(no subject)

I'm back home from MD. I left early-early Thursday morning and arrived at Dulles around 4pm. I still had enough energy to wrap presents that evening, though. Christmas was good - it was good to be with family again, and in my parents' house. Even though it's not home, not exactly, it's still comfortable and familiar.
There was snow on the ground Christmas Eve and morn', but it quickly melted and by evening Friday had been melted away by the rain. Still, it was nice to see the flamingos enjoying their new habitat. These birds have been with my 'rents since the move from Florida, and are still going strong.

There was alpaca visiting on Christmas morning, as there inevitably is whenever in MD. It was awfully dark inside there and I hadn't brought my strobe, nor would I have wanted it with me for fear of frightening the poor things. Plus, they were twitchy to boot. Still, I managed to get a few decent shots for my alpaca fans.
I got a handful of things for Christmas, which is good since I didn't have much room in my bags, and bad because I really didn't have any room in my bags. Lots of kitchen utensils, soups and foods, chocolate and tea, tons of tea. I love food as a present because I've got so much stuff already and consumables are awesome. Gift cards, too - one for Amazon which I just used to buy some awesome lighting books. A handful of small Starbucks cards which dad has been collecting for free every time he rents a car. Oh dad. Also a terrabyte external harddrive for all my extraneous photos. Considering I'm fast running out of space on my wussy 250mb harddrive, this is most excellent. Socks were acquired - <3 socks - as well as an extra cactus receiver, which obviously necessitates a second strobe to go with it. So that's top of my list for photography gear, closely followed by a million other things.

We went to D.C. the next day for a showing of a Christmas Carol at the Ford Theatre. There was much more singing than I was prepared for, but it was well done, if not eerie that we were sitting so close to where Lincoln got shot. Leaving the theatre we got stopped for about half an hour by a malfunctioning parking machine. Next day, morning at the news museum (Newsuem - get it?), which is actually kind of interesting, then a quick round of photos before getting dropped off at the airport. Before all that, though, is waking up to a beautiful sunrise through the fog rising in a graveyard behind the hotel.

Brother is holding the strobe in this photo, which turned out to be my favorite. Dad is just so tall, even with mum standing on that ledge. A man came out while we were shooting this and others and remarked on how there always seems to be people taking photos there. Can't blame them - it's nicely hidden from the harsh sunlight, but still light enough. Plus - a tree!

Sleep now, while I slowly bring myself back to work and back to writing and the other things I need to do on a daily basis, like watching my finances. This coming year is already filling up with all sorts of potentially exciting things, very few of which are laid in stone just yet. Hopefully this weekend we'll be going to Idaho for New Year's, though, and then shortly after that, the Quinault Rain Forest for our anniversary.