Angie, Art, Basketball, Bill, History, Jesse, Logan, Music, Steph, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 3A

March 31, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Tonight, at approximately 8:30 Central, the Iowa women’s basketball team will play South Carolina in the Final Four for the chance to play Sunday night for the National Championship. I honestly don’t expect Iowa to win. South Carolina is an 11.5 point favorite. They are the defending National Champion. They have won 42 straight games. They have the defending National Player of the Year and the presumptive 1st pick in the WNBA draft in Aliyah Boston. Plus Brea Beal is expected to be a Top 10 pick. Plus Zia Cooke is expected to get drafted. Plus Latecia Amihere is supposed to get drafted. Plus Vicatria Saxtan will probably get drafted. Plus LeLe Grissett has a shot to get drafted.

I will just add that the Iowa women’s basketball team have been getting a ton of national media attention and are setting ratings records. Their Elite Eight game last Sunday had higher television ratings than every NBA game on ESPN this year. South Carolina does not like that. Their coach doesn’t like it. Their players don’t like it.

This isn’t to say that I don’t think Iowa has a chance. They definitely have a puncher’s chance. It isn’t exactly David against Goliath because Caitlin Clark isn’t a David and either is Monika Czinano. But the odds are against them. However, if they do win, they will do something that no team from the state of Iowa has done since 1956.

In 1956, the Iowa men’s basketball team played in the National Championship Game. They lost to San Francisco 81-73. That San Francisco Dons team finished the season 29-0 and finished the year with a 55 game win streak. That team was lead by Bill Russell and K.C. Jones.

The Iowa men also played in the 1955 Final Four, losing to La Salle 76-73 and the 1980 Final Four losing to Louisville 80-72. Although it is widely believe that if Ronnie Lester didn’t get hurt in that game, Iowa would have went on to win the National Championship that year.

Drake has played in one Final Four in 1969. Falling to UCLA 85-82. Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) played on that UCLA team. UCLA would go on to blow out Purdue 92-72. Drake would blow out North Carolina in the 3rd Place Game 104-84. It was the closest a Lew Alcindor UCLA team ever came to losing in the NCAA Tournament.

The Iowa State Men’s team has played in one Final Four in 1944. Losing to eventual champion Utah 40-31. Wat Misaka played on that Utah team. He was of Japanese descent and he would go on to be the first non-white player in the NBA. That Utah team also played in the NIT and lost in the quarterfinals to Kentucky. Utah was only invited to the NCAA Tournament because they needed a replacement for Arkansas. Arkansas had to withdraw because a car accident injured two of their starters and killed a third person that was in the car.

The Iowa women’s basketball tournament has made one previous Final Four, in 1993. They lost to Ohio State 73-72 in overtime. Ohio State would lose in the Championship Game to Texas Tech 84-82.

Both Iowa State and Drake’s women’s basketball teams have never made the Final Four. Both have made it as far as the Elite Eight.

The Northern Iowa women have never won an NCAA Tournament game and their men have made it as far as the Sweet Sixteen.

Win or lose tonight, the Iowa women have already made some history. If you want some gambling advice, I would take the 11.5 points.

If you are a fan of basketball at all, I’d encourage you to watch. It is on ESPN and should be entertaining at the least.

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While I’m spitting out this cold knowledge about basketball history, I might as well make good on my pledge to go over the history of girl’s basketball in Boone County and the Girl’s State Tournament.

Boone Toreadors

1958 (6 on 6)
+ Twin Rivers 56 Boone 44
West Central, Maynard won the Championship.

1989 (6 on 6)
+ Boone 59 Saint Ansgar 58
+ Atlantic 78 Boone 63
Ankeny won the Championship.

2017 (4A)
+ Marion 46 Boone 38
North Scott won the Championship.

2018 (4A)
+ Center Point-Urbana 69 Boone 47
Marion won the Championship.

Madrid Tigers

1921 (6 on 6)
+ Madrid 13 Hiteman 7
+ Madrid 18 Mount Ayr 4
+ Madrid 9 Laurens 6
+ Ottumwa 16 Madrid 6
Audubon won the Championship.

Ogden Bulldogs

1972 (6 on 6)
+ Lu Verne 70 Ogden 51
Roland-Story won the Championship.

Grand Bobcats

1960 (6 on 6)
+ Corwith-Wesley 69 Grand 55
Gladbrook won the Championship.

Napier Comets

1947 (6 on 6)
+ Coon Rapids 41 Napier 26
Seymour won the Championship.

