Capt Mondo's Photo Blog

One of the more visually striking performances from the dinner-time performance of Peking Opera set-pieces I saw this evening.

At Pearson International, about to board the plane in the picture. Long flight (12 hours) and even though I was in economy I did at least have some leg room and the two people sitting to either side of me were pleasant. Still, was glad to land in Beijing the following day.

The same plane upon arrival in Beijing. The interesting thing about this pic is not the plane or the place (the new airport is huge) but the colour of the sky you can see: it’s not the tint of the glass, nor smog — it’s actually dust in the skies thanks to a sandstorm. I could actually taste the sand when I finally emerged.

Am heading down to the Content Management Strategies/DITA North America
Conference 2008 conference in Santa Clara, California, and got off for an extended wait at Denver International Airport, which has to rate as one of the world’s dullest international airports. Basically a single, straight line with lots of docking bays for aiplane flanking out on either side. It sports the smallest Duty Free shop I’ve ever seen (with a selection to match) and a few sizable decorations, which are kinda cool. Thankfully I had my camera and my notebook with me so I could capture them.

An Alexander Eaglerock Model A-14 biplane hanging from the ceiling

Clouds, mountains, tarmac, airplane

Statue of Apollo 13 astronaut John Swigert, Jr.

Waiting for the airplane to be ready

Not the best day for Vanessa, as she had to have two more of her teeth pulled out in order to “make room” for her ongoing orthodontic treatment.

I’d been given to understand that only one of the two teeth that needed taking out was to be done today, but the orthodontist had in fact left instructions that both were to come out at once. Not surprisingly Vanessa felt put upon, especially since the dentist also found a small cavity (Vanessa’s first) that needed filling.

After picking her up from her dentist I delivered her to her tutor, which I understand was done largely with non-verbal gestures and grunts of “yes” and “no” until her gums stopped bleeding.

Treated her and the whole family to a sushi dinner afterwards at a small hole-in-the-wall sushi joint that was nearby, and then literally next door for a healthy scoop from Ed’s Ice Cream.

She was smiling by the end of the evening, which made it all worthwhile.

Ever since we got “Dawn” last Saturday there’s been quite a bit of news relating to her.

First night there was a particularly stinky poop that a too-tired Vanessa woke up to and couldn’t find. It was in the catbox but she was too tired (she had been asleep) to look for it. It was disposed of quickly and the catbox soon moved to the kid’s third floor washroom.

Dawn has been exceedingly shy, primarily hiding under Vanessa’s bed or other bits of furniture providing cover.

In an attempt to coax her our Erika tried to pick up the cat from its hiding spot, and was bitten for her trouble. The area around the bite soon swelled, and by the evening she took herself to the local emergency to have the now-swollen hand looked to. Her hand was put in a splint and she was given antibiotics. Erika didn’t blame the kitten, but she began to wonder if it had been too attached to its foster “mom” and had too nervous a disposition. Thanks to the antibiotics by Thursday the swelling had gone down and Erika was able to take the splint off.

Vanessa hadn’t been having much luck with Dawn either, and was beginning to feel let down about having adopted a kitten who was too timid to come near her. There’s a seven-day return policy and we were all beginning to seriously consider the possibility of returning Dawn to her foster home.

On Wednesday night I managed to coax her out and take some pictures of her, using a piece of colourful yarn on a stick. Earlier in the day Erika had done the same thing (using her good hand) to get the kitten to appear, managing to get her to come close enough for a scratch behind the ears without incident. I tried the same and while I didn’t get her close enough to let me touch her, she certainly wanted to play.

Last night Vanessa did the same thing, her mother showing her how to lure the kitten out by being patient and gentle with her, while luring her with the piece of yarn. She let herself be petted by Vanessa, and by this point any talk about returning her came to an end.

Dawn is going to take some work in order to get her more comfortable around the family, but it seems as though we have started off in that direction.

One of the things that Vanessa has been constantly asking about has been about adopting a cat of her own. It is safe to say she is “cat mad”, constantly drawing pictures or making crafts involving “kitties”.

Finally, this last time that we had my Aunt Jane’s cat Nick over for cat-sitting we told Vanessa that if she looked after him (feeding and cleaning) we would seriously consider the prospect of getting her a kitten. Vanessa was successful at this, and a couple of weeks ago Erika managed to find a good candidate from a cat fostering group: a 5 month old tortoise-shell kitten named dawn. Erika called and made the arrangements and she and Vanessa went and picked her up today.

