Category Archives: Teresa

Candid Portrait, Carla, Cathie, Elizabeth, Jesse, Kim, Kio, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Naima, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Toby, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 273 – FOOD

December 7, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

It is with a heavy heart that I want to start today’s post by honoring my cousin Alan, who suddenly passed away last Monday morning. He was a wonderful person and will definitely be missed. Here is his obituary, so you can get to know him a little bit as well:

Alan Lee Johnson
May 3, 1967 – November 30, 2020

Alan Lee Johnson, age 53, died suddenly on Monday, November 30, 2020 from a massive heart attack.

Alan, the son of Sheryl and Terry Johnson, was born at Boone County Hospital, May 3, 1967, at 8:17 a.m. and weighed 8lbs and 3oz.

He attended Lincoln Elementary School and was baptized at Central Christian Church where he attended Sunday School, participated in choir, Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF), and represented the youth at The Sanctuary Cornerstone Dedication Ceremony. In 1985, he graduated from Boone High School where he was an active member of the Swing Choir, chorale, theatre, and yearbook committee. Post high school he attended one semester at Iowa State University before moving to Los Angeles, California; Ames, Iowa; Jacksonville Beach, Florida; and most recently Des Moines, Iowa where he was employed at Vision for Less.

Alan loved music. He loved singing it, playing it on the piano, dancing to it, listening to it and sharing it with his nephews. Alan also enjoyed listening to the many programs on National Public Radio and reading a wide variety of books. He kept quotes that spoke to him and cherished his books. He enjoyed creating and viewing art with his sister and nephews and attending live musical and theatrical performances. Alan spent many years living two blocks off of the beach in Jacksonville, Florida. He relished the relaxed, unhurried attitude, beautiful scenery, and mild weather. Walking with his best friend David and his dog Humphrey along the beach while collecting sharks’ teeth, was a favorite activity along with piloting the family’s speed boat for his friends and family. Alan’s quick wit, gentle spirit, accepting, loyal and selfless nature made him a friend to all who knew him.

He is preceded in death by his grandparents: Doris and Lyle Paris, Maxine (Peg) and Richard (Dick) Johnson, aunt Charlene Paris, uncles Gerald Bennett and Dean Walter, cousins Olivia and Samuel Bennett.

Alan is lovingly remembered by his parents; Terry and Sheryl (Paris) Johnson; sister Dee Ann (Johnson) Wulbern; brother-in-law Shands Wulbern; nephews Carsten Alan and Andrew Shands Wulbern; closest friend David Henderson; aunts Charlotte Bennett, Delores (Dee) VanDePol, Lori Sebring and Dianna (Annie) Walter; uncles Lyle (Butch) Paris, Gary Paris, Richard VanDePol, Roger Sebring; and many loving cousins.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the family requests no home visits, and a visitation is not planned. Thoughts, prayers and cards will be appreciated, 702 Fremont Street, Boone, IA 50036. A private burial will be held at Linwood Park Cemetery at a later date.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be given to the Boone Food Pantry at IMPACT Community Action Partnership – Boone at 606 Greene Street, Boone, IA 50036.

Special thanks to all of the precious friends, old and new, that have held Alan in their hearts throughout the years.

I live in the same town as most of my cousins (on my Mom’s side of the family). There are a couple spread out in other states, but most live in central Iowa. That being said, it is rare that I see any of them. With the pandemic, I see them even less. Alan is the last cousin I’ve seen in person. That was in May, I think. His parents took over my Grandma’s house and I was over there looking through some of Grandma’s possessions. Alan was there helping point out some of the best stuff or we were laughing at some of her “worst” stuff.

When I heard of his sudden passing, it made me think about the last time all of the cousins were together. It was 2002. At Grandpa’s funeral. Grandma passed away on Christmas Day in 2019. She had a visitation a couple weeks later. Not all of the cousin’s made it back for that, cause there was supposed to be a family burial service on Mother’s Day weekend, where she was to be lain to rest next to Grandpa. That was another thing taken away from us by this pandemic. When the service happened, it was limited to 10 people.

I don’t know that all of my cousin’s would’ve made it back for the funeral, but I like to think they would have.

When I heard the news, I went to a trunk where I had put away some old pictures. In there I found a picture taken on the day of Grandpa’s funeral. The day that would end up being the last day that all of us were together. 18 years ago.

