Sunday Selections, brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, is an ongoing theme where participants post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
Anyone can join in, just post your photos under the Sunday Selections title, link back to Kim, then add your name to her Linky list at Frogpondsrock.
Kim sent me an email this morning to say that she will be posting late today because she hass a ceramics workshop to go to, but she has not forgotten us.
Like River I usually have a theme to my Sunday Selections. This week it is balloons. Each year Canberra hosts a balloon festival, which I love. They are magical to ride in, and it is nearly as much fun to go along and watch them take off. A few years ago we treated ourselves to a breakfast cruise and viewed the take offs from a new vantage point.
Oh, I'm green with envy! Riding in a balloon is on my bucket list and has been for about thirty years! Fell in love with the idea when I lived in Reno and saw the Reno Balloon Races for the first time.
ReplyDeleteOh, what beautiful pictures! I've been in hot air balloons a few times (like maybe five) and have jumped out of them each time, but that was the plan in the first place! :-)
ReplyDeleteDahnStarr: If you get the chance, do it. The first time I went up I was with my brother who is scared of heights. Less than ten minutes into the flight he was using sharp pointy elbows to get a better vantage point.
ReplyDeleteMore recently I was given flights for a significant birthday. I have real trouble climbing into the basket now, but it was sooo worth it.
DJan: Wow. Jumping out of a balloon is amazing. I think I will settle for the gentler approach to ballooning though.
I love to see the hot air balloons go over. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOoh! B'loonz.
ReplyDeleteI loved the pics as I scrolled down...then came the comments.
Must.Move.Balloons.Up.The.List.
A breakfast cruise and balloons? Seriously EC, you must somehow get a better life, OK? Starting to feel sorry for you over here...
ReplyDelete:)
Beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteWas it you or Kim that took the baloon/cruise? Whichever...I feel so sorry for you. Floating on the wind, floating on the waters. It must've been a terrible chore. You probably wished you'd brought a book to read or paintball gun to shoot at the other vessels. Next time you or Kim are forced to do such tiring activities, give me a call. You know misery loves company.
ReplyDeletebarbfroman: Twas me. Cruising to watch the take offs one time (plus breakfast and glasses of bubbly), flying other times. And I can't even pretend to be blase about it. It was truly magical.
ReplyDeleteYou would however be welcome to come and share the excitement.
mybabyjohn/Delores: They are beautiful. Noisy but beautiful.
ReplyDeletedinahmow: Move them right up the list. A magical treat.
Cathy Olliffe-Webster: I am grateful for your concern. Bubbly at breakfast time is a treat too.
Cindi: Thank you.
Bonza photos. There's no way in the world you'd get me to go up in a balloon i much prefer my feet firmly planted on the ground :-).
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Isn't it great, living where we do?
ReplyDeleteI have a personal superstition that if I see a hot air balloon, that day will be a great day. I call them 'balloon days' (there's a tag for them on my blog). So if I've seen a balloon and then the day turns to pudding, I just don't believe that it has, and still feel like I've had a good day... such is the magic of a hot air balloon ;)
How many times have you ridden in balloons? I've never been, but this does leave me a bit more envious. Gorgeous photos.
ReplyDeleteWindsmoke: It is a truly magical experience. I loved it, but can accept people who would much rather watch from the ground.
ReplyDeleteAmpersand Duck: Now we are talking almost scary co-incidences. A balloon sighting makes for a good day for me too. And has done for years. Yup, lucky, lucky, lucky.
John Wiswell: I have now been up three times. It feels so serene and gentle when you are in the air. Each time I have been people on the ground (in their own homes and yards) have waved as we went past. Early morning rowers on the lake do the same. Even the kangaroos look up, though they don't wave.
oh those balloons are lovely!
ReplyDeletelibrarygirl: They are a delight and the balloon festival is just around the corner so I can watch it all over again.
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures! There really is something magical about the idea of ballooning. I don't like small planes but I would love to go for a balloon ride. One day I will.
ReplyDeleteI love to see hot air balloons, we don't get them here in Adelaide, although I've seen an advertising blimp or three. Not the same thing at all. I'd love to go up in one.
ReplyDeleteI envy you so much! I have been in a few different kinds of airplanes and a helicoptor, but I REALLY want to go up in a hot air balloon! Some day...
ReplyDeleteAlexia: I am not good with small planes either, but ballooning was so different. Not so enclosed for starters. It is truly magical.
ReplyDeleteRiver: The feeling of floating is just like the very best flying dreams. And the views are incredible.
Teresa: Sorry your comment came in as I was replying to Alexia and River. I wasn't ignoring you. I don't do planes very well, particularly the little ones but I LOVED ballooning. When you next get the chance, do it.
ReplyDeleteWe did a balloon ride in Alice Springs in 2008. Truly magical experience and I'd love to do it again - maybe in France, followed by some champers afterwards.... :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos!
