End of the year!
The Christmas holiday and New Year's Eve (NYE), are bookends for the year.
Well, at least, the last of one year and the first of the new one.
A December 25 treat for my cat was a toy I found online that fascinates her.
It actually lives up to the excited hype that describes "hours of fun for kitty."
Well, more like short stretches of a few minutes, but she does keep coming back for more.
These impulse buys don't always work out this good.
Still in the holiday mood, I try to attend the annual NYE (New Year's Eve) "drop in" held downtown for the year's crop of retirees at the Post and Courier, at the paper's offices downtown on Columbus Street.
A nice buffet - with cake - is set up in the paper's large Conference Room on EOY (End Of Year) as close as possible to New Year's Eve.
I worked at the paper only 8 years as opposed to retirees I chat with at this event each year who were there 30 - 40 years or more.
The event is held from 1 pm to 3 pm so I usually opt for the photographer's reserved spot when I see it is empty.
Old habits die hard as I remember being a staff photographer for the San Deigo Union-Tribune Metro daily in southern California back in the 1960s. We were known to park anywhere we wanted when covering breaking news and deadlines were approaching!
I took my annual tour of the building and on the 3rd floor, walked out of the cafeteria to get a view of the back of the buildings going up at the
Courier Square.
That was a new scene from the outdoor dining area.
(Click on the photos and links for more details.)
Thanks for stopping by.
Please come by again. I'll be here.
Labels: cat toy that works, changing skyline with Courier Square., EOY, Newspaper Retirees' "drop In", NYE, on deadline with breaking news., press photographers
Light Up The Sky.
Be sure to click on the link to enjoy the
London New Year's Eve fireworks show. WOW!
It's like having a spectacular finale all the way through the booming, flashing and intricate 11-minute aerial celebration.
Last time I saw something that memorable was an indoor display at the Paul McCartney concert up in Charlotte. Indoors!
The Chinese really started something with that gunpowder thing didn't they?
I stood for several minutes on my front porch Saturday at midnight, watching MUCH smaller explosive displays in my portion of the sky.
I know that fireworks are banned in my little town of Hanahan yet, scant yards away, over the boundary into North Charleston, sale and use of such dangerous - but beautiful sights - are legal.
My older daughter is a police officer in northern California and says her real worry is people firing guns into the air.
A falling bullet coming back down is moving as fast as when it was fired.
One particular nearby celebrant had apparently paid big bucks for big booms. He/she set off a steady barrage of chest-thumping aerial bursts.
One after another, a long, long light show tore into the sky, sending colorful fragments screaming through the night.
As we remarked on the fiery display, a Hanahan police car - with its lights turned off - quietly coasted by and made the turn at the corner, heading up to the source of the rockets.
The loud and bright shots continued to soar skyward so I assume the yard of the launching pad was across the city limits line and my local lawmen had to sit and watch the show.
(Click on the photo - twice - for more details.)
Indoor pyrotechnics are startling. In the 5th row, I heard the booms, saw the flash and felt the heat. Yikes.
Labels: aerial bombs, Chinese gunpowder, city limits, fireworks sales, Hanahan police, indoor fireworks, London, New Year's Eve celebrations, North Charleston, NYE, Paul McCartney, pyrotechnics
Still in the holiday mood, I try to attend the annual NYE (New Year's Eve) "drop in" held downtown for the year's crop of retirees at the Post and Courier, at the paper's offices downtown on Columbus Street.
