Infrastructure photographs.

Catching up still on my posts. The small marble coaster is one that I've had for years -- it speaks for itself. Today's post features the art installed in my office, mostly photographs, each representing a piece of critical infrastructure in the world as we know it.

I have so many windows that it is hard to get photos without glare or flare of the installed pieces. Here is the overall conference table wall, with other walls shown later. Below are two by twos of those images. All six are by the photographer Weston Jandacka.

External and internal views of the ruined Detroit train station, now an urban renewal project. James and I have loaned respectively from our photography collections for these two.

The Eiffel Tower, an amazing construct of steel, and the intersection of electrical lines, part of our energy infrastructure.

More: the side of a building, and an interior shot of the Seattle train station.

Next to my desk: the famous British World War II poster and another Weston photograph, this one shot at the New York Stock Exchange, at the heart of Wall Street.

Here is the other side of the office with my desk and books. The small oil near my credenza is by Pablo Schugurensky. The object on the floor in front of my desk is a Chinese three legged frog with coins in his mouth, representing good luck, an office-warming gift who faces the door during the day. When I leave, I turn the frog to face back into the office so as to keep the good luck inside. So far it seems to be working.

And finally, in a nook above the Korean chest hangs a signed David Hume Kennerly photograph of WaMu Center, a gift to me for having been part of that building's design team. Weston's work is every bit as compelling as David's, and I am honored to have both photographers' work hanging in my office. I cannot imagine having a more congenial space in which to work.

Families, after all, are forever.

Leroy patiently took photos all through our weekend in Iowa City. Here, James & I are taking a break before we hit Prairie Light Bookstore downtown on Sunday. So this is the last photo he took that weekend.

Here's one, however, that I took on the first afternoon of the Iowa vist, featuring James Hayes and James Searle. My sister Mary can be seen in lower left. I like this photo of both guys. My son has that amiable but impatient look on his face that I believe he inherited from me.

So the family of Peggy Hayes (mother of me and sisterMary) had a wonderful weekend in Iowa City, for the Hayes Family Reunion. Pictured above from left: Leroy (Peggy's son-in-law), Naomi Schedl (friend and mother-in-law of my sister Mary), Mary, and Peggy's grandson James H.S. Searle, who was able to fly in from Pittsburgh for the event.

Here's a long fuzzy shot in dappled light from the fountain area at my cousin Jim's, out to the back yard and the screened in porch at the back of his home in Iowa City. Every five years he hosts his relatives for a weekend of activities. This year, there were 100 adults and 11 children. My cousin Jim is the eldest living cousin named James, and is in fact the son of my uncle James C. Hayes. I suspect James Hayes from Ireland was named for one of those two, while my son James is named for my father, also James.

Here's the fountain with the three bronze figures, created by James Hayes from Ireland, for his uncle, my cousin, Jim Hayes, the attorney, our host.

It was amazing to sit down and talk with cousins whose blogs I read regularly and whom I've not seen in some time. Here: James Hayes, his niece Emily Wilson, and her mother (his sister) Annie Hayes Wilson. Annie and I share the same name and the same birthday. Emily writes the family blog most of the time. She's just finished her freshman year at McGill University.

Can identify most: James, Mary Siobhan, me, Annie, cousin Rosemary, Emily, Kathleen's grandson Sam, cousin Kathleen, and one of the Biderman boys (John or Mike, not sure) with his new wife. When I was growing up, I spent a good deal of time with cousins Kathleen and Rosie on the farm in Forest City.

Another photo, here with James, my sister Mary, me, Sam and my cousin Margi Newman Crawford.

Me and the cousin I spend most time talking to or writing to, the inimitable Ann Newman.

And now -- to catch up with my life -- we switch to the ASA first anniversary party that preceded the family reunion. Here, ASA research associate Lauren Graf and Professor Herbert Blau, in the office.

It was 90 degrees with no shade that day. Rumpled as I look, I like this photo because it shows my friend and colleague, Steffan Martell.

Here's Lauren posing for the head shot we needed for the ASA website.

My close friend and former colleague, Al Wilson, was able to join us. He has given me so much good advice this past year.

Fresh fruits -- cherries, blueberries, grapes, strawberries -- accompanied cheese, pastrami and crackers, lemon drop cookies and two bite brownies, pinot grigot or mineral water.

A look at the crowd in the heat. Foreground, back to us, is Shirish Munshi, ASA's current UW intern.

And they just kept eating and talking even though the heat rose steadily until we finished at 6pm! I'll do a separate post on the new photographs hanging in the office, shot by Weston Jandacka. The installation was much admired by all guests.

And now back in time even further, to May. I inadvertently erased a former post of this joyous event, for which ASA was one of the sponsors. Here are Kate Butt and myself early in the 5k walk for breast cancer organized by Penny Kellam, and titled "Inspiring Hope 2010."

And here we are at the end of the walk. I'm slowed down quite a bit by my knee, so we were last walkers in. But we finished! I am thrilled that I actually did two 3 Day Walks in the past, and will continue to support the team in any way I can. Proceeds from this event support this year's Kindred Spirits team.

