Virginia Is For Families

Winter can be bleak and those who are susceptible to depression can find themselves going over the edge this time of year.  Factors that are often mentioned are the lack of light and holiday expectations.  People are confronted with childhood memories as they gather with their families.  They have a chance to reflect on their lives.  And there is a lot of flu and other sickness going around this time of year.

All of these things can contribute to an attack of depression.  The warning sign I notice is the feeling that it is too difficult to do the most basic kinds of things.   Going to the store is a major task.  Boxing up a return item from Christmas is beyond my capacity.  Fortunately I am aware of these things and know how to take measures to combat this illness.   It’s really not very difficult to avert a major attack when life is going along in a fairly normal fashion.

There is medication but there are also other avenues to take that will help when there is less light outside and a dark shadow trying to creep into the soul.

I cannot say enough about the joy of taking photos with a camera that is capable of capturing the essence of a subject or scene. If there is not much light and color available in the back yard we can at least find it in the photos we have taken in the past year.

There are also photos that will bring back wonderful memories. There are photos that have brought notice and wonderful comments. And there are photos that simply remind us that this world can be a beautiful place in its finer moments.

Getting up early in the morning when all is still quiet and looking for something new in the photo gallery is an excellent way to start the day. I often will find something that has been overlooked and post it to Flickr. Then if someone finds it interesting I will post it here and add some words and/or music. In this way I often have a better idea if a WP post is going to be successful before it is published. ( Listening to inspirational music of one sort or another and finding a connection with a photo has been a recent exercise that adds to this experience).

Photography is one way (out of many no doubt) to combat sadness and depression.  And  there are other things to do that are helpful.  Drinking alcohol is not a healthy thing and many of us need to stay far away from it.  Taking walks and breathing in some cold, fresh air can be very helpful.  And learning to express our frustrations  instead of allowing them to just sit inside and grow mold can bring about a very positive change.

Of course this needs to be done in a constructive way.  And some sources of frustration are not going to go away anytime soon.   But voicing them and having someone who will  listen and appreciate our struggles while offering encouragement is better than all the Christmas presents in the world.

Beth does this for me and I love her for it.  We have just spent our tenth Christmas together and while it wasn’t much fun being sick it was a joy to be around someone who is a powerful source of health and well being.

We do this for each other and I hope that you have someone who does it for you.   In a world that seems so concerned about physical fulfillment of one sort or another not much is said about the emotional support that couples can offer each other.    But it really is more important and young couples often need it desperately as they try to build lives together.

All of this comes to mind as  I close the door on a challenging illness and start looking  forward to a fresh start and a new year.  Set goals for yourself and expect some defeats as well as some victories  along the way.  If you are lonely and/or  depressed discover and deal with the sources of both.

You can do it.   There is an infinite well of healing power within you.  Allow yourself to be open to it.   Drown your sorrows in it and drink from it every day.  Fight back.

Never surrender to the darkness.

George Harrison

Play Wah Wah

03-wah-wah

Wah-wah
Youve given me a wah-wah
And Im thinking of you
And all the things that we used to do
Wah-wah, wah-wah

Wah-wah
You made me such a big star
Being there at the right time
Cheaper than a dime
Wah-wah, youve given me your wah-wah, wah-wah

Oh, you dont see me crying
Oh, you dont hear me sighing

Wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah
And I know how sweet life can be
If I keep myself free from the wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah

Oh, you dont see me crying
Hey baby, you dont hear me sighing
Oh, no no-no no

Wah-wah
Now I dont need no wah-wahs
And I know how sweet life can be
If I keep myself free – of wah-wah
I dont need no wah-wah

It’s 34 F outside and raining.  So much for snowflakes and icy glitter as Christmas approaches.  Once again the skies are gray and full of nondescript clouds.  The trees have given up making wild gestures  of despair.

Now they are all drooping in sodden slumber.  Wake us up when the temperature goes below freezing.   Splash us with a dressing of ice as portrayed in the photo I put up a few days ago.   That was last year.  Nothing so interesting has happened this winter.  Noah is probably happy in his celestial yacht.  Somewhere.

My cough returned for a encore run and I have a headache this morning.  Will it never end?  I decided to go for the cure and went out for Hardee’s cinnamon  and raisin biscuits.   Four of these guys plus some Mountain Dew or (even better) Vault will solve just about any pounding pain in the CD ( chrome domium).    And in fact it’s working.

But the photo taking has been postponed (again!)  until the rain and the coughing stop.

Any day now.   On a more positive note I discovered that liquid Vitamin B12 and B6  are sometimes beneficial for RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome).   I was giving a can of Red Bull a chance to wake me up while having an attack of RLS a few weeks ago.  And the shaky legs went away!   No more bees doing laps from my knees to my ankles.

