DECEMBER FUN IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Living giant sequoia growing at 4th Ave & Olive Way, Seattle, WA

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s book writer and frequent contributor to this blog, visited Seattle and took the photos in this post in December 2022. I thank her for her sharing her many travel experiences.

Deer, two stories tall, on 4th Ave near Spring Street .

After spending two sparkling days walking around Seattle with my husband during a December escapade away from home, the three experiences below ranked as my favorite.

 THE ARTWORK BY DENNIS EVANS AT THE SHERATON 

This is a free, indoor, permanent exhibit inside the Sheraton Grand Seattle hotel. Named “The Four Philosophical Elements,” it is a four-part evocation of the four compass points and seasons, created by Seattle artist Dennis Evans in 2013.

This book representation drew my attention to the art of Dennis Evans.

What hooked me as a book lover was the book representation in the “South” panel. For each compass point, four aspects were described.

“South is Midday and Summer.

Color is Red.

Its element is Fire and is called The Phoenix.

South rules Passion and Sensuality.”

“East is Dawn and Spring.”

“East rules the Intuitive and the Philosophical.”

I love the overall concept and the execution in every detail, the mixed media, textures, colors and mini paintings strongly suggestive of glorious or moody weather. What a rich and satisfying offering! 

The Sheraton Grand Seattle is located at 1400 6th Ave in Seattle, five and a half blocks from the Pike Place Market big clock. If driving, park in one of the public pay parking lots across 6th Ave or Pike Street. After entering the hotel lobby, go left toward the Fountain bar entrance, then right down the hallway to see the artwork on the right-side wall.

THE SEATTLE CENTER WINTER TRAIN & VILLAGE 

The mini Winter Village (knee-high) at the Seattle Center .

As an amateur miniaturist, I enjoyed this free, indoor, daytime, annual opportunity to gawk at a model, quaint town of knee-high buildings ringed and crossed by moving toy trains with cars roughly a foot long. 

Click here to watch the merry-go-round and train in action.

A merry-go-round spun endlessly. A hot air balloon gave two dolls a ride. A rare treat for my petite self was that I could always see over the heads of other visitors, because most of them were young children. Some walked around and around marking their scavenger hunt sheet as they spotted the sasquatch and other amusing details.

This display was on the Seattle Center campus, inside the Armory Food and Event Hall building, where visitors could also buy tickets to enter a nature-themed playground offered by the Seattle Children’s Museum and hear live stage entertainers while exploring the food court for lunch options.

Space Needle and International Fountain on the Seattle Center campus.

After lunch, we wandered outside around the campus garden, past the International Fountain, in and out of the Urban Craft Uprising, a free-entry indoor craft market, and skipped the Space Needle, which we had visited previously, once upon a July Fourth.

THE GREAT FIGGYPUDDING CAROLING COMPETITION

The 2022 Great Figgy Pudding Caroling Competition took place at Seattle’s Pike Place Market.

During this free, outdoor, annual event, which took place on Friday evening, December 2 in 2022, caroling groups lined a pedestrian street at the iconic Pike Place Market, belting out holiday songs and welcoming charitable donations for the Pike Market Senior Center & Food Bank.

The spectators listening to any particular choir stood back to back with those listening to the next choir, so occasionally we could hear more than one song at a time. Wandering from one group to the next didn’t take many steps. We didn’t stand in the long line waiting to buy hot spiced apple cider, available in several flavors. 

The Evergreen Cabin Choir singing in Japanese.

The Evergreen Cabin Choir sang a song in Japanese, then a traditional American one. Some middle school and adult groups sang so quietly, I could not hear them. An adult group sang “Hanukkah in Santa Monica,” the song by Tom Lehrer. One Starbucks Chorus song was about lattes and caramel shots, to the tune of “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” 

The performance I liked best was by Mount Vernon High School singers. Their energy was contagious, their precision thrilling. They sang a polyphonic arrangement of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas“ flawlessly, especially after four people carrying clipboards appeared and identified themselves as official judges, motivating the performers to deliver their very best.

We had fun sampling the holiday spirit in Seattle.

