Back to the Future.
Lately I am getting more and more interested in B&W photography. I got a few film cameras to add to the collection including a Medium Format Mamiya RZ67 and a Large Format Combo Legend
I also got Darkroom gear and started setting up the mechanical room with a second role as a darkroom with red light, curtains, the works. Not sure where this will go but the process have started.
Not to leave the Digital World deprived I am working on HDR and got really interested in Monochromatic HDR [B&W HDR].
Yesterday we went to the Brattleboro First Friday Art Walk . Turned out [Surprisingly…] that I am not the only artist in VT so I was inspired by the Vermont Center for Photography the In-Sight Photography Project and found out that just near us in Winhall there is an expert in Large Format cameras Richard Ritter
Looks like there is a future in my back walking.
***Looks like this year will not be an exception
July 29 to August 4th. We will drive the old Foretravel and visit the Mecca – our Mecca
The end of July is coming and that means one thing; It is time to go to the aviation Mecca
Oshkosh, the home of the EAA airventure
We will be there for a week camping, we are going to rough it :)
***Two Teeth.
It took a while.
For the last 9 months whenever Shani would cry we knew she is teething. Since Shani is an expressive child and she had a lot of teeth to work on, we were not concerned. Problem was that there were no teeth?
So recently she popped two.
Must be the Island air.
So now when shani express herself we know that she is teething, and since she is an expressive child we know she have a lot of teeth to work on.
What will we say when they will all be out?
Breakfast at St Thomas USVI
[Click here to see it]
It’s a Start
While we are continuing to work on Tal’s Basketball Scholarship she seems to develop her own interests.
The rest of us have decided to work on the mundane so we moved to the Virgin Islands where we will be for the next 3 month.
Pray for us
Fathers Day 2009 St John USVI
[Click here to see it]
Zen Baby.
Taking a cue from is her big sister Shani is a total Zen baby unless she is hungry or wet. We are leaving the hospital today and life as a big family begins.
Day 3
[Click here to see Shani’s Day 3]
She has arrived.
Shani Amilia Weitz Born in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on 2:5pm 7lb 10.5oz 19 inches.
Gallery 1
[Click here to see Shani’s Birth in B&W]
Gallery 2
[Click here to see Shani’s Birth in color]
Eating.
Seems that Tal is into eating now, eating anything and everything.
Unfortunately though to her mother’s dismay it is everything, anything, as long as it is not an actual food item. So tables, sofas, plates, remote controls. Nothing, nothing escapes her 2 sharp teeth especially Cell Phones.
Cell phones are her absolute favorite food.
Must be an Israeli gene
***Pictures.
You never know what effect the pictures you take may have, as if they take a life of their own once your finger pushed the trigger.
Sheryl, after seeing my Guatemala pictures decided that Antigua Guatemala is where she need to go for her Spanish school. Myself after couple of weeks of empty house decided that there is where I should go too.
There wasn’t a lot of Spanish learning at the end but we sure had a lot of fun, eating at the fanciest of Antigua restaurants and traveling the breath taking lake Atitlan.
At the lake we stayed at Hotel Isla Verde and yes we took some pictures.
You never know.
Visit the Guatemala 2006 Galery
***The decision was tough.
Following meeting with Einar Enevoldson at the Oshkosh EAA convention [Enevoldson and Fossett Soaring Altitude World Record] I was inspired to add a sailplane rating to my private pilot certificate.
The options were to go the soaring center in Arizona or fly to Hawaii and get training in Dillingham Airfield at Oahu north shore.
The decision was tough indeed, requiring a long 2 second family Pow Wow at the end of which we were the proud owners of pair of air tickets to Honolulu.
Click here for the Hawaii trip gallery
If thats was not enough Click Here for our Youtube video Gallery
Which finger should it be?
Tal’s biggest concern in life is which finger should she suck. Usualy the left thumb wins placing here clearly to the left. Some times though the right thumb takes over.
At times she doesn’t settle for thumbs only and goes for the full house right and left, not to mention the toes.
I guess that will make her an undecided…
Click here for the Fingers gallery
Click here to order prints at Costco
Solidly into solids.
Well… maybe not quite that solid but we are making an effort :)
Tal continues to grow. The new thing now is the high chair and Solids! She is happy with the chair. As far as the Rice Cereals though, looks like she knows better.
Can’t fool this girl.
