  There were 4 planes together and just as they were over me, 3 kept going forward and one turned up towards the sky/the heavens. I think you could have heard a pin drop in the entire Mall at that point. It was a spectacular and special sight to see.

I’m thankful for being able to have the opportunity to see an important event like that. Thank you to all veterans.

C

 

 

 

Spring Training and Sister Time

Wow- I’m waaay behind on blog posts for Sugar Sand! I have been focused this past year on getting the word out about a cookbook I recently co-wrote, but I am back now to, hopefully, a more even balance of main employment, cookbooks, and photography. I’m going to try anyway!

Last month, my sisters and I all met back up (after a hiatus last year) in Phoenix for our long weekend of fun, sister time, and Seattle Mariners Spring Training. We stay at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort (I love to say “tapatio”) which has great landscaping and colorful architecture on the grounds, and also has a variety of great pools to get in as much sun as possible! And these white Seattle legs needed it that’s for sure! In addition, the resort is located right next to the North Phoenix Mountain Preserve, so we can go on our morning hikes before we hit the sun and baseball. The beautiful hiking trails and the proximity of them to the resort make it one of my most favorite parts of the vacation. Within a few minutes you feel like you’re really out in the middle of nowhere and able to really relax and enjoy the beauty that is Arizona.

Here are some photos taken of the hotel grounds, on our hikes, and at the baseball games and practices. I’m already looking forward to the next trip!

 

 

Vivian Maier Photography Exhibit

This past Thursday, I went to the Photo Center Northwest in Seattle, to see the “Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows” exhibit.

The more information and photographs come out about Vivian, the more and more fascinated I become. I absolutely love her work. So simple and yet, so raw at times.

I wanted to do a little something different with this blog post. I usually pre-write something out and then post, but this time I wanted to focus on comments I made while looking at the exhibit. Other than doing a spell check, these are my thoughts exactly as I jotted them down on my iPhone (pictures before my comments are pictures I took at the exhibit. Pictures after the comments are Vivian Maier’s that are some of the ones I love):

40 years; 100,000 photographs.

Got amazingly close in some shots. How did she get so close?!

A natural at street photography- that’s not an easy thing to do (to kind of invade someone’s space like that).
The most amazing things she finds photo-worthy. Worn out mannequins, trash cans, beat up old ladders. And she makes it work. I personally think it’s the black and white aspect. With b&w, you focus so much on the objects and I think that’s what she wants you to do.

The “Bobby Dies” picture. Beautiful.

Completely invisible to the world. And yet had so much to say. For her? Solely as a hobby?

She used her camera as a diary

On the one hand I feel bad because she would hate to know that these photos are out there, and yet I’m personally so glad they are because I think they are magnificent and the photography world is better for it.  I know I am.

The Center is showing a video and the speaker is saying showing not only individual pictures, but sequences of photos (off one roll, etc). You really see the sequence and flow and really see how it’s like a walk and a day through her eyes.

Took around 3 rolls a day. Wandering around…

It’s amazing how CLOSE she gets in some pictures!

Think I like her so much because I love b&w too. It’s so striking to me and is just as powerful, if not more do, than color.

Love the shadows, darkness, lines..