Christmas Chaos and Cuba

So we got back and have not stopped, the gallery has not gotten to full reconstruction mode, but things are coming along SLOWLY. Of course this is always the issue when dealing with the city. The roof is being replaced today! The interior walls have been knocked down and are now being re-stuccoed.
I am still processing photos from Cuba, but thought I would share just a few with you. These photos are Ken's! He actually had to pick up a camera and practice the craft of photography! I think he did great for his first time. Ken realized the importance of getting up before the sun to shoot.  He would call it a cultural safari, because you rise before the sun, take a break midday because the sun is too harsh and go back to shoot at dusk! I had an amazing time watching and learning from the great Arthur Meyerson, one of the best photographers and more importantly humans beings you can meet.  The one thing I would hope for all of the Cubans that left in the sixties, is that they find some type of resolve, and leave the hate and bitterness  behind. I find the Cuba issue terribly complex, like the group leaders would say, Cuba is complicated and so are the emotions of those that fled in the sixties. I hope to expand on this after Christmas. In light of the tragedy we all experienced this week with the devastating loss of 26 souls, I hope and pray that people will love a little harder and remember the true meaning of Christmas and not the material chaos we all fall prey to.
Merry Christmas, love and light, Elizabeth

Cuba, Havana, Viñales and more

Ken and I just returned from an amazing week in Cuba! What an experience, what a gloriously grand city and what a country!  For years I was conflicted with the idea of traveling to Cuba, do I honor my mother's wishes or do I travel to Cuba and see the "motherland" my roots, where I came from.

I had heard so many stories about Cuba, so many negatives and positives that at the end of the day the right opportunity presented itself and I decided to jump on it and go! We went on a "people to people"
cultural exchange and it was just that! We interacted with everyone, they are friendly, open and warm!
The city of Havana itself is one of the most grandiose cities ever, only Paris compares to Havana.

I cannot believe how neglected and state of disrepair the city is in, another reason to go now before they knock everything down!

I will post some photos shortly and continue my thoughts....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and for the first time I did not have it at my home. Since we were supposed to be in Hong Kong my friends Ann invited us over to her home. We had a great time and of course laughed and cried. Amazing how vulnerable one gets in front of friends and strangers. I must say this year I am especially thankful for being alive. I am so thankful for my cowboy Bill that prayed and prayed with me to keep me here! I wish more people took the time like we do on Thanksgiving to acknowledge family, friends and being present and grateful for our lives. I cannot believe that stores have now decided to open Thanksgiving day! Is there anything left that is sacred, my God if we cannot take one day off from the frenzy of shopping to be with family and friends and to give thanks, what are we becoming! This week I go to Cuba with my husband on a photographic tour, one week in La Habana! Wow, I am full of excitement and a bit nervous. I have my mother's home address and am planning to go and see where my mom and grandma lived! I can't wait to see the place I have heard so many stories of.  I do not think I will be able to sleep during my visit. My friends Anna is getting married this weekend! I am so looking forward to seeing her and her family and having a great celebration. I am also almost done with my book! I am putting together a handmade book with some of my photographs of women from all over the world, doing this alternative photographic processing, which is very cool, expensive and time consuming. I know I thought once I got home and settled that I would be able to get in to a routine and write, but it has been anything but routine! We have gone to Utah and Colorado, last Saturday our shipment arrived from Hong Kong, so we have had to unpacked,
meeting and getting bids for the building, and then my pottery classes which are a blast! These I take at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of art. Too much fun!
So I have meant to finish so many more thoughts and time once again has elapsed me.
Today I leave to Cuba on a Cultural Exchange, I have not slept in over a week and when I do I have the craziest dreams! Wish me luck!

love & light,

E

Trying to pace myself and things back to "normal"

Today  I picked up a pack of steroids, unfortunately for my nose! I  saw my doctor again and she said
I need another surgery! I heard someone say the other day, that you need to keep your "I am's" positive, and God know I have been trying to keep positive and upbeat, but there is only so much one person can take! I have had sinus issues since January! And then of course breaking my back in July, and the spot on my lung that I cannot have scanned again until January and the cysts on my ovaries. Along with every other chore women of my age (and it is not even an age thing) because I was not supposed to have my prostate check for another four years when I had four polyps removed last year! I am thankful, that I am here and that my horse accident was not worse, that the e-coli infection I got after my surgery did not have an impact on my health! I got here a week ago and have already had my blood drawn for my endocrinologist appointment on the 6th, my mammogram appointment tomorrow and my  other appointment  on Friday, and that does not include the gynecologist transvaginal ultrasound and sonogram and all the other tests I have had this week!  Do not get me wrong, I am thrilled that with all this I am alive and kicking, but I am tired of seeing doctors! I told my doctor that recommended sinus surgery again, that the last thing I want to do is see her face again! I am grateful that all of the ailments none of them have been life threatening!  Needless to say, I am looking forward to 2013 and better health! I have always said I want to be fabulous by 50, so I have two years to get it together! I am thankful for being back home with my family and friends and having had the opportunity to travel.

