Time to share the last collection of glorious BLACK AND WHITE images I took but didn’t use for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. These were also all taken at Logan’s birthday party.
The ink has barely dried on this post and I’m already sad our trip through all the glorious BLACK & WHITE pictures is over. I can’t wait until BLACK & WHITE is a theme again!
I can’t fight this feeling any longer
And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow
What started out as friendship has grown stronger
I only wish I had the strength to let it showI tell myself that I can’t hold out forever
I said there is no reason for my fear
‘Cause I feel so secure when we’re together
You give my life direction
You make everything so clearAnd even as I wander
I’m keeping you in sight
You’re a candle in the window
On a cold, dark winter’s night
And I’m getting closer than I ever thought I mightAnd I can’t fight this feeling anymore
I’ve forgotten what I started fighting for
It’s time to bring this ship into the shore
And throw away the oars, forever‘Cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore
I’ve forgotten what I started fightin’ for
And if I have to crawl upon the floor
Come crashing through your door
Baby, I can’t fight this feeling anymoreMy life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you
I’ve been running ’round in circles in my mind
And it always seems that I’m followin’ you, girl
‘Cause you take me to the places
That alone I’d never findAnd even as I wander
I’m keeping you in sight
You’re a candle in the window
On a cold, dark winter’s night
And I’m getting closer than I ever thought I mightAnd I can’t fight this feeling anymore
I’ve forgotten what I started fightin’ for
It’s time to bring this ship into the shore
And throw away the oars, forever‘Cause I can’t fight this feeling anymore
I’ve forgotten what I started fightin’ for
And if I have to crawl upon the floor
Come crashing through your door
Baby, I can’t fight this feeling anymore
Ooh
-Written by Kevin Patrick Cronin
-Performed by REO Speedwagon
Thought I would pick this song cause it was from the same year as “I Want to Know What Love Is”. It was #1 from March 9 – March 23 of 1985. REO Speedwagon was the first concert I ever went to. I’m told I slept through almost all of it.
But Thursdays are for flowers. Time for more Pella flowers!
Still more Pella flowers left to share!
Today is Dahlia’s birthday. So I need to wish her a happy birthday.
I hope your birthday is filled with plenty of play time!
Time for another collection of glorious BLACK AND WHITE images. These were all taken at Logan’s birthday party. I hope you like pictures of kids playing in water!
I still have one more collection of glorious BLACK AND WHITE images to share! I’m post black and white, animal triste.
Time to start sharing the final alternate images for the glorious theme of BLACK & WHITE. All of these images are related to the Boone First United Methodist Church in one way or another. I started my day by worshipping an awesome God at Boone FUMC. Then I spent part of my evening at a 30 mile radius church picnic thing. I didn’t take any pictures there cause I was busy talking with Kio, Shannon, Adam, (and others) while dominating the water balloon toss. And I mean dominating. I almost worry the other competitors felt bad about how thoroughly dominated they were. Some will probably never touch a water balloon again.
Here are some pictures, mostly from the church:
We apparently ran out of “O”s for God and had to use a zero.
There are still a ton of pictures from this day left to share. The rest are from Logan’s surprise birthday party. It will probably take 2 days to share them!
WINDOW VIEW! A great theme! But did enough people get a view to make it a popular theme? You’ll have to keep scrolling to find out!
