by Maureen | Jul 17, 2012 | Czech Republic, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, People, Photos, Prague
After a time of their love wrapping halfway around the world, about 7 months ago Jan moved back to the Czech Republic to marry and be with his dear Petula.
Jan had become a much-loved “Burien Boy”, so I gathered mementoes from friends into a “juju bag” of good wishes and hopped a plane from Milano to Praha (Prague) to spend a few days with the two. (July 3 – 6, 2012)
I brought some Italian coffee and Grana Padano cheese for Jan and Petula.
I enjoyed the ultimate hospitality, good friendship and conversation, and a built-in translator, tour guide and driver!
Imagine celebrating the Fourth of July in the former-communist Czech Republic. Jan wore his red-white-and-blue plaid shirt in honor of the day, and we found many stars and stripes along our walking path.
“Thank you, America! On May 6, 1945 the city of Plzen was liberated by the U.S. Army.”
We saw the highlights of their home town, where Jan grew up, Plzen, and drank Pilsener beer. We enjoyed an afternoon looping stroll in Pizek, where they had been living. Drove through country roads and villages. Made a grand tour of Prague, (to my eye, more beautiful than Paris). We fed the ducks, then ducked for cover from a sudden drenching rain.
Jan and Petula saw each other for the first time in person along the John Lennon Wall in Prague. It was only fitting that we shoot a portrait of them there.
What a beautiful backdrop for a photo: the elaborately decorated front doorway of the Italian Consulate in Prague.
by Maureen | Mar 4, 2012 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos, U.S.A.
Hey, it may have been a bit chilly, but it was dry! (We had much warmer weather for our walks on January 1 and February 5.)
It’s the beginning of March and it was time to go for another Walk-n-Talk. We met up at Burien Town Square today on the grassy knoll, and started walking at 2:20. It was our eighth monthly Walk-n-Talk enjoyed by folks from different communities coming together for conversation… a chance to talk to people one wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to chat with and get some exercise and fresh air at the same time.
(Click on the photo below to better see all the smiling faces of the walkers. Thanks to Matthew Wendland, of the Burien Daily, for grabbing my camera to get this shot.)
For this month’s walk, we went north from Town Square into the Chelsea Park area. We saw these things, (among others): Dottie Harper Park, Burien Community Garden, white-painted tree trunks, Mortar House, Bird-House House, Stormwater Park, Green House, Purple House.
Getting out on two feet (or two wheels) is a chance to entertain your “Inner Explorer”, to discover visual and architectural details one might not otherwise see. One of the bonuses is the varied route. I don’t know about you, but when I’m in my car, I generally drive the same route every time. Bo-ring! When I’m walking or riding my bike, my curious nature is heightened and I travel roads I’ve never seen before (even though I grew up here in Burien).
Twenty people gathered today, including 3 tiny folks (Burien’s Walkers of the Future), and one four-legged friend. Many have become “regulars” enjoying the Walk-n-Talk each month. (And half of the people went across the street to Burien Press afterwards for a hot-cup-of-something with which to warm their hands and insides.)
Next walk: Sunday, April 1, 2012.
2:00 at Burien Town Square.
We should be into Spring by then!
See you with walking shoes on…
by Maureen | Feb 5, 2012 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, People, Photo of the Day, Photos, U.S.A.
Today was the seventh, monthly Walk-n-Talk here in Burien; 38 people and 3 dogs came to join the stroll! Of the walkers, 1 person was visiting from Salt Lake City, a family came from Phinney Ridge and others routinely come from Kent, Renton, Bellevue and Lacey. It still astounds me to see how well the idea has taken hold. Some people have only missed one or two walks.
Again, we had a beautiful, sunny, mid-fifties day as we walked west from Town Square, circled around Lake Burien, and then back to the center of town. It was an easy time of conversation and walking.
Next Walk-n-Talk: March 4.
We’ll meet at Burien Town Square at 2:00 and start walking at 2:15.
See you there.
(Click on the photo below to see a larger image.)
by Maureen | Jan 16, 2012 | Burien, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos, Quips, U.S.A.
It must have been about 30 years ago that I wrote the following haiku-like thought in my journal as I watched the snow come down:
“Snowfall. Silent action.”
Unless the snow is icy and verging on sleet, it is quite silent as it falls, thus my observation. Over this weekend, all of us in this Puget Sound region have had the opportunity to contemplate the silence of snow fall. And from the news going ’round, we’ll have that opportunity for the next couple of days as they forecast up to 15 inches of snow!
My first image here was as the snow was silently falling, obscuring any view of Puget Sound, Vashon Islands and certainly the Olympic Mountains. As the snow ceased, the sky cleared and became more dramatic above the snowy landscape.
by Maureen | Jan 4, 2012 | Burien, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, People, Photos
Everyone should have a centenarian in their life. Today, January 4, 2012, Gladys celebrated her 106th birthday. What a delight and honor to spend some of her day with her.
