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the Weekly Photo Challenge
The current challenge is:
“the Christmas Season through New Years”
suggested by me, PhotoGraphics
My part 4 “Christmas in Virginia Beach, Virginia.”
Dec. 23 – Jan. 1, 2010
We traveled to Virginia late on the 22nd. Travel to and from was uneventful as roads were clear though snow was piled alongside for nearly 500 plus miles nearly to Richmond. This year temperatures were very cold so the snow remained and was clearly visible on our return, allowing us to see just how much snow had fallen before we started out.
We are now home a little more than a week. Remembering details of our visit, it was really nice. We ate in and we ate out and food was not only plentiful but delicious. We had good visits, played a few games, watched movies and did some site seeing. After deleting a lot of bad photos nearly 6 gigs of images remains and my computer graphics card is giving up the ghost. Computer use and decision making for photo use is now hindered with colored lines running horrizontally and vertically on my monitor. Things are looking up, a new computer and monitor are on the way.
My final content for this challenge is photos that include family. A bit of text for each and my images are smaller for loading, click them to view larger.
1-This was the first year Halie had to work during our stay. At her encouragement, I got up early to visit a little before she left for her day. The normal is breakfast with Mitch with a nice view of the birds and squirrels in the yard. Breakfast happens after four legged friends are fed but they feel the change of the Christmas pace so are staying nearby.
2- Mitch, our favorite son-in-law is a terrific cook. This is a meal he spent a lot of time preparing and everything he fixed is not in the photo. I would call him the chief cook. He is waiting for me to finish photo shooting the food so we can get on with eating.
3- Mitch also keep the fires burning and as cold as the Christmas weather is this year, the fireplace felt terrific. The dogs usually discover a spot to sleep in front of it.
4- We did a lot of sight seeing and photo taking. I enjoy taking photos of Halie taking photos and the above is Halie, Eden and Mitch. Though you can’t see it here, this photo was taken in a beautiful Oriental Park.
5- A distant view of Halie waiting for us beside the front of the Pagoda which is the main attraction in the park. There is a restaurant inside also but it was closed when we were there.
6- Chick’s, a favorite Oyster Bar Halie and Mitch love to share with us. We always visit the dock after the meal for photos. Eden is always favorite subject matter for her mom and the two of them are favorite subject matter for me so one from the dock at Chick’s.
7- My hubby John, playing with one of Mitch’s Christmas puzzles. Apple sits on his lap as any lap is a favorite spot and John doesn’t mind.
8- The pets are pampered but the cat is resting where we want to rest so a talk before removing it. Rusty is tempermental but he can be removed without much of a fuss by lifting and dumping with covers if need be.
9- This is Ralphie in our bed on another occassion. He is shy but sweet and smiles a lot. It took him a couple of visits before he stuck around for photos and it took me that long to tell the two cats apart. He is my favorite, of Halie’s cats, to take photos of.
10- Rusty on the other hand has scowling private thoughts that may include “I hope the intruders leave soon so things can get back to normal” and similar.
11- Granddaughters have lots of emotions you like to catch in photos. Eden has grown up and is now in her first year of university in Maryland and loving it. Seeing her on our visits is always a gift so I’ll close my Christmas/New Year entry with her.
We did visit Times Square on New Years via the television. We munched on special foods and drank plum wine while I took photos of the screen feeling like I was plenty close enough to the count down activities.
I have a lot of photos from our trip I’ll put up for you in future challenges. Thanks always for your comments on them. Have a super week and enjoy taking your photos.
I am a doll collecter. Action figures aren’t what I usually collect but I do have Spiderman placed here with a few movies with action figure story lines. I bought the doll / action figures from a dealer at a market, after seeing the first of the Spiderman series.
Most of my action photos come from live action I get to see going to school sports practices specifically for photos. This football practice was taken a couple of years ago at our high school practice field and have you ever seen so many legs in a pile?
and a newer one taken in October, girls soccer.
All nice looking, active young people in the photos and you can tell she is freezing in this one as she is keeping her hands up in her jacket. Taken in Virginia over our Christmas visit, this photo is quietly active. I spotted them as we drove so I grabbed the shot. I have seen young people use scooters and skate boards for racy sports activities we didn’t begin to think of when I was there age. Most young people now feel very much at home on wildly racing scooters or skate boards and more. I love seeing it over and above kids locked into nothing but computer activities.I enjoyed this challenge and hope I hit on something of interest.Thanks for comments, always and keep taking your photos.
1-This was the first year Halie had to work during our stay. At her encouragement, I got up early to visit a little before she left for her day. The normal is breakfast with Mitch with a nice view of the birds and squirrels in the yard. Breakfast happens after four legged friends are fed but they feel the change of the Christmas pace so are staying nearby.
2- Mitch, our favorite son-in-law is a terrific cook. This is a meal he spent a lot of time preparing and everything he fixed is not in the photo. I would call him the chief cook. He is waiting for me to finish photo shooting the food so we can get on with eating.
3- Mitch also keep the fires burning and as cold as the Christmas weather is this year, the fireplace felt terrific. The dogs usually discover a spot to sleep in front of it.
4- We did a lot of sight seeing and photo taking. I enjoy taking photos of Halie taking photos and the above is Halie, Eden and Mitch. Though you can’t see it here, this photo was taken in a beautiful Oriental Park.
5- A distant view of Halie waiting for us beside the front of the Pagoda which is the main attraction in the park. There is a restaurant inside also but it was closed when we were there.
6- Chick’s, a favorite Oyster Bar Halie and Mitch love to share with us. We always visit the dock after the meal for photos. Eden is always favorite subject matter for her mom and the two of them are favorite subject matter for me so one from the dock at Chick’s.
7- My hubby John, playing with one of Mitch’s Christmas puzzles. Apple sits on his lap as any lap is a favorite spot and John doesn’t mind.
8- The pets are pampered but the cat is resting where we want to rest so a talk before removing it. Rusty is tempermental but he can be removed without much of a fuss by lifting and dumping with covers if need be.
9- This is Ralphie in our bed on another occassion. He is shy but sweet and smiles a lot. It took him a couple of visits before he stuck around for photos and it took me that long to tell the two cats apart. He is my favorite, of Halie’s cats, to take photos of.
10- Rusty on the other hand has scowling private thoughts that may include “I hope the intruders leave soon so things can get back to normal” and similar.
11- Granddaughters have lots of emotions you like to catch in photos. Eden has grown up and is now in her first year of university in Maryland and loving it. Seeing her on our visits is always a gift so I’ll close my Christmas/New Year entry with her.We did visit Times Square on New Years via the television. We munched on special foods and drank plum wine while I took photos of the screen feeling like I was plenty close enough to the count down activities.I have a lot of photos from our trip I’ll put up for you in future challenges. Thanks always for your comments on them. Have a super week and enjoy taking your photos.
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