by Jim Bellomo | Jul 2, 2025 | Uncategorized
As I write this, we are about a quarter of the way to Africa. At least time-wise, we are. We are sitting in the United Polaris Lounge at Newark International Airport, enjoying a six-hour layover (after our five-hour flight from Seattle) before boarding our second flight at 8:10 tonight. This will be our 15-hour nonstop flight to Cape Town. We certainly hope our day gets better.
The first thing that happened this morning was that my watch did not give me the wake-up alarm that Siri had been asked to give me. I use Siri on my watch so that I can get up earlier and not wake Kathleen. It’s a silent, taptic alarm. Had never failed me until today. I’ve used it at least a hundred times. Today I had it set for 2:00 am and at 2:30 Kathleen woke me up and said, “Your alarm didn’t go off”. Luckily, I had only set it for the extra half hour, so I could do a few last-minute things that I got done anyway…but it was not a good start.
Then we were supposed to be picked up by Welcome Pickups (a service we have used all over the world) at 3:30 to be at SeaTac by 4:00 am for our 6:00 am flight. At approximately 3:30, our driver called me and informed me that they had a flat tire on the 405 freeway and would send someone else, who would arrive in about an hour or so. I told him that would not work, so he offered to send us an Uber, which he did. And that driver showed up in no time, drove like crazy and got us there almost exactly on time. Still ticked at Welcome Pickups, but a flat tire is a flat tire. I will be asking them for $$ back because our Uber trip in a Prius was about half the price I paid them for a really nice SUV.
Once we arrived at the airport, things calmed down, and we boarded easily and settled in. On this trip, we are flying with an airline we haven’t flown with since 2001, United. The primary reason we are flying with a US airline to a foreign country is that they are one of the few airlines (I’m not even sure if there are any others) that fly non-stop from the USA to Cape Town and from Johannesburg to our home. Plus, flying through Newark, we get to clear Customs here in New Jersey as opposed to at SeaTac when we get home. We can walk right out of the airport and go home.
The flight itself was pretty sad. We were in typical domestic First Class seats, but the breakfast we received left much to be desired. We gave it a C. Not a complete fail, but not really something you would ever want to eat again. The entertainment system was essentially worthless. They are experimenting with allowing you to use your own AirPod-type earbuds and connecting them to their system via Bluetooth. However, no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to connect. So we asked for headphones, and they gave us both a pair of earbuds that were worse than the ones I used to listen to Dodger games on my transistor radio back in 1969. We were totally unable to understand any of the dialogue in the movies we wanted to watch. We hope that this will improve on the next flight. It’s going to be a long 15 hours if there is no entertainment. To top it off, none of the movies have closed captioning, so we couldn’t even read along.
However, we did arrive early (which resulted in a longer layover), and the flight was otherwise uneventful. And that brings us up to right now. We are sitting in the Polaris Lounge. This one is reserved only for those who are flying United’s Polaris Class to overseas destinations. It has all the usual stuff, plus a sit-down, à la carte-type restaurant where we are about to go have lunch. See you after with a full report.
Lunch was…interesting. As I mentioned, it is a sit-down restaurant. We went in, and they tried to stick us in the smallest, tightest fit corner banquette in the place. Luckily, a very nice server named Eva rescued us and sat us at one of her tables. She became the highlight of lunch.
I started with a tomato and burrata Caprese salad because I was in New Jersey. If you have never had a New Jersey tomato, you have never tasted the best tomatoes in the world. We discovered this on a trip to NYC a few years ago when we ordered the same kind of salad at a small Italian place in Greenwich Village. The tomatoes were easily the best I had ever eaten. Since then, every person who has been to New Jersey agrees with me that there are no tomatoes like those from New Jersey.
Our entrée was their “World Famous Polaris Burger.” It was a “fine” hamburger. Nothing to write home about. The cooker they used to make the “fries” broke so we got our burgers and then five minutes later, we got our fries. I called them “fries” because they were really about an eighth of a whole potato cut lengthwise. Interesting but decent. Again, nothing to write home about. So far, all United food is getting a big old C from me. Hope the flight down is better. When you fly for 15 hours, you get three meals. We got to pre-order one; the rest, we get what they have.
