The 2019 Howards – Subset Dos

One of the products of all this home times is that I have started up on THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT again. What started as the accent wall in my living room and then turned into the Friend Wall and then became the 9 Emotions Project wall, was turned into the Canvas Wall about 2 years ago. The ultimate goal is to cover at least 95% of the wall with canvas photos.

I recently added 7 more canvases to the wall. These are all smaller canvases that are meant to fill around the doorway that leads to my hallway.

Here are the 7 canvases that have recently been added:


Canvas No. 46

Canvas No. 47

Canvas No. 48

Canvas No. 49

Canvas No. 50

Canvas No. 51

Canvas No. 52

The pictures that have been selected for THE CANVAS WALL PROJECT are meant to be a combination of every day life pictures and my more artistic pictures.

I’m getting pretty close to the bottom of the wall now. The next collection of pictured added to the wall are definitely obstructed, but that is okay. It matter less that they can be seen, and more that they are there.

+++++++

Time to reveal a second collection pictures from the 2019 Howard Family Photo Shoot:


Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Howards - 2019

Still plenty more Howards to go!

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 3 – Alligators

After the game we went back to the hotel and took a nap. Well some of us took a nap. Some of us might have scrolled through Cyclone Twitter while everybody else napped.

Once the batteries were recharged, we went to a Brazilian Steakhouse that Jorge knew about. It was ridiculously cheap and made cheaper because Dre had found some coupons for it. It cost us like only $30 to eat there. Plus, I think it was the best Brazilian Steakhouse I’ve ever eaten at.

After the meal we parted ways with Andree and his brother and went out on my personal, very personal quest. We had been in Florida for about 24 hours and I still hadn’t seen an alligator.

There was a couple miniature golf courses that claimed to have alligators that we drove past on the way to supper. We drove back there, got some ice cream and checked them out.


Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

The first miniature golf course alligators were kinda sad. They clearly weren’t well cared for and the water was filthy.

At the second miniature golf course we met Joshua and we got to hold an alligator. That place was awesome! It was clean and the gators were clearly loved. For a brief period of time I thought Orlando wasn’t so bad.

Just kidding! Orlando is the worst!

A & P #1

Tonight would have been the last youth group of the year. Late last week I had to officially cancel the mission trip because the organization we go with cancelled all mission trips before July 12. We would’ve had an opportunity to reschedule, but none of the potential dates really worked for us.

In honor of what could’ve been, below I’ve posted our church service from Sunday. I wrote part of the service. That part of the video starts around the 7:50 mark:



Of course, if you are subscribing to this blog via email, you will have to go to the website to watch the video.

Despite our governor deciding to “have a peeing section in the swimming pool”, the Bishop for our conference has decided not to open up churches until June 1. We will keep having our church services on KWBG and on the social medias.

+++++++

Scottie D. and I went out to McHose Park to do the annual Porter and Austin photo shoot. Here is a set of the pictures I like.


Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

Degeneffe Boys - 2019

More pictures of them Degeneffe boys still to come!

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Day 3 – The Game

Day 3 was the only day we spent entirely in Orlando. It was one full day too many. Orlando is flat out one of the worst cities I’ve ever visited. It is dirty. It is poorly laid out. There is no culture. There is no music. There is no historical significance. There are no beaches. There aren’t any parks. There isn’t much to do.

I would rank Orlando just above Omaha for worst cities I’ve ever visited. Frankly, if I never go back to Orlando again, that is just fine.

The Camping World Bowl Stadium is in the worst part of Orlando. Most of the businesses that surround it are liquor stores or bail bonds. There is also a high school.

There is hardly any parking around it. What is there is poorly organized.

The stadium itself is okay. It isn’t a festering dump that ought to be burned down like where Kansas plays. However it isn’t all that nice of a stadium either.

There was a great fear that we were going to be rained on all game. That didn’t happen. It rained for a little bit. But we thought we had won the jackpot because we were sitting under the ledge of the upper deck, so we were protected from the rain.

However, we actually lost that hand. We sat under a pipe that leaked on us the entire game. So instead of being protected from a rain that barely showed up. We were the only wet people in the stadium. It is a shame we weren’t on the Notre Dame side of the stadium. It was pretty much empty. We could have sat anywhere we wanted. Instead, we sat there getting dripped on.

