Category Archives: Johnathan

9 Emotions Project, Alexis, Andy, Baby Got Rack, Bethany, Bill, Black & White, Blogging, Boone County Fair, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Dory, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Iowa State, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Kalista, Kelly, Mission Trip, Naima, Railroad, Road Trip, Saydie, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait Project, State Fair, Taylan, Willy, Youth Group

An Artist’s Notebook Post #3751

May 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

We have hit another milestone in the history of “An Artist’s Notebook”. Post #3751. I would normally make these statistical look back at the past type posts on even numbers, but I felt you guys were probably chomping at the bit to see the entries for RULE OF THIRDS.

This blog/online journal burst onto the world on August 9, 2006. Nearly 14 years later, it is somehow still around. That is success of some kind. At least it is perseverance.

As you know, I like meaningless statistics. That is what these posts are usually about. That and to take stock as to how I’m doing with my original mission to:

#1. Write in it.
#2. To be truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings.
#3. Produce something that makes me worthy of having a pretentious sounding journal title like: “An Artist’s Notebook”.

I’m going to say that I continue to manage all 3. You probably wouldn’t know if I was being honest with you on my thoughts and feelings anyways. You’ll just have to take my work for it.

The last time we looked at these stats in Post #3500 on October 4, 2019 these were the 10 most popular categories on “An Artist’s Notebook”:

10. Photography – 311 Posts
9. Teresa – 312 Posts
8. Carla – 314 Posts
7. Shannon -351 Posts
6. Black & White – 390 Posts
5. Weekly Photo Challenge – 394 Posts
4. Jesse – 404 Posts
3. Animals – 477 Posts
2. Portrait – 516 Posts
1. Flowers – 537 Posts

Here are the current “standings”:

#10 Miller Triplet 1st Birthday Party – 13751 Views

#9 Family Happenings – 14222 Views

#8 Iowa State Cyclones Football – 2019 – 15711 Views

#7Naima– 16108 Views

#6 Taylan Howard -2020– 21320 Views

#5 Autumn Sharp – 2020– 21852 Views

#4 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 6– 29218 Views

#3 Selfie Project – 2019 – 40726 Views

#2 9 Emotions Project – 43867 Views

#1 Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 7 – 48433 Views

These are the 10 Most Popular Images (by Views):

10. 973 Views

9. 1056 Views

8. 1063 Views

7.1082 Views

6. 1116 Views

5. 1141 Views

4. 1635 Views

3. 1261 Views

1283 Views

1. 2283 Views

I’m surprised that THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT is still so popular, since I haven’t touched it in over a year. But I do hope to get back to it. In fact, I have purchased a few things to make it possible to get back to THE 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT while safely physically distancing. So if you are interesting in being a victim… err… a subject. You know where to find me.

Alexis, Andy, Birthdays, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Carla, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Johnathan, Kalista, Kanoa, Kelly, Kupono, Sabas, Saydie, Taylan

Elainie Homecoming Ch. 2

May 6, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start this post by announcing that the Sharp family is making laundry detergent like crazy and donating it to area food banks like IMPACT and the Toreador Pantry.

However, they need more laundry detergent jugs, so they have set up a garbage can at the end of their driveway where people can donate jugs for them to fill. No jug is too small or too big.

You can find the donation dropoff spot at the end of their driveway.

The live at 1005 South Division Street in Boone. Basically keep going south on Division Street until you can’t go any farther. There will be some photos of their work shared at a later point.

Thanks to anybody that donates!

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Happy birthday to Kelly! She doesn’t subscribe to this blog, so she will never see this, but happy birthday anyways:

I hope it is a great birthday!

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Time for another collection of Stensland pictures I took when Elainie came home last fall:

A reminder that I love the candid pictures that I take between the posed pictures so much more than I do the posed pictures. But that is maybe just me.

So much more coming from Elainie’s homecoming.

Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jesse, Jill, Johnathan, Macro

2009-11-04

May 2, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The images in the folder 2009-11-04 are a collection of pictures from a little bit all over the place. The majority of the pictures are from Johnathan’s senior pictures photo shoot. But there are also pictures in there from when I completed Window Project #1 and from when I was modeling a shirt I was given from when I was initiated into a group known as “The Girls”.

