Volume 12 – What Matters
52 – Running Late
2023 was a weird year for our house plants and trees. The avocado tree was almost two months late producing ripe fruit. The Blood Orange tree produced a bumper crop of oranges as usual, but they were the size of tangerines, and the tangerine tree did a passable imitation of a cumquat tree with tiny little Barbie tangerines. The grapes were pretty close to normal but were also later than usual. The Christmas Amaryllis pictured here is supposed to bloom by Christmas but has joined all the others in whatever is inspiring their procrastination. I’m sure there’s a perfectly ordinary reason for the across-the-board variance in our flora. I’m also sure that the government chose this year to announce that not all those UFO sightings were weather balloons. Hmmmm…
51 – Rainspike
Sometimes nature gives you a gift. Late Friday afternoon, Kim and I were driving up to our favorite Mexican restaurant for an early dinner when I glimpsed a splash of color through the trees. It was a rainbow but appeared as a colored spike due to the rain falling from a very low cloud cover near the mountains and the low angle of the sun shining from a clear western horizon. There was nowhere to pull off to get a better view and the glimpses we got showed it fading away. As we neared the small airport on our route, the rain ahead of us started up again and the colors came back brighter than before. I pulled into the airport parking lot, jumped out and caught this odd example of nature’s beauty before it had a chance to fade away again.
50 – Sailaway
Back in the spring, we floated (pun intended) the idea of taking Matthew and Jackie on their first cruise for their birthdays. Their mom was all for it and we added her birthday to the mix and booked a 4-day on the Navigator of the Seas for the second week of December. As the time neared, the kids had a lot of questions about the trip. Mostly revolving around past tragedies at sea and what there was to do while not in port. All the trepidations evaporated as we crossed the bridge, and the ship came into view. We boarded, got settled and treated everyone to cocktails and mocktails in the Sky Lounge for sailaway. The rest of the trip was a whirlwind of fun, food, non-stop activity and the vicarious treat of experiencing a first cruise through the kid’s eyes.
49 – Taaaa-Daaaaaa
This week was the annual in-house Christmas show at Jackie’s skating rink. All the skaters got to perform alone, in groups or both and Jackie did it all. She loves the ice and truly has a talent for the sport. Because of the limited seating at full competitions, we seldom watch all the locals compete and it was good to see that the local coaches are turning out some really accomplished skaters. Including Jackie. The Picture-A-Week project is supposed to feature pictures representing something notable that happened during that week, and this was no exception. We got to see that hard work and perseverance pays off even when that work is fun, and you have a natural talent for it. Congratulations on a great performance, Jackie (especially the previously absent smile!)
48 – We Did It Again
47 – Va-Door
Friday after Thanksgiving found us at Villian’s Brewery in Anaheim for lunch with friends. It is a very nice venue with a large patio area shaded by trees and umbrellas. The weather was a near perfect 75°. The beer selection was excellent, and they had a list of surprisingly good hard seltzers as well. The lunch menu featured barbeque, including one of the better burgers I’ve had. The only fly in an otherwise soothing ointment was their unusual choice of rap music as background noise. The villain theme was interesting, and I had to give them high marks for the artwork on the rollup door featured in this week’s photo. If you are going to feature a villain theme, who else would you choose as the centerpiece image? (Other than the guy that chose the rap music.)
46 – What the Fork
Ever since she was little, Daughter Tara has always assumed that she was welcome to try something on your plate that looked good and was missing from hers. This wasn’t an issue at home since everyone almost always had the same food on their plate. At restaurants, it was a constant occurrence that we eventually became resigned to. Recently her sister came across this elongated fork on some website or another and sent the link to Tara as a humorous reminder of her lifelong forced sharing ritual. Tara didn’t see it as a humorous dig at her past (and present) actions, but as a valuable tool that made plate sampling easier than ever and ordered one in time for our early Thanksgiving gathering. A good laugh almost always makes up for a missing bite or two.
