Another Web2 tool 'slides' off the edge of the Earth

Whoa! Imagine my horreur when I went off to locate the Slide show for Storm chasing done a few years ago and found that Slide is going the same way as Bubbleshare. Look out: that's more work to replace those slideshows in the work wiki for the tired out Web2 'non-native' 'early adopter'.

All the memories of the trials and tribulations of exporting my visual-image possessions from Bubbleshare come flooding back to me! (This will be the second export and re-do process for four of the nine slide shows!) It pays to keep the original albums in a folder called 'CNLCwiki Exports' to save the bother of retrieving them from the website going out of business. I'll still have to create new movies and upload to Vimeo and embed in the wiki: blah, blah... hope it's raining on the weekend...

Abbotsford Waiting

I thought I'd create a movie (slide show) of the photos I took yesterday before the storm. It was expected to be a crazy destructive thing but it slipped rather discreetly to the south of Abbotford, the thunder and lightning being relatively subdued.

The sky, however,  proved to be dramatic and ever-changing - so I tried to capture its evolution until I sprinted back home via the bike path in time to watch the weather on TV (not as much fun). The ominous clouds reminded me of our intimate experience of a cyclonic force storm on the NSW/ Queensland border which I captured for a very early blog post here a few years ago (here is the link)



I use Create Movie in Picasa for a quick product, and also scanned itunes with a word search 'storm' to locate an mp3 file to add an audio track. This took all of about 7 minutes and then I uploaded the movie file to my account at Vimeo (my preferred hosting site till something better is found).

It took 30 minutes to 'wait in line' to convert, then I returned to Vimeo (it'll send you an email to politely advise that it is finished) to grab the code for adding it to the blog post. Voila! A movie created without a video camera... and no mucking around.

Time to help the Muckaty mob: not in anyone's backyard...

Read about this interesting project and consider pledging your support:

'E'mpowering your Powerpoints and putting them 'out there'

When I finally caught up with a friend over lunch the other day we decided to make it a working meeting at a cafe with wifi in Rathdowne Street so that we could refer to e-stuff as we talked. The subject: how to 'e'-mpower her Powerpoint presies and find the best internet platform for her photography students to share and discuss their photos.

Whilst she's a very experienced commercial photographer who successfully uses Facebook and a blog to further her business networking, she has only recently joined the training fraternity and hadn't given much thought to using Web2 tools to enhance and extend her face2face teaching, probably because in the first few months she's been wrestling with the basic pedagogic issues of delivering content and engaging her students with the best activities to activate their learning.

Once the meal was out of the way, we got the macbook and the netbook out and flicked through one of her presies. I could quickly provide a few tips to improve her slides. She wisely requested my Top Three, so here they are:

1. Determine how much text you want to include and its purpose (headings, dot points, captions for photos, links to websites, thought provoking questions) and strip out the text that would be better part of your oral delivery or discussion.
2. Pull out the material that would better be presented in the form of a Handout - this is the text-rich technical stuff that students might have to refer to again and again.
   Of course, the question remains, what to do with that handout (after you've photocopied it and handed it out)? It could be uploaded using Scribd or Issuu or even uploaded to Google Docs and the link put in the Presie, that way, anyone who missed the class can still get a copy.
   Having removed your Handout, consider how to make it work a lot harder for you, ie set a task that requires the students to refer to it, integrate the subject content, apply it and then synthesise it in answer to your Questions (see next point).
3. And, finally, make your students work harder, ie some of your presie will pose problems or ask questions rather than simply provide content.

We discussed a few more aspects of the layout of the slides like making use of the design templates and including hotlinks, and she showed me how Presenter View works (so that you can see your notes and the trainees can't!) but we didn't get to inserting narration, video or voice files. Nor did we discuss in detail how to publish the presie on the web so that students can revisit it and those, who have missed the session, can catch up.

Having been around the block a few times with publishing slide shows and presies, I suggested unreservedly to try SlideShare, a ubiquitous app for publishing your presies (there are a lot of others but this one endeared itself to me when I managed to work out how to add voice narration and synchronise the slides and voice).

Web sharing and discussing photos
Our photography trainer would like to have a place for the students from her three class groups to share their photos and discuss them. She might also post links to new resources, course materials and events. What should she use that is quick to establish and maintain, and easy for those to pick up who have little exposure to the internet?

A Facebook (Closed) Group would meet all the above needs but only for those people who are already using Facebook and those who are willing to join for this purpose. Some people have a healthy distrust of the Facebook (its privacy settings have been the subject of some bad press) and these people would be excluded from this valuable networking.