Here are some pictures from the morning:


Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
#wafflelife

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
I ate walnuts in tribute to my Grandpa Paris, the man that introduced me to Iowa State football.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
Lagoon behind our hotel.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
Yeah, they have these dicks in Florida too.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
I think this statue is a tribute to pedophiles that also play football.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
We met up with Dre and his bro before the game.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3
View from backside of the stadium.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 3

The game didn’t go the way we wanted. Iowa State finished the season decimated by injuries and it showed when they played one of the best teams in the country.

We left the stadium wet and down, but ready to see if this awful city called Orlando had anything to offer.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip Days 1 & 2

How many weeks of lockdown it has been has me really thinking about vacation. I have a ton of places I want to go, but I know none of them are smart. Instead, I’ve started curating the pictures from the Camping World Bowl Road Trip. Spoiler: there isn’t many of them.

The Camping World Bowl is in Orlando. Which is a forever drive from Iowa. But regardless of this fact, Jesse, Jorge, Randi, and I loaded up into a rented Cadillac and left for Orlando the day after Christmas.

On the first two days I took hardly any pictures because there it is a long, long drive. We stopped only for gas and food before we hit Kutatwa, Kentucky for the night.

Ernie hooked us up with a hotel room there and we met up with him for supper.

Here are the Day 1 pictures:


Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1
Great sign. Smoking shouldn’t be allowed within 15 feet of anywhere!

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1
Where we supped.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1
Ribs!

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 1

Day 2 was a ton more driving. From Kentucky to Tennessee to Georgia back to Tennessee back to Georgia and finally to Florida.

Here are some pictures from Day 2:


Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
Free continental breakfast, but the punishment is you have to listen to the morons from Fox & Friends

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
Day 1 Home

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
Gas Station in Georgia

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
My first ever trip to a Zaxby’s.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
2 happy Zaxby’s customers.

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2

Camping World Bowl Road Trip - Day 2
Stopping in Florida for gas.

We got to our hotel in Orlando pretty late, plus we lost an hour with the time change. I was ready for sleep that night. Ready for the Camping World Bowl the next day.

WPC – WEEK 241 – NOSE

30 straight weeks with double digits!! The second straight week that I didn’t send any reminder text messages this morning and still made double digits easy. You dig?

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


WEEK 241 - NOSE - ELIZABETH NORDEEN
Elizabeth Nordeen

WEEK 241 - NOSE - TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler

WEEK 241 - NOSE - TERESA KAHLER
Teresa Kahler

WEEK 241 - NOSE - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 241 - NOSE - SHANNON BARDOLE-FOLEY
Shannon Bardole-Foley

WEEK 241 - NOSE - MICHELLE HAUPT
Michelle Haupt

WEEK 241 - NOSE - TAMARA PETERSON
Tamara Peterson

WEEK 241 - NOSE - AARON BARNETT
Aaron Barnett

WEEK 241 - NOSE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 241 - NOSE - ANDY SHARP
Andy Sharp

WEEK 241 - NOSE - KIM BARKER
Kim Barker

WEEK 241 - NOSE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 241 - NOSE - CATHIE RALEY
Cathie Raley

WEEK 241 - NOSE - MICKY AUGUSTIN
Micky Augustin

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:



TREE

TREE! What a great theme! But what is a TREE image? It is any image that involves a TREE or a TREE byproduct. You know. Like wood. Or paper.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

+++++++

HOUSEKEEPING


A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

OR

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

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.

+++++++

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 woody Monday!

Chris’ New House 2009

This is a bit of a different walk down memory lane. One of the first things I did when I started working from home was cleaning out what I guess what you would call my spare desk. I didn’t want to dump a bunch of work stuff on my normal computer. The computer I do all my photo editing on. So I built a computer to me a dedicated work-from-home computer and set it up on the desk that I have had since I was a child.

This started a massive office cleaning project that was at least 7 or 8 years overdue. In fact, when it was finished, Willy couldn’t get over it. During Friday Night Skype Club, he commented on it at least 5-6 times.

