This year Logan and Amanda hosted the Bennett Family Thanksgiving. I took a few pictures, but not many, but I thought I would share a few of them.

I once again hope all of you had a good to great Thanksgiving!
Today is Johnathan’s birthday, so I need to wish him a happy birthday!
Happy birthday!! I hope your day is filled with all the joy you can handle and I hope you win your battle with the robot vacuum cleaner!
Come back now, even if you call me out
You might be angry now, of course you are
I’m scared too, didn’t mean to take it out on you
I know I always do, you’re the strongest person in the roomDon’t look down, I can feel it when your heart starts pounding
It’s beyond your control, you know it is
It’s getting to the point where I can’t carry on
I never held my breath for quite this long
And I don’t take it back, I did what I had to doIt’s not too late
Either way, I lose you in these silent days
It wasn’t right
But it was right on time
-Brandi Carlile
“Right on Time” is the first song I’m using as a journal title from Brandi’s most recent studio album “In These Silent Days”.
Thursdays are for flowers! This collection of flowertography consists of peonies and irises:
As a general rule, I don’t like irises, so it is rare that I photograph them. But I do understand why people plant them. It isn’t because they are pretty, it is because they are so ugly that deer won’t eat them and if you plant them around pretty flowers, it will protect them from get chomped down by deer.
Everything does have a purpose in nature!
Next Flowertography Thursday, I will share more pictures from this day.
It is the last collection of submissions of the month, so it is a good time revisit the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE FAQ:
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 starts 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 you are going to submit more than one picture, I strongly urge you to choose completely different subjects for each submission. If you are submitting multiple pictures of the same subject, make sure that each picture is saying something unique.
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 for 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. But if you let me know where the picture was taken, I will include that.
When will you start accepting suggestions for next year’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE themes?
I will take suggestions only and ONLY in the comments sections of the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE posts the last week of October and the 1st week of November.
NOTE: WHILE NEXT MONDAY ISN’T A HOLIDAY IT IS THE DAY BEFORE A HOLIDAY, I MIGHT BE BUSY ON THAT DAY AND YOU MIGHT BE BUSY THAT DAY, SO MAKE PLANS FOR SUBMITTING ACCORDINGLY.
‘SCAPE! What a great theme! However did ‘SCAPE inspire a large group of people to get out there and take and submit and image? You will have to keep scrolling to find out.
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, June 12, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Porter Degeneffe – 1 week
2-Sheri Fakhouri – 1 week (3)
3-Mary Green – 1 week (3)
4-Becky Parmelee – 1 week
5-Nader Parsaei – 1 week
6-Johnathan Stensland – 1 week
7-Sabas Hernandez – 2 weeks
8-Elainie Hernandez – 2 weeks (3)
9-Monica Jennings – 2 weeks
10-Logan Kahler – 2 weeks (2)
11-Suzie Brannen – 3 weeks (3)
12-Nathanial Brown – 3 weeks (3)
13-Jesse Howard – 3 weeks
14-Sara Lockner – 5 weeks
15-Willy McAlpine – 4 weeks
16-Tamara Peterson – 6 weeks
17-Mike Vest – 8 weeks
18-Alexis Baugher – 11 week (3)
19-Mindi Terrell – 18 weeks (3)
20-Brandon Kahler – 43 weeks
21-Linda Bennett – 47 weeks (2)
22-Sarah Toot – 48 weeks
23-Angie DeWaard – 52 weeks
24-Dawn Krause – 56 weeks (3)
25-Kim Barker – 62 weeks (2)
26-Joe Duff – 63 weeks
27-Teresa Kahler – 74 weeks (3)
28-Carla Stensland – 74 weeks (3)
29-Micky Augustin – 76 weeks
30-Andy Sharp – 77 weeks
31-Bill Wentworth – 78 weeks
32-Cathie Morton – 82 weeks
33-Elizabeth Nordeen – 83 weeks
34-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 85 weeks
35-Kio Dettman – 87 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:
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Iowa) – 86 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 84 weeks
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 83 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Chalco Park – Omaha, Nebraska) – 79 weeks
Andy Sharp (Gilbert, Iowa) – 78 weeks
Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 77 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Jordan, Iowa) – 75 weeks
Carla Stensland (Rural Boone County, northwest of Ogden, Iowa) – 75 weeks
Carla Stensland (Antiques Iowa – Story City, Iowa)
Carla Stensland (Ledges State Park – Madrid, Iowa)
Joe Duff (Pasadena, Texas) – 64 weeks
Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 63 weeks
Dawn Krause (River Bottom Raceway – Carlisle, Iowa) – 57 weeks
Dawn Krause (River Bottom Raceway – Carlisle, Iowa)
Angie DeWaard (Cold Links Golf Course – Ames, Iowa) – 53 weeks
Sarah Toot (New York City, New York) – 49 weeks
Sarah Toot (New York City, New York)
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 48 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Iowa) – 44 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 19 weeks
Alexis Baugher (Nevada, Iowa) – 12 weeks
Alexis Baugher (Swaledale, Iowa)
Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 9 weeks
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 7 weeks
Sara Lockner (Des Moines, Iowa) – 6 weeks
Willy McAlpine (McHose Park – Boone, Iowa) – 5 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Iowa) – 4 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Des Moines, Iowa)
Jesse Howard – (Gray’s Lake – Des Moines, Iowa) – 4 weeks
