Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Good-bye Photos, Good-bye Flickr

I feel like such an idiot. Try as I may I can't get a picture to appear.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Rusty Nails

I haven't recovered GuruNet yet so I can't create one single link. Reading the last chapter of Louise Erdrich's "Last Report of the Miracles at Little No Horse," it appears that the stigmata of Sister Leopolda was made from her use of her rosary of barbed wire. Her miraculous fasting was from the resulting lockjaw. What are we to make of that? Maybe we should let a miracle go on its face value.

I hadn't thought of rusty nails for a long time. He Who Must Be Obeyed and I had a reflective visit over them on our way home from Wyoming, after finishing the book, (thank the Lord.) He and I have both been victims of stepping on rusty nails in our childhood. Old barn boards have a way of turning their bad side to the under side of little children's feet. Once or twice so victimized and a kid learns to look where they are walking, not only for rattle snakes but for this second childhood affliction of the '30's and '40's, rusty nails. The conclusion was this: because of OSHA kids probably don't step on rusty nails in this day and age.

It is good to be home...very good. After downloading the two cameras photographs of our Wyoming wedding adventure our attention has turned back to the mundane tasks of house, car, and pool maintenance. Scrubbing down the pool was more pleasant than thinking about clearing out the clutter for the carpet cleaners that will be coming in on Tuesday. I am going to put more photos on my link to Flickr of the new bride and groom today.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Powder River, Wyoming

It was a wedding to remember. Spectacular, was the word He Who Must Be Obeyed used to describe it. It was pageantry on horseback, beautiful women riding in on a surrey, and the guests arranged on the rocks to one side of the altar.

The setting, the scene, the event was almost more than a photographer could take on, even with two cameras. I have added the first of the photos on the right and had a little surprise doing so; they came in exact reverse order of they way they were shot. First should be last and last first. We have heard that before haven't we?

And it was fun, and amazing, and more than I ever expected. I will add photos as I have time.

We came home on Monday and I began downloading pictures off the camera. As I was looking at them that dreaded blue screen came up and wouldn't go away until a new hard drive was ordered and delivered and installed along with our most necessary software by He Who Must Be Obeyed. Computer withdrawal happened.

I am happy to be back! Both home and on the keyboard. I love my cameras although I am still in a honeymoon phase with the new one. Reading the manual in the car created a learning curve that about got the best of me. Good to have you back

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Wyoming Wedding

Visions of a Zane Gray novel come to mind. We are anticipating being guests at a family wedding this weekend. The invitation says it will be an 1870's theme with Victorian/Cowboy dress. We are happy to be a part of this event at a Wyoming ranch. It has the trappings of another family reunion for He Who Must Be Obeyed.

I am planning to read the manual for a new digital camera during the drive. You can believe I am taking the good old reliable HP camera along in case I find I have more than I can figure out with the new one.

It is a long time since I have ironed a western shirt with snap buttons. It serves to increase the anticipation.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Black Hills 4th of July

Our lives have been spiced up with the visit of our oldest son, his wife, and three of their five children. They arrived on the 22nd of June and the days and nights since then all run into each other with the blur of not paying much attention to the calendar. We bid one another goodbye at Jim and Jenny's Greek restaurant last night.

We left our five, sometimes six, houseguests during the family reunion in Spearfish, SD on the 4th of July. One of my cowboy brothers-in-law, with the help of his son, grandsons, and more brothers-in-law, cooked a hundred steaks on a pitchfork in boiling beef fat, the pitchfork fondue. The kettle he used over a propane fire could have boiled a missionary, it was so large.

The missionary pot came to my mind, as it was similar to the one in the historical museum in Auckland, New Zealand that was used for that very thing by the Maori natives once upon a time. I have a feeling that Angus beef tops a missionary; perhaps you have heard the saying about being as tough as a Lutheran.

The backyard pool is once more calm and serene. We are picking our first tomatoes, and are cheered by pots of blooming flowers. My heart quickens as I see my European Birch take off in the pot in the back yard.

I read a column in the paper the other day about Feng Shui yards. One thing about planting trees in tubs, you can move them where ever you want them when the mood strikes. I love moving trees around keeping the yin and yang correct so as to obtain a good chi.