Virginia Breeze

When you have thousands of photos around you can always find a few that maybe can be dressed up and taken out in public. So here is a candidate for this Saturday afternoon. Soon to be Saturday evening (second photo below).

How are things going in your area this weekend? It seems rather low key around here. Perhaps everybody is saving up their energy for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. That’s a pretty big one around this neck of the woods. Helena may not think so but that’s because she seems to be so attached to Great Britain.

Except when she is flying above it in an airplane. And even then she can’t resist diving out the door just to get back in a hurry. I’m kidding of course.

We went to a concert last night at an area shopping plaza. I was taking photos of the band The English Channel when I inadvertently pointed my camera at a building being constructed nearby. And wouldn’t you know it a large and very round security guard had to stick his face in my comfort zone to tell me about the policy of the stores.

You can’t take photos of the stores or the buildings. So much for celebrating freedom and the upcoming 4th. Perhaps somebody can explain that one to me. Here’s a photo of some of the band  and the crowd.  We enjoyed them a lot. And you can see from these photos that many fans were relaxing and enjoying them too.You can see some more photos of the band here on my Picasa Web Gallery.

One of my longtime blogging friends Helena had an opportunity to go sky diving recently. And she writes about it in her normal entertaining and factual way. I always enjoy reading her accounts of her activities.

She writes very well and then she uses the English language in a slightly different way. Why?

Because she lives in Great Britain! She also loves big cats.

Not big cats like Garfield. Not fat cats. Big, big cats. The kind of cat who would like to have you over for dinner.

They are very beautiful and she has many wonderful photos of them. But back to the part about diving out of an airplane. Sky diving looks like so much fun doesn’t it? Going 120 mph towards the earth and hoping your parachute was packed correctly.

Here tis.

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Do you feel like you could jump out of an airplane?  Have you ever tried it?  If a passenger jet is going to crash why do they not have parachutes for the passengers?  Should they at least have a few for those who might want to take their chances jumping?

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Here is the list (so far) of bloggers whose comments I appreciate so much based on the things they have said and the fact that they came back and said some more. Remember who you are dealing with here in the event I have left somebody out. It will dawn on me one of these days when I am driving down the street or taking a walk. “Oh no! I’ve forgotten about “Joe” ! “

I haven’t gotten all of these up yet but I am working on it. And the ones I have completed can still hold lots more stuff. If you have something in your blog that is very cool let me know and we can add it. Or maybe make a future post out of it. This is not a one time deal! I am opening this PR 4 blog up for bloggers who comment regularly here. That sounds like a cool thing to me. But I also realize I march to a different drummer much of the time. So time (and you guys) “will tell”.

And I don’t mean to be presumptuous. If you want me to take some or all of it down let me know. I don’t know why that would happen but it could happen. Adding stuff would definitely be more more fun.

The Middle Way

Creative Blogger

The Seeded Earth

Everest by climbers blog

10,000 Birds

The blog @RTD 13

BFK Photography

Helena’s Blog

Emma Alvarez Site

Your Caring Angel

Scenic Adelaide

WebPrepPro eTutorial

Political Rogue

CharlesHamel.com

I have also included blogs that I enjoy but do not know the author. Maybe I have commented and not heard back. But it is alright. This is a good exercise in not expecting anything in return. Just go out and enjoy Blog Land! So that’s what I am going to do!

And they get Stumble priority too.

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One of the things about blogging that I have found interesting is that you can go along for a long while and everything is pretty much alright. But then you wake up one morning and you feel like you may have slept on a pea. Or maybe you dreamed about flying saucers.

Or maybe you just woke up and wondered why you spend hours working on blogs every day and get nothing in return. Oh, wait. Maybe not nothing. You do receive comments from time to time that are very nice. Someone enjoys a photo or something you have written.

And that is your reward. What else could it be? Money? Don’t make me laugh. Hundreds of people coming to your site? Yeah. For two minutes and then they are gone.

