Category Archives: Animals

Animals, Logan, Self-Portrait, Still Life, Tenderloining

Burgertime: Grimes Field Work

May 21, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

A couple Saturdays back after Logan and I did some photography for Sleeping Angels, we need to get a meal. We were going to eat burgers and dogs with the motorcyclists (if time permitted) but the map mishap cost us that chance. So after we concluded taking pictures by the Mile Long Bridge, we searched out sustenance. (You might see the word sustenance being used more on this bat channel because I am no longer allowed to use it at the Computer Mine.)

We stumbled across a road sign for a place called “Destination Grille” in Grimes. I had never heard of it and thought it might be some small town greasy spoon, this guy’s favorite type of restaurant, but it was not. It is in a giant building. I don’t know anything about it, but I can tell you that beaucoup dinero went into getting this place up and going. This was a fancy pants restaurant. Perfect for two dudes that were just tromping around in a bunch of mud under a bridge. One of us taking pictures of what I will describe as a painting of hairy strawberries with a weird stem that has wings coming off of it. A picture that would become a topic of conversation at his dinner that night, but that is a story I, I mean “he” will keep to himself and that text chat group.

We were both pretty famished by then, so we grabbed a seat and looked over their menu.

We started with the Mexican Street Corn Dip ($15.00). It was described on the menu as “Spicy, cheesy corn dip with cauliflower pita chips”.

I’m just going to cut to the chase. This is one of the best appetizers I’ve had in my life. I’d put this on the list of my favorite appetizers. A list that consists of Black and Tan Onion Rings from Dublin Bay, Irish Nachos from Dublin Bay, Fried Mushrooms from Wallaby’s, Reuben Eggrolls from Whiskey River, this weird fried cheese wheel I once had in Pittsburgh, and the Chicken Nacho’s at Skip’s. I am sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

I had the Candied Bacon Cheeseburger ($16.00) which the menu describes as “1/2 pound patty, candied bacon, 5-cheese blend, toasted brioche bun”. For my side I had the artichokes. The sides don’t appear on their online menu, so I can’t give you a better description of that.

Candied Bacon Cheeseburger

Logan had the Pastrami Reuben ($15.00) which the menu describes as “House-made sliced pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, thousand islands, marble rye”. He had fries for his side.

Pastrami Reuben

The big picture is that my burger wasn’t all that great. I would not get it again. However, I did love my artichoke side. Logan also loved his Reuben and his fries.

“The 5 Cheese Blend” was a disappointment.

The bacon wasn’t that great either actually.

But I still ate it all. I might have licked the dish the artichokes came in.

$28.36. Before tip. But in retrospect, I should have bought Logan’s meal too.

This combination hand dryer/water faucet was the truth though. Worth the price of admission.

How could anybody eat such an adorable creature?

The bottom line is that I would eat there again. I don’t know I would pursue it, if I wasn’t already in the area. But if I did, it would be for that Mexican Street Corn Dip.

Destination Grille is located at:

3941 East 1st
Grimes, Iowa

Animals, Art, Football, History, Iowa State, Nature

Jack and the Zodiac

May 13, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

A few months back I went around Iowa State and took a few pictures. I started at Jack Trice Stadium to see the new Jack Trice Sculpture. It was around this time that they unveiled the new sculpture “Breaking Barriers” to honor Jack Trice.

Here is the public art statement on a beautiful piece of art:

By all accounts, Jack Trice was an exceptional student and a skilled athlete. In the pocket of a jacket he wore before his first game, was a note he had written to himself: “My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family & self is at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will.” Jack Trice, the first Black student athlete at Iowa State, died two days later on October 8,1923 as a result of injuries sustained on the football field during that game.

At the time that Jack enrolled at Iowa State, only a handful of African Americans attended Iowa State, in a state in which less than one percent of the population was Black. Nationally, only a few African Americans played collegiate football at that time, with many schools having policies – formal or informal – against integrated teams. Jack was mindful of the risks, but also committed to rising to and above the challenges before him. “My whole body & and soul are to be thrown recklessly about on the field tomorrow,” he wrote. “Every time the ball is snapped I will be trying to do more than my part.” Jack Trice had overcome substantial odds to don the Iowa State uniform.