All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold. www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2022: Favorite Danish Christmas Plates

Danish Christmas Plate by Bing and Grondahl, 1967

My husband Art’s aunt, Carolyn T. Arnold, was a world traveler and brought home many souvenirs from her trips, both for herself and gifts for her family. She loved going to Denmark and was especially fond of the Danish porcelain Christmas plates, developing a large collection. In her house they decorated the walls of her living room, lined up in chronological order.

1967, Child With Bird Feeder; 1970, Pheasants in the Snow at Christmas; 1972, Christmas in Greenland

We were the recipients of three Danish plates from Aunt Carolyn: 1967, commemorating our wedding year; 1970 and 1972, for the births of our children. The three plates now hang in our kitchen where I can see them every day of the year.

At the Royal Copenhagen Store, Copenhagen

On our recent trip to Copenhagen, we were delighted to find our plates displayed in the Royal Copenhagen shop along with the more than 100 porcelain Christmas plates designed by Bing and Grondahl. (In 1987, Bing and Grondahl merged with the Royal Porcelain Factory to become Royal Copenhagen.)

In her retirement Aunt Carolyn wrote of her travel adventures in her memoir. Many excerpts from her memoir have appeared at The Intrepid Tourist. As we celebrate this holiday season we remember Aunt Carolyn and the joy of traveling and learning about the world. I send best wishes to all of you for a very

HAPPY HOLIDAY

and

JOYOUS NEW YEAR!

 

 

EVOLUTION GOES ON EVERY DAY and Scientists Are On To It! Guest Post by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Congratulations to Dorothy Hinshaw Patent on her new book The Lizard Scientists: Studying Evolution in Action, available at Amazon and at your favorite bookstore. I have known Dorothy for many years, sharing an interest in writing about wildlife in books for children. In this guest post she shares the process of creating The Lizard Scientists, taking us behind the scenes in an author’s research.

I have a weakness for wildlife films, and I've always loved lizards. As a child growing up in Marin County California, I was allowed to have pets, more than just a dog, and lizards were high on my list.

When the International Wildlife Film Festival in my then hometown of Missoula, MT, featured a film called "Laws of the Lizard" I could hardly wait to see it.

This green anole in Parkland, Florida, seems to be checking me out as I watch it.

The film chronicled the work of scientists studying Caribbean lizards in the anole family that beautifully illustrates how evolution takes place. These lizards have a very short generation time. They grow up fast, and a new generation can appear in less than a year. That way, effects from changes in the environment can show up very quickly, and scientists can follow them. As I watched, I knew I had to write about these beautiful and adaptable creatures and the scientists who study them.

Here are Neil (foreground) and Nate on the job.

Luckily, the film makers themselves, Neil Losin and Nate Dappen, are also Ph.D. scientists who studied anoles in their own research. The idea of a book about this research really appealed to them, so we were off on a joint book-creating adventure. The result after five years of research, photography, writing, and editing, is our book, The Lizard Scientists: Studying Evolution in Action (Harper Collins, Dec 13, 2022).

Neil and Nate connected me with Jonathan Losos, the “guru” of anole research, and with several other anole scientists. I learned they traveled to islands in The Bahamas to carry out their research. I always try to join scientists in person to see how they do their work, but Jonathan let me know right away that this wasn’t possible with this research—their boats are small and the islands have no docks—no room for an extra body, especially one that isn’t used to leaping like a lizard from a dingy onto a rocky shore! 

After seeing this photo, I truly understood how tagging along with these scientists just wouldn’t work!

Jonathan suggested I contact a postdoc in his laboratory, James Stroud. James studies anoles in Florida, where several species from the Caribbean now live. James graciously invited me to spend a few days with him during his research on anoles at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, just south of Miami.

Fairchild Garden is known for its beautiful orchids. Here’s one of countless gorgeous flowers in the park. 

I found a weeklong rental, set up a meeting time with James, and got a ride to the park. As I awaited James, I looked around at tropical greenery and spectacular blossoms, many of them rare and treasured orchids. I loved the abundant greenery and display of brightly colored flowers.