Another option we didn't get around to discussing is Google+. Provided that her students all have or are prepared to open a Google (gmail) account, they can operate a discussion group, here called a Circle. Actually, the exclusivity of the circle requires the co-operation of all 'members' - it's not as secure as a Facebook closed Group... so friends of the students might 'drop by' too.

If they choose to, they can Hang out together too (live webconferencing which integrates seamlessly with the Google+ Stream).

And, being part of the Google suite of apps, it links nicely with your Web Albums (if you're using Picasa). And Picasa offers a lot more than Facebook Photo Albums (like local storage, basic editing and neat slide shows, called movies).

STOP PRESS

One of my Google+ mates just shared a notice about a giant Photographers' Hangout where you can listen in and join the discussion amongst some of the world's best (or nerdiest) photographers. I'm not so sure how that web live chat-fest is going to be mediated when 5,000 punters just drop by... here is how it works.

Premieres Oct 4, 2011 at 6:30 pm EST (11:30 pm London).

Sit back and relax, while watching the most engaging photographers on Google+ talk shop. Using Google hangouts, we will have in-depth conversations on interesting topics and facets of photography. Join and interact with inspiring photographers; ask questions, share your enthusiasm and expand your horizons.

Using a mix of platforms, you will be able send us your questions via Google+ and Twitter. We will have six spots in the hangouts taken by our moderators and the guests. The remaining spots will be filled randomly, based the questions that you post in the comments and on twitter (https://twitter.com/photohangouts). 

It's time for my lunch companion to do a quick straw poll to ascertain what her students think about the options.

I think Google+ will be the new social networking 'place to be' for people to engage on a particular topic of interest, like photography. It's clearly less limited than Twitter and better focused (no pun intended) than Facebook, its integration with Web Photo Albums being an added bonus.

Blog blog blog Blah Blah blah

Blogging has its attractions for many of us who have something to write, and, hopefully, some sort of an audience out there in the ether. I started this particular blog with an idea to simply try out this medium: but what content and which audience?

Initially it was going to be driven by my interest in the local area: planning and environment issues associated with this fascinating locality - an inner-suburb on the edge of hectares of Yarra parklands and the buzzing cultural life of the inner North.

But this did not really eventuate: it's a blog with one voice and I had little to contribute for an audience of family and friends.

It eventually proved to be very handy for posting short reports whilst travelling and linking photo albums at Picasa. It was working successfully for me but not for my readers. They didn't seem to get it! I emailed the link regularly with instructions for clicking the 'photo to take you to the linked album'. Even my nearest and dearest either didn't bother or couldn't work it out!

Interestingly, when I finally caught up with an interstate friend who had subscribed, he provided insightful feedback: 'we didn't like it because it was too impersonal' - so that 'public voice' I had adopted was not compelling for friends and family: not enough personal stuff - the stuff I don't like reading in blogs!

I prefer this blog to be an avenue for reflection on my experience of e-technologies for use in teaching and learning. Not an e-portfolio but an e-scrapbook.

I've decided to leave music and concert reviews to the professionals and the DIYers who are much more dedicated (and talented) than me. See No Depression for an impressive and gigantic blogging community (I didn't realise it was a NING when I joined - I thought I was subscribing - must remove myself!)

My friend, Cara, starts a Wordpress blog

More recently, after years of postponing the development of a website for our local residents' association, I decided, as unpaid secretary of such, I would take the plunge and start a blog. I chose Wordpress, rather than Blogger, because it seemed more sophisticated, emulating a website with multiple pages and other publishing possibilities. My experience confirmed all this - I still find Blogger clunky. And the Wordpress site is humming with activity.

Admittedly, I promote it to a large email contacts list and publicise each blog post on our Facebook account. We've had a significant number of contributions in the form of Comments on posts (I moderate for a modicum of civility rather than agreement) and one other contributor (the most controversial blog post, so far). I'm encouraging others in the group to find their voice and expect their engagement might increase over the next few months as they follow the trajectory in Viewing stats.

So - why have a class blog?

The adult ESL group I see twice a week are writing reports and narratives of (theoretically) 200-300 words. They are also expected to develop basic computer literacy - email, browser and Word skills. There is a wiki for students, ostensibly to showcase their oral work (podcasts and videos), and photos from events and excursions, and to be a hub for course content (including links to other online language learning resources and websites). The wiki is closed to the centre's community given students' reluctance to have their images and work publicly available.

I decided that it is not feasible to attempt to teach students to edit the wiki. They could have their own pages but there are administrative workload implications (for me) and we just don't see them often enough for them to gain the minimum skills to become wiki-workers. So how could they publish their writing and share it with others?

What's 'Posterous' in Turkish?

Well, actually, it's not really a 'word' in English so you won't find it in your bilingual dictionary (in fact, I'm not sure if 'blog' is in your dictionary either...)

