Sandy came to visit today.  She actually just passed by, so we didn't get to see her in person, just experienced some of the effects of her passing. Just before dusk I headed out to get some pictures, and Sam, Gracie and Isa asked to come along.  I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get any phenomenal pictures, but I guess you can't win every time.  I'll post the best of the bunch here anyway.  The effects of the storm weren't quite as spectacular here as in the pictures you've seen on the news, but still pretty unusual for this small town.

Here's Sam standing at the top of the boat ramp. The concrete just behind her is the apron where you would normally back towards the water. The water was past its edge then, and now has risen a couple more feet, according to a friend whose house backs up to the wharf.

Yours truly when the rain eased up a bit.

 We went out to Land's End on the Chester River to see if it would be a little more impressive there.  Still not much luck.

 Where there was once a dry field, now a real gully washer.

 Leaves knocked down by the intense rain on Spaniard's Neck Road.

 The bird in this picture literally took about a minute to get from the right side of the road to where he was by the time I got the camera out and fired off this shot. Every time the wind would gust, it would push him backward almost as far as he had fought forward.

 Back at the wharf off the Corsica Neck in Centreville, the town where we live.  On a quiet day, you can see the leaves moving gently upstream on a strong tide. The waves today were moving visibly up around the point (off to the right) and toward town. Luckily, the wharf sits much lower than most of the town, so the only inconvenience of high water is three of the four ways into town will become impassable.

 Gracie, Sam and Isa on the newest part of the wharf.

 Gracie out at the end of one of the piers. 

The only real excitement was when we got home and found out I had left my phone at home and my wife (who hails from the middle of Texas and has little experience with real hurricanes) let loose on me for being inaccessible with three of our children in a monster storm for more than an hour and a half.  Oops! My bad. I think she has finally calmed down now.  At least now I'll know protocol when I take the kids out during the next storm.   I mean how are they gonna learn to be good photographers if they don't go where the pictures are?  Of course, next time I'll have to find a place where the storm is a little more in evidence so my effort won't be for naught. You know what they say, though...If you wanna be a photographer, you gotta take pictures. So until the next adventure...

    Some of you may remember this post from earlier this year.  http://lightnindan.xanga.com/760866146/millstream-park--meeting-another-large-family/ 

    We live in a small town and had taken the kids down to the park, when we met another large family.  Their little boy insisted I take his picture and wouldn't be refused.  Fast forward to yesterday at our town's homecoming parade.  We have become friends with them and they happened to be near where our family had staked out  a spot to observe.  My son, Danny, who took the photography class with me earlier this year, had a rare moment where the camera was his alone.

Danny's the kid dressed like Dr. Who in the middle of this picture taken by my daughter, Samantha.

      I was at work and my fifteen year old (another aspiring photographer) was in the parade.  He did an ok job getting pictures of the parade, but in a moment of boredom turned the camera on the little boy from the previous blog.  I'm very proud of the picture he captured.  He took one pic that wasn't quite in focus, then he struck gold.  

     I think we have an up and coming photographer here.   It's funny because he very seldom gets the camera to himself, but when he does, he never fails to get a shot or two that are just really good.  Maybe I'm just a proud father, but I really think he's a bit of a natural.  It would be an amazing thing for me, as an old man looking back, to see that I had passed along a passion for a hobby that has brought me so much joy.

     Here are a few more from a day when he was sitting, bored out of his skull waiting for me to compete in the Maryland truck driver championships.  Amidst a sea of concrete and asphalt, he found these.

Yep, that's my boy!

    Though we had had to postpone it, we finally had Gracie's birthday party today. She really wanted to have a costume party, so that's what she had.  She dressed up as the girl from the movie "Brave".

     Here's her big sis Samantha all dressed up and ready for the guests to arrive.    She, Danny, and Ian (the brother of one of Gracie's friends) helped out with all the kids.  

     This was Rebekah's costume (she made it) at first, but when the cardboard ripped, she did a quick change into another old costume.

     Three of Gracie's friends.

      Here is Gracie with Eden, a friend from our church. Their two great grandmothers were close friends until Eden's died last year, so they are fourth generation.

     Tina, counting votes for the costume contest.

     Gracie arranged a scavenger hunt and the kids all had fun searching in teams of two and three, all around the house and property for things on the list.  The winners got yo-yo toys that light up when they spin.

     We have recently started using cupcakes for birthdays, because Tina finds them so much more convenient, and the kids like the novelty.

     Sam, caught staring out into the distance.