Jack Trice has been seen as both a hero and as a victim, and his story is one that remains relevant today. The legacy of Jack Trice is at once that of a yet-unrealized dream and an unfulfilled promise, as well as a call to the same bravery and conviction he showed. It is a legacy for our student athletes, for our students of color, for our institution, and for all members of the Iowa State community who make sacrifices to pursue their dreams against difficult circumstances.

At the same time they unveiled “Breaking Barriers” they also renamed the road that is south of Jack Trice Stadium after Jack Trice.

After taking a few pictures there I went to the campus and took a few pictures around the Memorial Union.

If you aren’t steeped in Iowa State University lore, first of all – how dare you! Secondly, you might be wandering about the Zodiac. Don’t worry baby birds, I’ll feed you.

From the Iowa State Memorial Union website:

Architect/designer William T. Proudfoot chose to incorporate the ancient symbols of the zodiac into the north entry floor — classic Greek/Roman mythology for a classic-Greek/Roman-style building. In the 20’s, the zodiac was not as well known as it is now. Proudfoot planned for intentional wearing away of the bronze forms by placing them above the surface of the floor – to be sculpted further by building users until, eventually, they would be the same level as the floor. We know that by 1929, students had decided that if you stepped on the zodiac, it was unlucky – that you’d flunk your next test. Rumor has it that the students created this “curse” because they liked the raised effect of the zodiac and they wanted to preserve the zodiac signs even though it went against what the architect originally intended. Now most students, hedging their bets, walk around. If you accidentally invoke the curse, you can throw a coin in the fountain to take it away!

Take that Proudfoot!

Currently The Fountain of the Four Seasons is being restored, so it is gone. Current Iowa State students can’t reverse the curse because there is no fountain to throw a coin in. If they walk across the zodiac, I guess they should just drop out of school or try transferring to a lesser academic institution. Good thing for them, there are a ton of those out there.

Animals, Drone, Flowers, Nature

Rodan139: Red Haw State Park

May 9, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

A couple weeks back I crossed one off one of my travel goals for 2023. I visited Red Haw State Park near Chariton. I wanted to visit it and at this time of year because of its bountiful supply of pink blossoms. I was going to try to hit it last year, but it was hit by a tornado on March 5. The damage was severe enough, that the park was closed most of the year.

You can definitely still see the the damage done by the tornado. However, the purple blossoming trees are still plentiful and it was beautiful to see.

Here are a few drone photos:

If you are in the area, it is definitely worth a visit.

Animals

Jestering

April 29, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

One of my favorite parks is Jester Park. I try to get there at least a half a dozen times a year, if not more. I made one such trip in late December of last year to check out the elk and bison. The bison weren’t hanging out close to the fence, but I got a few pictures of the elk.

There are actually quite a bit more elk pictures to share in the future.

Amanda, Animals, Black & White, Boone County Fair, Candid Portrait, Dahlia, Event, Greyson, Logan, Nature, Russ, Still Life, Street Photography, Teresa

The Next Second You Were Gone

April 22, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Seems like a good time to clean up the July backlog. This collection of images was taken in July of last year, but never really found a spot in a previous “An Artist’s Notebook” entry. Some pictures are of a storm. Some are from the Boone County Fair. Some are of a baby bird, or an immature bird. Some are from Dahlia’s birthday party.

Always feels good to get a little bit of that backlog cleared out.

Animals, Christianity, Flowers, Macro

Heart’s Content

April 6, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Today is Maundy Thursday. I hope this Thursday is the maundiest Thursday you have ever had. And if you know what maundy means, you know that sentence is nonsense. But joyful nonsense.

If you are not familiar with Maundy Thursday, let me explain. Pull up a chair, but don’t get too close, cause I’m about to drop knowledge bombs on you.

