Normally we would have had a lot of hot air this past week with 500 balloons and an extra million people in town for Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. However, like everything else that draws more than 10 people, the AIBF was canceled this year. A few locals flew over our house this morning in honor of the event.
Off Center & Not Even 
Hi Tim, gorgeous photos, the colors of the balloons are spectacular. So glad to see the locals got out and up there!
Thanks, Mia. The locals fly most of the year, but it’s special this time of year.
You’re welcome, Tim. Have a good evening!
Nice set of balloon shots.
Thanks, Maj & Sher.
Beautiful photos of the colorful balloons floating in the clear blue sky lifted my spirits. It never gets old. Thank you for sharing Tim.
Thanks for stopping by, Juanita.
By jiminee, they are large balloons, beautiful! Even caught a bird in flight, nice.
Thanks, Inchcock.
They are very colorful 🙂
Thanks, Harry.
Nice colors against a blue sky. I made a balloon flight once and it was great ! Every year we have a balloon event on the (biggest) marketplace (of Belgium) of Sint Niklaas. More than 100 balloon go up into the sky. Only this year the event was canceled because of corona.
Thanks, picholio. A sky full of balloons is a site to behold. It’s fun to fly in them.
Beautiful shots, my friend and is that the middle bird doing another favor for you?
It was just a bird giving us the bird. Thanks, Marina.
😂🤣🤣🤣
Very cool, Tim! Thank goodness for some people who still keep on what they do regardless of rules. All the more power to them!!
Hi Amy Rose. There are nor regs against flying balloons that I know of other than balloons attract crowds.
Nice to see. Truly. Even if it was not what you usually would have.
Balloons are always beautiful. Thanks, Shey.
Amazing shots! That blue sky and the colorful balloons… are so lovely to see this morning.
I am so happy that some locals got out and celebrated the event.
Have a great day Tim!
Thanks, Nancy.
They had to cancel our local balloon fest, too. I wonder if any flew over my father’s widow’s house this year?
I would assume locals flew like out here. Thanks, Dale.
🙂
Gorgeous shots of beautiful balloons, Tim!
I saw a TV spot on the non-festival this year, but that balloons, at least some of them were up in the air.
Of course, from this blog, I knew something about the festival. I thought of you.
Hi Resa. As you know, hundreds of thousands of people all milling about together is not cool in the age of covid cooties.
I’ve always enjoyed the balloon photos, Tim. Covid has disrupted life on a large scale.
It has. Thanks, Lavinia.
Beautiful, I’m glad you got a little taste of hot air!
Thanks, Tiffany.
I was wondering if ABQ would have their balloon fest. The Labor Day balloon fest here in COS went off as planned, but, of course, it has become a much smaller event than in years past. This year, they had around 135 entrants, and they launched from 10 different locations while observing the physical distancing guideline. ABQ has the much larger festival with around 500+ entrants, and would have been a logistical nightmare while observing COVID safeguards.
While the management team for the COS event is supposed to be the same for the ABQ festival, COS has become more of an afterthought. The city of COS didn’t realize what they were losing when they made certain political and budgetary decisions. The prior organizing team said it became impossible to work with COS (which isn’t a big revelation; they can be impossible quite often). Some that normally flew both COS and ABQ, now only fly ABQ while others have quit flying completely or opted to fly for paying customers only.
The AIBF is always packed with people and the balloons are packed close as well when inflating for mass ascensions. That’s the fun of the event. Thanks, David.
Awesome photos Tim, so bright and colorful, 🙂
Thanks, Sandra.
Great photos I can’t think of anything more terrifying to do than ballooning, even bungee jumping you’re still attached to a rope.
Ballooning is pretty safe. But if you are afriad of heights then it’s really scary. Thanks, Charlotte.
Woo-hoo, so great to see these magnificent balloons, Timothy. I’m always dazzled by the hot air balloons and the colors and patterns, and your photos are excellent with the clarity and the blue background. I think the one with the bird is really cool.
Hi Jet. The balloons are always a welcome sight. That bird flew by at the right moment.
Hey Tim … your balloon shots are as good as ever! 🙂
Thanks, Julie.
Wonderful images! If you’d ever consider submitting some of your work for publication, Dixie State University has an online literary journal and is currently open for submissions.
You can check us out at https://www.r7review.com/. The deadline to submit this year is November 6th.
We are in need of fiction and nonfiction submissions. We also accept memoirs, audio recordings, visual art, book reviews, multimedia (video/audio), photography, etc.
Thanks, McBRachel. I’ll look at what I have.