45 – Fall Colors
It is maple and it is red. I will grant that closet doors are not your traditional source of fall colors, but since we live in Southern California, we take what we can get. The transformation of our spare bedroom into an actual guest bedroom began last year with a dumpster rental and the removal of many, many things that were “saved for later”. There was also a removal of clothes unworn for years and items packed for our move to Georgia in 2010 and returned home without being unpacked. The old closet and cupboards from the early ‘50s were torn out and repaced with a new framework. Then we got busy elsewhere and the new guest room closet remained doorless until last week. Only a couple small touches left to complete. Should be done soon…
44 – Carassasaurus
This week’s highlight was Hallowe’en. For years, we have gone to Daughter Kassi’s neighborhood and done the sugar walk with her family. Her neighborhood is one of those that does over-the-top Hallowe’en and Christmas decorations and it draws hundreds, tf not thousands of visitors to see the sights and collect the treats. This year was a bit different. We volunteered to host a trunk for Son Dan’s church’s Trunk Or Treat aling with Kassi’s Family. It was 4 hours of controlled mayhem with over 7,500 visitors, not counting possible repeaters that looked suspiciously familiar. While it was still light, I took a moment to grab some photos, including this one our animated spur-of-the-moment trunk decoration. We believe it is a Jurrassic period Carassasaurus.
43 – Centrifugal Tutu
Sunday was a long day of spectating. Between the compulsory and program performances, there was a five-hour gap. Fortunately, we live about 5 minutes from the local rink and the family spent the down time at our house eating Costco pizza and watching football. Our Tiny Dancer has progressed to the point where there are virtually no competitors at her age, and she typically competes with skaters nearly twice as old. The automatic first place finishes are gone but she still finishes in the top 50%. Not bad for someone who gives up a foot or more in height and 5 or 6 years of physical maturity to the competition. As you can see in this week’s photo, her spins aren’t the tip-toe steps of the past but smooth and fast enough to turn her bead skirt into a tutu.
42 – Dark Magic
Sometime a week or so ago, I received my new phone. I was very excited to take a bunch of photos, write a simple review and revel in its technological awesomeness. Instead, I spent most of my time in the workshop cutting, sanding, staining and staining a new set of closet doors for the guest room. Time spent with my phone was taken up by opening apps, looking up passwords and setting up biometrics. I came very close to not taking a shot of anything for the Picture-A-Week project for the first time in twelve years. This photo of our homage to the season was on my way to bed when I passed the display as the automation triggered the night mode for the house lights. The pumpkins were still lit and the new phone captured this in the darkness with amazing ease.
41 – Swinging on a Star
After a hectic week with both work and home projects consuming all spare time, it suddenly occurred to me that it was Sunday afternoon, I was enjoying some down time and it had been years since I watched one of my favorite movies. Over-the-top is one way to describe Hudson Hawk, but I prefer “Classic”. Improbable plot, complex and amusing dialog and Bruce Willis in his prime. The score is eclectic, and the rest of the cast is a wild mix of Who’s Who and Who’s That. Kim and I ate a simple meal of something forgettable and enjoyed laughing at all the same things we have laughed at every time we’ve watched it. With almost everything coming out lately being a remake, we are going to start watching more old faves. Bill & Ted or Blazing Saddles, maybe?
40 – B-B-B-Bad to the Bone
Last week celebrated a big event in our oldest grandchild’s life. This week it’s the youngest’s turn. Little Master Kai turns two next Monday, but scheduling conflicts moved his party to Week 40. Friends and family gathered at a favorite beachside park near his home and lavished him with love, attention and gifts. It was a very nice day. Not only for Kai, but for friends and family who don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. The weather was California costal normal with sun and blue skies until a dense fog bank rolled in around noon and the temperature dropped to about 62°. Since most of us were going to return to 90°+ later that day, we didn’t complain. Kai loved all his gifts, but I think our electric motorcycle may possibly have won the day.
39 – Happily Ever After
Last Friday I had the pleasure of photographing my Grandson’s wedding over in the Phoenix area. The pleasure was slightly offset by 102° heat and schlepping two cameras around for 5 hours, but a pleasure it was. His bride, Alyssa, is a charming young lady with the patience of a saint where Brady is concerned. She even supports his World of Warcraft video game obsession which makes her sort of unique. Brady has worked his way up to the title of Warlord, which is a very rare achievement indeed. His father pointed this out in his reception toast and added that he has now added another achievement that is very probably unique among World of Warcraft Warlords. He met a real girl in the real world, fell in love and married her. They are truly blessed.
