Today I’m going to share the alternate BLACK & WHITE images I took for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE on Tuesday, July 2. Mostly from around my yard.
Still 5 more days of BLACK & WHTIE alternates to go!
This week (except for Thursday of course) will be dedicated to all of the alternate images I took for the BLACK & WHITE theme for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. These pictures I took last Monday. Mostly in my yard. Some in Teresa’s yard.
One day of glorious BLACK & WHITE images shared. 6 more days of them to go!
Another Bokeh Picture of the Week? You got it!
Most of the other pictures I have of are still being considered for my submission for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. This one is of her going for a little car ride.
Time to share the food I knocked down on Day 3 of my trip to New Orleans. I actually didn’t eat that much on that day. I had some pastries in our training meeting. I completely skipped lunch. So the only real meal of any interest was my supper. Here are the pictures:
The hotel was giving out free jambalaya. It wasn’t great.
I had never had a Muffaletta, but now I wish there was a place around here to get one!
Unfortunately, they served Coke.
The fries were only, okay.
But the sandwich was outstanding!
But you have to like olives!
Which I do!
With tip, it cost me $31.67.
Next Sunday will be more food from New Orleans, but I might pick up the pace a bit.
As for the health journey. I was pretty terrible with tracking again this week, but I can say that I’m currently 5.4 pounds from my first ultimate goal. I’ll do better this week.
Can you believe that this is the 5,250th entry in the blog known as “An Artist’s Notebook”? Every 250 posts or so I like to take a moment to reflect on where this post has been and post a lot of meaningless stats.
As always on these posts, I like to start by quoting the very first “An Artist’s Notebook” entry that published on August 9, 2006. That first post that published 6,296 days.
That post that started with these words:
So here is the first journal entry. I felt like having as pretentious sounding name as possible for my journal. I have a few goals about this journal. My main goal is just to actually write in it. My second goal is to be as truthful as possible towards my true thoughts and feelings. I have another journal on another website, but it is really just a collection of sarcastic statements and cheap jabs at open faced sandwiches. This journal is meant to be about what my achievements and failures are in the world of art. What projects I am working on and what I have accomplished and what I have failed to accomplish. What I am photographing and what I am thinking about entering in photo contests. What I am thinking about. It might not always make sense. It might just be things I need to write down because they strike me as poignant or inspirational. This is in a small way an online “idea box”.
Since those words, I have posted 5,250 journal entries. This website is still something of an “idea box”. Sometimes I’m just working stuff out here. I don’t know why, sometimes I need to work stuff out in public. But this website is definitely more than just an “idea box”. It is a place where I post a few thoughts and a ton of pictures. I’ve gone through a few photo projects on these pages. From THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT to the 9 EMOTIONS PROJECT to THE SELFIE PROJECT to the POSTCARD RECREATION PROJECT to name just a few. This website has also created a community with THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Which is one of my proudest achievements. Even if it sputtered and spit and barely survived in its first few years.
On these reflective posts, I like to publish a bunch of statistics that me and Joe Duff find interesting. So I might as well get to it.
Every post in “An Artist’s Notebook” is tagged with at least one Category. It is one of the easiest ways to navigate around the website. They are listed at the top of each post. Here are some statistics about Categories:
THE TOP 10 MOST USED CATEGORIES (RANK IN POST #5005 & INCREASE SINCE BEGINING OF 2024)
10. Carla – 632 (#10 – 39)
9. Formal Portrait – 655 (#6 – 6)
8. Teresa – 657 – (#9 – 49)
7. Road Trip – 657 (#8 – 32)
6. Macro – 662 (#7 – 26)
5. Jesse – 754 (#5 – 54)
4. Animals – 833 (#3 – 34)
3. Art – 842 – (#4 – 75)
2. Flowers – 1,010 (#2 – 40)
1. Black & White – 1,221 (#1 – 27)
No categories dropped from the Top 10. The categories with the best shot at cracking the Top 10 in the next 250 posts are Shannon, Nature, WPC-Submissions, Candid Portrait, & Still Life.
THE TOP 10 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES
10. Candid Portrait – 504 (#9 – 16)
9. WPC-Submissions – 563 (NR – 27)
8. Nature – 568 (#8 – 26)
7. Formal Portrait – 655 (#5 – 6)
6. Road Trip – 657 (#7 – 32)
5. Macro – 662 (#9 – 26)
4. Animals – 833 (#3 – 34)
3. Art – 842 – (#4 – 75)
2. Flowers – 1,010 (#2 – 40)
1. Black & White – 1,221 (#1 – 27)
Photoshop dropped out of the Top 10.
The categories with the best shot of cracking the Top 10 in the next 250 posts are Still Life, Photoshop, Naima, History, and Self-portrait.
