I Can Smell It!

Can you smell it?? Can you feel it?? I can! The smell of fresh cut grass.... The slight cool breeze blowing through the air... the scent of blood and sweat. Oh yeah baby.. football is coming again!! College football.. go Cougs! Pro.. da Raiders!! Oh yeah.. can't wait to see Moss light it up! Even fantasy football is starting... Team D-Cleater looking for another championship. Woo hoo!! Time to lace up the cleats and bring your big boy pads. I always want to hit something around this time of year.

"In the warrior's code, there's no surrender
Though his body says stop, his spirit cries never
Deep in our soul a quiet ember
Knows it's you against you
It's the paradox that drives us on
It's a battle of wills, in the heat of attack
It's the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone"

The Medium of Change

Blogs are changing the world?? http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121663,00.asp

That's a scary thought

Starry Night

Sometimes I wish I had the gift to express my feelings in poetry. To be able to write with words, and get across the depth of my feelings. But alas, I do not. The closest medium that I have is my photography, and even with that, I lack the skill to truly expose my thoughts. And it's not as if I have deep thoughts, like some philosopher or man of wisdom. I lack the ability to express thoughts that are really not that complex. Fortuantly, I don't think I'm alone in that regard. I think many of us are looking for ways to express ourselves, and feeling like we are failing at it. I wonder how many out there are also searching... not for answers.. but simply for a way to express and share our thoughts.

Tonight I sat beneath a clear night sky, looking at the stars. I saw the Big Dipper, one of the few childhood lessons that stuck with me. It's fascinating to me the things you learn that stick with you, as compared with all the things you learn and forget. But that's topic for a different night. Tonight, I sat and marveled at the stars, and how insignificant they can make you feel.

Have you ever looked at the stars and wondered how many others out there in the world were doing the same thing? Looking at the same stars? Have you ever thought about how when you are long gone, and all memory of you has faded, that the same stars will be there, shining brightly over someone else, thinking the same thing? I think that is part of why I enjoy landscape photography so much. On one hand I know I'm catching a moment that no one else saw, and yet on another hand, I'm photographing a place that has been the same for ages, and will be the same long after I am gone. It's humbling to stand atop the great divide.

Concrete Angel

Concrete Angel - by Martina McBride
She walks to school with a lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holding back;
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace;
oh

The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask,
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask;
Bearing the burdon of a secret storm,
Sometimes she wishes she was never born;

Through the wind and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone in a world that she can't rise above;
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place where she's loved.

Concrete Angel

Somebody cries in the middle of the night,
The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights;
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate,
When morning comes it will be too late.

Through the wind and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone in a world that she can't rise above;
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place where she's loved.

Concrete Angel

A statue stands in a shaded place,
An angel girl with an upturned face;
Her name is written on a polished rock,
A broken heart that the world forgot.

Through the wind and the rain,
She stands hard as a stone in a world that she can't rise above;
But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place where she's loved.

Concrete Angel

I saw the video for this beautiful song by Martina McBride recently, and it inspired me to try some pictures with Hailee. I'm not done with this particular picture yet, as I'm not happy with the B&W conversion. But I can't decide if I like it or not. Some days I do, and some days I don't.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone. I know it's a little late.. but it's taken me this long to recover. Man I'm getting old...

We had a ton of people over at the house, adults and kids. My neighbor and I took one section of our fence down, which gave us a bunch more room in the backyard. It was still pretty crammed though. I didn't get to relax much, trying to be the host and make sure everything went well. I was also busy making sure the BBQ turned out. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I was happy with the food, even if I almost set the house on fire.

The bad part of all your friends having 2 year olds is that all of them get tired around 8:00... the two year olds that is. Most people headed home before the fireworks but we still had some fun lighting them off with other people in the neighborhood. Hailee's favorite was the Jumping Jacks, which is this little fountain that spits out mini ground bloom flowers.

All in all, a successful event. But I'm glad it's over and life can get back to normal.

Sunshine!

Summer is coming!! After a cold wet Spring, I'm really anxious to see the sun. Even if it means that I've got to get out in the yard and do yard work.

Last weekend we took advantage of the sun and went strawberry picking. Hailee had a good time looking at the animals, feeding the ducks, and picking out strawberries. I felt good doing my part to ease the farmer's plight of a work shortage and lot's of rain, which is making their strawberries rot on the plants.

I find it ironic that we have unemployment numbers so high, and yet the farmers are saying they have a work shortage. To me that says we have a lot of unemployed people who aren't willing to get out there and earn a living, even if it is picking fruit. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people like that.