1955 (6 on 6)
+ Goldfield 63 Napier 51
Goldfield won the Championship.

It would seem that in the history of girls basketball in Boone County, the schools have combined to win 4 games. 3 of those were in 1921 by Madrid.

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Day 3 in Vegas was the first day of the actual CMC. It was a long work day. I got to the convention before 8 and worked continuously (with the exception of about a 45 minute break) until close to 10 that night.

Before I went to the convention I did take a little bit of a walk near Planet Hollywood and took a few pictures here and there. This collection of pictures are from that walk.

There is more to share from Day 3 of my work trip to Las Vegas to share, including my the Per Diem Update. Which I know you are the edge of your seat to hear about.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is BLUE:

BLUE

BLUE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a BLUE image? It is simply an image where the subject or a major compositional element of the image is the color BLUE. That is it! Almost too simple!

But this isn’t the first time that BLUE has been a theme for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here is a look at some submissions from the past to provide you a little bit of inspiration:

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 40

Stephanie Kim – Week 193

Angie DeWaard – Week 193

Logan Kahler – Week 325

Bill Wentworth – Week 325

Hopefully you find some inspiration in look back at the past!

Blogging, Flowers, Macro

What Did I Ever Come Here For

March 30, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I’ve been gone for so long
And how I missed you
My heart was aching for home
And then one night as I lay down
Somewhere far from you
I dreamt that I heard you call my name
But my mind was playing games

I knew right then that I’d return
To where I was before
And I was so tired of being away
That I just couldn’t stay anymore
What did I ever come here for?
-Brandi Carlile

Thursdays are for flowers. ChatGPT agrees and I had it write me a poem about it:

Sure! Here’s a poem about how Thursdays are the best days for flowers:

On Thursdays, flowers bloom with grace
Their petals soft, their colors bright
They sway in gentle winds that chase
The darkness of the night

With fragrant scents that fill the air
They lift our spirits high
And bring to us a sense of care
That money can’t buy

For Thursdays are the best of days
To bring these flowers near
To place them in a vase with praise
And let their beauty steer

Our thoughts to lighter, brighter things
And fill our hearts with cheer
For Thursdays are the days of kings
And flowers reign so dear
-ChatGPT

What should I have ChatGPT do next?

This collection of flower pictures was taken on September 17, 2022 in my yard.

The other day I ran into my flower guy, Mike Salama of Salama Greenhouse, and it was a definite reminder that flowertography season is almost upon us again. It is still probably over a month before I plant anything, but it could be sooner. Probably the perfect project to tackle when I get back from Chicago in late April.

Art, History, Railroad, Road Trip, Street Photography

Wapello County Aux. – Vol. 2

March 29, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Seems like a good time to share a second collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Wapello County. A good chunk of these were taken in Ottumwa, but a good portion is also taken in Agency, the sport where Iowa was “born”.

Ottumwa

Agency

Eldon

Here is some information on Chief Wapello’s Memorial Park from the Wiki:

Chief Wapello’s Memorial Park, also known as Chief Wapello’s Gravesite and the Site of Sac and Fox Indian Agency, is a historic site located near Agency, Iowa, United States. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The park is on the site of the Indian Agency that became the home of the Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) tribes. They were relocated here by the United States government after the Black Hawk War of 1832. General Joseph M. Street was appointed the Indian Agent and settled with his family on the agency. He earned the respect of the Meskwaki chief Wapello. A stone marker marks the site of the Agency House. Another stone marker commemorates the 1842 negotiations for the tribes to hand over their Iowa lands to the United States government, and the first Christian services that were held in Iowa’s interior by the Reverend Thomas Kirkpatrick, a Methodist Circuit Rider, in 1838. The tribes were relocated from here to Kansas.

This land was the agency’s garden area. When Street died in 1840 he was buried at this location on the agency and the tribes gave the property that surrounds the grave to his wife so she and her family could make a living. Two years later Wapello was buried next to General Street. Other graves include those of Eliza Street and their children and Major John Beach who was the Street’s son-in-law and who replaced General Street as Indian Agent. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was granted an easement on the south side of the park by the Street family with the stipulation that they take care of it. This they have done and the stainless steel marker in the park was installed by the railroad.

Imagine having having to sign a treaty and being forced to leave Iowa for Kansas. That had to hurt.

