Today’s hearty breakfast – Egg Steak and veggies – very good.
I’ve been spending far too much time at my desk and not enough time out and about. The lack of exercise has taken it toll, and it’s time to start doing something; reduce my weight and get more exercise.
We eat very healthily anyway – very little processed food, lots of salad and vegetables, I just probably eat too much of all that good stuff. Ginger found a Paleo Diet, with pre-prepared menus – which is a great bonus. It’s a sort of Atkins meets New Age diet. Lots of protein and very little carbs. there’s a very regular pattern of meals with tasty snacks. Lots of unusual stuff too.
The great news is that bacon is on the menu! Any diet and menu plan that sets me up with bacon and eggs for breakfast gets my vote. Today’s breakfast was steak, and veggies, all topped off with an egg – sunny side up.
We’re hoping this diet will work for us, as it looks really good. Time will tell. Thus far the food’s been very good, though I’ve been left feeling quite hungry – even with the four planned meals a day. However, if I’m overweight that’s a price I’m going to have to pay as I transition to a slimmer me.
Yesterday someone marked the above picture as a favorite. Not a big deal, people like and favorite my pictures all the time. Except. Except this isn’t the sort of picture I’d expect to be liked. It’s dark, somber. Moody even.
It made me stop and think. I pulled up the picture, which I took in June 2011, to re-examine it. That was when I realized that somehow over the past couple of years I’ve lost my photo-mojo and I missed the memo.
I’ve slipped into a trance of formulaic non-challenging picture taking. The darks and lights are gone at the expense of a plain average picture. I’ve become a mediocre photojournalist at best.
The joke is most definitely on me.
A couple of years ago I thought I might have a go at taking pictures for money. I did the research, I checked what the local photographers were doing. Generally, there was nothing particularly outstanding. Then I realized what the buying public actually wanted. It was truly awful (in my opinion). Twee pictures that are either faded to look like a seventies print, or colorized, or over processed to make the people in them look plastic or just as bad, photographs taken at jaunty angles – I suspect to cover the photographers’ inability to take a straight, decently framed picture. It was all far too artificial.
America is BIG on artifice. You only have to look at how the buildings are fronted with a frosting of false towers, embellishments, and facings. All to hide the plain wooden or metal stud construction building that lurks behind. People actually seem to be impressed by this particular brand of emperor’s clothes.
Now the memo has finally arrived. So, do I want to just carry on taking the pictures I am? Or should I embark on an adventure to rediscover that ol’ photo-mojo?
I volunteered to take pictures at the Dedication of Rose Cottage, a shelter for abused women and their families. The pictures have now been made public so I can post them here too.
Lanie volunteered to acolyte. Unfortunately I distracted her – this is moments before she forgot to lower the cross to pass through the door.
Sunday July 14 I was scheduled to be an Usher and Lanie wanted to go to church.
When we arrived I went straight into ‘meet and hand hand-out bulletins’ mode, leaving Lanie to find some youth group friends to hang out with. At the start of the service I was surprised to find Lanie all robed up and carrying the second cross. They were an acolyte short and she volunteered to help out – even though she’s not served as an acolyte for over a year.
I decided to try and get a picture of Lanie processing out of the church – I thought Ginger and Carol would appreciate it.
The procession came bowling down the aisle at a fair lick and my fingers had trouble adjusting the exposure as the light increased near the open doors. I ended up with a blurred picture, and a messy background. I decided to try and rescue the picture and this is the result.
Just after I took the picture she smacked the cross into the door frame – forgetting to lower it. My fault – I distracted her. Oops!
An advantage of ushering is that I can take pictures to accompany the sermons. Today I was in luck as Jonathan was delivering the sermon, my ushering and his delivering a sermon had not coincided before, so now I’ve a ‘stock image’ to accompany his sermons (when I finally get round to processing the audio files that is).
Here is my pick of the other pictures I took. They are quite grainy – it is very dark in the church.