I chose Posterous for the class blog because:

1. You can simply email your Post to the web address and it's therefore dirt simple to 'post'.
2. I hadn't seen the various Matrix instruments developed to aid you, with scientific precision,  to choose the best fit blog app for your purpose.
3. It seemed very easy to sign up a bunch of bloggers (they can even have their own blog with the same account as well). I was wrong - at best, it's idiosyncratic, ie weird...
4. Retrospectively, I've noticed that Replies have as much prominence as the original post and that whenever someone replies to a post, the post appears at the top of the hierarchy (so the posting order reflects the reply activity) thereby giving replies added prominence.
5. The author of each contribution (including replies) can be readily identified by their photo avatar.

Early impressions have been mixed:

• students are having trouble remembering their email and passwords (yes, it will develop important digital literacy skills in remembering passwords and practising ruthless accuracy in typing them);
• Students complain of receiving too many email notifications (one for every post and reply, it seems) - we'll have to turn that particular feature off in each of their settings);
• they're mixing up the email address (@posterous) with the web address (.posterous);
• one person got assistance from her computer teacher who kindly uploaded her Word document into Scribd and then embedded it as a reply to someone else's post - when all that was needed was a copy and paste from the Word doc into an email! (We want to teach them to fish not procure the fish for them via some circuitous route);
• the theme or interface is a little unexciting and confusing (thinking about improvements....)

Early emerging benefits and unexpected applications, include:

• students are engaging with each other's work using a Web2 application in a social way: ie. publishing, clicking 'like' to show that they've read someone else's work, giving feedback via replies;

• the whole class can undertake 'writing workshops' by viewing a post together (via projector) and suggesting changes to fix errors and improve written expression;
• teacher can provided immediate feedback via Reply and has Administrator privileges enabling her (me!) to highlight and/ or correct errors, or draw students' attention to model usage of a particular language structure;
• a body of evidence is being collected (without bothering about printing and filing) for assessment purposes; 
• teacher can start a topic for discussion and students can all contribute a reply;
• other teachers can subscribe and/or become contributors (thereby promoting the blog as a legitimate form of online communication amongst the centre's community of students and teachers (can't wait for that one!); and
• we can 'mine' the posts in order to publish some in the periodic Reading and Writing newsletter (rather than file pieces of paper - for the editor to type up - in a folder on the mantelpiece).

I'm pleased to say that the above list is even more comprehensive than that I read today at Free Technology for Teachers.

Around the block: built form, art and nature

This is going to be a quickie post just to introduce the slideshow. I've linked to the photo album at Picasa Web Albums (rather than included a movie) so you can view them on demand. Just move your mouse over the image and click. You'll then be taken to the Album at Picasa.

Yesterday was chilly and the sun came and went. Winter is hard - the sun is low in the sky and there is no pretty foliage on the exotic trees - just long shadows and eucalypts.

Around the block 25 and 26 June 2011

The art exhibition at C3 was a total surprise: I hope interiors are accepted in this round the block challenge! I usually drop in to C3 at the Convent on the way back from yoga so it's a legitimate trail. I was totally blown away by 'Numan' and 'Hanging Garden' and little Angelina obliged to lend these installations perspective. She was equally intrigued and engaged with them. Thanks Greg and Angelina.

The street art is a mere fraction of the public creativity around here. I'd like to snap more on another walk.

Finally I cheated: the coffee was 'created' in Carnegie later after a countery at the Rosstown. And the little creatures were 'sunbaking' on my back window sill, originally from Hermannsburg, they crave some solar radiation in this hard winter...

Flippin' Video for Dummies Part 2

When you're presenting a video to a formal gathering like an AGM, it's a good idea to run it from your PC hard drive rather than from the internet. So just copy it to your USB stick and remember to grab the CORRECT one as you leave home that morning...

And just in case the USB stick malfunctions - or you take the wrong one - arrrrgh! put a copy of your precious video in the cloud at Dropbox. In the unlikely event that you've taken the wrong USB stick, you can simply download your flippin' video from Dropbox.

Allow plenty of time for this download process. How much time? you may ask. About 3 flippin' hours for a 350 MB video. That's right. The download finished about 15 minutes after the end of the AGM.

When all else fails, ask someone at home to peddle over and hand deliver the correct USB stick (as long as you live within 20 minutes of your workplace). It works a treat.

Postscript: now if you absolutely have to play (another) video directly from the internet, play it through before your guests arrive, so it will play without interruption (buffering) on demand. And NEVER navigate away from that particular web page or else all that preparation was a waste of time!

Flippin' Video uploading for Dummies

Spent most of the weekend trying to upload a 'little' video to one of the hosting sites available for our work wiki.