Click here for the solids gallery
Cuter by the minute.
Tal is growing like a weed and getting cuter by the minute. She is becoming more and more interactive, smiles often and tolerates our adventurous travel life style incredibly.
So far she flew 23 times and visited some 12 states
You go girl!
Wouldn’t ride it…
For some reason Tal would not ride the motorcycle. I am not sure exactly why given that it is a pretty nice one, never the less, we had to find a new mode of travel.
We looked at several different options and a class A motorhome seemed to be the glove that fit.
It drives it self, it has a bathroom, a kitchen, a fridge and you can change as many diapers in it as you wish.
We looked at several makes and the Foretravel surfaced as the best one out there , We combed the internet and located one in West Virginia. 5 days ago day we flew to WV and picked it up.
The obvious first destination was Oshkosh WI for the EAA convention . as for the next destination , stay tuned the Weitz Mobile is on the lose.
Weitzenmoven.
***Still Growing…
Nothing seems to stop Tal’s desire to close the weight gap between the two of us. Besides putting on these onces her inquisitive eyes are discovering the world. She gives it her serious look, wrinkle her forehead as she tries to figure it all out.
Having an Occupational Therapist for a mom she doesn’t escape some interactive toy playing sessions. Her sweet revenge though comes from discovering the “you can’t put me down” game. So in the last few days we [“We”] walk around like a Kangaroo, carrying her in the baby pouch all day long. Must be the effect of our Ozzy relatives.
The new thing in the house now is the Bus! Given our family size now we started working on a “Bus” project. It started with the idea of getting a VW camper bus so we could all travel together. It continues to evolve in the Weitz way so now we are looking into the Vixen 21TD. Stay tuned
Actively Growing!
Tal had a great week, she is busy growing. She is starting to stretch her nights some and being the social baby that she is she express her thoughts when left on her own while awake. Of course being the tough parents that we are, we immediately attend to her needs as that is sure to make her unspoiled.
Last week we took her to the Experimental Aircrafts Association convention in Lakeland Florida Sun and Fun, her first air show, she loved it!.
Visit the third week gallery here. Yes it is a salad bowl
We had a great visit to the pediatrician and she is growing well, 21 inches! We are starting to look for a Basketball scholarship!
***An awesome baby!
Tal continuous to be a truly awesome baby, she keeps eating like a champ. She is has a happy calm being, mostly she is relaxed and letting her eyes explore the world her beloved Giraffe and the Fishes and Boats book [got a start them young]
The other day we took her to the Pub [O’Malley’s] . We started her on somewhat lighter brew and she seemed pleased
You might want to visit here second week gallery here.
D only obvious question now is where did she get those eyes from?!?
***Day 3
A truly Zen baby. She is doing fantastic, mostly chillin unless she is hungry or wet, then she let her thoughts be known.
She was officially named today Tal Ofra Weitz
We gained another 2 Oz!
***Like a champ.
Pretty amazing how in one day she learned how to breath sneeze eat and poop and be so successful in all of it.
We gained 2 Oz today!
***
She has arrived.
3/27/07 1:05pm 6lb 15oz 19 inches
Its a start…
[Click here to see Tal’s Birth]
As apropriate for a princess we celebrated her pre arrival in a palace
We went to tengierino [click here to visit]
No princess should be born with out one!
When it was time to get into the water we traveled to Dominica, a small island in the eastern Caribbean, just a few miles from Martinique to the south and Guadeloupe to the north.
The island’s official name is the Commonwealth of Dominica, which is mostly referenced in official communiqué and to distinguish the island from its northerly Caribbean sister, the Dominican Republic.
The island is sparsely populated with around 70,000 people inhabiting its 289.5 square miles. Dominica is referred to as the Nature island of the Caribbean. Tropical forest coats two thirds of the island, with some 1200 plant species. Rivers, lakes, streams, and waterfalls, fed by the islands high annual rainfall. Its volcanic physique points to extensive geothermal activity above and below sea level.
***
All I really wanted was a good steak.
For years I heard of Argentina, the land of the mighty Asado as the best place in the world for this carnivorous pleasure.
I wasn’t really sure what Asado actually meant, I heard of some meat being grilled slowly, buried with charcoal overnight, really I had no idea. I knew it was good and I knew I had to have it.