Maundy Thursday celebrates Jesus giving us his final commandment. Maundy is short for the Latin word mandatum, which means command. Jesus and the disciples had just shared the Last Supper, which as a Methodist I believe consisted of Welch’s Grape Juice and tortillas, and while Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet he gave them the New Commandment. I’m not sure about the tortilla part. But last Sunday when we took communion at Boone First United Methodist Church the bread that was served really tasted like a tortilla. I’m not complaining, but I have to tell somebody.

But what was this New Commandment? Was it go on social media and badmouth your neighbor? Kick people while they are down? Pile on the oppressed? Ban books? Sit in judgment of others? Tell others how to live their life?

I mean those would have been all great commandments and easy enough to follow. But the New Commandment was:

I am giving you a new commandment, that you [f]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another.
-John 13:34

This version of the verse is from the Amplified version of The Bible and it has a footnote next to the word “love’ that I think is great and so I wanted to share it:

The key to understanding this and other statements about love is to know that this love (the Greek word agape) is not so much a matter of emotion as it is of doing things for the benefit of another person, that is, having an unselfish concern for another and a willingness to seek the best for another.

It isn’t necessarily an emotional love for one another. It is the type of love that is an action (not that kind of action perverts) but showing love in your actions and deeds that benefit another person. Without getting a benefit out of it in some way.

What is more, a word that is missing from this commandment is “deserve”. It isn’t a command to love those who deserve it, (which is kind of a weird concept when you think about it, there are people that are deserving of love and others that you somehow have decided are not worthy of love, but I digress) it is a command to love everybody and as Clint Eastwood says in UNFORGIVEN in what couldn’t be a more different context, “Deserves got nothing to do with it.”

But I don’t think you should cut off the scripture there. The next thing Jesus said is kind of a bomb too.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
-John 13:35

It is through how you love others that others will know that you are a Christian. Now Jesus wouldn’t have ever used the phrase “Christian” and so let me change that word to “Christ Follower”.

How you love (serve) others is how they will know your are a follower of Christ.

Oh snap!

Not by wearing a cross necklace. Not by reposting something on Facebook about seeing how many “real” Christians they can get to repost the same thing. Not by slapping a bumper sticker on the back of your car for the local Christian music radio station.

But by how you treat others. All others. Even that annoying person at work that talks way too loud on the phone. Sometimes headphones are for watching Netflix at work. Sometimes they are for not having to hear that loud person too cubicles over… but that seems like an oddly specific example.

I was going to close this section on Maundy Thursday with a quote. Like most quotes it is a misattribution and so it is impossible to know who originally said it. But it goes a little something like this:

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

It is often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but he probably never said it.

If you Google this quote the first several hits are articles written by people that I am sure more learned than me, that absolutely hate this quote. I mean absolutely HATE this quote. They’ve written full articles about false dichotomies and neglecting personal evangelism. And this makes me think that whomever wrote or spoke these words was on to something.

I almost forgot to extend an invitation to you, if you are looking for a Maundy Thursday Worship Service. We aren’t having a service at our church this year. The Boone Ministerial Alliance has decided to combine forces. Therefore, the Maundy Thursday service you will find me at is at the First Presbyterian Church. That is the church straight across Greene Street from the Ericson Public Library. It starts at 6:30. Anyways, show up if you want.

But where will the Good Friday service be…

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Maybe you thought I hung the moon
Maybe you thought we were Johnny and June
Maybe we thought it was just us two
Maybe we spoke too soon

We never lie and we don’t tell tales
We bite our tongues and our fingernails
We fall in love and we don’t fall out
Maybe we speak too soon

Maybe we hurt who we love the most
Maybe it’s all we can stand
Maybe we walk through the world as ghosts
Break my own heart before you can
-Brandi Carlile

Thursdays are for flowers, but sometimes adorable (as Jen would say) grasshoppers sneak in. So this week I asked ChatGPT to write me a poem about grasshoppers. This is what it wrote:

Amidst the golden fields of green,
There hops a creature seldom seen,
With legs so long and wings so bright,
It’s the grasshopper, taking flight.

With nimble feet and agile grace,
It leaps and bounds from place to place,
A master of the summer breeze,
Its song a symphony to please.

