The Next Videographer in the Family

And to think it all started with a $20 generic - but pink! - digital camera with video from WalMart. Lauren and Jennifer would be a dynamite team!

Where's Kathie?

Behind the camera, of course!

Actually, right now she's doing a 95-mile hike in the Scottish Western Highlands. I am so jealous!

Gordon Brown at TED

When you have sixteen minutes to spare, you should watch this. The commenters on the TED site are merciless, but I thought his talk was compelling. Viva bloggers!!

Eyelash Transplant

When I have my eyelash transplant done, I want James Patrick (or his sister) to be my donor.

On Not Having the Sense You're Born With, or "Huh?"

I gotta quit listening to NPR news on my way to and from the mall every morning. The topics and perspectives presented are a little too revealing for me. For example...

Now I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box, and I'm sure no Harvard professor. I would hope, though, that I'd have sense enough to not follow a policeman - who has just come into my home and questioned me about my right to be there - out onto the porch to continue the discussion. Hello? Apart from the fact that the cop is armed, there's no point in fussing at him. No, I would do what many years of complaining to the wrong person finally taught me - call the turkey's superior, and then that person's superior, and so on until I find someone who can fix the wrong. (I don't know if the cop was a turkey or not - I'm just saying...you get my drift.)

Well, maybe Gates is young and experienced? Nope, turns out he's at least a year older than I am. Kinda rules that excuse out. :)

On my way to the mall this morning, NPR played an audio clip of Professor Gates stating that he now realizes how vulnerable black people are. Looking at Harvard's webpage that describes his accomplishments, I think he should have had this epiphany a while back. Otherwise, about whom has he been writing all this time?

No, I think Gates was supremely pissed off - as most all of us would've been - and is now using this as an opportunity to make a point...loudly. Or, maybe he's having a hard time admitting he shouldn't have followed the cop out onto the porch. Whatever the cause for it, I find his rhetoric to be unduly incendiary and racially divisive, and personally I'm embarrassed for him. Even I know better.

Furthermore, I voted for Obama, have the highest respect for his rationality and ability to see both sides of a situation, and will vote for him again, but honestly - huh? I'm hoping there's some serious reflection going on about that "stupidly" comment.

Then, on my way home from the mall, NPR reported on the declining number of members in the Southern Baptist Convention. Before this I didn't realize that the SBC says women can be spiritual leaders of other women and of children, but never, NEVER, can women be spiritual leaders of men. HUH??? As I pulled the Explorer back onto the pavement, I thanked God that I wasn't raised a southern baptist.

One of the commenters said that in a hundred years people will look back on the way the SBC treats women today and label it as slavery. Why so long? Good grief.

OK, who else wants to be picked on? (Sorry, Kath - I'll get back to my innocuous/inane photo posts now.)

Gotta Have It! (A Toddler Poem)

Gotta have it.
Gotta have it.
Gotta have it.
Got it!

(Edit: I didn't realize until looking at Pam's blog three days after publishing the original version of this that it's actually a Toddler Poem.)

My Protector

I love Kathie's photos. I just don't like to be in them. Lauren Kelly protects me from Kathie's camera. She's a much better subject anyway.

Saturday at the Park with Jennifer

I digress. I'm supposed to be finishing my stories of Morocco, but I can't resist putting out some creative pictures by my grandbaby, Jennifer - 11 years old...but aren't they always babies?

Yesterday's excursion with our cameras was to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The park's free range setting is appealing but still the 99 degrees tested Jennifer's blue eyed-blond haired body. Those northern Anglos don't seem to hold up as well as this brown eyed person.

Jennifer always seems to have a different view through the lens of her camera. I guess that's what a future film director needs.

Capturing the mood of a pensive stork...


Prayerful bird...


Off center catches this guy's weirdness.


A gorilla with his afternoon popcorn.


And Jennifer's favorite, a meerkat watching her from a pack of napping meerkats.

Did someone say "Cake!"?

Sometimes a picture is worth so much more than a thousand words.

Misgivings

On Kelly's birthday, Jackson was wondering why he had bought the iPod Touch for her instead of for himself.

Ray was just trying to figure out what the hell an iPod Touch is...

Another Set of Twins

There are other sets of twins in our family. This one is James Patrick and his Great Uncle Ray - both such sweet and precious men. (In fact, this set may actually be triplets...I'm ashamed to say that I've yet to meet Ray's grandson Jonathan in Kentucky. Gotta get up there and check him out someday soon.)

A Sense of Humor

At 95, she still has one. I bet she framed the birthday card you gave her and perched it on her bedside table, Ray. Heh heh...you devil!

Endangered Species

July 4, 2009: American men who marry for life and take good care of their children. On the left, our cousin Don, whom we hadn't seen in many years. On the right, our brother Ray, married to his lovely bride Janet for 42 years! Two wonderful men, these.