Category Archives: Mom

Candid Portrait, Flowers, Jay, Macro, Mom, Road Trip, Still Life, Teresa

Kalona (Part 1)

October 14, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Some pictures from the trip to Kalona.

The beginning of the trip was a little bit sad. It turns out that one of my favorite restaurants, The Kalona Cupboard, has went out of business. We tried out The Parlor Cafe, but it was not anywhere near as good as The Kalona Cupboard. In fact, they microwaved everything. I mean everything.

If you don’t know, I have a pretty big prejudice against food made in the microwave.

On top of that, the “chef” (who both took your order, microwaved it and put it on your plate) asked me if I was an Iowa State fan.

“Yes.”

“How much did you guys lose by last week?”

Iowa fans. God love them, if there is any room left for how much they already love themselves.

After the disappointment of the Cupboard closing and the poor food from the Microwave Cafe, we at least found Yotty’s Ice Cream Shop. It was excellent.

Carla, Dad, History, Mom, Slice of Life, Teresa

Happy Birthday Mom!

September 26, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I thought I would celebrate my Mom’s birthday by posting some pictures of her from the 1970s.

I think that might be our old milk truck in the background!

With the best child.

With the middle child.

Out at McHose Park.

Out at the old house on W. 15th Street.

On King.

Doing something to a bird.

On a tractor.

On W. 15th Street.

Swanky lawn ornaments, At least I don’t think that is really Quakers.

Doing Dishes.

With Grandma Bennett. Perhaps the only known picture in existence of Mom drinking.*

Christmas with Dad, Carla and Teresa

With the eldest child.

While I was going through this album I found a picture of our crazy old neighbor lady that wanted to push me down a well. I’ll have to post her picture in the future.

* I also considered: “I’m Teresa – Look at me! I have to force my way into the picture!”

Event, Formal Portrait, Grandma, Mom

Majors Family Reunion

September 21, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

I made an appearance at the annual Majors Family Reunion on Saturday. I took a few pictures.

I guess I did make it to a reunion this year.

Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Contests, Flowers, Jay, Mom, Nature, Night, Shannon, Teresa

Selected Pictures

September 6, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

This year I took a different route selecting pictures for the Photo Contest. I put together 20 pictures and then had certain people select and name 1 picture from that list. I then entered those pictures.

I liked the way this process worked out. I will do it again in the future, with only a slight tweak here and there.

These are the pictures that were entered:

15 Minutes

This picture was selected by Shannon. The picture was part of my experimentation with light painting. This is an experiment that I need to start back up again. The name comes from the flower being in the spotlight.

Soaking up the Rays

This picture was selected by Teresa. This picture was taken at the State Fair.

Grains and Creases

This picture was selected by Jay. This picture was taken of wooden praying hands outside of a Baptist church in Paducah, Kentucky.

Deity Saturation

This picture was selected by my Mom. This picture was taken north of Boone. I actually named this picture. It comes from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Nature is saturated with deity.”

“The Last Dragon”

I picked this picture because one person I asked to pick a picture never made a choice. I really can’t remember what I named this picture, but it might have been named after the classic 80s kung fu flick Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon. It is also possible that I named it “Jay LeRoy”. This picture was taken while I was sitting on my back on the sidewalk in front of the basilica in Dyersville. There has been a glow effect thrown onto this picture.

The Last Refuge

I also picked this picture because I needed to switch out another picture that didn’t print very well. This picture was originally in color, but I switched it to black and white because I wanted to enter more than 1 black and white picture. The name of this picture comes from the Samuel Johnson quote: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” This picture was taken at ground zero of the Ames fireworks show. This picture did get 3rd Place in the Black and White division. One more ribbon for the trunk.

I am currently taking application for photo selectors for next year.

Animals, Candid Portrait, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jeff Daniel, Mom, State Fair, Street Photography, Teresa, Yin

State Fair Olla Podrida

August 18, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

A random selection of pictures from my trip to the State Fair with my Mom, Jay and Teresa.

Ran into Jeff and Yin on the shuttle to the Fair.

My new favorite hat.

My favorite State Fair Food. (I firmly believe that “food on a stick” is for tourists.)

Pioneer Hall

My favorite State Fair dessert.

You get to put on your own syrup! As much as you want!

Super Bull

2nd Largest Boar

Goat

Cow nose.

Mom in Family Center

Mom in the Family Center

This is a cake.

Also a cake.

Family Photo

Bridge

Elvis Impersonator

I didn’t take as many pictures as usual, but I did take more flower pictures than normal.

Carla, Dad, Mom, Slice of Life, Teresa

The Eldest Sister

August 17, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Happy Birthday to my eldest sister, albeit a couple days late!

The old Bennett Antique Shop in the background.