Jesse Howard (High Trestle Trail Bridge – Boone County, Iowa)
Logan Kahler (Huntington Beach, California) – 3 weeks
Logan Kahler (Lawson, Colorado)
Monica Jennings (Papajohn Sculpture Park – Des Moines, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Monica Jennings (Papajohn Sculpture Park – Des Moines, Iowa)
Johnathan Stensland (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Mary Green (Michigan) – 2 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Becky Parmelee (Between Cambridge and Nevada – Iowa) – 2 weeks
Amy Peterson (California) – 1 week
Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 1 week
Christopher D. Bennett (High Trestle Trail Bridge – Boone County, Iowa)
33 participants! That is a great week. Only a slight downturn from FLOWER, which remains King of the World! At the very least, FLOWER isn’t the pay $250,000 dollars to get crushed in a submarine that is controlled by a PS2 knock off video game controller of themes. FLOWER is definitely Jack and Fabrizio at the front of the Titanic of themes. But ‘SCAPE is no pay $250,000 to go in a submarine made out of a substance that everybody told you was a bad idea and get crushed of themes. I’m not sure where to place ‘SCAPE. Maybe ‘SCAPE is the “So, you want to go to a real party?” of themes?
There were submissions taken from a wide variety of places this week, which is cool. But no new states, which is to be expected. Cause we are definitely in a place where it is harder to knock off new states. Mostly down to New England and the Southeast. With a couple western states like Idaho and New Mexico hanging out there. Waiting to be plucked.
I know. I know. There aren’t a ton of reasons to go to Idaho (although I believe they have the best Mormons*) or New Mexico (they murdered Billy the Kid), but maybe somebody will happen across those states at some point.
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Michigan
+ Nebraska
+ New York
+ Texas
Here is the current calendar year list for states:
+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Louisiana
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming
29 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!
The Outside of the United States map is currently:
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico (General)
+ Isla Mujeres, Mexico
+ Riviera Maya, Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Last week was the first time ever all 5 of my biological nieces and nephews participated in the same week. They weren’t able to back it up a second week as Elainie’s 2 week streak came to end.
Brandon and Elainie weren’t the only peeps to have streaks that Rose wouldn’t move over slightly for them to get up and out of the cold waters of the Atlantic for. Also freezing to death were the streaks of Porter (1) and Nader (1) and Sabas (2) and Suzie (2).
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom and mankind’s arrogance being squished by Nature. Amy had her first submission of the year! That is exciting! WooHoo! Also, Andy reached the Year and Half Streak Club! WooHoo!
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:
RETAIL! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
An astute observer that has a physical Photography 139 Calendar may notice that this week says MUSIC and not RETAIL. That was a typo that wasn’t caught by my proofreader. Mostly because I didn’t have my proofreader look over the calendar. So don’t take a music picture, unless it is at a music store. This theme was suggested by Elizabeth.
All that is nice, but what is a RETAIL image? Let’s start by defining RETAIL:
the sale of goods to the public in relatively small quantities for use or consumption rather than for resale.
A RETAIL image is simply an image that involves the sale of goods to the public. A picture of a store or inside a store or at a market or things that are used purchase things. Simple enough.
While considering possible RETAIL subjects for your submission, meditate on the following quote:
Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.
-Will Rogers
I look forward to seeing your interpretation.
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 ‘SCAPE in this place that hopefully has a least put a little dent in the landscape of photography next Monday.
* Trust me, this is a joke that only one person will get, which is how I like my jokes. Very inside.
Here is another reminder that we are a little more than a month away from the deadline for the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. Flyers should start showing up around town this week. I hope at least a few of you enter. Or you get your kids to enter or your grandkids to enter. You don’t have be from Boone or Boone County to enter. You merely have to enjoy photography. Monica made a wonderful flyer this year:
Thanks Monica!
She had a lot of fun with this year’s Pufferbilly Days theme, which is the ’90s. I’ll probably need more volunteers than normal this year, so if that is something that might interest you. Let me know. Many hands make light work. And there might be a meal or two in it for you.
NOTE: ALMOST EVERYBODY HAD THEIR SUBMISSIONS IN THIS WEEK BY SUNDAY NIGHT. WHILE THAT ISN’T THE DEADLINE, I CERTAINLY APPRECIATE IT. MAKES MY JOB MUCH EASIER! THANKS!
FLOWER! What a great theme! A person would have to have no joy in their heart to not find joy in a beautiful FLOWER. In fact, I’ve even heard some suggest that next year all 52 weeks should be flower themes. One week ROSE. The next week DAISY. The next week SUNFLOWER. I mean that is just crazy talk though. So crazy it just might work. But was this year’s lone FLOWER theme enough to make a bunch of people crazy enough to submit? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out.
