R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 53

Transatlantic 2022 — La Palma; Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito and Los Balcones on Avenida Maritima

Street Vender; Corner of Calles Anselmo Pérez de Brito and Vendale

Today I shall show you the sights continuing northeast along Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito, then take you on a short jaunt east to the parallel Calle Avenida Maritima. Here we’ll look at the famed Los Balcones (The Balconies) near the intersection of Avenida Maritima and Calle Tedote. But, first, let’s continue on Pérez de Brito:

Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito

Again, make sure you glance down the side streets toward the blac...

Fun Photo Friday — Transatlantic 2022; Santa Cruz de La Palma favorites 1

Red Door on a Slope

Today is the first of three Fun Photo Friday favorites featuring Santa Cruz de La Palma. Click on any image below to enlarge the photo and to engage the gallery:

Transatlantic 2022 — La Palma; Calle O’Daly and Plaza de España

Flags (left to right): Canary Islands, Spain, La Palma

At the conclusion of Monday’s article on our transatlantic Vision of the Seas arrival into La Palma in the Canary Islands, I was showing you our trek onto Santa Cruz d La Palma’s fun pedestrian street Calle O’Daly. Today we continue that northeasterly trek to where Calle O’Daly becomes Calle Real for a short stretch before changing names again to Calle Anselmo Pérez de Brito.

Heading down Calle O’Daly early in the morning

The street ...

Transatlantic 2022 — Vision of the Seas to La Palma, Canary Islands

Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas in La Palma, Canary Islands

Ursula and I only recently got back from a trip that began with a flight to Fort Lauderdale on 27 April 2022, and didn’t see us return until 7 July. This was yet another transatlantic cruise aboard a Royal Caribbean ship, Vision of the Seas. Now, I love sea days, as it affords me the opportunity to play bridge. And play I did, twice a day every day at sea. But on 7 May it was time to get down to the business of photography as we...

Fun Firearm Friday on Beretta Week — 950 BS Jetfire — Is this the original James Bond gun?

Beretta Week firearms from left to right: 84B Cheetah; 21A Bobcat; 950 BS Jetfire

“He then took from under his shirts in another drawer a very flat .25 Beretta automatic with a skeleton grip, extracted the clip and the single round in the barrel and whipped the action to and fro several times, finally pulling the trigger on the empty chamber. He charged the weapon again, loaded it, put up the safety catch and dropped it into the shallow pouch of the shoulder-holster.“

— Ian Fleming from his no...

Beretta Week — 21A “Bobcat” from 1986

Beretta Week Family Portrait

Time to move on to something considerably smaller than the .380 ACP/9mm kurz Beretta 84B Cheetah depicted above to the left. That brings us to the second of this week’s Beretta Week entries — the Beretta 21A “Bobcat.” The firearm you see here was manufactured in 1986 at Beretta’s former Accokeek, Maryland facility. As production of the Model 21A began in the U.S. in 1984, that would make this pistol a very early example. Today, the 21A Bobcat is made at Beretta’s ...

Beretta Week — 84B “Cheetah” from 1982

Beretta Family Portrait of this week’s subjects

Next week I start a new travel series, but in the meantime, this is Beretta Week. Can you guess from the image above what’s on tap today, Wednesday, and this week’s Fun Firearm Friday? Hint number one: Although it looks similar to the larger and much more famous Beretta 92, the firearm on the left is a smaller blowback pistol chambered in .380 ACP/9mm kurz. Give up? Well, then, the one on the left is a Beretta 84 Cheetah. Specifically, the fi...

Fun Photo Friday — Favorites from The Pink Store and local desert flowers

Two Day of the Dead Freddy Mercurys (bottom shelf)

Palomas, Mexico; More on The Pink Store

Pottery at The Pink Store

The last several times we’ve visited The Pink Store there is one particular sculpture that has really intrigued me, but we have no place large enough to display it. This sculpture is large, carved from wood, and meticulously painted in rich detail and color on both sides. It’s another depiction of Saint Michael:

Saint Michael statue (front) with scales and a sword Saint Michael statue (back)

Need a table that will attract as much attention as any art you might...

Palomas, Mexico; The Art of The Pink Store

You’ll recall that this series on The Pink Store will also feature some recent El Paso sunset and desert flowers. The above photo gets one of those two out of the way for today. I’ll feature later today a photo of a cactus in our front yard that blooms but once a year, and 25 April was this year’s date. But for now we’re looking at The Pink Store, and today’s focus will be on works of art you can find there. For instance, the photo below contains a carved wooden niche with a colorful depicti...