I took this photo at Bryan Memorial Park in Selma, IL. As in William Jennings Bryan Memorial Park. Yesterday.
I took a photo of old William too. I'll probably just upload that one to flickr. (In case you are forgetting, Bryan was the prosecutor in the Scopes Trial, arguing that evolution was both "irrational and immoral." And no, he never became president, but many of us think of him as one. I suspect because he RAN for president 3 times. And is such a prominent name in American history.)
Today Chris, Lis and I went to downtown Nashville and walked around. I shot many photos and I'll post them when I get home. We had a great time just wandering around and poking in shops and taking in the architecture of the place. We stopped in at the Ryman Auditorium, but did not take the tour since it was $16 a pop. The auditorium has been called the "Mother Church of Country Music" which, I'm sure is in part due to the fact that riverboat captain Thomas Green Ryman originally built the building to be the Union Gospel Tabernacle. Interestingly, William Jennings Bryan once lectured from the stage there.
I got a great shot of a the bronze statues of Minnie Pearl and long-time love interest Roy Acuff. I'll post that later too.
And now this evening it's wine, hot dogs, corn on the cob, and fried zucchini for supper. Tomorrow morning we'll head for home.
Oh! I nearly forgot! Tambri sent me a text that there's been a BIG FIRE at Erskine College. Yikes!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The End of a Long Day
We saw these guys catching a catnap in the back of a pickup yesterday. We were all hurling down the freeway at 80+mph. It was nearly 90 yesterday, so I can certainly understand how workers could be so tired that they could sleep even in an open pickup truck.
I forgot to run this through the noise reducing software, so it's a bit grainy. And in the interest of full disclosure I should admit my stupidity in taking this photo:
I was driving. Lis took photos out the front windshield, but we weren't totally happy with the angle. So naturally I pulled up to where I was nearly tailgating the truck, (did I mention 80 mph?) and took the camera, one hand on the wheel, Lis' hand also on the wheel, and I got off two shots. And yeah, we had a minor child in the car.
We got to Chris' house outside Nashville right around 6 p.m. We had to let ourselves in because Chris and Kevin had to take 5-year-old Sammy to Urgent Care to have a pebble removed from her ear.
"I fell down and the rock got in there," she told the doctor.
In actuality she was in time-out for a dust-up she had with her friend Ryan when she stuck the pebble in her ear.
After a nice supper of spaghetti, which Lis made, we sat and drank wine and chatted. Today we will wander downtown Nashville for a bit, taking in the sites.
I forgot to run this through the noise reducing software, so it's a bit grainy. And in the interest of full disclosure I should admit my stupidity in taking this photo:
I was driving. Lis took photos out the front windshield, but we weren't totally happy with the angle. So naturally I pulled up to where I was nearly tailgating the truck, (did I mention 80 mph?) and took the camera, one hand on the wheel, Lis' hand also on the wheel, and I got off two shots. And yeah, we had a minor child in the car.
We got to Chris' house outside Nashville right around 6 p.m. We had to let ourselves in because Chris and Kevin had to take 5-year-old Sammy to Urgent Care to have a pebble removed from her ear.
"I fell down and the rock got in there," she told the doctor.
In actuality she was in time-out for a dust-up she had with her friend Ryan when she stuck the pebble in her ear.
After a nice supper of spaghetti, which Lis made, we sat and drank wine and chatted. Today we will wander downtown Nashville for a bit, taking in the sites.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Bear the Traveler
Here's Bear in the hotel in Bloomington, IL. We are staying at the Baymont Inn, a pet-friendly hotel. We stayed here on the way to Minneapolis (see the Beep Beep Flash Flash entry).
Bear seems to be quite the natural traveler. He sleeps well in the car and doesn't make a sound when we start or stop. He drinks when we give him water, and pretty much makes no demands on us. Last time, on the way up, he basically held his appetite and bowel habits most of the trip...except for that deposit he made behind the couch at Chris' (sorry!)...
We are staying here tonight (obviously) and then going on to Nashville tomorrow to sponge off Chris and her family for two nights. We'll pal around town with her on Friday and then head out for home Saturday.
It was a great visit, a good chance to see the family and hang out with buddy Julie (even though she about wore me out yesterday ripping wallpaper off the walls in the parsonage kitchen!). But I will be glad to have a couple of free-and-easy weeks at home before going back to work on July 31.
My friend Debbie Burgess, she of the Hungry Fox, has taken it upon herself to try to blog for 21 days straight to try to establish the good habit of blogging every day. I think I may try to do this with photography. I kind of gave up the 365 day flickr group because of the stress of coming up with self-portraits every day. Maybe just to take a photo every day will be a good step toward working on my photo taking and editing skills.
Bear seems to be quite the natural traveler. He sleeps well in the car and doesn't make a sound when we start or stop. He drinks when we give him water, and pretty much makes no demands on us. Last time, on the way up, he basically held his appetite and bowel habits most of the trip...except for that deposit he made behind the couch at Chris' (sorry!)...
We are staying here tonight (obviously) and then going on to Nashville tomorrow to sponge off Chris and her family for two nights. We'll pal around town with her on Friday and then head out for home Saturday.
It was a great visit, a good chance to see the family and hang out with buddy Julie (even though she about wore me out yesterday ripping wallpaper off the walls in the parsonage kitchen!). But I will be glad to have a couple of free-and-easy weeks at home before going back to work on July 31.
My friend Debbie Burgess, she of the Hungry Fox, has taken it upon herself to try to blog for 21 days straight to try to establish the good habit of blogging every day. I think I may try to do this with photography. I kind of gave up the 365 day flickr group because of the stress of coming up with self-portraits every day. Maybe just to take a photo every day will be a good step toward working on my photo taking and editing skills.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Mom's House of Whimsy
Yesterday I fooled around a bit with my camera...something I haven't done much of this summer. I decided to challenge myself by setting it on one focal length and then shooting with just manual focus. I'm pretty pleased with my results. I do have one shot, though, that I will do again with autofocus. I didn't bring a tripod and I need the vibration reduction to help with it.
But this is not that shot. These are some items my Mom has on the coffee table in her porch. The little green guy is made of a gourd. And the bowl is too. The statue is one of many she has that are made by Isabelle Bloom. (Just looked for a website and can't find one)
But this is not that shot. These are some items my Mom has on the coffee table in her porch. The little green guy is made of a gourd. And the bowl is too. The statue is one of many she has that are made by Isabelle Bloom. (Just looked for a website and can't find one)
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