38 – Shot on Goal
On Sunday morning, we abandoned a pleasant fall day in the mid-70°s and walked into the permanent winter of one of the nearby ice-skating venues to watch Matthew’s team do battle with local rivals. The game was pretty exciting, and our team quickly put a couple of goal on the board. Matthew primarily plays a defensive position and doesn’t take a lot of shots at a goal. As you see in this week’s image, not a lot doesn’t mean never. Here he is diving for a shot, taking a fall for a chance to score. Have you ever heard the adage: Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted? Hockey has a phrase that means the same thing. It’s called Shot on Goal. It’s what you call an awesome effort like this when an uncooperative goalie blocks it.
37 – Flower Power
Wildflowers are a generally happy subject to shoot. They don’t look away, blink or whine about how long it takes to get the right shot. They do, however, grow outside and are subject to such things as random lighting or wind. Lighting can be managed pretty well, but unless you brought an extra tripod with one of those little stem clamps to lock it down, a windblown flower can be as tricky as a two-year-old with a sugar rush. The best way to freeze a waving flower is the application of a high shutter speed, but this flower presented itself at a time when I was armed with only a phone. Thankfully, it was a phone with the ability to take several shots in a burst and assemble a reasonably clean image from the components. Perfect? No. Pretty darned good? Yup.
36 – Late Summer Surprise!
I was out surveying the damage wrought by the hurricane (we got some rain and that brings the weeds) when I discovered that our tangerine tree is expecting! We planted the little sprig about five years ago and is has been a bit of a slow starter. Last year it struggled to squeeze out a couple dozen or so small but sweet tangerines and that thrilled us since we had almost given up on it. It has doubled in size this year (still a shrubbery) and since we aren’t really orchard keepers and don’t keep track of growth or fruit production cycles, we figured it was going to skip a year of fruit to go through tree puberty or whatever. Needless to say, the appearance of tiny flowers made us happy and ensured that the water supply would continue to flow for another year.
25 – Spectator
The weeks since we got back from Alaska have been very busy with a bridal shower, the ice-skating show and now a hockey tournament. While I have taken about 4,000 photos in that time, very few have been the sort of photos I usually choose for the Picture-A-Week. On Sunday, I was shooting hockey action from the stands and had paused when Matthew left the ice. I looked over and was surprised to see that instead of playing a game on her tablet or her Mom’s phone, Jackie was actually watching the game while unconsciously consuming her bag of popcorn. I cranked the zoom to minimum and followed the technical rule of making sure the eye is in focus to make the shot look good. Or the lovely little lady made the shot look good. Probably the second reason.
34 – Output
Week three of the Ordeal of Skating: Output. This week, I spent twenty or so hours going through not only the 3,538 I shot, but the 1,452 that Granddaughter Hailee shot from a different vantage point. The resulting 1,005 lightly edited shots were divided into folders representing the fourteen show segments corresponding to the group photos as well as folders for the opening number, intermission skits and finale. The next step was to burn them to flash drives to be delivered to the parents and relatives that pre-ordered a poster and the action photos from the show. It was a lot of work. It was also a lot of fun using my camera and editing skills for a good cause. I can’t imagine doing this for a living but as an in-kind donation to said good cause, it felt pretty darn good.
33 – Showtime 2023!
Last week it was the posters. This week was the second half of my voluntary(?) stint as Ice Show photographer. Sunday was showtime and I rode out our steamy tropical storm in a brisk 38° environment for both showings of the program. Honestly, spending five hours in an artificial winter while warm rain sprinkled humidity from the sky was not the hard part of the day. Standing up on the viewing platform firing off shot after shot with a few pounds of high-end imaging tech for most of those five hours was the real chore. A quick scan of the roughly 3,500 images was made, and I will spend the next few days culling repeats and the surprisingly few blurries. At about 700 shots in, I found the winner for week 33. Young Jackie’s skill on the ice comes through again!