Apparently the foster mother was very sad to see her go, but was happy that she was going to a good home. Vanessa was beaming when she came through the door with the cat carrier in hand. She then took Dawn upstairs to her room and let her out of the cat carrier.

That was about the only time that I’ve had the chance to get a good look at her, as she has been hiding under various pieces of furniture ever since.

This isn’t too surprising really, as I remember stories about Erika’s late lamented cat Naomi that she was similarly exceedingly shy when she first got her, and turned out to be a very lovable, affectionate animal once she settled in.

Vanessa did manage to tease her out with a piece of colourful string on a small stick, a perfect kitten fishing rod. Got to see a playful paw extended from under a dresser at the proffered string, as well as a bright pair of eyes that looked straight at me when I came down to her level on the floor.

Vanessa told me around bedtime that she had found a nice hiding spot under her bed. She still hadn’t emerged, but there was a constant purring, so things are obviously not that bad from the kitten’s perspective.

A lucky little girl and an equally lucky kitten.

Adding further to our menagerie we went to the local pet store by Queen and Coxwell today in order to get a small aquarium and goldfish for Annie. She’s been wanting her own pet for a while now, and since Vanessa has been cleaning up after my Aunt Jane’s cat Nick (who we have been “cat sitting” while she is away on her regular holiday season trip to visit with friends in Seattle) in order to prove she can handle a cat of her own, it only seems fair to get Annie something she can look after.

I picked out a small Hagan-made aquarium kit. Small (less than 8 litres) and wholly made of molded plastic (so no seals between glass and metal that could fail), it also came with colourful orange gravel (which matches the trim and the plastic cover) a filter, plus some goldfish food and some water conditioner.

We picked out three fish. Annie chose the smallest goldfish available from a “feeder” tank and named it “Goldie” (of course). I also let her choose one from a tank of small fancy goldfish above it, whose mottled white and gold colouring she called “Snowgold”. The pet shop owner then let Vanessa pick one out and she picked a somewhat larger goldfish from the feeder tank she named “Clicker”.

Assembly took next to no time, especially since both girls were keen to help out, and so all three fish we in their new home within half an hour of us bringing them home.

Annie was beaming with happiness at the end of it all.

Next, a new kitten for Vanessa.

Got an email earlier in the week asking me for permission to use some of my Ancient Egypt-related pics that I have posted to Wikimedia Commons for use in a book. Turns out that it is for an illustrated version of the bible from a small press somewhere in the States.

I answered and told them that yes, they could have my permission, though I have to admit that I felt a bit conflicted, since as an atheist I feel like I am “aiding and abetting” to some extent. That qualm is a small one though, since when I uploaded the pics to Wikimedia Commons I relinquished any claim as to retaining ownership of those images, all ostensibly for the “greater good” of Wikimedia in general. Turns out though that that provision doesn’t extend necessarily to print, hence the query to me about the pics was not just a courtesy.

Apparently they will use the pics (ranging from a wooden model of people working in a bakery to a stela of a late period pharaoh) and give full attribution to myself as the photographer, to Wikimedia Commons, and to the institution where the artifact in question is located. On the whole it seems like everyone is to be treated fairly, and I am disinclined to say “no” to a seeming equitable proposal.

The only real potential downside is that the home institution where the artifact resides might otherwise loose out on some money for licensing the photo directly, but in my experience they don’t always have pictures of the more minor items available, and whatever is posted to Wikimedia will not be professionally shot — the resolution for print will be low in comparison to whatever the home museum could provide, and in most cases there is glare or awkward lighting that inevitably degrades the quality of most of the images, even after a bit of PhotoShopping.

On the whole, I think the idea behind Wikimedia Commons is a good thing, and am happy to lend my support to people who want to include any of the pictures I have shot anywhere else.

Getting a photography credit in print is nice too.

After work I was asked by Erika to go and pick up Vanessa from Art Garage. While I was waiting I decided to head to the local Starbucks and have a Tazo Chai tea to kill some time.

I picked up a local paper called Snap, on page 30, I saw this:

Annie and Vanessa in Snap!

I remember the girls told me that a photographer had taken their pictures and asked them what the favourite thing about having a sister was. I’ve edited what’s shown above, but the other kids that were depicted were all of those who gather at the school bus stop, so they are all friends of Annie and Vanessa.

Will have to get in contact with the photographer and get copies of the originals from her.