THE TOP 10 HUMAN CATEGORIES
10. Willy – 379 (NR – 27)
9. Vest – 388 (#10 – 29)
8. Micky – 399 (#8 – 29)
7. Logan – 428 (#7 – 37)
6. Kim – 441 (#6 – 35)
5. Mom – 473 (#5)
4. Shannon – 615 (#4 – 30)
3. Carla – 632 (#3 – 39)
2. Teresa – 657 (#2 – 49)
1. Jesse – 754 (#1 – 54)
Jay dropped out of he Top 10. The categories that have the best chance of breaking into the Top 10 in the next 250 posts are Andy, Jay, Jen, Sara, and Derrick.
If you have spent any time on the Photography 139 website, you know that on the left sidebar, the “Top 100 Categories” are listed. I thought I would give a little bit of coverage to the Bottom 10 of the Top 100. There are currently 208 categories used on the website. I could cover the Bottom 10, but no real reason. Some of those categories probably need to be purged. I do like to cover the Top 10 of the Bottom 100 though.
THE BOTTOME 10 OF THE TOP 100
10. Nathanial – 82 (+29)
9. Layla – 84 (+8)
8. Commercial – 84 (0)
7. House – 91 (+1)
6. Writing – 92 (0)
5. Becca – 92 (+2)
4. Pastor Sarah – 93 (+2)
3. Pufferbilly Days – 95 (+4)
2. Tenderloining – 96 (+25)
1. Faust – 96 (+4)
The following categories have either fallen out of the Bottom 10 of the Top 100 or climbed out of it:
Andree, Flat Earth Joe, Self-Portrait Project, and Sabas
The following categories have the best shot at dropping back into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:
Russell, Nate, Jill, Blogging, Sabas, and Lowell.
The following categories have the best shot at climbing up into the Bottom 10 of the Top 10:
Andree, Photo Journal, Self-Portrait Project, Flat Earth Joe, and Mary.
I’m now starting to track what categories have had the greatest gain. These are the ones that have the greatest gain since the beginning of 2024.
THE TOP 10 CATEGORIES BY GAIN
10. Kim – 35
10. Andy – 35
10. Michelle – 35
8. Logan – 37
8. Elizabeth – 37
7. Carla – 39
6. Flowers – 40
5. Teresa – 49
4. Jesse – 54
2. Still Life – 72
2. Street Photography – 72
1. Art – 75
THE TOP 10 NON-HUMAN CATEGORIES BY GAIN
9. Nature -26
9. Nature – 26
7. Black & White – 27
7. WPC – Submissions – 27
6. Road Trip – 32
5. Animals – 34
4. Flowers – 40
2. Still Life – 72
2. Street Photography – 72
1. Art – 75
THE TOP 10 HUMAN CATEGORIES BY GAIN
9. Scottie. D. – 33
9. Linda – 33
9. Sabas – 33
6. Kim – 35
6. Andy – 35
6. Michelle – 35
4. Logan – 37
4. Elizabeth – 37
3. Carla – 39
2. Teresa – 49
1. Jesse – 54
If you are wondering what is your best way to improve your Photography 139 Score and crack the Top 10, it is simply to be active in THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE or go on trips with me or participate in various other photo projects or be related to me. Now these aren’t necessarily the 10 people that have influenced my photography the most, but these are the 10 people that have made the largest imprint on this website.
I can tell you the people that have influenced my photography the most, but that is a tale for another time. But I’m pretty sure you can guess who.
10. Naima – 72,941 views
9. Drone – 73,421 views
8. 9 Emotions Project – 98,062 views
7. Weekly Photo Challenge Year 3 – 124,533 views
6. Town Sign Project – 127,555 views
5. Tenderloining – 134,777 views
4. Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images – 172,671 views
3. Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 11 – 192,976 views
2. Instagram – 212,131 views
1. Weekly Photo Challenge – Year 11 – 289,984 views
Galleries that fell out of the Top 10 are:
Las Vegas 2023, Weekly Photo Challenge Year 9, Selfie Project – 2022,
Galleries that fell just outside of the Top 10 are:
Life, 365 Day Photo Project -2013, Memphis – 2023, New Orleans – 2024, Phot Journal Rejects.
But what are the most popular single images of the last 365 days? Don’t worry, I’m gonna feed you baby birds.
9. 2,508 views
8. 2,812 views
7. 3,774 views
6. 3,875 views
5. 3,999 views
4. 4,020 views
3. 4,305 views
2. 4,816 views
1. 20,050 views
If you are interested in checking out some of the milestone posts of the past, I got you. Click on any of the links below to check them out:
I think that is enough. We will check back in, in another 250 posts.
I ate a lot of food while is New Orleans. Here is just the food I ate on Day 1 of my trip.
