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Posts Tagged ‘videos’

Thunder and lightning

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, photo blog, video blog，Tags: cats, lightning, pictures, smokey, thunderstorm, videos, weather

13 May 2014

The dark clouds were rolling in just as I arrived home today. I had driven home taking advantage of the warm air by opening my moon roof to the sky and sticking my hand out every chance I got. At red lights, I’d blissfully turn my face up to the gathering clouds, watching their ever-changing patterns. It was serene. At home, I spent the next hour gleefully enjoying the air before the storm. I love this weather! (Certainly have written about it quite a bit too.)

As the workers laid bricks on the new homes next door, I dutifully stood outside on the porch with my camera, determined to catch a photo of lightning this time around. I just can’t get enough of how they split the sky and make the whole area glow. Those crooked lines crawling across the clouds, flashing in and out before I can even react… they’re so elusive. I could sit and stare for hours as they danced around me. I really wish I had a panoramic room since I found myself chasing the light of flashes from one end of the house to the other.

After awhile, the grumbling of thunder began and a light rain splattered down. I watched as plane after plane kept coming in to the airport amid all that insanity. Oh what I wouldn’t give to be on one of those planes, watching lightning flashing around me! I’ve always been fascinated by how things look differently when you’re up in the sky and I wish I could have experienced that. Those lucky passengers. As I admired their good fortune, I noticed that I could hear birds chirping. Strange, since I would have thought they’d be hiding somewhere. Perhaps they knew the storm wasn’t that big, so they stuck around to wait it out and sing it off.

What a peaceful way to start the evening. Thunderstorms calm and excite me all at once, and always bring a sense of contentment.

moon shining in distance as storm clouds creep across sky

When I first looked out, I noticed the moon just peeking out in the distance.

glow of light from lightning flash brightening storm clouds

For the longest time I got no more than the glow from a lightning strike.

That same view without the flash of light!

lightning bolt from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Construction guys kept banging away as the storm brewed. Here are some freeze frames:

Then the one flash I did capture confused my lens and made it blurry.

lightning flash from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Such a quick burst! Totally explosive.

cat laying in kitchen behind screen door

Smokey was really enjoying the weather too.

airplane lightning from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

If only I was on that plane!!!

small streak of lightning stretching horizontally across sky

I managed to get a little horizontal one!

I changed my view from east to north and was rewarded with this beauty. Success!!!

Peaceful plane landing

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, video blog，Tags: flying, natures, planes, scenery, sunset, trees, videos

23 April 2014

I’m pooped! After leaving work around 6 to go catch the HOA Board Meeting and then spending two hours there hashing out concerns, I grabbed some fast food and arrived home to start working at something I needed to prepare for tomorrow. I finally finished up and I’m so exhausted, so I shall leave you with this lovely scene I get to see on my drive home sometimes.

plane landing over trees from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Bird calls

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: animals, birds, nature, noises, sounds, spring, videos, weather

12 April 2014

Whenever spring rolls around, I always look out for the emergence of birds. Last year they were everywhere! I’m finally starting to hear them again as the weather warms up. It’s supposed to get over 80 tomorrow!

birds swarming tree from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

symphony of birds from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

birds galore from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Just enough exercise

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: airport, behavior, observations, travel, videos

01 April 2014

Sometimes people do the silliest things. When I was at the airport a few weeks back, I noticed this guy putting his suitcase on the escalator, then rushing down the stairs to meet it at the bottom. Apparently taking the suitcase down the stairs was too much exercise for him and taking the escalator himself was too little exercise (or something like that).

suitcase on escalator from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Not so snowy owl

laelene Posted in photo blog, video blog，Tags: animals, birds, owls, pictures, videos

26 March 2014

Yesterday when I left work, I stopped at a red light and looked out my window at the falling snow. That’s when I noticed it:

What a beauty. I mentioned before I love birds of prey and it’s rare that I get to see an owl. Usually it’s a hawk of some sort, so this was super cool. My theory is that it was out enjoying the snow (and probably thought it blended in). I mean, if I was an owl I’d come out and chill on a fence enjoying the snow. I got a chance to snap this shot and shoot a quick video before the light turned green. I then drove home in awe and considered turning around to get another glimpse.

owl in snow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Flight fear

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, flying, pictures, planes, travel, videos

13 March 2014

The past two days have been a bit of insanity, sometimes even bordering harrowing. My travels started Tuesday around 3 am EST (3 pm in China). I got to the Beijing Airport for my flight at 5:30 and arrived in Chicago about 13 hours later. Along the way, I experienced possibly the worst bout of turbulence that I’ve ever been through. The shaking of it made me run through scenarios: the plane wing breaking off (could the pilot still keep us somewhat upright?), falling from the sky (how should I brace for impact?), surviving the crash and attempting to stay warm and alive on the ground (how many layers of clothes could I put on?)… yeah, I’m a little freaked out from the Malaysia missing aircraft mystery and thinking of all kinds of awful possibilities.

view over arctic landscape from plane window

Somewhere over the arctic regions we got hit by some major turbulence.

