cutting the phone strings

We finally let go of our land line last week. I'd tried to cancel it before but I was talked into keeping it when they lowered the bill. This time even that didn't work. Almost all our calls to this line are solicitors so it was pretty easy to let it go.

tracks

When I was out to visit Dad earlier this month to photograph his tools (more on that later), I stopped, again, at the tracks. This time I looked the other direction & photographed that view. It was worthy of a photo too.

Dad's garage

I'm taking Photography IV this quarter at Southeast Community College. It's the project class. I'm inspired by everyone's work except my own so far. I've wanted to scream, cry & quit every week. Our teacher, Barbara, kind of expects that. My project is "tools". Which is why I ended up in Dad's garage. Technically this is a "bad" photo because parts of it are blasted out. Too much highlight. But even "bad" photos can become favorites. I love seeing Dad's work space. He doesn't spend much time here anymore. The effort wears him out. But I did enjoy my visit here.

Yizhi & Austin with a flare

We hauled an old '73 Yamaha motorcycle of Don's out to Iowa City this past weekend when we visited Austin & Yizhi. Don bought this motorcycle when he was in college. Later, Austin learned to ride on this bike. Our garage is full to the brim with motorcycles (if you ask me) so I didn't mind seeing one of them go to another home. Yizhi may try to learn to ride on this one. She is tiny all over which also means her hands are small. Maybe too small to manage the clutch too. But Austin spent a few moments Saturday evening showing her a few things on it. I intentionally let some sun flare into the photo although usually I am trying to avoid it.

chopsticks

We drove out to see Yizhi & Austin this weekend. Yizhi fixed a great lunch for us on Saturday. She served spicy tofu & pork and also a spicy chicken dish. And of course, rice. And some vegetables. We were given chopsticks to eat with & Austin did accommodate us by giving us spoons to dish up our meal (they do not use them in traditional Chinese meals). I don't use chopsticks on a regular basis but I was still able to feed myself. And I had the cutest chopsticks with bunnies on them . . .

road sign

I first spotted this road sign a couple of years ago in Texas. I was riding with Carolyn & Art to Galveston. Carolyn was driving & she was too nervous to pull over to let me get a photo. Then several months ago I started taking a different route to drive to Dad's place (my friend, Nancy, told me about it). The route takes me through Crete on highway 33. One day I caught sight of this road sign & mentally added it to my list of photos to take. So today after visiting Dad & then Ashley, I finally decided to take the time to stop. The traffic on highway 33 is pretty steady, but I found a lull when I could get this photograph (I hate an audience).

Krista's family

I had the privilege of photographing Krista's family yesterday. That includes her husband, Darrell, and her one year old son, Clayton. He has been walking for a few months already & his birthday was earlier this month! We found a gravel road in rural Lancaster county & he motored around & did a good job trying to avoid my camera. Really, he was just more interested in everything else. Krista is expecting again so will soon be twice as busy.