Virginia Is For Families

We arrived at the beach yesterday and were amazed to see our building covered in green drapes!  It’s undergoing a facelift and there is scaffolding over much of it.  See the photos for a better idea of the situation.

Beth pointed out to me that you can stand in a room and look at a wall socket and see. . .

Daylight!

Nice.  And the “windows” are covered with plastic.  Fortunately it only got down to forty something last night and there wasn’t much wind up here.  But who knows what it will do tonight!  My lovely wife keeps telling me it’s an adventure.

And we did have a very nice day after the rain cleared out.  We walked the boardwalk and went out to dinner.  Then we got under the blankets and watched Carolina dismantle Michigan State in the NCAA basketball finale.   Congrats to our ACC!

I woke up at six this morning and headed for the beach to take some photos.  It was pretty cold but that didn’t prevent a couple of surfers from heading out into the surf with their wet suits and gloves.

I found a perch and took a few photos of the birds,  our denuded building and the US Corps of Engineers dredging Rudee’s Inlet.  Lots of maintenance going on as the beach folk prepare for another vacation season.

Hopefully somebody will arrive once it is all completed.

Click on the photos to enlarge

[Show as slideshow]

 

Katharine McPhee

Play Somewhere
07-somewhere-dvdlive

Beth and I had company this weekend but after everyone left we headed for the park to get some exercise and talk about our Spring vacation.  We have two weeks to relax and get out of town this time of year.  And for the second time in two years we have made plans to visit our nation’s capitol as well as Virginia Beach.

We talked about starting an exercise and dieting program because we have kind of let things go over the winter.  I realized that I need to do it not just for myself but for her as well.   And she’s probably not going to do it unless I do it.

It’s a strange circle and one we need to break up.  So it’s going to be a “working vacation” in a sense.  Of course, you can walk your buns off in Washington DC without any problem.  But going out to dinner every night and having the opportunity to dine on fabulous cuisine will offer some challenges.   We may have to start that part of the program after we get back.

So it was warm and breezy today and we walked all over Maymont Park.  They have a new exhibit area with some great birds on display.   The eagles are awesome.  The hawks have beautiful feathers.

And we spent some time enjoying three baby goats.  Beth said it was one of the cutest things she has ever seen.  They were having a great time and the crowd was enjoying them too.

So we walked and walked.  The bears were busy sleeping and I would never have seen them if Beth has not pointed them out up in the rocks.

Lots of folks were throwing balls and someone had set up the game with the little hoops and mallets.  What’s it called?  You hit a ball around the lawn and try to be the first one to get back to the beginning where there is a small pole driven into the ground.

Anyway there were people doing that and lots of cameras around.  Photography seems to be an ever more popular hobby from the number of SRL cameras I see in my travels.

Click on photos to enlarge

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

This may be a long term relationship. We went back to the beach after a week that included a few showers and here is what we saw.

Still in love.

Sigh.

When you’re in love you never really know whether your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love, or if it attributes them to her; whether the light which surrounds her like a halo comes from you, from her, or from the meeting of your sparks. ~Natalie
Clifford Barney

*

*

He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began. ~Leo Tolstoy

*

*

How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. ~Victor Hugo

*

I was looking here yesterday evening and just sort of staring at the blog.  Feeling relatively empty after a week of turmoil and just amazed also at all the things I have done here in the past month.

Lots of creative stuff for an old geezer and maybe that’s what blogging will do for you after awhile.  Like anything else if you pursue it over a period of time you will learn some things and grow in different ways.  I was amazed as I went back to the beginning of our  trip in August.  But now I’m feeling pretty much empty.  When that happens it is always a good time to try and get out to take more photos.  Photos are the fuel and the Nikon D70 is the fuel tank.  It is rather small by today’s standards but then the fuel comes in micro-bits.

Beth tells me that the National Folk Festival will not be coming here this year but Richmond has managed to retain all the sponsors and plans to do the same thing again.   Hopefully many of the same talented people will be here plus some more.  Smile everyone!  Click.

Actually that’s not the way we take photos here.  We like to go for the candid shot.  And it’s difficult to get birds to smile.  Their beaks are a little too stiff.

And then we will be going up to northern Virginia to see my daughter and her family.   We have not seen their new home in Leesburg, Virginia.   It’s a pretty picture perfect part of the state so there should be more photo opportunities there.   As well as my grandchildren of course.  But not to worry they are all part of the paranoid wing of the party (I mean family) and like Beth will never be seen online.   Or rarely.  I have managed to sneak one or two photos of the kids into the blog but don’t tell anyone.

One thing I did manage to create this week was a new look for http://myfotobuzz.com.     Each post is going to be a combination of one larger photo and then there will be four NextGen photos with similar content beneath.  I think it will be pretty interesting.  After a year or two with keyword growth it should do well.  If you have a nice photoblog why not think about linking up?   That helps everyone too when done in a legitimate way.

Eventually I may start advertising there or maybe try to sell some photos.  Maybe.  When (if ever) I become convinced it isn’t a waste of time.

Have a nice weekend everyone.  The nice weather is finally coming in many places.  Hopefully the storms have passed and some of us can enjoy life a bit more again.