I can’t fathom what terribly hidden, or overt, meaning this Christmas matchup conveys. Is it about bringing Holiday cheer, quite literally with intoxicating beverages? Will Santa bring good boys and girls—of legal drinking age—brew presents? […]
Tag: holidays
Happy Thanksgiving!
San Diegans welcomed Turkey Day (gobble, gobble) with much-needed rain overnight. Clouds threaten more downpour even now. This morning, I aborted two separate walks because of weather—but not before capturing a moment suitable to the […]
Happy Halloween 2018!
I am mummified by how many apartments, condos, and homes in the neighborhood are dressed up for Trick-or-Treat day. Many of the decorations are elaborate, and about all are playful. Our Featured Image presents the front lawn inflatable that the owner of Bruce—one of the furballs from my “Cats of University Heights” series—put up; hehe, she paid five bucks for the thing 13 years ago during an after-Halloween sale.
The longhair tiger tabby is deliberately soft-focused, in this portrait captured on Oct. 17, 2018 at 6:29 p.m. PDT., or about 15 minutes after sunset, using low-light trooper Leica Q. Vitals, aperture and shutter manually set: f/1.7, ISO 1600, 1/125 sec, 28mm.
Valentine’s Vendor
Park Blvd. and Mission is a spot where I hadn’t seen flower sellers until this overly pink and red holiday. (Cough, cough, can you believe Pizza Hut sells heart-shaped pies with chocolate-chip cookie or brownie bundle? Hey, baby, let’s make some love handles!) I passed by the gent, then backtracked and asked if I could snap a portrait. He agreed. Obviously.
I am not a flash fan but there are times when fill-flash would be helpful—like when the subject stands under a shady tarp, surrounded by blaring sunlight. Even with manual controls, my amateur inexperience couldn’t manually adjust aperture or exposure compensation enough. That’s where post-production editing of the RAW remedies.
The Great Gift Mom Gave to Me
On this first Christmas without mom, who passed away nearly five months ago, there is little pause for reflection. Flu symptoms started on December 20; today is the first in five where fever dropped below 37.8 degrees Celsius (100 F); 38.9 C (102 F) was frequent. My core body temp tends to be below normal (36.1 C; 97 F), which (I hope) explains why low-grade fevers are so debilitating. I let the blog auto-post several entries to my “Cats of University Heights” series, which is one reason there are so many uninterrupted.
There is little sentimental about this December 25. My wife finally succumbed to the flu by Christmas Eve; we steered our daughter away from the quarantine household. She is in Northern California with a friend’s family, and looks like she feels out of place, too. We’re here, as is her bag of presents, and she celebrates without mom and dad but with the loss of two grandparents. My father-in-law passed away Jan. 11, 2017. He already was in desperate decline last Christmas Day; I can’t imagine the dire circumstance if Anne and I were this bedridden then, when he needed so much assistance.
Real Southern California Christmas Tree
For all my snowbound friends wondering what December is like here in San Diego, look no further than this orange tree in a neighbor’s yard on Monroe Ave. a few blocks from my apartment. While […]
Thanksgiving Times are Changin’
On Nov. 20, 2005, I marveled at Tower Records’ holiday hours—the store being open on Thanksgiving and also Christmas. A year later, the retail music chain was gone—and, tragically, a broader cultural experience/lifestyle with it. Major bookstore chains, like Borders, followed along later—all casualties of the digital content economy (or lack of it because of piracy) enabled by Internet distribution.
Finding anything open for business on the third Thursday of November was a challenge 12 years ago. Today, retailers can’t wait to welcome shoppers. Black Friday deals have been available pretty much everywhere all week, while bargain hunters can shop today at their favorite stores. That is, if not scouring Amazon deals from ye `ol smart device while sitting on the couch, watching football, chugging brewskis, and belching.
Happy Halloween!
This morning, I walked up Meade Ave. past Birney Elementary just as the students arrived—the majority accompanied by adults, presumably parent(s). The Schoolhouse is still “in escrow”, and I begin to wonder if anyone will ever buy the place. That the staging furniture remains within can’t be good indication. I say now, for the first time, that the property is across from Birney, and therefore helluva attractive location for families.
Passing each escorted kid, I could feel the vibrant enthusiasm effusing from their little bodies. It’s Halloween! Trick-or-Treat is hours away, and surely teachers will celebrate somehow. So the wait will be short before sugary delights find them.
Seriously?
Oh, Please! It’s not even Halloween! Fashion Valley decks the mall with mounds of folly—fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! You won’t forget to spend your money—fa, la, la, la, la, la, […]
Christmas in June?
I spotted Santa Claus while walking in Balboa Park this afternoon. He was out for a stroll—to where is anyone’s guess. An elf helper tagged along, so surely there was some purpose. After passing him, I stopped. Hesitated. Stepped forward. Then turned around and approached Mr. Kringle, rather than let the moment pass. I asked to shoot a portrait.
As you would expect, Santa responded jovially, accepting the invitation. While couching low with Leica Q, I asked about his presence, joking that it wasn’t Christmas in July. He smiled and said something about Christmas being every day for people who keep it in their hearts. Now that is a lovely sentiment.
Hehe, I Forgot About This Photo Bomb
Six weeks before relocating from Kensington, Md. to San Diego, Calif. in October 2007, I photographed the local Labor Day Parade using the Nikon D200 and Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 lens. Looking over the album posted […]
The Cats of University Heights: Star
Merry Christmas! More than a month has passed since the last furball featured in this series spread across my InterWebs. Meet a kitty I call Star, who punctuates one of the neighborhoods’s better holiday homes. I […]