In emerald hues, it blends with ease,
Into the grasses and the trees,
A fleeting glimpse of fleeting joy,
As it flits and flies, without a toy.

With every hop, it takes a chance,
To dance and sing and seek romance,
A lover of the sunny days,
Its carefree ways, forever ablaze.

So if you see a grasshopper near,
Take a moment, lend an ear,
For in its song, there lies a tale,
Of life and love, of joy and gale.
-ChatGPT

Perhaps the most beautiful words penned by artificial intelligence about our green friends.

Here is a collection of flowertography pictures I took on October 4, 2022:

Raise a hand if you are getting pumped for flowertography season! There is already green things protruding out of my dirt. It is exciting times in these parts!

Animals, Art, History, Macro, Railroad

Edward Grasshopper

March 25, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

I named this post Edward Grasshopper because I love grasshoppers and I like and am somewhat influenced by the art of Edward Hopper. I admittedly don’t know much about Edward Hopper the person, so I did a little bit of research on him and the most interesting thing about him is that he was married to another artist, Josephine Nivison. She aided him in being a model and as a creative partner.

Edward died before Josephine. She passed away 10 months after him. She left their entire artistic estate to the Whitney Museum of American Art. This is what sucks. It was believed that the Whitney turned around and just threw away all of Josephine’s artwork. BUT, thankfully they didn’t, they just shoved a bunch of them in the basement. In 2000 about 200 of Joephine’s works were discovered. Which is sad because Edward was great to Josephine the artist.

From the wiki:

Beginning in the mid-1920s Jo became her husband’s only model. It was she who thought up the names for a number of her husband’s paintings, including one of his most famous oil paintings, Nighthawks. Despite their complicated relationship, she helped when her husband felt insecure about a painting in progress, as in, for example, the case of Five A.M. (1937). As late as 1936, Jo reported that her husband was highly competitive and that her starting a work would frequently inspire Edward to start his own. In The Lonely City Olivia Laing discusses Jo’s career and how it floundered because Edward was “profoundly opposed to its existence. Edward didn’t just fail to support Jo’s painting, but rather worked actively to discourage it, mocking and denigrating the few things she did manage to produce”.

One of the paintings that Hopper did when not being a jerk to his wife, Automat, is part of the Des Moines Art Center’s collection.

Which reminds me that it should be about time for my nearly annual trip to the Des Moines Art Center with Suzie.

Here are some pictures of grasshoppers that probably love and support their significant others in every way possible:

The last two pictures are from the Boone Art Center. Also known as the Union Pacific railroad tracks.

Animals, Art, Basketball, Birthdays, Carla, Christianity, Flowers, History, Monica, Nathanial, Nature, Politics, Road Trip, Self-Portrait, Slice of Life

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 6

March 15, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

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

I hope your birthday is as full of as much joy as you can handle!

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I also need to wish Monica a happy birthday. Happy birthday Monica!

I also hope your birthday is as full of as much joy as you can handle!

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A reminder that you have until Thursday at 11 AM (Central) to get your picks in for Year 18 of the Roundball Oracles. Click on the link below to join:

Roundball Oracles – Year 18

It costs nothing to participate. First Place gets a trophy. Last Place Adult that gives full effort also gets a trophy. Hope many of you participate!

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Finally, I also need to wish Nathanial a happy birthday. Happy birthday Nathanial!

I also hope your birthday is filled with as much joy and photography opportunities as you can handle!

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It is time to share the final collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Clayton County. All of these were either taken at Pikes Peak State Park or in Marquette.

Pikes Peak State Park

Marquette

The next time we hit the open road to look at auxiliary images for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Wapello County.

Animals, Art, Birthdays, Carla, Kim, Lowell, Michelle, Music, Nature, Night, Nora, Railroad, Steph, Street Photography, Travel, Work, WPC - Reminder

Viva Las Vegas: Day 1A

March 10, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I need to start today by wishing Nora a happy birthday, so happy birthday Nora!

I hope your birthday is filled with lots of candy and cake and ice cream! If not, I will buy you so much ice cream next time I see you.