The truly entertaining part of lunch was the couple who sat down next to us. They were in their mid-forties and were obviously very busy businesspeople. Neither one stopped talking on their phones. They sat down, and while she berated her assistant on the phone, he debated with a colleague. Then he left. She ordered a crab cake and the caprese salad, a burger, and dessert. Then she walked away. So did he. The table sat there empty with their bags next to it for about five minutes. Then the food showed up. He ate about three bites and out he went again. She continued berating her assistant while eating about three bites of the salad. She had ordered the burger with everything on it, but when it arrived at the table, she tore it apart with her fingers, breaking the patty into tiny pieces and eating those. All this time, she was having a full-voice conversation. As soon as she was done with what little she had eaten, she got up and started walking around the restaurant while still going after the person on the phone. What a peach of a woman. She probably ate ten bites of food and told the server to take the rest away… and then ordered dessert (which she split with her partner, who had finally returned). Then they were up and gone.
So, so far, an interesting trip. More tomorrow. I am falling asleep now. Only an hour until we board our flight to Cape Town
Technology doesn’t address everything – for example, air travel still sucks. —Brad Feld
by Jim Bellomo | Jun 29, 2025 | Photography
This will be my last weekly photo posting for a while, as I will be sharing photos from Africa most days, and the trip will be my primary focus for the next three weeks. This week started off a bit blah for me, with photos that I just thought were okay. However, Friday was the most fun I’ve had with my camera in a long time. When we return from Africa, I will have to start going out at least once a week and shooting somewhere besides up here on Redmond Ridge. My favorite this week would have to be almost anything I took on Friday in Kirkland and my Keeley shot (but that’s just because we love her so much).
It’s time for our weekly Keeley update. Today, we went out to see the F-1 movie with Brian and Michelle. Afterwards, we went out for pizza. So, we left her alone for about five hours. She is very good alone and usually just sits and does nothing. We know because we have cameras on her when we are away. But we always leave her with her ball. She loves her ball and enjoys chewing it repeatedly. The funny thing is that she never chews it until we get home. Then she won’t let us take the ball away. This is the look she gives when she doesn’t want us to take the ball from her.
More wildlife! While strollin’ through Trilogy today, this little lady stepped right in front of me, no more than 10 feet away. Then she slid back into that garden and kinda posed for me. I love the deer, but I reckon I love the whole setting just as much.
couple of kids in street photography.
couple of kids in street photography.
A Seattle landscape from the Kirkland waterfront.
A seaplane I caught in mid-flight (I hope this means I can get cheetahs in Africa).
Today, photography was fun. I had some free time, so I drove down to the Lake Washington shoreline in Kirkland. While I love Trilogy on Redmond Ridge where I live, it’s becoming really boring to photograph. It’s been so long since we traveled, I’m going photographically stir crazy. So being in Kirkland was fantastic. I took over 100 shots, and these are my five favorites. A little bit of everything. an old building with a dramatic sky…Enjoy.
Here’s a nice flower I took tonight. Sorry about the originality of the photos, my head is already in Africa. These were just outside our Trilogy clubhouse when we were there for our monthly Supper Club (which was outstanding—salmon and crab cakes).
Out for a walk in Trilogy and saw this wonderful bunch of green shades leading to the light at the end of the tunnel. Sent it to a friend and he told me to “Duck!” I liked that. I love light layered photos.
Once in a while, I enjoy taking photos of other people’s art. This is one of those moments. At home, we have a pretty extensive collection of ceramic plates we’ve gathered during our travels. I haven’t counted them recently, but I estimate there are about 40 plates. This one from Sicily is my favorite. The bright colors and the fact that it’s from Sicily, where my ancestors are from, really appeal to me.
Today’s photos are mainly for photographers. I got a new accessory for my Nikon. Kathleen took two pictures of me yesterday, holding the new accessory. The other two photos I took show what the accessory, a large rubber cone that fits on your lens, does. In the first photo, I shot from inside our house of our neighbor’s front door without the accessory, and you can see reflections of me and the light on the window I shot through.
The second photo shows no reflection. I simply put the new cone on, held it up to the window, and voilà—no reflections. Shooting through glass, especially on a sunny day, is always a gamble.
With this accessory (called an Easy Hood Lens Hood), I can shoot through windows without reflections. Since I’ll be shooting out of a helicopter over Victoria Falls and riding a cable car up Table Mountain in Cape Town in the next three weeks, I think this is the best accessory I’ve bought for only $15.99.
Photography is the simplest thing in the world, but it is incredibly complicated to make it really work. —Martin Parr
by Jim Bellomo | Jun 29, 2025 | Uncategorized
My regular readers might remember that we have not traveled since our visit to see my brother and Jamie in California for a week last December. Since then, I have gone through radiation treatment for prostate cancer (the prognosis is good), we got a dog (whom we love dearly), and I have taken 178 days of photos (as of this writing).