      Sandra, our 19 year old, wasn't able to be at the party, but she made  pinata the night before, modeled after a character from Alice in Wonderland.

      We even allowed kids to attend dressed up in Ravens football gear, though we were pretty certain they'd have worn Colts gear if they had been able to find it.

     Gracie gets her shot at the pinata.

     The pinata held up pretty well, even after taking a beating.

     Even the big brothers got a turn after the little girls failed to properly destroy it.  This is Ian.  He is the brother of one of Gracie's friends and one of Danny's best friends as well.

    Finally the thing burst and the rush for candy was on.

     Though this was the first party we've had in years where no parents stuck around, the children were all very well behaved and enthusiastic to participate. It was great to have a houseful of kids; and it was great a couple hours later to see them go, sit down, take a deep breath and relax.  Now we have five months with no birthday parties before it starts all over again.

     As a side note, if you have a minute, take a second to pass along some constructive criticism.  Are my pics too big for the format?  Any tips on taking my photography to the next level? Obviously I post the pics I think are the better ones and/or the ones that help tell a story.  It only takes a quick browse through Flickr for me to realize my photography skills still have a long way to go. Help a guy out with some tips here.  I like these birthday parties and events, because I have to work on  my feet and don't have time to really think about my shooting, so my strengths and weaknesses are really on display.  Your feedback will be appreciated.

For the better part of two weeks, I have been negotiating with a man to buy his second sailboat, the Alice May a Cal25 and national champ in her class in 1999.  It was for sale for about half what (in my opinion) it was worth, but still above my budget considering the minor repairs it needs. He has proven a tough sell, but though I didn't get him down to what my wife would have liked to have seen, he at last gave in and lowered the price to within what I was willing to pay. I had given up on negotiations twice, both times when he took several days to respond to my ridiculously lowball offers.  Now all that remains is to actually go see the boat, verify her condition and make the transaction!  Yes, a lot could go wrong, but  we're super excited nonetheless. 

This is her, sailing in all her glory.

She was a beautiful boat, but the owner had mentioned all the good points about his maintenance of the hull and rig and neglected to mention his serious neglect of the interior and deck.  She would have been, with a winter's worth of fiberglass work, an excellent boat, but I doubt if my dedication and available time would have resulted in an expensive piece of yard art or a completed project.  Since I was looking for something to drop in the water and sail, I walked away from the deal after my inspection turned up the huge amount of needed repair.  And so, the search goes on....

     I took a paid day off for the first time this year.  I didn't take out my Saturday run, so I could go to our church's men's weekend.  The weather was beautiful and  it has been a welcome break.  I didn't realize how much I needed a little time away, even though I don't work many days most weeks.  It's nice to set aside all the headaches that go along with my job and just relax.  I got home Thursday morning and won't go back to work until early tomorrow morning.  The weekend, in my opinion, was a resounding success.  We went to a YMCA camp (Camp Tockwogh) on the Chesapeake Bay, not far from home.  There were only a dozen of us and it was pretty unstructured, but we met formally four times, ate around a shared table and hung out the rest of the time playing basketball, beach volleyball or just enjoying the company.  A lot of thought must have gone into the weekend, because, though it was pretty unstructured, we discussed weighty and difficult issues about our faith and our marriages;  issues which are rarely discussed among men. 

A barge coming down the Chesapeake, passes a sailboat.

     There were 3 rules: 

1.  You can pass any given time you are given a turn to talk. 

2.  What is revealed here, doesn't go outside this group.  Even to your wives. (This is, in my opinion, the rule that really gave us the freedom to talk frankly)

3. Don't offer advice. You're not here to fix the other guy. 

One of the four sessions was spent outside, alone, in contemplation.  For all my doubts, walking along a rocky shoreline with waves crashing in at my feet on one side and cliffs rising a few feet away on the other with eagles and herons flying in the steady, strong wind that was sweeping across the bay made me laugh at the idea that even one of those things could exist in all of its complexity and beauty without a Designer. It brought to mind the verse in Psalm 19 where David, King of Israel says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands...they have no speech. They use no words. No sound is heard from them, yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. "

Two were for us (though we all know each other to some degree) to get to know each other better, and the final one was a frank discussion of purity and some of the pitfalls we should watch out for as fathers and husbands.    We got back to the church just before service ended Sunday, refreshed and sore from doing our best to one up each other athletically. It was nice to catch up and spend time with friends we sometimes only see once a week.  