As of 12:01 PM on Monday, July 15, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore everything in parentheses):
1-Willy McAlpine – 1 week (IA)
2-Elainie Hernandez – 2 weeks (IA)
3-Monica Jennings – 2 weeks (IA)
4-Deanna McClain – 5 weeks (IA, MN)
5-Sara Lockner – 6 weeks (IA, BHS, MN)
6-Suzie Brannen – 10 weeks (IA, MD)
7-Mike Vest – 9 weeks (IA, MO) <2>
8-Alexis Stensland – 12 weeks (IA)
9-Sabas Hernandez – 14 weeks (IA, OH)
10-Adam Gordon – 21 weeks (IA, MS, MO) <2>
11-Lowell Davis – 28 weeks (IA, MO)
12-Michelle Haupt – 28 weeks (IA, MO, KS, LA)
13-Brandon Kahler – 29 weeks (IA, MN)
14-Scott Degeneffe – 47 weeks (IA, FL, UT, CO, KY, IN, IL)
15-Sheri Fakhouri – 57 weeks (IA, NE)
16-Logan Kahler – 57 weeks (IA, MN)
17-Nathanial Brown – 59 weeks (IA, SD, GA, TN, IRL, UK, FL)
18-Tamara Peterson – 70 weeks (IA, MN)
19-Mindi Terrell – 74 weeks (IA) <2>
20-Linda Bennett – 103 weeks (KS, IA)
21-Sarah Toot – 104 weeks (PA, NY, VT, NV, NJ)
22-Angie DeWaard – 108 weeks (IA, IL) <2>
23-Dawn Krause – 112 weeks (IA, IL)
24-Kim Barker – 118 weeks (IA, CO, LA)
25-Joe Duff – 119 weeks (TX, NY)
26-Teresa Kahler – 130 weeks (IA, NE)
27-Carla Stensland – 130 weeks (IA, MO, SD, WY, CO) <2>
28-Micky Augustin – 132 weeks (IA, IL, FL)
29-Andy Sharp – 133 weeks (IA, NE, AR, MS, MO, TN, LA, IL, MN, WI) <2>
30-Bill Wentworth – 134 weeks (NE, MO)
31-Cathie Morton – 136 weeks (IA, FL, BHS, MO, LA)
32-Elizabeth Nordeen – 139 weeks (IA, OH)
33-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 141 weeks (IA, CA, NV)
34-Kio Dettman – 143 weeks (IA)
strong>Here is the list of rules for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:
1. The picture must be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch and take pictures challenge!
2. There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit.
3. Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM next Monday.
4. To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
5. No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.
There are still 2 ways to submit:
1. Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
2. Text your submission to my Google Pixel 8 Pro.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks or the rules of the challenge or how to submit. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:
Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 75 weeks
Mindi Terrell (Iowa)
Deanna McClain (Iowa) – 6 weeks
Micky Augustin (North Grand Mall – Ames, Iowa) – 133 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ames, Iowa) – 131 weeks
Carla Stensland (Ogden, Iowa)
Elizabeth Nordeen (Ames, Iowa) – 140 weeks
Angie DeWaard (Ames, Iowa) – 109 weeks
Jesse Howard (Ames, Iowa) – 1 week
Sheri Fakhouri (Ankeny, Iowa) – 58 weeks
Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) 15 weeks
Elainie Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Elainie Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa)
Michelle Haupt (Ankeny, Iowa) – 29 weeks
Alexis Stensland (Senbon Tattoo – Boone, Iowa) – 13 weeks
Alexis Stensland (Boone, Iowa)
Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 144 weeks
Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 134 weeks
Dawn Krause (Boone County Fair – Boone, Iowa) – 113 weeks
Dawn Krause (Boone County Fair – Boone, Iowa)
Adam Gordon (Boone County Fair Parade – Boone, Iowa) – 22 weeks
Adam Gordon (Boone County Fair Parade)
Lowell Davis (Boone, Iowa) – 29 weeks
Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 131 weeks
Willy McAlpine (Boone, Iowa) – 2 weeks
Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 58 weeks
Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 3 weeks
Christopher D. Bennett (Boone County Fair – Boone, Iowa)
Mike Vest (Boone County, Iowa) – 10 weeks
Scott Degeneffe (Boone County, Iowa) – 48 weeks
Suzie Brannen (Clive, Iowa) – 11 weeks
Nathanial Brown (Early, Iowa) – 60 weeks
Amy Peterson (Childserve – Johnston, Iowa) – 1 week
Kim Barker (Nevada, Iowa) – 119 weeks
Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 137 weeks
Johnathan Stensland (Ogden, Iowa) – 1 week
Brandon Kahler (Story City, Iowa) – 30 weeks
Shannon Bardole-Foley (Summerset, Iowa) – 142 weeks
Sara Lockner (West Des Moines, Iowa) – 7 weeks
Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 104 weeks
Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 1355 weeks
Sarah Toot (E. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) – 105 weeks
Joe Duff (Texas) – 120 weeks
Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Texas) – 1 week
39 participants this week! This is a big number! Best we’ve done for several weeks!