Drone, Railroad

Rodan139: Beaver

March 28, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Both my free time and some decent weather actually aligned the other day and I managed to take Rodan139 out to stretch its wings (propellers). Unfortunately, it was a little bit impromptu, so the battery situation wasn’t great. I have 3 batteries for Rodan139, so I took it to 3 different places and flew it until the battery drained. The first place was Beaver, Iowa. I want to get some drone pictures of all the incorporated towns of Boone County. While I got a few of Beaver, I will go back and get some coverage from different angles.

Here are some low battery Beaver, Iowa images:

The second place I went to on this battery drain trip was the Pilot Mound State Forest, but those pictures are for another day.

Andy, Angie, Baseball/Softball, Bill, Carla, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Iowa State, Jen, Jesse, Joe Duff, Kim, Kio, Logan, Mary, Micky, Mindi, Monica, Nathanial, Sabas, Sarah Toot, Shannon, Suzie, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, Willy, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 393 – COMPETITION

March 27, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

EDITOR’S NOTE: MY WORK SCHEDULE HAS TEMPORARILY CHANGED DUE TO EXTREME SHORT STAFFING AT THE COMPUTER MINE. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE PUBLISHING OF THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE POST MIGHT GET MOVED BACK AT LEAST 30 MINUTES UNTIL THE STAFFING SHORTAGE HAS PASSED. WE WILL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

It is the last Monday of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

What skill level photographer can participate?

THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is open to photographers of all skill levels. From award winning photographers to professionals to the highly ranked amateurs to those that are just beginning to those who don’t even know how to focus a camera. All skill levels are encouraged and welcome. You can’t be too bad and you can’t be too good! Everyone has room to learn and be challenged!

Award winning photographers? Really?

Yes. I can think of at least 5 photographers that participate regularly that have won a photography award of some kind.

Is this a competition?
No.

Is there a limit to the number of submissions I can have each week?

Yes. That limit is 3. If you send me more than 3, I will post the first 3 that you send. I’m not trying to harsh your photography buzz, but any more than that start to overwhelm the other submissions and it takes me about 5 minutes to take a picture from my inbox to code it on the website. So I have to manage my workload.

If participation rates climb, that limit of 3 is subject to lower.

Can I send you several pictures and have you pick the best one?

No! No! NO! If those words come out of your mouth or your keyboard, I consider that to be a non-submission.

Do you ever question whether somebody’s submission fits the theme?

Meh. Only if I think somebody is clearly confusing this week’s theme with last week or next week’s theme. Otherwise, if the submission makes sense in your head, that is good enough to me. However, I would urge you to not try to fit your favorite subject into the theme. This isn’t a challenge to share a picture every week of your kid or your business or your pet. It is a challenge to take pictures of different things every week. Which isn’t to say subjects can’t be repeated, but you shouldn’t become reliant on the same ones.

Why can’t I submit after 11 AM on Mondays if the post doesn’t publish until 12:01 PM?

I go to lunch at 11 AM. I leave my office. I’m not near a computer. At 11 AM I hit “Schedule” and then I go throw food down my throat. 167 hours is more than enough time to send a submission. Okay, 166 hours and 59 minutes. You got me.

Are there resolution requirements for submissions?

I won’t turn down submissions that are too small. I will probably ask you for a picture of greater resolution if it is really small. The typical 4 x 6 image posted to my website has a resolution of 1280 pixels x 853 pixels. While a 400 x 300 image might look okay on your phone, it looks like trash on a computer monitor. I prefer images that are at least 1000 pixels at their largest point, but don’t ban smaller pictures at this point.

What format should my submission be?

.JPG but .PNG also works.

If I write a description of my image will you include that in your post?

No. Photography is art that should stand on its own. Only exception is the SLICE OF LIFE theme.

When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?

Suggestions are closed for next year’s list. It will be a minute before they open up for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

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COMPETITION! A great theme! But did it fire up the competitive juices of a ton of people? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, March 20, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Scott Degeneffe – 1 week
2-Mary Green – 1 week (3)
3-Sara Lockner – 1 week
4-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
5-Mindi Terrell – 5 weeks (2)
6-Suzie Brannen – 9 weeks
7-Jesse Howard – 9 weeks
8-Monica Jennings – 9 weeks
9-Nathanial Brown – 10 weeks (3)
10-Mike Vest – 10 weeks
11-Tamara Peterson – 20 weeks
12-Brandon Kahler – 30 weeks
13-Linda Bennett – 34 weeks (2)
14-Sarah Toot – 35 weeks (3)
15-Angie DeWaard – 39 weeks
16-Dawn Krause – 43 weeks (2)
17-Kim Barker – 48 weeks
18-Joe Duff – 50 weeks
19-Logan Kahler – 51 weeks
20-Teresa Kahler – 61 weeks (2)
21-Carla Stensland – 61 weeks (2)
22-Micky Augustin – 63 weeks (2)
23-Andy Sharp – 64 weeks (2)
24-Bill Wentworth – 65 weeks
25-Cathie Morton – 69 weeks
26-Elizabeth Nordeen – 70 weeks
27-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 71 weeks
28-Kio Dettman – 74 weeks (3)