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, June 12, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):
1-Elainie Hernandez – 1 week
2-Sabas Hernandez – 1 week
3-Monica Jennings – 1 week (3)
4-Logan Kahler – 1 week
5-Suzie Brannen – 2 weeks (3)
6-Nathanial Brown – 2 weeks
7-Jesse Howard – 2 weeks
8-Willy McAlpine – 3 weeks
9-Sara Lockner – 4 weeks (2)
10-Tamara Peterson – 5 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 7 weeks
12-Alexis Baugher – 10 week (2)
13-Mindi Terrell – 17 weeks (3)
14-Brandon Kahler – 42 weeks
15-Linda Bennett – 46 weeks (2)
16-Sarah Toot – 47 weeks (2)
17-Angie DeWaard – 51 weeks
18-Dawn Krause – 55 weeks (2)
19-Kim Barker – 61 weeks
20-Joe Duff – 62 weeks (2)
21-Teresa Kahler – 73 weeks (3)
22-Carla Stensland – 73 weeks (3)
23-Micky Augustin – 75 weeks
24-Andy Sharp – 76 weeks
25-Bill Wentworth – 77 weeks
26-Cathie Morton – 81 weeks (2)
27-Elizabeth Nordeen – 82 weeks (2)
28-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 84 weeks
29-Kio Dettman – 86 weeks
Entering today, this is the map of states where people have submitted pictures from:
Only 1 new state added since last time I shared the map.
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:
Kim Barker (New Orleans, Louisiana) – 62 weeks
Kim Barker (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 77 weeks
Sheri Fakhouri (Boone, Iowa) – 1 week
Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 3 weeks
Micky Augustin (Rural Story County, Iowa) – 76 weeks
Johnathan Stensland (Iowa) – 1 week
Carla Stensland (Ogden, Iowa) – 74 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 47 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Rural Warren County, Iowa) – 85 weeks
Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 6 weeks
Alexis Baugher (Boone, Iowa) – 11 weeks
Alexis Baugher (Rural Boone County, Iowa)
Alexis Baugher (Rural Boone County, Iowa)
Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 52 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 78 weeks
Nader Parsaei (State Center, Iowa) – 1 week
Nathanial Brown (Mexico) – 3 weeks
Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 83 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)
Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 18 weeks
Porter Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 1 week
Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 74 weeks
Dawn Krause (South Dakota) – 56 weeks
Elainie Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Elainie Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa)
Elainie Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa)
Sara Lockner (Johnston, Iowa) – 5 weeks
Sarah Toot (Pennsylvania) – 48 weeks
Monica Jennings (Iowa) – 2 weeks
Brandon Kahler (Ames, Iowa) – 43 weeks
Jesse Howard (Boone, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 82 weeks
36 participants this week! This is a new record for participation! Making FLOWER the most popular theme in the storied history of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Maybe the idea of 52 themes of FLOWER isn’t crazy after all. Marigolds one week. Pansies the next. Oooh… a week of begonias would be lovely!
36 participants breaks the previous record of 34 held by HAPPY that was set just 4 weeks ago.
36 participants is so many that it is more lines than I have in my Ledger book where I record such things for posterity. Have a look:
I’m not sure how I will record this week, but it is a great problem to have!
Also, if we continue on this trajectory (5 straight weeks of 30+ participants) I might be lowering the cap for submissions from 3 to 2. Just fair warning. Like I say in the FAQ, it isn’t about harshing anybody’s creativity buzz, but about managing workload. Hopefully, we get there!
Thanks to Willy attending a Tuesday Wedding in Montana (all weddings should be on Tuesday or Thursdays) and Kim’s work trip to Louisiana, we added two more states to the THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE SUBMISSION MAP!
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ Arkansas
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Louisiana
+ Nebraska
+ Mexico
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
Here is the current calendar year list for states:
+ Arizona
+ Arkansas
+ California
+ Colorado
+ Florida
+ Georgia
+ Illinois
+ Iowa
+ Kansas
+ Louisiana
+ Nebraska
+ New Jersey
+ New York
+ Nevada
+ Michigan
+ Minnesota
+ Missouri
+ Montana
+ North Dakota
+ Ohio
+ Oklahoma
+ Oregon
+ Pennsylvania
+ South Dakota
+ Texas
+ Utah
+ Washington
+ Washington D.C.
+ Wisconsin
+ Wyoming
29 states and 1 district! That is pretty impressive! Over halfway there!
You might be wondering what states are currently missing. I got you:
+ Alabama
+ Alaska
+ Connecticut
+ Delaware
+ Hawaii
+ Idaho
+ Indiana
+ Kentucky
+ Maryland
+ Massachusetts
+ Mississippi
+ New Hampshire
+ New Mexico
+ North Carolina
+ Rhode Island
+ South Carolina
+ Tennessee
+ Vermont
+ Virginia
+ West Virginia
The Outside of the United States map is currently (I could put more info for Mexico, but nobody told me where they went in Mexico):
+ British Virgin Islands
+ Mexico
+ Nassau Bahamas
+ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I travelled about 15 steps from front door to take my submission I continue not to contribute to expanding the map.
