Category Archives: Mom

09-21-08

The images in the folder 09-21-08 run the gamut.

There are pictures from Steve’s garden, pictures of my Aunt Linda, pictures of Brandon from his Senior Pictures Photo Shoot, and a picture of the table that became my kitchen table, eventually.


09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

09-21-08

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Majors Family Reunion - 2008

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

Frog

The group pictures are from a Majors Family Reunion. Those don’t happen any longer. Although I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed going to them, I can say that I am kind of sad that they are gone. I guess I am part of the problem.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to add the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Dear, Beloved, Precious

Senior Pictures

Majors Family Reunion

Next weekends walk down memory lane will involve Little White Lye Soap and it will also involve Alexis.

Word

A couple months back I was cruising back from Big Creek and I saw an interesting bird sitting on a fence.

I pulled over and snapped a few photos.

Have a looksie:


Bird

Bird

Bird

Bird

Hopefully next Friday I’ll be back on track with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT. I guess we’ll see.

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This is your reminder that the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme this week is FAMILY:


WEEK 169 - FAMILY
FAMILY

A FAMILY photo is a photo of a FAMILY or anything that is related to a FAMILY. Don’t let anybody else’s limited definition of FAMILY constrain you!

Happy photo harvesting!

That’s Life

If you’re not in the parade, you watch the parade. That’s life.
-Mike Ditka

Last Thursday was the annual lighted parade in Boone. I’m sure it has a proper name, but I don’t know what it is.

As a member of the Outreach Committee, I was part of the team that put together the “float” for the lighted parade. Unfortunately, we didn’t garner very many volunteers and I had to call a couple people last minuted just to borderline half fill our “people carrier”.

Although most people would not consider it a failure, I sorta do. That is okay. We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. That means at the 2019 lighted parade, we will be back with a vengeance!

Here are some pictures from the event:


Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Boone Lighted Parade - 2018

Santa was infatuated with my beard. He really wanted me to join the Santa union or something. Told me I could make $100 an hour as a “real beard Santa”. Maybe sometime, but I’m not ready for the Santa gig yet.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 168 – COMMUNICATION

Looks like another rough week for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Only a few people were able to communicate the theme COMMUNICATION. Might be time to look into retiring THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions!


WEEK 168 - COMMUNICATION - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 168 - COMMUNICATION - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 168 - COMMUNICATION - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 168 - COMMUNICATION - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 168 - COMMUNICATION - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:


WEEK 169 - FAMILY
FAMILY!

FAMILY! What a great theme! Unless your FAMILY sucks, then you have more problems that dealing with THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

So what is a FAMILY picture? A FAMILY picture is any picture that involves a FAMILY. Now some people have a really strict DNA based definition of a family because they weren’t hugged enough as a child. Don’t feel constrained by somebody else’s definition of a FAMILY.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

1. The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

2. Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date. It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very familial Monday.

08-19-08

The pictures in the folder called 08-19-08 are from a trip to the Iowa State Fair.

Here are a few of them:


Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

Iowa State Fair - 2008

There are many more pictures than this from my 2008 trip to the Iowa State Fair. You can check them out by clicking on the link below:

2008 – Iowa State Fair

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” blog to their original glory:

State Fair Flowers

State Fair Olla Podrida

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Jen and Derrick’s wedding.

Blessings – 2018

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! It is the time of year where we are supposed to count our blessings.

I thought I would share a few of my current blessings:


I am blessed with a great family!

Sympathy - Brandon Kahler

NATE - SYMPATHY

SURPRISE - LAURA MILLER

Bethany - Boredom

Elainie - Boredom

Fear - Alexis

Anger - Johnathan

Sadness - Logan

I have plenty of friends that share my love for the Cyclones!

Iowa State 30 #6 West Virginia 14

Liberty Bowl Road Trip

I have a job I don’t hate going to, where I work with several people I don’t want to punch in the face.

Iowa State vs. Texas Tech

Iowa State vs. Texas Tech

I have an amazing church family!

Houston Mission Trip - 2018

Houston Mission Trip - 2018

Houston Mission Trip - 2018

Pufferbilly Days Float - 2018

Critter Sunday - 2018

Easter - 2018 - Boone FUMC

I have an amazing friends family!

Anders - Fear

Shannon with her

Iowa State Fair - 2018

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

2009 - Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominee

I’m blessed to share my life with Naima!

August 23, 2017

This is really just a handful of the blessings in my life! But I’m already getting this out late, so I’ll cut if off here. I’ll just end with a passage from a Rob Bell NOOMA video that really spoke to me:

“So the verse in First Timothy, it says command those that are rich to not put their hope in wealth… and then it goes on and it continues… and it says, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

That phrase, a God that richly provides us with everything. All that we have is a gift.

Food. It is a gift.

Clothes. Gift.

Roof. Gift.

That breath you just took. It’s a gift.

Now there are some that will say: No, you don’t understand. I’ve worked for what I have. I deserve it. It is mine. But like it says in the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 8: You may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, because it is God that gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

I thank God for the embarrassment of riches in my life!

