Impact Fusion

San Francisco seems to be a city everyone loves once they arrive, a city that seems to embrace everyone as long as you, in turn, embrace everyone back.  If I had the time and energy right now for another trip, I’d head in the direction of the San Francisco Bay and seek out the one place I haven’t been to in over two decades: Fisherman’s Wharf.

If you look out at the wharf, you’ll see a number of boats here, most of which belong to a third generation of descendants of the fishermen who originally made a living in the Bay.  Until the turn of the century, from the nineteenth to the twentieth, these boats were often rigged sailboats known as feluccas and looked a lot like the boats used in Italy during the same time period.  At that time, the fishermen would sing back and forth in the fog to make everyone else aware of their presence.  The next generation’s boats were known as Monterey Hull boats, and these had gas engines, allowing fisherman to practice their trade more often throughout the year, providing power to haul fish in via lines or nets.  If you look carefully at the wharf, you’ll see hundreds of this type of boats still working today as part of the fleet.  You’ll see these boats mixed in with the third generation of diesel powered craft.

Fisherman’s Wharf itself is internationally known, of course, for its seafood; in particular, the wharf is known for the Dungeness crab; and if you can find your way to the Wharf in November, you’ll find the wharf celebrating the opening of crab season.  Along the wharf, cauldrons are lit, and the crab is hoisted directly from the boats.  San Francisco takes this so seriously, that the opening of the season starts out with a religious procession, where a priest blesses the boats.  Over the years, the crabs are found farther and farther out.  Once lining the San Francisco Bay, the crabs now may be found all the way out to the Farallon Islands.

All of this is secondary to a Fisherman’s Wharf visitor, however.  What matters is that in the early days on the wharf, before there were restaurants, fishermen would set up their cauldrons and boil crabs, as fresh as humanly possible, and deliver them to visitors in paper cups.  Today, this tradition is still respected.  For this reason, I can’t wait until the next time I travel the four hundred miles it will take me to reach the Wharf, check into a San Francisco cheap hotel, then venture out to the restaurants which I still have steaming cauldrons of crab in front of the business, and where I can pick up a sample of fresh-cooked crab meat cocktail, and eat like a king.

There is an India in Singapore, as many people know, and it’s one of the most exciting parts of town to visit.  Like the rest of Singapore, it has an amazingly rich urban scene, with a very cosmopolitan sensibility.  This island city state never ceases to amaze visitors, and first-time guests will find many things to enjoy while they’re here, and for repeat visitors, the experience just gets deeper and more interesting.  It’s always changing, too, and changing at the speed of cultures.  To watch how things move day to day seems slow, but to leave and come back a month later, one would find everything is different again.  It’s a wonderful sensation, and one that savvy travelers have learned to cherish, because it is the rhythm of the world.

That is to say, the experience of life lived in the place, as well as life lived from an outsider perspective, sometimes come together when you are traveling.  This is when the world opens up, and becomes as splendid as the Indian restaurants in Singapore.  The Indian restaurants here are some of the finest in the world, and even rival those in the native country itself.  The chefs are world-class, and have an impeccable ability to create traditional dishes with the perfect amount of innovation to keep things always exciting, and always delectable.

The same principles in food can be found in art.  Local dancer Chitra Shankar performs and teaches Odissi here and in India.  Going back and forth between worlds, she has a remarkable perspective on the speed of change in multiple places and from multiple perspectives.  She is also trained in Bharatanatyam which gives her the traditional background for the work that she does.  Like a great chef, she seems to have a sixth sense for bringing innovation to traditional forms.

Sometimes getting out of the city is what is necessary to continue living in the city.  Day trips or weekend excursions will refresh and revitalize one’s mind and body.  Just outside of the city of Baltimore, Maryland there are many things to be discovered, small towns and scenic drives that are just a few hours away by car or by train.   If railroads and trains, museums and walking tours suit your taste, then Howard County is perfect, and it is located just a short thirty minutes from downtown Baltimore.  In half an hour you can be walking through perfectly designed villages each with their own planned characteristics.

