• An Afternoon Kayaking on the James River with Luke

    Luke – Cooling off in the James River, Springfield, Missouri
    Drifting with the current on the James River
    Feet Up, Taking a Break While Kayaking
    Chilling On The River
    Drifting with the current on the James River
    Drifting with the current on the James River
    Drifting with the current on the James River
    Tree Down on the James River
    Drifting with the current on the James River
    James River Northeast of HWY 60
    James River Northeast of HWY 60
    Photograph of a great egret on the James River, Springfield, Missouri.
    Great Egret

    Luke and Katie have been visiting Springfield for a few days. While Katie and Ginger hunkered down in Ginger’s studio, Luke and I spent several hours in Bass Pro, and on Thursday ventured out kayaking.

    The put-in next to the Veterans’ Cemetery that we planned to use was closed. However, we didn’t let that deter us. We simply launched the kayaks from the bank. The put-in seems to be closed for some bridge construction work. There was no work taking place over the water so we took our chance and headed up-stream. We had an easy paddle in quite warm temps (96°F) We quit heading upstream when we encountered the second riffle – though we almost didn’t get that far as early on there was a tree down across the river. On closer inspection we discovered that there was a four foot gap right next to the bank – just enough room for us to paddle through.

    When we got to the second riffle there was a nice amount of water running, and we beached the kayaks to take a look around. Luke got his feet wet, and I decided to go one better and had a short swim. It was refreshing and cooled me down nicely for the trip back down river to the put-in.

    Getting ready for this afternoon’s trip was a tad harder than it should have been. The kayaks were covered in sawdust from my winter wood-working activities in the Garage. Luke vacuumed them out while I hunted high and low for missing Personal Flotation Devices and the brackets needed to carry the kayaks on the the roof of the van. The problem was I’d tidied the garage and hadn’t got a clue where I’d tidied them away to. It took me at least an hour of moving things around and opening boxes to finally locate them. Tidying is not such a good idea. I think I’ll not do it in future.

  • Evening Pleasures

    Color, night photograph of an oil lamp, leather bound journal and a cold drink
    Evening Pleasures.

    An oil lamp, my journal, and unusually for me, a rum and Coke. All by the chiminea.

    I wanted to add some ribbons to use as bookmarks in my journal, but I couldn’t find any at a reasonable (low) cost. I bought some colored string instead, but it didn’t always stay in place. So I’ve added charms to the strings to weigh them down. It’s a bit too fancy for my liking.

    Color night time picture of book markers and charms in a leather bound hand-made journal.

    Three strings – three sections. Bullet Journal, my personal journal, and a small sketch book.

    I’ve now found a source of reasonably priced 1/8″ ribbon, so the charms will probably be gone soon.

    Really I was just playing with the camera as I’ve not used it in the dark before. All these shots were hand-held.

    Color, night photograph of an oil lamp and leather bound journal

  • An evening with the Chiminea

    Photograph of wood buring inside a chiminea

    Despite the heat we decided to light the chiminea. Ginger went off to bed early and I stayed out contemplating my navel, life, the universe, and everything. Fire is so addictive and soothing. I really enjoy the chiminea.

  • Fr. Jonathan Frazier, Rector, St. Peter & All Saints, Kansas City, Missouri

    This was a picture I took partly for work, and partly for myself. I needed a picture of Jonathan to accompany an article, and I also wanted to get a good picture of my EFM Mentor, friend, and the priest who officiated at our wedding.

    Many people have asked how I got him to smile like that. Well, that’s between the two of us. Let’s just say I made an indecent remark and leave it there.

  • Journaling Re-boot

    Journaling reboot: Photograph of a home-made leather journal and fountain pens
    Journaling – Now I should be able keep up my journaling away from my desk. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    After a long break, I started journaling again at the beginning of the year. I had been using A5 notebooks because they fitted nicely in my leather TMI binder. The problem with the TMI binder is that it is big and awkward to carry. After a lot of thought and some experimentation, I decided to go with an A6 journal. I didn’t want to spend $50 on an experiment, so I bought some leather for $12 and made one.