What a smorgasbord! I felt like Goldielocks.

There's Teachtube - just for education - perfect! Except they only accept videos smaller than 100MB and there's my Latest Favourite - Vimeo a 'respectful community of creative people'. It's quick and cute but unfortunately only takes videos up to 500MB, or is that 600MB? I dunno and don't care because the video in question is 689MB.

So I cast my eye around to blip.tv which I seem to have used before (I've got videos floating everywhere in the cloud, it seems). You can grow old waiting for videos to upload at blip.tv and there is poor communication on their side when they spit the dummy after 2 hours and a big zero has uploaded.

I googled Best free video hosting sites and nearly fell for Viddler - it's got great interactive tagging and comments facilities which I might eventually use. But luckily I watched all their talking head how-to videos before going through another lengthy sign-up process and found a limit of 500MB for those too stingy or poor to pay.

Well, what about Youtube? I hear you ask. Unfortunately whilst they seem to accept anything, there's no privacy controls, and many of my students have a healthy contempt for having their faces appearing all over the net. So I think I'll just go back to the Flippin' software and split the finished product into Part 1 and Part 2, thereby getting around the limitations of free hosting sites.

Spiders, mushrooms, old ghosts and new forests

Mushrooms, spiders, old ghosts and new forests from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

...and the story of the Church of the Lake at Nagambie.

It was delightful Autumn weather for the Easter break spent at Moyhu. The orb weavers were out in force, just like back in 1992 (?) when you couldn't walk anywhere without waving a big stick ahead to clear a path through the invisible webs.

Everywhere new, lush growth.

A few jobs were undertaken and then a trip back to Melbourne via Nagambie to drop in on a chap in Heathcote.

A night out in ACDC Lane

A night out in ACDC Lane from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.
What does a cheesy Country ballad have to do with Flinders Lane cutting-edge street art? Probably just that the audio track was one of only two that I have of Dale Watson in my itunes collection, from the compilation album Ten in Texas. And I was keen to get the photos out to those who love our Dale. Of course, being the amateur photographer that I am, I missed a golden opportunity to snap Dale chatting with his fans outside in the break: I could've got him in the foreground with one of those artworks. Never mind, I got some fresh air and a close look at the finely tailored jacket that he was sporting.

The Cherry Bar was packed with punters: the air was hot and stuffy, and the oldies were jammed up on the benches round the sides with a perfect view of the band over the tops of the heads of the smart young things with coiffed hairdos like Dale's.

I tried to keep track of the set list - jotting down scraps of lyrics from the chorus of each song so I could google them later. At least his lyrics are understandable: whether it's truckin' and texting, crying into his whiskey/ tequila or beer or sharing his love and loss with us all. And the crowd was extremely appreciative - a lot had been to Austin (or so they claimed, in answer to his query).

The band was jumping - Chris Crepps on upright bass, new fiddle player Don Raby, Don Pawlak, pedal steel guitar and Mike Bernal, drums.

While I hunt around for those song titles, I'll post this for currency...

Fun with the Flip

In the last few days I've filmed an ESL class (more on that later) and worked out how to trim (top and tail) video clips made by the work Flip camera. Here's a short video compiled with Flipshare software on the imac. I've given up using the netbook because the software started behaving badly when trying to open it there.

Yarra River in flood from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

The floods video will be preserved for posterity: next drought we'll be able to view it again and again to admire the abundant waters. I really like the effect of the raindrops on the image.

Pan and zoom should be undertaken very slowly otherwise those predisposed to motion sickness might start feeling queasy.

Whilst I was filming Toni's Hands on English class I fortuitously worked out how to prevent the Two Touch smartboard from doing crazy things on the PC when writing on the projected image. Most of us are using the Two Touch at least to go to the internet and operate the PC by touching the board. But if you want to write something anywhere on the active area, it would inadvertently activate the PC. All you have to do is pull out the USB plug thereby disconnecting the whiteboard from the PC and Bobs your uncle! Problem solved. Just don't forget to reconnect when resuming 'touching'.

Here's the video from Toni's class: it was a little chaotic, especially when our student 'expert' told us we were folding wrongly. But that just gives us more 'language opportunities' for the follow-up class...

Hands on English at CNLC Making lotus flower from Jill Koppel on Vimeo.

The compilation process is amazingly simple. I chose vimeo to host these - it seems hassle-free and it's private (compared to Youtube).

By the way, did you hear that Youtube Facebook and Twitter have joined forces to make a mega company? It's gonna be called YouTwitFace...

Port Fairy 2011 Gem from Tim O'Brien

I've been away at the Port Fairy Music Festival (I think they're trying to dissociate themselves from their past exclusively 'folk' reputation). This time I took along the wonderful Flip video camera and made some (short) video clips instead of attempting out-of-focus snaps of performers refusing to stop still for even a microsecond.