There are many different options for everyone’s desires be it a round of golf or a day spent shopping.  The Baltimore/Ohio Railroad Museum and the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park Museum offer a bit of history, and then there are the simple activities such as taking a hike or picking your own fruits and vegetables on the local farms.  Howard County is great as a choice for a quick, but relaxing road trip adventure.  Savage Mill is another wonderful place for a quick getaway located very close to the city of Baltimore.  Restaurant,bar and shopping options are plentiful, and sometimes a quick shopping trip is what is needed.  Here there are more than two hundred antique stores, over thirty special boutiques and just about twenty-five artists’ galleries and studios.  The Harvey Smith Topiary Gardens are a popular picnic spot in the months between Spring and Halloween when the display of blooms is out of control, and the topiary sculptures are at their finest.

Towson was a farm community not too far in the past, and is down a residential neighborhood with again, many options for a day spent browsing through a myriad of shops and boutiques.  The the Georgian home at 535 Hampton Lane is open to the public, with a museum housed in the mansion, as well as a tearoom, stables, a garden and many greenhouses.  In all, these are just three of the many small trips one can take that sit just outside Baltimore’s city limits.  While there are many activities and sights to be seen in the city, sometimes it’s just good to get out of town and away from it all.

Mike was constantly redoing his backyard. In the past year he has added a great outdoor kitchen and dining area complete with a built in brick wall fireplace. He has also redesigned his outer landscape area and has already planted the new foliage and flower gardens. He always enjoyed flowers that were planted in geometric patterns and arrangements he continually added to his designs. In the middle of all of the flowers he created a great private miniature golf course and also had a horse shoe pit along one of the side walls.

While he was having lunch with his friend Wallace he mentioned that his next project was going to be to install a new hot tub or private spa with corresponding meditation features. The previous year he had reacquainted himself with the ancient art of tai chi and began taking lessons. He was interested in creating a nice deck or platform where he could perform his daily ritual and one that would also serve as a good place for yoga, which he was also into. At that point Wallace interrupted Mike and reminded him that he moved most of the items in his backyard around very frequently and that something as permanent as a hot tub might get in his way, or clog his energy which Wallace thought would make more sense to his friend.

Mike laughed at the energy comment and told Wallace that he was right. However, he had recently been looking at portable spa models and was considering one of those. He said that they essentially had the same elements and features and that he would be able to place it wherever he wanted and move it when he needed to. Wallace thought that the spas Mike was talking about must have been invented just for him because Mike could not leave anything in one place for very long. As Mike continued telling him about all the included features and possible options Wallace imagined his friend hoisting the spa onto his back and lugging it across the yard to a new location.

One of the things Joshua had always been interested in was the Coral Castle in Florida. He had first heard about this incredible place with its amazing stone sculptures on a documentary cable program a few years ago. The story behind the scene as well as what he knew of the incredible feats in physics completely amazed him. So last month when he had to travel to Miami for a business trip he was incredibly excited and decided to stay two extra days so that he could drive up and visit this historic landmark. After his final meeting for his company Joshua returned to his room at one of the luxury hotels Florida and got ready to drive up to Homestead where he planned to pick up further information and directions to the site that was just north of the that town.

As he sat down in a small café he looked around for what he hoped would be talkative locals. He wanted to get as much of the inside scoop and possible details of Ed Leedskalnin’s that might be unknown to the general public as he could. He didn’t see anyone that he felt comfortable approaching so he simply asked his waitress who was friendly enough and certainly knew what he was talking about. She said that he was a strange and private fellow from what she had heard but that was about all there was to his own personality. Not a lot of people knew him and he kept his life and is work to himself. He completed most of it under the cover of night and some of the local people speculated he was working in witchcraft.