Being that the Argentinean economy collapsed in 2001 the prices in “Paris of South America” fell from the previous stratosphere to the ground so I booked a flight.
Buenos Aires was great and the Asado, the ASADO was awesome! I am not sure if it is the free roaming caws [happy caws taste better?], the way they grill it, the wine that comes with it or the $3.00 price tag for a hunk of prime Lomo or Bife de Corizo. Be that as it may – I got my money worth.
Since a man can not leave on beef alone [really?] I also went traveling some.
For the first week I flew down to Patagonia’s El Calafate and visited
For the second week I flew to the Northwest Andeans, stayed in Salta, rented a car and traveled to:
If I thought National Route 51 was challenging, Route 40 really separates the men from the boys. The men from the boys or almost the frame from the body of the little Corsica I was given, courtesy of Hertz Rent a Car, to practice enduro riding on tiny four wheels.
Now that I survived the chalanges of the rods, tasted the beuty of this vast country and gained 10lb confirming that Asado is indeed the best steak in the world, I am tempted to travel here in a better, safer and more complete way. I am tempted to travel the length of mighty “Nacional Ruta 40” from the Bolivian border to Tiera Del Fuego the right way, riding it on two wheels…
***Once I finally got the new BMW [courtesy of BMW of North America] I decided to take her for a spin. Riding to Arches National Park and Monument Valley was a long time dream of mine so I started out thinking of hitting Utah’s Moab area, as it is glorified in some of my riding guide books, drive through Monument Valley and some how drive back trough New Mexico.
Seeing as how I started the ride after a night shift I didn’t have a real solid plan but trusting my GPS I thought I should be able to pull it somehow. [Garmin, take me home….]
The trip took me 8 days and covered some 3500 miles. I totally loved it. The Beamer was awesome on and off the rode and I got more and more use to it. [It is still a challenging bike for me, this is a big bike!]
I rode through some thunderstorms and when I got to Grand Canyon I got caught in a Hail Storm. Never the less Grand Canyon was defiantly the highlight of the trip. I waited the storm at the northern rim lodge, boy this place was awesome, I will try to stay there next time.
***Got a love it, the other day Nick Spooner, the manager of Café Racer took me up for a mano a mano on Middle America Motorplex race track.
Dancing the curves in the narrow space between elation and panic was an awesome experience.
No I am not yet exactly inside the bubble, my knees were far from scraping the pavement, but learning to move my butt and hung out with every turn was the biggest breakthrough I had on the race track so far.
So grazie molto Nicola and Rossi, Rossi you better watch out…
It actually makes sense, sort of. Given my re immersion in sport riding I decided to get a dedicated race bike.
The bikes I ride are designed on and for the race track. My Ducati 999 wins consistently the World Superbike Championships, taking it out on the public roads presents me with some challenges like:
Since I moved to Kansas City I was greatly assisted by Greg Williams of Café Racer. Following his recommendations I decided to get a Suzuki SV650 race bike as my training bike. On Friday I drove to Little Rock Arkansas and by Saturday I was on the track.
So how fast did I go? Ah… well, my new race bike does not have a speedometer, Duh…
This morning all I really wanted was a bagel, a bagel with cream cheese.
Living in an Irish neighborhood I had to cross the bridge and my stomach lead me eventually into Brookline. On my way to bagel heaven I noted an unusual number of motorcycles driving around, unusual especially given the grayish drizzle.
So after satisfying my craving for Lox, I followed up a group of cyclists and ended up at the Larz Anderson Park where the Larz Anderson Classic – European Motorcycle Day was in full progress.
Little did I know setting up for the bagel chase…
Yesterday the weather looked just perfect so I decide to take the Road Star for a ride. Initially I didn’t have a real plan, just figured I would go up to New Hamphsire and wander into Vermont somehow.
Starting on the highway to get into the smaller twisters I took I-93 to I-89. Around Warner NH the highway was blocked off for road work. Consulting with the guarding policeman I took Route 103 to Sunapee lake and had lunch at the Appleseed restaurant by the lake
Then continued up to Vermont taking route 4 to Quechee State Park and Woodstock. Route 4 connects with Route 100 VT, Route 100 holds a special place here as one of the best, most fun roads in the country for two wheelers. the exciting state site for VT Route 100
The ride was spectacular I later crossed east on Route 125, an awesome road in its own rights. 125 was mostly freshly paved twisting its way as it climbs Sugarbush mountain and continue north along the Mad River.