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 40 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Nebraska) – 66 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa) – 62 weeks

Carla Stensland (Iowa)

Joe Duff (Texas) – 51 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa) – 75 weeks

Kio Dettman (Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 35 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 72 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 21 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa) – 65 weeks

Andy Sharp (Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 6 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Willy McAlpine (Iowa) – 1 week

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 64 weeks

Micky Augustin (Iowa)

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 71 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Iowa)

Mary Green (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Iowa) – 1 week

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 44 weeks

Dawn Krause (Iowa)

Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Iowa) – 1 week

Teresa Kahler (Iowa) – 62 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Iowa)

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 49 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 11 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Iowa)

Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 31 weeks

Cathie Morton (Iowa) – 70 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 36 weeks

Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania)

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 10 weeks

Mike Vest (Iowa) – 11 weeks

Logan Kahler (Iowa) – 52 weeks

29 participants! That is a great week.

There were submissions this week taken in the following states:

+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

There were no new states added to the map.

Here is the current calendar year list for states:

+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Minnesota
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Missouri
+ Oklahoma
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas
+ Wisconsin

17 states! That is pretty impressive!

The Outside of the United States map is currently:

+ British Virgin Islands
+ Nassau Bahamas

I took my picture about 15 miles from my front door. So I didn’t add to the map, yet again.

There were a couple of big milestones this week! Suzie, Monica, and Jesse both reached double digit streaks. Logan reached the One Year Club!

But it wasn’t all sunshine and happiness! Scott, Sara, and Becky couldn’t build on their submissions last week to get to two week streaks!

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:

BLUE

BLUE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a BLUE image? It is simply an image where the subject or a major compositional element of the image is the color BLUE. That is it! Almost too simple!

While thinking about a possible subject for your submission, meditate on the following quite and I have no doubt that you will come up with a great image:

She had blue skin, And so did he. He kept it hid; And so did she. They searched for blue; Their whole life through, Then passed right by – And never knew.
–Shel Silverstein

I look forward to seeing your interpretation.

RULES

The picture has to be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch (unless you are taking your picture from the couch) and take pictures challenge. There is a limit of 3 submissions per participant. To be considered the photographer, you have to be the one that takes the picture. Don’t be stealing the work of other artists. You can submit pictures for other photographers that took pictures with your camera or phone, but give credit where credit is due.

You can send your images to either bennett@photography139.com OR you may text them to my Pixel 5.

That is it. Thems the rules!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of BLUE in this place that hopefully never gives you the blues next Monday.

Basketball, Boone FUMC, Dahlia, Event, History, Teresa

Methodist Grillin’

March 26, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

About the time this publishes Iowa’s (yes there is another university in the Cyclone State) women’s basketball team will be tipping off against Louisville for a chance to play in the first Final Four for any Iowa university since 1993. In that year, the Iowa women’s basketball team made it to the Final Four. This is their second Elite Eight since then. The got crushed by Satan, I mean Kim Mulkey and the Baylor Bears 85-53 in 2019.

Since 1993, the only men’s team from the state to make it to the Elite Eight was Iowa State in 2000, but we don’t talk about that Elite Eight game and the fact that they had to play a road game and still would have won the game if it wasn’t for the Blarge… the single worst call in the history of basketball.

The Iowa State women have made the Elite Eight twice. Falling to Georgia in 1999 and Stanford in 2009.

Iowa is lead by Caitlin Clark who will probably win most of the National Player of the Year Awards. She is the best player in Iowa history and she went to West Des Moines Dowling.

I bring up her high school career, because Caitlin Clark will probably go down as the greatest women’s basketball player in the history of the entire state, although that is legitimately hard to say because Iowa girls played 6 on 6 basketball until the 1990s. She might be the greatest player ever and she NEVER won a State Championship. In fact, her senior year, she didn’t even make the State Tournament.

I don’t follow high school sports much unless I know a kid or know a kid’s parent’s or that kid is going to Iowa State. For example, the highest ranked recruit in Iowa State Men’s basketball history lost in the semifinals of the State Tournament this year. The team his team lost to, then lost in the Championship Game to a team that was lead by a kid that is being recruited to Iowa State to play wide receiver and the son of one the greatest men’s basketball players in history. They are both sophomores.