     Tina has been hurting a lot.  She has a Haglund's deformity on her heel which causes almost constant pain, so we just relaxed at home Sunday afternoon, and Monday we caught up on some grocery shopping, did some chores and relaxed as well.  Gracie found a black widow spider and upon further inspection, we found that we had a small infestation in that little flower garden, so some time was spent turning over pavers and killing spiders.  Today, everyone's off to school and Tina's back at work, so I made a list of a bunch of things that needed to be done in Easton, the larger town about 15 miles southeast of us, and I accomplished most of them before lunch.  Since one of the things was to get the computers checked out, I had them both with me and was pleasantly surprised to realize that, not only was I near Panera when the morning's work was finished, I also had the means to spend my lunch catching up with some of you. 

   I find that after this time off, I'm actually not stressed out about going to work tomorrrow, even though it appears we are about to get really busy for the next few months.  I think I may have to do this more often.  Hope you are all well.

Five dollars was offered to the guy who could get Mr. orange shorts into the bay, so gray shorts suggested going out on the floating dock and seeing how high they could jump when the waves lifted the dock.  When I snapped this picture the treachery had commenced, but orange shorts was still oblivious.

All in good fun.

My wife sent my 10 year old, Gracie out to weed a little flower bed in our front yard, and she came in a moment later to tell us she had found a black widow and her egg sac in one of the pavers around the bed.  I went out with some bug spray, and just to be sure, I turned over a paver to see if there were any more. I found one.  Then I turned over another and another with the same result.  Ended up with more than a dozen spiders and more than 20 egg sacs.  I thoroughly saturated the area with permethrin and hope I have solved the problem.

     It has been a crazy couple of weeks.  We're short drivers, so we've been having to work extra anyway, then people started buying pizza like crazy and it meant even more work, so I haven't been seeing the family as much as I'm used to.  Last week, I went to work Tuesday around 7 am and didn't get back home til around noon on Friday.  Danny and Samantha had signed up for auditions for a movie that's shooting in Ocean City soon, so we picked them up at school and headed down to the beach.  After about 10 minutes of standing around in a line that promised to last for several hours, I offered to take the three youngest out the back of the hotel down to the beach so they could play in the sand.  "We'll just get our feet in the water, Daddy!"  I ended up, a couple hours later, shopping the sales of the main drag for dry clothes for the youngest two in whose minds the word "feet" apparently is defined as any part of the body from the part upon which they walk,up to the very crown of their head.

We had a blast at the beach, grabbed some dry shorts and tshirts at a store nearby, shared a huge quesadilla con carnitas at a walk up taco stand down the street and made it back home by 11 pm so I could grab a few hours sleep and be back in the truck and down the road before the sun came up Saturday.  Still haven't heard about the auditions, but glad for the excuse to make a trip to the beach anyway.

     To celebrate the commencement of the new season of Dr. Who, my son and his friends had a costume party.  Samantha, my daughter took pictures.  My son, Danny, is Dr. Who in the middle.  What I find amazing is that my little boy is transforming into a man right in front of my eyes.  When did they start growing up this fast?

     This Monday we sent the kids (at least the youngest four) back to school.  As the ever learning and somewhat forgetful father/photographer, I remembered at the last moment that these are the moments people photograph, so I grabbed a few pics.  One year, I may think to get everyone up early and have them all prepared with their hair done early enough to take some organized pictures, but at least we captured the moment.  Heck, getting the unprepared moments may better bring back the memories of how our life really was.  Who knows?  Here are the best of what I got.  

Ready, just in time to head out.

Isa, off to second grade.

She was ready very early and spent the morning playing on her toy laptop after she had eaten breakfast.

Rebekah starting fourth grade, I think.  Honestly, I can't keep track of them all.  We really should have planned their births so that they were each two grades apart.  It would have saved me the dirty looks I get from the office ladies when I go in and ask which classroom to go to until about halfway through the year.

Gracie, is, I know, in fifth.

Sam didn't start tenth grade 'til Tuesday, and I was being lazy or something of the sort and wasn't even out of bed when the bus came for her at seven. Sandra started her sophomore year at the local community college without much fanfare the week prior while I was at work one day.

We stole a few minutes to swim one day last week, and since I felt like I'd been neglecting the camera, I took some photos before I joined the kids in the pool. Didn't realize 'til the kids were about tired of having their pictures taken that someone had left the pool vac out, so there was an ugly hose in the background.  Duh, me.  I had them get over to the other side of the pool and grabbed this one.  Don't imagine we'll have a whole lot of swimming days left before the water starts to get cold.