Not bad.
Water on the flight from Saint Louis to New Orleans.
Another bag of these.
Tony and I got lunch at Mambo’s.
I got the Cajun Jambalaya Pasta.
It was pretty darn good and I’m not really a pasta person.
We split an order of the Jalapeno Hush Puppies.
Also, very good.
$38.04 with tip.
Kim and I ate supper at the Acme Oyster House.
Kim’s signature drink.
My supper.
It was mostly kind of fair.
Jambalaya.
Kim’s supper was much better.
$30.37 with tip.
Too bad I don’t like oysters.
The trip was off to a good start!
Today is Bethany’s birthday so I have to wish her a happy birthday.
I hope it is an amazing birthday filled with tons of super deep questions from Nora!
Time to share the balance of pictures I took on that trip around Greene County with Teresa.
Now I’m suddenly itching to hit an orchard.
Here is your Bokeh Picture of the Week:
In this picture Bokeh is running with a tennis ball that Lola, the dog from across the street, gave her. She had a vet appointment on Friday where she got 2 shots. Only 2 more rounds of shots and she will be good for a year. She now weighs 23.9 pounds.
A few weeks back I went on a road trip with Nader and we ended up in Adair to try the burger at the Chuckwagon in Adair. It was one of the 10 finalists for Best Burger in Iowa, but it did not win. Here are some pictures:
Nader’s Chicken Strips
Great urinal.
The burger was a hot delicious mess! I would gladly go back there. I wouldn’t make a special trip from Boone, but if I was on I-80 between Des Moines and Omaha, I would pull over and knock down a tasty burger from there.
You can find the Chuckwagon Restaurant here:
113 5th Street
Adair, Iowa
HOURS:
Sunday Closed
Monday 7 AM–8 PM
Tuesday 7 AM–8 PM
Wednesday 7 AM–8 PM
Thursday 7 AM–8 PM
Friday 8 AM–8:30 PM
Saturday 8 AM–8:30 PM
Next Sunday’s food adventure will recount all the food I ate in New Orleans.
But…
How is my efforting to live a healthy lifestyle going?
This week my weight went down 0.0 pounds. I weight exactly the same as I did last Sunday. Definitely a week of plateauing, but also a week of not exercising much and not eating well. But it happens. I am now down 46.5 pounds since starting Noom.
So my new goal is to drop that 8.1 pounds by the 4th of July. That would be around 2 pounds a week, which seems realistic. Although. I can say for certain that after I reach my “ultimate goal weight” that goal weight will change. I’m going to guess with about another 25 pounds or so. We’ll see. I have to make that weight first.
But weight isn’t the only measure (or even the most important measure) of positive results. I’m not sure I can come up with any this week. Obviously there are. I guess I’ll just go with yardwork is definitely easier these days.
Since I started using Fitbit on February 20, 2024 (117 days) I’ve:
+ Taken 1,402,585 steps
+ Averaged 8,154 steps a day for the last 7 days
+ Walked 648.81 miles
+ Averaged walking 5.54 miles a day
That is all to report for now.
*Ultimate goal weight subject to change.
A few weeks back was the annual Methodist Men Pie Auction. Once again, it was a smashing success. It raised close to $2,000 for various youth projects at our church.
Here are a few pictures of the event. Most taken by Teresa:
Once again I made it through another pie auction without buying another pie or cake or cookie or cupcake or brownie. The streak continues!
Day 7 in New Orleans was supposed to be relatively short. Tony and I had a 10:20 flight. So we would leave for the airport a little after 8. We would grab a connecting flight in Denver and be back in the Cyclone State by 3:30. But the best laid plans of mice and men…
Here are the pictures from Day 7. The final day.
About the time I was going to order an Uber we got a message from Southwest Airlines. Our flight had been delayed until noon! We decided to delay our trip to the airport until 10. That gave me time to go down and try to see the famous Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1. I didn’t get to see it because you have to pay for a tour, which is fine, but the tour lasted too long for me to take it. Anyways, saw this sticker. Enjoyed it.
On the way to the airport we got a text from Southwest that our flight had been moved back to its original flight time. Meaning that we missed our flight. Southwest was less than helpful. They told me to run and I might make the flight. Yeah, this was the security line. While waiting in it (this is TSA Pre-Check) Southwest sent me a message that my flight had left. Thanks!
I had to go back and get booked on a flight that wouldn’t leave until after 6. The fortunate thing for me was that they had checked my bags in. So I could go into the airport. They hadn’t checked Tony’s bag in, so he couldn’t go into the airport until 4 hours before the flight.
Not a fan of Southwest.
Another look at the security lines. This is the one that isn’t TSA Pre-Check.
Waited with Tony for a bit before going in.
