*Self portrait by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 20013 All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
*Self portrait by Bonnie Rose Photography © 2007 – 20013 All Rights Reserved | http://www.bonnie-rose.co.uk
Five Places You Need on Your List
W H E N V I S I T I N G I N L I V E R P O O L
Liverpool ONE
San Carlo
The Bluecoat
Panoramic 34
EPIC Liverpool –Apart Hotel and Serviced Apartments
* This was a sponsored post by Epic Liverpool and images are all sourced.
1. What is your favorite food store in your city and why?
I like both Sainsburys and Morrisons. We get our groceries delivered to the house from Sainsburys. Food shopping has never been easier now that my husband can order from his phone and it gets delivered straight to our door.
2. For your answer to number 1 is it ok to buy the store brand items or do you pay extra for a name brand?
4. Which store do you turn to for basics like toilet paper or cleaning supplies?
Again this would be Sainsburys since we get all our food and basic supplies delivered from their store in town. When we run out of something that we need urgently I will pop down to the convenience store on our high street.
5. Where do you think is the best place in your city to get a cup of coffee (or beverage you prefer) and catch up with friends?
6. What was your “eureka, I’m practically a native” moment?
I was born in Oxford and I lived in Norfolk later on for a few years as a young girl. When we moved back to England as expats in 2011 it had been about seventeen years since I had last stepped foot in the UK. So despite the fact that I am a dual citizen I moved here not knowing all what to expect our life to be like living here. I could not explain fully how wonderful it was for me to go eat out and see beans on toast on the menu. This has been one of my comfort foods all my life, and I used to be questioned strangely or made fun of by americans when I was living in the US. Then I realized everywhere that sold jacket potatoes (baked potatoes) also offered them with beans on top. I thought that was a ‘bonnie-ism’ and realized that it was just part of my culture from growing up in England. That was the moment I realized I was finally ‘at home’. For a highly nomadic person as myself, a third culture kid, who often wonders where ‘home’ would be that was a huge Eureka moment.
7. Does your real accent get in the way?
Yes it can sometimes. I think about it a lot when I am out of the house. I am aware of how the American accent stands out and I will not speak out about bad service because of my accent. Now a days I use a lot of the english Vocabulary or pronounce things they way they are spoken here without having to think about it first. Which really helps out though I still have a strong american accent. It just takes time to assimilate to the language and accent. The store I mentioned above, Sainsbury’s, you pronounce it without ‘u’ so that it sounds like Sainsbrys. I realized upon talking with a fellow expat friend that people here will not correct you if you say it wrong. I had been saying that store name wrong for a year and a half. So perhaps my accent does not get in the way that much. However when meeting new people, they will get fixated on my accent and want to know an exact place my accent is from which has on easy answer if an answer at all. So I do wish that one day I will have such a soften accent that I can talk to people without it being an issue.
*photographs original to A Compass Rose blog
Since I usually do photography posts on Thursday I wanted to showcase a few portraits I have taken up to this point in the trip in Wales. The composite above was taken while we were taking a break from driving to get Ronan to feel better from feeling carsick. There was complete cloud cover which creates a natural light diffuser for a perfect lighting situation. I had a reader a while back ask me what to do when you live somewhere where it is always cloudy. To them I responded, ‘take photographs every day!’ It can be the sun that can be your worst enemy when it comes to getting nice portraits. I lived in Hawaii for years and I would only shoot in the very early morning or close to sundown since the sunlight was so strong without the use of shade. Here are a few more portraits from the past two days of this portion of the trip.
Faith Quick |
There was a lot of silence during the drive from the Tucson airport to my parent’s house across town. When we reached the gated community it all hit me and I started crying again and then again when I got inside and found my mum’s arms to run into. There was a lot more crying to happen during those first weeks from the three of us Nystrom women who had lost our father, our husband, our friend. We would not be alone in our grief as their were many others who would be pained and in tears. His friends, his church family, his coworkers, and all his students from the school where he taught after retiring from the USAF. We never got a chance to say goodbye. He was ripped from our lives so fast and so unfairly. All it takes is a moment. That moment happened five years ago today.
This is my story.
