My Looking Glass

Not My Christmas Card

Once upon a time, I lived in the East and the Midwest. But that was my childhood, and I've lived in California for almost 30 years now. When we first moved here, I thought it was incredible to go swimming on Christmas day. After the novelty wore off, I kind of missed white Christmases. That was until we spent a holiday in the Midwest. It was beautiful, but by then, my blood was "thinning," and there was nothing romantic about watching my extremities turn blue. That, and I had forgotten just how difficult it is to maneuver in 2 feet of snow. Finally, then, I began to appreciate the somewhat-less-traditional but nevertheless considerable beauty of Christmas in Southern California.

Which leads us to today's dilemma. I'm trying to capture just that for my Christmas card this year, but so far, I'm failing miserably.

This is a weak and unedited shot of pier in the small beach enclave I call home. It's pathetic. A third of the lights in the city decorations are out. The angle is all wrong. It looks bleak and depressing, though it didn't feel that way when I took it. The only thing I like here is the color. I think it was about a 10-second exposure.

Then there's this shot I took a few blocks away from the pier. It's a cute little church on a street corner shot from the greenbelt. This is the least blurry of all the shots I got. When setting up for this one, my attention was diverted by a friendly cat that kept rubbing against my legs, making figures-of-eight around my feet, purring, and generally deflecting my concentration from the task at hand. He was such a little doll that I came back later with a bowl of cat food and left it on the greenbelt where he first began his assault on my bleeding, pet-friendly heart. All in all, this one's not working for me either.

I'm giving myself one more week before I go out and buy some damn cards.

posted by LA @ 12:24 PM