Gary Swimming in Stockton Lake — John made me pay for my impetuousness; before letting me back on board, he handed me a crescent wrench to tighten up the engine lock bolt that’s been causing problems.
John asked if I fancied going sailing. He had to ask? That’s a given.
A series of heavy thunderstorms on Wednesday put paid to our first planned outing. So we rescheduled for Friday – not an auspicious day to go sailing if you are superstitious, but fortunately, I’ve only just remembered that.
The plan was for a seven-thirty start; do some ‘boaty’ chores followed by some sailing trials – trying out the small jib and some practice anchoring. John’s boat still hasn’t got a mainsail – which is off somewhere being cleaned and repaired.
On arriving at Stockton State Park Marina John tried to tempt me with the offer of going sailing first. Been there, done that, and I knew full well, we’d not get any of the chores done. So we wisely decided on sticking to the work-before-play plan.
John’s Sailboat all moored up at the start of the day, at Stockton State Park Marina.
Work comprised re-fitting all the mooring lines which had been tied around the pontoon superstructure and were very quickly rubbing through. We fitted chains and looped the lines through the shackles holding the chain ends together.
that moment when you watch your only pair of glasses committed to the deep
The wind was quite gusty but I didn’t bother to put on the chin straps of my hat. That was a mistake. The wind caught my hat and knocked it off. I made a frantic but successful grab and stopped it getting dunked in the lake. However, my sudden movement resulted in that moment when you watch your only pair of glasses committed to the deep.
This was rapidly followed by the realization that my glasses are so light they were sinking very slowly. I managed to reach down and grab ’em double-quick before they sank out of reach. Phew.
After a lot of adjusting and fiddling, we were happy with the way the boat was tied up, so on to our next task – sorting out the anchor ready for use. John measured the anchor line – at over eighty feet it was enough for use around the edges of the lake.
We spent a lot of the morning playing with the mooring lines
With anchor tidied away and some other chores completed it was time for some sailing.
One of John’s ‘chores’ to fit a new lifebuoy
Reversing out of the berth John lost the steering – he’s had this happen before, and sure enough, the problem was that the outboard motor had rotated through ninety degrees in its mount and was trying to drive the boat round in circles. Not wanting to waste time on pesky engines, I hopped over the back of the boat onto what I call the back porch, but is officially known as a ‘walkout transom’ grabbed the engine and twisted it the right way round and held it there for a while until we were sure it wasn’t going to twist around again.
The engine – pointing in the right direction (for the moment)
We had a good breeze but with only the small jib set we had trouble tacking. A combination of the wind on the topsides, the waves hitting the bow and our lack of speed meant the boat would refuse to go through the wind onto the opposite tack. Being devious and having often sailed under jib alone I had a suggestion – tack by gybing, which works but loses you a lot of ground.
We reached a quiet cove where we had our first try at anchoring (notice I say first). I’ve no idea what the problem was, but the anchor didn’t hold and the wind was pushing us towards the shore. I quickly pulled in the anchor (all eighty-odd feet of line) while John got us sailing again.
At the next cove we went closer to shore and made absolutely sure we were stopped in the water before I chucked the anchor over the side. It held beautifully. There we were anchored in a little bit of Ozark’s Lakes Beauty. Superb greenery topped by a deep blue sky. Off to stern (north), there was a small bluff just to add a little bit of variation.
Just for fun, we decided to see how the Bimini top worked. Before you ask, no I’d never heard of a Bimini top before either. It’s a giant sunshade for the cockpit which you can have set up even when you are sailing. With a bit of head-scratching we got it set up.
Once more the blues and greens were glorious. My camera’s polarizing filter (which I remembered this time) made the sky an odd purple color – not at all what I saw through the viewfinder, so I’ve adjusted the color of the blues to be more ‘blue and less purple.Once more the blues and greens were glorious.Some near-by bluffs.Anchored for lunch and trying out the Bimini topAnchored for lunch and trying out the Bimini top
In fact, it was so glorious I couldn’t resist testing the walkout Transom and the built-in boarding ladder. A swim was called for.
