Tyler, winter

It’s been a while since I’ve had some Tyler photos here. The whole park is various shades of brown with tawny reds. However, I did notice some crocus leaves popping up here and there. The daffodils along the trail to the right past the bridge should soon be blooming as well. I’ll try to go back and photograph them soon.

Since I have this fancy nice site design, I was thinking of using one of the gallery options with it to put up more Tyler photos. I think 80% of the photos on my hard drive are from that park. I keep saying I’ll make a nice book of photos for myself/friends/family, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Recently, I’ve been thinking of using the gallery available on this site design to help me pick out what photos would be best to put in a book eventually. Maybe I’ll work on setting that up soon.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Another Back to Classics Challenge review. A classic play was next on the list and I figured why not shoot for some Shakespeare. I went with a short comedy because I honestly didn’t feel like banging my head against a wall trying to get through MacBeth or Hamlet. I *almost* decided to go with Faust, but I’ve got so much Shakespeare on my Kindle I figured I needed SOME excuse to read it.

Anyhoo, summary time!

Valentine is all “pfft, dude please” when his BFF Proteus starts sighing too heavily about his love (why not read it for what it is – lust) for fair Julia. Valentine is apparently made of stronger stuff (or so he thinks) as he sallies forth to Milan where he’ll serve in court. Proteus leaves a love letter for Julia, who likes Proteus as well, but isn’t sure if she should admit that, you know, she LIKE likes him. Her maid sets her to rights about admitting her affection without too much affectation. Meanwhile, Proteus’s dad gives him the boot to Milan, unaware of his lust for Julia. The two sigh and say adios for a while, but Julia devises a hair-brained idea to go see Proteus incognito. In Milan Proteus comes across Valentine, who has been nipped in the butt with cupid’s bow, and laments about his love for the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. Proteus gets a look at Silvia and his “love” of Julia deflates about as fast a balloon. He’s instantaneously in “love” now with Silvia, thus begins the jealousy, conniving craziness of two BFFs in “love” with the same woman. A very eye-roll worthy and ridiculous series of tiny events ensue with an appropriate Disney ending.

The only real comedy in this comedic play comes from the servants. They are either sharp witted and sensible or dim witted yet still manage to speak the truth in a very simplistic manner that makes the reader go “Ooooh, hmmm.” The reader may then wonder if even the dim witted characters aren’t more intelligent than all the main protagonists combined. Very clever there, Shakes’!

At first, I had to adjust myself to Shakes’ speak because it’s been a long time since I read ye oldey English-y. The first few pages I was mentally banging my head against a wall saying, “WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO READ THIS? DO YOU NOT LIKE YOURSELF AT ALL!” But after those pages I settled into it and managed to follow the plot better than I thought I would. It’s a very short read and by the time I was done with it I got up off the sofa with a “meh” shrug of the shoulders feeling. Not too bad, but not great either. Would only read again for the servants’ bits and only if I was REALLY desperate for something to read quickly.

Jane Eyre

For my Classic Reread in the Back to Classics 2012 Challenge I read Jane Eyre. I think I read this book 15 or so years ago and fell madly in love with it. Whenever anyone asked me what my favorite novel was I’d proudly say “Jane Eyre” and most likely in a manner that seemed to say “What else would I choose, you simpleton!”

Then came along Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre took a back burner in my favorites, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Rereading this again for the challenge reminded me of why and may have even nudged my former beloved out of the favorites category all together. I suppose I’ve grown up a lot since I last read it and though I’m sure my tastes have changed to a degree, I was shocked to wonder why I ever loved Jane Eyre at all.

I suppose this book is still very popular with certain people (and here I admit I’m generalizing): the young and impressionable, who love a good passionate read, and those who never get over the need for passion and drama.

Is Jane a strong female character? To a degree, yes she is. She’s spirited, honest, speaks her mind, and doesn’t back down. But, she’s also not quite the smartest tool in the shed, slightly pompous and a tad melodramatic. I won’t write a summary because the story is so well known, but the part where she leaves Thornfield to run away from Rochester and her aching heart came across as an utterly stupid thing to do. I’m principled although I love! I’ll run away to spare him even though I ache! I’ll not take anything with me to help me at all economically because I’m so principled and daring to show I don’t need anything from the man I love but still must flee!

Seriously. WTF. The only word that came to mind throughout all of it was, “Idiot.”