It made me curious about the history of Boone County teams in the State Tournament. Madrid made the tournament for the first time ever this year and they were the first team from Boone County to make the State Tournament since 1988 and the school that made it that year doesn’t even exist any longer. At least not as a high school.

Here is the history of Boone County Schools in the Boys State Tournament:

Boone Toreadors
1919
+ Boone 16 Ames 11
+ Council Bluffs 16 Boone 9
+ Boone 9 Cedar Rapids 7 (Consolation)

1920
+ Boone 23 Council Bluffs 5
+ Boone 17 Grinnell 12
+ Boone 23 Nashua 17
+ Boone 20 Spirit Lake 15

1921
+ Boone 16 Council Bluffs 10
+ Boone 20 Charles City 9
+ Boone 28 Cedar Falls Teachers 23
+ Boone 23 LuVerne 10

1922
+ Boone 16 Columbus Junction 9 (Suck it Jorge!)
+ Boone 16 Union 13
+ Grinnell 30 Boone 14

1926
+ Cedar Rapids Washington 16 Boone 13
+ Boone 19 Webster City 16
+ Newton 23 Boone 21

1927
+ Burlington 21 Boone 18
+ Missouri Valley 18 Boone 10 (Consolation Bracket)

1931
+ Boone 27 Henderson 21
+ Boone 25 Alta 17
+ Boone 16 Des Moines Roosevelt 15
+ Boone 16 Muscatine 11

1948
+ Boone 45 Carroll 41
+ Ankeny 41 Boone 37

1963
+ Storm Lake 48 Boone 47

Boone has not been back since 1963.

Ogden Bulldogs
1952
+ Marion 72 Ogden 42

1979
+ Ackley-Geneva 56 Ogden 55

1982
+ Ogden 65 Buffalo-Center-Rake 62 (OT)
+ Central City 63 Ogden 54
+ Cardinal Stritch, Keokuk 69 Ogden 50 (Consolation)

Haven’t been back since 1982.

Boxholm Swedes also the Blue Stars

1932
+ Boxholm 21 Wellsburg 20
+ Boxholm 15 Cedar Rapids Washington 12
+ Des Moines Roosevelt 27 Boxholm 23
+ Boxholm 31 Livermore 16

Boxholm High School doesn’t exist any longer. After 1957-58 it consolidated with Pilot Mound to form Grand. Which eventually split and was absorbed by Southeast Webster and Ogden.

United Community Comets

1970
+ Tri-Center, Neola 63 United Community 62

1988
+ Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock 70 United Community 41

United Community no long exists as a high school. Until Madrid made it this year, they were the last school to make it to the Boys Basketball Tournament from Boone County. Unless you count Woodward Academy. Which I suppose is technically in Boone County but the town of Woodward is pretty much completely in Dallas County.

I’ll go over Boone County’s Girls Basketball Tournament history at a later date.

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Today seems like a good time to share some pictures from the Boone First United Methodist Church Grill-Out we had back in October. Although this is mostly just a collection of pictures of my great-niece Dahlia.

Boone First United Methodist Church Barbecue - 2022

The Methodist Men did the grilling and the rest was a potluck. In case you don’t know, Methodists like our potlucks.

Animals, Art, History, Macro, Railroad

Edward Grasshopper

March 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

I named this post Edward Grasshopper because I love grasshoppers and I like and am somewhat influenced by the art of Edward Hopper. I admittedly don’t know much about Edward Hopper the person, so I did a little bit of research on him and the most interesting thing about him is that he was married to another artist, Josephine Nivison. She aided him in being a model and as a creative partner.

Edward died before Josephine. She passed away 10 months after him. She left their entire artistic estate to the Whitney Museum of American Art. This is what sucks. It was believed that the Whitney turned around and just threw away all of Josephine’s artwork. BUT, thankfully they didn’t, they just shoved a bunch of them in the basement. In 2000 about 200 of Joephine’s works were discovered. Which is sad because Edward was great to Josephine the artist.

From the wiki:

Beginning in the mid-1920s Jo became her husband’s only model. It was she who thought up the names for a number of her husband’s paintings, including one of his most famous oil paintings, Nighthawks. Despite their complicated relationship, she helped when her husband felt insecure about a painting in progress, as in, for example, the case of Five A.M. (1937). As late as 1936, Jo reported that her husband was highly competitive and that her starting a work would frequently inspire Edward to start his own. In The Lonely City Olivia Laing discusses Jo’s career and how it floundered because Edward was “profoundly opposed to its existence. Edward didn’t just fail to support Jo’s painting, but rather worked actively to discourage it, mocking and denigrating the few things she did manage to produce”.

