Sunday, October 10, 2010

(Day 283) You say it's your birthday !

Just as seasons mark points throughout the year, so do birthdays mark milestones in our lives. Today we celebrated the 6th (!) birthday of our oldest granddaughter, Hailey. Now, it's not quite her birthday yet - that's Oct. 18 - but since we were all together for Thanksgiving and most of the family lives a 4-hour drive away, what better time to do it. It's a milestone for her because it marks the first year of her 'formal' education - although she's been receiving an 'education' virtually since the day she was born.

We celebrated with what most of us probably still appreciate - family, balloons, and a chocolate cake, and of course, the presents came nicely wrapped, some in pretty fancy paper !

And for any of you that have had enough birthdays, this should bring back some memories. Enjoy.

(60mm  f4.5  1/13 sec  ISO800)

Now I've been a follower of Scott's photo blog for some time and I really enjoy his Sunset Sunday theme. Tonight, as 2 of our daughters were getting ready to head out on the journey back to their home, I managed to capture this sunset.

(18-55mm  f8  1/800 sec  ISO200)

32 comments:

becky said...

I bet she had a wonderful time... such a great age. And any time there is family & chocolate cake.... well that's an occasion in itself!
You do have some beautiful skies up north!
:)

darlin said...

That's precious that Hailey got to celebrate 2 things today, what a bonus weekend for your little princess! I love the shot of the paper and ribbon, you don't miss a thing. I would most likely have taken a photo everything but the paper, I'll remember the KISS rule, keep it simple silly! Another lesson for me, thanks Rick! :-)

Fantastic sunset, it appears as though tomorrow is going to be another beautiful day if the old saying comes true pink sky at night, sailors delight.

So much to be thankful for, we are blessed Rick, extremely blessed in our lives. God is good (to put it mildly).

Scott Law said...

Love those rays coming out on that sunset and the gorgeous colors. You can be jealous of our 6 day trip if you want, but I'm SUPER jealous of your trip to Greece.

Katherine said...

Happy Birthday little Hailey! Wonderful photos Rick...very pretty paper indeed. Your Sunset sunday shot is spectacular. We've had that much rain of late, we've not had any beautiful sunsets... just grey blah!!!

Carolyn Ford said...

A child's birthday celebration is most special! I like how you captured the gift wrap! Happy Thanksgiving and birthday to Hailey...geez that chocolate cake sounds so yummy right now! What a glorious sunset to end the day with...

Here I Am Carrie said...

Oh how lucky you are to see that so often. Most my sunset posts are from the few winter months in spend in the Southwest. Here were I live in my valley we rarely get nice sunsets. I do get a few at this time of the year. Just haven't had the right cloud cover yet. Really love the photo of the paper and ribbon. Sounds like you had a really great day ending with a beautiful sunset.

elena nuez said...

those are fabulouses!
I love those colors!!

Romantik Seelchen said...

lieber Rick, ja was die einfachsten Dinge im Foto bewirken, Sonnenuntergang ist ein kleines Geschenk der Natur, du hast es gut mitgenomen,
so schön gelungen, daß schaffe ich nicht, da reicht ein großes Herz und ein kleiner Fotoapparat nicht aus, herzlichst Jasmin...

marty said...

Joyeux anniversaire Hailey et beaucoup de
bisous d'une française qui adore les gâteaux
au chocolat !!
le coucher de soleil est vraiment de toute
beauté - les couleurs sont uniques ! I love love it -
encore des bisous but for you !!!

Costea Andrea Mihai said...

Happy Birthday!! i have a little princess 4 years old :)

Unknown said...

Wow, and WOW! What a great sunset, and the gift picture made me smile. :o) Hope you are having a great Monday afternoon!

Teté M. Jorge said...

A wonderful sunset, honey! I also like to visit Scott's blog.

Congratulations to your eldest granddaughter. All ages are commemorated! Cheers.

Kisses with love.

imac said...

