Why I Oughta...

Another post in the series.  Pepsi J-Cola post here .  These are, from top to bottom, Singapore Hotel Lounge, JAL in-flight service and Marriott Courtyard Lounge.  Two skinny Red Bull-shaped cans.  One normal, 12 ounce can in the middle. 

I spent the day in the office and after opening the blinds, this was the view from our conference room.  That's Singapore National Stadium on the left and there was some sort of event going on inside during the workday. This is the latest in the [ View from my office ] series.

I walked through a food hall kind-of-place in Singapore and saw these birds hanging in the front of one of the places.  I'm sure it is delicious.  But....All I could think about was this scene that runs at the end 1 of A Christmas Story : 1. [I say *end* of the movie, but like a lot of you, I watch this movie in constant repeat format on Christmas Day and the end blurs with the beginning - you know how TBS rolls the credits in a tiny format in the corner???] ↩

With multiple visits to Tokyo now under my belt, I have come to realize that there are plenty of things that I am drawn to during my stays including the hospitality, the crazy products, work (of course) and maybe most significantly:  their horticulture.  Mostly their trees. I've posted a bunch about the trees of Tokyo starting with my first visit where I saw the Cherry trees in full blossom in 2017 .  Earlier this year, I posted some photos from a Spring visit where I saw some workers pruning street trees into a columnar shape and had the good fortune of seeing the deciduous trees without their leaves.  I also posted this photo of a carefully crafted pine tree outside of the Peninsula Hotel close to the office I was visiting.   The pruning they do starts young as I found a few very thin pine trees close to a building that have begun their pruning/training.   And...where I saw the most interesting collection of trees (mostly White and Black Pines) was in the outer gardens of

I stayed at the Tokyo Marriott on a recent trip for just one night, but this was the second time I stayed there.  However, this was the first time I had time for breakfast.  The previous trip, I had an early departure time and had to run out before breakfast.    At this Marriott - which has some terrific gardens that I'll post about another day here on the blog - is a converted hotel, so it wasn't built as a Marriott .  So, the layout isn't traditional, or at least traditional in my mind when it comes to a hotel layout.  The check-in desk is buried about half-way "back" in the hotel and is small and cramped with a low ceiling.  In "front" of that check-in desk area is a giant atrium.  In the center of the atrium is the restaurant where they serve breakfast.  It is free for certain Marriott  Rewards Bonvoy Members, so when I showed up, there were plenty of folks eating there.  The breakfast offerings are pretty robust and they have quite a few West

Every year, we attend something called "Fairy Fest" at the Growing Place in Naperville.  We build some Fairy garden stuff, have a little tea party, buy some tiny plants and then hang out with this guy in a gnome costume.  Or...a gnome.  He's pretty believable.  One of the things he tells the kids is that any garden with a gnome is going to be happier, healthier and wiser.  I kind of glommed on to that statement and have been pointing out the one gnome we have out back.  I don't think I've ever posted specifically *about* him, but I do have this photo (scroll down) in this post that shows off the current gnome that inhabits our backyard .  He doesn't have a name, but I've had him for close to ten years.  I think Nat bought him from Target and he's done a fine job making our backyard happier, healthier and wiser.   He's cast iron and has weathered being outside for those (almost) ten years and I really like him. However, you know what is bette

It has been a while since I posted a coaster here in the [ coaster collection ], but I snapped a photo of this one from a cafe in Paris called Le Hibou.  I don't remember the meal at all other than we sat outside, so it might not have been memorable.    The owl is nice as is the custom coasters.  #35 in the collection was this one from Aulani .  The last (and only other?) European coaster in the collection is this quasi-vintage Newcastle coaster that I found in my personal effects from my parents house.