The results are patchy, to say the least. I forgot to take it on the first night - missing a superb opportunity in the front row to film Shakura S'Aida and band followed by Rosie Flores.

On Saturday I started filming the French Canadian group Les Chauffeurs a Pieds (that would be the walking chauffeurs?) followed by Crooked Still - an eagerly anticipated gig only marred by the Flip suddenly and inexplicably freezing: with the battery going flat, I couldn't record, play or turn it off. So I took it home to show it who's boss, and then proceeded to have a frantic live text chat with a techie somewhere else in the world - only after first installing a Telstra moby broadband USB borrowed from a generous companion. So it charged up whilst its primary carer caught up on an hour or two of much needed sleep.

The day's entertainment resumed with Joe Pug, and Tim O'Brien and the Two Oceans Trio. I captured one of several special 'moments that bring a tear to your eyes' when Tim O'Brien sang and accompanied himself on fiddle: achieving an amazing 3 part harmony. Listen for his wisecrack at the start about how to tell if your fiddle is out of tune. (I'm still trying to master that trim tool in Flip - again, it refused to acquiesce to my wishes.)



The timbre of his voice also morphs to blend with each musical style in their wide repertoire.

Other magical moments included the phenomenal guitar licks of the young Donna in Shakura's band (eat your heart out Santana, Hendrix and Zappa) and the delightful duet of 'You are my Sunshine' with Joe Chindamo (on accordion!) and Doug DeVries, guitar. We were all bowled over by young Callum, the drummer in Blue Shaddy (is he allowed to be away on tour without his mum or dad?!)

For more on the PFFF experience (yep, one of the 'f's stands for folk) go to Annie's Cat Politics one of the blogs featured to the right.

Better go and sort out that chaotic pile of video files floating around in the virtual universe between netbook, USB stick and imac Flipshare, imovie and iphoto...

The Dance of the E-Learning Objects

It's all coming together like a great musical that many people have been rehearsing for weeks: some playing instruments, some singing or acting, some building sets.

Thanks Vlad B at flickr

Everyone thinking 'how the hell can we combine all the different strands to create a thing of such beauty and complexity as this?'

For most of this year, I cursed the imac for not doing what I was used to. But I'll postpone a situation analysis on the imac for a later entry.

The e-mentor project presented challenges to 'talk the walk' amongst the e-leaders and travellers. But what is the walk? What's the best way to use a bunch of Web2 tools with our students in an environment where access to the internet is never assured, where you never know from one day to the next if the necesssary plug-ins /add-ons are available to run audio and video. And the students' computer literacy is inconsistent and patchy.

Last year (or was in 2008?) I set up the CNLCTalks wiki to be shared by ESL and ALBE classes to both showcase students' oracy work and as an internet hub for learning resources. I drew inspiration mainly from Dale Pobega's blog and Rosa's podcasts st St George TAFE in Sydney.

We had some early modest success, mainly in uploading audios from the Communications 3 group, and storing audio/ video / screencasts for ESL classes and computer classes. We also put a pdf of the latest students' RAW Newsletter there, though I doubt if anyone actually accesses it in this way. But I really felt that the wiki is under-utilised by both students and staff. Even I have had ups and downs with collecting student-centred content and with sourcing and uploading resources.

However recently a few things have fallen nicely into place. And we're pretty close to running a dress rehearsal (returning to the opening analogy).

The adoption and integration of digital audio is a rough road to travel: operating mp3 players, file management, editing (simply) in Audacity have all presented challenges. Even now we continue to do battle with the Voice recorder in Voxopop and are considering the move to a Pro Easi-speak microphone to ease the transition (for teachers especially).

However, I'm convinced the discovery of ipadio and phone blogging is a breakthrough for generating teacher-produced podcasts and recording students both in and beyond the classroom.

And the other day I finally incorporated Dropbox so that my Netbook and imac finally share files - like a separated couple who begrudgingly communicate now via a mediator! So now I don't need to take the mp3 player home to copy files to the Netbook. And the extra memory stick I recently bought can be mothballed. With 3 copies of a particular file (doc/ mp3) in 3 different places, I can update in any of these places and know that it is quietly working in the background to update the other copies too. Wow - an app that actually works for me (not the other way around!)

It's time to revisit the question: where are we heading and with what resources and tools? And we're in a good place to re-position ourselves, our tools and resources for the future.

Phlog: some New Year's resolutions

U.S.#11 New York: cruise, museums and musicals

A cruise around Manhattan and an elevator ride to the 86th floor of the Empire State building were fitting bookend attractions for our 7 days in New York City. Many images were already in my head from years of viewing the slides of several trips to New York. (How come we never got to go with Mum and Dad?)