I tell it because you never know how much time you have with those you love. My father served as an officer in the USAF since the age of seventeen, was the navigator and bombardier on the F-111 fighter jet during the first Gulf War, and stayed in the military for over thirty years. As a military spouse my mum had prepared herself over the years for that official visit, if perchance something were to have happened to my dad. Who would have thought that it would not be a man in a military uniform at her door, but a man in a police uniform and a matter that would have taken place on US soil that would have claimed his life?
I tell this story because I would not wish this on anyone else. Sadly my story is so similar to many stories out there. Stories of families broken up because their loved one was killed on their bicycle by someone driving a car, a truck, or a bus. My dad is not the only one to have the local police department fail to do their job correctly. Every year more die.
This is a story of a girl named Faith Quick, who lived in Tucson, Arizona. Faith Quick had been charged twice by the police department. The first a drunk and disorderly charge and the second for narcotics possession. Faith Quick had been able to go through Diversion for both cases, something that should only ever happen once. Diversion provides many first-time offenders of specified categories of misdemeanors an opportunity to participate in relevant counseling rather than proceeding through the court system and establishing a criminal record. To be fair, Faith Quick should have only gone through Diversion once and had had a criminal record with the narcotics charge. On August 14th, 2008 Faith Quick was driving in a truck with her boyfriend while under the influence of drugs. Sadly like her name, Quick, she was too much in a hurry and driving too quick to observe what the other drivers around her were doing or notice the man with his bicycle.
This is a story of a retired USAF officer, a school teacher, a husband, a father, and grandfather. A man who instead of renting a car while his was down for repairs, decided to be green for the environment and take a series of buses with his bicycle every day to and from work to the other side of town. On this day he was headed to meet my mother and sister at a restaurant just across the street from where the incident took place. He was so close to having met them, so close to having made it safely to them. It is a wonder they did not see my father’s mangled bicycle as they headed home another way, due to the stopped traffic, wondering where my dad was and why he did not show up to the restaurant or answer his phone.
This is a story of why you should always be present and fully aware of your surroundings when operating a motor vehicle. Why you should never get behind the wheel if you have any drugs in your system and for good measure let me add never ever touch your phone while driving.
Five years ago today on August 14, 2008, Charles Nystrom, my father and grandfather to my kids, was struck and killed. Cars in the two right lanes had stopped to let him cross. A third vehicle, driven by Faith Quick, changed lanes to the inside lane where she hit, ran him over, and dragged him a bit further. The local media reported that “the cyclist failed to yield…”, yet did not report that the driver, Faith Quick, was arrested and later charged with DUI for marijuana. They media did care to share the truth about a man in his fifties, and instead took advantage of the students he taught to show footage of children crying over the sudden loss of their teacher because it was better for their ratings. I believe they later apologized to my mother after being confronted about their actions.
This is a story about how the driver, Faith Quick, later was sentenced to a mere 5 days in jail for accounts of being under the influence of drugs. She was never charged for more or a higher charge because there had been no criminal record or paper trail to build a case on her prior charges and offenses. The two cases of Diversion had seen to that. Had someone done their job correctly before perhaps I would be writing this story differently.
This is a story about the Tucson Police Department and how history shows they side with the drivers not the cyclists. Due to the massively faulty police work on the scene, the insurance company USAA would not side with my father’s case. My mum went on to hire a bike lawyer and hired two professionals who highly knowledgeable in the laws of the road, cycling laws, car accidents, etc. They both were able to determine that my father was in the clear for his actions that day and that there was no way my father could have yielded to someone behind him driving in a motor vehicle.
For such a great, kind, and giving man who served 30+ years as an officer USAF and a VFW from his time spent fighting in the Gulf War I still get very upset about how little the TPD did. Not to mention somewhere between the scene to the hospital his rings were stolen and never returned.
Faith Quick has still never been charged for my father’s death nor has she spoken any words to my family. When her sentenced was carried out my mum was in the room. Faith Quick had been upset that she would have to go to jail for five days and that her request to still go to work during those five days was denied. No remorse for the bad choices made or the life that was taken, but was upset because she could not make money at work for five days. Faith Quick now resides in Phoenix, Arizona.
My father was laid to rest at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he started his career with the USAF with the class of 1975. A ghost bike was prepared and placed in the location of the scene where he died by my family as a reminder of his life that was lost and to all those who drive past to share the road.
SHARE THE ROAD.
Live Aloha. Remember Charles.
