93: Christmas Eve
Posted: December 24, 2010 Filed under: 365 Life in the Bogs Challenge, holidays, home, nature, Photography, snow, Spirit, travel, Walking, water, weather, winter | Tags: boats, California, Christmas Eve, cross-country skiing, marina, San Diego 13 Comments
(Shelter Island Marina. San Diego, CA. November 2010)
I finally finished uploading the last batch of photos from San Diego. Although this is not particularly Christmas-y, I do like the star effect. I’ll bring you something a little more seasonal tomorrow.
(Shogun. Shelter Island Marina. San Diego, CA.)
Having had our family Christmas celebration last weekend, it’s quiet here today. ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring… etc., etc., etc.
(Vagabond.)
The Great Outdoor Adventure — Day 93
The cross-country skis are FAB. And brilliant. And hard work!! M and I skied for about 20 minutes yesterday. The nice thing about owning our own skis is that we don’t have to push ourselves to utter exhaustion just to get our money’s worth in one day. We can take our time, get used to gliding and skiing, and maybe even learn how to turn. And stop. Stopping, it seems to me, is important. This is especially true when you’re speeding downhill and there are brambles at the bottom.
I fell once yesterday (coming down a hill and running into said brambles). My legs were a little sore today but not so much that it was uncomfortable. Just enough to let me know I’d worked them yesterday.
(Warm & fuzzy in the snow.)
Today I watched a video about a few of the basics of cross-country skiing and then tried to put what I learned into practice. Knowing the proper way to go uphill made it so much easier. I practiced a few drills (such as skiing without the poles). I still fell down. This time I was speeding down a bigger hill than the one I was on yesterday and M was at the bottom. I was sure I’d run right into him so I threw myself on the ground. So maybe that doesn’t count as falling??
Yes, I think learning how to stop will be a very good thing.
We skied for about 35 minutes today. I went out for a short walk after that, mostly to fill the bird feeders and to take a few photos. The camera will not be taking ski trips with me.
The weather has stayed pretty much the same for the past two days. A balmy 26 degrees, cloudy, with the occasional snow flurries and squalls. We will have a white Christmas, for sure. A storm with more snow is expected to arrive on Sunday.
Yay! Fresh snow!
(Today’s view of the pond.)
I doesn’t seem right to leave you with such a cold view when I’m feeling all warm and glowy from the exercise. How about a nice, warm sunset instead?
Merry Christmas Eve!
Life in the Bogs 
Oooo! Awe! are the first sounds out of my mouth when I saw the first three photos. Magnificent. How did you do that?
I heard Mission Beach was under water the other day and they were rescuing people by helicopter from roofs of hotels. Must have been frightening.
It’s wonderful that you are skiing. What great exercise and fresh air.
Merry Christmas to you, Robin.
Thank you, Marianne. 🙂
As to how I did that… Unfortunately I don’t really know. My camera is a point and shoot but has manual options. When I was taking these shots, I played around with the manual settings in hopes that something would turn out well. Most of the photos had too much noise to be worth bothering with but a few (those shown in this post) I was able to tweak using Photoshop to reduce the noise, despeckle, and tone down the saturation (as the lights seemed very bright in the second and third shots, and bringing down the saturation helped). In the third shot I played with the color balance to get that reddish color sky.
Sounds like your new skis are working out nicely for you two! 🙂 Wonderful batch of photos, but the one at the very top is GORGEOUS! I love the colors, reflection, and star-burst – VERY nice job!! I don’t blame you for not wanting to take your camera out on your ski trips, I wouldn’t, either (I’m nervous enough just having it out in the cold)!! Good choice of photo for the last one – it helps a little bit during these freezing temperatures!
Thank you, Holly. 😀
Merry Christmas Eve to you and M, Robin, although it is nearly 7pm Christmas night here. We’ve had rain all day and although rain is not the ideal weather for a day of celebration, it has been an extremely welcome change to have a cooler day than we are used to for Christmas.
Have a wonderful Christmas day tomorrow and keep on enjoying those skis. They sound like great fun! An ideal Christmas gift for your climate. 🙂
Joanne: I hope you are not in one of those areas being flooded by all the rain.
Thank you for the Christmas wishes. I hope your Christmas was wonderful too. 🙂
Oh, the comment I’ve just sent to you tells me it’s 3.53am Christmas Day there, so Merry Christmas!!! Have a fantastic day. xxx
When I saw those boats, I thought …. “sail away, sail away, sail away home” …. Beautiful!
Thank you, Sherri. 🙂
Beautiful shots, Robin! Love the processing – what exactly did you do to the first shots? Great job! Merry Christmas!
PF4A: Thank you. 🙂
I tweaked them in Photoshop to reduce the noise and despeckle. My camera doesn’t do night shots well and out of all the photos I took that evening, the three I posted were the least bothered by noise. I also reduced the saturation in all three. In the third I played with the color balance to get the reddish sky.
I think learning how to stop is a good thing!!! 😀
In fact it’d be the first thing I’d practice!! lol!! (so in actual fact I’d never begin? 😉 ) and yes, throwing yourself down to save bumping into M doesn’t count as falling at all… nope not at all!!… ’twas a handy maneuver I’d say..
and that sunset looks wonderful… moving right along to the next blog…xPenx
lol, Pen! I’m glad you agree with me about the “handy maneuver.” 😉