By the time I pointed the handlebar south the sun was going down. The whole way from Vermont to Manchester NH I was literally shaking. Although I started the day at some 70^o^F. the leather over a tee shirt was far from sufficient.
Literally shaking my way south my frozen brain was pondering, should I go faster to end it sooner or slower to reduce the chill? Somehow I made it to Manchester and defrosted at a Duncan Donuts. Seeing me shaking, the kid at the counter said chilly night huh, where did you come from?
Montpelier. Vermont.
Wow!
that’s OK I am almost done.
Where are you going too?
Boston.
Boston?!? that’s another 45 minutes
Yep, It was…
Last weekend Sheryl and Moi drove up to New York City to pick up the new addition to the fleet, a 1999 Yamaha 1600cc Road Star. I wanted a big cruiser for a while and the right opportunity turned up last weekend.
Driving it out of the city was a BIT scary; negotiating the city traffic, bridges and bypasses was not for the faint of heart. I guess wrestling with Boston drivers for a while now had prepared me some for the experience.
The Road Star is a hoot. It is heavy, powerful and cushy; sort of a gentle giant. We are riding it around New England now, taking advantage of the autumn before the mighty winter comes in.
My plans are to spice it up some, throwing in some chrome, opening the intake with Baron BAK and opening the back end with a pair of BUB Big Willey exhaust pipes. I am taking it up to NH tomorrow for the full TLC treatment at the dealership and will reshoe it with a pair of Metzler Marathon tires.
***
I have started to build my web gallery. Most of my stuff is on film so it will probably take me a few hundred years to move it to digital.
I scanned the Guatemala Trip slides and built the first album to display it. The gallery is using Flash to display the images. You can navigate the gallery using the mouse at the left or right of the large image, click on the thumbnails, or move using the keyboard arrows. Check it out .
***In my motorcycles days there was one bike, an Italian bike, that seemed to always come up – the Duc. The mavens were huddling over it, oohing and aahing. Myself, I couldn’t manage to squeeze its stiff clutch lever let alone squeeze my bank account enough to own one.
As my motorcycle buzz resurfaced I looked it up. I learned that it is still being oohed and aahed and that there is a revered dealership up in Laconia dedicated to it.
3 years ago I went up there, if you would have given me a few spins I could have easily mistaken it to be in northern Italy. When I told Bruce, the owner, of my interest in a Duc he handed me the keys “why don’t you take it for a spin around the lake?”
By the end of the ride I knew I will get one and I knew I will get it there. It took me a while but last week the Ductruk brought my crate.
Maine is one of my absolute favorites; traveling the coast, hanging out in Portland, munching on the local seafood, and the Lobstah especially the Lobstah.
So for my Birthday Sheryl got us a place in a small fishing village, Port Clyde ME.
Lobsters, midnight candles on lighthouse beach, J’s
So, where do you usually like to ride?
We were sitting on the rug at Second Wind shooting the breeze while my first born was getting its initial 600 miles service. Here I am the new owner of a 1200 GS, the go anywhere do anything bike, some footage is starting to play in my head; Tierra del Fuego, Alaska…
Soon after getting the bike I Amazonned the Long Way Round two guys that rode their GS’s from their home in London to NY, on land – the long way. I couldn’t put this book down, devouring their adventures and thinking where I would take mine.
“…I like the Champlain Islands, you can just stay on the highway the whole way up their, it’s a great ride”
The next day I was up on I-93. By the time I crossed to Vermont I had a new appreciation for the state’s rest stops.
All in all the ride took some 600 miles, it was an awesome ride but as I crawled to the shower at the end of day I developed a new perspective on endurance motorcycle rallies .
I guess Tierra del Fuego will have to wait for now.
Somehow I discovered motorcycling in my 20’s. Winding narrow roads become a playground, the more the better. Throwing in some mountains would definitely make my day. When I came to the US, seeing the highways, the number of cars and the velocity I decided to stay away from exposed riding.
In the last few years I started having this buzz in my ears, the motorcycle buzz. I would look at some, look at the magazines, and a few times I even crossed the threshold of a dealership…
Last month I bought my first a go-anywhere do-everything BMW 1200GS This week I am buying the second, a Ducati 999
I am back in the playground and I have a lot of catching up to do….
***