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 49

A few weeks back I was messing with some camera settings and decided it was a perfect time to crank out Page 49 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:


Photo Journal - Page 49
Page 49 – Take a photograph that shouts.

By a photograph that shouts, it is a picture that is bold in its colors, contrast, and sharpness. I jacked these settings up all the way on my camera and photographed some flowers in the Photography 139 flowerbeds and at my Mom’s house.

While only one picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL, I did take several others. Here are some of those I like, but won’t be in the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL:


Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Page 49 - Reject

Next time we check-in with THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check out Page 48.

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This is your weekly reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ARCHITECTURE.


WEEK 159 - ACHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURE

An ARCHITECTURE photo is any photo that has to do with a building or a man-made structure. Inside or out. Doesn’t matter.

Happy photo harvesting!

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

As the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest polling was drawing closer, I felt that I should go out and take one more picture for the Hidden Boone County Treasures.

I knew I wanted to take a picture of the Mill Creek Stone Bridge. It is located near what was once The Kate Shelley Museum. I suppose that it probably still is The Kate Shelley Museum, but I can’t imagine a day in the future where it is open again.

The Boone Historical Society has become something of a town embarrassment I’m told. Which makes me sad because I grew up somewhat in its shadow. On one of the bookshelves (humble brag, I know how to read) in my bedroom I still have an extensive collection of Trail Tales from the 80s. A magazine put out by the Boone Historical Society. My Dad was a frequent contributor.

From what I know of the debacle, The Boone Historical Society recently decided to close down the Mamie Eisenhower Birthplace. The director had a whiz-bang plan of turning it into a bed & breakfast. Which if you’ve ever been inside the house, you would know is a pretty terrible idea.

This raised the dander of the former members of a separate historical society that used to run the Eisenhower Birthplace because they sold the house to the Boone Historical Society for a $1.

Apparently meetings got pretty heated. Enough so, and for no apparent reason, they started having armed guards at them. Whenever guns get involved, you know it has gotten stupid.

The city and the county started withholding their funding for the Historical Society.

The Historical Society then sent out some kind of pledge to its members asking them to pledge to “stop talk so much trash about us” in the social media world. I’m sure that worked really well for them. Because telling people to “stop talking about how bad we are at our jobs because it makes us look bad at our jobs” seems like a sound strategy. Seems like something Donnie Moscow would try to do. A pledge my Mom refused to sign.

It recently came to a head, where due to lack of funding, the Historical Society had to terminate its director, administrative assistant, and cleaning crew. They also announced that they will have to put the Eisenhower Birthplace on the market.

I don’t know what the future of the Boone County Historical Society holds, but I imagine a major re-direction is on the horizon. Hopefully maybe some day they will put some work into the Kate Shelley Museum.

So under that cloud, I sojourned out to Moingona to photograph one of the more interesting abandoned train bridges in Boone County. Here are some of those images:


Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Mill Creek Stone Bridge

Since we talkin’ trains. Reminder that Pufferbilly Days starts on the morrow. You can see the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest in the window of the KWBG building. 9th and Keeler.

06-14-08

REMINDER

It is once again time for me (and by me, I mean you guys) to pick out my photos to enter in the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Once again, I am going to leave it up to a popular vote.

The Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest allows you to enter up to 6 photos.

There are 4 Categories:

1. Nature
2. Photojournalism
3. Photoshop Enhanced
4. Hidden Treasures of Boone County.

I have selected 60 images for you to consider. To simplify things, I have split the 60 photos into 6 sets of 10. If you wish to exercise your enfranchisement, clicking on the link below will take you to Poll #1. Vote for one of those pictures and then move onto the next poll, until you have voted in all six polls.

The winner of EACH poll will be entered into the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest.

Click on the link below to start voting:

Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest Nominees

Voting will end at midnight, August 8.

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TRIGGER WARNING!!! TRIGGER WARNING!!! TRIGGER WARNING!!!

If your name is Micky and you are a purpose of a cowardly disposition, be warned, snakes lie ahead!

Normally I don’t like to warn people that there might be something they find scary or offensive ahead. However, I know Micky is particularly scared of snakes. So much so, that he brokered a deal with his wife that she handles any snakes that they come across along the path of their wedded bliss.

The hype about him being a great outdoorsman might be a little overhyped.

Now that little bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, the images that come from the folder 06-14-08 are mostly from Ames on the Half Shell. However, some involve a snake. Some involve the Ames Party Bus.

Here are the pictures:


06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

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06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

06-14-08

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

06-14-08 - Burnin' Sensations

The snake was in Shorty and Doris’ flowerbed. The band that was playing Ames on the Half Shell was Burnin’ Sensations. They are still together and still playing. I haven’t seen them in several years, but back in the day, they used to be a real fun band to watch play.

By adding these pictures to the Photography Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:

Flowerbed Buddy

Burnin’ Sensations

There are more pictures from the Burnin’ Sensations that I didn’t include in this blog, but you can peruse them by clicking on the link below:

AMES THE HALF SHELL – 2008

Next week’s walk down memory lane will involve more Ames on the Half Shell, some Little League, and maybe, just maybe some tenderloining.