The week before school started, our church had its end of summer picnic.   Danny was baptized.  We thought this picture was funny, because it looks as if they're pushing him under.

Grace was also baptized.  Our church doesn't have facilities in our building, so twice a year they accommodate all who have requested to be baptized.  In the summer, they use the river, and in the winter, the pool at the local YMCA.

Samantha, quickly learning there's only way to get time with the camera, took it off my hands and took pictures all day. We had a large picnic dinner then played volleyball. Yep, that's me.  I played like a teenager, and paid like an old man.  I hurt for days.

  Here she got a friend, Eli and his daughter Claire.

and after a while, Claire found an oar and spent a half hour walking around with it.

My wife is not thrilled at living in a houseful of aspiring photographers as it means she is always at risk of being a candid subject.

A picture I got at the raptor rescue tent the Natural Resources Police had at our County Fair.

Jousting contests are held at Maryland's county fairs throughout the summer.   The competitors pass through three scaffolds each pass, and try to spear a ring hanging from each scaffold.  Each round, the rings get smaller.  The contestant who spears the most rings wins the round. Jousting is our state's official sport.

...and finally one of the kids got this shot at the picnic.

       Friday morning I found myself assigned to the dreaded cheese load. I hate the cheese load.  It rolls out very early. I have to leave the house by 2 and have the truck rolling by 3am at the latest because it's a three and a half hour drive through Baltimore and around Philadelphia to Allentown, PA if there is by some miracle no traffic.   None of us like to do this run because it pays about a third of what we earn doing any other day's work, but it was on my schedule for the day, so up the road I went.  My appointment in Allentown was at 7 am, and I was backed up against the dock and checked in by a quarter 'til.  I powwowed with the loader to ensure the load would be distributed properly so I could rest assured I wouldn't be getting a ticket for having too much weight on one set of axles, and then I made a beeline for the truck to take a nap.  I had forgotten my bedding, and when I saw that the mattress cover, which had originally been white, was a dark, dingy gray, I opted to jump up into the top bunk which had a brand new, clean, white cover.  Even so, I'm somewhat particular about laying my head somewhere other people might have had theirs, so I threw my driver's bag up on the bunk.  A few adjustments of flashlight, cans of beef stew and window cleaner spray, and it made quite a comfortable substitute for a pillow.  Around 7am, I was finally situated, and though I made an effort to check the emails on my phone as the truck rocked and bucked under the motion of the forklift moving in and out of the trailer, I didn't get very far before descending into the sleep of the dead, and the two and a half hours it took to load and seal the trailer and complete the paperwork, passed as if only an instant.

     Slowly, into the fog of my sleep addled brain, fingers of noise began to intrude.  Someone was blowing their horn!  What? What's wrong?  I was instantly awake and in one motion sat up, put my feet to the floor and stood.  Except, there was no floor under my feet.  I was flying.  "What? Am I still asleep? Dreaming?"  It was slow motion.  I grabbed for anything to slow my fall, but there was nothing at hand.  By this point my feet were behind and it looked like my face would use the dashboard, very far ahead and even farther down, to arrest my fall.  How, I wondered, could I have time to think clearly whether I should reach up for the grab handles, ahead to the dash to ease my fall, or just put my hands in front of my face so I could minimize the damage, if it wasn't a dream?  It would have been happening to fast. As this train of thought meandered lazily about my brain, my toes touched the floor and a wave of relief flooded through my chest followed immediately by an explosion of fiery pain, bringing me instantly back to real time.  I had neglected to notice the gear shift handle protruding from the floor, and all my reasoning was for naught. I found I no longer needed to worry about the position of my hands as the gearshift knob had caught me by the sternum and brought my fall to an instant halt.

     Dazed, I looked around to get my bearings.  I was in the truck.  It was daylight.   Out the left window, about two feet away, a man was seated, looking at me, unable to speak through his uncontrollable fits of laughter. Why...How...could someone be sitting six feet off the ground looking into my truck at eye level?  Through the clearing fog in my brain, I began to understand, the yard jockey had driven up and needed to talk to me.   I turned the key, rolled down the window and waited.  Momentarily, he calmed himself, " I was beginning to think noone was in the truck, then all of a sudden a man dropped from nowhere...Never seen anything like it! Your paperwork's ready."  He went back to laughing.  I put my shoes on, signed my paperwork and headed down the road. 

I hate the cheese load.