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Time to start sharing the real camera pictures from my work trip to Las Vegas. I took the backup camera to Vegas just cause I’m always leery of traveling on planes with the 1st string camera. Even though the bag never leaves my side. It is probably a mental block that I will never get over. We’ll see what happens next time I walk on a plane. In April.

I took enough pictures on Day 1 in Vegas to split them into to two posts. This is post 1.

Vegas Day 1 started in Boone. I got up and headed for the Des Moines International Airport a little after 9 AM for my 12:15 flight. I’m one of those people that gets to the airport early. Probably cause I don’t fly that much and probably because I get paid to be there early, sorta. That is how I interpret the travel rules.

I knew there was bad weather west of us and the potential that one of our flights could get cancelled. The good news is that they didn’t. The bad news is that a little after getting to the airport, I got the notification that the flight from Des Moines to Denver had been delayed. Which worked in my favor because the Des Moines International Airport is currently under construction right. They have taken away a bunch of the parking in the parking ramp to make room for employees to park. This meant I had to drive by the parking ramp and the Blue Lot and the Green Lot and the Red Lot and the Yellow Lot and the Indigo Lot and the Cyan Lot and the Polka Dot Lot and ended up all the way in the Gray Lot. A lot so far away from the airport terminal I think it might be in Norwalk. Possibly Cumming.

I took a 15 minute shuttle ride to the airport. It took me a minute but I finally located the Southwest check-in counter in the room with all the weird car rental places and checked my luggage. Two things here. First, I wasn’t crazy about flying Southwest. I haven’t flown Southwest since the last time I went to Vegas, which was almost 20 years ago. I haven’t heard good things about Southwest. They say the people on there are animals. But not in the millions of good ways that animals (in this scenario humans are not animals) are easily superior to humans. But in the bad ways where humans compare other humans to animals to make them seem lesser than. Second, I did buy new luggage for this trip. I don’t travel much in the manner that requires luggage, but the two trips I took in 2022 showed me that the luggage I have been using isn’t practical. Merely sentimental. I bought the new luggage off of Amazon because I had a Amazon gift from my computer mine anniversary. I can say, that while the walls of the luggage seem a little thin, so far I am digging the new luggage. I bought red luggage so they would be easy to spot in the baggage claim line and because they were $30 cheaper than more mundane colors. I don’t know why.

After getting through the security line without incident, I found my gate, grabbed a seat and discovered I was the first person there from the Computer Mine. I wasn’t there long before I got another notification that the flight had been delayed again. Now it was going to be over an hour late taking off. I took solace in the fact I had been reassured by the Southwest ticket lady that there were over 30 people transferring from our flight to the connecting flight in Denver to Las Vegas and there was no way that they would leave that many people behind.

While I was comforted by that information, one of the things that concerned me is that Southwest has no assigned seats. You have an assigned position to get into the plane and then once in there, it is every person for themself. I was worried that I would get there late for the connecting flight and lose any chance at getting a good seat. I’d end up in a middle seat. Nobody wants that. Not me. Not the person in the window seat. Not the person in the aisle seat. However, they hadn’t started boarding when we got to the connecting flight and I was able to grab a sweet spot in the emergency exit row!

If you don’t know, that means extra legroom! It is like 1st Class for those of us in steerage! Bingpot!

The flight into Vegas was a little rough because it was so windy. I didn’t get a snack or beverage service. That is how I determine if a flight was rough. By the time we got to the hotel, I was famished. The only sustenance I had knocked down was a bag of snack mix and 6 ounces of 7-Up on the flight from Des Moines to Denver.

We took a shuttle form the airport to Planet Hollywood, our home away from home for the next 5 days. Here is my review of Planet Hollywood:

It is kinda dirty. It is a little rundown. The big selling point is that it has what I would call a glorified mall. There is virtually no Hollywood artifacts or paraphernalia there. But for what we were there for, it worked great. The conference facilities and staff were great! And it is near places that are cool like the Bellagio, Paris, Caesar’s Palace, and The Flamingo.