Its so much fun when chilred have birthdays Rick, and love your sunset too.

Leovi said...

First comment on that beautiful picture with the sunlight giving color to the clouds. Nice perspective with the back-vegetation on the orange side of heaven.
The other picture is made with the role of gifts and the cord that binds it? To me this is abstract language, is a composition of diagonal lines cut by a straight spiral acts as a counterpoint, both in color and form. It is abstract because it invites the viewer to imagine a personal and subjective, that is, to imagine things that are not explicitly represented. That is the richness of the abstract works, which encourages creativity of the viewer. Nice abstract work on your project.
Not if you understand. I have translated with Google Traslator. A greeting.

Rick said...

@becky - she had a wonderful time and is at an age where good memories are created ! Mmmm - chocolate cake :) :)

Yes, we are blessed here with many evenings of awesome sunsets.

Have a great week Becky !

Rick said...

@darlin - yes, we were doubly, or perhaps triply blessed - a birthday, Thanksgiving, time with family, beautiful sunset ("count your blessings, count them one by one"). When I saw the colours on the present bag and the way the light reflected from it I knew what I needed to post - just a matter of determining how to compose the shot (and yes, I got many family shots !).

And the old saying about sailor's delight came true - a beautiful sunny day today.

Thanks Darlene - hope you have a great week !

Rick said...

@Scott - thanks Scott - not often I get the actual sunset shot on Sunset Sunday !

Ok - we're even then - your 6 day photo shoot vs my trip to Rhodes; but one of these days I'll need to take a trip explicitly to make photos ! ;-)

Rick said...

@Katherine - thank you Katherine ! We've been blessed with a number of gorgeous sunsets here this season. I hope things will dry up there soon !

Have a great Tuesday !

Rick said...

@Carolyn Ford - thank you Carolyn ! You might say that the sunset was the icing on the day (since the cake already had lots of chocolate icing ;-)

Rick said...

Here I Am/Carrie - thanks Carrie - we do get quite a few beautiful sunsets here - and we're grateful. We had a lovely weekend with our family - a precious gift for which we're also grateful. Thanks for stopping by.

Rick said...

@bicocacolors - thank you ! And thanks for stopping by too.

Rick said...

@jasmin - thank you Jasmin; we are often blessed by lovely sunsets and I'm glad when I can capture them well. (see my quote from Ansel Adams in my profile).

Greetings from Canada !

Rick said...

@marty - thank you for the well wishes; there's still a little bit of chocolate cake left for you ;-)

Have a wonderful week - beaucoup de bisous pour tu !!

Rick said...

@Costea Andrea Mihai - thank you Costea - wonderful to have a little princess like that ! And 4 is such a great age !

Rick said...

@Krista - thanks, and THANKS ! It's actually late Monday night - oops, time check - early Tuesday morning - but the afternoon was great !

Rick said...

@teca - thank you teca. Our celebrations were wonderful !

Beijos !

Rick said...

@imac - you're right - gives us an opportunity to be kids again ! Thank you.

Rick said...

@Leovi - thank you Leovi. I appreciate your comment on the 'gift' photo (I understood your comment completely). I agree also about the making of an abstract form - it was my intent to abstract the original item. The lines and shapes caught my eye in the light and I made a number of photos - this is the one I liked most. Thank you !

Anonymous said...

fantastic the colurs is beautiful

What Karen Sees said...

What a blessing it is to live close to your grandchildren and share birthdays and special occasions. I am so grateful to have 7 of mine close by.

Rick said...

@Mamuchi - thank you Maria !

Rick said...

@Karen - our grandson spent over half his life with us already (5 of 9 months while his parents' home was being renovated) - he only lives 25 minutes away. Unfortunately our 2 granddaughters live a 4-hour drive away so we can't see them as often as we'd like and we miss out on a lot of little events. But we do see them for all the special occasions and holidays ! You are certainly blessed with 7 nearby !