The beloved Jane of old who could do no wrong now came across as rather hysterical and ridiculous. Her reputation was further tarnished when she started to teach at the school set up for her by St. John. The condescension in her thoughts regarding her poorly students made me want to smack her upside the head. Oh, they are such crude people. So poor and uncivilized, but *I* will help them along and perhaps make their puny existences slightly more bearable to my refined tastes. She didn’t say that, but she may as well have. Constantly comparing her own worldliness over the lowliness of the peasantry she was teaching had me wrinkling my nose quite a bit. Her oh-so-humble benevolence in teaching these poor children wasn’t even tempered by her own reflections of her reduced situation. I understand her personal pride took a great hit to be lowered in such a situation compared to her previous employment, but she still came across as snobbish and pompous.

The role of religion in the later half of the book also rubbed me the wrong way. St. John’s extreme self-righteousness seemed to rub off a little on Jane and the internal monologues of religious faith had me yawning and wondering where the spunky self-reliant Jane had wandered off. I don’t know how I could have gotten past all the religious speak the first time I read it, but I was positively annoyed by it this time.

Submissiveness also reigned in the later half of the story. Jane always referring to Rochester as “my master” started to grate on my nerves as did her constantly bowing down to do whatever St. John commanded. She was aware of her own submissiveness and if the story had taken a turn for the S&M I could almost have tolerated it, but Jane’s submissiveness to be loved, feel useful, and make everyone happy nauseated me.

I still enjoyed the book, but now I’m seeing it through mature eyes and noticing all the details I glossed over years ago when I wanted only a passionate love story. Those details seem more important now because they confirm or deny what I value in the characters I read about. I used to think the world of St. John, even though I felt Rochester was better merely for being more roguish. Now, St. John makes me want to flee and never read another word about such oppressiveness in the name of religion. In the end, Jane was still her strong-headed self for saying no to St. John for a life in sin with her beloved Rochester (if viewed through the eyes of St. John). Granted, the manner she takes Rochester back make her a bit petty in my eyes, but at least she ended up with someone she loved instead of a Christian noose around her neck.

Merkel is at it again

So if you’ve not had enough Valentine’s candy and kisses and especially cheesy bad love tunes….I can help with that last one.

My friends have released TWO more EPs of Merkel and the Merkelettes songs. One EP came out Valentine’s day and is of course about love songs titled Merkel’s Funny Valentine. The second came out the day after  and is titled Merkel’s Jaded Post-Valentine. I should mention those are the titles of the tumblrs they are on. Here are the photos for the two albums respectively. Click on either for a direct link. Enjoy!

My inner Downton Abbey

Funny how I said there may not be many posts with photos and guess what…. yeah. Anyhoo….

So my parents are going to move soonish and wanted my sister and I to rummage through the family valuables and figure out what we wanted and what would be tossed or sold or whatever.

My sister didn’t take too much but when I was shown all the silver my inner anglophile went swooning. Of course all the classic stories and British tv shows I know and love came to mind with grand estates, maids, servants and the whole lot. I was a time warp of about 300 years in my head. All the old ideals of family fortunes and valuables invested in sterling silver, silver plate, jewels and gold of dead relatives and even the solid brass candlesticks were swimming before my eyes. Well, we had all but the solid brass candlesticks to go through in the basement on Saturday. Actually the brass was mostly little elf-like figurines I’d rescued over a decade ago when my Pop-pop died, but ended up giving part of it back to mom when she saw what I had.

Driving home that night I felt like some awkward modern version of an Edwardian burglar with a Tiffany lamp, silverplate tea service and several pounds of solid silverware in plastic bags on the car seats.

So what did I come away with? The above photo is the sugar and creamer of a full tea service I took. There is a tea pot, coffee pot, and large tray but I didn’t have much time this morning for photographing everything. The service was used by my grandparents on my mom’s side of the family and is silverplate. The service was made around 1923-1925 in Sheffield, England from the Harrison Bros and Howson Company, which I found out took over the previous Samson and Sons company, who were official cutlers to the King (Edward). The set isn’t in great condition because some of the silver is coming off the tray and tea pot. The inside of the coffee pot is a mess from all the acid of coffee over the years, but in time I may have it restored. The tray is silver plated copper and was made around the 1950s to be a compliment to the tea service set.