I am also looking forward to my new project, my art gallery that should open early next year!

In honor of me taking flight, I visited the Hong Kong Aviary

Today, I am packing organizing and went to some of my favorite places, the bird park I visited twice today. I thought I would go buy paper and then say goodbye to some of my favorite places. This is one place I can never get tired of going. I know that might sound lame, but you can really learn a lot by watching birds and the hierarchy of the bird kingdom. I leave tomorrow morning and I am somewhat anxious and sad to leave.

Suddenly sad to be leaving Hong Kong

Wow,  today it finally hit me, that I am leaving Hong Kong for good! Ken and I went to buy Halloween costumes and start to say goodbye to the people I have come to know and like and it hit me, I am leaving Hong Kong! The place that I have come to love and hate, the place that has had me so conflicted for ten months and today was no exception. The headline in the paper today, 27 million dollars of Elephant tusks seized by customs! One of the living things I most admired in life, Elephants, slaughtered and destroyed for what? For some short lived gratification! Just like shark fin soup! Really, WTF is wrong with these people! More than 5 million elephants in the 1940's to less than 1/2 a million elephants today! The same thing happens to Rhino's for their horns, to Tigers for their pelts and elephants for their tusks. Really!!!!!!!!!! You cannot imagine how incensed I am about all of this and yet what is one to do? What is the answer to stop these crimes against things that do not have a voice and cannot defend themselves against guns, fishing nets, and humans getting paid to kill them.  On our walk today we found (of course two days before we leave) a great little restaurant, La Piola, a wonderful Italian restaurant, great music, fantastic food and good service. Next to us, a Chinese guy and an American girl, they ordered pasta, when it came, he slurped his and in five or six GIANT slurps he was done! His girlfriend is shaking her head no, and says to him "you must be really hungry" and he slurps. I dropped my mouth in horror and Ken is telling me to just focus on him because he knows I am going to blow a head gasket any minute. I can hardly contain myself from saying something. Judging by the size of intake with each bite, I knew it would not be long before the slurping was over.  This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves! This drives me absolutely mad!!!!!! I would of loved to have had a video of him and her and the difference in eating habits, two totally different eating styles, same type of food! I wonder if he even notices how awful he is when he eats! We then walked to the paper store which was also closed and finally when we made it home after a brief stop to buy a hat, I was greeted by Wai, one of my favorite people at Pacific Place. These guys greeting you with a smile and giant hello's every time you come in and leave, is one thing I will miss for sure.  So here are a few photos of the things I have come to love and hate about Hong Kong. Of course Wai said to me, the weather has finally changed last week, no more heat, no more sticky and now we have blue skies. Who knew I would have to wait for ten months until I saw nice weather!

                                             I will miss the walks in the parks

                                              I will miss the crazy styles

                                         I will miss seeing the Philippine  women on Sundays

                                       I will miss seeing the Philippines rallying for their causes

I will not miss seeing everyone on their cell phones, holding up traffic

                                        I will miss not giving a sh.. of what people think and do what I want.
                                        I think I will take this one home with me, but I think I might of brought
                                        it her with me... :-)
               

                                           Most of all I will miss Wai and the other group of thoughtful, friendly
                                            and efficient staff at Pacific Place!

Finally back in Hong Kong and ready to pack up!

Wow, I hate flights that leave at 1 a.m. and then are delayed! I wanted to post some of the photos for you all, fist I will post my bird from Istanbul and then a few others. My friend Tina from Miami on a cruise with her husband and Ken and friends at JP Morgans's dinner. The guy in the orange was playing on the street, every time I look at this photo, he reminds me of what a cult leader looks like. . I am trying to pack and figure what I need immediately and what the packers can take. You cant see his eyes, but they were a blue/gray and penetrate right through you! Five days and I will be home! 