The big accomplishment this week was Angie reaching the 52 Week Club! That is a fully year of submitting without missing a week. A big time accomplishment! WooHoo!
Bill also joined the Year and a Half Club. He isn’t the first person to join the club, but he is the first person that I have noted to have made the club. Cathie made it 4 weeks ago. Elizabeth made it 5 weeks ago. Shannon 7 weeks ago. Kio 12 weeks ago. Monster achievements for all of them!
Another sweet deal was that there wasn’t a single streak snapped this week.
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:
‘SCAPE! What a great theme for Year 10 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
But what is a ‘SCAPE picture? The “‘” in the theme name allows you to substitute in a few words. Your submission could be a LANDSCAPE or a WATERSCAPE or a CITYSCAPE.
Well for one thing, it is a great theme for me to remind you that you can include the town your picture was taken in or the county and I will include that with your submission.
Did you know that the first photograph ever taken was of a landscape?
“View from the Window at Le Gras” was captured by Nicéphore Niépce, in 1827. It features a very abstract view from Niépce’s window.
It would be another 12 years before somebody would think to take a “photograph” of a stupid human. I assume the 2nd picture ever taken was of a dog.
With this theme, you are literally touching the absolute deepest root of photography. Wow! That is powerful to think about. But maybe you are still confused about what LANDSCAPE photography is. Here is a definition from the Wiki:
Landscape photography commonly involves daylight photography of natural features of land, sky and waters, at a distance—though some landscapes may involve subjects in a scenic setting nearby, even close-up, and sometimes at night.
Photography of artificial scenery, such as farm fields, orchards, gardens and architecture, may be considered “landscape” photography as well. Even the presence of man-made structures (buildings, roads and bridges, etc.) or art (such as sculpture) may be considered “landscape” if presented in artistic settings or appearing (or photographed) in artistic style.
Further, landscape photography is typically of relatively stationary subjects—arguably a form of “still life.” This tends to simplify the task, as opposed to photography of kinetic or live subjects. However, landscape photography often overlaps the activity of wildlife photography and the two terms are used somewhat interchangeably; both wildlife and landscapes may be elements of the same picture or body of work.
While thinking about a possible subject for your ‘SCAPE theme, meditate on the following quote:
This is the gift of the landscape photograph, that the heart finds a place to stand.
-Emmet Gowin (American Photographer)
I look forward to seeing your interpretation!
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 ‘SCAPE in this place that hopefully has a least put a little dent in the landscape of photography next Monday.
Looking at my SELFIE PROJECT pictures from the month of October, I’m not sure I had a very active October. Seems like I barely left my house. I’ll try to be more active in November.
Here are some of my favorite selfies from THE SELFIE PROJECT in October:
I didn’t take any extra selfies this much. I might do better in November. There are no promises.
A quick heads up. If you were thinking of going to or entering an animal into the Pufferbilly Days Dog and Exotic Animal Show, because of the extreme heat of today it was postponed. It is now tomorrow at noon at the park on 9th and Story.
I have another month done in the Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day Challenge. This month wasn’t as difficult as last month because they were just standard themes. I think the images I took are a fair record of my experiences in July.
I think there was some pretty good work in July. Hopefully some good work to be done in August.
Here are the August prompts:
August 1 – I Am…
August 2 – I Love This Colour…
August 3 – I Walked Here…
August 4 – I Like To…
August 5 – I Love This Time of Day…
August 6 – I Love…
August 7 – I Made This…
August 8 – I Work Here…
August 9 – I Held This…
August 10 – I Wrote This…
August 11 – I Saw…
August 12 – I Like To Drink…
August 13 – I Stood Here…
August 14 – I Do This On Sundays…
August 15 – I Once…
August 16 – I Never…
August 17 – I Went To…
August 18 – I Read This…
August 19 – I Did This Good Thing…
August 20 – I Love This View…
August 21 – I Don’t Life To…
August 22 – On Mondays I…
August 23 – I Sat Here…
August 24 – I Like To Eat…
August 25 – I Have To…
August 26 – I Wore This…
August 27 – On Weekends I…
August 28 – I Watched This…
August 29 – I Can…
August 30 – I Can’t…
August 31 – I Believe…
I guess people will get to know me better this month… unless I can help it.
If you want to follow this project on the daily, they are posted on my Fat Mum Slim Instagram account.
Otherwise, we’ll check in on this next month.
On Thursday I completed another month of the Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge. For June, there was only one prompt. Grateful. Everyday, post a picture of something that makes you grateful. What I decided to do was every day take a picture with somebody that I am grateful to have in my life. 30 days in June. 30 different people. Only one person a day. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it wasn’t necessarily difficult. Most days, I just let people come into my life. I never made a trip way out of my way to take a picture. I think the farthest I went out of my way was to Madrid for the last day. Most people agreed to come to me. The farthest away a picture was taken was in Lansing, Iowa. But I didn’t go to Lansing, Iowa to take the picture. I went to Lansing to take a picture of their town sign. The second farthest away a picture taken was Spirit Lake, Iowa. But I didn’t go to Spirit Lake to take the picture. I went to Spirit Lake to go camping. The funny thing about those subjects is they were my sisters, who both live pretty darn close to me. The farthest away anybody lives from me that was included was Easton, Kansas. But that person definitely didn’t drive to Boone to have their picture taken with me.