    I opted for A6 because there are reasonably priced, good quality A6 notebooks available. The refills made for the specialist upmarket journaling brands such as Travelers, Filofax, Field Notes, etc., are expensive and use proprietary sizes. Another good thing is that the A6 journal fits in my pocket at a push. I tried the Traveler’s passport size journal (I found a “faux traveler” for $14), and I liked it, but the cost of the refills made it impractical.

    Seen here with my journal is one of my EDC (Everyday Carry) pens, the Pilot Metropolitan. Also shown are some pens I have had for a long time. The silver Parker was my father’s. The tortoiseshell pen and pencil must be 20-25 years old. The reddy-brown Waterman was a leaving present from my University staff colleagues back in 2008.

    The whole lot are sitting on an A5 pad for scale.

  • Driving in Traffic in the Ozarks

    Picture showing empty roads in the Ozarks
    UK friends and family seeing this might begin to get an idea of why I don’t like driving in the UK. 100 miles of driving and this is about as busy as it gets.

    After all the upgrades I’ve had recently, this vehicle was about as basic as they get. It didn’t even have a cruise control.

    Busy Roads

  • Hathersage and Hope from Higgar Tor

    Hathersage and Hope from Higgar Tor
    Hathersage and Hope from Higgar Tor. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The visibility was terrible, but I’ve been able to clean it up a little.

    The church in the foreground is St. Michael & All Angel’s Church, Hathersage. The imposing white building in the distance turned out to be the less than imposing Hope Cement Works.

    Hathersage and Hope from Higgar Tor. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Unprocessed raw image. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Higgar Tor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higger_Tor
    Hathersage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathersage
    Hope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope,_Derbyshire

    The original image

    When I say the visibility was terrible — it really was, as can be seen in this unprocessed version. But, I won’t be returning to take another picture so I had to make the most of the picture I have. Of course it does beg the question of Breakfast in America: how much post-processing is too much.

  • SR71 Blackbird

    SR-71 Blackbird – Imperial War Museum – Duxford. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Visit to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.

    SR-71 Blackbird Engine. This has to be the most Steam Punk thing I have seen since my sister’s wedding. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Mike and Diffi’s Wedding – The Reception

    Not content with a steam punk wedding, we had to cross the harbour by boat for the reception on a lightship.

    Mary Mouse 2
    Ian and Neil – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Gary & Ian – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Nathaniel – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Getting to the reception
    Mary Mouse 2
    Mary Mouse 2
    Another special edition sepia version.
    Uncle Keith – Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Portsmouth from Gosport
    Haslar Marina
    Portsmouth Harbour
    Portsmouth Harbour
    Portsmouth Harbour
    On the Gosport Ferry heading home.



    And even though we’d eaten earlier, by midnight we were hungry again, so when we got back to Portsmouth Gail, Rob, Ginger and I went for a late night curry.

  • Mike & Diffi’s Wedding – The Wedding

    Mike & Diffi’s Wedding

  • Mike and Diffi’s Wedding – in Black and White

    Wedding Party

    I have a lot of unprocessed/unpublished pictures.

    I was going through the pictures from our 2016 trip to the UK, planning on getting some more pictures processed and uploaded when I rediscovered these pictures. I took them at my sister’s wedding (the big event of our trip). I love monochrome photographs, and I couldn’t resist giving them the black and white treatment.

    Unfortunately doing so is not clearing the backlog of unprocessed pictures.

    In case you were wondering, there was an official photographer — been there done that, including for my sister many years ago! 🙂 — which is why I wasn’t worried about a few squints and odd expressions in the pictures I took.   