So I looked at the ingredients and discovered the Vitamin B content.  Now I take a teaspoon per day and it helps once in awhile.  Yesterday I even took a nap!   Oh what joy.   A nap during the day for someone with RLS is better than you know what!  Imagine never being able to rest unless you have taken some medication that is used mainly by Parkinson patients!  Believe me you do not want to take that stuff during the day unless you plan to live in bed.

So here is the good news for the five or ten percent of the population out there who deals with this scourge.  Try B12 and B6 in liquid form.

AND  look for silver linings  in the clouds.  I managed to find some yesterday as I grabbed a few moments of exquisite slumber during the day.   Then dreamed I was kissing a beautiful girl in a field of sparkling grass on a sunny afternoon.

Later, upon awakening, I told Beth about this dream.  And a  few hours later she told me that company would be here tomorrow (now today) and we would not be alone again until   the new year arrives.

We have been wrapping so many presents lately.  Perhaps we should take a moment and unwrap a couple.

Just for fun.

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

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Click on photos to enlarge

I went down to the James River last evening to try out the Nikon D40 that I purchased from Amazon a few days ago. It’s a smaller camera than the D70 (far less expensive too) and it has a superior LCD screen and setup options on the screen. Here is a photo I took with it. I also bought the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens. It does take better photos further away than anything I have used in the past. And it has a stabilization process that makes things clearer. I sent the D70 back to Nikon as well so it was a productive day. Hopefully they can awaken it from its coma and send it home again.

I still love you Nikon D70 wherever you are. Get well soon.

We are heading back to Virginia Beach this weekend and I hope to take a few better photos after learning from my experiences last weekend. Of course you can never tell what you are going to get down there. Things may be completely different and it will have nothing to do with my learning curve.

My learning curve sometimes seems more like a speed bump in the road.

I hope nobody is grossed out my the video of Craig Ferguson’s dream. Let me know if it bothers you. I find him to be extremely funny and Beth thinks I have lost my mind once again.

Amazon ads are making an appearance. It’s curiosity. Would anyone actually use them to make a buying decision?

I am skeptical. But I love Amazon and personally try to keep them in business by running the UPS guy up and down the road with packages.

Everyone have a great weekend. It’s the best time of year with the cool, dry weather and the beautiful fall colors coming soon. Or maybe they have already come to you. Bernie?

I know that Jeff is happily snapping photos up there in New Hampshire. I was in upper NH once camping out. I swear a bear was watching me. It was pretty scary.

Something was watching. Do you ever feel like you are being watched? Halloween is coming! Time for some more stories about UFO’s!  Yikes.

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

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Beth and I both enjoyed this sailboat.  Blue is a favorite color for both of us.  Doesn’t this look like a lot of fun?  One person can run things and I bet it goes fast under the right conditions. I will add a few NextGen photos of sailboats here this evening.  They are a cheerful island in a sea of gray photos I took this past weekend.  I’m so sick of looking at most of them.   Everything is gray and white.   I thought maybe the camera was busted after looking at them awhile.  But occasionally a colorful bathing suit or sail will pop up in a photo.

First, the D40 is twice as sensitive to light as the D40x and D80. (The D40’s ISO defaults to ISO 200 instead of the less sensitive ISO 100, making for sharper photos in any light.)

Second, the D40 is far more flexible with flash in daylight. The maximum shutter speed of every Nikon other than the D40 when used with flash is only 1/250 second, while the D40 easily shoots at 1/500 with flash with no loss of performance.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40.htm

It’s pretty interesting stuff ( I thought my D70 defaulted to ISO 200).  He has without question guided me towards a lens that has been just amazing in terms of taking photos thru a wide range of distances with amazing clarity.

It’s a miracle! I bought mine in November 2005 and love it. It’s replaced an entire bag of lenses. All I bring anywhere is my 18-200mm, and maybe my 12-24mm for 99% of everything I shoot.

It’s small, fun, flexible, sharp and fast. VR, instant auto/manual focus override and macro and zooming all work perfectly. This lens is too much fun!–Ken Rockwell

He is talking about the Nikon 18-200mm  VR

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htmI

You can save a lot of money reading this guy.  I swear.  Eventually I will get a Nikon D700 most probably.  But right now I still have too much to learn to plunk down 2500 bucks for a camera.   Although I did spend that much for a computer a few years ago (it’s all about conditioning).    And  televisions can easily cost that much these days.   But some of these cameras are heavy.  And this one ( the D40) is supposed to be very light.  I saw a couple of guys at the beach this weekend with some very heavy cameras and lenses sitting on a tripod.  I’m just not ready to go there yet.  i want to travel light and (hopefully) capture more just by being in the right place at the right time.