Shadow Shot Sunday-Metropol Palace in The Nines

Daughter and I are on a 'girls' weekend' in Portland, staying at The Nines.  On one table there was a glossy magazine of worldwide hotels and to my surprise, there was Belgrade's recently renovated Metropol Palace.

Maybe I should do a night-out in Belgrade when I return!

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WEEKEND REFLECTIONS--the window washers

Not a job I'd like to have....

See other reflections on James' WEEKEND REFLECTIONS.

SKYWATCH--The Swing

Have to say that nowadays when I do swing, usually accompanied by a child, the back and forth movement makes me a bit nauseated.  Nevertheless, while my little grandson (not this older boy) was swinging and happily being pushed by his mother, I snapped this photo of an enthusiastic swinger.  He made me think of the following poem, The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson:

How do you like to go up in a swing,

   Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

   Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

   Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

   Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,

   Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

   Up in the air and down!

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Fleur-de-lys and....?

I only recognize the fleur-de-lys (alternate spelling:  fleur-de-lis) on the gate of this Seattle garden. Don't know what those pretty lavender one are....

ABC WEDNESDAY="W" is for "weally wed"

You can tell I'm hard up for photos this vacation.....  I couldn't find anything else for W, so I chose to post as if Elmer Fudd himself were posting. Are you aware you can set your Google settings to Fudd-speak? You can, right here.

These bwight wed chairs were stacked up outside a cafe in downtown Seattle.

See other Ws (weal ones) on Mrs. Nesbitt's  ABC WEDNESDAY.

Hospitable Bromeliad

Speaking of bromeliads,, I spotted this truck the other day. I googled Pineapple Hospitality and it appears to be a Seattle-based hotel group, with a hotel in San Francisco and Portland too.

I love their vanity plate.

Pure

A pure white rose after a Seattle rain.  And it even had a fragrance.

Shadow Shot Sunday--upside down again

Some thing are a mystery in life, like why Blogger occasionally refuses to upload my photos the way they should be.  This photo is upside down!  I tried everything; saving the photo with right, left, upside-down and right-side-up orientation, but none went through the right way.

Anyway, this shadow resemble a flower, but is actually a small garden lamp.

Oh, well.

Check out other shadows on SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY.

WEEKEND REFLECTIONS--spot the flag!

Old Glory reflected in a building in downtown Seattle.  Today is Flag Day, too!

See other reflections on James' WEEKEND REFLECTIONS.

SKYWATCH---Ancient names in the Grand Canyon

More from the Grand Canyon....I ran out of adjectives to describe the beauty; wows developed into 'spectacular,' 'breathtaking,' 'unbelievable', 'mind-blowing', and so on.  None do justice to the Canyon and even this photo doesn't give you a feeling of the expanse.

In this photo from left to right, if I remember what Gaelyn the Geogypsy and my hostess told me, we see more or less in the center three 'buttes' and from the tiniest to the largest (right to left)  they are Zoraster, Brahma's Temple, and Deva Temple.

These fanciful names can be attributed to the geologist and poet Clarence Dutton.

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A better view

This raven will have a much better view of the Grand Canyon than I ever will, unless I take a helicopter ride, which I am not about to do.  This was a quick shot, but I managed to get it in focus.