Virginia Breeze

It’s midweek boys and girls.  And here we are still pursuing our dreams!  I hope.  Some of us are just trying to survive and that’s not nearly as much fun.   My heartfelt condolences to those of us who are doing that.

I used to do that back in the late 1970′2 and early 80’s.   I was in my late 20’s and early 30’s back then.  Can you remember a time in your life that was particularly difficult?  Did you ever just look around at people passing and ENVY  *ALL* of them?

You just knew that they all had a much better life than you did.

I used to do that in some of my weaker moments.   And then I used to meditate during other  times.  I remember meditating one time for about three hours.  And after about that length of time I suddenly realized I wasn’t breathing anymore.  I was in some kind of pure energy state. It was a pretty amazing experience.  I was engulfed in blissful happiness.   And then, of course, I started breathing again.  The realization brought me back to earth.   But it was meditation that helped me make some good decisions and survive those times.  I also managed to care for two small children who are now happy and fully functional adults.  We will be going up to see my daughter in October.

She lives in Leesburg, Virginia.  For those of you who don’t know Virginia  Leesburg is a wealthy suburb of Washington DC.    When my precious daughter  was a little girl she had psoriasis that just took over her body.  It got in her scalp.  It was awful.   I used to take her down to MCV to see this really cool doctor.  He would make her laugh with his wide eyed stares.   And then he would prescribe all these steroids and tar-based ointments.

And then we would go back to our humble little apartment and pray they would work.

But my daughter is a lovely grown woman now with three beautiful children and a wonderful husband who has an office overlooking the White House. And the coolest thing about him is that when he walks in the door after work around six pm he is laughing and ready to be with his wife and children.

Life is very funny sometimes.   I hope I can learn to meditate  again and maybe even stop breathing for awhile.   I’m pretty sure that is the way to samadhi.  Or heaven for those of us who are not familiar with that term.

I hope I can find the way back there before I die.

God really did take care of us during those times.  And he still does even if I don’t try and visit with Him the way I used to do.

01-glitters-is-gold

Do you visit with Him?  Does he take care of you?

02-in-the-vip1

Beth reminded me that the Neptune Festival is happening next weekend at Virginia Beach.   And there will definitely be photo taking opportunities there.  It’s difficult to believe that a year has gone by since the last festival.  There are photos here from that competition.  Hopefully this year I will be able to gain a little different perspective while clicking away.

I had to laugh when I was going over some photos taken last July.  What is that thing out in the water?  Is it Jaws?

I never noticed it before but there is a dolphin out there.  Maybe he is watching the people having fun on the beach.   Maybe he is curious.

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.

A good friend of mine from MySpace, Todd Mulske, is very enthusiastic about photography involving celestial events. And I am starting to understand why after seeing photos like these.   I wish Todd was at Virginia Beach that night a few months ago when I tried to take some photos of the moon and a beautiful night sky.

[Show as slideshow]

Click on photo for enlargement

Aren’t these  beautiful photos?  I really like them and appreciate him sharing  with us.

*

*