Down Memory Lane: Aberdeen (Hong Kong)

January 21, 2025

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Aberdeen is an area of southwestern Hong Kong Island, and includes Aberdeen Harbor, which is one of nine harbors in Hong Kong.

In 1987 I was a member of a team of professors from Heidelberg College in Ohio who were going to mainline Chine to teach English as a second language.  We flew into Hong Kong, and before going into China we spent several days touring the area.

Back then Aberdeen was known for its floating village and floating restaurants.  We didn’t visit any of the restaurants, but we were able to visit the floating village while touring the harbor on a sampan.  The residents of the village were fishermen, who lived with their families on boats

There were also boat yards in Aberdeen where boats were built and retired.

The area was beginning to change, as there were several high rise buildings around the harbor.

After touring the harbor we visited some of the outlying areas,  We visited Repulse Bay, a beautiful body of water that got it’s name (so a story goes) from a British  warship, HMS Repulse, that anchored there is the mid-nineteenth century.  The bay is beautiful, regardless of how it got it’s name.

To see more pictures from Aberdeen, click HERE

The Grand Canyon at Desert View

January 7, 2025

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When Betsy and I were younger (and healthier) we used to do quite a bit of traveling and hiking.  Now those days are mostly over, at least trips that involve hiking.  On those long-ago trips I took thousands of pictures, many of which I haven’t worked with.  So now, especially during the winter months, I can relive those trips by going through my photos.

In 2011 Betsy and I took our first trip west of the Mississippi River.  We visited several national parks on the trip, one of which was the Grand Canyon National Park.  We came into the park ‘the back way’, and our first view of the canyon was at Desert View, on the eastern end of the park.  What an awesome introduction to the Grand Canyon!

Christmas at Biltmore

December 24, 2024

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Betsy and I consider “Christmas at Biltmore” to be our main gift to each other.  We’ve been attending their Candlelight Christmas for nine years now, and always find it to be delightful.  We were not sure what to expect this year because of all the damage caused by hurricane Helene, but everyone at Biltmore did a superb job of cleaning up and repairing the damage and getting the decorations in place for Christmas.

All of the rooms in Biltmore House are decorated for Christmas, with each room having one or more decorated Christmas tree.  (The were 69 decorated trees in the house all together.)  This is the Breakfast room on the main floor, pictured in a photo taken two years ago,

Palm Court at Biltmore

December 10, 2024

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Christmas at Biltmore is always amazing.We’ve been going for several years, and we always enjoy it.  The house is always beautifully decorated with one (or more) Christmas trees in each room.  Even the Palm Court just inside the entrance to the house gets made into a winter garden for the season.  There are often musical attractions (you can almost see a choir through the palm fronds) which just adds to the beauty of the setting.

Pisgah Evening Sky

November 26, 2024

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 I really don’t know which is more impressive at the Pisgah Inn — the mountains or the sky.  Every once in a while the two come together to create a stunning scene.  That’s what happened this past June 24.  We can’t see the setting sun from our room, but the sunlight caught the little cloud in the center of the photo and colored it with red and gold.  Is it any wonder the we keep going back?

Arizona Landscape

November 12, 2024

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Pn our way tp the Grand Canyon in 2011, Betsy and I stopped at a wayside along to road to admire the Arizona landscape.  It is so very different from anything we see in east Tennessee.

Down Memory Lane: Lake Logan

October 29, 2024

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Several years ago Betsy and I took a  hiking trip with friends from Indiana to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.  One day we went to nearby Lake Logan, where I captured this photo of autumn beauty.

Autumn in the Smokies

October 15, 2024

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The Smokies are are wonderful to visit any time of the year, and Betsy and I try to get to them as often as we can.  I think Spring is our favorite season for visiting, but Autumn can be amazing as well.  We often drive the Foothills Parkway, which is technically outside the park, but which does provide beautiful views of the mountains.  I got this picture of the sky and the mountains from the parkway a few years ago.

Biltmore House

October 1, 2024

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On our visit to Biltmore last month, Betsy and I roamed the grounds of the estate as we went from the Italian Garden to the Walled Garden.  It was a beautiful day, and during a rest stop on our walk I snapped this picture of the house.

An Evening Sky

September 17, 2024

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I sometimes feel as if I don’t spend enough time looking up == specifically looking up at the sky.  There is so much variety and grandeur in the sky above us:  fascinating clouds and vibrant colors.  It’s a shame that all of this is missed because I spend so much time looking at things on the ground.

The picture above was taken on the golf course behind our house on a beautiful September evening.