The breakdown of people that I got pictured, if I were to categorize these people by how I first met them, it would break down like this:
+ Friend from Work: 11 – 7 current and 4 from the past.
+ Blood Relative – 7 people.
+ Church Friend – 5 people.
+ School Friend – 4 people.
+ In-Law – 1 person.
+ Teresa’s Friend – 1 person.
+ Olivia’s Friend – 1 person.
Here are my gratitude pictues:
June 2 – Gratitude – This is Derrick. I’ve known him since we were slinging burgers together at the Evil Clown Empire back in college. I’m grateful to have him in my life, not just because we have season tickets together for Iowa State Cyclones football, but also because I wish I had 5% of his musical talent. He is a true guitar god in that he can both play a face melting solo and he can tell you everything about and repair any guitar. Just listening to him talk about guitars is a privilege.
June 3 – Gratitude – This is Willy. I’ve known him since I started getting invited to Saturday Morning Basketball in 9th Grade. Willy used to dominate the game before the “Big Dog” started to prowl the court. Willy is a world traveler as his Costa Rico hat and Portugal shirt attest and I do live vicariously through him. But the reason I’m most grateful to have him in my life is shortly after his teenage sister passed away suddenly, we started getting supper together on Friday nights. Other members of Friday Night Supper Club came and went, but Willy and I got supper together almost every Friday for a decade, right up until the pandemic. It was and maybe in the future, the perfect end to a work week.
June 4 – Gratitude – This is Brandon. I’m grateful for all my nieces and nephews, biological and otherwise. Brandon is my oldest nephew and grows the best beard of any of them. He also has great taste in pop culture as he shares my love for all things Godzilla.
June – Gratitude – I know there are well more than 30 people from my life that I am grateful for, but I also just don’t know if that I will see 30 different people on 30 different days. Especially when I mostly work from home. Some days I don’t really know that I will see anybody that I haven’t already photographed, but then something happens totally unexpected. My sister Teresa had tickets to see Hamilton with her best friend Sheri, but then she got sick and couldn’t go, so I ended up going to see Hamilton with Sheri. While I feel bad for Teresa, I am grateful to have Sheri in my life as she is one of those friends that is more like family to everybody in my family. And yes Hamilton was great! It is Hamilton.
June 6 – Grateful – This is my Aunt Linda. She is practically the last one left from my Dad’s generation. I’m grateful to have her in my life as she is a connection to my Grandma and Grandpa Bennett that I never got to know, my Uncle David that I never got to know and my Dad who I lost when I was nine. I don’t see her much because she lives in Easton, Kansas but she was in town today to take care of her Boone house.
June 7 – Grateful – This is Nader. I met him when in another life, I transferred to the Campustown outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. I’m grateful to have Nader in my life because despite having spent 5 years in an Iranian prison without a trial for saying Allah wouldn’t want you to kill people, in front of the wrong people, he still managed to find happiness in Henry Fonda winning an Oscar for On Golden Pond. I share his love of movies, but not how infatuation with the Oscars.
June 8 – Gratitude – This is Kim. At work I’m somewhere between the low man on the totem pole to not being on the totem pole at all. However, a big wig like Kim takes care of the little people by scheduling Popcorn Day around my schedule!
June 9 – Gratitude – This is Ron. I’ve worked with him for over 16 years now. Ron has a Purple Heart because he was injured in the terrorist attack on Khobar Towers. However, the truth about his heart is that is gigantic in his love for dogs. He has several dogs and he and his late wife were very active with the animal rescue league in his hometown and he is active in trying to get puppies away from puppy mills, often going to Missouri in this pursuit. I’m grateful for Ron, not just because he is a fountain of knowledge but because he loves dogs even more than me!
June 10 – Gratitude – This is Carla. She is my elder sister. The middle child of 3. I could just say I’m grateful cause she is my sister, but I realize not everybody has a sister where they are also friends. I am fortunate to have that with both my sisters. If you doubt that, I’m writing this while smashed into the bottom bunk of her camper reminding myself, that I’m not claustrophobic. I’m not claustrophobic. I’m not claustrophobic.
June 11 – Grateful – This is Sara. Today was her daughter Maven’s birthday party. Before this picture we tried to remember when we first met. Sadly, we can’t figure it out, but it was definitely no later than 1997, but probably before that. Sara has a hard fast rule that when taking a picture of her there has to be at least 3 takes. She is one of the best educated people I know. She has a Bachelor’s from Iowa State. A nursing degree from Mercy, and a Nurse Practitioner degree from Iowa with an emphasis in mental health. While I respect all that learning, but really I’m grateful for her because she is just incredibly fun to be around.
