I saw these photos on my husband’s phone, and I said, “Send those to me now!” Then I teased him about me being down there working my tail off with my tripod and everything (I’m one of the tiny figures under the pier in the first one), and he’s sitting up on the cliff on a bench taking incredible shots with his phone. He said, “I thought, well I’m sitting here, might as well take a few pictures…”
Argh! He takes very few photos, never bothers with a camera, but when he does shoot, the captures are great.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend. For you in the US, have a great Independence Day, and stay safe.
We met friends for dinner at a downtown restaurant right on the Truckee River. We’ve been hearing about the “River Walk” and finally had a chance to see it on a perfect year for it, when there is actually water in the river. It’s lovely what they’ve done, and I can see why it’s so popular.
I borrowed my husband’s phone to snag these shots as I wasn’t planning on taking on photos. (I should never plan on that.) 😉
Sparks is very pretty, and a lot of people have figured that out. As the city quickly grew, developers factored in bike lanes, large sidewalks, and shopping, making it very livable. With modern homes and gorgeous views, it’s a popular place for families and retirees alike. I always enjoy my visits there and find it hard not to snap photos. Here are a few from my last visit.
Brrrr…it’s starting to get cold! But we will be warmer for Thanksgiving not only from eating too much hot food but also from being in San Diego. I hope to get out Friday morning for a photo shoot in La Jolla before my critique group meeting.
My writing pace has fallen off and my NaNo goal of 100,000 words is history. Even getting to 50,000 is highly at risk. But it’s not over ’til it’s over, you know?
I have been organizing my photos, getting them off my computer because my disk space is maxing out. In the process I have been feeling for what of past photos most excites me today. Well the answer for today, November 23 2015, is Yellowstone.
The mystical quality of Yellowstone National Park still amazes me. I have some shots I developed before and some ones I developed today.
This first batch is from my earlier work.
Upper Geyser Basin, YellowstoneLooking toward the Old Faithful Lodge
The softness in the colors and mist belies the volcanic action creating those effects!
Here is the batch I developed today using Lightroom to emphasize the mysterious quality of Yellowstone.
This week I am looking forward to seeing friends and family and taking photos in La Jolla. What are you looking forward to this week?
Back to work I go. On the flight home I worked out a schedule looking at the hours in a day, and what I can allocate to writing. Also to blogging, photography, social media.
I allocated four hours a week to photography. Well I spent four hours just processing the photos from Vermont. And an hour or so writing this post, now I am rewriting it. I changed my mind about what I wanted to say. So that’s 6 or 7 hours on photos and blogging in one day.
But I like it. Maybe I’ll cut out what I “should” do, and just do what I love to do. I love blogging and taking photos. And writing and editing and fiddling with my website and reading and talking about books.
I was going to cut down on being online, planning on cutting way down on social media and networking, but it’s early morning (still on east coast time) and I just spent an hour reading the New York Times and links to other articles. And I like sending emails to friends, chatting on messenger with friends, and meeting for coffee, lunch, or writing marathons.
I guess I’ll plan to keep doing things the same way because I’m going to anyway, and if I embrace my choices instead of doing that while I’m supposed to be “disciplined” about my time, I’ll just feel bad, but not really be doing anything different. I think I just had an early morning epiphany. LOL
I guess I’ll just keep making lists of the important stuff, embrace the chaos, and see how I go. Do you adhere to schedule or just wing it?
Here is the chronicle of my last day of vacation, spent with friends in Vermont.
Picking apples is really fun. My friends and husband did most of the picking while I did most of the clicking.
Picking apples
I picked a couple apples…and ate them. I did contribute a couple to the bags, but the rest of the time I was having a blast taking photos.
Vermont orchardsArtsy apple picking ladder shotMacintosh apple
My friend said my taking photos was okay, though, because if all four of us picked apples, the fun would be over too quickly. As it was, it only took 20 minutes to fill two bags. These Macintosh apples were incredible tasting. We also had fresh-pressed apple cider and hot fresh cider donuts.
Then we went for a hike in a park called Red Rocks near Lake Champlain to try to work up another appetite for our picnic lunch.
River rocks in Lake ChamplainForest trail at Red Rocks parkLake Champlain, VermontSail boats on Lake ChamplainForest trail in Red Rocks Park
The orchard also raised and sold flowers, and they made a beautiful display in front. What an inviting display.
Vermont orchard
Oh…wait, guess how we ended our vacation in Vermont? Watching the eclipse. We all had our chairs out under a cloudless sky. Because we were in Vermont, we could watch the whole thing. Here’s one shot.
We are lucky to have friends who live in a country town near Burlington Vermont. We would love coming to visit them no matter where they live, but what a treat to visit here. The country life is especially enjoyable after 10 days in New York City. Whew, what a relief to escape the noise! Although New York City has its own special beauty, it is too loud for me.
