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]

 

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 have been playing with Photoshop CS3 this afternoon.  I downloaded a free copy (for thirty days).  Do you know how much this thing costs if you buy it?  Over six hundred dollars!!   Can you imagine?  Do you know what I can get for that much money?

Why I can get a Woodrat for six hundred dollars!   And a Woodrat will make all kinds of wood joints for your latest wood project without much effort at all.

Here!  Just take a look!

Or I can get more than half of the new lens I want in order to take photos far, far away from the bird or person who is walking around UNAWARE that someone is drawing a bead on them!   I can do this from our balcony at Virginia Beach.  Or I can go down to the river and finally take a photo of that heron who sits out there and cusses out the ducks.

But six hundred dollars for a CD and some software?  It hardly seems right.  What is wrong with these  people?  You can almost get a whole computer for this much money!

So I downloaded it for free (for thirty days) and I have been trying to understand why it could possibly be worth this much money.  And since I am particularly dim witted in this area things have not been going well.  I can see where it is possibly worth fifty or sixty bucks.

So we have a long ways to go.  But the rain appears to have let up.  It’s still dark outside but things are no longer filling up with water.  And I have been looking at the faces in my Blog Catalog widget. Most of them I do not know.  And I wish that I did know them.  But every face on that widget represents a challenge about as big as Photoshop CS3 to me.  It is not easy figuring out most people.  At least it is not easy for me.  If you have a knack for it you are truly a gifted person and you have a valuable talent.

But, chances are that if you are at least as complicated as Photoshop CS3 I will never understand you. If I was twenty five and found you extremely sexy there is a chance (if you are/were a girl).   Or if you became my in-law through some cruel act of fate I might figure you out.  Or if you decided to embed yourself in my comment page and never leave until you made your point I might grow to understand and (dare I say it) be fond of and admire you.

And I would appreciate you too.  Because it would not cost six hundred dollars to reach this happy moment.  But, on the other hand, you would not be able to fix my photos. You could enjoy them after they have become presentable.  But you could not lighten certain parts of them (which is called “dodging” I have just learned) or darken other parts (which is called “burning” I have just . . . fallen asleep.)

You would be full of pluses and minuses and you would possibly continue to confuse me long after this storm has finally wiped out the US Open and headed out to sea.  But that’s alright.  Life is full of challenges.

Do you have a help page?  Please send it along next time your smiling face appears in my Blog Catalog widget.  I need all the help I can get at this point.  I’m like one of those solar panels that gradually becomes useless in cloudy weather.  The ones you can get for a lot less than six hundred dollars!

You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are;
but you must approach each man by the right door.  ~Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

In terms of a photo that shows a dolphin’s features I guess this would be the best shot I was able to get this week. It’s not the best photo of a dolphin but that’s a different thing.
I believe this may be a mother dolphin with her child next to her. She stays with her child for about six years so it’s a very close relationship. The father is nowhere to be found.
We will be heading back to Richmond tomorrow. But we have had a very relaxing week. I hope everyone has a nice vacation this summer. And don’t forget Virginia Beach when you are choosing a vacation destination.
Where do you plan to go on your vacation? Or where have you been?