32 – Another Labor of Love
I’m not completely sure whether Darling Daughter Kassi asked me if I would do or told me that I was doing the group photos and event poster for the ice rink’s annual production show, but the truth is, I would have said yes if asked. Not because it sounded fun, but because if I did it, there would be no expense entry for “photographer” in the spreadsheet covering the income form the annual fundraiser which will benefit Granddaughter Jackie. The line entry for Graphic Designer turned out to be the real act of fiscal kindness. What a chore. I am not one to run from a challenge, but after 20 or so hours of producing the fourteen individual group photos and assembling the final poster, I regret the lack of cardio in my daily routine that might have enabled that run.
31 – T Minus Fifty-four
We had a big day on Saturday. It was the culmination of over a month of planning, a week of making everything shiny and two days of decoration and meal prep for a bridal shower. Our oldest grandson’s bride-to-be is scheduled to drop the “to-be” part of her title in a mere fifty-four days, so Kim and the girls thought it proper that our family throw a little party. I’m sure that we will someday host uncomplicated little gatherings with little or no effort put into decoration or meal prep. That time has not yet come. Our family gatherings tend to be overprovisioned, lavishly (but tastefully) decorated as well as loud and happy. This one was no exception. The family all chipped into welcome Alyssa into the fold and I daresay by the end of the night, she felt welcome.
30 – The Beginning of the End
On Monday morning we sailed into Puget Sound and *poof* our cruise was over. It was a great week filled with fun, family and adventure. This last day was the best sunrise of the trip. By far. Not a surprise since Alaska is fairly stingy with it’s sunrises and sunsets. Add stingy to sunrise and sunset happening ridiculously close to either side of midnight and it becomes a formula for failure. The Sea & Sky section of the online gallery for this trip has a grand total of 12 photos and features a majority of attractive cloud cover shots. Oh, well. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets aren’t why we go to Alaska and all the reasons we do go (minus the glaciers this time) were spectacular as usual. It’s nice to know there are still places like that in our country to escape to for a while.
29 – Bubble Bubble
After a disappointing Glacier Day that featured no actual glaciers due to an unadvertised policy regarding the size of the ship preventing us from actually seeing a glacier on our “Voyage of the Glaciers” cruise, I was feeling a bit grumpy (not the description the family used). Later that day we had a whale-watching tour and salmon bake scheduled and I was assured that it would be wonderful…and shut up about the glaciers. Long story short, it was. We were treated to a group of about ten Humpbacks cooperating in a group feeding exercise called bubble netting. The group repeated the process about four or five times before our allotted time ran out and we had to move on. The new camera and lens performed as expected and the glacierlessness was forgotten.
28 – Bloody Delicious
Sunday afternoon found Kim, Son Dan and myself taking the light rail from our hotel to downtown Seattle and wandering around Pike Place Market. We were mostly sightseeing since anything we bought would have to be hauled aboard the ship when the family left for Alaska the next day. Instead, we ended up having a long, late lunch at Lowell’s Restaurant. We had a great view of Puget Sound and an excellent waiter. Dan and I ordered the blackened cod tacos and Kim had to have the Dungeness crab melt sandwich. We all settled on Lowell’s signature Bloody Mary cocktails, which lived uo to the waiter’s recommendation, as did the food. The lunch cost more than expected by a factor of Holy Crap, but we were on vacation and by golly we deserved it!
27 – Upgrades
On the Fourth, we were home from our weekend trip to Washington and I used the early hours to install some upgrades to Granddaughter Jackie’s Playhouse. I built it for her a while ago and the Southern California climate was not easy on it. Faded paint and a door removed by 100 mph wind gusts last year took a toll. The frequent high winds also made keeping the interior clean a major chore. For her birthday this year, she requested repair and a few upgrades. A pair of shutters for the café window, a new far sturdier door and acrylic for the windows were requested and delivered. Her mother did some power-shopping at Dollar Tree for some accessories and those were installed as well. A few more finishing touches and Café Jackie will be open for business!