Gary Swimming in Stockton Lake. John made me pay for my impetuousness; before letting me back on board he handed me a crescent wrench to tighten up the engine lock bolt that’s been causing problems. (Photograph: John Svagera)Cap’n John resting after lunch. I grabbed this candid shot from the bow of the boat.
Before upping anchor and sailing back to the marina we decided to try out the big Genoa, so we swapped the sails. We were still disappointed with the boat’s performance on the port tack. So we started experimenting. It turns out you can’t afford to be lazy and keep the engine in the water. The increased drag and the effect it has on the boat by being mounted off-center makes a lot of difference to how the boat sailed.
Cap’n John at the helmI really like the reflection of the boat in John’s sunglasses – even if it does giveaway the fact that the mainsail is still away being cleaned and repaired.
All in all, we had a great time. I’ll gloss over the mooring practice back at the marina. In flying, repeated landing practice is called ‘bump and go’ shall we just say that was an appropriate moniker for our mooring practice too.
Our GPS track – around 10 miles. I’m duly impressed if you can work out where we went without the benefit of using some sort of timeline
I really like the reflection of the boat in John’s sunglasses – even if it does giveaway the fact that the mainsail is still away being cleaned and repaired.
Out sailing with John I took a few portrait pictures. These are the ones I really like.
Anchored for lunch and trying out the bimini top (no, I’d never heard of one of those before either). It’s a giant folding sunshade that goes over the cockpit.
I grabbed this candid shot from the bow of the boat.
I’ve always liked the Ozarks Walkabout logo. Recently we updated the website design so some slight reworking on the logo font was needed. Above is the result.
New Look Website
The new look Ozarks Walkabout Website – www.ozarkswalkabout.com
When I designed the logo I went through all sorts of ideas involving hikers, backpackers, kayakers etc… I was thinking about what quintessentially represented the Ozarks, and I wanted something that could double as a page background. My inspiration eventually came from the view from the Pines Overlook, Red Bluff Campground, near Davisville. I added an iconic conical hill, as they are so representative of the Ozarks.
The original drawing is quite large and forms a repeating horizontal image. I drew it quickly, intending it to be just a proof of concept. However, We liked it so much we decided not to try and tidy it up or change it. Well not much. I’ve tinkered with the colors a little over time. The very first version was a bit too bright.
Looking south-west from near the Nature Center bird watching hide.
We’ve had a lot of rain, and for a change, this year the heat has held off. The result has been some magnificent greenery.
In the shallows on Lake Springfield – look carefully and you can see Jonathan disappearing into the distance
I’ve had a long outstanding arrangement to take Jonathan out in one of our kayaks. Last week we agreed some mutually convenient times, and today we finally got out on the water. …
Jim must have either left this behind, or snuck it into my ‘workshop’ a couple of weeks ago when he and Carol came down to install the Bottle Tree.
It’s not unheard of to find things tucked away in odd places after they’ve visited. Sometimes a new ginger tin will appear in Ginger’s kitchen display, a cut-out news article is left on my desk, or a piece of blue glass we didn’t know we had is found on a window ledge.
Jim and carol aren’t the only ones – Ginger still hasn’t spotted a gift from Rebbie I placed in the house about a month ago. Now We’ll see how closely she reads my blog. 🙂
Nice and simple logo. I wanted to stick with the red of the Davis-Allman logo because it is easy to spot in a pack of business cards. Red is not supposed to be a strong business color, but sometimes it pays to stand out from the crowd.
The foot idea is overused but something was needed quickly and it works. It’s very recognizable and memorable. What more can you want for your branding?
Remember cap’n John? Well, he’s gone and done it now and bought himself a twenty-seven foot sailboat.
