Marty’s photos of the day #2761: I remember learning about Venice, when I was in high school, and being absolutely fascinated. Also, several years ago I stumbled upon a wonderful novel by Megan Chance, “Inamorata,” that took place in 19th century Venice. So when the Within Temptation concert enticed Deb and me to travel to […]
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Year: 2018
Smoky jungle frog
Marty’s photo of the day #2760: I photographed this smoky jungle frog in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. Years later, I photographed several more smoky jungle frogs in Costa Rica. Although I have a hunch that, just like the fer-de-lance snakes in the Peru and Costa Rica, the common name for this frog covers species […]
The slow mass murderer
Hey Republicans! Did you see that your cult leader, Donald “The Slow Mass Murderer” Trump is trying to roll back yet another Obama-era environmental regulation? This time his administration is proposing to loosen the regulation on mercury, since it’s “too expensive to industry.” Yes, the man you voted for, because his stance against abortion allowed […]
Father and son gentoo penguins
Marty’s photo of the day #2759: Here are father and son gentoo penguins that I photographed on a foggy Antarctica day. How do I know it’s a father and son? Over the years I have posted many “mother and daughter” and “mother and son” animal photos I’ve shot around the world. So this time, to […]
At this moment, pretty much everything is better in Canada
Marty’s photo of the day #2758: We are in day two of what could be the biggest internet outage in U.S. history. So once again, I’m using my backup provider. What I’ve been able to glean from news stories is that the problem originates at CenturyLink. I don’t use CenturyLink for internet, but my primary […]
Molting elephant seals
Marty’s photo of the day #2757: There is a large internet outage in Montana and Idaho this morning. My main provider is down, but my backup provider is working just fine. Unfortunately, my backup provider charges if I go over their limit, so I’m going to postpone the multi-photo idea I had for today. Instead, […]
Gold for Catholic priests in Madrid
Marty’s photos of the day #2756: This week I’m featuring Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money […]
The Florence Cathedral—just a little church in Italy
Marty’s photos of the day #2755: With this being Christmas week, I’m dedicating it to Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around […]
The Catholic religion perplexes me
Marty’s photo of the day #2754: The Catholic religion perplexes me. In high school, one of my girlfriends was Catholic, and her favorite song was “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel (though she wasn’t any more inspired by Joel’s lyrics than Virginia was). Additionally, I’ve had many Catholic friends over the years, and […]
The joys of adjusting to life in a foreign country
Marty’s photo of the day #2753: One shock for Americans visiting countries like Spain and Italy is that you can’t always eat when you want to eat. I love that different countries have diverse traditions and cultures. Still, I have to admit to getting frustrated wanting to eat dinner at five or six o’clock and […]
Within Temptation and the little camera
Marty’s photo of the day #2752: Getting good concert photos is difficult enough with an advanced digital SLR and almost impossible with a pocket-sized camera. When Deb and I attended the Within Temptation concert in Milan, Italy, we didn’t see any camera restrictions (at least in English), but I wasn’t about to watch a great […]
Italy Observations: Bathroom Edition
Marty’s photo of the day #2751: While in Italy, I spent quite a bit of time comparing and contrasting the country to the United States. Here are my observations for today—probably letting on a bit too much how my mind works: In Italy, the toilets in most public restrooms do not have seats. This guarantees […]
Eurasian Coot and Italy observations
Marty’s photo of the day #2750: While in Italy, I spent quite a bit of time comparing and contrasting the country to the United States. Over all, the list in my mind was quite equal. For instance, I found the driving there similar to driving in highly populated areas of the United States. Italy is […]
Venice
Marty’s photo of the day #2749:After being awake for more than 24 hours straight, because of our Italy to Missoula flights being canceled and rerouted, I’m back home, feeling reasonably alert. While in Italy, I took almost 2,000 photos and am just starting to sort through them—deleting 300 in the first cut. Here’s a shot […]
Who knew castles were so effective?
Marty’s photo of the day #2748: Greetings from Seattle! Never in my wildest dreams did I think Deb and I would be here today. Our early morning United Airlines flight out of Milan, Italy was cancelled at the last moment. So instead of taking United Airlines from Milan to Newark to Denver to Missoula, we […]
Our Italy Swan Song
Marty’s photo of the day #2747: Greetings from Milan, Italy. Today is our last day in the country, and we spent it in the quiet little town of Angera (45 minutes north of Milan). The town was just what we needed, because both Deb and I had reached our limit of traffic and crowds. We […]
Within Temptation among the best
Marty’s photo of the day #2746: Greetings from Arona, Italy. Last night, in Milan, Deb and I savored Within Temptation in concert. Over the years, I’ve seen the best—from the Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen to Tina Turner to Garbage to Grace Potter—and Within Temptation is right up there with all of them. The concert […]
Within Temptation in Italy Tonight!
Marty’s photo of the day #2745: Greetings from Milan, Italy. Tonight is the night that brought us to Italy in the first place: Within Temptation in concert! Deb and I have a hotel room about a block and a half from the concert hall. The Fabrique is kind of like First Avenue in Minneapolis or […]
New friends in Italy
Marty’s photo of the day #2744: Greetings (again) from Genova, Italy! This is the only city on our trip where we are spending two consecutive nights. Yesterday, I posted about meeting Anna and Andrew after Deb and I ended up locked out of the apartment we were renting. We could only enter by punching in […]
Sometimes getting lost is the best thing to do
Marty’s photo of the day #2743: Greetings from Genova, Italy! Deb and I spent a big part of our day lost. Basically, our GPS wasn’t quite precise enough to direct us on the turns we needed to make. Then we had to leave our car in a parking ramp and walk about a half-mile to […]