Well, it was a tough call between this photo and one of the Capitol dome from the inside, in Washington, D.C., for a circle, but this one has brighter colors, so it won.

This is the ceiling of the lobby of the all-inclusive hotel where we stayed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico - the Mayan Riviera. That was a fabulous trip - we took a day trip to Chichen Itza, a famous Mayan city ruin, and another trip to the ruined fortress of Tulum, on the coast. And it was our first all-inclusive experience, which was fantastic. Three meals a day, plus all drinks, plus trips, all for one price. Not a cheap price, but it was great. I highly recommend it.

This is my submission for the Photo Friday challenge for this week: Friend.

Barbara and I went to visit Liz, who was living in Fort Collins, CO, for two months, working on her Ph.D. While there, we took a horseback ride to the Continental Divide, 8,400 feet up. Great fun

This was the view behind us:

Also in July, when Hannah, our former exchange student, and her family were visiting us, we went whitewater rafting on the James River in Richmond. It was a blast It’s known as the “best urban whitewater” in the country. I will get some more pix of that posted soon.

In the meantime, here is a photo I took in June of some rafters heading down the James toward the Pipeline - this is the beginning of the whitewater rafting trip.

I’m late for last week’s PhotoFriday, but here it is anyway. The topic was “Warmth.”

I took this about a week ago, of a tree at the corner near our house. It’s a gorgeous tree this time of year, and I took this photo late in the afternoon, with the sun shining on it. Right after its peak color, it drops its leaves really fast, like in two days. It’s almost bare now.

Here’s my entry for PhotoFriday’s challenge for this week: Burn

This was taken when we were sailing last Friday, 9/23, on the Elizabeth River between Portsmouth and Norfolk. It was a beautiful night, even though we apparently couldn’t figure out what the race course was supposed to be. Oh well, better luck tomorrow

Update 10/1: re: the race course last week, we were right and all the rest of the boats were wrong! So the race was scrubbed and not counted. Geez. That’s a lesson to go with your gut.

I’m submitting to PhotoFriday, for the topic Divine, this photo I took at the Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs, Colorado last summer:

I picked all this from my garden the other day (except the bananas) - the huge cucumber that was hiding behind large leaves, several green peppers, lots of red jalapeno peppers, and some basil, for making pesto for pesto pasta.

I just think that’s a beautiful picture I think I’ll submit it to PhotoFriday for the weekly photo topic Divine.

Comments?

We crewed on our friends Laura and Steve’s boat, the Laura J, in a race called the Barnacle Regatta on the Elizabeth River on Aug. 12, and again last night. This photo is from the start of the race on Aug. 12:

Some related links:

• Portsmouth Boat Club
• Barnacle Regatta
• Race Results

We made sixth place last night out of 10 boats that finished the race; 18 started it - I don’t know what happened to the others. Maybe they got couldn’t figure out the course :-/

This is my entry in the weekly photo project at Photo Friday:
Downtown Chicago from the top of the Sears Tower. I took this when Dan and I were visiting my brother Brad and sister-in-law Barbara in 2003.