Meanwhile, lizards already began to show themselves, and the rustling of leaves along the path indicated there were more of them than I could see.

A plain colored female rainbow agama lizard looks as if she’s asking, “What are you doing here?” A male, whose bright colors give these lizards their name, hung out nearby.

James soon arrived, accompanied by photographer Neil Losin, who lives in the Miami area.  As we strolled towards James’s research location, James snagged an anole lizard from a railing.

James gently holds the anole while pointing out its features.

“This is a male crested anole. See the loose skin on his throat? This expands into what’s called a dewlap. The dewlap of each species is a different color. You can also see the enlargements on his toes. These are toepads, that help him stick to surfaces as he moves around. Anoles are the only lizards with both dewlaps and toe pads.”

Here’s a brown anole with his dewlap fully extended.

James studies changes in the five species of anoles on his research island over time to see if he can spot changes in their physical features or their behavior from one generation to the next as they adapt to one another.

James reaches up high with his modified fishing pole to snag a lizard.

James does his best to capture all the anoles in his study area every six months. He puts each one into its own plastic bag and takes to his onsite laboratory.

When the lizards are caught, a colored ribbon is tied at the exact spot where it was found. Then it’s returned to the same spot when released.

The next day, I joined Neil on a field trip to the countryside near the city of Parkland. Some other species of anoles live there that he wanted to photograph.

Here’s Neil taking photos of a lizard high up in the bushes.

This Knight Anole is called a crown-giant. It lives in and near the tops of the trees.

Neil takes portraits of some of the lizards he finds here, using his portable photo setup.

On my last day, I visited the Jose Marti MAST 6-12 Academy in North Miami, a school enrolled in a special program called “Lizards on the Loose.” Sixth grade students in the school explore the ‘arboretum’ that’s on their campus, where several species of anoles make their homes.

The arboretum has great lizard habitat, with lots of bushes and small trees.

Several different schools are in the program, so the researchers can learn where the different anole species live in the greater Miami area. The students’ findings add information that wouldn’t be known otherwise.  James said, for example, that they had found a population of one species that researchers hadn’t located before.

A girl found an anole egg and showed it to me.

A couple of boys hunt for anoles in the bushes.

My Florida adventure provided lots of experience and information that helped me understand the basics of anole lizard life, but there is so much more—researchers are learning about how these lizards adapt to life in cities, how they manage to survive hurricanes, and more.

I wish I could have visited with more of these scientists who use anoles to study the details of evolution as it occurs in nature and who also love anoles for their fascinating lizardness!

*****

With many thanks to Dorothy for sharing her research process with The Intrepid Tourist. For more about Dorothy and her books for children, go to her website www.dorothyhinshawpatent.com .

 

 

 

 

MADAGASCAR: Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Red-fronted brown lemur, Madagascar

My friend Karen Minkowski, a frequent contributor to The Intrepid Tourist and definitely an intrepid traveler, is currently in Africa, a place that she has visited often. She writes:

As well protected from Covid as I could be, I decided it was time to return to southern Africa.  When I called my friend who lives in Zimbabwe and told her “I’m ready”, she said “Great, how about joining us in Madagascar first”?  Madagascar had never called to me, but without giving it two seconds’ thought I said “Yes!”.  I’m happy that I did. We saw landscapes and wildlife that were completely new to me and enjoyed many amazing experiences.

A full report of Karen's trip to Madagascar, filled with her wonderful photographs, is HERE  Just click to download the PDF. Karen's report is filled with incredible close-ups of lemurs, lizards, birds and other unique Madagascar wildlife as well as pictures of her tour group visiting Tsingis de Bemaraha National Park, where you have to cross a rope bridge to reach the other side, remote villages of the Zafimanairy people, and other World Heritage sites. Karen's text makes you feel as if you are a vicarious visitor to Madagascar. Enjoy!

Chameleon

Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher

Tsingis de Bemaraha National Park, a World Heritage Site

Rice paddies in village of Antoetra

The photos in this post are just a small sample of the more than two dozen amazing photos in Karen's report linked above as a PDF.