Category Archives: Jen

Birthdays, Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jen, Personal Photo Project, Sara

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 16

May 7, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This is the first Personal Photo Project of the Week where I didn’t actually take the pictures. I just designed them. Sara was kind enough to take time off from her studies to come up and take these pictures that graced my birthday barbecue invitations.

These pictures are not presented in order of personal preference, but simply in the order that they were taken.

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 16

Done Got Old Alpha

Done Got Old Beta

Done Got Old Gamma

Done Got Old Delta

Done Got Old Epsilon

Done Got Old Zeta

Done Got Old Eta

Done Got Old Iota

Done Got Old Kappa

Done Got Old Lambda

Done Got Old Mu

Done Got Old Nu

Done Got Old Xi

Done Got Old Omnicron

Done Got Old Pi

The theme for the invites this year came from an old blues song originally recorded by Junior Kimbrough, (I think) but was introduced to me by Buddy Guy on his album Sweet Tea. An album that I believe might have been a gift from a Sam Goody employee.

I’m not going to pretend that the song is a masterwork, but you never know where you will find inspiration.

Done Got Old

Well, I done got old,
Can’t do the things I used to
‘Cause I’m an old man

Well, I done got old,
Well, I done got old,
I can’t do the things I used to do
“Cause I done got old,

Remember the day, baby
That done passed and gone
When I could love you
Most all night long

But now things gone changed
And I done got old
I can’t do the things I used to do
‘Cause I’m an old man

I can’t look like I used to
I can’t walk like I used to
I can’t love like I used to,

And now things gone changed
When I done got old
I can’t do the things I used to do
Because I’m an old man

And I’m an old man
I’m an old man
I’m an old man
And I’m not the same
I’m a very old man

In addition to Sara taking the pictures I should thank her for loaning me the prop cane. Derrick was also instrumental (bad pun intended) in loaning me the unstringed, left handed guitar with real bullet holes.

After the photo shoot, Sara and I met up with Jen and Derrick and went to Wallaby’s for celebratory fried mushrooms. Something that I like to think is a tradition for us.

To answer two surprisingly common questions:

1. Yes, the white shoes were intentional. A lot of people have a problem getting their head around the white shoes, but believe me they were very intentional. Even Sara had a little difficulty with them. Her first few pictures she tried to shoot around them until I told her that they should be in the picture.
2. My favorite pictures are Alpha and Mu.

I ordered something like 75 prints and since I only have about 10 friends and I don’t have much use for pictures of me, if you show up to the barbecue and want an additional picture of Blind Dog Bennett, that might be arranged.

One last sidenote, the guitar is destined to be turned into a clock, but if it doesn’t become a timepiece, Derrick is going to set it on fire and smash it. After all, that is what Derrick likes to do.

Baier, Basketball, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Derrick, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Nate, Schmidt, Still Life, Vacation

Vacation Day 3 – Guinea Pig Denial

May 4, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I woke up early on Monday morning. I’m not sure if it was the excitement of the forthcoming trip or if the rumors of Greg McDermott’s departure were so exciting to me that I was like a little kid on Christmas anxiously awaiting the chance to rip the wrapping paper off of his new Omega Supreme!

As I prepared for the trip (as much as I always wish that I was a night before packer – I am definitely a 15 minutes before leaving packer) I listened to the local sports talking heads Deace and Miller discuss McDermott’s departure to Creighton. Only they weren’t using words like “potential” or “possible”. They were talking about his departure as being a done deal.

I always liked McDermott. I hoped that he was going to get it done. While almost all of my other Cyclone friends had left the McDermott sinking ship, I was certain that this past year was going to be his season. He had two future NBA players on his roster. A capable veteran point guard. A pair of sharpshooters. A serviceable center. A bench full of athletic underclassmen.

However, it all went downhill very fast. I remember the moment that I knew that McDermott wasn’t going to get it done.

Jill and I had went over to Derrick and Jen’s to watch a movie. Derrick had called me earlier in the day to make sure that we were a “unified front” on being able to watch the Cyclones demolish Northwestern before we watched a movie. Of course we were a unified front!