His waitress didn’t have any secret information that interested Joshua but she was friendly and conversational enough. She also gave him great directions to the Rock Gate, as the Castle was also known. The ham sandwich with coleslaw she served was pretty good too. Joshua headed out for the castle and immediately upon arriving he was amazed at the size and grandeur of the limestone carvings. He like everyone else who visited the place bought the booklet Leedskalnin had written, A book in Every Home and would take it with him to study over for the secrets. Some of the elements on the grounds weighed up to thirty tons and Joshua, nor could anyone else, understand exactly how he had accomplished this. Visiting the Castle was absolutely more astounding than seeing it on television and Joshua could not believe his eyes.

More and more each year people are picking a room at one of the many hotels Alicante Spain has along it’s beach. This city of over 300,000 residence is along the east coast of Spain and is apart of the Costa Blanca. Some of the neighboring cities are Murcia which is south and Valencia which is north. It is a wonderful mix of modern and classic people and places that blend well together. The area has evidence of prehistoric times and has endure many changes for thousands of years.

In the mountains above the city people like to visit the old castle. Castillo de Santa Barbara is a large medieval fortress. One of the largest castles in Europe. It was built on the whole summit of the Benacantil Mountains. The purpose of the castle is as many are of that time period, to house the royalty and protect the city below from harm. From this mountain top they could see danger coming from miles away. There is the normal way to get to the castle by driving up but there is also a special way to get to the castle, by elevator. From the Paseo Maritimo you can catch an elevator that will take you straight up to the castle.

One of the churches to visit is the Iglesia de Santa Maria.  It is the oldest church in Alicante. It was a mosque for the Moors and was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. It has some beautiful towers and some beautiful baroque stonework. Then there is the Cathedral de San Nicolas which began its construction in 1616 and finished in 1662. It has a Communion Chapel that has some amazing Spanish Baroque work. This is truly the most important building in the city. The Monastery de la Santa Faz is another must see for the church explorer. It is now a convent for Saint Clare.

Walter had never even heard of the town of Mestre, Italy when his wife Maryanne told him that she wanted to visit it. He was interested in Northern Italy so he wasn’t automatically resistant to her desire to go. Then he found out that she has family members there who she hasn’t seen since she was a young girl and she felt it was time to explore her heritage. So, Walter was going to Northern Italy and he was going to be staying with his wife’s family. Okay, that was all something he decided he could live with, besides most of her family would be as unfamiliar to her as they were to him so they would be in this adventure together, he hoped.

As it turned out Maryanne’s family was incredible. They were amazingly hospitable and Mestre itself was beautiful. Maryanne’s great Aunt Viva insisted they cancel their reservations in one of the hotels Mestre and stay with her and her family. Their home was an incredibly comfortable villa Walter felt almost as though he was staying in a dream.

They explored the town together and enjoyed much of the architecture and buildings. They visited the 17th century Cathedral of St. Lawrence, which Aunt Viva said they must do. They also visited the Orto Botanico Locatelli, which was a beautiful little botanical garden. They were lucky because the garden is only open from May to October and they got there a few days after it opened. Walter appreciated the integration of philosophy, ecology and botany the garden embraced and was interested in the medicinal plants. Maryanne was mostly interested in the ornamental plants. This trip to Mestre turned out to be one of the greatest trips the couple had taken together and Walter felt as though he had gained new family members, which of course he had.

The key to the success of TransGlobe Property Management is their staff of highly trained and highly committed employees.  This is what is necessary in all business ventures, and TransGlobe has got this one in the bag.  The key to tenant retention, is creating locations that are appealing, that are well kept and well managed.  Creating the environment and maintaining the cleanliness of the grounds and the improvements of the buildings in their care, is just one of the special characteristics of the company.  They know the Canadian market, and their experience has proved over the years, again and again, their qualifications for not only a great company to rent from, but a great company to put the buildings you own under their management.   This care sets off a chain reaction, the residents’ morale is boosted and in turn their sense of community is confirmed.  Once everyone takes care, the care of the property just follows right along behind.