I’m not sure if “The Girls” is still a thing, but I still own the shirt. I’m sure it fits a little tight now. I don’t know if it will survive the great clothing purge that is coming, but I give it a fighting chance.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from folder 2009-11-04:

Johnathan invented the fake looking smile. It didn’t exist before him. I’m pretty sure the remnants of Window Project #1 are still in my basement. It fell apart. It might go in the burn pile. I have lots of stuff I’m going to burn when the burn ban gets lifted in Boone. Lots of stuff in that basement are itching for a burnin’.

I tried and failed to change the name of “The Girls” to “The Badass Action Sqaud”. That is perhaps why “The Girls” lasted staying power of a group with a great name. For example, “The Boone County Sea Dogs”.

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:

Johnathan – Day 1 Part !
Johnathan – Day 1 Part B
Johnathan – Day 1 Part C
Johnathan – Day 1 Part D
Johnathan – Day 1 Part E
Window Project #1
Confabulation

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve Iowa State football and a rabbit.

Alexis, Baier, Becky, Carla, Eric, Grandma, House, Jason, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Mom, Nader, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Willy

Chris’ New House 2009

April 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

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:

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.

Alexis, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Elainie, Formal Portrait, Johnathan, Sabas, Work

Elainie Homecoming Ch. 1

April 24, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

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.

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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.

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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:

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

Andree, Art, Jesse, Johnathan, Jorge, Logan, Railroad, Russell, Self-Portrait

2009-10-01

April 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start my post by wishing a very happy birthday to my man Andree!

Happy birthday Andree!

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The picture in the folder 2009-10-01 are from a trip I took to an Art Festival in Ames with Johnathan and Logan. Plus there are a few pictures there of Thomas the Tank.

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:

Coltrane’s 1st Wife’s Middle Name

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve shirts with beavers on them.

Alexis, Birthdays, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Derrick, Elainie, Event, Grandma, Jason, Jay, Jen, Johnathan, Mom, Monica, Movies, Photoshop, Robert, Sara, Teresa

Fly Iowa: The Final Chapter

March 15, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Buckle up Nancy, this is going to be a long one!

I need to start this post by wishing a very happy birthday to the middle child of the Bennett Sibling Triumvirate. Happy birthday Carla!

Here are some pictures of Carla:

I hope your birthday had the exact amounts of joy that you wanted!

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It is also Monica’s birthday. I think it has been a couple of years since I last saw Monica in person. But I know that she would still take a bullet for me. Small caliber. In the arm. Maybe the leg.

Happy birthday Monica! Here are some Monica pics:

I hope your birthday was absolutely wonderful!

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The Union Street Theater is pleased to announce that a date has been chosen for March Movie Night. March movie night will be Sunday, March 29. March Movie Night will be a tribute to one of my favorite actors, Kirk Douglas. Kirk was the start of a few of my favorite movies of all-time. PATHS OF GLORY, LUST FOR LIFE, and SPARTACUS. Kirk Douglas was instrumental in elevating the greatest filmmaker in history, Stanley Kubrick, to prominence. If he had done nothing else, that would have been enough.

Kirk Douglas passed away in February at the age of 103. The Union Street Theater is pleased to pay tribute to the iconic Kirk Douglas with our March Movie Night. He is only the second actor to receive such a tribute. Burt Reynolds got a similar tribute in 2018.

These are the movies that will play for the Kirk Douglas Tribute. First, the B Movie is:

SATURN 3

Here is a synopsis of SATURN 3 from IMDB.com:

Two lovers stationed at a remote base in the asteroid fields of Saturn are intruded upon by a retentive technocrat from Earth and his charge: a malevolent eight foot robot.

The feature film will be:

LONELY ARE THE BRAVE

Here is a synopsis of LONELY ARE THE BRAVE from IMDB.com:

A fiercely independent cowboy gets himself locked up in prison to escape with an old friend.

Anders is also providing a short film that is very intriguing. This will also be the 3rd, but hopefully not the last round of Jay’s Root Beer Symposium.

To Recap:

What: Union Street Theater Movie Night
Movies: SATURN 3 & LONELY ARE THE BRAVE
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2020
Time: 6 PM
Where: UNION STREET THEATER
TOILET PAPER SITUATION: As of right now, I still have plenty of toilet paper.

Hope to see you there!

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Might as well just get to it. This is the 4th collection of images from Fly Iowa:

Only about 800 more images to curate!