26 – Climate Warrior
We spent a long weekend in Southern Washington celebrating an old friend’s 75th birthday. The weather was incredible with temperatures in the 70°s, clear skies and sunshine. On Sunday, our hosts took us on a little road trip, and we drove through miles of forest, visiting fruit markets, lavender farms and of course, a brewery. It reminded me how important it is to preserve the natural places in the world. Our country leads the world in the reduction of emissions, struggling to offset the rest of the world’s growing output as industry grows globally. One controversial method promoted by the more zealous climate warriors is eliminating livestock to reduce atmospheric methane. I want to help, so I’m going to work on eliminating livestock…one bite at a time.
25 – Just Funny
Week 25 – Monday 6/19 to Sunday 6/25
Last week I shared a funny Father’s Day gift from Daughter Kassi. This week was further proof that a sense of humor may actually be hereditary. Saturday found us at what we ended up calling Birthdaypalooza 2023 with a mass celebration of four family birthdays. It was a very nice day with the kids splashing around in the pool and inflatable water slide while squirting each other with a veritable arsenal of squirt guns. The adults sat around in pleasant 78° weather enjoying the food and drink while sharing stories and generally relaxing. Towards the end of the day, Kassi suddenly says; “I forgot the chicken arms!” She soon produced a ridiculous accessory for pet chickens that she had found online. A chicken was selected, the arms attached, and hilarity ensued.
24 – A Horse is a Horse
Sunday was Father’s Day and it was a good day. My gift from Kim and the kids was lost by UPS and a third of the family had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t join us for dinner. No worries. Everyone called and humbled me with kind words making it a very happy day. Now to the photo. Years ago, I introduced a pre-teen Daughter Kassi to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It turned out she shares my love for the absurd and we have re-watched it more than a few times since. One of the standout bits of absurdity in the movie is that the knights do not actually ride horses. Rather, they trot with a horse-like gait holding imaginary reins as a squire follows making hoof-clopping sounds with coconut shells. I don’t consider what she gave me a gag gift. It’s obviously a horse.
23 – The Graduate
Week 23 – Monday 6/5 to Sunday 6/11
Monday evening was spent at the Toyota Arena watching our third-oldest grandchild graduate high school. Why an arena that can seat 10,000+ people? Did the school have a huge graduating class? Not really. It is however, a rather unique charter school with a small campus and satellite classrooms spread across a county that is larger than nine US states. The arena was chosen because it was more or less central to the student population and easily large enough to accommodate the family members of the 400 or so Seniors. This week’s shot was taken from about 150’ away just after she spotted the family where we were sitting way up in the second tier and let us know how she really felt about her accomplishment. Congratulations, Daisy Lee. Very well done!
22 – Calls You Never Want
I was doing some gardening after work on Thursday when Kim ran out of the house with one of those looks on her face that you never want to see. She was just told that our 18mo. old grandson, Kai had climbed up on a table in his room, pushed out the window screen and fallen ~20 ft. to the sidewalk below. Son-in-law Ronnie offered to drive us to the hospital and off we went. Calls continued as we drove and by the time we covered the 50 miles to the hospital, we knew that a CT scan showed a small skull fracture with no internal bleeding and Kai was conscious, alert and a little fussy. We all went in to see him and after a few uneventful hours and many hugs, we headed home much relieved and a little amazed. Miracle, or just a tough little guy? We’ll gladly take either.
21 – Hockey Time Again
After months of one thing or another, we found ourselves back in the cold to watch Matthew play some hockey. It was a hard-played game and quite exciting. It was also the trial run for the new camera and lens combination which will be used for indoor events like this and of course, the upcoming Alaska trip. There was almost no learning curve since the controls on the new body are virtually identical to the old one and the lens was just a lens after configuring the panning and stabilization settings. The ability of the camera to lock onto a subject and track it is uncanny, as is the ability of the lens to shift focus to keep up with the action. The game was fun to watch and even more fun to shoot. Having the right tool for the job always improves the experience.
