Welcome to Breakfast in America
I’m a Brit who unexpectedly emigrated to the USA in 2008, and this is my photo journal.
It’s an eclectic mix of things; there’s no guiding theme or topic. It is whatever catches my attention, what I’ve been thinking, doing, or piques my interest. Currently that’s mainly backpacking and clearing some of the backlog on my ‘honey-do’ list.
Popular posts
Trending posts and pictures.
My favorite pictures and posts
Some selected favorites from all my favorite pictures and posts.
When did I grow old?
Stripes — View from our hotel room
On the lake trail at Piney Creek Wilderness
Pool on Whites Creek, Irish Wilderness
Keeping warm in my hammock
Cottage Still Life
Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’
Through the veil
Enjoying the view
Gary and Ginger at the Pole Hollow Cairn
Ginger, immersed in her phone
Clouds
Lower Pilot – From the Coy Bald Trail, Hercules Glades Wilderness
Ginger & Gary December 2020
Morning Tea
Little Paddy Creek on the short cut between the South & North Loops
Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness
Ozarks Horizon. Bell Mountain – Day Two
Frosty Morning
Gary on the Pilot Trail, Hercules Glades Wilderness
South Downs – Hiking at Kingley Vale
Grandpa
Watching the Dawn
1144 15th Street, Denver, Colorado
Recent Posts
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New tent (365:70)
New Tent. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today, we set up our latest tent in the backyard. We’ve bought a Sierra Designs Lightning XT 1 one man tent to take one of the kids backpacking with us. It also allows one of us to go solo backpacking if we want, and I have a trip planned, hopefully later this month.
Ginger and I set it up this morning before Ginger went off with fellow Flickrite Rebbie for a girls’ day out. Once they’d gone, I re-set the tent and fixed a few problems we’d encountered, though the top of the fly at the back was still floppy. Having done that, I retrieved my pack, sleeping bag, and pad from the shed, tried the tent out for size, and took today’s picture.
The rest of the day was disappointingly unproductive. I spent a lot of time with Internet searches to try and see if there was any solution to the tent’s floppy flysheet and drew a blank. I then spent my time processing pictures and getting them ready to upload. Now I just need to finish that job and go to bed.
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Gary testing the new tent
Gary testing the new tent. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Gary crossing Woods Fork at Busiek (365:069)
Gary crossing Woods Fork at Busiek (365:069). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Time for another hike.
We’re getting ready for a longer backpacking trip, so we need to get in as much hiking as we can in preparation for several days of carrying our packs. We did a fairly short four and a half mile hike in the morning around the yellow and red trails at Busiek State Park and Wildlife Area. We used the south trail head, which appears to see very little traffic.
After the problems I had with my huaraches on Monday, I tried lacing them more tightly and they stayed in place with less slipping, again the trail was wet and very muddy in places, though this time we only had to cross the creek (Woods Fork) twice. Today’s picture shows me re-enacting my valiant first crossing of the creek. We heard the sound of falling water and left the trail to investigate, finding a very nice set of small waterfalls on a ephemeral creek about 100 feet off the trail. From there we had to do a bit of back tracking to retrieve my sunglasses, which I’d left at the creek when I took them off to set up the camera for today’s shot.
We stopped for a bite of lunch and a short rest on a lovely gravel bank near our second Wood’s Fork crossing, where Ginger looked for fossils.
Once back to the car, we had to dash into Springfield, pick-up kids, return the rental car, pick up the van, and I went off to my class. It would have been an excellent night at class only partway through I realised that I’d read the wrong lesson the previous night. That’ll teach me to do my work late in the evening, though the van breaking down did throw me out a bit I should have double-checked the lesson.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
The trails at Busiek are typical of the rough trails that can be found in the Ozarks, lots of loose sharp rocks. As horses use the trails at Busiek they are rougher than they’d be if there was foot traffic only. It’s not a problem, but it certainly makes the trails more challenging. 
Ephemeral creek and falls at Busiek 
Ginger checking out the creek 
Woods Fork, Busiek State Park and Wildlife Area -
Price Cutter parking lot (365:068)
Today the van broke down.
We spent the morning looking at places on Google Earth checking past and future hikes and other interesting things. Eventually, the chores of the day called and we went out to deal with a whole host of minor commissions before I settled down to do my coursework.
