First Thanksgiving in Baltimore

  I finally have time off.

 My second whole weekend off since July. 

 A few days where I don’t have to wake up with an alarm clock after four or five hours of sleep.  Of course, my eyes flap wide open at 5:45 out of sheer habit but it’s nice to know I can go back to sleep.

  I thought I’d drive up to Connecticut for the break but I’ve just had too little sleep and too little slowing down time in general that I decided that this was precisely what I was going to do.

  Sleep. Read a book from beginning to end. Have no sense of urgency whatsoever. Go out to meet friends whenever. Eat more than a couple of bites on the run for a change.

  It’s been lovely, the whole first day of that ; )!

  Here are some pics from Thanksgiving. Clare, my lovely Irish co-fellow and I went for a walk around Fell’s Point and then later we all met up at David and Courtney’s for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner that they pulled together. Inspite of the fact that they both worked 10-14 days without a break right into Thanksgiving. Just saying that you’re never too busy to show love. If you really want to. Just saying.

 Hope you all had a blessed time to remember all the good things in your lives!

One of the many quaint Fell's Point buildings.

Lovely Clare trying to look for a coffee shop open on Thanksgiving.  Outside Blue Moon Cafe which was shut inspite of promising to be open on Thanksgiving :)!

Baltimore's redeeming point for me. It's proximity to the water.

A future destination for sure!

At Dave and Courtney's

Their adorable dog Pepper.

The hospitable Keckichs

Such a pretty rustic house

Apple pie courtesy Dave

The succulent bird

Food and wine always make for great conversation. 

Dave shoulda been a surgeon

The tolerated single guy

Carnage

The fabulous Irish

When I can I'm definitely getting a dog!

Clare's picture of Patrick...very GQ Clare :)!

On remembering how big and different this world is...

I've been meaning to do this over the last week. Slow down and look at the pictures of places I've been to. And I'd like to share my favorite ones. Obviously they're more special to me because I remember the day and what it felt like at the moment and the place. But I like them and so I'm going to share them as I come across them. Here are a bunch from my trip to Peru last year.

At Machu Pichu

Lionel...one of the three llamas that roamed Machu Picchu...and added to the mystery of it i.e. how llama scat was present on narrow window sills.

Again at Machu Pichu

It was a misty day when I visited but I thought it added to the sense of mystery

One of the many plazas in Cusco

A girl and her alpaca..all dressed up for the tourists. 

One of my favourite things to do in Cusco ... just sit around and take it in.

At Plaza de Armas in Cusco by night

Again, taking Cusco in at the Plaza de Armas

Miraflores, Lima

If I can't have my own dragon, perhaps one day a falcon?

Faro de la Marina,  Miraflores

El Parque del Amor, Lima 

The way I see it....

Here's to impulse buying.
  Which is not new to me.  But then again, it can't really be impulse buying if the thought of the purchase wasn't completely new, can it?

  For years I've wanted a digital SLR. Sometime ago, I told a great friend that I didn't see what the point was because my pictures couldn't even compare. And the friend said, "Your pictures are your view. The way you see it. So keep taking your pictures" This was a wise friend.

  Though I know I have a long way before I learn to photograph what I'm seeing. Or how I see something. Wait, is that the same thing? Anyway.

  Give me a camera. I've long been berated about missing the moment. I get it. I know where you're coming from when you say that. But what I want to say is this. For me, when I stop to take a picture. It's because I stop to look. It's because I stop and see. I don't often stop. Well, not long enough anyway. Especially in recent years.

  Can you live a moment in a picture? A fleeting moment that you had in 'real' life and then forever commit to memory to be changed a little bit every time you remember it? I'm not saying that's a bad thing. And I know it's precisely because it's just a moment, you find yourself at the point where you either choose to live it or try and capture it. Don't we all try, just a little bit, to make the moment last? Haven't you wondered if you'd remember it just as it was. Stand looking down at Machu Pichu and take in the view of the mist swirling in and out of the ruins. Take it in. Live it. But don't tell me you're not even the slightest bit motivated to try and capture that. Because you don't walk past something like that every day. And what about the things you do pass every day and not 'see'? When you want to take a picture to point something out. The irony of a moment. That 'everyday moment' you might just drive past.  And not even see. Like when I drive back from work and see a bench on the sidewalk, with the words painted 'Baltimore, the greatest city in America'.  I see it every day. And often there's one of Baltimore's more destitute denizens, having a smoke while leaning on those boastful words.

 So now I have a 'real' camera. And no idea where to start. I don't like reading manuals. Hate it in fact. But I will, this time. Since I want to learn how to do this properly. Because apart from having something to say, there's my way of seeing this world and this life that I want to show you.

 For now though, here's some plain messin' around ;)

My work space..that I love!

Pretty much my whole life right now :P

A call to live fiercely. Though I'd think to temper that with wisdom!

You gotta have one 'point and shoot' right :)??