A Lovely Sunday
In addition to all of the hubbub of wrapping up both my community college and university photography courses, as well as the master’s program semester, I had an extremely annoying cold around new year’s that just had me feeling generally awful (no, it wasn’t covid, though I really should get the latest shots).
Thankfully I’ve been feeling much better recently, and after a busy Saturday running around town through the cold and rain to meet with friends here and there, I woke up to a brilliant, crisp Sunday morning. Yes, I know, I should have made a beeline for the park and tai-chi sword practice, but my lovely warm thick quilt had other plans and held me hostage until it was too late for that. So instead I had my usual breakfast of apples and celery doused in olive oil and balsamic vinegar accompanied by some bread and coffee, and then headed out. Where? Anywhere with some sun. Which was almost everywhere, and felt wonderful as I’ve been sorely missing that Vitamin D-infused warmth.
I walked past the usual group of fishers crowded around the stream grate, under the highway bridge, and then crossed the regular traffic bridge over to the new fish run, where, thanks to the recently cleaned glass one can watch the rushing water and the occasional running fish. Families gathered out by the rushing currant, fishing and getting some sun. Continuing up the river, at the park I briefly found myself wondering if the Paradises had brought little Scarlett out to play before remembering that they’d left for the dubious wilds of northern Florida. “We miss you too!” Cristina messaged back when I told them. I satisfied myself with sitting along the newly constructed stream, watching the joggers and bikers, and just soaking up some rays for a bit before walking further up the riverside, stopping occasionally to sit facing the opposite direction to balance the warmth in my body as the wind was still cold on the non-sunny side.
Eventually I reached the ritzy climes of Xiao Bitan, where the tennis players bounced around the courts in the sun. Though the weather was clear, it was getting quite cold as the afternoon wore on, so I took refuge at the Ikea there, having some salmon in the cafeteria and buying a few things before watching the sun settle into the mountains from the veranda at Xiao Bitan Station. Then it was a metro trip back to Xindian and the Water Curtain Cave for dinner while watching TV and then posting some photos to my now 20-year-old Flickr page.
I took a series of IG stories throughout my walk, but those are ephemeral, disappearing after a day; I’ve actually been toying with the idea of just making some short videos of walking around in local areas. All of my travel videos have thus far been made when I was abroad (obviously, being travel videos), but I haven’t really done that kind of thing here in my own country that much. If anyone’s reading this, what kind of videos would you like to see? Aimless wandering and general commentary? Street photography thoughts? Cultural/historic commentary about local areas? A mix of all of that? I am not in any way laboring under the illusion that such videos would ever be even remotely popular, but it seems like it might be kind of a fun thing to do, and I’m not really using my YouTube channel (also 20 years old now) for much else. I’m not even sure what language I should use for that kind of thing tbh.
Hey Poagao, I’d love to watch those aimless wandering videos. A mix of all the mentioned topics would work fine for me, maybe a bit on the lighter side with cultural information and some commentary from your side. Having said that, just try it out and get something going. You will likely find out soon what you would enjoy making. Oh and about the language, obviously I would prefer English as my Mandarin is (sadly!) nonexistent. 🙂 All the best from Germany, Fred
Comment by Fred — February 12, 2025 @ 2:38 am
Thanks for commenting, Fred…I’ve been doing some experimental videos, trying different settings to see what works. I might edit them into shorts to post.
Comment by Poagao — February 12, 2025 @ 11:02 am