The only problem was that Iowa State didn’t demolish Northwestern. In fact, they lost to a Northwestern team that was missing one of its best players.

This was a bad sign.

True many Floyd and Eustachy teams were terrible in the early part of the season, only to cohese and become a dominant force down the stretch. After all, the Elite Eight team lost to a bad Drake team.

Only one of the warning signs that McDermott was in over his head at ISU was the disturbing fact that his teams did not become better as the season went along. In fact, they seemed to get worse.

Even though my head knew that this highly touted team was going nowhere fast, I think my heart forced my mouth to utter the phrase “wake-up call”. Only this wasn’t a “wake-up call” for them. It was a wake-up call for me.

The season went downhill fast. A loss at home to UNI. Barely beating Iowa’s intramural team. Barely beating Houston. Lucca leaving in the middle of the season. 4 conference wins.

Then moments after the season was over, Brackins goes pro. Buckley and Hamilton transfer. The NCAA punish Iowa State for being Iowa State and doesn’t grant Gilstrap another year of eligibility.

It seemed like there was blood in the water. The only question was how would Pollard come up with 2.5 million dollars to payoff McDermott?

Only instead of dropping the axe on McDermott like he did on Wayne Morgan (despite Wayne Morgan having 3 straight winning seasons) Pollard gave McDermott a vote of confidence.

Then a month went by and it got weird. Two assistant coaches left. Colvin left. Pollard sent out two enigmatic letters. One to a kid telling him that he understood his concerns about the direction of the ISU basketball team, but his records indicated that the kid didn’t donate money to the athletic department, so bugger off. Then another letter where he blamed McDermott’s inability to keep players (including a finalist for Player of the Year honors that played for Syracuse this year – yeah that hurt to watch) not on McDermott, but on this generation of worthless kids. He started the letter by throwing Fennelly under the bus and ended it with some very fuzzy math. He tried to make the argument that kids transferring is an epidemic, but if you actually do the math with the numbers he provides, the average Division 1 school lost .5 kids to transfer in the last two years. Iowa State has lost 6. Now 7 with the transfer of Boozer.

Then Christmas came. Oregon hired Dana Altman. Creighton wanted Greg McDermott to replace him!

Not only was Iowa State not going to continue its long descent into irrelevance, it wasn’t going to cost us 2.5 million to go in a new direction. In fact, Creighton is going to have to pay us $800,000 for the right to take our problem off of our hands.

The only problem was that I wasn’t going to be in the state to hear the news. I was going to be in Minnesota.

However, I’m a problem solver. After I gassed up the car and picked up some needed supplies for the trip (two bottles of water, a bag of beef jerky and two Whatchamacallits) I texted Baier, Jesse and Schmidt and asked them to let me know when it had become official that McDermott was heading to Nebraska! Then I hit the open road.

I arrived in Eagan at about 11:30. Nate was the only one home and awake.

I had assigned Nate the task of finding us interesting places to eat at during my two day stay in Minnesota. He handed me a magazine with reviews of numerous Twin City restaurants. However, he noted that Bethany strongly favored eating at Chino Latino.

I found the review of Chino Latino. The review stated that Chino Latino served guinea pig! I was in.

After deciding on the dining option for that evening we piled into the car and head to Five Guys for lunch. We had a little bit of difficulty finding it, but when we did finally locate it, it was worth it.

Five Guys is a burger joint. The menu is simple and the food is tasty. I will definitely be going back.

They serve fresh cut potato fries. They put them in a cup, but they also fill the bottom of your bag with more fries.

A “hot mess” but in a good way, not in the Edie Sedgwick way.

It is usually busy enough that they serve you free peanuts while you wait in line.

They also let you know where your potatoes came from.

Simple menu and you get to add whatever toppings that you want!

Bags of Potatoes

Even though we were stuffed, Nate suggested that we visit a White Castle. I’ve always heard that their food is nasty, but I’ve never eaten at a White Castle and I’ve always wanted to try it.

To give our stomach time to process the goodness of Five Guys we headed from Edina to Apple Valley so that Nate could pickup and deposit his paycheck.