I went with him to Stockton to take a look. Pretty cool she is too. Though the high temperatures were not conducive to squirreling around in a boat that wasn’t near the cooling effect of a large body of water. The heat wasn’t very good for taking pictures either – the viewfinder fogged up and to be honest the heat inside – more like a sauna – meant I rushed things a bit. Outside the sun was bright making chimping impossible.
Besides having great fun peering into all the lockers and trying to work out what the various fittings and gizmos did, we also dropped off a locker at the marina pontoon where the boat will be kept. That gave us an excuse to examine all the other boats to see how they tied them up. Chain and rope seems to be the order of the day.
I also ought to mention that John treated me to lunch at the Red Barn in Stockton‡, (thanks John!) very yummy it was too – I had a burger, fries and the pleasure of being dripped on from the condensation forming on a very welcome overhead air conditioning vent.
Sitting pretty on the grass – next stop the yard for a paint job.
Sitting pretty on the grass – next stop the yard for a paint job.
Looking at the stern – there’s a great little platform and seats molded into the transom. There’s also a shower fitting here too.
Danger! Low flying winged keel. Lots of weight and not a lot of draft.
Looking aft at the cockpit. The wheel is exchangeable – there’s a much bigger wheel if it is needed.
No excuses for getting lost – there’s a depth sounder and GPS too.
Engine controls by the wheel.
Looking forward two twin berths and a double berth up in the pointy bit.
Looking forward two twin berths and a double berth up in the pointy bit.
View in the cabin looking aft
Looking forward from the aft double berth – it’s under the cockpit.
Looking forward – the head is on the left and the galley on the right.
Radio receiver, CD Player and VHF, Oh my! To the right, another electrical control panel.
ISBE (In Sail Boat Entertainment) 🙂
And a VHF Marine radio – the aerial is loose in the cabin instead of connected to the mast.
I’ve no idea what this gizmo is. To the left the battery electrical panel.
All mod-cons
Combined shower head and faucet in the ‘head’
‡Unfortunately the Google maps imagery of the area is too blurry to jog my memory as to what the establishment is called and they’ve not registered with Google places so it’s not marked on the map. Take note people, if you have a business at least register its location with Google – you never know when someone might want to mention you!
Update: however, John does recall the name of the restaurant, so I’ve updated the post. John either has a better memory than I do, or he visits his boat too often.
This picture is one that has to be put in the ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’ category. It took a huge amount of effort to create and it just doesn’t work.
The first idea was to isolate the bottle tree to create a new Logo for Ginger’s website. We didn’t have a backdrop big enough, so I used a combination of seven (yes, 7) pictures to come up with this. Reduced to logo size it looks like a cross between a punk-rock chicken and a butterfly. Full size without any background it loses its scale.
As often happens, having invested a lot of time and effort into getting the picture, I was determined not to give up on it. Tenacious and stubborn are words that can be applied to me.
In an attempt to make a worthwhile image the bottle tree appeared against a backdrop of grass and trees in Busiek State Forest. It mysteriously jumped fifteen feet to the right to appear in front of the living room windows. It even briefly appeared in the clouds. None of the ideas worked.
I have now seen the error of my ways. I’m giving up on a bad job. Maybe one day a suitable treatment will occur to me. Until then this is it.
Not the sort of promotional materials I usually produce for church, but we had some gardening equipment to dispose of.
I used the PhotoShop hue control to quickly change the color of the ribbon to suit my subject, that way I don’t have to worry about re creating the ‘shine’. Another method would have been to keep the ‘shine’ in an overlay layer.
Lanie’s off to Camp WeMo (WEst MissOuri) at Wakonda for the week, so this afternoon we dropped her off, and I took advantage of the visit to grab a few pictures.
We really like the Diocese Youth events, it’s so good for Lanie to have a group of peers that share similar values, are good friends whom she can meet with on a regular basis. It’s also great as a parent to watch them all growing up. Speaking of which, Camp Wakonda’s Program Director is Hayden Ponsar, who grew up just down the block from us, and even I remember as a squirrely kid! We had a good chat with him while we were there.
