Diana | The Rathe Family

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

August 29th, 2010

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It’s Official!

May 7th, 2010

Class of 2014

Note before going to S. Africa: Make sure you have ONE WHOLE PAGE free in your passport, or you’ll wind up spending an extra day getting pages stapled into it, as we did. But we enjoyed our off-season day in DC–walked around the White House and Washington Monument, and visited the Folk Art Museum and the terrific Phillips Collection, a little museum with wonderful stuff, such as the “Boating Party” and interesting Van Gogh and Impressionist paintings. Saw a traveling exhibit of Georgia O’Keefe’s abstracts and some of Stieglitz’s portraits of her–wonderful stuff, but no pix allowed.

At the White House

Canada Geese

Geese & Monument

Renoir

At Last

18.5 hours

Very long journey to get there, but what a place! Table Mt. forms the backdrop for the city, and the beautiful cape sweeps out below. The cloud bank up top is called–what else?–the table cloth. Doug was speaking at Design Indaba, a fascinating international conference, and we were pampered, to say the least. Lots of great food for thought as well as for tasting. One of the highlights was dinner at a local’s house, in our case an industrial designer and architect couple. Amazing food, a mix of countries and professions, and great conversation. We’re missing our Japanese friends in the photo below…

Table Mt. from Hotel Bar

Up We Go

Cape Town-Robben Island off Coast and New Soccer Stadium Below

Cape Town-Robben Island off Coast and New World Cup Stadium at End of Ridge

Blooming Up Top

Another Bloomer

Conference Interviews

Dinner Party-Partial Group

Winery Farewell Lunch

Martha Was a Speaker, Too

Road on Wildlife Reserve

Yeah, We Were Roughing It...

Saw a Journey of Giraffe

A Crash of Rhinos (7 here)

Lone Rhino Male

Springbok...Tasted Good!

Had a great farewell lunch at a winery and then drove our rental to a wildlife reserve for a VERY short stay (one night and one 4-hour safari)–all we could afford anyway! But we did see animals–hippos, giraffe, rhinos, springbok and other types of “bok.” No white lions or elephants, though….

Penguins Moved Here in 1983

Basking

Before we boarded for home, we took a quick drive down the cape to see the penguins. A perfect send-off. We hope to return soon!

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ARUBA

February 19th, 2010

The Calm Side of the Island

Ruth on a Rock

Had a great trip with Ruth, who was down there for a medical conference. Strange place–one side of the island is packed with high-rise hotels and white powdery beaches, and the other side is empty lava-strewn desert with treacherous waves. About a fifth of the island is a national park. The people were incredibly friendly, and even the tourists were nice! It’s Dutch-owned, and many of the tourists were European. We snorkeled, hiked, and ate great food.

Our Chariot

North Side of Island

Wild Waves

Divi-Divi Tree

Small Natural Bridge

Hotel Denizen

Local Lizard

Butterfly Farm

It Finally Landed...

500+ Steps to the Top

Top of the Haystack at Dawn

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AFTER THE STORM(s)

January 24th, 2010

Yes, we’re not used to storms much here in LA. Five inches of rain–oh my! But this time of year is magical. I never thought I’d live in LA, let alone love it here. But I do…just not in September.

After Storm #3

Just up the street is a wonderful spot to view LA to the south and north. Most people don’t realize LA is backed by snow-capped mountains for a brief period in the winter. The mountains behind Doug and Jeff, however, rarely have snow–very low elevation. I restrained my impulse to head for the hills. As expected, there was a major traffic jam of people trying to get to the snow…

Doug & Jeff on Kite Hill

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Fern’s 80th Birthday

January 5th, 2010

I’ve started a gallery of photos from the big day!

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Rioja

November 27th, 2009

Our First View

We left the kids and took a couple of days in the Rioja wine region, part of which is in Basque country. The rain stayed away, the autumn color was at its peak, and we had the place mostly to ourselves. I never imagined it would be this beautiful.

LAGUARDIA

Underground Cellars

We stayed at a medieval town called Laguardia, a walled town on a hill with only four gates. Beneath the town is a maze of tunnels used as cellars and, back in the day, as a hiding place when the town was under seige. No cars are allowed to drive in town, for obvious reasons! These tunnels used to connect but have been bricked up into individual cellars now. We visited La Fabulista, one of the few wineries operating in town. They still stomp on the grapes there!