Nate banks where Bethany works, so I got to speak with her briefly. When her co-worker wasn’t butting in to tell me about his brother-in-law that used to play football for Iowa State. Only he can’t remember his name, but he rushed for 438 yards in one game. Some people you just have to let speak.

Next stop White Castle!

White Castle

Our sojourn to White Castle wasn’t adventurous and nobody would make a movie about it. We each ordered two sliders.

The hype about White Castle was dead-on! The food is absolutely dreadful. I can’t believe this place stays in business.

We took the rest of the day to rest before Chino Latino.

Jesse called and gave me the fantastic news that it was official. Creighton had given our basketball program the gift of a fresh, new beginning!

Nate called Chino Latino and made a reservation, but found out the sad news that in order to get the guinea pig, Cuy, you had to order it 48 hours in advance.

DENIED!

Luckily Jill was sort of able to provide some recommendations to me. Sort of.

Later in the night Bethany came home and we went over to her significant other’s house to meet up before going to Uptown.

While we were waiting for some people to get ready, Bill called to ask if Creighton had really hired McDermott.

“Yes.”

“Do they know that he had 4 straight losing seasons at Iowa State despite having the greatest homecourt advantage in the nation?”

“They don’t make them very smart in Nebraska.”

“True that.”

7 of us met up at Chino Latino. Beth, John, Becca, Nate, John’s friend Ben and Bethany’s co-worker “V”.

Chino Latino serves equatorial food. That means that the food comes from countries that are on the equator.

Nate really wants to order Fidel’s Capitalist Pig Roast at some point. Which is a teenage pig, if you are the type of person that needs labels.

The food was excellent. Once I saw the $45 price tag, I didn’t feel so bad about the guinea pig denial.

I rode back to Eagan with Becca so that I could see her new car and the cowboy joint where she currently works.

Near Chino Latino

Becca’s Favorite Store

This is kind of how it feels to be riding around with Becca.

Day 3 of vacation was an excellent day by almost all tangible measurement.

Jaycees, Jen

JF Day

May 1, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

I am told today is a monumental day for me. Although I already celebrated the event of today, a couple weeks back with good conversation and a bowl of popcorn, I feel that I should at least pass on a small bit of advice today.

“Some things are just better left unclaimed along the roadside of our lives.”
– Jen Gorshe

Basketball, Black & White, Derrick, House, Jen, Toby, Willy

Vacation Day 2 – The Tub

April 29, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

On Day 2 of my vacation, 1 of my major accomplishments was getting Willy and Derrick together and moving a tub.

We borrowed my uncle Butch’s truck and picked up the tub from Toby’s backyard. The tub used to be a planter and since it was raining all day, the dirt had turned into mud.

We picked up the tub and dumped all the dirt out of it. We took it to a carwash and sprayed it down. This resulted in my person being almost completely mud covered.

It was worth it, because now I have a sweet tub to use as a beverage trough for the barbecue and perhaps as a dog tub in the future.

Later that night Derrick, Jen and I went down to The Machine Shed for dinner. On the way down to Des Moines, Derrick dropped a little bomb on me.

He asked me if I had heard that Creighton was interested in hiring Greg McDermott.

Really?

It isn’t even my birthday… yet!

Dawn, Jay, Jen, Sara, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #15 – Long Exposure

April 19, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 7 Comments

The submissions for this week include the youngest contributor to date. I’m not sure of Scott’s exact age, but I know it is south of double digits. I should really know his age, considering I helped plan the guest list for his birthday party.

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause

Michael Vest

IMAGE LOST
Scott Krause

Christopher D. Bennett (Not touched by Photoshop)

Dawn’s Poem of the Week

Long Exposure

The bones ache from a long cold frost
the flowers wilt and whither
a tear glistens on her frozen face
no fire to beckon hither
desolate, forsaken, out of place
the heart has lost it’s dream

Shall she awaken from this dream
to find her world blanketed in frost
rocking in this forgotten place
where beauty will fade and whither
not a sole to motion hither
would there be confusion upon her face

A close glance upon her face
reveals her captive dream
to laugh and call him hither
and melt the frost
and no longer whither
to finally escape this place