That was the plan. It came unstuck as soon as I turned the ignition key on the van. The starter pre-engage solenoid jammed. I tried looking under the bonnet to find the starter motor, an almost impossible job on a modern vehicle. I couldn’t see it let alone hit it to release the solenoid. After about twenty attempts it clicked over and we managed to get the van going. The only problem was we didn’t dare turn it off again until we could get to the repair shop, which would have to wait until after we picked the kids up from school, in two and a half hours’ time.
We called ahead and booked the van in for repairs and to have its regular service completed at the same time (which includes changing the front brake pads and milling the rotors – ouch!). We also booked a hire car so we could get to Church for the Ash Wednesday service, the kids to school, and us out on a planned hike tomorrow. I then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the van in various parking lots with the engine running while Ginger crossed as many of the items off our to-do list as was practical. It was while I and the van were sitting idling away our time that I took today’s picture.
After collecting the big kids from school, I dropped Ginger off at the car rental and took the van in. I was expecting the starter to work perfectly once it reached the safety of the repair shop, but it failed straight away which was a relief. The good news was that the starter motor is covered under the van’s warranty. The bad news was, so is the A/C condenser and door lock actuator we’d already had fixed. That’ll teach us not to re-read the small print.
The evening’s Ash Wednesday service at church was over by around eight pm, after which I had to do my coursework – planned for the afternoon. I managed to finish all the reading by around half ten. That was quite a day.
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Pancake supper at Christ Episcopal Church, Springfield Missouri (365:067)
It’s Shrove Tuesday – Time for Pancake supper. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s Shrove Tuesday – Time for Pancake supper.
We had a quiet day and shortly after picking the kids up from school headed down to Church as Alek and I were helping in the kitchen. Tickets to the pancake supper are sold as a fund raiser for the youth choir. Traditionally supper is prepared by the dads of the choristers and youth, while the choir does all the serving. Alek took over my job of batter mixing, and I helped serve. Ginger helped too, taking tickets and money on the door.
There was an excellent turnout, lots of sausage and pancakes were eaten. Between serving and clearing up I took a few pictures including today’s self portrait. In the background you can see the guys working away at the grill making pancakes.
today’s alternate shot & some favourites from the Pancake Supper
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Lunch at Busiek (365:066)
Today we went on a re-run of last week’s hike at Busiek.
We wanted to do some gear testing; Ginger had made some adjustments to her shoes and I wanted to try out my huaraches. We’d made up the day hike packing list, so nothing, including checking the calendar was forgotten! We had a good hike and got round the 5.75 miles (15,500 steps according to my pedometer) in about the same time as last week, even though this time Ginger elected to remove her shoes for the creek crossings; about six in total. With the huaraches I could just walk straight through. The trekking poles (forgotten last week) worked really well and seemed to speed us through some of the wetter and more rugged patches.
My huaraches were fine generally, but they didn’t work very well when climbing up steep wet trails, the foot-bed got very slippery, and while my feet didn’t come out of them, it wasn’t very comfortable either. We’ve some ideas for changing the material of the foot-bed that might help. I was surprised that my feet stayed warm except when crossing the creeks. The temperature today was around 46°F (8°C), it might look a lot warmer in this picture but I’m wearing a base layer and took my hat off. I’ve learned via a lot of post processing that wearing a hat for these pictures can cast quite a shadow, so, when I remember, I take it off.
While on the trail I took a picture of an abandoned liquid nitrogen tank which at some point was a railroad truck. We’ve worked this out from some faint markings on the outside. There are two of them, the ends have been cut off, and one has come to rest in Camp Creek. We can’t find any records of a railroad going through here. The tanks are very big and we’ve no idea how they came to be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere.
Back at the parking lot we took advantage of the shooting range being closed to have a look around. The fact that it was considered necessary to put up a ‘No shooting at Post’ sign was vaguely amusing, but unfortunately they need another sign saying ‘No shooting at trash cans’ as well
I took today’s picture of Ginger and I after our first crossing of Camp Creek while we stopped for lunch.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
Gary and Ginger being nauseating at Busiek 
Gary and Ginger on the orange trail at Busiek State Park 
Camp Creek in Busiek State Park and Wildlife area 
No Shooting at Post (Note the bullet holes in the trash cans) -
Doing the dishes (365:065)
Doing the dishes (365:065). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. A fairly typical Sunday.
