Congratulations Saydie – Theta

It is Sunday. It is 8 PM. It is time to check in with everybody’s favorite high school graduate… SAYDIE!!!

Here is some more free advice for Saydie on how to live her life:

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”
—J.K. Rowling

This is the second to last collection of photos from Saydie’s Senior Pictures Photo Shoot:


Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

For those of you that have become addicted to Saydie pictures and are worried that you don’t know what to do when they end next Sunday, don’t worry. You’ll find the strength to carry on!

06-10-08

There is a lot going on in the pictures from the folder 06-10-08!

There is a sunset.

There is FNSC.

There is the first official outing of The Tenderloin Appreciation Society.

There are pictures of the Ames Party Bus.

Let’s get to it!


06-10-08

06-10-08

06-10-08

06-10-08

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06-10-08

06-10-08

Tenderloining at Lake Shore Cafe

Tenderloining at Lake Shore Cafe

Tenderloining at Lake Shore Cafe

Tenderloining at Lake Shore Cafe

Tenderloining at Lake Shore Cafe

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

Ames Party Bus

The first tenderloining experience was at the Lake Shore Cafe. It was a restaurant-slash-bait shop on the banks of the Don Williams Lake. Monica worked there and recommended their tenderloin highly. It was on this day that we discovered that Monica doesn’t know anything about tenderloins.

The Ames Party Bus was the dream of Becky. She bought this bus and over months turned it into a party bus. However, the dream was short-lived. If I remember correctly, the Iowa Legislature took time out of their busy schedule of passing voter suppression legislation and regulations on women’s bodies to make the cost of insurance on a party bus prohibitive. Another example of politicians being in the pocket of Big Party Bus.

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

SUNSET

A NEW TENDERLOIN JOINT

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flooding, Little League, and hot dog sauce!

Tenderloin Appreciation Society – Winterset Field Work – Solo Mission

Welcome to a bonus “An Artist’s Notebook” blog. A couple things before we get into the meat of this blog.

#1. Today Baby Got Rack will be competing at the Boone County Fair’s barbecue competition. They changed the rules from previous years. We are only allowed to enter to categories. We will be entering the Pork category with a tasty pork loin. We will also be entering the Specialty category with nachos. I believe the awards are announced around 4. Since you will already be there to watch the pig races, you might as well stop by Baby Got Rack’s area. There might be free samples.

#2. You can also duck into the Community Building to see the photos I entered in the photography contest. I think those usually go on display around 12 pm or so.

#3. Tomorrow night is The Union Street Movie Club’s monthly movie night. This month will be a triple feature. The B movie will be CHOSEN SURVIVORS. The feature will be AMERICAN MOVIE. Then we will conclude with the bonus of watching COVEN. Due to showing 3 movies, the projector will roll right at 6 PM. Don’t be late! We will be having pizza to celebrate Jay’s birth and Jay will be bringing a cake to celebrate America’s birth. It is going to get a little crazy.

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Later today I will be releasing a blog that will include pictures from the first time The Tenderloin Appreciation Society sat in judgment upon somebody’s tenderloin offering. Because of that, I can’t sit any longer on when I made a solo trip down to Winterset to evaluate a tenderloin.

I had been trying for months to get Scottie D. to commit to go down to Winterset to the Northside Cafe to evaluate their tenderloin. It placed second to the Webster City tenderloin in Iowa Pork Producers Tenderloin Contest in 2017. Only, I couldn’t get Scottie D. to commit. It was almost as if his love for the tenderloin was waning. I became concerned.

Back in May I took my birthday off from work. Nobody was around, so I decided to make a solo trip down to Winterset for lunch, even though I don’t actually like lunching alone.

Here are some pictures from the experience:


Tenderloining at Northside Cafe
The Afton Bridge Pork Tenderloin

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe
Lightly toasted bun.

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe
Chomp. Chomp.

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe
A flattering angle.

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe
Last couple of bites.

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

Tenderloining at Northside Cafe

For starters, let me say that Northside Cafe is cool, old and historic restaurant. It is probably a bit too fancy of a restaurant for a tenderloin to fill at home, but not too fancy to feel completely out of place on the menu.

My biggest complaint by far would be the service. I arrived at the restaurant a hair before noon and it took at least five minutes before I got seated. Even though I was the only person waiting to be seated.

Then after I ordered it took well over an hour before I got my food. They had forgot to make it.

My waitress, who was very nice and friendly. Stopped by at about the 65 minute mark of waiting and said, “You haven’t got your food yet, have you?”

That would be a negatory, Ghost Rider.

She apologized profusely and I got my food about 15 minutes later.

They were kind enough to give me my meal for free. So it wasn’t all bad.

THE VERDICT

THE GOOD

  • The meat to bun ratio was nearly dead on. Could have used a touch more meat, but awful close to the golden ratio.
  • A good thick cut of meat. Not one of those flat pork fritters masquerading as a tenderloin.
  • A good thick breading.
  • The bun was toasted. Clearly a homemade bun. Not something that came frozen off a truck.
  • It is a clean restaurant with friendly service.
  • You can get old-fashioned sodas there.
  • The standard tenderloin does not include a tomato.
  • They made up for poor service by comping the meal.
  • They serve Picket Fence Ice Cream.

THE BAD

  • The standard tenderloin does have lettuce.
  • While juicy, the tenderloin did not have all that much flavor.
  • The breading on the onion rings was very floury tasting.