One of the paintings that Hopper did when not being a jerk to his wife, Automat, is part of the Des Moines Art Center’s collection.

Which reminds me that it should be about time for my nearly annual trip to the Des Moines Art Center with Suzie.

Here are some pictures of grasshoppers that probably love and support their significant others in every way possible:

The last two pictures are from the Boone Art Center. Also known as the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

Andy, Art, Cathie, Evie, Flowers, Kim, Logan, Lowell, Nature, Still Life, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 2

March 24, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Day 2 in Las Vegas for the CMC was a long one. I only had a chance to take pictures before I went to the Planet Hollywood conference rooms for what would end up being an almost 13 hour work day. I’m a little bit embarrassed to say that I was about halfway through Day 2 before I realized that there was a 2 hour time difference between Las Vegas and Iowa and not a one hour time difference.

I started the day by walking down to a nearby CVS to look for some Las Vegas stickers and postcards. Maybe some breakfast. I didn’t find any stickers but I bought some post cards and a package of Zingers for breakfast. That was about $3.00.

After walking around a little bit I went to Planet Hollywood. Once there I stared at the walls of the same conference room for pretty much forever. It didn’t help that the temperature in the room was approximately 120 degrees.

After we finally got done with the setup, Lowell and I ended up back at the Linq Promenade and had supper at In-n-Out. Supper cost about $15 and was much better than Bobby Flay’s burger from the night before. It was so packed inside we had to eat outside in the cold. It was cold pretty much every day in Las Vegas.

I think we might have went back and hung out with some other miners in the Heart Bar, which is the bar in the middle of the Planet Hollywood Casino floor. It was this bar that became my marker for figuring out how to get out of the casino and how to find the elevators to my room.

I started the day with an estimated $258 in the Per Diem Fund.

Breakfast: $3
Lunch: I’m not allowed to talk about it.
Supper: $15

Estimated Per Diem Fund Balance: $240

Here are some of the pictures I took that day:

Sunrise from my room.

Paris

Seriously so hot and such terrible carpet.

According to the highly inaccurate fitness app on my phone, I walked 14,843 steps for a total of 6.93 miles on Day 2.

More pictures from this trip still to come.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is COMPETITION:

COMPETITION

COMPETITION! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a COMPETITION image? It is simply an image of beings engaged in some kind of contest. Or it can be a picture of something that is used in a COMPETITION. Like a bowling ball. Or it can be a picture of the result of a COMPETITION. Like a trophy. There are so many possibilities!

This isn’t the first time COMPETITION has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Here are some examples of previous submissions:

Kim Barker

Cathie Raley (Morton)

Logan Kahler

Andy Sharp

Christopher D. Bennett

Hope this provides some inspiration for some people.

Happy photo harvesting!

Blogging, Flowers

I’ll Still Be There

March 23, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I’ve been playing with ChatGPT a little lately. If you don’t know, ChatGPT is “s a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions, and assist you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and code.”

The other day I decided to ask it about this website. Here is its response:

I mean, I would rate it at about 70% accurate. The name definitely does not come from my first camera. My first camera was definitely not a Canon. Canon? Ew. Gross! The name comes from Psalm 139. My first camera was a Minolta. I’m also not a member of the Iowa Professional Photographers Association, at least not to my knowledge. I also haven’t won Best in Show at the Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. I have won a class and I have gotten all four pictures displayed.

I won’t argue with the rest of it. I might have to play with ChatGPT a little more. Maybe some day I will have it write an entire journal entry.

+++++++

There never was a better love
To see the light of day
If only just to lift you up
And rise above the grey

It breaks my heart, but now you know
That the broken binds are an open door
And if it all disappears
I promise you I’ll still be there
-Brandi Carlile

Thursdays are for flowers. This collection of flowers is from my yard and were taken on September 17, 2022.

There are starting to be signs of plant life in my yard. It is only a matter of time before 2023 flowertography season is upon us!

Art, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

Wapello County Aux. – Vol. 1

March 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett

Time to start sharing the next collection of images from my road trip to Wapello County to harvest their town signs. I didn’t spend that much time in Ottumwa because I’ve done some time in Ottumwa back in the day. But I did take a few pictures there.