Residents find that they do not want to move out, thus creating an easier time for those at TransGlobe Property Management, as well as less concern for the owners of the buildings.  Instead of taking time to find new residents should one be moving on, their buildings are actually difficult to get into, as their reputation provides them with many prospective tenants, ready to live and to work in their locations, at a moment’s notice.  The staff at TransGlobe is responsible for the success, for not only are they well trained, they continue to progress that learning, and take a hands on approach, from taking care of the concerns of the residents, to just plain getting to know the residents.  Taking the first steps towards moving either your residence or you business to a new location can be a lot of work, creating a lot of stress, but moving into one of those properties of TransGlobe, you will find that all of those worries are not necessary, and you can begin the next chapter of your life with confidence and comfort.

When I was young, we did not have a fireplace.  Each year at Christmas, my mom would bring out a painted, cardboard fireplace.  It had a tiny motor, which turned a lit up horizontal column, painted with flames.  It seemed to flicker, well…it seemed to when I was very little, but as I got older I realized, that it just was not that realistic.  Years later, we had a real Napoleon fireplace built, and Christmas time just seemed to be filled with something that the cardboard fire place could not provide…real heat, and real ambiance.  The difference was amazing.

First we had one built in the kitchen, right next to the large table where we ate our meals…the next year, my father built one on his own, in the living room.  In Phoenix, there are only a few months out of the year that a fireplace is appropriate to use.  The fireplace in the kitchen was wood-burning, however the one my father installed later was a gas fireplace.  This made it possible to have a fireplace, without the necessity of building a chimney.  The vent went directly through the side wall.  This burned quite efficiently, and used as much as the heat from the room as it did from the gas.  As opposed to the wood burning stoves, they produce very little emissions, which is great, as in Phoenix there are “no burn” days in an attempt to cut down on pollution.

Another great thing about gas fireplaces is that the clean up, well there isn’t one.  Where with a wood burning fireplace the clean up can be quite a big deal.   Now, some are even controlled using a remote control device, making them functional and extremely convenient.  The temperature is controlled much like the thermostat on your heater, making them a bit more predictable than the standard wood fireplace.  It is a matter of preference, whether to go with gas or wood.  The wood smells oh so good, but the gas is much easier to maintain.  Which ever you choose, it will be a great deal better than the cardboard fireplace prop, it is the real thing.

There’s a certain appeal about a steak cooked on a grill that can’t be matched with anything else.  It has a certain flavor and texture, to be sure, and the best outdoor cooks know just how to add that perfect touch of spice in the marinade, or rubbed onto the meat directly, to bring out its natural savory flavors without losing any of its essential substance.  Cooking is a delicate balance, and it requires a certain amount of practice and flair, along with a spirit of improvisation, to make just the right tastes.  When it works, it’s magnificent, and everyone participating in the meal understands at the exact same time that they’re taking part in an important event, or at least a very pleasurable one.

Today, it’s much easier than ever to master the art of cooking outdoors, and with the latest developments in built in barbecue grills, it’s almost easy.  But no matter how well a meal might turn out, there is always more to learn, and this is one of the most exciting parts of owning your own grill.  It’s often perceived to be a particularly modern phenomenon, and even the iconography of grills goes back just a few decades, to an image of a Norman Rockwell kind of Americana relating to picnics and barbecues during summer parades.

It’s very likely that our own conception of grilling in the U.S. comes from a much earlier tradition. Of course, we could go back to the invention of fire and argue that cooking outdoors is what we used to do before we had houses.  But the way we conceive of cooking today probably has some origins in the traditions of Northern Mexico, where indigenous traditions were firmly in place for adapting to a hunter-gatherer kind of lifestyle.  The lifestyle and the way of living in earlier times on this continent attest to a sensibility that has not left us, and the roots are still there, just beneath the surface.