June 12 – Grateful – This is Pastor Dave. Today was his last day at our church. He is moving on to become a chaplain. I know that Dave must be a devastatingly handsome man because when I’m in my short beard mode I often get mistaken for him. I wish he was sticking around but I’m grateful to him for the job he did taking over in our church shortly before the pandemic began. It could not have been easy!
June 13 – Grateful – This is Jay. I’ve known Jay since 7th Grade. He is one of the most talented and creative artists that I know. I’m grateful to have some of the art he has created, including this hand staff he made when like 5 years ago I decided I wanted to make MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE themed birthday party invitations.
June 14 – Grateful – This is my brother-in-law Jason. He’s married to my sister Carla. He’s a great guy and very selfless. But probably why I’m most grateful to have him in my life is because he is handy. I am decidedly not “handy” and anytime I need help with a home project or a car repair, he volunteers his time and expertise.
June 15 – Grateful – This is Scottie D. I’ve known him since we worked together at the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. We (with a few other rotating members) the competitive barbecue team Baby Got Rack. Not gonna lie, Scott is pretty much all the culinary talent and I mostly help pack and unpack and photodocument and follow orders. We’ve won more than a few competitions, but haven’t competed since before the pandemic. The hiatus might be coming to an end next month, but even if it doesn’t, I’m grateful to have Scott in my life because of all the delicious food he makes.
June 16 – Gratitude – This is my nephew Logan. Of all my nieces and nephews, he is the one that is continuing the family legacy of photography. He is even pursuing it professionally doing portrait and wedding photography. I’m grateful to have family that share my passion.
June 17 – Grateful – This is Kio. He is the person I know that is most dedicated to philanthropy and volunteering. But the reason I’m most grateful to have Kio in my life is that he was instrumental in hooking me up with running the Pufferbilly Days Photo Contest. A gig I coveted for years.
June 18 – Gratitude – This is my niece Alexis. It is rather embarrassing how long it has been since today that we’ve seen each other. She is the baby of the family. Well of her generation. She lived with me for a bit and that is the one and only time she heard me “swear”. It was apparently significant enough to her that she immediately took to social media to post about it.
June 19 – Grateful – This is Andrea. She was the Associate Pastor at my church about 10 years ago until she got moved to Fort Dodge to have her own church. Last year they moved her to West Des Moines. I went down to her worship service today and her sermon was so affirming and so everything I needed to hear. She is probably the Pastor that has had the most influence on my faith journey… in many ways… but including the simple act of asking me to help chaperone a Youth Group Mission Trip to Kansas City a long time ago.
June 20 – Grateful – This is Jesse. We’ve been best friends since meeting in Mrs. Ford’s 2nd Grade Class. Probably could write a ton on him, but enough to say he has been with me on most adventures and tragedies in my life since then. Which is a lot of years when you’re old and washed up like us.
June 21 – Grateful – This is Johnathan. He is the last of my biological nieces or nephews that will be featured this month. I have one more. My niece Elainie, but she is off in California currently with her Navy husband. So… Johnathan. He is the often quiet, keep to yourself nephew and I can relate to that. He is a phenomenal cook and is way better at cleaning than I am. He also lived with me briefly and his portion of the house was always in order. Like all my nieces and nephews, I need to effort to see him more, especially because his work schedule is so tough.
June 22 – Grateful – This is Micky. I’ve worked with him for over 16 years now. And while I’m grateful to him for all the help he gives me at work, I’m really grateful for our friendship outside of work. He is a great outdoorsman, but in ways that are opposite to how I enjoy it. Meaning, he likes to hunt and fish. Frankly, I do enjoy fishing a bit, I don’t think I could ever murderize other animals, I just don’t have it in me. Yet I have went turkey hunting with him. But my favorite part of our friendship is the great outdoorsman is terrified of snakes and I love sending him videos of snakes.
June 23 – Grateful – This is Michelle – I’ve worked with Michelle for a bit now. But like all my work friends it is our friendship outside of work that I’m truly grateful for.She is from Fort Dodge, so she does have the affliction of not knowing that Taco Tico is disgusting. But despite that she has went with me on more than one occasion to try a new tenderloin. She plays banker for the football betting pool I run and she currently has the 8th longest consecutive submission streak for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE I run. She is proof not all Walmart Hawkeyes are bad people (she went to Drake).
June 24 – Grateful – This is Jen. I’ve known Jen since we worked together at the Boone Outpost of the Evil Clown Empire. Now she works for NASA. I don’t really care where my friends work, as long as they are happy, but I use it as an example of what a long, strange, often tragic and often joyful, trip we’ve been on. I’m wearing a banana hat because she hates bananas, but one thing we definitely agree on is that today was an incredibly sad day in this country’s history. But she will persist. I will be an ally.
June 25 – Grateful – This is my eldest sister Teresa. Like I mentioned with my other sister Carla, I am lucky to also be friends with my two siblings. She is super crafty and she’s probably made like half the shirts I wear, including the one in this picture with her Cricut. She also crochets and paints and many other things I’m probably forgetting.