Zagreb, Croatia

After a long day of driving through some pretty good thunderstorms we made it to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. So far the trip along the coast has been pretty nice and this time of year is great, not many tourists and the roads are virtually empty. For the most part Croatia feels a lot like Italy and some of the towns that we have visited look as if you we're in Italy, many of them have a majority of Italian residences. The good thing about it not being In Italy are the prices, even though it is not as expensive as Italy the prices are not inexpensive. Of course when you compare this to traveling in Asia where you can get a meal for five dollars, it is hard to compare. I am sorry for not posting photos, but I am on my Ipad, because my computer security does not allow me to access my blog nor my credit union, I guess it is for my own good. The lesson, do not do any transactions of any value on your IPad. Ken and celebrate eight years of marriage today! How time flies, it seems as if it was other day we married and yet it also seems like a lifetime. The good news is that there was no seven year itch and I hope it continues that way.  Life is full of surprises, friends you think you had are no longer around, kids grow and go, and there are everyday challenges with health and everything else that always seem to throw you a curveball. The good news is that there are certain people you can always count on and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. If you are lucky enough you have a partner that is there for the ride with you and that understands all your quirks and I know I have many.  In a weeks time I will be home, back to reality again. Even though Hong Kong was not very good for me physically, for I thought I was going to die there at some point and time, it has allowed me to travel this year. I have been to Vietnam (twice), Myanmar,  Japan, Jordan, Istanbul (twice), Croatia, Bhutan.  Five of them new places for me! Since I am trying to get to 100 laces before I am sixty, I think this year got me off to a good start.  So I will have to do three new countries a year to get this done! Wow, if I look at it that way, it sounds exhausting!
I need to start keeping my travel journal again as I cannot recall things as I once used to and hard to keep track of things one does on these trips.
I am sorry but the photos will have to wait until I get to Hong Kong and so will me bills. :-)
Ok a few fun facts about Croatia:

The White House is made out of stone from Croatia

3. The largest truffle ever found was discovered by Giancarlo Zigante on November 2, 1999. It was 7.8 inches long, 4.1 inches wide, and 5.3 inches tall.

4. The Croatian coat of arms resembles a Lily known as the Snake’s Head and Leper Lily. The Croatian word for the flower is Kockavica.

5. (As mentioned above) Tennis player Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001 after entering the tournament on a wild card.

6. Croatia’s currency, the Kuna, was named after a small rodent. In English this animal is a Marten.

7. Dalmatian dogs come from the Dalmatian coast.

8. The necktie was invented in Croatia and is called a “cravat,” which is derived from the word “Croat.”

9. Croatia has been a country since the 1990′s.

10. Croatian young people can vote at the age of 16 if they have a job but must wait until 18 if they are unemployed.

Yesterday a beautiful day of driving, today to Split Croatia

Yesterday we had a great day of driving, me in a little zippy diesel Citroen, hugging the curves and the coast. Beautiful towns and villages,  galleries everywhere! I have to do the research and find some interesting facts about Croatia, in the meantime I apologize, the Internet has been shoddy and I have not been able to upload my photos for you. I have to tell you a quick story of what happened to my in Istanbul. Of course I cannot sleep, so I was up watching the sunrise by the Bosphorus and I am watching this seagull on the ground and as I get closer it is trying to open its mouth to defend itself,  I know it is hurt because it cannot move. The sun is rising and the black birds are coming for their pray, this defenseless bird! Ken had gone to print some documents and I could not leave because I had these birds waiting for me to leave to attack this poor bird. I see Ken in the distance and I start whistling, calling Ken towards me. I ask him to help me with the bird to see what his problem is, as Ken gets closet the poor bird had two hooks in him, one in his mouth and the other in his foot with the fishing wire wrapped all around him! I quickly pick up my bird And race for some help, mind you it is 6:30 in the morning, I am at the Kempinski, one of the finest hotels in Istanbul. We finally find a boy that works at the hotel and he goes for help. In the mean time Ken is trying to get out the hooks, I want to call the hotel doctor, I need pliers to try and get these hooks out of him. I can feel the poor birds heart racing, a million  beats a second, the poor bird is trying to bite, fly, do everything it can do to get away from us. After four of us in the doctors office of the hotel, another security guard comes, takes the pliers removes the hook from the mouth and then the one from the foot, and he says after much cheer, "I am fisherman". I then take some iodine and place it on its bleeding leg, I thank everyone for their help, take my bird walk through the lobby and out back to where I found him. I set the bird down and say to Ken, oh no we are not out of the woods, look at his wings, he has fishing line all over his wing! We pick the bird up and Ken proceeds to untangle the line out from his wings. I then put the bird down and it does not move! The poor thing must have been exhausted, with a bleeding leg, unable to put weight on it, the bird just sits and starts to straighten out its feathers. Two hours later I check on my bird and it was still there. Finally that afternoon I went back to check again and the bird was gone. Needless to say I was exhausted by 8:00 a.m.. I hope my fair feathered friend made it back to the wild.