I began this process by cleaning out the drawers in my old desk. One of the things I found was a disc of pictures of the work that me and a bunch of friends and family did before I moved in.

I was ecstatic when I found these pictures because I thought they were lost. While I’ve been going through and fixing old “An Artist’s Notebook” posts on these Saturdays I have come across several pictures that were certainly lost. But none that really tore a hole in my soul like losing these pictures.

Now they have been restored to me and now I get to share them with you:


More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

More Day 1 Fun

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Day 2 - Things Start to Look Different

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Primary Painting Day

Painting

Painting

Painting

Painting

Painting

Painting

I’m very thankful to all the people that helped turn my house into a home. Many of those same people also helped me move a week later. Such wonderful and tremendous people.

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

More Day 1 Fun
Friday Night Paint Prep Club – Part B
Friday Night Paint Prep Club – Part A
Day 2 – Things Start to Look Different
Primary Painting Day
Last of the Pictures

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Johnathan, at least.

Elainie Homecoming Ch. 1

25 days working from home down. No clue how many are left, but I’m guessing it at least 2 more weeks. This week with my extra stay at home time, I mopped my floors. All of them. Not counting the basement. We don’t talk about the basement! I also cleaned all my blinds. Which was scarier that I thought it would be. But as it turns out, only the bathroom blinds were that scary. The kitchen blinds a little bit. I hope to do a wardrobe downsizing soon. Hopefully this weekend. We’ll see. Maybe, I’ll even start working on the basement. Maybe get a little more yard work done.

My work listening schedule didn’t change much. Streamed Life 107.1 FM from 7-9 in the morning. I had what I’m gong to consider a God Moment on Wednesday morning. I know that listening to a Christian radio station might always be a God Moment, but there is one in particular. After the Coronacat post on Tuesday night, I got my normal heat from “cat people”.

Then on Wednesday morning, Taylor and Jen (the morning hosts on Life 107.1) were interviewing the lead singer of Casting Crowns. He is was well studied theologian. For what may have seemed like no reason, he announced that “cats don’t have souls”. Then he went on to praise golden retrievers. Sorry, Alisa, them’s the facts.

I went to Amazon and immediately ordered “Thrive”, “Until the Whole World Hears”, “The Very Next Thing” and “Only Jesus”.(They will arrive promptly on May 15) I’m not a new Casting Crowns fan. “Nobody” is a flat out banger that I sometimes listen to on a loop.

Of course, this will be used to support the false narrative that I hate cats. Not true. I just report facts.

It is like Harry Truman said:

“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”

Then from 9 to 2 I listen to the Master Playlist. This week I made it all the way to track #1002 – “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin DeGraw. Probably a good song for quarantine living:

“I don’t want to be anything
Other than what I’ve been trying to be lately
All I have to do is of me and I have peace of mind
I’m tired of looking around rooms wondering what I gotta do
Or who I’m supposed to be
I don’t want to be anything other than me”

I didn’t eliminate any songs from the Master Playlist this week.

From 2-4 I still listen to Murph & Andy. Although this week I sprinkled in a podcast breaking down Iowa State’s 2020 football roster.

I don’t know if I’ve discovered any more positives with the work from home life. I recently purchased two air purifiers. I’m not sure it has kept the dust homes as much as I wanted, but I can definitely tell the air is cleaner because I could tell that Naima was really starting to get ripe. She got a bath on Wednesday night. She wasn’t a fan, but she is crazy soft right now.

+++++++

Pastor Dave reached out to me on Wednesday and wanted me to write up (or make a video) of how I’ve seen God working recently. I’m not sure how he is going to use it, but I think he will using during our church service on Sunday. Which you can hear live on KWBG at 9 AM. We still aren’t having worship services in person, obviously.

You can also stream KWBG from their website.

I went the written route because if I started making a video, it would take forever. Absolutely forever. I get too deep into those things.

+++++++

Time to start curating a collection of pictures that I’m just going to lump under the category of Elainie Homecoming. These were taken back in September when Elainie was home from San Diego. Some are family portrait type pictures. Some are more like Elainie-Sabas engagement photos.

Here is the first collection:


Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Stenslands- 2019

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

Elainie & Sabas

There is a ton more photos from Elainie’s homecoming on the way. A veritable ton!