June 26 – Grateful – This is Phil. He is another former Pastor from my church. He has also had a huge influence on my faith journey. He was a key part of my becoming way more active in my church and he did this by visiting my at a point in my life when I was deep in grief and not giving me any of the platitudes that you are given at that time. He was just present and it made such a huge difference. Over lunch he also shared a story when he knew I saw him as a person and not just a Pastor and I won’t share it, but I will remember it and it will help shape my interactions in the future.
June – 27 – Grateful – This is Anders. I’ve known him since meeting him in Jr. High band. He is a major driving force in the monthly movie night I host in my theater room. I’m grateful to have somebody in my life who has similarly eclectic taste in cinema as I do. In fact, the book I’m holding is a 700 page book he wrote on the making of our favorite bad movie, ROBOT MONSTER.
June 28 – This is Andy. I’d guess I’ve really known Andy about 10 years now. I don’t know he made a great first impression, but that is one of the cool parts of this friendship. We have chaperoned youth group mission trips to Martin, South Dakota, Saint Paul, Houston, Milwaukee, Rapid City, and I think Kansas City. Would be more, except for the pandemic. The shirt he is wearing is for a local charity he supports (there are too many to list) that gives support to families that have lost a baby. (Neonatal, perinatal, and infant loss) I’d explain why this is necessary, but it makes me sad. Andy’s big heart is why I’m grateful he is in my life.
June 29 – Grateful – This is Elizabeth. This might be a hard one to write because I was only partially convinced that she would agree to do this and I wasn’t expecting her to come to me this morning with her hair all straightened and say, “I don’t like having my picture taken, but I do like you. So let’s take this picture.” Which was an absolute highlight of my day. And she will read that and give me grief about it. Then she said, “You’ll probably write something snarky about how I don’t like having my picture taken”. Which I probably would have and pointed out about how as a photographer it really gnaws at you, the pictures you don’t get to take. I might have even written something about the misogynist in me vs. the feminist in me, but none of that will cover why she is important to me. So I will get to that. She is probably the person that most calls me on my BS, which somebody like me needs. She at least attempts to tell me when she thinks I’m wrong as she is the unnamed other opinion on my TOWN SIGN PROJECT posts on my regular Instagram account. While we have differing opinions on the important things (pizza and she doesn’t LOVE peanut butter and chocolate together, right?)… I’ve somehow come to value her opinion. That probably even surprises her.
June 30 – Grateful – This is Mike. Made it. 30 days. 30 different people. That is a lot of grateful and a lot of grateful still left on the table. But Mike… I’ve known him since I started working at the Computer Mine 16 plus years ago. He is the number one influence on my photography website being as advanced technologically as it is. And because we both have interests in photography (both interests inherited from fathers we both lost way too early) it was originally mostly his idea to create THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on my website. A challenge that has very slowly grown from a couple people a week to consistently over 30 submissions a week. And his technological savvy is just a small part of why I conclude the grateful month with Mike.
I definitely didn’t write nearly enough about some people. Sometimes it was a time crunch. Sometimes, it just seemed obvious and obvious is sometimes hard to put into words.
Obviously there are more than 30 people in my life that I am grateful to have in my life. I won’t even give you examples of people that I am thankful for, because I’m sure I would leave people out. Then they would have been left out of the 30 days and then out of the list of but I’m also grateful for you list and then would be like a double slap. Just know that if you think I’m grateful to have you in my life, I probably am and you weren’t included in this set of 30 because you live too far away or I don’t see you on a regular basis. Or at least didn’t see you in June.
Here are the FatMumSlim Prompts for July:
July 1 – Reflections
July 2 – Letters
July 3 – Human
July 4 – I’m Working on This…
July 5 – Wall
July 6 – Bright Colours
July 7 – A Fave Place
July 8 – Out of Focus
July 9 – A Boomerang
July 10 – Behind Someone
July 11 – Interior
July 12 – Exterior
July 13 – Life
July 14 – Create A PostCard
July 15 – Where I Stood
July 16 – Pattern
July 17 – Water
July 18 – Street Photography
July 19 – A Cylinder
July 20 – Hug
July 21 – A Church
July 22 – Current Interest
July 23 – Still Life
July 24 – A Metaphor
July 25 – Beauty
July 26 – Portrait Mode
July 27 – Countryside
July 28 – An Old Car
July 29 – Black and White
July 30 – Happy Days
July 31 – Sunday Morning
Some good prompts in there. It will fill weird getting back to a different prompt everyday, but I’m sure I can handle it.
This Formal Portrait Sunday comes from a photo shoot I did with the Stenslands. It was a pretty brief photo shoot, so I can include this in just one journal entry.
Here are some of my favorites from the day:
Next Sunday’s formal portrait collection will return to the photo shoot with Alexis’ family.
This year for our family Thanksgiving I wanted to attempt to make root beer. I had Glenn Peterson’s recipe in hand and I also fruitlessly pursued another recipe, but I’m not really sure how different root beer recipes can get.