Gladys is bright and sharp and quick. She loves rich, engaging conversation… a back-and-forth rally of sharing stories and following them where they will. Most of all, she loves beauty. She loves to SEE, more than anyone I know. A swatch of color or pattern. An architectural detail. Fabric or a fork. What may seem insignificant will stop her in her tracks: “That just floors me!”
These hands of hers have known both beauty and hard work.
In the three or four years that I’ve known Gladys, she’s allowed me to make photos of her and she’s gotten just a little bit comfortable when my camera’s out.
Gladys and I went to the local pub for lunch one day in 2011. The cutlery there is rolled up in a cloth napkin. When Gladys unrolled her silverware, she held up her fork and said, “Will you just LOOK at that fork! Isn’t that just beautiful!?”
This portrait of Gladys at 105 looks like she’s seeing the unseen… like she’s pondering something quizzical. It suits her. (Her late husband made her necklace using fine opals that he put into the cheap setting she had bought; he grumbled about working with it.)
Gladys loves the flowers and shrubs in her yard. One day in 2011 she sent me home with a bouquet of daisies, fresh-picked.
Here’s Gladys in her living room at 104, surrounded by lush pattern and adornment, much of it decorative arts that she has created in her long lifetime.
There are a special few that have received a hand-sewn Raggedy Ann doll from Gladys. She’s done every stitch with her hands and her machine. At 103, she had this doll nearly ready for the next lucky recipient.
How can anyone resist a woman (whether 103 or any age) in that classic and always-outrageous color combination of hot pink, orange and red?!
Gladys, I love you.
by Maureen | Dec 10, 2011 | Burien, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos, Seattle, U.S.A.
The alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. so I could get up on a cold night and watch the moon and its light on the water change with the lunar eclipse. The sky started out pretty crystal clear, but advanced into thin clouds.
I was just shooting with my old, little Canon G9, so I have to accept the equipment limitations, but the image sequence is still dramatic and beautiful.
This image was shot at 5:24 while sitting at my desk, looking out through the window to Puget Sound. Note that the eclipse was well underway. The three red light towers are on Vashon Island. (A street light illuminated the cherry tree down in my yard, and cast just enough light into my office to cause a slight reflection on the window.)
Here’s a series taken during the two hours that I watched out my window, shot at these times:
- 4:44
- 5:05
- 5:15
- 5:18
- 5:48
- 5:59
- 6:01
No, the moon did not “flare” and cause a brighter image in the third shot. At times I changed the camera settings to pick up details either in the moon’s shadow or highlight.
They had predicted a very orange moon, which my eye did not see at all. The camera did, however, in the 5th and 6th shots, when I adjusted to capture the shadowed part of the moon.
A couple of notes jotted:
- 5:58 Just a shimmer of light.
- 6:00 A wisp at the bottom edge.
- 6:04 Not enough left in the sky to shoot.
- 6:15 NO moon. NO light! Time to go back to bed.
Scroll down to view each phase, or CLICK HERE to see a separate, horizontal version.
by Maureen | Oct 2, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Journal, People, Photos, Quips
We’re just a bunch of folks, of various ages and abilities and speeds, out for a nice walk together. We show up once a month, whomever wants to amble on two feet, and we go from here to there in Volksmarch fashion.
Today we walked from Burien’s Town Square westward into and around the Seahurst neighborhood. I grew up there. As a kid, when I wanted some peace-and-quiet away from a busy household (6 kids, Mom, Dad, Grandma, 1 dog, 1 cat), I took off for a walk into these same streets. Today we passed through the intersection where there had lived 36 kids, 40+ years ago. These were the streets that gave me calm… and they still do.
We had another Burien Walk-n-Talk today, with 23 human walkers and 5 canines. Woof woof. We took off walking and soon clustered according to speed and propensity. I like that people end up walking with those they’ve never spoken to before, and the conversations lasted the duration… about an hour and a half. (Whenever else is this opportunity?)
Our westernmost spot was the entrance to Eagle Landing Park. We arrived at precisely the moment when artist Galen Willis (right) and scout Sean Kent (left, Scout Troop 392) were working on the installation site of Galen’s cedar sculpture of an eagle. The sculpture is expected to be installed in the next month. (Keep your eyes peeled and ears open for announcements.)
These walks are scheduled for the first Sunday of every month. We meet up at the appointed place… walk… talk along the way… then bid adieu until the next month. On November 6, we’ll gather again and see where the conversation leads us. Care to join us?
Stayed tuned for details about our next Walk-n-Talk. The route may change. The group certainly will. Who KNOWS who you’ll have an opportunity to talk to!
by Maureen | Sep 5, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, People, Photos, Seattle
How dreamy to stroll under clear blue skies on a warm September afternoon, with neighbors from near and far. We had our second monthly Walk-n-Talk yesterday with a dozen two-footed walkers and three four-footed walkers, Lulu, Dingo and Khan. People came from as far away as Olympia, Kent and Bellevue to join the amble through the neighborhoods and around Lake Burien.
