4 Weddings and a Funeral

That's been my year so far. The funeral was for my great-grandmother. The 4 weddings were for 3 family members and 1 friend. I haven't been to that many weddings in one year ever, I don't think, and we're smack dab in the middle of baby season now.

Anyway, last weekend Holly and I had one last hurrah before baby 3 gets here, and left the kids with my parents to attend Becky's wedding in Alabama. I'd forgotten how quickly you can travel without kids. It was a nice change. We also got to see our friend Luke. He will be switching to Mac someday soon. Mark my words. Life is too short to waste it on a PC, Luke. Some other notes:

1. Northern Alabama is absolutely beautiful. Birmingham is an especially cool city. I had no idea.
2. AA minor league baseball is not much better than A minor league baseball.
3. Louisiana has the worst rest areas I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a lot.
4. Always, always, ALWAYS wash the lid of any soda you buy at a convenience store in Mississippi.

All in all, it was a fun trip. We got to see a lot of our old friends from Asbury, some we hadn't seen since graduation.

I took photos of course, and they're located here. If anyone that was there would like a full-res version of any of them, send me an email with a list of the names of the ones you want. The optimized size for the web is not really suitable for archival or printing purposes.

Journler

Journler is a cool app for Macintosh, and I'm using it right now to compose this post. I'm not really sure how well it will integrate with Blogger yet, but it really has some powerful features for journaling and collecting thoughts. It integrates beautifully with the iLife apps (sorry Windoze users). For instance, if I'm writing about a song or photo in my library, I can actually link it to my post (I don't know how that would work with posting online).

It also has a nice full screen mode, which makes writing a pleasure, and very easy on the eyes. Best of all, it's free, and always will be. So if you're a Mac user, it's worth your time to download it and see if it would be helpful to you.

Speaking of weird nature photos...

This was one I snapped on a video shoot in Arkansas last year. Any clue what kind of lizards they are? I figured they were involved in some kind of odd, Arkansan mating ritual, as I saw the same scene with two rednecks in one of the local dining establishments, but it wasn't as photoworthy in its composition.

A Bug's Life

The talented and prolific Rick Lee has posted a great picture of a bug he snapped on his windshield. It reminded me of a shot I took last year. A bug just waited patiently on the other side of the glass while I took multiple shots to get the right one. Of course, Rick's is much, much better, and his windshield was much cleaner than my window.



By the way, if you don't subscribe to Rick's feed or have his site bookmarked, you should, especially if you're a photographer. He consistently posts great shots of things he encounters during his day. It's a great reminder to me that there are pictures everywhere to be taken, not just of my kids.

Photo...By Special Request *UPDATED*

Last year, in a comment about this photo, I received a special request for a picture.

"Hey Phil, do you have any pics of Puerto Rican girls with wind in their hair with a lighthouse behind them? If not, just a silhouette of a pretty girl standing on a cliff at sunset will do."

As you know, I try to accommodate any reasonable requests, but this one just seemed outside the realm of possibility. Nevertheless, I resolved to do my best on my next trip to Puerto Rico to fulfill the request.

As luck would have it, I was able to visit a lighthouse while I was there...at sunset! The lighthouse itself is featured in the latest "visit Puerto Rico" TV spot. OK, so far so good. It was even really windy, part of the request. Now if I could only find some pretty Puerto Rican girls, and if they'd only let me take their picture in front of the lighthouse, AND on the cliff for a silhouette shot.

I couldn't believe my luck, as these two nice ladies walked up to the lighthouse. I explained in my limited spanish my predicament, and of not wanting to disappoint my anonymous commenter. Luckily, my spanish was just rusty enough to be charming, and they happily obliged. As it turns out, the blond was from Sweden I think, but the other one is Puerto Rican, so I hope that doesn't diminish the effort. I really tried to find 2 Puerto Rican girls, but I've got to take what I can get.

Anyway, here is the result. If you have any special requests, just submit them, and I'll try to accommodate. It may take awhile, but I'll do my best.

UPDATE: Since July has been declared Blog Sweeps Month, then consider this my first contribution. Although my effort is not as ribald as Rick Lee's.

A Hundred and Ten in the Shade

Man, it's hot. It's so hot...

"How hot is it?"



Hot and dry. I know some places have it worse, so I'm not really complaining, just informing. The title of my post is from a song on a great John Fogerty album, Blue Moon Swamp.

If you follow the link to the iTunes Music Store, be sure to check out the tune right before it, Blueboy.
It was the song that I bought the album for almost ten years ago. Every now and then a song has a riff or feel to it that just grabs me, and Blueboy was one of those songs. Of course, back then in the old days, you actually had to call the radio station if you didn't know the name of the song, instead of just searching iTunes.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! We're in Indiana, visiting family and enjoying some time off. I'll have some thoughts on our trip soon. Until then, enjoy your day.