My trip gave me an opportunity to practice using the digital camera that I purchased back in September. It takes photos and movies. I love technology. Of course, I'm neither Ansel Adams nor Cecile B. Demille but I like to think that I'm a blend of both.
Some people have inquired as to why I haven't posted any pictures of myself. Well, duh, I was behind the
camera! However, Marc took a photograph of me which he posted on his blog. He also took a couple of shots of me with my camera at the New Year's Eve party that we attended. I've posted two of the shots for viewing below. I refer to them as "Eyes open, Eyes shut." 
I also took a lot of scenic shots of the Venice Canals and a brief video clip.The city was designed to mimic Venice Italy by having a series of interconnecting canals. Alas, most of the canals were filled in during the late 1920s when Venice became a part of Los Angeles. However, a few of the canals remain and my friends Sarah and John just happen to own a house that faces one of them. The pictures of the canal were taken from their upstairs balcony. Then Sarah and I went out on a rather gray day so that I could take artistic shots of the beach.I became fascinated with birds while on the west coast which is a bit weird as I have a pathological bird phobia. I still don't want to be near them, touch them, or otherwise interact with them, but they make interesting subjects for my fledgling attempts at photography.
I decided to put together my little video clip taken from Sarah's balcony and the still images shot at the beach. Of course, I then needed to add music. I selected a song from a trio of women who live and perform in North Carolina. They are known as Tres Chicas, and I think that they have the prettiest three-part harmony that I've ever heard. I've had the pleasure of hearing them perform live and they are true vocalists, sounding better live than they do on their studio produced albums. (Look to your left and hit pause on the playlist before you watch the video.) The song is 400 Flamingos from their album, Bloom, Red, and the Ordinary Girl.
400 Flamingos
Your heart is 400 flamingos,
pink and preening in the water.
And your heart is seven satin ribbons
on a festooned favored farmer's daughter.
My heart is plain--
and yours (chorus)
We've lived through seven sullen winters,
seven springs and half-a-dozen falls.
But I have stored away provisions
and love enough to last for always.
repeat chorus
You always take me far away from here
You know you'll take me far away
400 hundred flamingos
And there is pain in every season
pain in every heart that's beating,
but I will comfort every sorrow,
and press upon the wound that's bleeding.
repeat chorus
hmm, hmm, hmm...