20 – Whimsy Again
Week 20 – Monday 5/15 to Sunday 5/21
I have spoken before of my appreciation for whimsical things. Things that provoke thought or just make you smile are more “art” to me than a giant canvas randomly spattered with paint or a stack of twisted metal that people fawn over, so you think they are sophisticated and find meaning in it. A while ago, our friends introduced us to the Violet Rooster, a breakfast & lunch café that has become a favorite with its combination of eclectic decor, friendly staff and flat-out wonderful food. With mismatched tabletops, unusual art on the walls, the odd things hanging from the ceiling and bits like the Cactisaurus pictured here, the decor is a delightful mishmash that just makes you smile. Hiding from a harsh world and having good food surrounded by whimsy is a good thing.
19 – Family
Saturday was Mother’s Day at our house. Family work schedules make Sundays a bit of a problem for scheduling family gatherings. We were originally going to have our usual brunch, but a few more work-related issues turned that into Breakfast for Dinner. Steak, eggs, waffles, home-baked cinnamon rolls, hash browns. All the usual favorites served with traditional and non-traditional breakfast beverages. Setting up. cooking and chatting with less-seen family members left me precious little time to take pictures. On my way to do some hosting chore or another, I passed by Hailee and Savannah having sister time. Hailee moving in with us to be closer to school hasn’t put a dent in their twin-like relationship. Two pieces in the wonderful puzzle that is our family.
18 – Manna Tots
Back on December 31, 2021, we attended a grand party that turned out to be a farewell to Citrus Grove Distillery. Sad circumstances forced the owners to close the wonderful little speakeasy that had become our go-to venue for a getaway evening with friends. One of the food trucks in the rotation was Cousin’s Maine Lobster. Their lobster rolls, and especially the lobster tots pictured here, became a reason to schedule a night out. A while ago, we though to look up the truck’s whereabouts and found they were regulars at a nearby brewery. It turns out the brewery has really established itself and the evening was a total success. Monthly lobster tots and excellent craft beers like the “Blonde, James Blonde” blonde ale in the photo have resurrected occasional nights out with friends.
17 – Special Occasion
Week 17 – Monday 4/24 to Sunday 4/30
So much of our lives revolve around mealtimes. When heads of state gather, there is almost always a banquet of some sort. For weddings, there is a rehearsal dinner prior to the event and as lavish a reception dinner as the family can afford after the ceremony. Favorite foods are a hallmark of birthday celebrations, with a bonus of cake. Thanksgiving has its turkey and Easter has any number of regional traditional meals. Christmas too. I even remember fish-sticks on Friday at school way back when. Why is food so important? Most of us have never known when it was scarce and hard to get. We celebrate with food because it gives life, happiness and security. Food unto itself can be a celebration like this perfectly smoked Tri-tip we prepared for, well…Tuesday evening.
16 – Cabo Again
Week 16 – Monday 4/17 to Sunday 4/23
Last week found us still aboard the Celebrity Solstice. Our trip took us to Cabo, Mazatlan and San Diego before returning to Los Angeles on Saturday. It was a relaxing trip with no shore excursions or other schedules to adhere to. We splurged on a specialty dining package and spent three of the nights being pampered by people who threat food as art. I took the new camera along but wasn’t really inspired to take a ton of pictures (only 400 or so) since we have simply seen the scenes so many times and already have photos galore. This one was chosen because of the fortuitous framing of the Discovery Princess photo-bombing the iconic Land’s End rock formation as we pulled into the harbor. All in all, a good week spent relaxing with our friends on a beautiful ship.
15 – Clink!
A good way to end a week! This was our Sunday morning courtesy of the nice folks at Celebrity Cruises who gave us another “free” cruise as a reward for using the pretty machines in the casino. The cruise was honestly a surprise since Kim went through less that a couple hundred dollars over the seven days of the previous cruise. She did win a lot, lose it then win it back again etc., so I guess the overall flow was what qualified us for the trip. Ron and Peri joined us because they were gifted a trip as well. The ship was full, so I don’t think it was emergency passenger packing on Celebrity’s part that got us invited. Whatever the reason, it was a relaxing voyage to nowhere with good food, good friends, a bunch of breakfast Bellinis and some much-needed rest on one of our favorite ships.