Now! It’s finally here! It’s time to REALLY travel again!
And we are going somewhere we have never been before—Africa.
On Wednesday of this week, we will get up very early (we leave for the airport at 3:30 am) to catch a United Airlines flight from Seattle to Newark (I know…but we had the tickets months before Newark had any problems). And then, after about a five-hour layover, we board a 15-hour nonstop flight from Newark to Cape Town, South Africa. The rest of the trip looks like the map you see above.
First up is four nights in Cape Town. I know the map has a little three on it, but we are going in a day early. After Cape Town, we fly north to Kasane in Botswana, and then we take a cruise.
Sounds strange to say that we are taking a cruise in the middle of Southern Africa, but our entire trip is planned, coordinated and carried out by AmaWaterways—a European river cruise company. So, in the middle of this trip, we get a four-night river cruise on the Chobe River that is the border between Botswana and Namibia.
After our four nights on the Chobe, we will drive about 90 minutes on a “luxury motor coach” to Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We will spend two nights there, which will include a train ride (with dinner and drinks) across the falls, a boat ride at the bottom of the falls (with drinks and appetizers), and finally (yes, I actually booked it) a helicopter ride above the falls.
The next morning, we are off on another flight to Johannesburg (back in South Africa), where we will spend two nights. During the second day, we will tour one of the townships north of the city. That should be very interesting.
We finish up the trip with three nights at the Tintswalo Lodge in Kruger National Park, where we hope to see even more of Africa’s diverse wildlife. After our time there, we board a plane to fly back to Johannesburg, change planes and fly home. Everyone who has done this trip tells us it will be “the trip of a lifetime!” I just want it to be the equal of our current “trip of a lifetime,” to the Galapagos. I think it will measure up.
My first post from the trip should go live on Wednesday, either from SeaTac before we depart or from Newark while we layover before our 15-hour plane ride down to Cape Town. See you then.
I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself. —Nelson Mandela
by Jim Bellomo | Jun 22, 2025 | 365
Here they are, photos from the third week of June. I really liked the ones I got this week, especially the deer, the robin and the cows. It was an action-packed week, especially if you throw in the Keeley action shot. Good practice for Africa…less than two weeks to go.
My other passion, besides photography, is cooking, which I truly love. Over the years, I’ve realized that this is how I express my affection for friends and relatives. I enjoy cooking for those I care about… or even like. Tomorrow, we’re having friends over, meaning I spent some of today preparing and will spend a lot of tomorrow cooking, and I LOVE IT! These books are just a few of the cookbooks I own; I got rid of many more when we moved three years ago. I kept the ones I really love, even though I hardly ever use them. Most of my best recipes (even the ones that came out of these books) are on my iPad in an app called Paprika, maybe the best app I own.
I took an afternoon walk on a trail next to the Snoqualmie River in Duvall, a small town just east of where we live on Redmond Ridge.
It was a sunny, dusty day, but I captured some good greenery shots before they turn brown later this summer.
The robin and cow shots are just me practicing my wildlife skills for Africa. Two weeks from tomorrow…we fly!
A quick shot I took today with my phone while my son and I attended a Seattle Mariners game. My kids and I have been going to Mariners games since the early 1990s. My son and I aim to catch at least one game each year. This year we’ve already been to two. It’s one of the ways I’ve bonded with both my kids. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a game with my daughter, but that was her gift to me for Father’s Day, so we will be going (with Joel and the grandkids) in August. If you don’t live in Seattle, T-Mobile Park is gorgeous. It’s a great place to watch a game, and today we had really good seats.
Took Keeley to the dog park today. She had a great time, and it gave me a chance to practice my action photography. I think she is happiest when I throw a ball for her. One thing we have learned is that we have to limit how many times we throw the ball. With her hip dysplasia, if we throw the ball more than that, she can barely walk the next day. As it is, she is panting beyond belief after only ten throws.
The two teens and a fawn.
The two teens
This is mom.
You may notice that there are five deer: a mother lying down, two teenagers (the ones with antlers—probably born last year), and two fawns—probably born this year.
