Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime

Since I have a very basic phone, these had to be taken with my good camera, not the phone camera.  I am currently in Austin, Texas visiting my daughter and son-in-law, and this is what we had for lunch.

It is a beautiful warm and sunny day in Austin, so we ate outside.

We’re having a very good time here, and there will be better pictures and more stories coming.

More good news – my husband Joel and his mother have made it to Portland Maine. They will be spending the rest of the weekend resting up, and next week getting her settled in her new place.

Related articles – posts and pictures that will make you want to eat lunch all over again!
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Hiking at Zion

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

The next day I decided to get out of the car and do some hiking. I had my comfortable sneakers and there was little snow at Zion. I also studied the maps and saw that there was a whole other area I hadn’t seen, and there were lots of hiking trails there. This road followed the Virgin River, so a lot of the trails were along the river. Walking is just different than driving, and you see different things and experience an area in other ways.

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Zion National Park

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

I’m continuing on with the photos from my US trip – these are from my first day in Zion National Park in southern Utah. This is an incredible place! I had to drive through this park to get from Springdale where I stayed to Bryce Canyon which was my main point of interest. I hadn’t researched this park and didn’t know anything about it, until I drove in. I was amazed at every turn!

The mountains and rock formations were massive, and there were so many interesting colors and textures. Now I want to learn more about how this was formed and what kinds of rock is there. I could hardly believe me eyes at everything I saw!

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Bryce Canyon

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

I’m still in the US and starting to go through my Utah photos. Bryce Canyon was one place I visited and it was incredible! I don’t think any photo can really show the vastness of the place. It was cold with snow but I think it actually made for better photos. The days were sunny and bright and the parks were not crowded, so conditions were very good. There was so little traffic at times that I could just stop in the middle of the road to get a photo of something that caught my eye.

There are more photos coming of Zion National Park!

Here are a few links that Zemanta found.

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My First Photo Shoot

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

It’s not as easy as one would think, but I learned a lot. This is my daughter Amy and her husband Jon who are expecting their first child in May, my first grandchild. She volunteered for some maternity photos. She already had some ideas of locations and poses she wanted, so this helped a lot. I learned that the photographer is responsible for posing people, hopefully in ways that look relaxed and natural. The photographer must also keep the light in mind, and we had some very intense sunlight at the beach and in the park. At the beach, even the flash didn’t light them as much as I wanted against the sunlight reflecting off the water. I also need to be more conscious of light falling on the subjects so they aren’t squinting, or parts of faces are in shadow, or other light related conditions that may be a problem.  But, in an afternoon, in the conditions we had to work with, we got some photos that are acceptable (I hope!)

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I am a tiny speck in a very large universe

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

I arrived in southern Utah Monday evening, and have spent the last couple days driving and hiking in Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. I am awed by the immensity of these places, and by the beauty of this part of the country.

 

I’m so thankful that I have had the opportunity to come here. I also visited with a blog friend and her husband on the way. How cool is that!

This morning I’m heading to Texas to see my other daughter.

I have a bazillion photos to sort through, so they will be coming one of these days

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Utah!

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

I am not in Panama! I know that as soon as I open the motel room door because it’s COLD here. But, look what I see from the motel parking lot!

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Oh yes it is going to be an interesting couple days in this area!

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Now I need to get out the door and try to get somewhere without stopping to take photos every two minutes! <G>

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Phoneography Challenge: My Neighborhood

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

Phoneography Challenge: My Neighborhood   For this challenge, we are supposed to go out and document our neighborhood with just our phone camera.

Unfortunately, I no longer have a smart phone (and haven’t been interested enough to figure out how to get pictures out of my current phone) and I am not in my neighborhood. At the moment I am in CA in my daughter’s neighborhood.  Since my blog is about Panama I decided to ask for a little creative license on this one. I have gone back through my files of photos (that I took with my camera) and put together a collection of photos that will show you a little of my neighborhood in Panama.

 

So, there is a little look at our Panamanian neighborhood. We are really happy there!

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Hello from California

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

I made it! It’s definitely a long trip. I didn’t mind the bus rides, but two 4 hour stints in the airplane were tedious. Being crammed in like sardines in less than comfortable seats gets old. I had a great seat neighbor from Panama City to Houston though, and the conversation made the time fly by. Thank you, my new friend.

It’s cold here! After being acclimated to the current mid 90’s Panama weather this is a big change. Thank goodness for fuzzy socks, sweaters, and my daughter’s down comforter. Everything looks so clean and orderly too. After the organized chaos of Panama, the activity, color, noise, and less than neat and clean appearance, this almost seems sterile and… I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s beautiful, nice, but very different. Maybe it’s the quiet too. There are no dogs barking, roosters crowing, and the symphony of birds and insects I’ve grown accustomed to.

Funny the things that catch your eye. We went to the store today and big display of asparagus made me very excited. I hadn’t even thought about asparagus, something I had very frequently before, so it suddenly looked wonderful. That, and baby spinach. We had roasted asparagus for lunch and made salad with baby spinach. I ate way more than my share. This was a very nice upscale California store with all kinds of delicacies, so you would think I’d have gone nuts, but these were the only things I thought I had to have. Apparently I have been deprived of very little that I like.

It took me a little while to adjust to everyone speaking English. Yesterday I had to think before I opened my mouth. We speak mostly English at home of course, but around town it’s almost always Spanish so it’s starting to come automatically. And, everyone here looks so pale.

But, all in all it’s just a few minor things, nothing that feels like much of an adjustment. And of course it’s really wonderful to be with my daughter and other family, and touch the baby bump that is my growing grandson. Tomorrow is the baby shower with more friends and family, and at some point will be my first portrait photography shoot to see how I do with maternity photos.

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A Night in Panama City

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Kris Cunningham

It feels good to be in the big city. It’s too busy and active for us to want to live here, but it sure is fun to visit. I like the energy and the feeling here.

I am tired tonight! You wouldn’t think one would be tired after sitting in a comfortable bus all day, but I’m sure the excitement of getting ready, making sure everything is in order, and getting this trip under way play a big part.

This was my first bus trip where it was light the whole way, and I enjoyed seeing everything along the way. I left on the 11:00 bus, and arrived at the terminal in Panama City a little before 6:00. This wasn’t even the express bus, and it cost $15.25. It stopped at a number of towns along the way, but only long enough to a few people to board so it didn’t feel like the stops made much difference in our progress. There was also a 30-40 minute break in Santiago so everyone could get out and stretch, and get something to eat. The bus was big, comfortable, and air conditioned (take a sweater). They also played movies the whole way.

I am always surprised at how well behaved the children are. There were women and families with very small children and babies in arms, and except for a few minutes of hollering from one baby there was no fussing at all. An indigenous family near me had a baby who looked maybe 8 months old, and a little boy maybe 3 or 4 years old. Both rode quietly on their parents laps the whole way!

I had no trouble getting a taxi to take me to the hotel, and he says he will be back in the morning to take me to the airport. Then, it’s off to CA.

I must be acclimated to the weather here. The highest setting on the air conditioning in the room is 30 (86F) and it’s chilly even with a t-shirt and jeans. I might end up wearing both of my heavy sweaters at the same time in CA.

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