Sunday, May 31, 2009

Tahoma for Tea and more


    Saturday started out quietly and then Jey-hu reminded me we had an 'afternoon tea party' to attend. His business is installing entertainment systems (home theatres, intercoms, security, etc.) and a client of his was opening up a Chinese Tea Room so we were invited to attend. It was a lovely event featuring the Chinese artist, Liang Wei, who has developed quite a following internationally. (You can see his website by clicking on his name.)
    After the tea, we drove a short distance down to a viewing spot to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and watched a couple who had recently gotten married have their pictures taken among the old pilings. An interesting choice for such an event. I captured a shot of the groom checking out the time on his watch and I wondered if he was concerned about making a honeymoon airplane deadline, or was he getting bored with all the women directing him to stand in certain places while the photos were being taken? Or both? But we had our own agenda for the day, so we left the happy couple on the wierd beach and headed over the bridge and up the island. There are now two bridges over the Narrows and there is a toll for those who wish to leave the Olympic Peninsula heading east. "Galloping Gertie," the original bridge renowned for its undulations and sometimes even violent movements, constructed in the late 1930's, twisted itself into oblivion in the high winds of November 1940 and ended the joy ride that many people drove miles to experience - that of driving on a bridge in motion.
    After lovely scones and cookies, there was no reason to stop for anything else to eat, so we just zipped along under clear and sunny skies to the ferry boat at Kingston which would deposit us in Edmonds. 
We saw two "Cobras," the AC Cobra sports car popular in the 1960's and one was a red one with the white stripe down the middle of the hood and the other was a traditional dark blue. 

The occupants of that one were cheerful and waved at us. So Jey-hu waved  back. We arrived at the ferry just after one had filled up so we had a little bit of a wait. We used the time wisely taking pictures of ships transiting Puget Sound.... There were three (3!) of these behemoths heading out - probably for Alaska - all within a short time of each other. I pondered the numbers of people who were on board and whether or not this was their first shipboard experience. As Jey-hu and I were discussing cruising,
an older fellow approached us and wanted to talk about the camera and the telephoto lens we were using. He was originally from Holland but settled in the U.S. long ago and then to Whidbey Island about a decade ago. He shared his sailing experiences with us and he apparently was a photographer himself at one point in his life. He might not have been much of a sailor,
by his own report, but he was interesting to talk to and that's what this journey is all about... making contact with other life forms!

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