So I woke up this morning and for some reason I just started questioning why I am doing all of this labor. And probably if one person had written a nice comment I would have just relaxed a little and let it go. But how many times do you expect someone to write a nice comment? I have a small group of readers who have done that many, many times. And we have sort of gone beyond that stage. We are in the psychic realm of communication where you don’t have to actually type anything on your keyboard. Right Bernie?

So that’s not really the answer. I was hoping my new blog might change things but it really hasn’t done a thing. Nobody has said much about it. Maybe it is a waste of time. Maybe blogging is a waste of time!

Taking photos is not a waste of time. However. And writing poems is not a waste of time. True art is not a waste of time no matter if you are pursuing it at a most basic level. It does matter and I will never regret spending the hours that I have spent doing it.

But the next person I read who suggests exchanging links is going to see my hands coming out of their monitor and grabbing their neck for a nice squeeze.

There is so much BS in Blogging. It should be called BSlogging. It’s like a horse race only when they open the gates five thousand ponies suddenly hit the track. It’s just beyond understanding and I hope there will come a time when just about everyone decides to go on to the next great thing. And please take a bunch of the SEO gurus too. Load them on your shoulders and carry them away. They are not needed.

They are going to hate that I said that. They are all sitting there with their SEO stuff and knowledge of CSS and advertising like cowboys who round up the herds of ponies. But did they actually ever create anything? Mostly No. And do they answer e-mails? Mostly No.

There are exceptions, of course. But most of them don’t have the time to do the things that they preach. They are too busy figuring out how to rake in the dough.

I don’t care about the dough ( in BSlogging. I care a great deal about it elsewhere). None of these BSlogging wizards makes meaningful money as far as I am concerned . I care about the beauty in nature and meaningful emotions. And I am tired to death of dealing with the BSlogging that goes along with sharing these things.

I may just decide to call in my favorite band of aliens and have them all picked up and taken someplace nice for a thorough inspection so they better behave themselves.

And before I complete this diatribe let me say that there is a special place in my heart for one Adaii Freelancer who can’t seem to find the time to answer questions about his special themes. He and the rest need to take the time to communicate and answer questions. Issuing edicts is just not a good alternative.

There are no kings and queens on the internet. But when they actually do return on Showtime I will be there! Henry VIII is returning soon. He was able to cut off your head if you displeased him. And I can respect that.

What are these guys going to do? Cut off your internet service? I don’t think so.

Update: Thanks to those who stumbled/reviewed the Virginia Breeze poems. It means a lot to me. If you haven’t done so I would encourage a look in that direction. I have a personal interest of course. But it also sends a message of encouragement to all of us who are trying to use our talents to create something that will last awhile in our blogs.

I will obviously win no popularity contests. But some of the things in here will be read and appreciated (I hope) long after I have ceased to put fingers to keypad. And this is not stated often enough in Blog Land. Sure there is talk about quality content. But that’s about it. The details are left up to the blogger’s imagination in many cases.

Quality content is something that often does not readily translate into viral impact or money making opportunities. Poetry often does not attract a large audience. Maybe it is just not that good. Or maybe it takes too much time in this fast paced world to appreciate it.

I like poetry that is easily understood but also is able stir up deeper emotions in some readers. That’s what I try to do and I have no illusions that my poetry is anything but a hobby and an amateurish effort. But it can still be good and worthwhile as well as those other things.

So I encourage everyone to try to create and/or support something meaningful in their blogs. Bernie creates wonderful photos of flowers. Helena takes wonderful photos of animals in her beloved Maxwell Zoo. Barbara always has a new and imaginative idea for a photo. And Ron is all over the world taking photos of everything that can contribute to a beautiful photo.

I hope you will support these things. Stumble/review them. Add them to your blogrolls and talk about them in your posts. Elevate the level of conversation on the web. Virginia Breeze Poetry just received about four thousand hits from SU and out of that number maybe 200 folks actually read one poem. But that’s cool. Reaching people who will enjoy this sort of thing is good. But it takes a lot of work and causes frustration at times. Have I gone beyond the recommended number of words for a post yet?

Way, way beyond? Oh Dear. I better stop!