Time has no bearing on this place
It holds the demons she must face
Her choice to live, love, or whither
to lose her dream
to bitter frost
or to let the warmth come hither

Searching for hope to draw her hither
an escape to a happier place
no threat of frost
on her lovely face
her hope gives birth to every new dream
letting the old ones die and whither

Never let her spirit whither
to love she must come hither
replace a shattered dream
make her world a happy place
let joy alight her face
and warm her heart to frost

Lest we let the dream whither
Melt the frost and call her hither
Bring happiness to her place and joy upon her face

Dawn’s poem is a sestina. It is a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet for a total of 39 lines. Don’t feel bad. I had to look that up too.

Shannon Bardole’s Artistic Appreciation Pick of the Week

Next week’s theme is considerably less complicated. A person could make an argument that almost any picture that is off center would qualify.

Next week’s theme is:

Rule of Thirds

The technical way to define The Rule of Thirds is as follows:

The rule of thids is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

Thanks Wikipedia!

Here is an example, albeit not a perfect example of the technique:

IMAGE LOST
On the intersections…

IMAGE LOST
With the lines clearly drawn out…

This isn’t a perfect example, but I wanted to make sure that this was a picture that included Jen because she was the first person I ever heard utter the phrase: “Good use of the rule of thirds” when looking at one of my pictures. A picture of the Gilbert water tower if my memory isn’t faulty.

It might have been the exact moment that I knew that Jen was a keeper.

Black & White, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jen, Personal Photo Project

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 12

April 9, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Perfectly Themselves I

Perfectly Themselves II

These pictures would end up in The Fail Trunk in my basement if they were any more than just digital images. However, because of the failure of these images, I have figured out the error of my ways and now know how to light Jen and Derrick so that I get the images that I want. Perhaps a re-shoot is in the future.

Black & White, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Jen, Personal Photo Project

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 11

April 2, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

No. 1

This picture is the first in a 6 part photo series. I don’t know if this was the exact pose that I wanted, but it is kind of a Gorshe family trait where they do something I really like in the test shots. A point that I will make again in 4 weeks when I post a picture that involves Jill and a fog machine. I’m not certain that this was a test shot because my memory isn’t what it used to be, but either way this picture will be the picture used as the first picture in this series.

Here are a couple of other pictures from this photo shoot:

Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. Today is World Autism Awareness Day. Cousin Amy sent me a reminder that to show support for the cause I should wear blue today.

Sam and Cousin Amy

You can bet dollars to donuts that I am wearing blue today. The day is still young, so if you aren’t wearing blue now, you can go home and change before you go to your Supper Club or whatever it is that other people do on Friday nights.

Animals, Black & White, Dawn, Derrick, Faust, Formal Portrait, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Movies, Music, Sara, Willy

The Story

April 1, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

“You see the smile that’s on my mouth
It’s hiding the words that don’t come out
And all of my friends who think that I’m blessed
They don’t know my head is a mess.

No, they don’t know who I really am
And they don’t know what I’ve been through
like you do.”

-Brandi Carlile (The Story)

Most people know that I am a loner. I keep to myself mostly. Most nights I can be found sitting home alone working on my studies or my projects or watching my shows.

A couple of years ago Jay decided to give one of his friends the nickname “Lone Wolf”. I was quite shocked when this nickname did not come my way. Instead it was given to the social butterfly and vice-mayor William McAlpine.

I knew this was a dreaded mistake. If there was a member of the animal kingdom that best described Willy’s social agenda it was clearly the salmon. Chinook, steelhead, pink or sockeye. I’m not sure which one, but he is definitely a salmon.

However, I made peace with the slight because I don’t have a particular affinity for nicknames.

Then it happened. Jay came to his senses and stripped Willy of the nickname that he did not deserve and placed it squarely on my shoulders. The true loner.

Jay made me a mask and we had a small ceremony where the title was rightfully transferred to me.

I AM LONE WOLF!

However, something hasn’t sat right with me in the few weeks since I became Lone Wolf. I don’t doubt that I am the Lone Wolf. A quick perusal of my social calendar shows that I do little more than go to work and come home and sit on my couch, alone.