If you are wondering which one in the picture is Alan, he isn’t in the picture. When everybody gathered up on the stage in the Fellowship Hall of the Central Christian Church, he wasn’t there. He had ran home to take some medication (if memory is correct). I don’t know why we couldn’t wait 15 minutes for him to get back to take this picture. My memory doesn’t hold that reasoning.

If I had to take a guess, it was because it was thought that we would be able to get this cousin picture at the next family gathering. A wedding. A family reunion. God forbid, another funeral (and there have been too many in the following 18 years). Somewhere along the way, a picture with Alan in the mix would be taken. It just never happened. That makes me even sadder, that whatever happened on the day of Grandpa’s funeral that caused this picture to be taken without Alan happened.

Since I don’t have a picture of Alan easily available, I lifted this picture off his Facebook page:

It was from near the last day I saw him. He was helping sort Grandma’s attic treasures down to the garage for the family to go through. I’m sure it isn’t the best picture of him out there, but I think his personality and sense of humor really comes through in it.

Rest in peace Alan. You are missed.

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62 straight weeks y’all. Sorry, I meant 62 straight weeks all of you! Good to see so many of you have good food in your lives! Also glad to see a submission by a 9, or maybe a 10 year old. Makes me proud to see that THE RANDOM WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE ripples across generations.

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

Elizabeth Nordeen

Kim Barker

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Tamara Peterson

Michelle Haupt

Jesse Howard

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Cathie Raley

Katelyn Augustin

Micky Augustin

Mike Vest

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:

FACELESS PORTRAIT

FACELESS PORTRAIT! What a great theme! But what is a FACELESS PORTRAIT? A FACELESS PORTRAIT is simply a picture of somebody that doesn’t include their face. It doesn’t even have to include their head. It is also possible to do this theme without including any parts of their body at all. Pictures of objects that are unique to a person can also be a FACELESS PORTRAIT.

Click on a link below to have a look back at all the times in the past that FACELESS PORTRAIT has been a theme:

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 6 – FACELESS PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 81 – FACELESS PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 144 & WEEK 145

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 181 – FACELESS PORTRAIT

WPC – WEEK 252 – FACELESS PORTRAIT

I look forward to seeing the new interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

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

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

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very faceless Monday!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Flowers, Grandma, Iowa State, Logan, Macro, Mom, Railroad, Teresa

2010-05-24

December 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

There was a very large collection of images in the folder 2010-05-24. Most of them are flower pictures. Some taken from my yard. Others taken from Reiman Gardens. I’ll just get to it, because there is a ton of photos here:

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:

Reiman Gardens

RWPE #20 – PANNING CAMERA BLUR

The Yard

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 23 ALPHA

PERSONAL PHOTO PROJECT OF THE WEEK NO. 23 BETA

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve daisies.

Alexis, Birthdays, Brandon, Elainie, Flowers, Frank, Johnathan, Logan, Macro, Mom, Russ, Teresa, WPC - Reminder

On the Rocks

December 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start the day by wishing a couple people a happy birthday. I need to start with my nephew Brandon. Happy birthday Brandon!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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It is also Frank’s birthday. Frank was instrumental in getting this website up and going. Its first home was the webserver living in his basement. He helped get it set up originally and hosted it for free and helped with the domain registration. I don’t think I’ve seen Frank since the pandemic started, and that really sucks. Happy birthday Frank!

I hope your birthday was as amazing as you want it to be!

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I started my freezing flowers in blocks of ice with your standard daisy. But I thought I would try some flowers with more color. So next I tried Brown-eyed Susans and Zinnias.

I wasn’t done playing with this idea still. So there are more ice block flower pictures yet to be curated.

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

FOOD

A FOOD photo is any image of FOOD or people eating FOOD or ingredients to make FOOD or people preparing FOOD or people cleaning up after eating FOOD.

Happy photo harvesting!

Alexis, Anders, Andree, Andy, Baier, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Billy, Brandon, Carla, Colleen, Derrick, Elainie, Flat Earth Joe, Holidays, J.T., Jason, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Johnathan, Jonah, Jorge, Kio, Logan, Michelle, Micky, Mom, Nader, Naima, Nate, Nora, Scottie D., Shannon, Teresa, Vest, Willy

Blessings 2020

November 26, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

Let’s face it. 2020 has been a terrible year. I could spend hours and hours polishing this turd, but a turd is still a turd.