On Fridays, I drive into downtown Redmond to grocery shop. I visit our local supermarket (QFC), Trader Joe’s, and on some days, PCC (our local food co-op). This morning, I drove by a large grassy area that I pass every time I head downtown. Today, I looked over and saw seven deer just standing there, eating grass. Unfortunately, there was no place to pull over, so I had to pass on photographing them. Ninety minutes later, as I was headed home, I was amazed to see that they were still there, still eating grass. Now, with very little traffic, I was able to pull off the road, get out, and shoot to my heart’s content. That’s why you get five photos today.
Yesterday, another person doing a 365 in the group that started with me back in January mentioned that he had taken his granddaughter to the Strawberry Festival in their Colorado city. Unfortunately, he said there were no strawberries. Well, maybe that’s because they are all here. This year, we have had the most amazing strawberries: sweet, dark, and juicy. The young lady who has sold them to me for the last three weeks at our Saturday Market told me that this varietal is a darker and sweeter strawberry, but they don’t last as long as the less sweet ones. I told her it was fine if they didn’t last as long because we always eat them in no time at all.
While out for a walk today with Keeley, we reached a wooden walkway over the final section of a lake that I have shared photos of previously. It was a beautiful day with a lovely sky. We had rain all day yesterday and this morning, but by the time we walked, it began to clear up. Later, it warmed up for a while, which made us both feel hot as we walked on the streets. Fortunately, I had brought water with me for her. I must say I took this with my phone using Apple’s version of Camera RAW, and I am NOT happy with the quality. It has become clear that Apple’s RAW is not meant for everything. That’s why I shoot with my Nikon—for better control over my photos.
I was born in Hoboken. I am an American. Photography is my passion. The search for Truth my obsession. —Alfred Stieglitz
by Jim Bellomo | Jun 15, 2025 | 365
With photo 165 today, I am 200 days away from the end of this 365 program. 165 photos is a good milestone, and so far, I am happy with some of the pics I have taken. Others not so much. This week, I must say I’ve taken some great forest shots. I think the first one I took last Monday, of the skateboarder in the forest, is my favorite photo-wise. However, my amazing grandson being promoted to high school is my sentimental favorite.
Don’t forget: if you click on the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. Additionally, while viewing the individual photos, click the small ‘i’ at the bottom of the page to read the full caption and view my photographic metadata.
It’s not often that you see a skateboarder riding through the forest, but that’s what I witnessed today. He was kind enough to provide me with a focal point for my shot. I had come to this location to capture the various shades of light in the forest, and he just happened to come along.
I went out for a short photo walk today. I found this gorgeous tree that was completely pink a week ago. Now, it’s just a patch. I saw some other things, but I will return another day when I need something different. I’m just glad I live in such a beautiful and scenic place like Trilogy at Redmond Ridge.
Today was a special day that feels like it arrived far too soon. Fourteen years ago this month, I had a four-month-old grandson, and today he graduated from middle school and will be a freshman in high school next fall. I am incredibly close to Mason—we bonded when he was just a toddler and I took care of him—and I have to admit I shed a tear and got a little choked up when this almost-as-tall-as-me young man, who is now my nearly adult grandson, led his class into the promotion ceremony. Words truly cannot describe how proud I am of him and how much I love him.
Around 3:45 this afternoon, I heard a robin going crazy singing. So, I grabbed my camera and went outside. I took a few photos of him perched on top of our neighbor’s roof. I told Kathleen that I didn’t think I had gotten a decent photo from the bunch I had taken. Then, I captured a bunch of Keeleys and thought I would share a weekly Keeley today. However, when I tried to transfer them to my Mac, I loved the whole silhouette idea. I hope you do too.
The jewel of Redmond has to be Marymoor Park. It’s a county park that spans 640 acres with miles of trails, a river, a lake on its edge, as well as an off-leash dog park, summer concerts, a large number of ballfields, and one lonely windmill. So here’s a photo of that windmill with the Sammamish River in the foreground. By the way, after a week of summer weather, we have settled into what we here in the Puget Sound area call “June Gloom.”
In my quest to get more out of shots taken with my iPhone 16, I decided to try Apple’s version of RAW. It works quite well with Photoshop’s Camera RAW plug-in, but you need to export it instead of simply dragging it out of Photos. Overall, I was able to work with it effectively.
Some of the other photographers I’ve been doing this 365 with have hired models, and I recently watched a Kelby One class on travel photography that advocated hiring a model for certain types of shoots. Today, I needed a model, and fortunately, I have one living in my house. With a little encouragement, she sat in our shade garden and posed for me. Plus, she works cheap—about seven treats.
Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. —Aaron Siskind