I don’t get many emails. I don’t write many emails. I don’t get many calls. I don’t make many calls. I don’t get many texts. I don’t send many texts.

I have 289 Facebook Friends. Not a single one of them can tell you my favorite color, my favorite movie, my favorite show or my favorite musician.

With apologies to Travis Bickle, “Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m God’s lonely man…”

I’ve learned to embrace this loneliness. In fact, Jill introduced me to a movie called World’s Greatest Dad. The core message of the movie is summed up near the end with the following voice over:

“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone.”

That is my philosophy. Or I should say, that is the philosophy of The Lone Wolf.

But even though I know without the foggiest doubt that I am the true Lone Wolf, it didn’t feel right. Jay unilaterally stripping Willy of his moniker and giving it away. That is a lot of power for one man to possess.

Therefore I am giving Willy a chance to win back his nickname. I have challenged the vice-mayor, the social butterfly, the salmon to a Lone-Wolf-Off!

The month of April will be a Lone-Wolf-Off between the true Lone Wolf and the Salmon. Winner gets the name! (But I keep the sweet mask either way!)

What is a Lone-Wolf-Off? For the entire month of April we will be tracking our social engagements. At the end of the month, an impartial panel (consisting of Jesse, Dawn and Faust) will determine who is the true Lone Wolf.

Therefore, I should point out that for the next 30 days, don’t be distressed if you don’t see me, if I don’t return your emails, phone calls or texts. I’m in full Lone Wolf mode. I will most likely return your correspondence on May 1 when I am celebrating International Worker’s Day!

Although I should point out that at some point in April many of you will be getting an invitation to my birthday barbecue in the mail. It is a well known fact that lone wolves like meat cooked over a fire and the antiquated feeling of using the United State Postal Service.

Last night I went to see Chloe and have dinner with Sara. Since it was my last social engagement for the next 30 days, we took a few pictures to celebrate my Lone Wolfness.

The Lone Wolf is a savage beast.

Insane Enough

But the Lone Wolf also knows how to keep it laid back.

The Lone Wolf – confident, but not cocky.

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwl!!

On a sidenote, since this seems to be the year of nickname stripping, I also think that Willy is also in extreme danger of losing the nickname The Dance Machine.
Jen and Jill can assuredly attest to the following statement:
On Sunday, Derrick set my living room carpet on fire with the dance moves he busted off to the Norah Jones compact disc that was playing on my home stereo.

I would propose a Dance Machine Off between these two gents, but I think we all know that Willy doesn’t really dance. He just likes to pretend that he does.

Andree, Baier, Dawn, Derrick, FNSC, Jay, Jen, Jill, Movies, Russell, Sara, Willy

My Great Shame

March 25, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I cited a FNSC ending in My Great Shame a few journal entries back, but I never indicated what was My Great Shame. A few people already know about My Great Shame because I exposed those people to it. I’m not sure if I exposed them because I wanted them to share in my misery or if I was using this exposure as an excuse to continue in my shame.

However, I have been motivated by other people’s strength in the last few weeks to quit my shame. If Jen, Derrick, Jill and Sara can quit or work on quitting smoking, I assuredly could give up my shame. It is after all, not a physical addiction.

I witnessed some of the strategies that others have used to quit smoking. Cinnamon sticks. Only smoking at work. Not smoking at work. I tried in vain to step down with a crutch, but it didn’t work. I had to quit cold turkey.

It was My Great Shame, but I can proudly proclaim that I have been free of its demon clutches for three weeks now.

What is My Great Shame?

The Starz Original show Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

This easily has to be the worst scripted program to ever grace the airwaves. I’m pretty sure that it is written by junior high students hopped up on meth. It is a combination of 3 things: extremely bizarre and gratuitous sex scenes, extremely ridiculous bloody battle scenes and the most pathetically-written-profanity-laced-dialogue ever. The dialogue makes the dialogue in Games and Quietus appear that it was written by Shakespeare.

Despite the fact that it is beyond horrible, I couldn’t stop watching it and I was ashamed. I knew it was clearly beneath me and didn’t belong in the guilty pleasure category like Just One of the Guys.