There were submissions this week taken in the following places:
+ Iowa (41)
+ Kansas (1)
+ Nebraska (1)
+ Pennsylvania (1)
+ Texas (2)
Here is the Year 11 list of places where submissions have been taken (submissions taken in each places):
+ Arkansas (16.5)
+ Aruba (1)
+ Bahamas (2)
+ California (3)
+ Curacao (1)
+ Colorado (7)
+ Florida (13)
+ Georgia (1)
+ Hawaii (2)
+ Illinois (11)
+ Indiana (4)
+ Iowa (1041)
+ Ireland (3)
+ Kansas (40)
+ Kentucky (1)
+ Louisiana (8)
+ Maryland (1)
+ Michigan (5)
+ Minnesota (10)
+ Mississippi (2.5)
+ Missouri (18.5)
+ Nebraska (35)
+ Nevada (4)
+ New Jersey (1)
+ New York (17)
+ North Ireland (1)
+ Ohio (2)
+ Oklahoma (2)
+ Pennsylvania (21)
+ Puerto Rico (4)
+ South Dakota (4)
+ Tennessee (2.5)
+ Texas (41)
+ Utah (1)
+ Vermont (1)
+ Virginia (1)
+ Wisconsin (2)
+ Wyoming (1)
32 states so far! 1 U.S. Territory! 5 foreign countries! Not bad! So far, the following people have submitted from multiple places:
+ Andy Sharp (IA, NE, MO, AR, TN, MS, LA, IL, MN, WI) – 10
+ Jen Ensley-Gorshe (IA, CO, MO, TX, TN, VA, IL, FL) – 8
+ Scott Degeneffe (IA, FL, UT, CO, IN, KY, IL) – 7
+ Nathanial Brown (IA, SD, TN, GA, IRL, NIR, FL) – 7
+ Jesse Howard (IA, MO, NE, FL, ABW, CUW, MN) – 7
+ Christopher D. Bennett (IA, MO, NE, IL, IN, LA) – 6
+ Cathie Morton (IA, FL, BHS, MO, LA) – 5
+ Carla Stensland (IA, MO, SD, WY, CO) -5
+ Mary Green (MI, IA, IN, IL, RP) – 5
+ Sarah Toot (PA, NY, VT, NV, NJ) – 5
+ Michelle Haupt (IA, MO, KS, LA) – 4
+ Mike Vest (IA, MO, AR, OK) – 4
+ Kim Barker (IA, CO, LA) – 3
+ Shannon Bardole-Foley (IA, CA, NV) – 3
+ Adam Gordon (IA, MS, MO) – 3
+ Becky Parmelee (AR, IA, OK) – 3
+ Sara Lockner (IA, BHS, MN) – 3
+ Micky Augustin (IA, IL, FL) – 3
+ Susanna Funk (IA, CO) – 2
+ Brandon Kahler (IA, MN) – 2
+ Logan Kahler (IA, MN) – 2
+ Tamara Peterson (IA, MN) – 2
+ Teresa Kahler (IA, NE) – 2
+ Sheri Fakhouri (IA, NE) – 2
+ Angie DeWaard (IA, IL) – 2
+ Sabas Hernandez (IA, OH) – 2
+ Suzie Brannen (IA, MD) – 2
+ Elizabeth Nordeen (IA, OH) – 2
+ Linda Bennett (KS, IA) – 2
+ Bill Wentworth (NE, MO) – 2
+ Deanna McClain (IA, MN) – 2
+ Dawn Krause – (IA, IL) – 2
+ Joe Duff (TX, NY) – 2
+ Lowell Davis (IA, MO) – 2
Andy now has a commanding lead to be crowned “The Most Travelled THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE Photographer!” Jen, Jesse, Scott, and Nathanial remain in striking distance though.
The big milestones this week were Vest joining the Double Digit Streak Club! WooHoo! Linda joined the 2 Year Streak Club! WooHoo! WooHoo! There were also no steaks snapped this week! WooHoo!
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:
ABSTRACT! What a great theme for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!
If you are confused by what an ABSTRACT image, think about ABSTRACT art:
Abstract photography is a style of art that uses photographic equipment to create images that are not immediately associated with the physical world. Abstract photographers use techniques like perspective, movement, and light to transform the world into unexpected and often unrecognizable images.
Basically, you are taking a picture where it doesn’t look like what you are taking a picture of. You can do this with the focus or the length of the exposure. That is just a couple of examples.
