bodacious adj. (Southern) Outright; unmistakable
banter v.t. To address with light, playful, good-natured remarks
Welcome to my blog! I pray the images and ideas will be pleasing to God, and a blessing to you.
In joy,
king
of feline friends and beauty berries
There are a number of would-be blogs in various degrees of existence, but the last several weeks have yielded little time to pursue perfecting for posting. (Admittedly the term “perfect” has no place in anything to do with yours truly, but i wanted a word starting with the letter p, and “polishing” didn’t possess proper punch, if you please : )
Seeing i’ve been over a month without posting, (and will be a while before having time to finish any of the posts-in-progress), i took a few minutes to step out onto the driveway and shoot the two things readily available (aside from the obvious one big thing : )
An American Beauty Berry bush took up residence some years ago, sprouting out of one of the old railroad ties that border the drive. I’m grateful to Harolyn Castleberry for alerting me to the photo-op they provide about this time every year: those berries turning from green to…(if you’ll pardon the expression), deep purple. It’s such a rich color i have an urge to shoot them every time i make a trip to or from the car.
Even insects admire the berries’ beauty…(bunches more berries be here)
This cat is one of many around the neighborhood, and one of a few that venture onto my grounds—ostensibly to enjoy bird-watching from the porch by the kitchen. But unlike all the others, this one pretends to like me. The only trick she’s managed to teach me so far is to rub her behind the ears, which—for an old dog such as myself, may be about as complicated a bit of learning as is manageable : )
(cute cats collected here)
As for the other blogs-to-be, i suspect it will be a while yet…perhaps the cat got my tongue ; )
be blessed,
king
It’s Saturday: time for breakfast
A few churches around town share a desire to offer breakfast to anyone who comes through the door. Thomaston First United Methodist has the third Saturday in the month, and my camera made itself at home in the kitchen:
(What’s amazing is i didn’t see any major spills despite how incredibly fast everyone seemed to move : )
If you find yourself in the neighborhood on our day between eight and ten in the morning, please come (hungry). And if you know of someone who can’t or wouldn’t show up, we’d be honored for you to come get them a take-out.
ciao chow!
full circle
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young lady, and a guy who liked to take pictures. A couple years after high school, the boy found the courage to ask her about a photo shoot. Tanna graciously agreed, and showed up with her five year old sister, Shannon.
They headed west in his German sports car, and met up with his friend in his British sports car. The two guys took turns photographing the two gals using a pair of [state-of-the-art] Nikon F2s’s. Being a five year old, Shannon had some antsy moments. To deal with that, i (the boy in our story) turned my camera an odd angle so as to distract her. In response, she turned her head the opposite angle, and thus began our game of head-turning which led to images like this one, using the sky as a high-key background:
Fast forward a few decades. Shannon and Steven now have two precious girls. To my delight, Shannon got in touch and said she’d like to re-create such a shoot for her daughters while they’re visiting here. We spent two fun mornings exploring neat places around Thomaston, and so i now have yet more confirmation i’m getting old : )
(see simply scads of sweet sister shots here)
My gratitude to Tanna, John H. Davis, Steven, Katherine, Elise, Brannon, the Weatherfords and Ellerbees…and to Shannon. Thanks for bringing me full circle : )
a come and go affair
Saturday The Rock Ranch celebrated. I found it especially gratifying to have a camera at ground zero for the fireworks. Grab some popcorn and dust off your best John Philip Sousa album. And while you do, keep in mind we have the liberty to do so because people we’ve never met were willing to shed their blood…initially so we could have the privilege of worshipping God—Who not coincidentally, shed His blood so those who trust Him can enjoy true liberty : )
[Note: due to the lame limitations of this web host, i wasn’t able to upload the video in its entirety. So after an extra couple hours of deprived sleep, i’ve posted the first half. For those who take their fireworks seriously, i will try to upload the remaining seven minutes of fun…soon. Or if not soon, then later.] And for those who don’t fathom the concept of “later,” a recap of last year’s party can be found here.
in joy (and giving thanks),
king
So now, for fanatical fireworks fans, the wait is over. Here is the second half of the show:
R. E. Lee ‘73
We interrupt this blog for a special post. The regularly scheduled blog, “Getting Mooned on the Flint,” (already behind schedule), will be delayed a bit more. So as unemployed comedians the world over are fond of saying, “Wait for it.”
Some 40 years after high school, a bunch of folks decided to get together to see who has gained the most weight. Neighboring classes were invited so as to make for an efficient and even more fun gathering. The Bickley’s provided a lake and bar-b-que, a cool band from Atlanta provided some sweet sounds, and God provided a light show after dark.
‘Twas wonderful to see so many people, a number of whom i haven’t seen in 4 decades. I wasn’t able to snap a class picture, but i suspect most folks who know me would agree i never had much class anyway. Just the same, my thanks to all who took the time to show up, and especially to those who worked to make it happen.
God continue to bless you all,
king
happy hiking
I was told it would be okay for me to annoy accompany the youth Saturday at Sprewell Bluff. This would be the first trek for the GoPro, and i didn’t know if it would be up for it—since we haven’t started its conditioning program yet.
As it turned out, suspicions were correct. The camera pooped out before i did, which certainly isn’t saying much for the camera. (or moi : )
Never-the-less, it was a glorious day to be out enjoying God’s handiwork, and the company of some wonderful people—several of whom helped make the little flick below. (Perhaps they were hoping i pay union scale ; ) Should anyone need to ask, then the answer would be “Yes.” The movie accurately depicts how fast we were moving ; )
By the end of the day, i couldn’t resist the call of the water. Not that i have much reason to be in water, but i’ve never before had a camera that was Baptist, so i took the opportunity to do something i’ve never done: deliberately put a camera in water. Here then, is the first experience with The Underwater World of Yours Truly. And though admittedly the footage is quite underwhelming, please realize the water is murky, and this is merely (ahem) sticking my toe in for now.
in joy,
Coming next: getting mooned at the river. (Looking forward to those photos? : )
planetary positioning
3 days ∙ 1 river ∙ 3 blog posts
We’ll go in reverse order. Sonday evening was my last before 11 in a row on call, so to make good use of the glorious weather, i went to the overlook on our stretch of the Flint to—well, have a look over:
I tend to enjoy sunsets, and find it rather nice God designed spinning spheres like earth so as to always have a sunset (somewhere) at every moment. The one from the Flint overlook was lovely, and served as a good prelude to a celestial treat: a conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. In the family portraits below, look for the near-isosceles triangle of white dots. Venus appears on the bottom. Jupiter is above and to the left, and little Mercury is highest and to the right:
Venus and Jupiter should appear closest on Tuesday (May 28th). Look in the western sky a bit after sunset. By then, Venus will be slightly higher and to the right of Jupiter, with Mercury well above them. Just remember to treat your sunset well, since soon as you’re done with it, folks somewhere else get to have it.
The previously promised “once around the block” will happen (God willing), but is deferred for now until the other two river posts have their chance to sink or swim.
Next up: river walk (Eat your heart out, Columbus…Macon…Augusta…San Antonio : )