{"id":1204,"date":"2004-11-03T15:41:05","date_gmt":"2004-11-03T20:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/taking_time_out"},"modified":"2004-11-03T15:41:05","modified_gmt":"2004-11-03T20:41:05","slug":"taking_time_out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=1204","title":{"rendered":"Taking time out to enjoy life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onclick=\"window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=640,height=450,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false\" href=\"http:\/\/ripples.typepad.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/indiansummer.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"360\" height=\"253\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ripples.typepad.com\/ripples\/images\/indiansummer.jpg\" title=\"Indiansummer\" alt=\"Indiansummer\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the outstanding benefits of breaking away from a contractual relationship (whether by being fired or resigning) is that you are suddenly able to take time to look around and see what nature has been doing since you plunged into the rathole so many months, or even years ago. <\/p>\n<p>We have lived up the road from a beautiful lake for two years, but have not had time to join our neighbors on their boat although they have invited us several times. This week, Gretchen and I took time for a long boat ride with them around Lake Monticello.<\/p>\n<p>The fall colors are beautiful and the weather has been perfect.<br \/>\nBalmy breezes bring cascades of golden leaves down around us every day.<br \/>\nI have been trying to capture this sight with a camera for several<br \/>\nyears now, but it continues to elude me. <\/p>\n<p>The image that I hold in my mind will take more preparation if I am<br \/>\nto be successful. It contains a beech on the left side of a serpentine<br \/>\nroad, backlit by the afternoon sun. A shower of leaves arches over the<br \/>\nroad and stands out in vivid contrast to the dark woods that provide a<br \/>\nbackdrop to this scene. These leaf showers last for only a few days and<br \/>\nthe weather and sun must cooperate for a picture to be memorable.<\/p>\n<p>In the few days since I changed my employment status, I have been<br \/>\nlearning to take photos with a new camera, a Sony DCS-F828. It is small<br \/>\nenough to carry in my shoulder bag and it has no extra lenses to<br \/>\ncomplicate my point and shoot style of photography. When I figure out<br \/>\nhow to use it well enough, I will post some images.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, I am enjoying the post-election pause that refreshes. I think I will go and blow leaves&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a onclick=\"window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=640,height=450,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false\" href=\"http:\/\/ripples.typepad.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/indiansummer.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"360\" height=\"253\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ripples.typepad.com\/ripples\/images\/indiansummer.jpg\" title=\"Indiansummer\" alt=\"Indiansummer\" style=\"margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; float: left;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the outstanding benefits of breaking away from a contractual relationship (whether by being fired or resigning) is that you are suddenly able to take time to look around and see what nature has been doing since you plunged into the rathole so many months, or even years ago. <\/p>\n<p>We have lived up the road from a beautiful lake for two years, but have not had time to join our neighbors on their boat although they have invited us several times. This week, Gretchen and I took time for a long boat ride with them around Lake Monticello.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=1204\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1794],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-jq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}