Turkey and Croatia the final stretch

I spent three days in Istanbul after just having been there this summer with Lauren. Ken had a partners meeting and I went out hunting for artists and catching up with old friends.
I did not have much success with the artists, but did have a nice lunch with an old friend from D.C.
Fast forward and now I am in Rijeka Croatia with Ken. We took a few days to celebrate 8 years of marriage! How time flies! Driving  yesterday was very harrowing because of the thick fog that covered the highway. We watched the debate and went to bed, early! Now we are up and on our way to Split, I will try to have some photos for you today.
Love &light,
E

Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, is a friendly place no matter what you call it

We just got back last night from Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, biggest city in all of Vietnam with over 8 million people and 5 million motorbikes! You might say I enjoy Vietnam, especially the south, where the people seem friendlier and more open to foreigners. We visited only
for four days and our days were filled with boat tours down the Mekong and visiting all kinds of art galleries.
We found one artist in particular that we liked and purchased some paintings from him for the gallery.
This painter, drinks, smokes and has a wife that is 30 years younger than he is, seems to be a recurring theme for artists! This seems to be the case with many women in Vietnam that marry men for all the wrong reasons, to find freedom, visa, money etc etc etc, unfortunately many families send the girls to tend to the fields after primary school and are never given the opportunity to do anything else with their lives. I think Ken (my friend and his dad) are having a great time visiting this part of the world, a first for them! Jack could of easily walked away with a new and very young bride.
Today I started to sort and pack for my return home, 19 days and I will be home! I will not make it to a year and a day in Hong Kong, but looking at my travel schedule for the next few months, I will have plenty to write about. Hard to believe that ten months have gone by so quickly.

Four countries in three weeks!

I can't believe it is October 1st and I am getting ready to check out of the fabulous Mandarin Oriental hotel in Macau and head back to Hong Kong to catch. Flight to Saigon!
My friend Ken from Miami came to visit, celebrate his birthday and we have decided to do one of his trips with him. So I am taking my Ken to Saigon since he has never been. I wanted to go there since the art scene is really cool and that is my next adventure! The website for our new gallery is up and running and still so far to go. www.gallery2014.com take a look, I will be home third week of October and start the construction of the gallery, I know I cannot get away from building something, I love construction. In the mean time we are traveling and looking for new artists. Best of all worlds!
After Saigon we go to Hong Kong for a few days and then we go back to Istanbul for Ken's partners meeting, I had just been there in June with Lauren and a time prior to that, it is all good, this will give me the chance to photograph a place I am already familiar with.
I am also busy with trying to fundraise for my golf tournament which is November 3rd! Hopefully a beautiful day to be out and play miniature golf with the family, if you have not signed up do it now!
www.hispanicunity.org. I will post photos tomorrow,  have to use my IPad for some shots as I decided to leave my computer at home and give my back a break. Last night we went to the casino, smoky and yucky, I could not hold out for the big win, but I did manage to walk away on the plus side, such good fun.
Talk soon, be well and God bless, E

Back in Hong Kong after two months away

Hard to believe that two months have passed since my horseback riding accident. Yesterday was my first full day back in Hong Kong and I was not feeling too great. On my last flight my sinuses were giving me hell and my back was aching, finally we made it to dreary Hong Kong, back to the doom and gloom. I decided to stay in yesterday, fearful of the pollution that I was seeing outside. So I took on one of my projects, to do a self portrait. What hard work to really look at yourself and shoot yourself for hours on end. At first it was, oh my God do I really have to do this, and by the end even though I was exhausted I had fun playing and looking at myself and all of my different faces. Today the sun came out and I hit the streets, I tried out my new camera and was not really satisfied with the photos, so tomorrow I will hit the pavement again! Tonight my friend Ken and his dad Jack arrive to spend a few days in HK and then we go to Macau to celebrate Ken's birthday, following that we go to Saigon for four days. My Ken has never been to Saigon, neither has the other Ken, so this should be fun. I must say I had mixed feelings coming back to this place that has made me so sick the past nine months, but it is nice to be in my own little bubble, do what I want and not really have to worry about the rest of the world. There is a certain heaviness of being home and having obligations, one does not realize, but they certainly take a toll on you. My husband set a retirement date and I know he is looking forward to his time to start having some fun. Unfortunately for him it is in September 2014 due to his many family obligations. I pray that time pass quickly for him. Here are a few photos of todays outing, I went out to find the zoo and got sidetracked. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. The crane is a beauty and it is the national bird of Uganda.