After getting to my room, which had a breathtaking view of a parking garage, and organizing some stuff and claiming the bed nearest the breathtaking view (my roomie Tony didn’t come in until the next day so I got choice of beds) I connected with Lowell and we went to supper.

We walked down to Caesar’s Palace to look for a buffet, but we actually ended up in the Caesar’s Palace food court where we ate at Bobby’s Burgers. A restaurant that is connected to Bobby Flay. Who is some kind of chef of note, but he isn’t a raging douchebag like Gordon Ramsay, so you might not have heard of him. I’ve only heard of him because Faust used to be big into him back in the day.

I ordered a Bacon Crunchburger (Bacon, American Cheese, Potato Chips, Bobby’s Sauce – yeah not crazy about that name either), French Fries, and a Soft Drink. The price tag came to a little over $30.

THIRTY BUCKS!

I consider the Computer Mine to be generous with their per diems. I know it is set by the government, but I usually come back with a little extra coin jingling and jangling around in my pockets. This is mostly cause I don’t drink alcohol. In fact I was actually mostly off pop before this trip, but I fell of that wagon pretty dang hard in Vegas. I don’t think it is inaccurate to say I went on a regular Pepsi Cola Bender. We are almost 2 weeks out and I’m still weening myself back off the hard stuff.

The per diem I got for this trip was $288. The fact that I had just spent $30 for a food court burger caused me to take a step back. I expected this to be one of the cheapest meals I shoved in my face on this trip to Sin City. I wasn’t sure $288 was going to make it.

Dang!

After Day 1, I had an estimated $258 remaining in the per diem fund.

Maybe eating is overrated…

After the meal we walked around something I would describe as an open air mall that was between The Linq and The Flamingo. This is where I took the majority of the pictures I took on Day 1.

Here is the first collection:

Caesar’s Palace Sportsbook

There are few musicians I like lesson than Jimmy Buffett, but the man can market.

In-N-Out Burger was on Lowell and I’s list. It was the only thing that we crossed off our lists.

I wasn’t expecting there to be so many candy stores in Vegas.

Seeing the actual Vegas sign was on my list. This is the closest I came.

I do regret not going in here a little bit.

Not the Bellagio fountains.

This was so close to being my MUSIC photo for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE.

I have several more pictures to share from Day 1 that I’ll share at a future date. My best guess is March 17th, while I’m eating a Reuben from West Street Deli.

And nobody better give me any nonsense about letting the Reuben rest for a day and it somehow being better. Got it?

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This is your reminder that this week’s theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is SUNRISE, SUNSET:

SUNRISE, SUNSET

What is a SUNRISE, SUNSET picture? It is a simply a picture of a SUNRISE or of a SUNSET. I’ve heard some grumbling this is a hard theme. The weather is bad. I go to bed at 6 shortly after eating my early bird special at the nursing home. I don’t like going outside. Whatever. Of course THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is hard sometimes. That is what makes it great. If it was easy everybody would do it.

“Maybe you will just have to get creative.” He muttered while sipping on a cocktail made out of tequila, orange juice and grenadine. Unmixed. In a tall glass. Served on the rocks. Sometimes garnished with a cherry and orange slice.

If getting a little lit doesn’t inspire you, maybe these example submission from when SUNRISE, SUNSET was a theme in days past will:

WEEK 43 - SUNRISE/SUNSET - CARLA STENSLAND 1

Carla Stensland – Week 43

Kim Barker – Week 43

Stephanie Kim – Week 43

Michelle Haupt – Week 43

Christopher D. Bennett – Week 43

Happy photo harvesting!

Animals, Art, Black & White, Christianity, Nature, Road Trip

Clayton County Aux. – Vol. 4

March 1, 2023 Christopher D. Bennett Leave a comment

Time once again to share a collection of images from my road trip through Clayton County to harvest their town signs.
Most of these are taken in Guttenberg, which is beautiful little river town. I’d love to spend more time there at some point in the future and really give it a good photographing!

Guttenberg

Still so many pictures to share from this road trip!

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