I basically only see 2 other people on a regular basis right now. Willy and I haven’t held a Friday Night Supper Club since March 13. We went to Jimmy’s for their Friday the 13th sale. I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen any of my nieces and nephews this year. I’ve been able to hold a couple of Union Street Theater Nights in the reconfigured Union Street Theater, but it isn’t really the same. The masks and the sound of the air purifiers makes conversation a little difficult and food is definitely a missing element. Since March, the only stores I have been inside are the Boone Wal-Mart and Boone Hardware. I go to Hy-Vee every other week. I’ve seen Bethany twice. Nate and Laura once. Becca, not at all. I haven’t seen the Lockners at all. I’ve seen the Gorshes thrice. I run into Willy around town now and again. Jay stops by here and there to work on his homework. I see Jesse now and again. I haven’t met Kalista’s baby. Baier, Russell, Andree? Distant memories. Since I left the Computer Mine with the belief that I would be working from home for a few weeks, the only co-workers of note that I’ve seen in person are Vest, Lowell, Kim, and Elizabeth. I haven’t met Jorge’s twins. My church has had maybe a dozen worship services and those are suspended again. The Mission Trip is cancelled. There will be no Mission Trip next year. Youth Group has been put on hold indefinitely. For the first time since September 18, 2004, they played football games at Jack Trice Stadium and I wasn’t in attendance. The Cyclones Women’s Basketball Season just tipped off. I wasn’t there. I will most likely, not be able to attend any Cyclones Men’s games this year.

All of that being said, 2020 has still been an embarrassment of blessings for me. In a time where the pandemic was horribly mismanaged by an inept and corrupt federal government, causing employment rates to go through the roof and food insecurity and evictions to sweep across the country like a second plague, I have not had to worry about my job. As these pandemic pounds can attest, I haven’t once had to worry about my next meal. I was in a solid enough financial position that when the $1200 dollar stimulus check hit my bank account I wasn’t sure what to do with it. We were supposed to put it where it would do the most good, so I donated some of it to Joe Biden’s campaign.

While the only people I see on a regular basis are Mom and Teresa. I am still blessed with a pretty incredible family:

While I see them rarely, I still have a pretty incredible set of friends:

While we don’t get to worship an awesome God together right now, I still have a pretty incredible church family:

While I continue to work at home, I still talk to and try to stay in contact with my amazing work family:

And while Naima is becoming off the charts spoiled, I’m blessed to have her in my life as well:

I hope to see so much more of all of you in 2021. In fact, I’ve started to compile a list of things that I look forward to doing when this pandemic subsides. It isn’t a glamorous list. But that is a sign of 2020.

Alexis, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Holidays, Jason, Logan, Mom, Photoshop, Russ, Teresa

2010-05-03

November 14, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2010-05-03 are from a Mother’s Day celebration at Carla and Jason’s old house. We celebrated a week early because Teresa was going to Kentucky for Mother’s Day.

A few of the pictures in this collection were taken by Alexis:

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

VACATION DAY 9B – MOTHER’S DAY EARLY

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve a trip to Brookside Park among other things.

Alexis, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Elainie, Flowers, Grandma, Jason, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Sabas, Teresa

In the Cold October Snow

November 4, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to begin today by wishing Elainie a happy birthday. Happy birthday Elainie!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be.

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Back in late October, we got a bit of unexpected snow. I took a few flower pictures afterwards.

Fortunately, fall weather wasn’t done with us yet. But that snow pretty much did in all of my flowers.

Andy, Angie, Animals, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Cathie, Dawn, Elizabeth, Evie, Jesse, Kalista, Kim, Kio, Michelle, Micky, Monica, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 266 – BLACK AND WHITE

October 19, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Double nickels people! Sammy Haggar might not be able to drive 55, but we can do 55 straight weeks of double digits like it ain’t no thing.

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

Andy Sharp

Monica Henning

Elizabeth Nordeen

Dawn Krause

Kio Dettman

Micky Augustin

Tamara Peterson

Angie DeWaard

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Angie DeWaard

Kio Dettman

Christopher D. Bennett

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Michelle Haupt

Teresa Kahler

Mike Vest

Kalista Howard

Jesse Howard

ANIMAL

ANIMAL! What a great theme! An ANIMAL photo is a simple enough concept. It is merely any picture of an ANIMAL (wild or domesticated) or an ANIMAL byproduct (meat, toy, tracks, food). Easy enough!