I have ended up blogging about three types of families. The first is where I come from and who I am related to. The second is the family of supporters and colleagues formed during my career, including those who have stepped up for ASA. And the third is the family of Kindred Spirits, of which I still consider myself a part. Families, after all, are forever.

Jan's Story

This is my sweet friend of over 30 years, Jan Chorlton, whom many will remember as a KIRO-TV reporter.


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6601253n

"The mind is everything. What you think you become." -- Buddha

All the photos above are shot from the New York University (NYU) law school campus.

Four days in the great city of New York last week validated for me how right it was to want to form a company that would allow me to travel and to continue to learn. I was invited to join 74 other public and private sector leaders at NYU for a global summit on the topic of preparedness. We worked roughly 12 hour days on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, we toured two remarkable emergency operations centers, and then were dropped in the downtown financial district for lunch. I chose to walk over to the site of the emerging World Trade Center.



Though it's been nearly nine years since 9/11, the buildings are only now coming up out of the ground.

I could not get close enough to shoot down into what had previously been a hole. The energy crackles now from the site, approachable only as close as across the street.

I walked across to peer through one of these viewing holes, but was waved off by construction workers.

Scale is everything in New York, both grand and intimate.

On the way back into Manhattan from Jersey City, we passed a restored St. Paul's Church, one of two iconic symbols of 9/11. This is the other, Trinity Church, the oldest Church of England building in America. At lunchtime, its adjoining graveyard converts into a remarkable park/lunch area for Wall Street workers.

It's peaceful and lively at the same time.

This is my last shot as I left New York, amazed and energized by both the landscape and the resilence that is the city. Everything is possible.

Travel is exhilarating.

Though it took a full day to get to Providence, I'm thrilled that I made the trip. The Shared Assessments Summit, sponsored by BITS/The Financial Services Roundtable, was a 1.5 day content rich networking experience. The financial firms that usually attend were joined this time by healthcare risk managers, so that truly enhanced the dialogue. The panel that Dave Cullinane from eBay and Niall Browne from Live Ops and myself did on cloud computing provoked many questions and lively debate.

I am sitting now in the Providence airport, on my way to Baltimore and Annapolis, then will fly back to Seattle late tomorrow. Getting out of the office for four days has reconfirmed the rightness of the work I do, and provided some additional clarity on how to explain it.

There are overlaps between what the shared assessments program and ASA do, at least in the areas of vendor assurance and around infosec, business continuity and privacy controls. It's given me some ideas about how to push the envelope a bit further.

Now it's on to Annapolis meetings tomorrow morning.

Mother's Day.

My husband feels that both Mother's Day and Father's Day are commercial ventures, so it was no surprise that he forgot to get me a present. My son, on the other hand, sent me an anthology of contemporary Irish verse. He's been good at presents from the time he was young. Once, he got me a t-shirt that read "Girls Kick Ass" when he was about ten. Often he gave me the newest Rolling Stones CD. I repaid him when he was eleven or so by taking him to the very last Stones concert in the Kingdome for his birthday. Over the years and on his travels, he finds unique l presents to fit my interests as well as his own, often books or music. This book reminds me of how much he remembers, including a trip back to Ireland the two of us took when he graduated from high school. I am still his biggest fan.

Phoenix visit, Seattle gardens.

We had a great time last weekend in Phoenix. In addition to spending time with family and hearing Cassandra's Phoenix Chorale concert, I was able to have lunch with two of my high school chums, Nancy (left) and Beverly (right). We've done this often enough now that we are plotting perhaps to set up an annual weekend at a spa if we could locate the three other members of our girls sextet.


Here's our grandson, Alex Porter, on the way to pick up his girlfriend for their high school prom. He's bound for Columbia this fall, and she'll be right across the way at Barnard College.

I have no good photos of the concert itself, only this one taken from holding my iPhone high. The concert was sold out and full of encores.

The weather was remarkably at around 80 degrees with sun. Though my allergies kicked up, we did sit outside for a tasty Sunday brunch at Sabrina's. She and her family live around an regulation-sized water ski lake, which you may see in the background of some of these next photos. That's the boathouse over Leroy's shoulder.

Here's Reed, William and Sabrina around one table. In the background is their swimming pool, though, not the lake.

Alex and Reed Porter.
Sabrina, Cassandra and her daughter, Rachel Ewer, looking at the new yearbook.

And here is Richard Ewer added into that picture. That is the lake behind him.

Another version of the three ladies. After brunch, and on the way to the airport, we were able to attend a recital where Alex played one of his own compositions and sang a classical piece.

I could not resist taking a few photos of changes to my garden when I got back from working out this morning. Here's the last of the purple azaleas...

And the beginning of a host of day lilies, in another part of the garden.

Can't see it so well here but here comes the lavender!

Tomorrow is a 5k/10k walk/run to support the Kindred Spirits fund raising efforts, called "Inspiring Hope." It will be great to see most of the 100+ person team, and another 160 or so additional folks who, like me, are able still to walk or run this distance. I'll post some photos from the walk over the weekend. My firm, ASA, is one of the sponsors of the walk!