[SkyWatch] The Clouds Roll In

Traffic being the snarl eliciting experience that it often is, I avoid driving to the financial district that is Makati. Yet this week I had a morning meeting there and when I arrived, the skies were a vibrant blue.

 Makati, 2010

By early afternoon, after the meeting was done, the clouds had started to roll in at a considerable clip. I sensed the onset of a tropical downpour and booted safely back home to the suburbs.

I captured these images for SkyWatch Friday and Weekend Reflections. The links will take you to more brilliant skies and reflections around the globe.

Cat Lover

I really don't know the first thing about cats, never having owned one as a pet, but I have gleaned that when people love cats, they really care for all cats, never mind the size, shape or color. (Dog lovers, in notable contrast, seem to be very particular about breeds.)

But I had never associated cat adoration to any particular culture until I went to Japan. There, it struck me, cats are not just loved, they are revered. Cats -  images of cats - are found: in art, in cartoons, on posters, and all over consumer merchandise, from clothes and fashion accessories, to stationery, to giftware and home decor. Cats, in short, are everywhere!

It wasn't surprising to me then to see this young woman spend significant effort to capture these presumably stray cats in a park, totally oblivious to my capturing her.

Kyoto, 2009

I is for Instruments

A mere five kilometers south-west of Kathmandu, on top of a hill, is the small ancient town of Kirtipur, a center of Newari culture. The Newa people are the indigenous people of Nepal's Kathmandu Valley. 

I had the good fortune earlier this year to visit the town during its Newa Culture Food Festival. The festival included beautiful music played on a range of instruments.

Nepal, 2010

Today's ABC Wednesday features the letter I and clicking the link will get you to many more links with creative posts on the theme.

[MyWorld] Don't Pick Me!

For Cantonese the only seafood worth eating is fresh... very fresh.

In Hong Kong, people have a hefty appetite for seafood - consuming an average of nearly 50 kg (110 lbs) a year - and are willing to pay a premium for it. Thousands of tons of live seafood, most of it caught in the wild, are flown in from around the world. It's a half-billion dollar a year trade... for this one city.

The crabs, lobster, clams, scallops, oysters and other seafood is distributed to countless tanks in wet markets and restaurants throughout the Special Administrative Region. These are snapshots of a wet market I recently visited where customers choose their own live dinner for a nearby restaurant to cook and serve.

 Hong Kong, 2010

I "caught" these red fish in a tank. The perfectly prepared meal we had was to die for. But don't tell these fish that!

This is for Klaus and team's My World Tuesday - you'll find plenty of scenes from around the globe there! And there are more great takes on the theme RED at Mary's Ruby Tuesday.

Mellow Curves and Illumination

We did not arrive in or leave from Rome by train the last time I was there, but we needed a post office and the nearest one to our hotel was in Roma Termini, the city's central railway station. I'm glad we went there; the post office is located in the marvelous and newly renovated 1930s Mazzoni-designed wing of the building. 

We entered the Yellow Mezzanine directly from Via Giolitti and I was immediately struck by the appealing lines and shapes of the ceiling. Then this ceramic wall art captured my attention.

Rome, 2007

Next I saw how soothing the indirect lighting was, followed by the light fixture designs themselves. I was able to take these two additional photos of the brick portico ceiling and arches before a security officer came up to me to tell me to stop.

I have since learned that the fixtures were designed by British light designer Miles Pinninger and were produced by the award winning German company Franz SILL that in recent years has provided the lighting for many significant public spaces. This did surprise me some because Italy has its own strong designers and manufacturers in the lighting industry, but I would guess that SILL's reflector technology won the day.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday for more takes on the color YELLOW.

Growing Up Too Fast

Kathmandu, 2010

This photo joins The Weekend in Black and White.

Reflections on Trout Lake

Here are two photos I took on the same spot on Trout Lake on the Sunshine Coast of Beautiful British Columbia ... Which one appeals to you more?

Sunshine Coast, BC, 2009

My Weekend Reflections. The link will take you to many more!