Each of the following images is a link to a Web Album - click on it to go there to view all the images in each photo album. Albums are chronological, but my notes are not.




The city is buzzing - no real end to the CBD - it continues in all directions with crowds of pedestrians heading all places. Yellow taxis everywhere - I wondered why they're always using their horns until I realised that jaywalking rules: locals in a hurry trying to beat the lights and tourists blithely ignoring pedestrian signals.

Navigation is a cinch generally when you get the hang of the numbering of the avenues (going up- and downtown) and the streets 'crosstown'. You can even work out distances - 20 short blocks to a mile and three (short blocks) to a long one.

We were told authoritatively on several occasions that New Yorkers like walking everywhere or taking the bus or subway - which is just as well as the roads are congested pretty much all the time. However, in the summer the heat is oppressive and we resorted to buses toward the end of our stay. Buses are fine once you get hold of a bus map and you have unlimited time to sit in traffic and at lights. It's probably the same pace as a brisk walk only beautifully air conditioned.

In seven days we saw several brilliant concerts including a Klezmer/ Bluegrass band at the City Winery, a gig at Joe's Pub by Country artist Marty Stewart, and I finally got to the Village Vanguard to enjoy an 11pm set by Joe Levano, Bill Frisell and Tony Motian. We also saw Memphis, a musical about the DJ Huey Calhoun (loosely based on Dewey Phillips) who promoted black Rock 'n' Roll music in Memphis, Tennessee in the 50s and 60s at great expense to his personal life. This was followed the next night by Fela, a musical about the life of Fela Kuti. Both were polished and exciting performances though the latter stood out as a masterful achievement in choreography and design.

City winery and Guggenheim Museum

My travelling partner was blissed out by Marty's (solo) performance and

got to give him some feedback afterwards when he finally emerged at the lobby to sign CDs and greet the few adoring fans. He's a real pro: I loved his stories between songs which established his credentials in the Country scene and convinced the audience that he was utterly down to earth and personable. He clearly enjoyed touring solo - for the first time in 15 years. Song lyrics were comprehensible and his guitar and mandolin licks were polished.

The Vanguard gig was great: I nearly didn't go due to all-round sensory overload (read: exhaustion) but it was well worth it. The trio were obviously used to playing together: I recognised a couple of the 5 numbers played (should've asked what they were afterwards) and all songs were masterful and understated interpretations.

Our days were mostly taken up by the Stations of the Cross: namely, the museums covered by our Citypass - American Museum of Natural History (traditional static diaramas), the Guggenheim (noisy and crowded), Metropolitan Museum of Art (beyond comparison with any other collection I've seen - in size and quality) and the Museum of Modern Art (too tired to enjoy but Cubist collection and Matisse exhibition were both impressive).


Metropolitan Museum of Art


I also made the effort (2 days in a row) to get the Neue Galerie. The first day I got there and had a quick coffee (in a real Viennesse Kaffeehaus with a real Linzertorte at a Viennesse price!). When I got to the entrance they advised it was closed! So why had they sold me a ticket 25 minutes before closing? As I appeared to be close to tears, the staff diplomatically asked me to take a seat whilst they consulted with the manager. They then issued me a pass to return the next day - being the final day of the Otto Dix exhibition. It turned out to be one of the highlights along with the Met Museum of Art: for its size (over 100 works) and sheer emotional force. His First World War series of sketches completed during and after his time at the Front constituted an overpowering anti-war statement. The rest of his oeuvre covers the spectrum of life in pre- 2nd World War Germany with expressionistic honesty and brutality, qualifying his work as 'Degenerate Art' by the Nazis.

Each 'Museum' day was punctuated by a meander through Central Park: on the first of these I aimed more or less for the exit opposite the Dakota Apartments on the steps of which John Lennon was murdered in 1980. Just beyond the Imagine memorial, i came upon a wonderful 8 piece band doing Beatles numbers and joined in the choruses of Strawberry Fields. They were flogging their CD of Beatles covers and obviously do a brisk trade, busking in that spot regularly.

NY MOMA etc

U.S.#10 Banff : I heart Banff

It was great to be touring in a car again. Abbotsford was the first fuel stop on the way from Vancouver to Banff (well, it requires at least a mention in this blog...).

Kamloops was a great overnight stop: it was a bonus to happen upon the evidence of settlement by local indigenous people dating back 4,000 years - this was in the form of kitchen pits remaining from housing. House structures were beautifully reconstructed in a reserve devoted to indigenous built form of the last 4,000 years, till European invasion.

