Dreaming of a White (Sand) Christmas

I know everyone should be dreaming of a white Christmas during the holidays, snow, wool sweaters...the whole bit. But I certainly didn't grow up that way. I remember heading outside to play tennis with my Dad after we opened presents. But that cultural imagery is strong for a kid born and raised in the US even though I never experienced that myself first hand. Compound that with the fact that Shelley and I are sort of searching for our own family Christmas traditions. It's kind of silly to say, but we an ever-so0-slight tinge of guilt over our plans to spend Christmas in tropical Pattaya, Thailand.

Pattaya's beaches stretch for miles, and where we were staying were largely devoid of any tourists. This allowed us to have lots of fun at the beach - as you'll see in the photos.

Having the beach basically to ourselves allowed us to have some of the the best sunsets I've ever seen. And in doing so, I learned something about Shelley I hadn't known before. To me the sunset is the actual sun setting...the time before the sun actually dips below the horizon. Once it's gone...it's basically over for me. For Shelley, the sunset is the sun once it has set...the afterglow if you will. I never knew that before.

Anyway, these were probably the most tranquil parts of our days. We enjoyed the sunset, while our kids played in the mild surf, collected sea shells and climbed around rocks at the head of the beach. Quinton usually slept. Afterward, we would eat dinner at an open air restaurant - which usually had tables set up on the sidewalks overlooking the beach and surf below. Dessert was usually provided by a local cart which served up a banana and cream pastry-like dish. As hot and humid as the days got in Pattaya, the nights were perfect.

It was at these times when we were feeling pretty good about our white (sand) Christmas. The slight pangs of guilt we felt about turning our collective backs on the whole US centric Christmas tradition may in an of itself turned into a new family tradition of our own.

Tokyo Mosque

With our move to Japan we didn't expect to get a view of a mosque. In fact, I didn't even know there was a mosque. But it has a prominent fixture in our home as we can see it from any room on the western side of our apartment. It's particularly beautiful in the evening and the sun sets behind it.

This shot was taken on one of our first nights here in our new place in Tokyo.

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Sunset at the Beach

This is a pretty simple shot taken at Ocean Park, between Santa Monica and Venice beaches. Nothing really more to add to the shot other than I think it was one of the more peaceful and serene sunsets I had seen in a while. The shadowed, black palm trees offer a nice contrast with the multi-colored sky in the background. This view just screams Southern California to me.

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The 18th at Coronado

I'm a horrible golfer, but I'd like to think that golf can be time well spent, especially when you're witness to a spectacular sunset.

In 2002, a group of friends played a round of golf at a public course on Coronado Island in San Diego. We were approaching the green on the 18th hole when I noticed the deep colors of the sunset reflecting off the lake. Everything in the background was shadowed black, including the ducks. The only color was was the sunset and that light which reflected off the water. It was truly a nice moment.

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