In Chicago, I waited three hours to board the plane to Dulles and made it back slightly nauseous, but ok. We went home for a brief break and I slept three hours before crawling up just before 5 am to go back to IAD. This time I took a flight back to O’Hare to transfer to Louisville. We landed in some pretty fresh snow powder and then I watched as my 9:30 CST flight got delayed to 10:45, then 12, then 12:15, then 12:30, then 12:45…

plane landing on snow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

And as I waited, nearly all the flights turned to delayed or cancelled. I got in touch with the partners I was going to visit and then sat back, hoping I’d still make it out in time. I finally got to Louisville at 3:30, checked out my rental car, and made it to the office at 4. I had booked a flight out at 5, but when I arrived I saw it’d been delayed until 6, so that gave me some time. I met with a few people before hightailing it back at 5. I returned the car and asked about my flight, which was going to Cleveland (now at 6:20). The delay would cause me to miss my connection, but luckily for me, an afternoon flight straight to Dulles was delayed by 4 hours and scheduled to leave at 7. I went to wait for that flight and made it back to Northern Virginia by 9:30.

fluffy cloud coverage with pastel colors in sky

Getting up in the sky, things were beautiful.

vibrant colors of fading sunset over cloud coverage

The sun set and we continued in the darkness.

Our approach to the runway turned out to be one of the most nerve-wracking 25 minutes of my life. We made a giant loop around the airport as we slowly came down, tilting left and right, shaking a bit, and making me feel like I’d developed motion sickness. I actually had to grip the hand rest to steady myself a bit and feel more secure in my seat. Once again, I thought about ways to survive falling out of the sky. I even imagined crash landing on the freeway or breaking our fall in a forest. I did not feel well! It was quite the series of flights giving me plenty of scares. I usually feel really secure on a plane, but this time around I was nervous leg after leg. I’m ready to stay grounded for awhile.

$fractured light on scratched up window of plane$

Finally on the ground, the sparkles of lights got fractured by the scratches on the window. Rather pretty.

Chinese stroller

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: behavior, china, observation, travel, videos

03 March 2014

Who needs a stroller when you’ve got a suitcase and a kid who can balance a bit? Haha, I love the random things you’ll see Chinese people doing. Creative or practical?

suitcase stroller from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Cardboard catnip

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: animals, behavior, cats, fun, play, videos

19 February 2014

When cats see a cardboard box, it may as well contain catnip for how much they enjoy it. What a silly cutie!

cat leaps and licks from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

cat in box playing with finger from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

cat playing in cardboard box from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

365great Day 320: videos

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, experiences, frozen, ice, nature, pictures, river, sharing, videos, weather

28 January 2014

When changes over time or audio components are key to understanding a point, nothing works better than a video to convey that message. Whether it’s watching the sequence of certain actions or seeing and hearing something happening, they’re able to offer a different experience beyond pure visual or auditory things. Today when I was heading back to the office after a morning in DC, I took a few seconds to get to the edge of the Potomac and see the iced over water for myself. It wasn’t until you got close and actually heard the creaking of the ice as it heaved against itself that you really felt the power of such a large surface being frozen. A video can share that feeling far more readily than just a picture or an audio recording. Likewise, with things like the way people move or how their eyes light up as they laugh – these are experiences best shared with the visual and auditory components synced up as they are in real life. It’s far more powerful that way and I’m glad that’s one way we can share parts of ourselves. It makes for far greater memories recorded.

Artic chill

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: animals, behavior, experiences, nature, snow, spring, videos, weather

28 January 2014

It’s snowing outside again and the cars are getting yet another layer of powder. Good thing I didn’t wash my car, which I considered doing at one of those gas station drive-thrus since I thought the snow craziness might have ended. This morning it was colder here in Virginia than it was in my hometown of Shenyang and as far as I know, that never happens. I mean, my birthplace is so cold in the winter that it’s like Russia or North Korea. Have you seen what they wear in those countries? Talk about bundling up like crazy. Even the Potomac has frozen with quite a thick layer of ice, which I got a chance to see today when I went into DC to apply for a visa.

So while we freeze our butts off here, let me reminisce about a beautiful spring afternoon in which I went to get the mail and found the tree humming with sound. Turns out there were many bees working quite hard.