Alexis, Amanda, Brandon, Carla, Event, Holidays, Johnathan, Kanoa, Kupono, Mom, Teresa

Walking the Floor Over You

February 13, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

It was a bittersweet Christmas for the Bennetts. As always, there was much joy when the family gets together, but while the 2019 Christmas will always be known as the first Christmas with Kanoa. It will also be the Christmas when Amanda and Logan announced that they are expecting a new bundle of joy in 2020. It will also be known as the Christmas where Grandma passed away.
The good outweighs the bad though.

Here are some pictures from the Bennett Christmas, some are cruddy cell phone pictures that I took while experimenting with a camera phone app:

I don’t usually dwell on the names of my blog posts. I either figure that people don’t care or that they google it and figure it out. Although Google won’t always unravel the riddle.

This riddle is a reference to Ernest Tubb, who was my Grandma’s favorite musician. I’d like to share the lyrics to one of my favorite Ernest Tubb songs to close this post out:

Yesterday’s tears are still fallin’ yesterday’s dreams are still broken
Yesterday’s love is still livin’ a love that will never be spoken
I’ve tried so hard to forget dear tried not too smart everything
You are the one who has given but all you’ve received dear is pain
My life has been such a sorrow my world has crumbled like clay
My heart has slowly been dying since you told me goodbye that day

Long weary years you have suffered to keep from hurting someone
If only I could repay you for all of the kind things you’ve done
You haven’t spared me my darling everything to you I owe
All I can say is I love so much more than anyone know
So yesterday’s tears are still fallin’ yesterday’s dreams are still broken
Yesterday’s love is still livin’ a love that will never be spoken

Art, Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Flowers, Holidays, Jason, Johnathan, Logan, Macro

The Ultimate Triumph

January 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I took a few pictures on Easter of last year that seems like a good time to share.

I think the pictures of the Easter Egg Hunt were taken by Jaxon. In fact I’m positive they were taken by Jaxon.

We are a little more than a month away from Lent now and I’ve been thinking on what I’m going to do for Lent. I would say that traditionally Methodists don’t really give up something for Lent. Instead they add something for Lent.

I’ve been playing with the idea of going pescatarian for Lent.

Why pescatarian?

#1. Eating less meat is the best thing you can do to help the planet:

Industrialized agriculture and the onset of the worst species extinction crisis since the demise of the dinosaurs means that livestock and humans now make up 96% of all mammals. But despite consuming the vast majority of farmland, meat and dairy accounts for just 18% of all food calories and around a third of protein.

The mighty hoofprint of farmed meat isn’t just inefficient. Deforestation to make way for livestock, along with methane emissions from cows and fertilizer use, creates as much greenhouse gas emissions as all the world’s cars, trucks and airplanes. Meat rearing practices risk mass extinctions of other animals, as well as spawn significant pollution of streams, rivers and, ultimately, the ocean.

#2. Goals should be realistic and attainable. While going pescatarian will vastly reduce the amount of meat I eat, it is a realistic goal, because I know there is no way I could pull off going full vegetarian and let’s not talk about going vegan.

#3. A pescatarian diet is healthier. It is healthy for the heart, reduces the risks of some cancer, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

#4. The prophet Kurt Cobain taught us that “it’s okay to eat fish, ’cause they don’t have any feelings.”

This means that I need to get that road trip to Corning with Shannon to tenderloin it up on the books before February 26.

Alexis, Alisa, Anders, Andree, Andy, Animals, Baby Got Rack, Baier, Becca, Becky, Bethany, Bill, Billy, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Carla, Dae Hee, Derrick, Dory, Elainie, Evie, Flat Earth Joe, Frank, Geri, Grandma, Iowa State, Jason, Jaxon, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jonah, Jorge, Kanoa, Linda, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nora, Pastor Sarah, Russell, Sara, Scottie D., Self-Portrait, Shannon, Suzie, Teresa, Vest, Willy, Youth Group

Gratitudo

November 28, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Thanksgiving! Every year on Thanksgiving I like to think about my many, many blessings. I know, real original. You should feel free to try it sometime. But make sure you let everybody know that I invented gratitude.

I am thankful for my family, no matter how family is defined:

I am thankful for my friends:

I am blessed with an amazing church family:

I am blessed with a decent job and work friends that I don’t mind seeing more than 40 hours a week:

I’m blessed to share my house with Naima:

This is only a small sampling of my blessings, but I feel to go on much longer would sound like boasting. Thank all of you for choosing to be part of my life!