The walk is meant to go at an easy, comfortable pace for participants, so our group split into two clusters. By the time the last of us made it back into town, the low wall at the gateway to Olde Burien was a welcome rest stop.
Such a simple thing, just taking a walk with others. We all smile at the company and the shared exercise.
Next month, on October 2nd, we’ll pick another route from some that have been suggested by others. There are many areas of Burien to explore, and we see new things when on foot.
by Maureen | Aug 8, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Journal, People, Quips, Seattle
People came in ones, twos and threes and gathered on the grassy knoll in the center of Burien’s Town Square. Mothers and daughters. Couples. Clusters of friends. A man and his dog.
And people traveled from other towns just to join the walk. Amanda and Anne both came from Kent. Sharon came from Renton. Cathy came from West Seattle. Tina and Glenn came from Auburn. Tami and her daughter had just moved here from Indiana… The rest were Burienites.
We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful, blue sky day in the high 70s. At 2:15, there were about 30 of us, and we were enthusiastic and ready to walk and talk.
For the most part, people paired up and walked with someone they didn’t know, and they chatted along the route. That was part of the whole idea: meet and talk to people you’ve never talked to before… get to know some neighbors.
We passed other walkers along the route and picked up three more people that joined our group! Many onlookers were curious about the big group walking past them so we told them what we were doing.
We stayed strung out in clusters of conversation as we headed down the hill toward Lake Burien.
When we arrived at the lone lookout to Lake Burien, some of us stopped to point out sights along the shoreline, and to nibble a few of the ripe blackberries.
As the group strolled back through the center of town, walkers variously peered into shop windows, stopped for sandwiches, or bought a few skeins at the yarn shop, continuing their talks along the way. Arriving back at Town Square an hour after we had begun, much of the group wrapped it up with a drink and a snack at Burien Press, the ideally-located coffee shop across the street.
– – –
The next Walk-n-Talk is scheduled for Sunday, September 4th at 2:00. That’s Labor Day weekend, so if you’re not out of town and are looking for somthing to do, come walk! There’ve been suggestions of other routes, so we’ll see what we can cook up between now and then. Information will be posted here, on the B-Town Blog or through e-mail. If you’re interested, send me a note and I’ll add you to the list. Come Walk-n-Talk!
by Maureen | Aug 3, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Journal, Quips
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk is being launched this coming Sunday, August 7 at 2:00!
Put on your comfy shoes and come for a casual Walk-n-Talk with friends and neighbors. On the first Sunday of every month, meet up at Burien Town Square with friends, old and new. Enjoy conversations and a walk through town. Grab a local coffee or snack before or after your stroll.
On the day of the recent Olde Burien Block Party, I had dinner with friends Rochelle and Shelley and we talked about the idea of starting a walk-n-talk… So I ran with it! (…or walked with it.)
Intentions for Burien’s Walk-n-Talk:
- “Encourage active living to support physical and mental health.”
(Part of Burien’s new “Vision”.)
- Initiate conversation between friends and neighbors, new and old.
- Nurture the idea of our Town Square as the “living room” of Burien,
our center and gathering place.
- Create our own little “volksmarch“, in the European tradition.
- Support our local cafés and restaurants on Sunday afternoons.
Location: Burien Town Square
Who: Walkers of every level and ability
Date: First Sunday of every month
Time: Meet at 2:00 p.m. Start walking at 2:15 p.m.
Route: A 2.25 mile loop from Burien Town Square, around Lake Burien, and back to Town Square.
- Begin at Burien Town Square.
- Go west on SW 152nd Street.
- Turn south on 21st Ave. SW.
- Go east on SW 156th, 16th and 158th.
- Zig-zag north on 12th, 156th, 11th,
- 154th and 10th, and back to 152nd.
- Turn east on 152nd back to Town Square.
Click on the map below for a larger view:
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk was inspired by my time recently living in Italy for over a year. In Italy, people walk a lot, not just to get from place to place but also for the social connection. In addition to daily commuting and errands, Italians have their traditional “Passeggiata” – the evening stroll. In the evenings, the main streets fill with people making walking tours through town. Not only is it exercise, but it’s also the social hour. Families walk together. Old folks push other old folks in wheelchairs. Sisters and girlfriends go arm-in-arm. Elder men gather and solve the city’s problems.
Additionally, in Italy, every city and town has a central church, in front of which is a large central plaza – the piazza. This piazza is the “living room of the city”, it’s the central gathering place, the place to hang out with friends in the evening, and to meet up before going on to other destinations. The piazza is where the city both celebrates and mourns.
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk is a means to encourage OUR stroll, and to affirm Burien Town Square as our central gathering place, “the living room of OUR city”. The announcement has been picked up by our B-Town Blog and by KOMO News, so it’s possible that we’ll have 50-100 people walking!