Road east to Banff


We followed the recommendation to take the road to Banff via Golden and Mt Revelstoke and it got very interesting from this point on. I enjoyed the photographic opportunities provided by the sun roof - the peaks being far to high to capture from the passenger windows. And, of course, I insisted we have lunch at Kicking Horse Pass - so I could see what prompted our honorary Aussie to name his band after this top spot.

Banff is the largest ski 'village' I've ever seen: providing for every imaginable need of skiers and summertime tourists. Development is obviously strictly administered so that the natural values of the surrounding area are not compromised by the bustling town. The caribou are not put off by the traffic and graze freely by the roadside.

We stayed in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which is so big and grand that it conducts tours of its buildings and grounds for anyone interested. We didn't have time to do one, however, we browsed its dozen or so shops and on the last day I enjoyed a swim in its 30 metre lap pool and hot plunge pool. We declined the provision of parking (at $25 per day or $50 per day valet parking) as the room tariff was already rather pricey.

Banff and Sunshine Meadows walk


I got a lift to the starting point for the walk up to the Sunshine Meadows - a plateau which supports a complex network of ski lifts for every imaginable snow sport. In summer, a bus replaces the gondola ride to Sunshine Meadows. It's a relatively easy climb from there to the meadows. The trail is clearly marked and, fortunately for this solo walker, there were many people walking the trail so I wasn't concerned about surprising any bears going about their business. Wildflowers had almost finished flowering but the views hadn't!

I took a rest break at the top of the chairlift for lunch and as soon as I opened the plastic wrapper containing food, weazels darted out expecting to share it. They are much faster than the chipmunks or squirrels, and a real challenge to photograph. Feeling a bit put-upon, I finished the rest of my packed lunch at a bench a small distance down from the peak - a couple of local girls hiked past, one of whom authoritatively explained to her mate that the diggings next to the bench were those of a Grizzly. Maybe that wasn't such a good spot to eat either.

My walk took in all 3 lakes as well as the summit. Although I got back to Sunshine Village in time for the 4.30pm bus, it was full, and whilst waiting for the 5.30pm (last) bus, I chatted with a woman from Virginia, who had settled in the U.S (from China) 16 years ago. She was most interested in the Australian system of government, in particular, the social welfare / medicare system. And I was interested in catching a lift with her and her family back to Banff so we continued our conversation during the 20 minute ride back to Banff.

Johnston Canyon and Sulphur Mountain
The next day we chose the short drive to Johnston Canyon rather than go to Lake Louise. The pics can't do justice to this amazing gorge and series of waterfalls. We were advised to get there early to avoid the crowds as it's a popular tourist destination. The Red squirrels posed obligingly for photos. These are not to be confused with Ground squirrels which are plain grey brown or with chipmunks which are tiny by comparison.



Sometimes, the top travel experiences occur in an unplanned and serendipitous manner. This happened in the afternoon of that day when we drove up the mountain to view the resort where my nephew worked when he first arrived in Canada. I spotted the gondola up Sulphur Mountain and immediately decided to ride it to the top. With a car to myself, I got a little panicky on the 8 minute ride - altogether too tense to take out and use the camera. Nevertheless there were plenty of opportunities at the top to do so, and the day was perfect.

With local map in hand, I strolled back to the hotel via a track through the woods. It was suddenly very quiet and isolated, zigzagging about 2kms downward and dotted with horse poo - I imagined that it was far too dangerous to traverse any other way than on horseback. The bus driver had advised making a lot of noise (which is easy when you're walking with a companion) so I sang bursts of 'There's a bear in there' and chatted loudly to all the inhabitants so that I wouldn't meet any bears on the way.

U.S.#9 Vancouver and Van Dusen Botanical Gardens

We left Hood River before sunrise, having an hour's drive to the airport at Portland to fly to Vancouver. I realised I had not taken many pics of the mighty Columbia River Gorge so attempted to take some from our mini-van as we sped along the highway. Some of the foggy valley pics worked, in an impressionistic sort of way, but most didn't...

As soon as we arrived in Vancouver, we located the Australian Consulate so that one of our touring party could exercise his democratic right to vote - Friday arvo being Election Day in Australia. This worked a lot more efficiently than receiving postal voting papers in Hood river 3 weeks after having ordered them from the AEC.

Vancouver looks a lot different in summer: this was particularly highlighted by our trip up Grouse Mountain in the gondola. The last time I was there, we couldn't do much at the top except admire the view over Van and sit in the bar watching the ice skaters directly outside. This time we went up the chairlift to the peak and took the elevator to the top of the wind turbine to enjoy the view from there.

As we had only a long weekend in Van and we planned to spend it with family, we made a beeline the following day for the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens with a cold bag of champers and a picnic pack of supplies from the French cheese shop.