THE UGLY

  • Having to wait almost 90 minutes for food is awful. Especially when the restaurant is not busy and the food item you order takes 10 minutes to fix.
  • While they served a limited selection of old fashioned sodas, they served Coke products.  Mill Stream Root Beer, which isn’t a great root beer.

THE FINAL WORD

The Northside Cafe serves a good, but not great tenderloin. I would gladly eat it again, but I would not pursue it. It does not belong in the Tenderloin Pantheon with Nick’s or Cole’s or The Country House. However, it certainly isn’t a garbage tenderloin like The Lucky Pig or Gramma’s Kitchen or Thunderhead Sports Bar & Grill.

The Northside Cafe is a cool historic restaurant though. I would definitely like to eat there again at some point. They acknowledged their mistake with the poor service and they made amends.

NEXT UP

About a month after I went to The Northside Cafe, Scottie D. emerged from his hiatus and we supped at Roosters in Boone. That review will be published in about 2 weeks, give or take.

A Photo Journal – Henry Carroll – Page 38

This is your reminder that this week’s theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is NIGHT:


WEEK 149 - NIGHT
NIGHT!

A NIGHT photograph is literally any photo taken at NIGHT.

Happy photo harvesting!

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Back on Memorial Day I headed over to the Sharp residence to take a picture for Page 38 of THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT:


Photo Journal - Page 38
Page 38 – Take a picture that only works in color.

Andy was a great assistant on this project. Not just because we used his dog and his pool. Although obviously his pool and his dog were very important to this project.

Only 1 picture can be physically adhered into the physical A PHOTO JOURNAL. However I took many more pictures during this session. Here are some of the others:


Page 38 - Reject

Page 38 - Reject

Page 38 - Reject

Page 38 - Reject

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Page 38 - Reject

Page 38 - Reject

Page 38 - Reject

I do need to pick up the pace on THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT so I can move on to something else. Next time we visit THE PHOTO JOURNAL PROJECT, we will check-in with Page 115.

Maquoketa Caves State Park: Chapter 1

An announcement!

Today is the beginning of the Boone County Fair. On Saturday, Baby Got Rack will be competing in the Barbecue Competition. You should come out an support us. I think we will be there pretty much all day. I think judging is at 4 PM.

See you there!

You can also check out the photos I entered in the Boone County Fair Photography Contest.

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Jay, Willy, and I hopped in the car and went on a road trip to Maquoketa Caves State Park. At this point, I’ve published every ancillary photo from the trip, but not the pictures from the actual Caves State Park.

I begin that process now.

It was a brutally hot and humid day. Spending time in caves was very refreshing. However, the day had the worst photographic conditions you can imagine. The lighting was brutal.

I soldiered on though.

Here is the first batch of pictures from Maquoketa Caves State Park:


Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip
Photo Cred: Jay Janson

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip
Photo Cred: Jay Janson

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

Maquoketa Caves Road Trip

More pictures from this epic adventure coming your way soon!

After Women

After women, flowers are the mostly lovely thing God has given the world.
-Christian Dior

This collection of flower pictures comes from the Iowa State Fair in 2016.

There is good news about this collection.

#1. I am now almost finished editing the pictures from 2016 that need to be edited.
#2. I came to a conclusion while editing these photos that may take me in a different direction with an entirely different photo project.

Here are the rest of the 2016 Iowa State Flower Pictures:


Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Iowa State Fair - Discovery Garden

Now maybe I can start editing pictures from my 2017 trip to the Iowa State Fair!

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 148 – HUMOR

I knew that HUMOR was going to be a hard theme. As I write this, it would seem that many people struggled to find HUMOR in their everyday lives. I would have some commentary on that, but I’ll spare you at this time.

As I am writing this, I am sitting at home recovering from an epic performance of HAMILTON at the Civic Center and waiting for the cable guy to show up and lower my bill by $30, allegedly.

Therefore, it is possible that I will be without internet while he is upgrading my internet. If more pictures come in after I write this, I will post them at some point. Probably Friday.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about the cable guy. You came to see the submissions:


WEEK 148 - HUMOR - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 148 - HUMOR - BECKY PARMELEE
Becky Parmelee

WEEK 148 - HUMOR - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 148 - HUMOR - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

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 149 - NIGHT
NIGHT

NIGHT! What a great theme! But what is a NIGHT photograph? A night photograph is any photo that is taken at NIGHT. You don’t necessarily need a tripod and long exposure, but that wouldn’t hurt.

As always, 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 nightly Monday.

Congratulations Saydie – Eta

Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
-Will Rogers

It is Sunday. It is 8 PM. It is time to check in with everybody’s favorite 2017 high school graduate… SAYDIE!!!

I don’t have much more to add at this point, I think I’ll just get straight to the pictures:


Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

Saydie Howard

We’ll be wrapping up this collection about the time Saydie takes off for Northern Iowa, University of.

06-07-08

Pretty much all of the images from the folder 06-07-08 are from Ames on the Half Shell’s Family Night.

I believe the name of the band was Murphy’s Law. There are plenty of images of people that weren’t Jaycees in this collection:


06-07-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

Family Night - 06-06-08

The picture of the pie was a rhubarb pie that Shannon had made me for my birthday.

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery I was able to restore the following historical “An Artist’s Notebook” posts to their original glory:

HEAVEN AND HELL

FAMILY NIGHT

I took plenty more photos during Family Night. If you are interested, you could see those images by clicking on the link below:

Ames on the Half Shell – 2008

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the first time Scottie D. and I ever went formally tenderloining, plus some sunset pictures, and the cherry on the top will be pictures of the Ames Party Bus.