Dropping off duties done, the ‘parental unit’ was free to enjoy some child-free time. Which we did with a stroll around a flea market (no real bargains to be found), followed by a double-dip cone at Braums – yum.
Still to come – the pictures I took at church today.
Photos by me, not what I was expecting to see this morning
Overnight I had been sent a link to an e-version of the diocesan magazine Spirit. This was so I could embed a copy in the diocesan website. Fortunately, that was a simple task. Checking the magazine, I was surprised and very pleased, to find that the pictures I took at the Bishop’s Ball were featured on the cover
and another had been used inside. I knew my pictures were being used – but I had no idea they’d end up on the cover. I must admit I quickly checked my originals just to make sure they were all mine. It was only afterwards that I thought to have a look and see if I had been attributed for the pics, which was when I found the cover text above.
Lanie was mentioned in the Bishop’s Ball article for her ‘Outstanding Youth’ award. Both Lanie (2013) and Alek (2011) have won this award.
So that’s both Ginger and me in print this year. Ginger’s achievement was much better. She wrote the article and took the pictures.
Lanie, Gary and Ginger keeping a watchful eye on the chiminea
We both have had long days at the computer recently, so the idea of sitting out in the backyard burning off a few of our deadfall limbs and twigs last night was a welcome diversion.
Ginger’s been working like mad on her marketing efforts. Today she was sending out follow-up emails to her recent purchasers. She’s also just finished a re-vamp of her website. I started my day delivering an hour’s online course, a brief introduction to blogging. My customer got two posts out so that was successful. I followed that up with several hours working on the diocese website and fielding calls. We were expecting the site to be switched live late in the afternoon. Somehow the technician involved interpreted that as just after noon. So I (and Angela in the diocese office) had a mad scrabble to implement all the items on our ‘fix before going live’ list.
We had one break late in the afternoon when we were visited briefly by Jim and Carol in town for another appointment.
By the time it was properly dark we were ready for some time in the backyard. I’m not sure why we look so morose in the picture. We were probably still stunned after the past few busy days.
Lanie wanted to try some light painting so I set the camera up for her, and even tried one myself – the result was Lanie’s outline. For a first attempt it wasn’t that bad.
St Cecilia Choir visits St John’s Episcopal Church
Today was the last appearance of the St Cecilia Choir before the summer break, and Lanie’s last appearance in the Junior Choir. This year the choir visited another Episcopal church in Springfield – St. John’s.
We were made very welcome, and I had the opportunity to catch up with my EFM classmate Laura who attends St John’s. The children did Christ Church proud, and the congregation at St John’s were very appreciative.
Near the end of the service – starting to process
Fr. Jonathan delivering the sermon
Fr. Jonathan delivering the sermon
Sitting pretty on the grass – next stop the yard for a paint job.
Sitting pretty on the grass – next stop the yard for a paint job.
Looking at the stern – there’s a great little platform and seats molded into the transom. There’s also a shower fitting here too.
Danger! Low flying winged keel. Lots of weight and not a lot of draft.
Looking aft at the cockpit. The wheel is exchangeable – there’s a much bigger wheel if it is needed.
No excuses for getting lost – there’s a depth sounder and GPS too.
Engine controls by the wheel.
Looking forward two twin berths and a double berth up in the pointy bit.
Looking forward two twin berths and a double berth up in the pointy bit.
View in the cabin looking aft
Looking forward from the aft double berth – it’s under the cockpit.
Looking forward – the head is on the left and the galley on the right.
Radio receiver, CD Player and VHF, Oh my! To the right, another electrical control panel.
ISBE (In Sail Boat Entertainment) 🙂
And a VHF Marine radio – the aerial is loose in the cabin instead of connected to the mast.
I’ve no idea what this gizmo is. To the left the battery electrical panel.
All mod-cons
Combined shower head and faucet in the ‘head’