Up at Seven, in church by half eight, and back out around eleven forty or so. We stopped to do some grocery shopping on the way home, and by one pm it was Sunday nap time (and yes that is frequently an euphemism). I didn’t surface until gone five, it was a tiring week.
After dinner I washed dishes, which reminds me I must check the kids rooms for glasses, and then processed my pictures. That’s it. The weekend is almost over.
I took a picture at church of my coffee and donut, but it was a bit plain, I could have at least taken a bite out of the donut before I took the picture. Thinking about it I came up what I hope might be a better angle. I’ll have to try that next week. I’m back in Church at least three more times this week so I expect there may be a couple more daily pictures taken there before next Sunday.
Today’s alternate shot
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Late night browsing (365:064)
Late night browsing (365:064)Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today was a lazy Saturday.
It was cold outside so we spent the day lounging around in the warm.
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Jim & Carol — Breakfast at Aunt Martha’s Pancake House
Last Sunday, we drove past Aunt Martha’s coming back from installing the house sign, and Jim said he’d never been there. When we learned they had to be in Springfield early today, we told them not to eat a hearty breakfast before coming and took them to breakfast at Aunt Martha’s. That’s where I took today’s picture of Ginger and me.
I took some pictures of Jim and Carol, though neither of them like my photographic attentions with the camera, which is a shame. Chimping the first set of pictures I took, I knew I needed to make major changes to the camera settings to get the results I wanted. By the time I’d set the camera up for a second run Jim was getting fairly tired of my picture taking – in the nicest possible way, but enough to spoil the poses. I ended up having to try and rescue the earlier shots in post processing. I’m quite pleased with the results, it’s just a shame I couldn’t get the camera setup right for the first few pictures.
The picture taking conditions at Aunt Martha’s can be quite challenging, bright background lighting, dim internal lighting, and today they had the shades half drawn which cast a nasty yellow tinge onto the pictures. Normally I’ll go straight to black and white when faced with such variable lighting conditions, but Ginger wanted colour pictures of her parents, and how could I turn her down? I will admit I did do a fair bit of grumbling and moaning about the amount of processing required.
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Breakfast at Aunt Martha’s Pancake House (365:063)
Breakfast at Aunt Martha’s Pancake House (365:063). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Last Sunday, we drove past Aunt Martha’s coming back from installing the house sign, and Jim said he’d never been there. When we learned they had to be in Springfield early today, we told them not to eat a hearty breakfast before coming and took them to breakfast at Aunt Martha’s. That’s where I took today’s picture of Ginger and me.
I took some pictures of Jim and Carol, though neither of them like my photographic attentions with the camera, which is a shame. Chimping the first set of pictures I took, I knew I needed to make major changes to the camera settings to get the results I wanted. By the time I’d set the camera up for a second run Jim was getting fairly tired of my picture taking – in the nicest possible way, but enough to spoil the poses. I ended up having to try and rescue the earlier shots in post processing. I’m quite pleased with the results, it’s just a shame I couldn’t get the camera setup right for the first few pictures.
The picture taking conditions at Aunt Martha’s can be quite challenging, bright background lighting, dim internal lighting, and today they had the shades half drawn which cast a nasty yellow tinge onto the pictures. Normally I’ll go straight to black and white when faced with such variable lighting conditions, but Ginger wanted colour pictures of her parents, and how could I turn her down? I will admit I did do a fair bit of grumbling and moaning about the amount of processing required.
Other excitement for the day included a trip to Walmart to get prints of the house sign pictures for Jim – I was quite impressed with the quality ‘off the shelf’ as it were. Harbor Freight to take advantage of their ‘Dollar days’ sale. I spent less than $10 and got a load of useful bits and pieces. All cheap and nasty stuff but it’ll do for my purposes. After dropping Jim and Carol back at their car (in for repairs) we spent a bit of time in Dynamic Earth checking out some odds and ends of gear we need for our next back packing trip; we’re hoping to try going out for over a week during the spring break. We managed to come away without spending a lot (always a danger in that sort of store). Though we did get some waterproof paper for printing maps on and Ginger bought a Platy bottle, not bad considering we went in to look at sleeping bag liners and single person backpacking tents.
I fitted a new blade in my scroll saw and made Mark V Huaraches. I think I’ve finally got the shape of the footbed right. Now I can’t wait to try ’em out.
Tonight we watched Revolutionary Road. Very uncomfortable viewing.
Today’s extras
