Virginia Breeze

We are back in Richmond and I am slightly depressed because I can’t walk across the room and check out the sunrise. For somebody who likes taking photos of the emerging daylight you can’t beat a room with a balcony by the ocean.  Maybe there are better oceans but this is our ocean and we won’t even go there.

Virginia Breeze was in the number one slot on its Google page but I see that a Virginia condo deal has edged back into first place. Now what does the wind in Virginia have to do with a condominium I ask you?  You want air conditioned comfort in your condo.  And Robbin Thompson who sang the wonderful Sweet Virginia Breeze and should be number one is number five.

But he has been edged out by some organization that sells kites and simply took his song title in toto and ran with it.

Life is not fair. I will admit thinking briefly about Robin and his song when I named this blog Virginia Breeze but I do feel some shame from time to time and so you will not find “sweet”  attached to my breezes.  The dogs will no doubt vouch for that fact.  In fact. . . well we don’t need to go there either.

Speaking of Sparky and Malarkey they were glad to see us. We didn’t find any bad blogger parts around the yard so apparently nobody chose to visit while we were away.  Zach my large son and a few others like to hang out here while we are gone so I’m not really worried about it.  And the dogs do need to be fed so they don’t chew a hole in the fence and go looking for the trash man.

So all is peaceful around here. There is a sad piece in the Richmond paper about a young man down at Georgia Tech who died in a sky diving accident in the past few days.  My other son Jeremy went to Georgia Tech and I am so grateful that he didn’t choose to sky dive or ride a motorcycle.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this young man.

Sigh.  Clearly I need to stop ruminating about just packing up and moving to the beach. We have things to do here.  Somebody needs to keep an eye on the younger son who is downtown setting up his new apartment situation with the lovely Ashley this weekend.  I am sure she plans to keep an eye on him too but one (or two) eyes may not be enough.  Fortunately he has not fallen off any more ladders lately but there are numerous other ways he can slip up.

It doesn’t cost very much to go to VCU (relatively speaking) so I have decided that Zach’s talent for obtaining  parking tickets, overdrafts, late fees and the various other methods he has perfected for giving away money are like an extra course in learning about life. At some point you realize that you are just driving down Broad St.  and tossing twenties and fifties out the window. It’s Throwing Benjamin  Away 101.  When you are done doing that you are ready for Bowling 260.  Overall, however, he is still saving money.  Because, as I said, VCU is downright cheap when it comes to college educations.

So it’s time to walk on this lovely Sunday morning.  Yes we are still trying to stay fit and eat right.  Somebody needs to keep an eye on us too.  And at our age it looks like the only ones who can do that would be. . . . .us.

Yesterday Beth and I were on the beach when i said something about “walking forever until we lose all the weight”. And so we walked for about two hours and today my back is killing me. I can’t stand up straight. Beth is fine thanks for asking she says.

So today I decided to walk on the boardwalk because when you walk on the beach it is often like walking on the side of a hill. And you spine and pelvis don’t understand the joy of walking near the water when one foot is constantly having to go further to keep you upright.

Beth started out on her favorite path along the beach and I decided to walk the boardwalk and take photos of colorful umbrellas. Eventually I ended up under the pier where there is shade on 13th Street. And so I called Beth to see where she if she maybe would come along at some point.

But she was already down by 27th Street (we started out on 3rd Street). And she said she planned to turn around at some point and head back (good news) so I decided to wait for her under the pier.

So I was minding my own business taking photos of the pier when these two European beauties descended upon me and asked If I would take their photos. Well of course I would! My wife was at least ten blocks away. And there were a couple of homeless guys parked further back towards the pier under the restaurant. I was sure they wanted me to do it!

So I took their photos with their camera and then as part of the deal I took their photos with my camera. And suddenly a whole new world of photography opened up before my near sighted eyes.

Eventually Beth showed up and we walked down the beach together to our chairs on 3rd Street. And I decided to just take photos! Of people! Half naked people!

Primarily I was looking for colors. Sharp and vibrant beach colors. That was the theme of the day. I tried to be considerate of people and be unobtrusive at the same time. And I wasn’t looking for great looking bods either. A few of them might have gotten in the way but that’s the way it goes.

Colors. Art. Photography. Here it is.

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Here’s something I learned last Saturday at the horse races that will help when taking photos of our equine friends. Watch out for railings when taking pics. Sure you are hot and thirsty. But go ahead and make one more effort. Lean over the rail so you don’t have to crop the photos later to eliminate the piece of metal that is covering up the horse’s hooves.

If it’s really hot and the railing is made out of metal you might hear a little sizzling going on.  But don’t worry about it.  You are already baked pretty well in the heat.  Now you’re a little bit fried too.

It’s the best of both worlds.

And it’s really a more impressive photo if you shoot all of him. Or her. Whichever.

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