Colonial Parkway (6/27/2014)

I usually don't post two photographs (or entries) on the same day, but what the heck.
I desperately needed a haircut, so decided to drive to Wiliamsburg to get one.  I love driving the Colonial Parkway between Yorktown and Jamestown; although I stopped in Williamsburg this time.
The Parkway is part of the Park Service and considered part of National Park System.  For us it starts out along the Yorktown and ends in Jamestown, along the James River.  Jamestown is one of the first places the colonialists arrived, in particular captain John Smith.  Our area is also called the historic triangle.
Both rivers used to be very rich with seafood.  Over-fishing and pollution has really lowered the yields.  Having done a lot of historic (environmental) research in this area, I was amazed to learn that in the time of John Smith you could walk across the James river on top of oyster beds.  I've seen photos on downtown Norfolk where, during the turn of the century, they would convert oyster shells into lime.  They would harvest the oysters and in a lot of cases, not even eat them.  Oysters would go into kilns with coal and lime would come out the other side.
In addition, I have collected fishing data for my job, and found that in the past 30 years the amount and the type of fish caught by commercial and recreational fishermen has changed drastically.  Fish caught in large amounts 30 years ago, have disappeared and now they are catching different species and we are eating them as well.  This past week the state has announced crabbing limits.  We are catching too many crabs and the stock is not rebounding fast enough.  The same is the case with the menhaden.
Enough said, driving the Parkway, I got my horizon and water fix.  I love it and try to drive the road at least once a day during my commute to or from work.  You often see water men and their boats taking care of their crab pots and harvesting these delicacies.  This photo shows one of those boats.  There were a lot of crab pots in this area (which are a pain when you are sailing, but obviously great eating in the future).

Williamsburg (3/8/2013)

Went to Williamsburg yesterday to see a movie (The Great Beauty) at the Kimball Theater on Saturday (more about the movie later).  I purposely went an hour early to walk through Colonial Williamsburg to look around and take some pictures.  Naturally I can show pictures of old building, gardens, and the church; but Colonial Williamsburg is so full of small details that make is special.  Take this lock for instance.  Nothing special, but it just feels right.  I fell in love with this picture.  The simplicity, texture and color seem right to me.  I really think litle treasures abound in this town and you can enjoy the little stuff.

The Kimball is a great place, been there to see opera and to see more alternative (foreign/language) movies.  A nice place to go and have a little culture in the area.

Now about the movie: The Great Beauty is an Italian film that the newspaper compared to the modern La Dolce Vita.  I am a tremendous fan of that (6-hour long) epic movie, so yes I was looking forward to it.  I was definitively not disappointed, and now the day after I saw it I am still impressed.  To me it is a movie of loneliness.  It is about a famous author/reporter in Rome who turns 65 years old.  He lives the high life, has a lot of friends, debaucherous parties, etc but is surrounded by loneliness, people dying, empty people, lost love, you name it.  He seems envious of ordinary people and does not even realize his neighbor is a wanted criminal (just a insignificant sub-plot, but indicative of the movie).  I enjoyed it tremendously, but often wondered why the rest of the audience was laughing about very sad situations that try to tell a story.  Maybe their way of coping with it.