Happy Fathers Day

Photo by Patrick Jones. My Dad, 21 April 2012.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there. This day has me thinking about my Dad, Keith D. Jones, who was taken by cancer too soon last year. The photo above is from a happier time when my Dad taught a boat building class at the Indiana State Museum in 2012, and later launched the finished boat in the Canal. Here are a few more photos from that weekend that I have not posted previously.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dad was always teaching.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Dad going over the details for the boat launch.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Preparing to launch in the Canal.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Rowing the Meteor in the Canal. 21 Apr 2012.

Here's last year's Fathers Day post. I did not do one in 2014 or 2015, but here's a link to the one from 2013. Take the time you have with the ones you have while you can.

17 years between concerts

Photo by Patrick Jones. Red Hot Chili Peppers, 12 April 2017.

Back in April, Allison and I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. We last saw them live in an amazing concert at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana back in April 2000 with Muse and the Foo Fighters. The Chili Peppers put on a solid show, and had a pretty cool light show suspended from the ceiling of the arena.

We were on the 200 level with a good view of the stage. Closer photos from the show can be see via NBC4's post-concert article (not my photos).

The Foo Fighters are also returning to the DC area to open the new Southeast DC waterfront venue called The Anthem on 12 October 2017. We're hoping to get tickets to that show.

Ribera del Duero

Photo by Patrick Jones. Bud break at Finca Villacreces, 16 May 2017

While in Spain last month we had some time to drive north of Madrid to the wine country in Ribera del Duero. Here is another set of photos from our day at the wineries in this region. Most of the photos were taken at Finca Villacreces, a beautiful producer between the village of Quintanilla de Onésimo and the village of San Bernardo. They are next door to the large producer Bodegas Vega Sicilia.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Finca Villacreces, Spain.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Courtyard with 350 year old tree.

Bodegas Villacreces divides their land into small plots, focusing on organic farming and high quality production. The wines were very good, and we managed to bring back a bottle of their Pruno and Finca Villacreces.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Casas plot at Bodegas Villacreces.

Before visiting Villacreces we stopped in the neighboring village of Quintanilla de Arriba and walked around two of the old churches.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Church in Quintanilla de Arriba.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Small church in Ribera del Duero. 16 May 2017.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Grape vines next to the church.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Wine tasting at Fuente Aceña.

Jacarandas in bloom

Photo by Patrick Jones. Jacaranda blooms in LA. 31 May 2017.

At the end of May I was in the Los Angeles office for meetings. My visit overlapped with the burst of purple from the Jacaranda trees in Playa Vista and Santa Monica. In my eleven years of visiting and living in Los Angeles I couldn't remember seeing so much purple. Maybe I did not pay enough attention while we were living there, or my visits back to the office never aligned with the blooms. In any case, I couldn't miss them on this trip. A beautiful sight.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Jacaranda blooms on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

View from 7A

Photo by Patrick Jones. AS5 to LAX, 30 May 2017.

This set of photos was taken while flying to Los Angeles on 30 May 2017. According to the location data on the photo, we were above the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Mountains in Colorado. 30 May 2017.