Here is a look back at all the times in the past that ANIMALS has been a theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

RWPE Y2 #44 – ANIMAL

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 26 – PET

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 77 – ANIMAL

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 153 – ANIMAL

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 164 – WILD ANIMAL

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 166 – PETS

WPC – WEEK 254 – ANIMAL

I look forward to seeing your new interpretations!

HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION
The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

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

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very animalistic Monday!

Alexis, Animals, Birthdays, Carla, Elainie, Jesse, Johnathan, Linda, Logan, Sarah Toot, Teresa, Vacation

Walnut Woods Bird Blind

October 14, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I need to start today by wishing my cousin Sarah a happy birthday. Happy birthday Sarah!

I hope it is as amazing as you want it to be!

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Back when I was on vacation, one of the State Parks I visited was Walnut Woods in the Des Moines area. I’ve driven by the sign for the turnoff to Walnut Woods hundreds of times. It seemed like I should finally make that turn and see what it is all about.

I didn’t get to spend much time exploring Walnut Woods, but by far my favorite thing I found there was the bird blind that overlooked about a hundred bird feeders. The bird blind is closed because of the badly mismanaged pandemic, but you could still stand near the bird blind and enjoy the birds. I probably didn’t have the exact lens I would have wanted, but I still took a plethora of bird photos. Even took some I liked.

This trip to Walnut Woods inspired me to want to buy my own portable bird blind. I’m going to get right on that after I buy a larger external hard drive, 3 new monitors, and a new projection screen. Maybe a retired Iowa State football locker. It is definitely on the list!

Alexis, Art, Birthdays, Brandon, Carla, Cathie, Drone, Elainie, Elizabeth, Jason, Jesse, Johnathan, Kim, Kio, Logan, Mom, Politics, Self-Portrait, Shannon, Tamara, Teresa, Vest

WPC – WEEK 264 – SIGNS

October 5, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

Sorry that this is several minutes late today. I went to cast my ballot for the 2020 election during my lunch break from the mine:

A reminder that if you live in Iowa, early voting starts today! It might be easier and safer than voting on November 3. But you have to make the choice that is best for you.

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I need to start today by wishing Johnathan a happy birthday. Happy birthday Johnathan!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

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WooHoo! 53 straight weeks of double digit submissions!! Once again, I didn’t even have to send out any reminder texts.

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

Kio Dettman

Tamara Peterson

Shannon Bardole-Foley

Jesse Howard

Christopher D. Bennett

Teresa Kahler

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Elizabeth Nordeen

Carla Stensland

Mike Vest

SELF-PORTRAIT

SELF-PORTAIT! What a great theme! But what is a SELF-PORTRAIT? This is simply a portrait where the subject and the photographer are one and the same. If you don’t like taking your own picture, you can always take a picture of somebody else taking a SELF-PORTRAIT. That is a pro tip for ya!

Here is a look back at the previous 7 times SELF-PORTRAIT was a theme:

RWPE #8 – SELF-PORTRAIT

RWPE Y2 #52 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 25 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 68 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 144 & WEEK 145

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE – WEEK 179 – SELF-PORTRAIT

WPC – WEEK 245 – SELF-PORTRAIT

HOUSEKEEPINGA MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

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

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very selfish Monday!

Alexis, Birthdays, Black & White, Brandon, Carla, Dad, Drone, Grandma, Jason, Johnathan, Kanoa, Logan, Mom, Nature, Panorama, Still Life, Teresa, WPC - Alternate, WPC - Reminder

Rodan139: Water Alternate

September 25, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett

I need to start today off by wishing my Mom a happy birthday. Without here, none of this would be possible. Not only would I never exist, she also bought me my first camera. A Minolta Maxxum 450si.

Happy birthday Mom!

It hope is as amazing a birthday as you want it to be!

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I went to Ledges on Sunday morning to take my WATER picture for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. I took several pictures. Here are some of the others I took that weren’t ready for the world on Monday.

I hope to take Rodan139 out again this weekend. On Tuesday I came off a self-quarantine from a potential exposure from a previous Sunday. As it turns out, I wasn’t exposed, so good news for the friendly skies!

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This is your reminder that STILL LIFE is this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

A STILL LIFE image is a picture of an inanimate object. Usually posed.

Happy photo harvesting!