Next is the silverware set. This was also used by my mom’s parents regularly, but eventually got pushed off as being “special occasion” silverware only. The majority of it is solid sterling silver. The only stainless steel parts are the dinner and butter knife blades, the cake/pie server blade, and the master butter knife blade. The handles to all those items are hollow sterling silver. I have a 5 piece 12 count serving set plus butter knives, iced tea spoons and some hostess serving pieces made by Towle in the King Richard design, which was first issued in 1932. I am missing one salad fork, but with all the extras I’ve got 82 pieces.  The top photo shows the design, the second (left) shows a salad fork, dinner spoon, dinner fork, dinner knife, teaspoon, butter knife, and an olive/pickle fork. The third (right) photo shows the difference of the silverware vs my usual stainless steal flatware with the last being a difference of detail shot. It’s really amazing how there was a utensil for every. piece. of food. on the. plate.

I’m very tempted to keep this and use it regularly, but then I think that’s quite pretentious and ridiculous of me. It’s got an allure in that – I can use REAL silverware, but also, is it necessary? Yes, it’s grand and the set is gorgeous and shiny and pretty and has a wonderful weight in the hand, but why? To use it based solely on principle that I CAN use it and it was meant to be used even though I’ve got a perfectly good set of stainless steel flatware already? Mom and dad gave me this stuff knowing I might sell it (they are going to sell the rest that Kim and I didn’t take anyway) and after doing some online research, this silverware set is worth quite a bit of money. I spent yesterday polishing it and realized that the upkeep for such stuff is tremendous (that and I don’t think I would’ve been a very good maid in service).  I most likely will set the silverware, but I intend on keeping the tea service no matter what because it was regularly used (more so than the silverware) and has more sentimental value to the family.

Lastly, I took this Tiffany lamp. It’s not a real Tiffany lamp, but is in the tiffany style with a beautiful butterfly/flower motif on the shade. It’s a lot nicer than any of the other lamps I’ve got and I love the little pull strings. Zach was ready to kill me when he saw I brought another lamp home. I’ve got a bit of a problem with lamps.  I’ve got 8 lamps in our tiny apartment although I told him I’d get rid of one since I brought this one home.

Amuse me with stories of your family valuables and treasures! I eat this stuff up. Eat. It. Up!

Grand Teton (again)

Wow, it’s rather amusing how time will change perspective (and endearments). Most of these photos are from the day we spent hiking in Grand Teton (the day we came across the moose in the woods) with a couple from  Yellowstone thrown in from the first day.

After hiking up the side of a hill to get a photo of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone we found a crow begging for food from a car next to ours. The valley view was from the top of Signal Mountain in Grand Teton.

Zach, studying again…

Memories to look forward

The other night I thought about the vacation we took to Yellowstone/Grand Teton national parks. I went through my photos again and realized there were more I wanted to share. I remember not quite being able to place them in the posts I’d made for the vacation, but they are still nice and some are very dear to me. So I may be posting some here and there for the next few days.

What got me thinking about them was the fact that our next vacation is in less than four months! I don’t know if I mentioned this, but we booked another week long vacation this year for Yosemite National park in California. We also plan to visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks for a day or two and maybe even visit the strange Lake Mono as well. We’ll be going at the end of May and have a wonderful little cottage in a former gold rush town reserved. Instead of trying to track down all the animals we want to see (not that we won’t try), our cameras will focus more on the picturesque and grandiose, taking in tons of waterfalls in the Yosemite valley and incredibly ginormous trees. I hope we get to do more hiking this time around. We’re starting to do our homework now in searching out forums/websites/twitter for the best hikes with the best views and sites of most interest for circling on our maps and generally schedule the days.

In the meantime, here are some photos from our last trip of the Old Faithful Inn and others that made me smile.

Each morning and night in our little cabin outside of Grand Teton Zach would study the maps and look on forums to note places where moose/bears were seen so we might go wandering about to see something.

This was at about 6:45am the second morning we were there.

Morning light on our already messy dresser in our room.

Water is water, right? WRONG! So incredibly wrong! If you drank water taken from the tap in my kitchen and then put through a filter you’d still not come close to the incredibly refreshing taste that came directly from this tap outside the gift shop near Jenny Lake in Grand Teton. It’s glacial water that’s melted and seeped into the ground over thousands of years filling the underground aquifer. For months after we got back from our trip we lamented not being able to bottle and take home a semi truck’s worth of this water – it was THAT good.