Heading Home from Newark Airport

I shooed a pigeon off the PATH train, so that kinda makes up for me letting one into that coffee shop in Venice.

A Real Visit This Time

Twenty years ago, on December 1st, I boarded a train in Rome, connected via Milan, and spent the night on a couchette headed to Zurich. I had one or two cracked ribs, was on antibiotics for a respiratory infection, and my left side was still covered in bruises from the Ethiopian Isuzu crash. But I was recovering after the aid of an Italian doctor, and I had just enough energy to leave the Milan train platform to walk outside to see the grand hall of the station, and then walked out front to glance around.

The area in front of the Milan train station at night didn’t tell me much about Milan, and after 11 months of local transport travel, I was uninspired by my quick glance around. Plus, I was looking forward to my trip on the Bernina Express through the Alps. I wasn’t really there for Milan.

Try Something New

This seems to be a ball of pistachio cream. Gonna investigate as soon as I find my titanium spork.

From Venice to Milan by Train

Buon giorno. My time in Venice has drawn to a close. Taking the morning train back to Milan.

A Walk In Venice

I’m missing a comic con but I’m okay with that.

Stop That Pigeon

During the few seconds I opened the door to depart a Venice coffee shop, a pigeon flew in.

There wasn't much I could do about it. I skulked away in shame.

Perhaps I Should Have Gone to Turkey

I’m having a cannoli for Thanksgiving, because I’m in Venice. Not the one with Muscle Beach.

Global pandemics plus winter makes a great time to travel.

Venice is relatively empty.

Backyard Drama

I ordered an expensive, insulated, waterproof feral cat house, and right after that I noticed someone had murdered a bird and left its wings on the nun's driveway.

What little monsters. They're not helping.

Cold Kitty

This handsome fellow—nicknamed Gigi by the kids upstairs—joined our backyard wildlife preserve sometime the past winter, when Jay the orange Flash cat brought him home from...wherever cats go to meet other cats. We didn't really sign up for two cats. Actually, we didn't exactly sign up for one cat, but I kinda did when I trapped Jay and got him neutered.

I'm back in JC now, and last night after I signed off from work in Burbank, I heard a pathetic mewing outside. It was Gigi, mewing sadly at the cat house I made last year. It's a plastic crate full of foam board insulation taped in tightly, the floor covered with straw. The door is a hole I cut with a box cutter, with a half a flower pot stuck in and taped. There's a bit of shower curtain covering the door to keep out the rain.

Day Job

I say things sometimes, and sometimes I get lucky and don't say them in a stupid way.

2021 Bundt Day

Happy National Bundt Day! how did your Bundts come out?

Annual Reminder

National Bundt Day is coming! I am trying once again to bake a Tunnel of Fudge.

Archeology

 Here's a classic photo my mother scanned in. Wow. 

An Overdose of Polar Bears

I put my whole polar bear photo and video album onto Google Photos, because I went a bit overboard and put in way too many photos of bears doing the same thing from image to image. Open the "Info" panel to read along and see what you're looking at.

Here's an explanation of what I was checking out, from a children's atlas I wrote in 2007.

POLAR BEARS IN MANITOBA [PAGE 23]

The tiny town of Churchill in the Canadian province of Manitoba gets an influx of carnivorous furry white visitors every autumn. There's a reason the sign welcoming visitors to the town says "Polar Bear Capital of the World."

Churchill sits smack-dab on the migratory path of hundreds of polar bears, which roam the frozen plains of Canada in the summer, but make beelines for Churchill as soon as it starts to ice over in October. Why? Because it's right next to Hudson Bay, a polar bear's favorite restaurant!

Where's the Bear? Over There!

 Your daily bears. 

How Klondike Bars Are Made

Your daily bear. Baby bear makes a bed in kelp.

Traffic Impediment

Here's a fun video from yesterday.

Lounging

Morning miracle. I am at Winnipeg Airport at 5 a.m.

Offline

I can only upload a few things on the local signal but I’ll be back on the grid tomorrow night.

Caffeinated

I made the Uber driver stop at Tim Hortons en route to the charter flight hangar.

New high or new low? I can’t decide.

Over the Border

I’ve had three Covid tests since Friday. Travel is fun!

(All negative.)