The best excuse I can give for watching this wretched show was that I couldn’t wait to see what ridiculously stupid thing would happen in the next scene or in the next episode.

I wrote to Andree, Baier and Russell and told them about how I couldn’t stop watching this terrible show. At least Baier and Andree watched it and came to a similar conclusion as me. This was truly the worst scripted program in the history of television.

I decided that I wasn’t strong enough to quit cold turkey. I spent a Sunday watching Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus and backed it up with Ben-Hur. I figured watching excellent historical drama would cleanse my palette and free me from the grip that this show had on me.

However, while I was watching Kurbrick’s Spartacus I got a text from Jill about how her dad loved Spartacus: Blood and Sand. She had rightfully mocked him for watching this terrible show. I didn’t think that this information would lead to a relapse for me, but it did.

On the Thursday of that week I was at Jen and Derrick’s house. Derrick told me that they were spending the upcoming Saturday with his parents. I was gripped with an uncontrollable urge to expose them to Spartacus: Blood and Sand. I grabbed their remote and loaded up an episode from the OnDemand menu. I fast forwarded through most of the episode and we watched the scene where Spartacus defeats Theokoles.

Then I just told them to ask Derrick’s dad about the show.

I walked out of their house knowing this terrible show was out of my life forever.

The previous Friday was the Jucy Lucy experimental Friday Night Supper Club. Near the end of the night I was aimlessly flipping channels when I came across the brand new episode of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. I told Jay and Willy that they HAD to see this show. Everybody should experience what might be the worst show in the history of television. I apologized to Dawn for subjecting her to such a thing as this show.

Jay and Willy agreed that this show was wretched but it had a certain lure to it. You do want to keep watching to see what extremely bizarre and terrible thing that they are going to do next.

Dawn “pretended” to get a text message in the middle of the show and left.

I woke up the morning following exposing Jen and Derrick to the show and felt terrible about being powerless against the dreadful allure of this awful show. My self-esteem took a beating. I looked in the mirror (not literally) and I quit Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

I walked away from the show that day. It has been 3 weeks now and I finally feel good about myself again.

History, Jen, Mom, Shannon

Family History Week

March 20, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

This has been a week where I have unexpectedly walked down family history lane. That continued this morning when I went over to assist in the installation of my Mom’s new fridge. She showed me a newspaper clipping from the February 6 edition of the Boone News Republican.

The clipping was part of the column Kelley’s Korner. It read:

We heard from lots of folks this week, many from this area and a few from afar… one clear down in Luther.

We talked awhile back about the Centennial production and conjunctive beard contest and that brought a reply from Jacksonville, Fla. of all places.

Former residents Terry and Sheryl Johnson left Boone four years ago to reside in Jacksonville and, by the way, in August, they’ll celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.

Terry and I worked together many years ago at the “older” BN-R.

Anyway, Sheryl, the former Sheryl Paris, recalled how she and Terry were kidnapped following their wedding ceremony, Aug. 27, 1965.

Yes, a group of Boone men dressed as bearded “Keystone Cops” captured the pair and drove them down the center of Story Street with sirens blasting and red lights flashing.

Their wedding worked, unknowingly, right into the Centennial scene.

Sheryl said, “We were put in a portable jail cell and released only after we were interviewed in front of a large crowd of folks shopping in downtown on a Friday night. Wasn’t that the greatest? All the many stores open and people doing lots of visiting as well as shopping.”

Sheryl said that lots of people thought their little excursion was a rehearsed thing. It wasn’t. It was organized by her brother-in-law, Gerald Bennett.

Gerald was one of the candidates in that beard contest that was part of the Centennial.

This was a family story that I did not know, but it is one that I will have to add to the family story repertoire. A fitting conclusion to a week that started with telling Jen a series of family stories (The Secret Wedding, Grandpa Firing Dad, The Half-Sister, Cousin Troy Comes to Teresa’s Wedding to name a few…) and is certainly more heartwarming than the “You’ve Eaten. That is what you were here for. Get out!” story that I told Shannon during the kitchen downsizing on Wednesday.