My AWESOME Wife

It’s true!  I couldn’t have married a more perfect girl.  Christi is the bomb.  We were talking today and realized that we’ve known each other for 18 years now.  Holy frijoles!  I’ve known her more years than I haven’t.  I’m more and more amazed with her each day.  Case in point, she is designing a dress right now.  She’s never done it before, but just thought it would be fun to do.  So, she’s just picking it up, following her heart, and I know I’m a guy but… I’ve got to say that it looks great!  I often think that I can do anything that I set my mind too.  I think that’s part of why I like Christi so much.  She has the same mind set and ability.  She can do anything she sets her mind to doing too.  Although she thinks things through more than I do, and she focuses more on the important stuff.  I honestly believe I’d still be at McDonald’s flipping burgers if she hadn’t of found me.  She is my inspiration and the reason I keep trying.  I love you Christi!  Ai… Ai…. Ai….  :)

Little LuLu

I’ve previously mentioned how fun it is to take pictures of little kids.  The Bowman’s little girl, Lucia (Lulu for short), was rivaling Simon for my camera’s attention during our weekend away from the heat.  Since Crystal does photography herself, Lulu was ready and willing to pose and smile whenever my camera turned her way.  Isn’t she cute?

f/1.8   1/200 sec   ISO 125
Canon EOS 7D with ‘EF 50mm f/1.8 II’ (cropped)

Not to be outdone, Simon is always ready to join everyone else in doing grown up things.  Here he is ready for a Ranger ride.

f/5.6   1/100 sec   ISO 160
Canon EOS 7D with ‘EF-S 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6 IS’ at a 116mm FL from 2.8m away

And here is Simon showing his posing ability too…. no matter what might be crusted on his face.

f/5.0   1/200 sec   ISO 500
Canon EOS 7D with ‘EF-S 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6 IS’ at a 116mm FL from 2.1m away (Cropped)

Labor Day Weekend with the Bowmans

With paper thin walls and the smell of pine around us, we spent an awesome weekend at the Bowman’s family cabin near Prescott.  I’m not kidding when I say paper thin walls, and the Bowman’s warned us about them up front.  Luckily, we brought our trusty noise maker along so that Simon could sleep through the hustle and bustle of the remainder of the 12 kids, who were in the next room jumping up and running around as Savannah tried to be a good psychiatrist and figure out what was wrong with her patients.  My kids picked up the game “Psychiatrist” at the Davis Family Reunion this summer and always enjoy playing it every chance they get.  They also spent a lot of time playing SPUD down at the nearby park with anyone who wanted too.  In SPUD one person throws up the ball and calls someone’s name.  That person has to get the ball and call out SPUD!  Then everyone stops running.  The person with the ball gets 5 steps to get near someone and try to hit them with the ball.  If they hit them, that person that was hit gets a letter (like playing HORSE).  If they miss, then they pick up the letter.  Here is a pictorial summary of the game:

As the ball soars in the air, everyone scatters and listens to find out who’s name is called to retrieve the ball.  The younger ones pretty much just followed whoever had the ball around and tried to get them to pick them.

The person who’s name was called, gets the ball and is very pleased to pick a target.  They then get five steps in order to….

Try and hit the person and give them a letter in SPUD.  If the person being thrown at moves, then they get a letter anyways.

I loved this one considering all the smiley faces around.  How many do you count?

There are a ton more pictures.  I hate having too many pictures to post.  I’ll get some more up tomorrow.  Thanks to the Bowmans and their family for inviting us to have such a great time!

Body and Soul

There is so much to learn and experience in life.  Right now I’m studying the body and soul to help me better understand and identify truth.  I think the last 11 years of my life since college have shown me what the “rat race” is like, and it’s done a great job of distracting me.  I’m thoroughly enjoying photography because it gives me a chance to slow down and see reality through more than just logic.  I used to have a much more artistic side of me growing up.  I’ve suppressed that over the years in favor of following logic and fear.  Fear of job security, fear of what others think of me, fear of not being perfect… the list goes on.  I’ve relied to heavily on my logical/body side and not taken advantage of all that the spirit or soul has to offer in making me happy.  I like this this analogy from the writings of Chuang Tzu:

"Once there was a man who was afraid of his shadow and who hated his footprints, and so he tried to get way from them by running. But the more he lifted his feet and put them down again, the more footprints he made. And no matter how fast he ran, his shadow never left him, and so, thinking that he was still going too slowly, he ran faster and faster without a stop until his strength gave out and he fell down dead. He didn't understand that by lolling in the shade he could have gotten rid of his shadow and by resting in quietude he could have put an end to his footprints. How could he have been so stupid!”

On the Tracks

It’s a fact that I’m extremely out of shape.  But I’ve got a new outlook on life and part of that is taking better care of how I eat, sleep, and exercise.  I still had a vanilla shake tonight (so hard to resist), but I’m getting better each day.  I continue to pat myself on the back for the distance I’ve come.  Office life has been a killer on my body, and I’m ready to take it back. 

So, as I was riding my bike this morning down old Rittenhouse road, the part that’s been closed down, I stopped to wait out a cotton tail rabbit that was dashing in and out of the tumbleweeds.  It disappeared.  So, I started looking around for what else I could shoot as long as I was stopped.  I was about 40 yards from the railroad tracks and I saw a bird perched there.  With my great eyesight, I couldn’t tell what it was until I looked through the zoom to see that it was a burrowing owl!  I love these owls.  Whenever I run the farm roads I run into them.  They’ll usually screech to let you know they are there and then try to lure you aware from their nest.  This particular bugger was tricky!  When I got too close it flew off on the other side of the  railroad tracks but I could see where it had gone.  After about 20 minutes of searching through the fields filled with doves, I headed back the opposite direction of where I had seen it go before it flew below the level of the railroad tracks.  And there it was.  Perched all smug about 50 yards down the track in the opposite direction that it had lead me to believe it had gone.  That tricky…Sly dawg.  One guy I talked to, while trying to photograph them, told me that twice he has had them fly up and knock off his hat or go after his dog.  I think egg hatching season is coming up soon and they may be getting a little more rowdy.  Here she is.

f/5.6   1/500 sec   ISO 200
Canon EOS 7D with ‘EF-S 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6 IS’ at a 250mm FL from 70m away (cropped)