Driving along the rim of the Champlain Valley, it is very difficult to keep going instead of stopping 40 times to take photos. There was finally a good place to pull over near the town of Vergennes, a lovely country town. Here I was finally able to take a photo of one of the silos that dot the land.
Silo near Vergennes VermontAn inn near Vergennes Vermont
We arrived at our friends’ house after about a 6 hour journey in time to catch the sunset from their deck. With a glass of beer and my tripod, I took some photos.
A country view in VermontNightfall in Vermont
The next day we hiked at Mad River Glen, where our friend skis. The photos from the hike are in the gallery below. Some of the fall colors are starting to come in, though they are somewhat hampered by a dry summer. It seems to be dry everywhere these days.
Afterward, we took a detour to look at this hop farm. Micro-breweries are booming in Vermont. In fact, there are now brewery tours in addition to the leaf-viewing tours. Hence growing hops is a new farming trend.
Growing hops for local breweries
As I write this, it is Sunday. I am scheduling this post of lots of photos from Friday night and Saturday, and it will show on Monday. On Wednesday I will share the photos from Sunday’s adventures, which we are about to start…think apple picking, fresh cider and cider donuts, walking by Lake Champlain, and finally, sampling some of those micro-brews.
Yesterday was hard work in some ways, with a lot of walking and emotions ranging from fun to sobering to sad. New York provided extraordinary weather for being a photographer and tourist: cool with a pretty sky.
Even after all the touring, which started at sunrise at the Flatiron Building and ended after 10:00 p.m. on top of the Empire State Building, I finished reading Virgin River by Robyn Carr. The last 50 or so pages were so riveting that despite being tired, I had to press on and read to the end. The Virgin River series is small-town contemporary romance, which is the direction I might be heading with my romance writing. I say “might” because I have some romantic suspense stories planned as well. I’ll probably write both sub-genres. Anyway, I’m so glad that my Goodreads group started reading this series. I’d picked up a couple books from later in the series but they didn’t captivate me. Now that I’ve ready the first one, I know to just push through the first few chapters, and I will be rewarded. I loved the contemporary and realistic elements and was moved and riveted several times throughout the book. I ended up giving it 5 stars, highly recommended.
The reading group is a great thing because many of the long-term members had read the book and their encouragement to keep going made the difference for me. Now I have a great new (to me) author and series to enjoy and another good example to follow.
Here are my favorite photos from sight seeing on Monday.
Old Ferry BuildingStatue of LibertyView from Staten Island FerryThe old Ferry Building, DetailNew York City ArchitectureNew York City ArchitectureNew York City Architecture
Here are some other photos of my day in New York City in a gallery for you. The World Trade Center and the memorials are absolutely gorgeous. I was very impressed by and proud of the people who came up with the design and implemented it. I’m glad I went, although it’s a very hard thing to stand there and remember, to absorb. It feels good to have paid my respects. Taking photos at the September 11 memorial is very easy because the site is beautiful from every angle. I won’t say much more because I’m starting to tear up. I really have no words, but am happy to share a few images in the gallery. The other photos are a smattering of images I enjoyed and hope you do too.
Street Art, Off Canal Street, New York City
Statue of Liberty, New York City
New York City skyline
View from Staten Island Ferry, New York City
One World Trade Center, New York CitySONY DSC
Reflecting Pools, World Trade Center Memorial, New York City
Reflecting Pools, World Trade Center Memorial, New York City
Well at this exact moment I just finished processing this photo I took of the Flatiron Building in New York City. It’s only 10:49 a.m. and I’m ready for a nap.
We set our alarms for 5:30 and headed out at 6 a.m. emerging from the Subway just at daybreak. The Flatiron Building was so pretty at this hour.
Flatiron Building New York City
I may not just be a small-town contemporary romance writer because the next book in the trilogy about the Cruz sisters has a bit of suspense and doesn’t take place in a small town. But I do love that sub-genre. I am reading Virgin River by Robyn Carr as part of a reading challenge for a romance genre Goodreads group called For the Challenge Impaired. We get to read at our own pace, which really suits me.
This is the first time I’ve been active in a Goodreads challenge group, and I’m really enjoying getting to share the experience of a book with other readers. Spoilers are hidden but we can discuss things in general. Once I’m through the first book, I want to delve into the spoilers and see what people think. After a bit of a slow start, I’m loving Virgin River, a small-town contemporary romance set in Northern California. I am inspired.
Being a tourist and on vacation in New York is lovely. For one thing I could take photos of people hurrying to their jobs. These two women were similarly attired and I thought tan and black was a nice color combo for work.
Workers in New YorkFlatiron Building New York City
I’m starting to think about visual branding. I hadn’t heard that term before but recently I did. I immediately locked onto it. Anything having to do with branding and marketing captures my attention. Visual branding is a great term to know because it turns up informative articles in Google. I’m starting to get clear about what I want to do. How to do it is another matter! Stay tuned.
Nicci Carrera 