Thanks airport.
NASA display.
Southerners love their Moon Pies!
Airport art.
Southerners love their Moon Pies!
Southerners love their moon pies!
Not in the mood for this toy at this time.
No lies detected.
For the Swifties that also love crawdads!
I know a big fan of the Golden Girls.
Southerners love their moon pies.
Finally in the air!
Bellisimo!
Landed in the home of Toasted Ravioli!
This sign made me so happy!
Goodbye Land of Toasted Ravioli.
Tony and Shannon dropped me off at my doorstep a little after midnight. It was a long, boring day. It was good to be home. 2 days later I would be welcoming Bokeh into my life and this trip feels like such a distant memory, even though it was only a month ago.
At some point I’ll begin sharing the pictures I took of New Orleans with the real camera!
Here is your Bokeh Picture of the Week:
She had a pretty good week. Definitely a great week potty training. Made some progress on leash training. Saturday alone she had visits from Elainie, Sabas, Jay, and three separate sets of neighbors!
Friday was National Donut Day! While it is luck and a bit random, it is apropos that this week’s food adventure involves donuts! Bricktown Bakery in Nevada is a phenomenal bakery in Nevada. I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with their offerings. Elizabeth brings their donuts into the Computer Mine now and again. But I had never actually been there in person. I had only gotten a fix from the donut dealer.
Recently Elizabeth, Michelle, Micky, and I went to Nevada to attend a visitation for Kim’s father-in-law. After paying our respects, we went over to Bricktown Bakery to enjoy some sweets. Here are some pictures:
Recent pie frustration fills me with regret.
What Micky looks like when he is dressed up.
They also sell popcorn.
Cy’s Favorite, has to be great right?
Looks good?
Bricktown Bakery donuts are indeed delicious. Incredible! Amazing! Whatever superlative you want! I would definitely drive out of the way for their goodies. Now the popcorn… I’m not exaggerating when I say it is one of the worst foods I’ve ever had in my life. Period. You put a bag of chicken feet and this bag of popcorn in front of me and I have to eat all of one of them or something bad happens. I’m gobbling down those chicken feet.
Not a single person who tried it at the Computer Mine had anything but revulsion after they popped it in their mouth. I ended up giving the balance of the bag to Elizabeth to take home because teenage boys will eat anything. And the report that came back is that they did indeed eat it.
If I were giving Bricktown academic grades, their donuts are an A+++++ and the popcorn is an F—-.
You can find Bricktown Bakery here:
1105 6th Street
#102
Nevada, Iowa
Hours:
Sunday Closed
Monday Closed
Tuesday 7 AM–6 PM
Wednesday 7 AM–6 PM
Thursday 7 AM–6 PM
Friday 7 AM–6 PM
Saturday 7 AM–2 PM
Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve a finalist for Best Burger in Iowa.
But…
How is my efforting to live a healthy lifestyle going?
This week my weight went down 2.9 pounds. I am now down 46.5 pounds since starting Noom. I have reached my most recent intermittent goal weight. I am 8.1 pounds away from my ultimate goal weight*. The weight I’m currently at is what I mentally think of as my kayak weight. When I started this journey, I decided that when I got down to this weight, I would go kayaking. So I need to look into doing that. I know where I can get a kayak at least.
So my new goal is to drop that 8.1 pounds by the 4th of July. That would be around 2 pounds a week, which seems realistic. Although. I can say for certain that after I reach my “ultimate goal weight” that goal weight will change. I’m going to guess with about another 25 pounds or so. We’ll see. I have to make that weight first.
I ate a little better this week again. Although, I have been crushing this bag of peanut butter cups that Elizabeth gave me, but balancing it with raspberries she also gave me. Then Michelle made me a carrot cake! Then I celebrated National Donut Day on Saturday. Then again today. I also crushed a Churro Split on Saturday. But other than that, my nutrition was pretty good this week. Lots of grilled tuna, vegetables, and fruits. I did try this “health soda” called OLIPOP. Spoiler, not really a heath drink. It is a healthier alternative than say regular or diet pop, but not really healthy. It was okay, but at the price (over $2 a can) I don’t need to buy any more.
Hopefully this is another good week. Maybe this is the week I make my triumphant return to the gym. I hope the juggling guy is still there!
But weight isn’t the only measure (or even the most important measure) of positive results. I’m not sure I can come up with any this week. Obviously there are. I guess I’ll just go with yardwork is definitely easier these days.
Since I started using Fitbit on February 20, 2024 (110 days) I’ve:
+ Taken 1,338,237 steps
+ Averaged 11,016 steps a day for the last 7 days
+ Walked 619.69 miles
+ Averaged walking 5.63 miles a day
That is all to report for now.
*Ultimate goal weight subject to change.
