Water Lily at Clarklake, Michigan

Grand River at Monroe St, Jackson, Michigan

One of My Favorite Things – Hot Air Balloons

I have to admit, I do have a lot of favorite things: my kids, grandchildren, waterfalls, flowers, and strawberries to name a few. Among those I also include hot air balloons.

Over the years I’ve collected hundreds of photographs – even close to a hundred rolls of film I’m guessing. This year was the first year I had the pleasure, the joy actually, of catching hundreds of shots of balloons with my digital camera.

You see, each year my home town hosts the “Hot Air Balloon Jubilee” this means 3 days of balloons drifting over the city and nearby countryside. There have been years the kids and I attended the jubilee all 3 days and even chased them for hours.

One year we had close to a dozen balloons come down in our neighborhood when they got a late lift off and many ran out of fuel to our great pleasure. You should have seen all the kids running out that Saturday morning still in their pajamas.

Another year one landed in my front yard but to my great disappointment I wasn’t home – the rule is if one lands on your property they will give you a ride.

I’ve never had the joy of going up in one but dream of someday looking down on the countryside with nothing but the roar of the burners forcing hot air up into the balloon. True, I am afraid of heights but that is one experience I know I will never forget.

Both of the photographs on this post were taken Sunday morning 2 weeks ago at the airport as dozens of balloons lifted off and headed for different parts of the city to collect points and win prizes.

You can't see it very well in the photo below but if you click on the picture you can see a larger version of the same picture. Among the many balloons you can see Humpty Dumpty, The Treehouse, The American Flag, The Lighthouse, and The Space Shuttle.

Office with a View

I’m sure most anyone who has worked in a small office cubical with no window and cramped spaces will truly appreciate this post.

I thought maybe it was about time I shared a little more detail about my new living spaces. With a private bed and bathroom plus the entire loft I have elected to use the ‘bedroom’ as a storage/dressing room. The loft is where I spend my time when indoors which working from home I am required to do at least occasionally.

I certainly can not complain one bit though. With my living space, office, and bed all in one central location it is really rather convenient rather than moving from room to room constantly. You know it never fails what you want or need is going to be in another room.

So, all three ‘rooms’ have the same view. To the north from my recliner I have two large triangular shaped windows pictured in these first two photos.

This photo shows the upper corner of one of the triangular windows as well as the beautiful chandler that hangs over the living room of the main area below.

Almost directly above my head is one of 4 skylights. This picture shows the one to the southeast of where I’m setting. The other two skylights bank the chandler.

Facing the south are these two large windows that look out over the driveway but from the comfort of my chair with laptop in front of me I see more sky and trees.

This last picture was taken from the railing of the loft and shows the fireplace on the lower level flanked by solid glass French doors on each side. Above the doors are 2 rectangular windows and above those are the 2 triangular windows mentioned above.

The fireplace and lower windows are in full view from my ‘desk’ which I’ve placed just next to the railing. Yes, I am enjoying my new office space with all the spectacular views of sky and greenery.

I have uploaded all of these photos to Shareapic where you can view them full sized along with many of the other photos I’ve taken the last few months.

If you have photos you would like to share with others a great place to do so is Shareapic just CLICK HERE to get started it's really fun and easy.

Photos Missing :(

I just wanted to let any visitors to my blog know that if there are any photos not showing on my blog at this time it is not because I messed up...

The fact is many of my original photographs I share with others are hosted at Shareapic and their site appears to be down at this time. This is the first time this has happened since I've been a member there and hope it is only temperary.

Please come back later to view some of my photos. I hope in the near future to have my photographys also displayed on my web site ByFaithOnly.com