Dry Tortugas -- A Place Apart .3 /  by Dave Hileman

This is really a special place to visit. You have two ways to arrive at the Dry Tortugas, if you do not own your large boat, and that is tourist boat or seaplane. The tourist boat takes well over two hours plus loading time to traverse the 70 miles and you have three and a bit hours on the islands. Along with the 300 other people who traveled with you. The Seaplane travel is much shorter, 45 minutes, costs about $45 more and you have just a bit over 2 and a half hours on site. But you arrive with 14 to 20 others in two planes as everyone else is leaving! Perfect. Plus the scenery is spectacular - see Thursday’s post! This was the way Rusty and I chose to go and it was really excellent.

After the gulls are three Magnificent Frigatebirds. And then the seaplane.

First year winter Laughing gulls

Dry Tortugas -- A Place Apart .2 /  by Dave Hileman

More from Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of America. The fort is massive and also contains several homes for NP rangers. You can camp on the beach here, requires permit, of course. You can also kayak to a couple of the other smaller islands including the one with the light house.

Dry Tortugas -- A Place Apart /  by Dave Hileman

This is a photo revisit, I found a number of photos I never even processed from the 2019 trip off Key West to the Dry Tortugas National Park. This is a fort that covers most of the land mass of five small islands about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. The largest brick construction in the East. It was never finished but nearly so and was never used in any war. I will have several photos this week and a few birds that I found here as well. These first three feel a bit abstract

The Insider .2 /  by Dave Hileman

Details in the Castle Dunrobin including intricate ceilings, carvings and exotic woods, finished stairs in the towers, relief work, hidden courtyards and much more.

If it is Saturday, then it must be about food /  by Dave Hileman

My Dearest Readers,

Welcome back to the fortnight review here in these United States of both food and culture. 

We start with a merging of both - the culture and food, at least at this location in Tennessee. I am extrapolating that the same is relatively true in other portions of the USA. I will explore two of those areas in the next three weeks and will provide an update if needed. But for this moment, let me say that grocery stores are huge. Massive, like the heat scale for this burg, it exceeds the planned markings on the scale. Let me start at the start. The lass offered to take me with her to the grocery store, unexplainably, the lad showed up as well. The lass had a list, which is a bright thing to do. But when we arrived at this hulking city block of a building, the list became a necessity if one was to extricate oneself by the end of the day. The rows were as long as a football field, real football as played in the UK. And often just a few types of food on an aisle. One aisle was devoted entirely to crackers and "cookies" (ridiculous American word for what is properly a "biscuit."  But in the U.S. a biscuit is a soft, chewy mass of muffin, slathered with butter or gravy, served hot, mind you. The lass loves them. The lad turns up his nose. But I digress...) Another aisle was set aside for sodas. The variety within the categories boggles the mind.  One hundred varieties of "cookies." Another hundred of sodas. How can one ever choose? I see why the lass carries a list. I saw aisles numbering in the 30’s and beyond. The meat counter stretched so far we had to stop and snack to be able to complete the journey. I thought, well, this is a fairly large town, most people must shop here. NO. There are a score or more of these food palaces within a mile or three of this one. What excess. The greengrocery itself was larger than the store I purchased from in Scotland. There was even a wine bar with people sitting on stools in the middle of the store sipping wine. Jinks! And the walking. I must say that by the time we were heading back to the car, how we remembered where we parked I will never know, I was fair puckled! Now the lad had a different approach, that is not news, I expect, for my loyal readers. He wandered to and fro, appearing from who knows where with occasional offerings, such as a jar of mustard when we have six in the pantry already and always ice cream, to put in the basket. Which by the way, would hold sufficient food for a small nation. But I did see his value; he did carry many of the bags. Good to see some usefulness. Speaking of bags, the store provided new ones and even popped the groceries into the bag for you. Jinks again. 

Well though the idea of this store has worn me to a frazzle, I will provide a glimpse into the food of the past 14 days. We ate at home mostly and avoided the dreaded vulture stands along the highways. The lass is a fine cook and we enjoyed several nice meals, well presented too. It is true that the breakfast is a bit repetitious and no “full Scottish fare” to be found but I find it acceptable. Lunch is simply not satisfying. A bit of cracker, a scrap of apple and a dollop of peanut butter or a minuscule cheese bit from the ice box is a “good” lunch here. Not sure if this is just this household or if it is a national trend. Yet the evening meal is unfailingly excellent. We ate pasta, chicken prepared in delightful manners, pork with apricot sauce and so much more. Mmmmm.

