Happy New Year from San Antonio

Here is wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009

Santa Spotted in Switzerland

Why is Santa peeping through a window in Wilderswil, Switzerland on Christmas Eve? I can only guess that he was making a last check on who was naughty and who was nice because he wouldn't respond when I yelled at him.

Switzerland was very nice and we enjoyed it a lot. As usual, I took a lot of pictures and now I am having to sort through them.

Some of you remember when we used to take slides during vacation and then make everyone sit through a slide show. Friends and relatives dreaded the family vacation because they knew they were going to have to sit through 6 rolls of poorly exposed film why others yammered on about how wonderful it was. I wouldn't do that to you though.

I have pulled out some of the best and posted them in the slide show window though. Now you can look through them and call me over if you want for the commentary that goes with it....

Swans

Swans, seagulls, and mallards in Switzerland.

The Seagull Says It All

Noisy Miner Bird on a Canna

Noisy Miner Birds are almost always willing to pose for a picture. There has been a lot of rain in Brisbane recently and everything is green.

V=12,800

Street Performers of Brisbane: Rope Man

Today I am in Brisbane and was down to Queen Street of course, it being the weekend and all. There were the usual street performers including Balloon Man and the Little Tramp. This guy was climbing ropes and doing some pretty amazing stuff. At one point he was horizontal on the rope and at another he rolled himself up then down it. There was a new magician over on South Bank but he was really pretty bad and didn't even warrant a picture...

Street Performers of Brisbane: Balancing Woman

Balancing Woman is part of the same group as Rope Man. See the chalk board with "How Many Sleeps?" written on it? Sleeps is Aussie for nights. So altogether now, how many nights until Christmas? 18!

BTW, I saw a good looking Santa in the Decatur mall in Illinois and I was going to take a picture of him but being a nice guy I asked permission and they said NO! Of course it is a public place and I could have taken a photo anyway but I didn't. These street performers don't mind you taking pictures at all, although most would like a donation.

Street Performers of Brisbane: Copper Girl

Copper Girl was doing her act down by a band that was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. Why did Copper Girl paint her body copper and then wrap a torn sheet around herself? I don't know, but she was getting a lot of looks. Her act consisted of slumping and holding still like a statue until someone put money in front of her. Then she chased them around and acted kind of like a scantily clad demented mime - scared the #@!* out of most of her potential audience.... There used to be an Asian guy that painted himself gold with a similar act but he didn't try to frighten people afterwards :-)

Little Girl Feeding Koi

This little girl was feeding the koi at Atagoyama Shrine with her father. I have visited it many times and it is one of my favorites in the Tokyo area. You buy the fish food as a donation and the koi go crazy. Usually, there are only a few people there, but on this day there were a fair number. It was warm and sunny - everyone was out just enjoying the weather I think....

Shinagawa

Today I am in Tokyo, having spent yesterday in meetings, and am preparing to catch a plane to Brisbane. This is a shot from the Strings Hotel in Shinagawa towards downtown Tokyo. I have noticed that my camera has dust on the sensor that I'm going to have to clean off. It does that at times when you change the lens. New cameras vibrate to shake it off.

Three pairs of hawks are circling outside the hotel window on the 31st floor. I don't know what their prey is but will get a picture and try to identify them later....