ReplyDeleteThese photos are super and bring back memories of the hot air balloons that used to come into land not too far away from our house. The neighborhood kids always alerted us and we would get out of the house and wave to the occupants. One even landed at the bottom of our road after it missed their landing spot, and they gave rides to the kids while they waited for the truck to come and get them, with the permission of their parents of course. Up 30 feet, down 30 feet, up 30 feet, down 30 feet. I have never ridden in one. It must be an amazing experience.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question on the squirrels, it seems like people have a love/hate relationship with the little guys. I know they are considered annoying pests by some and I once remember someone coming up to me when I was out taking photos in a park, asking "Why are you taking photos of those tree rats?" He was serious! Oh well, I'm one of those people who love them and welcome them into my garden. They compete with the bird food but the way I look at it, there's enough food to go around.
--I've never done this, E.
ReplyDeleteYou are a very adventurous woman.
What other cool things have you done?
Xx
I love to see them sailing in the sky bit I'm not sure I'd be able to get into one without panicking.
ReplyDeleteOff we go, into the wild blue yonder!!! Marvellous pix EC! I took a balloon ride over Uluru...
ReplyDeleteKath: I would love to see the Red Centre and a balloon trip over it would be wonderful. Sadly because of my heat issues it probably isn't going to happen - anymore than my other dream of a balloon ride over the Serengheti.
ReplyDeletelinda: Thank you.
Denise: A wonderful sight aren't they. And what a trip for the young 'uns.
Thank you for telling me about squirrels. I strongly suspect I would be in your camp.
My Inner Chick: If you get the chance - do it.
Not really an adventurer, but the things that will stay with me include white water rafting in Nepal and of course ANTARCTICA. Sigh.
Friko: Once you have dragged yourself into the basket, it is remarkably gentle. As I said my brother is afraid of heights, but forgot that in the balloon.
Karen: Uluru .... As I said to Kath, that won't be a happening thing for me. I am a tad jealous.
What a coinkydink. I love balloons - and was lucky enough to go on a balloon ride over Melbourne for my 40th. Great shots.
ReplyDeletePandx
I have always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon. I think the next best thing would be watching, as you did. Lovely shots.
ReplyDeletePandora Behr: It was an amazing coincidence wasn't it. I loved my balloon trips too.
ReplyDeleteLynn: It is wonderful going up, and watching the process (particularly when there are dozens of balloons) is special too. Combine the watching with a water cruise, a decadent breakfast and bubbles and I am a happy chappy.
Fab photos, EC!
ReplyDeleteBut as the world's biggest chicken when it comes to heights I'll let others enjoy the balloon rides ;)
Jayne: Just watching them is a treat too. I don't think I will ever be able to go up again (couldn't get into the basket) but will continue to enjoy watching.
ReplyDeleteWho could not love all those big pretty balloons!
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush: I love them anyway. During the balloon festival there are always a couple in new and different shapes. One year there was a polar bear. Fine and dandy but it did make me giggle when my bus rounded a corner to be confronted with a giant bear butt (which seemed to fill the horizon). I never did see that bear front on.
ReplyDeleteThere's a balloon festival here every year. Lots of balloons up. It does look like so much fun, but the rides are vastly expensive, in the hundred or hundreds of dollar range.
ReplyDeleteI missed the excitement here though one day when a balloon almost crashed into the neighbor's house, narrowly missing it, which meant it only missed mine by a few feet. I soooo wish I'd been home when that happened! One neighbor (who sometimes drinks a little too much) said he was watching TV, and looked out the window, and there's a balloon heading straight for him. He said he didn't have time to even get out of his chair, but the guy was able to get the thing fired with gas enough to clear his and my houses.
Strayer: They are beautiful, but they are also very expensive to go up in. My first time I was working and it was a gift to myself. My second and third times they were gifts for the same significant birthday.
ReplyDeleteIt was very lucky for both your neighbour and the balloonists that the pilot managed to avoid the house(s). Tragedy averted.
You are definitely a braver person than I am. Some gorgeous balloons there, but I like watching them from the ground. Once a balloon almost landed in our garden, touched the treetops, but then landed in the field opposite of our house. Exciting times ;-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful! But then I'm a sucker for hot air balloons!
ReplyDeleteCarolina: Not brave at all, but I do like balloons from both the sky and the ground.
ReplyDeleteDave King: So am I - I think they have real charm.
Wow and wow. What a visual delight this is. Beautiful balloons, beautiful and symbolic of cherished freedom.
ReplyDeleteOh no, here I go, these photos were so good it's all I 'Canberra'. Sorry, that was awful.
Good wishes to you.
In kindness, Gary
Wow you have neat balloons
ReplyDeleteDear EC,
ReplyDeleteOh, how I enjoyed seeing these photographs. Almost three years ago, I moved here from Stillwater, Minnesota, which is a river town. On each side of the river the land slopes up so that a valley is created.
During the spring, summer, and fall, many gaily patterned light-air balloons travel the length of that valley. I used to sit in my side yard looking up at them. The cats did the same. The hissing when the gas was released would send them scurrying to the back porch.
Such good memories. Thank you.
Peace.
klahanie: Thank you - it is truly beautiful. I will forgive you your sad humour, as mine is not up to much either.
ReplyDeleteKim @ Stuff: Thank you.
Dee Ready: They are a delight - noisy it is true, but so beautiful. I am glad it raised good memories for you.