[Paisleychick-lj] Walking and other stuff

Wed Sep 5 05:14:06 EDT 2007

[![][1]][2]   
[Afternoon sunlight][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

I've gone for a couple of good walks this week around San Francisco. This photograph was taken at the steps to Lincoln Park Golf Course near Land's End in Seacliff on a walk with [Beth][5]. The light was so beautiful and I saw this scene as we were parking the car. So, I grabbed the camera and took a bunch of shots. It was hard to narrow it down to this one, but with the help of my friend [Åsta][6], I chose this one. I took [more photos][7] on our walk and Beth was very patient and understanding. We had a great talk and got to know each other better and more about each other's families and such. Definitely good times.  

I took another walk, but by myself this time and without my camera on Tuesday afternoon. I started at the house we're house-sitting on 23rd Avenue and Lincoln and then walked along the sandy-dirt path west through the Golden Gate Park all the way out to Ocean Beach and then caught buses back "home". I walked through the forest of trees and the afternoon golden hour light streamed down. It was gorgeous. I kept on seeing scenes to photograph and wondering how best to capture them and thinking about possibly toying with [HDR photos][8]. The problem with those photos though is that it means even *more* time messing with photos on the computer. I did just download [GIMP for mac OS X][9] so that makes me happy. I'll start playing around with that soon. As an aside, I am no longer using MS office or Adobe PS and have replaced them with [OpenOffice][10] and the [GIMP][11]. Yay, free software that works and has a pretty GUI for me to use. When I installed a new hard drive and restored my data from backup for some reason those applications got borked and since I don't have the original cd's to install from, I just went over to the light side.  

Back to my walk. It was gorgeous and I was glad to be getting some much needed exercise and Vitamin D. I think I walked for about 1 1/2 hours total. The beach was cold and the sun was setting and I saw all sorts of interesting things. I saw a crow scavenging on a dead bird (seagull I think). I saw 5 para-gliders surfing the waves. They go insanely fast and it looks like a heck of a lot of fun, but extremely tiring on the arms. I saw couples walking in the sunset, keeping each other warm. I saw teenagers up to no good, but having fun none-the-less. I saw lots of birds flying above me and I saw a beautiful sunset. I miss sunsets in Buenos Aires. You get the nice golden hour light, but not the actual scene of the sun setting on the horizon, unless you're in a highrise or something similar and happen to be watching at the right moment. I didn't realize how *much* I missed sunsets until I saw them again.   

We leave on September 16th. Aaack. That's really soon. We're making progress on stuff, which is good, but damn, there's not much time left. On the plus side, we already have guests lined up for Thanksgiving week in BsAs. Now, we just need to find a place to live when we get back. I am looking forward to moving, but it's scary and it's sad. My friends and family are here in the USA. The internet makes people not seem so far away, but it's just not the same. I *am* really going to miss everyone and want to acknowledge those feelings. I keep on having to feel like I have to say "oh everything's fine" when people ask me how things are and how I'm doing. But really, I'm not fine. I'm not bad, don't get me wrong, but this is a huge deal. I know it will all work out and I know it will be great, but, but, but, but..... ::bites nails::  

   [1]: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/1306145609_44db4de116_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1306145609/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/1306145609/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://bethmolnar.livejournal.com/
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96881678@N00/
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/tags/landsend/
   [8]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging
   [9]: http://gimp-app.sourceforge.net/
   [10]: http://www.openoffice.org/
   [11]: http://www.gimp.org/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/314652.html