Teresa and Carla

Swanky

Teresa and Mom

Teresa and Dad

Colorado

Teresa and Dad

Colorado

Now by looking at some of those pictures you would guess that Teresa must be like a million years old now. Her friend Rob assures me that she is only 45.*

* I should state that because women are sensitive about their age, Teresa isn’t actually 45 either.

Carla, Dad, History, Mom, Slice of Life, Teresa

1982ish

June 11, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Blogger has been flaky at best. If you subscribe to the Journal, you should get an e-mail immediately, but the entry might not be found on the website for a small amount of time.

I apologize for the low quality of these scans. I was working with a low end scanner at work.

Alexis, Animals, Art, Carla, History, Mom, Steph, Teresa

Mt. St. Helens Anniversary

May 18, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

On May 18, 1980 three things happened.

1. Mt. St. Helens erupted.
2. Stephanie Kasper was born.
3. I turned 5.

5 years earlier I was born.

A cousin of mine once gave my two sisters and I the very backhanded compliment that we turned out pretty well considering the white trash from which we came.

I don’t want to dwell on that story and its obvious hypocrisies. I use it to illustrate a point. If I ever become a person worth remembering historians will note that on the date of my birth my parents were at The Hillbilly Auction.

Now I wasn’t born at The Hillbilly Auction. Although that would have made a great story. It will be noted by some future scholar that even “Greatness” can come from such humble roots. “Christopher D. Bennett’s mom went into labor while she was manning the antique booth at The Hillbilly Auction” the future narrator of a documentary will intone while on the screen will flicker an actress playing my mom in 1970s garb sitting in front of a camper with a bunch of antiques sitting on a table in front of her clutching her stomach. An actor portraying my dad will come out of the camper and rush to her side.

I don’t know if there will be actresses portraying my sisters. I don’t know if they were there. I should look into that. I want them in the documentary even if they weren’t there. A pig tailed red headed little kid to portray Teresa. A dark skinned black haired actress to portray Carla. It seems like I’m missing a perfectly good opportunity to post pictures of them from their childhood. I’ll have to look into that too.

Well 33 years later, I can’t return to The Hillbilly Auction. Instead, I witnessed the evidence that my niece Alexis is a hooligan.

Just look at this vandalism!

Although I do approve of her use of colors, but the message is so cliche. I will expect better from her in her future acts of vandalism.

I also took a ride down to Jester Park in the Howardmobile. My car decided to no longer have brake lights. I’m going to need to do something about that in the near future. Any way, check out some pictures.

It was a perfectly adequate birthday. I also got this sweet birthday card from Teresa. I need to scan that and post that at some point in the future.

Alexis, Brandon, Carla, Elainie, Holidays, Jason, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Russ

Mother’s Day Barbecue

May 12, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Some random images from the Mother’s Day Barbecue

Brandon

Alexis

Brandon

Carla

Elainie

Jason

Johnathan

Teresa and Russ

Logan

“The Perfect Marshmallow”

Roasting Marshmallows

Russ

Russ Grilling

Russ and Brandon

Russ

Teresa

Since I know it would be missed if I didn’t post it, the picture of meat.

The Meat

I hope your Mother’s Day was at least 50% as enjoyable as mine.

Blogging, Mom, Work

Cheese Subscription

April 30, 2008 Christopher D. Bennett

Subscriptions

It has come to my attention that some people would like to get e-mail notifications when this blog has been updated. I thought a rudimentary lesson in RSS Feeds a few months back would have quieted the clamor for e-mail subscriptions. It has not, so I am now offering an e-mail subscription service to this blog.

If you would like an e-mail notification whenever I update this blog delivered to your e-mail box every time that I add new info to this blog, then all you have to do is drop me a line and I will add you to the list. I’m pretty sure all of you know my e-mail address or can find it on this website, so I’m not dropping a super convenient link below this paragraph.

Cheese

Many of you know that my favorite place that isn’t in Boone County or affiliated with Iowa State University is Kalona. I like to make a visit to Kalona at least two times a year. As many of you know, I have not made it farther from my door than Des Moines this year. While that situation will be rectified with The Big Jesus Roadtrip next Friday and then the Cardiff Giant Roadtrip the following day, my mom did make the pilgrimage to Kalona with a couple sisters and her mom last Saturday.

I was unable to make the trip because I busy busting my back watching other people dump and rake sand on that day. However, my mom was good enough to bring me back the number one thing I covet from Kalona: cheese curds.

Cheese Curds Make Me Happy

I don’t care what people say about Wisconsin. I don’t care what people say about the Amana Colonies. For me, the best cheese curds in the world come from Kalona. There are many other great things about Kalona, but I covet the cheese curds.