    Wedding

    At the Altar
    Preparing to process
    Wedding Party
    Wedding Party
    Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Diffi
    Ian Ashlyn and Nathaniel
    Gary & Ginger
    Gary & Ginger
    I think this outfit almost got me banned from attending any future family events.
    Gail & Rob
    Mike & Diffi
    May 27, 2016 | www.breakfastinamerica.me | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
    May 27, 2016 | www.breakfastinamerica.me | Copyright © Gary Allman, all rights reserved
    Neil. Ian, Ashlyn and Marcelle.
    Me an’ my brother – Photo by Ginger

    Wedding Reception

    Mike & Diffi
    Yours Truly – Photo by Ginger
    Mike & Diffi’s wedding
    Uncle Keith
    Portsmouth Harbour
    Haslar Marina
    Gosport Border Control
    Mighty Mouse
    Neil, Nathaniel, Ian and Gail
    Neil, Nathaniel, Ian and Gail
    Neil, Nathaniel, Ian
    Gail, Rob, Nathaniel
    Gail & Rob
    Ian, Gail and Rob
    Portsmouth Harbour
    Nathaniel & Robert
    Portsmouth Harbour
    On the Gosport Ferry heading home.



  • Mike & Diffi’s Wedding – The Rehearsal

    Wedding Rehearsal

    Wedding Rehearsal
    Titter ye not …
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Gary – Photo by Ginger
    Rehearsing my reading – Photo by Ginger
    Wedding Rehearsal
    Exiting in style

    I finished and delivered the photo book during our visit to the UK in April 2017 (for Robert and Gail’s Wedding), so I can finally post my sister’s wedding pictures – and the rest of our 2016 vacation pictures too.

  • Still Life

    Still Life – the colors were just asking to be captured. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Kitchen Window

    Kitchen Window. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    We’re staying at our friend Penny’s house in Wales. This is the wonderful view out of her kitchen window.

    Kitchen Garden. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Kitchen Garden. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Tourists – the Roman Baths, Bath UK

    Black and white picture showing tourists at the Roman Baths in Bath UK.
    Tourists – The Roman Baths, Bath. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    My favorite picture from our visit. The rest were just meh.

  • Curse tablets, bracelets, and culverts

    Having wandered around Cheddar Gorge and been duly impressed, we drove to Bath and found a ‘Park-and-ride’ spot that set us up well for heading off to Wales, when we’d finished exploring.

    Our first stopping point had to be the Roman Baths, and I was duly impressed that the information wasn’t too dumbed down for us tourists. We spent a lot longer perusing the various exhibits and looking around than I expected.

    The first building on the site was constructed around 60-70 CE, and work continued on and off for 300 years. I had to smile at the Wikipedia snippet about the baths that shows up on Google, which says construction was completed in 1897 (It is alluding to the museum). I probably ought to consult with my daughter-in-law before saying anything more and making a complete idiot of myself, as she teaches Latin and has studied all things Roman for years.

    Roman Curse Tablets – These sound like a fantastic idea. I’m thinking that just for starters I should write some for Microsoft and Facebook. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    To quote Wikipedia: “The tablets were used to ask the gods, place spirits, or the deceased to perform an action on a person or object, or otherwise compel the subject of the curse.” There was a whole industry around them, as a lot of the populace were illiterate, they’d pay people to write their curses for them. Puts me in mind of a new twist on ‘Creative Writing’ courses. I think they are a brilliant idea that should be resurrected. We could have curse calling cards or curse flash cards. I can think of several organizations and wayward objects that I could vent my spleen upon by doing so. It might even be an idea for a series of posts… I could leave one on the errant starter in the van just for … (wait for it) … starters.

    Bracelet – The Roman Baths, Bath. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    And finally, below we have a culvert leading (if my memory is correct) from the spring.   

    Culvert leading from the spring. The Roman Baths at Bath. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Rocks can fall at any time

    Rocks May Fall. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    In the US they opt for the simpler signage: ‘Falling Rocks’. Favorite road-trip dad joke, variations on the theme of: “Ooh look we’re just arriving at ‘Falling Rocks’ … Again.”

  • Cheddar Gorge (no climbers)

    Cheddar Gorge. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It’s fairly rugged and pointy looking. It’s a shame about the road running right through the middle though.

  • Cheddar Gorge – with climbers

    Cheddar Gorge. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Cheddar Gorge with parking

    Cheddar Gorge with parking. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Apparently 11 am on a Thursday is a good time to visit Cheddar Gorge if you want to avoid the tourists. We decided not to visit the cave. Missouri has lots of caves, and we’ve visited quite a few. We were eager to get on to Bath.

    Cheddar Gorge. Copyright © 2016 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
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