The gardens were in full bloom: I just loved the various outdoor 'rooms' of different habitats, especially the herbs and flowers, and the grasses. We got through the maze quite efficiently working as a team. The many sculptures featured during our visit were by a group from Zimbabwe called Zimsculpt: these were available for sale but way too heavy to bring back to Abbotsford in a suitcase with a 50lb limit.

This was followed by a lazy sunset on the verandah at Kitsilano, enjoying the view of the bay. Being a bit tired out the next day, an idea started percolating - to do a couple of laps in the longest pool in the Northern Hemisphere - at 137 metres it proved to be an interesting experience. The protocol is for all lap swimmers to swim up on the outside of the right line and return on the outside of the left line (there being only two lines marking the laps). Overtakers swim between the two lines. Got it? The whole effect is further enhanced by its brilliant location overlooking the beach.

U.S.#8 A few Cool Facts about the Hood River Aquatic Centre

1. There's a different tariff for out-of towners (fair enough, too).
2. There are no numbers on the lockers - that's because you bring your own padlock.
3. No-one bothers with the padlock (incredible but true).
4. The 25 metre lap pool gets deeper cross-wise instead of lengthwise (what's the reasoning for that one?)
5. Aqua classes are conducted at the shallow side so that the Over 80s can join in from the adjacent warmer pool (how considerate!)
6. The water is very clean - I know this because one of the women testified that she comes here from White Salmon because she always gets a rash after swimming there (urgh...)
   
7. On every 2nd lap, you can admire the views out of the open roof/ wall to the ubiquitous Mt Adams.
8. On a windy day, (and remember, that's why we're here) the canvas roof makes such a racket it sounds as if it's going to blow away.

U.S.#7 A big day trip to Mt St Helen

On the eve of our Big Trip, we dined on the terrace at the Hood River Golf Club with our new pal, Julie. What a great tip - definitely going there again! Hope the hummingbird comes back to the flower bed when we return ('twas a bit too fast to photograph).
So here's the link to an amazing story and video of a backyard hummingbird: Inspiring Hummingbird Flies to Stardom | Blogs about Dogs, Cats and Pets | Petside.com


With a packed lunch and plenty of water in the Esky, we crossed the border into Washington State by toll bridge connecting Hood River to the twin town of White Salmon (no prizes guessing what the favourite pastime there is...).

Within 20 miles we were well and truly lost - heading into Yakama Nation territory without a permit. So after this 40 minute detour, we were back on the other windy road on the correct side of Mt Adams heading toward Mount St Helens. There were a few too many ranges and ridges to count in between - up amongst fir trees, down in some birch forests and along some winding rivers with fly fishing enthusiasts wearing those boots that come up to your chest.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is very large and we covered most of it in 9 hours' driving - a few too many curves according to the stomach of one of our passengers. But at least we got back in time to collect wind surfing gear from the rental shop so it was worth the rush!

I'm going to include a link to a great website here, so you, too, can enjoy the 30th anniversary of the Mt St Helens Eruption. It seems the locals would like us to share in this celebration, and in hoping and praying that nothing of this magnitude ever happens again!

USGS Multimedia Gallery: Mount St. Helens: May 18, 1980

U.S.#5 Hood River: Windy one day, Gorge-ous the next

Hood River provides a lot of hospitality even to those of us who don't 'wind dance'. Most of the holiday rental accommodation is located on the gorge side of the hill maximising views of the river and Mt Adams. If you wanted, you could view the windsurfers and parasailors through binoculars. Click the photo to link to the Picasa Web album.

The steep hill provides a good workout for a walker - that's me - the sole walker. All the rest cruise the streets in their mini-vans or F350 pick-ups.

As a middle-class holiday town, there are many boutique and gift shops, and restaurants, cafes and pubs with balconies to sit out on and enjoy the views and the summer air.

Out of town, car touring reveals the many faces of the Columbia River valley and surrounding hills, dales and waterfalls.

This album includes the drive to Mt Hood and the monumental Timberline Lodge. Vehicles stop here (so do chipmunks) but snowboarders get to go further up the peak for a summertime ski.

For grand accommodation nothing beats the Columbia Gorge Hotel, actually located just out of town (near the highway) but obviously well out of our price range. It has loads of history, you'll need to 'google that' because we didn't stop long, just to admire the landscaping including the cliffs and huge waterfall.

We explored the waterfalls loop back along the road to Portland: Multnomah Falls are by far the biggest and most visited. Check that spectacular walkway over the falls. They are situated conveniently right on the 4-lane freeway and train line... The frequency of freight trains through the valley is staggering - I'd say, every 7-8 minutes there's a train of 80 to 100 wagons. And that's just on our side in Oregon. On the Washington State side there's another track servicing that state.