Glenn’s recipe was a little vague on a couple things, but it goes like this:
Recipe for homemade root beer (X 2 for 10 gal water cooler)
4 lbs. sugar
3 ½ gallon water
1 bottle Root beer extract
1 bottle Root beer flavor
4 lbs. dry ice.Add 4 lbs. sugar to 3 ½ gal water. Stir until sugar dissolved. Add 1 bottle root beer extract and 1 bottle root beer flavor. Stir until mixed. Add 4 lbs. of dry ice ½ to 1 hour before serving. Use gloves when working with dry ice. Dry ice will cause the container to look like a witches’ caldron. Do not stir nor put a lid on container. When “steam” from the dry ice disappears, root beer is ready to drink.
This recipe was shared with Glenn while in the Army. He started sharing it with Pack 150, Madrid at the Blue & Gold Banquets/ Crossovers and Arrow of Lights Ceremony from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.
Glenn’s widow Tamara shared the recipe with me a couple years ago.
The one thing I didn’t know is how much is 1 bottle of root beer extract and how much is one bottle of root beer flavor. I compared it to other root beer recipes and determined Glenn’s recipe calls for a 2 oz bottle of each. I changed his recipe slightly. I used 1 4 oz bottle of Shank’s root beer extract.
Johnathan and Logan assisted in the making of my first batch of what I am calling Sneaky Snake Root Beer. Here are some pictures:
Logan is wearing some of my Mom’s old dish gloves.
I decided on the name for my root beer on Saturday while cruising around Monroe County with Teresa. I was originally going to name it after Naima sorta and call it something like Gold Dog Root Beer, so I could put her mug on the bottles. However, I decided to name it after an old family memory. Maybe I was feeling nostalgic because Thanksgiving this year was obviously bittersweet at it was the first major holiday we’ve had without Mom. But I decided to base the name off the Tom T. Hall song “Sneaky Snake”.
When I was a kid and we would go down to my Dad’s darkroom, the music was mostly provided by his 8 track collection. My favorite of his 8 tracks was blue. It was Tom T. Hall’s Greatest Hits Volume II. I can’t swear that it was Volume II, but it was pretty close. My favorite song on this 8 track was “Sneaky Snake”. I still love that song, even though next to nobody outside of my family seems to appreciate its greatness.
The lyrics are:
Boys and girls take warning
If you go near the lake
Keep your eyes wide open
And look for sneaky snake
Now, maybe you won’t see him
And maybe you won’t hear
But he’ll sneak up behind you
And drink all your root beerAnd then sneaky snake goes dancing
Wiggling and a-hissing
Sneaky snake goes dancing
A-giggling and a-kissing
I don’t like old sneaky snake
He laughs too much you see
When he goes wiggling through the grass
It tickles his underneathWell sneaky snake drinks root beer
And he just makes me sick
When he is not dancing
He looks just like stick
Now he doesn’t have any arms or legs
You cannot see his ears
And while we are not looking
He’s stealing all of our beerAnd then sneak snake goes dancing
Wiggling and a-hissing
Sneaky snake goes dancing
A-giggling and a-kissing
I don’t like old sneaky snake
He laughs too much you see
When he goes wiggling through the grass
It tickles his underneath
So this is what the label on the bottle should look like, or would look like if I could get it to print correctly:
I’m definitely not a graphic designer, but I do like the picture part. The picture of the snake is from about 10 years ago, when I found a snake in Shorty and Doris’ flower bed. I photoshopped it up a bit though.
I might not explain everything about this under normal circumstances, but my nearly professional labeler Elizabeth is concerned that people might think it is name after the “I’m a Snake” guy of YouTube fame. It definitely is not. So don’t even try thinking that!
I have a few bottles of Batch 001 left. I’ve earmarked a few for December Movie Night. And the rest, well they might go to Elizabeth’s progeny. They apparently are big fans of Sneaky Snake Root Beer!
I’m going to continue to experiment with the recipe. Try different brands of extract. Try Glenn’s original recipe. I want to try mixing in some vanilla at some point too. I definitely need to figure out a way to capture more carbonation. I’m not sure how to do that yet, but I have some theories. Batch 001 will be followed by Batch 002 and 003 and so on and so forth more hopefully.
On Wednesday night I completed another successful month of THE SELFIE PROJECT. I don’t know that is was a particularly exciting month, but I think there are some good pictures in the collection.
Here are some of my favorites from June:
I hope there are some great pictures taken for this project in July.
This is your weekly reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is ADVENTURE:
ADVENTURE! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.
But what is an ADVENTURE image? An ADVENTURE image is simply any image that was taken while on an ADVENTURE or preparing for an ADVENTURE or going on an ADVENTURE. The theme reveal picture could qualify for all 3. The twist to this picture is that YOU have to figure out what you consider to be an ADVENTURE.
DON’T FORGET THAT INDEPENDENCE DAY IS SUNDAY, THEREFORE MANY PEOPLE HAVE MONDAY AS A VACATION. BUT PHOTOGRAPHY 139 DOES NOT TAKE HOLIDAYS. PLAN YOUR SUBMISSION ACCORDINGLY!!
Happy photo harvesting!