Here is a good quote from John Suler that might help:
“An abstract photograph draws away from that which is realistic or literal. It draws away from natural appearances and recognizable subjects in the actual world. Some people even say it departs from true meaning, existence, and reality itself. It stands apart from the concrete whole with its purpose instead depending on conceptual meaning and intrinsic form….Here’s the acid test: If you look at a photo and there’s a voice inside you that says ‘What is it?’….Well, there you go. It’s an abstract photograph.”
I look forward to your interpretation.
That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will see your idea of ABSTRACT in this place that loves the obtuse next Monday.
Bokeh Picture of the Week coming up!
She’s a charmer!
Time to share the food I knocked down on my work trip to New Orleans. This time I ate breakfast and it was so amazing that I wish I had eaten breakfast every, single day! So freakin’ good. I also ate lunch with Michelle at a food truck across the street from the Convention Center. Then I tried to eat supper at the Computer Mine Sales Team party but the food was just the worst thing ever. Hard to describe how terrible it was. So I ended up knocking down a street dog on Bourbon Street. No regrets there. One of the best hot dogs I’ve ever eaten!
You can’t get a good chocolate milk outside of Iowa, but this wasn’t bad.
I could have licked the plate, it was so good!
I got the Smoked Sausage.
It was pretty good.
But what Michelle got was better.
Sales “party”.
I was so excited for the fried okra, but you can’t serve fried foods like this!
This was the most serviceable food there.
Gross. But free at least.
A dang good Bourbon Street hot dog!
Jimmy J’s Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants I’ve ever been to. In fact, I went there for breakfast again the next day. Oh my, I’ve said too much.
So I haven’t been great about updating my quest to live healthier. But this is what I can say. I’m currently 3.8 pounds from my ultimate goal weight. And this week I earned a new FitBit Badge:
WooHoo me! I did a better job of getting steps in this week and I ate better… well until the weekend. I ate lots of Fair food. But that is okay. Not every day can be nutritional winners!
This collection of glorious BLACK & WHITE images i took on July 6. I had a fairly lazy Saturday. I took a mini-road trip over to Jefferson for some A&W and had Jay, Willy, Monica, and Graham over for watermelon. But that was about all I did all day.
This was Shorty & Doris’ farm.
Only 1 day of alternate glorious BLACK & WHITE images left to share, but it might take several days to share them all. We’ll see.
Time to share another collection of alternate images for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme BLACK & WHITE. I took these glorious BLACK & WHITE pictures on July 5. I went over to Nevada to try what was allegedly great chicken from a gas station with Teresa and hosted Willy and Jay for FNSC and then a viewing of Dragon House. Or whatever that show is called.
2 more days of glorious BLACK & WHITE images left to share!
I turned my back
You were gone in a flash
Like you always do
You’ve always gone off
Somewhere elseAnd when the phone rang
And I thought it was you
And I sprung like a kid
Who just got out of school
But it’s almost
Always never you
Never youI scream like a child
My insides went wildWhen I’m alone with you, you make me feel, you make me feel
When I’m alone with you, you are the one, you are the one
When I reach out and I only grab air
And it kills me to think
That you never did care and it’s hopeless
You’ve always run off somewhere else
I’m throwing a tantrum
Why are you such a phantomWhen I’m alone with you, you make me feel, you make me feel
When I’m alone with you, you are the one, you are the oneWhen I’m alone with you, you make me feel, you make me feel
When I’m alone with you, you are the one, you are the oneReminds me of home
When you’re around me
Next time you leave
Don’t go without me
No, don’t go, no!When I’m alone with you, you make me feel, you make me feel
When I’m alone with you, you are the one, you are the one
-Written by Julian Emery, Elisabeth-Maurus, & James Lawrence Irving
-Performed by Lissie
I’ve recently been watching “Loudermilk”, a great show about the recovery community, and the third season features Lissie as a musician that gave up on her music dreams. It really got me into her music lately. And the music of Ben Rogers. Who is also great as an aspiring musician.
It is a show that has been of the air for a few years now, but I recommend it. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
But Thursdays are for flowers. Time for more tulip pictures from my trip to Pella.
Still more Pella tulip pictures left to share.
Today is Alexis’ birthday. So I need to wish her a happy birthday.
I hope it is a magical birthday! Dirty Slytherin…
Time to share the final set of BLACK & WHITE pictures I took on the 4th of July that were alternates for THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE. Most of these were taken at Scottie D.’s 4th of July Bash.
4 days of glorious BLACK & WHITE images down! 3 more days to go.