Please before you ever get behind the wheel make sure you are in the right state of mind to drive. Never drive if you have drugs in your system, if you have been drinking, are sleepy, or have issues on your mind that would take away from your focus on the road. You are sharing the road with many other lives. There is nothing so important that you have to be impatient, rush, speed, or check your phone. All it takes is a moment. Make good moments and good choices by being a safe driver.
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1. What is the best advice anyone has given you?
Many words of wisdom have been spoken over the years, but I cherish the ones from a person whose life on Earth was cut too short. On my wedding day ten years ago a groomsman went around with a camera and asked for advice for us from our family and friends. My father’s advice for marriage was that if each person gave 75%, everything will work out just fine. We live in a world where people hold high expectations of others, hold selfish wants and desires, and think things should be 50/50. To go above the 50% in a marriage and give more of yourself to your partner, instead of desiring things, or wishing for what you do not have still rings true to me as golden advice for any couple. Thank you Dad!
2. If you could meet any blogger in person, who would you choose?
Honestly I have a very long list and if finances were not an issue I would travel the world to visit them all and then blog about it for all my readers. One of the first expat/travel bloggers I met online this year once restarting my blog was Chelsea from Lost in Travels. She has always been so friendly, gracious, and inspiring. I love how down to earth she is coupled with her love of life. I honestly see us meeting somewhere in the world to go on a trip together and would love if that happened one day. Chelsea I also have an air mattress with your name on it.
3. Who Inspires you?
As a creative I find inspiration all around in people and the world around me. However there are two celebrities who have been role models in my life since I was a young teenager. Audrey Hepburn and Angelina Jolie. They both inspire me in so many ways. From their career in film to their humanitarian work around the world. Their role as mothers and their iconic fashion style. I am inspired by Audrey’s early history during WWII with her involvement with the Dutch Resistance and the way she has inspired her children to carry on her legacy. I am inspired by Angelina’s personal journey from a rebellious teenager to a mother going through and elective double mastectomy all in the public spotlight. For Angelina to go through as much as she has and be judged by millions for any detail of her life and come out as strong as she is now, says a lot about her character. When I feel discouraged or struggling, reading about either one of these women inspires me to see the world anew.
4. What is your biggest struggle in life?
The art of balancing it all. Which is a struggle we can all face with different factors. For me it is balancing being a wife, being a mother, being a third culture kid and expat, being a creative professional and loving to work outside of the home. Finding a way to balance it all, have it all, and make it work has been a big struggle through out the years when a major factor is living a highly nomadic life where you are always starting over. What helps is knowing my priorities and having a supportive family and loving husband who encourage my passions.
5. Favourite piece of jewelry (other than your engagement/wedding ring) and why?
To be fair I wish I could say my engagement/wedding ring. However I lost my rings during our separation, only to find the wedding band some time later. Due to the unique shape of my engagement ring the wedding band I wear is a bit awkward looking on my hand. However I love that I at least have it still, since the engagement ring is long gone and it is the only ring that I can wear that feels 100% comfortable all of the time. My husband lost his ring in our home in Hawaii thanks to one of our kids so ideally one day we will both get new rings. Since I was not supposed to answer about wedding related rings I will say that my mum got me the Evenstar necklace that Arwen wears in Lord of the Rings. As a Tolkien fan from a very young age, I really love that she picked it out for me for my 30th birthday.
6. Favourite thing to do in your spare time?
I feel like I am always on the go. I am never far from a camera and seem to be doing something blogging or social networking related any time of the day. So when I truly have time away from all of that and time just for myself (to be considered ‘spare time’) I would have to say I love to write. More specifically in regard to a novel. I do not know if I will ever finish it or if it will be something I will ever share. I write for myself when I am inspired. Sometimes I am not writing chapters, but writing about the characters, the places, book themes, or anything that comes to my mind about the story. Just so that I can write and flesh out this world I have created in my mind. It is nice to have something just for me and as a lover of books its a nice place to get lost in for a awhile when time allows.
Pick Six to Answer for Yourself:
1. Who or what inspires you?
2. How did your blog come about?
3. Which blog are you in love with that you only found out about recently?
4. When you struggle in life, what keeps you going?
5. One goal you would like to achieve before 2014
6. Who has been your role model?
7. What is something you love about yourself?
8. A book you could or have reread over and over?
9. What hobby would you love to pick up?
10. Tell us something we may not know about you?