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Looks like I forgot something late last night when doing updates last night.  Sorry! Edity edit. Edit. Edit.

My Christmas Day was spent at the fire station, and it was quite busy. My family exchanged Christmas gifts the night before. My daughter apologized that I wouldn't be able to receive my gift for another week or so. Since then I have been quite busy with work and life, and had just about forgotten that something special was coming for me. Thursday evening the sound of a large truck sqeaking to a stop resonated through the open windows at our house. Jana leaped up like a world class sprinter exploding out of the blocks. As she grabbed the small, flat box from the delivery man's hands, it was quite clear, Christmas time was here.

We all convened in the master bedroom for the opening of my gift. What transpired in the next few seconds overwhelmed me. Actually, overwhelmed doesn't quite do it justice. I was speechless. As I unwrapped the package I saw a book. More aptly, My Book. My daughter researched through Photographica and edited 48 of my stories,  sent them to a publisher, and had my words published. It has always been a dream of mine to publish a book and she made that dream come true.

Each page bears some of my Signature ramblings and photographs. One extra gift was the reuniting of Hana's Story with Hana's long lost Father.

As much as I loved the book, there is truly a greater gift I was given that day. On lulu.com you can search "McNeel". The book will have a preview that includes her forward. Long after the pages fade, her love and adoration will live on within my heart. Many authors and poets have written volumes on life and it's meaning. But surely those greatest things evern penned were written upon the hearts of men.

jeffrey

I haven't posted any picture in a while. Since I just returned from a wonderful holiday in New Zealand, I thought of sharing few photos with you. Wish everybody a Happy and prosperous New Year, with many good opportunities to take the shots of your dreams!
Coromandel peninsula
Napier beach
Opoutere beach
Tairua

Here are some various Christmas leftovers.  Enjoy:
view
turkey
piggy_back (my wife took this one)
feeder
eye
green_eggs_and_ham
bulb

We spent Christmas Week with our daughter in Santa Fe, enjoying all the sights, even at 20˚. Here are a few of them.
Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis
Chimayo Moonrise at Sunset
Santuario de Chimayo

This is Harley's first Christmas ornament andanother ornament , his favorite actually. Then I thought I would show you what Christmas Day on Maui looks like. Aloha and Hau'oli maka hiki hou.

So I havnt' really gotten out much this year to take pictures, been quite a bit of drama, so on christmas I decided that I needed to rectify that.  I was invited out to my ex's parents for christmas, and as it is always one of my favorite places to take picture I decided to take some.  Only I didn't do it with my camera as I didn't take it with me ( Ya Ya Ya, sin, but to be honest it wasn't really on my mind at the time)  Anyway my ex has a new camera, he bought so well who know why he bought it but it's a nice camera and he wasn't using it so I put it to use.  I took these pics on an Olympus Evolt 510 with the standard .9m/2.96ft - infinity lens.. sorry if thats not the right title for the lens i am new to SLR's myself I have a Panasonic Lumix Fz 30 which isn't an SLR.

So Here are the pics:

Contest 1
contest 2
Contest 3
Contest 4
my mood that day

Hi all,  We just got back from a much too short vacation and then had to deal with the depressing fact that we had to go back to the daily grind.  So I havn't been on very much lately.  Anyway, I took these while in Destin, Fla. except for the thumb "Christmas Sailboat" which I took this evening on Christmas Eve.  Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas Eve Sailboat

Foggy Ms Behaven

Hobie 1

Hobie 2

Hobie 3

Old Cat

Sterns BW

Two Sailboats

 i am very grateful for my d2007 xmas xmas 2007 daughter and my husband and my dog and my mom-in law.

12 Days of Christmas

Thank you everyone for your inspiring comments.

St Anthony's Church

....her rings I got!

Christmas day while we were cooking dinner I took a small break and snapped a few, Christmas bird And yes we did get fresh snow , Fresh snow Christmas dinner at our house Feeding melee Melee 2

Our Children were not able to travel to us for xmas so we enjoyed watching  MsCappuccino Christmas Morning....

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.......  

1/24/7 - On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, twelve stars at Columbus Circle changing colors dazzling.

The new Time Warner Center is located at Columbus Circle at the intersection of 59th Street, Broadway and Eight Avenue.  For former New Yorkers this is the location of the old coliseum, where they held the annual auto show.  It was very exciting to photograph this site because it was the first time I was inside the buildings.

Twelve stars changing colors

Twelve stars twinkling
Eleven wooden soldiers falling
Ten snowflakes twinkling
Nine naughty or nice
Eight ornaments swimming
Seven ribbons waving
Six tree POVs
Five golden rings
Four skaters striding
Three skyscrapers swaying
Two cathedral spires pointing
And a lion laying on the steps of the NYC public library.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Holidays, Happy New Years
...

The day after Christmas is suddenly here,
Hope for each yesterday was a day of good cheer,
To all of my friends--those far and those near,
I pray you take Christmas blessings into the new year.

Spunky at Christmas
 Christmas Holly
 St. Nick (thumb)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I have been going like crazy, but thought I would take this moment to say you have all been an inspiration to me in 2007 and I am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful photographic experiences you share with me in 2008.

Do you remember Christmas parties at school?  We had ours yesterday.  The mothers brought pizza in for lunch and brought me gifts from the kids.  I gave the kids gifts of things they could use at school or at home.  We had an all school Christmas Assembly.  Then we played games like "Around the World" (a math game) and "Seven Up".  There were several all group hugs, and we passed a little toy around the circle while playing music to see what presents the students would get from each other.  In all, it was a fun day, but I was really tired at the end of it.
Christmas Lily
Dressed For Christmas
Playing Seven Up
I Got Picked
Christmas Earrings White Flowers For Christmas

Last Saturday was my greater family Christmas, and I showed you the decorations, but promised some family shots.  
Visions of Christmas Past
Ona Mae and Lily Mae My mother, and my great niece - her great granddaughter. Lily is named after my mom.  Mom's real name is Leona Mae.
Dad Guarding His Present We play a game where we can steal each other's presents (all food gifts)and Dad had his stolen many times so he wasn't going to let this one go.
How Many in a ChairMy grandchildren and my grandson's girlfriend tried to all sit in the same chair.

Certain things about Christmas stand out. The best part is the light that outshines it all. This is my take on spot color.

Christmas Lights
Original Color Mantle
 
Enjoy.

Don

Robin G made it to Nevada and we got to spend the Christmas Eve Day driving around Carson Valley taking some pictures.  Here are a few I took will post more later.
Robin G focusingIMG_1837
HawkIMG_1833
HawkIMG_1832
Landing IMG_1827
SunningIMG_1826
Old ranchIMG_1806

Merry Christmas to you and yours from me and mine.

Merry Christmas to all you guys at Photographica.  Here's a scan of Jaryd's first visit to see Santa.  As you can see, he was overjoyed.
Merry? Christmas