14 – Life Goes On
Easter weekend didn’t go quite as expected. We had Easter on Saturday since Pastor Dan had a busy Sunday planned. Our plans were changed when Kim and I ended up not attending. The upper right image in this week’s collage describes my non-attendance. The whole family rallied and pulled off Easter as planned. They showed up at the hospital, confirmed my survival potential, and went to the house to rescue the meats from the smoker, cook the side dishes and finish the prep for the festivities. The clue-guided basket quest was a success as was the hunt for the Easter Bunny’s eggs “hidden” just about everywhere. The photos are from Granddaughter Hailee who did herself proud recording everything. I’m ok, medicated, and I think, deeply in debt to Pastor Dan’s boss.
13 – Beware!
On Palm Sunday, we went up to the High Desert to listen to Pastor Dan’s message. Here you see him channeling Tim the Enchanter, warning the congregation that Sin is a foul beast with “sharp, big pointy teeth and a mean streak a mile wide!” Ok. That was an homage to April Fool’s weekend. His message actually was about sin and was an insightful warning of how easy it is to fall into a pattern of actions and practices that are harmful, both physically and spiritually. I never heard sin presented allegorically as ranch dressing, but it worked. The sermon was clever and entertaining while getting the point across in a relatable and memorable way. Afterwards there was a Feast of Food Trucks to help the congregation recover from 40 days of fasting. Amen!
12 – Whimsical Ducks
The camera used for this image arrived late Friday and I feel bad that all I have for this week is a meaningless test shot. Saturday was my birthday party, which was celebrated as John Wick Day with the whole family over to watch the first three movies before going to see the fourth. It was a very nice family day, but it was early Sunday before I was able to sit down and explore the shiny new tool. While sitting in the dark, setting options and poking through the menus, I shot this week’s photo. Even at -5 EV, the autofocus nailed the whimsical ducks (per Sheldon via The Big Bang Theory, the ducks are whimsical because they have umbrellas despite having neither the need for, nor the ability to use them). Now I need to get out and take some real pictures.
11 – Splish-Splash
We have had more rain in the last three weeks that in the last year. Our snow pack is at record e levels and the reservoirs that have been empty for years are so full that they are opening the spillways, so they don’t overflow. Despite that, we will probably be in a drought condition by the end of the year because misguided conservation efforts have forbidden the building of additional reservoirs for the last forty or so years for one junk-science reason or another, despite the 66% increase in population pressure. Enough whining about California Crazy. The latest episode of rain (which may be the last for a while) inspired me to get out and record the record. It may be a while before we are inundated like this again, hence the somewhat splashy photo-op.
10 – The Tiny Dancer Returns
Week 43 of last year featured Granddaughter Jackie in her first performance as a music box ballerina. This week, her home ice venue held a competition that was primarily to give the locals a chance to perform their routines to prep for the big event in Pasadena at the end of April. Her routine has evolved since last year with more complicated moves and a smoother performance. Jackie takes her skating seriously. The scripted practies provided by her coach with this many jumps and that many spins are carried out to the letter without any prodding or complaints. A serious competitor. Her only failing, if you can call it that, is she’s a bit too serious. Flashing her bright, sunny smile during performances would put the icing on an already pretty cake.
09 – Split Second
When Grandson Matthew started playing hockey, we would go to the games and mostly watch. I took a few photos but in the starting divisions, it was less like hockey and more like ducks mobbing a handful of bread tossed into a lake. I took more shots the next year as the players progressed with skill and strategy replacing pinball physics. This year, they are playing real hockey and shooting is more challenging. This week’s photo was taken in a string of six frames, and I am still in awe of the autofocus being able track a speeding subject at 10 fps in the rink’s moderately bad light. As someone who started in a time when ISO 400 film was “fast”, being able to shoot at 1/500s at ISO 6400 or even12,800 in so-so light is a gift that just keeps on giving.
08 – Snow Day
This week’s photo is from my side of the mountain range pictured last week. This week brought a bit of wild weather with a long stretch of significantly lower than normal temperatures along with days and days of rain and snow. Over a period of days, SoCal communities had what amounted to the area’s normal total precipitation for the year. Snow levels dipped low enough that our local forecast actually predicted snow for us down below 1,000 ft.. It never quite made it, but relatives closer to the mountains at about 1,600 ft. got about an inch on Saturday afternoon. It was a rough week of weather in a land unused to harsh conditions. I am, however, thankful for said conditions since they decorated my mountains for this lovely panorama.