Surreal Vista

MARQUES DE RISCAL WINERY

We also visited one of the grand old wineries in the area, Marques de Riscal, which has been operating since 1858. We took a tour of the old cellars and the new, tasted and bought some rioja and rueda verdeja, and took a look at the adjacent Frank Gehry-designed hotel, which is now part of the marketing scheme called the “City of Wine.” Rioja is starting to fill up with these “Star-chitect”-designed buildings and spas.

We visited a huge wine museum, Dinastia Vivanco Museo de la Cultura del Vino (another vanity project by a winery), which was terrific (no photos allowed, though). Impressive building layout, all manner of historical presses and machinery, an eclectic but too-scattered collection of modern and ancient wine-related art, and 3000 corkscrews. The only problem was the quite obvious snubbing of the U.S. wine regions in the world exhibits. Harrumph!

Speaking of the U.S., another small town had something surprising–a statue of liberty. It was dedicated in 1897 to those killed in one of the Spanish civil wars.

A relatively new feature to the Spanish (and French and Portuguese) landscape is the wind farm. It seems like every hill is covered with turbines (and the plains are filled with solar panels). But this new technology sometimes doesn’t fit so well with the old; got stuck waiting as a driver negotiated the narrow medieval streets of this small town. He’s hauling a single turbine blade.

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FRANCE

November 18th, 2009

The journey began on S.’s birthday after school. Here she is with her birthday “cake,” a selection of 12 pastries she sampled into the night. Long but pleasant drive to Paris.

Stopped by Chartres on the way, which was undergoing a top-to-bottom cleaning, including the windows. Can’t imagine how amazing it will be when everything is gleaming. Saw “La Boheme” at the Bastille Opera House–fantastic!

Walked out of our hotel to the Sunday Bastille Farmer’s Market–100 stalls of seafood, produce, cheese, and bread–unbelievable. Bought our breakfast and lunch materials for the next two days. Doug made us wild mushroom omelettes! Onion bread–mmmmmm.

Had a very rainy day at Versailles, but it was intriguing to see the place off-season. The weather didn’t deter the crowds much, at least inside.

Stopped by the Eiffel Tower on the way back. The top was closed due to weather, but we were able to go to the second level. No crowds! Wonderful views. Went to the Louvre the next day–again, very few people, given it was a Monday holiday with no other museums open. Saw the classic must-sees.

Drove through Bordeaux country and stopped at Saint Emilion, a classic old town surrounded by chateaux and vineyards. T. decided to sample the remainders–delicious!

Stopped by Hossegor, a little surfing town in French Basque country where the continental shelf is near shore. The waves are crazy.

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MORE SPAIN & A LITTLE PORTUGAL

November 9th, 2009

THE ATLANTIC BOTANICAL GARDENS IN GIJON

400-year-old oaks, pokeberry, hips, and Laboral University view.

SALAMANCA, SPAIN

Lively city between Madrid and Portugal. Massive square where the city once held bullfights, beautiful old sandstone buildings, and a 13th century university.

NORTHERN PORTUGAL

Porto church and pier; Viana do Castelo with a modern basilica on the hill–impressive view and Sophia’s dream car; lots of old and crumbling buildings.

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN

Many pilgrims walking the Way of St. James in the countryside and arriving at the cathedral; gorgeous lighting.

LUGO, SPAIN

Complete Roman wall around a crumbling city in Spanish hills.

BAIONA, SPAIN

Little town north of Portuguese border where the Pinta returned in 1493 to deliver news of the New World. Below is a replica of the Pinta–hardly more than a tub with sails. It happened to be Columbus Day when we were there, hence the traffic jam.

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Gijon, Playa de Silencio

October 7th, 2009

We live next to a park that has a lot of fun playground equipment and an aviary with emus and other birds.

Playa de Silencio is a great beach near here. Kind of hard to get to, so it isn’t crowded, especially during off-season. We had the place mostly to ourselves. The tidal pools were really fun. Theron was thrilled to find his favorite sea creature, an octopus waiting for the tide to come in. He even touched it, and it grabbed him with its tentacle.

Lots of little villages here, and gigantic hydrangea bushes everywhere (Mom would like that!).