Photo LinkLove

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books. ~Michel de Montaigne

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. ~Robert Frost

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark Twain

I need to get out and take some photos.  Yesterday was the first day in over two weeks that I felt really good.  So  I will be going out and looking for targets of opportunity soon.

Here is a photo from an ice storm we had awhile ago.   It’s pretty bad when you have to resort to this, isn’t it?  But it’s a new photo anyway that I have never put up and it’s kind of nice.  It has a certain symmetry

Or not.

This past weekend was a real eye opener as far as the economy is concerned.  We went to a Christmas party that is packed every year and there were quite a few empty tables this year.  Then we went to see The Nutcracker and there were very many empty seats at the Saturday evening performance.

It’s not looking good sports fans.  Have you noticed anything like this in your neighborhood?

But it said on the news that people are still buying Christmas trees.  So that’s good.  Maybe they are just staying home and enjoying them more.

I hope so.

We are going to go over to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and view their Christmas display again this year.  The photos I took last year seem to be very popular and they do something different every year.  So we tried to get in the first night it was open but the parking lot was full and they were diverting traffic out into the darkness.  I didn’t stick around to follow the trail.

Apparently I’m still not completely cured where crowds are concerned.  In any case here are some photos from last year’s exhibit.  I haven’t posted these before (or I don’t remember doing so…take your pick).  In fact I never really looked at them (or don’t remember etc…).  They needed some light and some cropping.

And here they are.

Click on photo to enlarge

I found the bug that caused this post to go away. And this seems like the perfect time to also bring it back. So here it is.

, originally uploaded by Davidlind.

I was looking around at the crowd yesterday at the Richmond Folk Festival.

I have trouble being in crowds. It’s a lot better than it used to be and since I have started taking photos I feel practically normal in the midst of my fellow human beings.

It has reached a point where I can enjoy them and yesterday it went a step beyond that.

I was looking around and it suddenly hit me that I owe a debt to all these people. Because they form the society that protects us in many different ways from many different things including powerful entities that can get out of control.

Many of them are involved in some way or another in every thing that I have as well. And at the top of this list is freedom. I wouldn’t do well living in a fascist state and am unhappy when someone suggests I do.  Communism would not be much fun either.  In the real world.

It is my belief that (although they often do not realize it) the soldier and the protester are actually fighting for the same thing.  Freedom from oppression.  One looks outward and the other more inward.  Together they find a most difficult balance in a society like ours.

Some I do not see as I look around today. They cannot enjoy the beautiful weather and the entertainment. I cannot take their photo.

But their names are engraved on glass at the top of the hill. And when the sun sets it casts a beautiful light across them.
Perhaps I have not done that light justice in these photo. But it was there and I wanted to try and share it with you.

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