The lass and lad chose one day to ride in the countryside on bicycles with another couple. I chose to soar high above and must confess that I enjoyed the consternation my appearance caused the local twitter crews. We then ate at a place nearby called Peaceful Side Social Brewery http:peacefulsidesocial.com A very nice al fresco luncheon with fine pizza (the lad ate a sandwich - I am justly worried about him) but it turned out that it was also the main meal. So even when there is a proper lunch, then tea is sacrificed. Absurd! But life goes on and I shall report here again in a mere 14 days. I remain,

Your humble servant, 

Respectfully submitted, 

Miss Rowena Brambleglen

Deconstructed Potato Salad

Pizza from the Social

Chicken Thighs with Corn and Califlower

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Pork with apricot sauce

The riders (and Moby the official bear scarer)

Winged Things Week .4 /  by Dave Hileman

And my favorite of the birds on the trip. It did not count on the “list” because it is not a wild bird but what a beauty. We were watching a falconer show how he worked with his birds and how they hunted to provide food for the owners. And most of the time the birds would fly past at amazing speeds and I got a few nice photos but then, one time this falcon flew straight toward me moving about 50 mph and just before he lifted up I got this shot. Great memory of a morning in Scotland.

Winged Things Week .3 /  by Dave Hileman

Well, what have we here? It appears to be a European Jackdaw. Never even heard of such a bird until I looked this one up. Common in Scotland and other parts of Europe. This one was walking around the sea wall at Inveraray.

Winged Things Week .2 /  by Dave Hileman

I heard these birds several times (according to my Merlin app) but this is the only one I saw and it did not stay put long, I saw it land, hit the shutter and it was gone instantly. I was on 4 frames per second and only got one with the bird! So enjoy the European Robin. (Not Christopher)

Winged Things Week /  by Dave Hileman

Does this mean we get to see dragons? Or bats? Or is it just a sneaky way to announce a BIRD WEEK. Stay tuned to find out.

This bird is a European Goldfinch that I photographed in Scotland. It is prettier than the American version, or at least I think so. Maybe it is the kilt.

If it is Saturday, it must be about food. Poor Jill! /  by Dave Hileman

We recently celebrated our first anniversary, nice meals, an excellent play, beautiful drive and picnic on the Blue Ridge, historic hotel, etc. But day one of year two for Jill, I took her to Skeeters. Yup, a hot dog shop in downtown Wytheville, Virginia. So from the heights of farm to table cuisine perfectly prepared and served, to Skeeters dogs in 12 hours. What a guy. I hope she stays.

Actually, this was fun, and both Jill and I were delighted as the hot dogs were perfect and the ambiance, sweet. Highly recommend, just not FOR your anniversary regardless of number. Skeeters, for more information about this 100 year old restaurant: http://www.skeetershotdogs.com

Before and After .3 /  by Dave Hileman

These AI functions are smart and getting smarter. But they are not a substitute for you. This is a quick snap I made in Burnsville, NC of a sign. Note the extensive wires in the photo. ON 1 has a delete wires section. And it did a good job of the wires. But, it also removed the smile from the girls face and the ribbon trim. I did not notice it highlighted that small “wire” but it did and, presto, smile is gone. It is none-destructive so, I could retry or undo and be more careful. Note as well that it did not take the pole. It was not supposed to do so. However, when I just painted over it to remove the pole with little care, it did not do a good job. To really removed it would require sections of the work and, likely, some retouching. I did not do either of those as this it not a photo I really wanted to spend any time on. It did illustrate that you need some care with these tools but the wire removal, fast and very clean.

So, why did I take the photo? Just for the sign, I have a collection of old, unusual, interesting or just caught my attention signs.

untouched photo

Just wires —-oops.

pole with no effort to make it really neat.

This would be the image I was going for with the shot

Here the wire removal tool, used more carefully, produced an acceptable, not perfect, image. It took care of the one that crossed the sign and removed those in the street to the right. You could also, if the photo was really worth the effort, fix the bricks.