07 – The Other Side of My Horizon
We have been taking the back way home from the High Desert since family moved there about a year ago. The winding road leads to the (mostly) two-lane Highway 138 and avoids several miles of Sunday afternoon traffic on the main freeway route. Winter weather hasn’t allowed for a view like the one here and the bright, clear day gave me a reason to pull off the road and capture the snowy peaks. I grew up on the other side of those mountains and they dominated the horizon all my life. In theory, the view from this side should be slightly less impressive since the elevation where I live is about 900 ft and the main peak is over 10,000. In reality, at about the same distance and 2,700 ft. higher, I can honestly say the view is no less awesome.
06 – God-Snacked
I have sort of dropped out of the world of fandom. With all the antics and non-professionalism of the players of various professional sports, the urge to follow a team or a player has just dried up. The one exception is the Super Bowl. For many years, Super Sunday doubled as son Dan’s birthday party and featured noisy crowds of relatives and fantastic snacks. With all the lockdown nonsense, our last few Super Sundays have been private affairs with Kim and I watching the game and doing our best to keep the snacking legacy alive. 2023 brought more Super Bowl Snacks of the Gods featuring Tiny Taco Nachos and Twice-baked BBQ Chicken Wings. Who cares who wins or even who’s playing when you have good food and great company?
05 – Adulting
Eighteen years ago on Groundhog’s Day, the family was gathered in a hospital room welcoming our second Granddaughter, Daisy, into existence. On Saturday, a rather larger group of family and friends welcomed that same Granddaughter into the complicated and somewhat frightening world of adulthood in the twenty-first century. The guest list exceeded the capacity of our venue, so the hosting of the gala event was at the Bautista compound (Good friends’ house + huge yard). I said “gala” and it was. Red carpet. Formal wear required. Red and black theme. I broke out the studio flash equipment and shot hundreds of serious and funny portraits throughout the evening, including this one of our warm, funny Princess for a Day.
04 – Best Friends
03 – A Welcome Sight
Sunday morning found us off the coast of Southern California waiting for the ship to complete its 12-hour, 26-mile journey from San Pedro to our first stop at Catalina Island. The title “A Welcome Sight” isn’t a cynical observation that the world didn’t end overnight, but rather joy at watching the sun rising over the ocean from the deck of a cruise ship. Despite her modest spending in the casino, Kim was offered a “free” cruise from the Celebrity Cruises Blue Chip casino club, and we took them up on it. Even though we had to cough up a few hundred bucks for port charges, taxes and gratuities, it was still pretty cheap for a 7-day cruise. We hung out, ate, napped and spent a week in the company of our very best friends…each other.
02 – Two-Day Table
It’s the second week of 2023 and the busy holiday season has finally ended with Christmas put away. Week two was very rainy and cabin fever or something made Kim rearrange the living room and we suddenly needed a table between the recliners. A moment on Amazon to order the hairpin legs and quick trip to Lowe’s for a nice 2”x8”x8’ variegated redwood board provided the raw materials. Saturday morning found me transforming the board into a slab with tablet slots and sanding it after the glue dried. Sunday was spent adding the tablet pockets, several coats of lacquer (with some XBox time in between coats) and mounting the legs. By late afternoon the garage had birthed a new piece of furniture. The 2023 DIY season has begun.
01 – Past and Future
Son Dan has referred to a few of our gifts we have given him over the years as “something I didn’t know I wanted until I got it”. This Christmas, friends Ron and Peri got me a destination tracking map of the world that I would never have looked for or bought if I stumbled upon it. It really is something I didn’t know I wanted until I got it. For thirty years, Kim and I have made cruising our primary vacation activity. The time spent this week pushing tiny pins into a map reminded us of all the places we have visited, many of them multiple times. It also reminded us that there are still places we want to see and sent us to the internet to research dates and prices for some of them. A few pins will be revisited this year, but next year…