Virginia Breeze

Every year Beth and I go to Maymont Park and take a ride in this carriage or one much like it.  We climb up in the back in the dark under the moon and meet a few couples who have come out with the same idea.  Knee to knee for a few minutes we trade a few remarks and then listen to the horses as they step down the path.

Later we go inside for some traditional hot drinks and cookies.  But only after standing around the Yule log and toasting marsh mellows.   There are men and women dressed in traditional Victorian dress.  And, of course, plenty of Christmas decorations.

It’s a Christmas from long ago and we wouldn’t miss it.

Tags: Christmas, christmas decorations, christmas song, christmas spirit, marsh mellows, Maymont Park, moon, victorian dress, yule log

04-jingle-bells

We are going to go over to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and view their Christmas display again this year.  The photos I took last year seem to be very popular and they do something different every year.  So we tried to get in the first night it was open but the parking lot was full and they were diverting traffic out into the darkness.  I didn’t stick around to follow the trail.

Apparently I’m still not completely cured where crowds are concerned.  In any case here are some photos from last year’s exhibit.  I haven’t posted these before (or I don’t remember doing so…take your pick).  In fact I never really looked at them (or don’t remember etc…).  They needed some light and some cropping.

And here they are.

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Tags: Christmas, christmas display, crowds, first night, jingle bells, kenny chesney, lewis ginter botanical gardens, My Photos, photo, traffic

I’m sick again.  But wasn’t I just laid out with something a few weeks ago?  This is a cold and a chest virus.  A few weeks it was a stomach virus.

The good news is we all should be in good health for the weeks around Christmas.  These bugs have been going around but so has the cold weather.  It seemed a lot like winter out there today even though the temperature was in the forties.

Don’t you hate a cold that gets into your lungs and makes you cough?  I hate coughing.  It keeps me up at night.  I just lay there and wait for that irritation in the throat to grow to a point where I have to get rid of it.  And then I cough and feel better for about a minute.

Cough syrup doesn’t seem to help much.  Sleep helps.  But how do you get to sleep with this cough reflex action keeping you up?

If I could just numb that area in my throat so I would not  feel the irritation growing.   HHmmm.  I tried spraying it with this spray they have for sore throats.  But it wouldn’t reach the right spot.   And then I thought about the small vibrator I use on my legs when I have RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome).

I just lay the vibrator on a pillow next to my chrome domium and turn it on so that it’s pressed up against the spot that brings on the coughing.

And I don’t feel the need to cough.   It is completely overwhelmed by the vibrator.  And then I go to sleep.

But the vibrator keeps going because it’s plugged into the wall and there’s nobody there to turn it off.  And it heats up the pillow.

So this is not good.

Something that has helped me on a more serious level to deal with severe coughing fits at night is the Conair Facial Sauna.  The hot steam does an amazing job of soothing my ravaged air passageways.  Last night, in fact, it saved me once again.   So I am adding it to the list of things to have around the house in case of an emergency.

I wish I could tell you about the facial spa part but that involves reading directions so . . .

Tags: bugs, Christmas, cold weather, cough reflex, cough syrup, good health, lungs, restless legs, restless legs syndrome, sleep, sore throats, stomach virus, vibrator

It will be time soon for some Christmas photos.  And I have noticed that there have been a lot of search engine requests for last years photos this past week.

People are getting ready I guess.  They want to see Christmas photos even before Thanksgiving.  And one of the nice things about having a blog that is over one year old is that you can provide holiday photos prior to the holiday.

But I am still a little bit hung up about autumn leaves.  They are still desperately hanging on the trees and I feel for them.  They have lost their beauty.  And in a way I guess I identify with them in my old age.  Because I was (after all) such a beautiful youth.  Cough.

Youth is beauty.  I guess that’s what I’m trying to say.  Certainly it seems so when we take photos of our children and our grandchildren.

So I went for a walk over to the U a few weeks ago and took some photos.  But when I looked at them I was very discouraged.  Looking back I think it was the glare.  I usually forget to put the little hood on the end of the lens.

And what do you get when you forget to do that?  Trouble!   But sometimes you can go back after awhile and get a new perspective.  Your mood changes.  Maybe you felt rushed.  Maybe you were just disappointed and tired so you didn’t really try to dig down for the gold.

Maybe later you do the digging and see something shiny.  Maybe it’s gold.  Maybe it’s just bronze.  But it’s something worth saving.

So here they are.   Perhaps there is a high school student out there who will look at these some day and make a decision about going to this school.

Maybe he (or she) will look at the colorful leaves and feel good about being young and ready for adventure.

Never thinking about leaves that are drained of their color and ready to blow away in the icy winds of November.

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Tags: autumn, beautiful youth, Christmas, christmas photos, cough, glare, gold, grandchildren, holiday photos, kinds of leaves, mood changes, new perspective, nice things, search engine, thanksgiving, university of richmond