Photo Blogging Challenge (April 2014): Smile

It's April already, the grass greening up and the nice temps are enough to make me smile. And, speaking of smile, that was our theme for the Photo Blogging Challenge for April. Let's get started.

Spring brings out the Texas Bluebonnets and our annual taking of the Bluebonnet Photo. The making of is never all smiles but the final product usually is.

Buckwheat Zydeko and Robert Randolf opened up our outdoor concert series Brazos Nights. The drummer's smile is what drew me to this shot.

Cousins together for Easter brings lots of smiles; add golf carts to the mix and you have even more. Will has on socks because he was wearing a chicken suit. Sadly, I have no photos of that.

The Scouts visited the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. They have a Living History event that we have been trying to get to for some time. This guy was right out of a war movie. Such a character. The boys had a great time. The museum is fantastic too.

On the way home we stopped by Enchanted Rock State Park for a quick hike and what turned to be a rigorous cave exploration. I tore my pants and lost my wallet in the cave but a couple of my Scouts went back in and thankfully found it pretty quickly. They were all smiles after we made it out of the cave.

You can see all of my photos from the museum and E Rock by visiting my Flickr set. And, I have a collection of my Bluebonnet pictures throughout the years that I enjoy visiting.I encourage you to visit the a 'lil hoohaa blog to see the rest of this months entries. And why don't you join in next month?

Photo Blogging Challenge (March 2014): One

March went by fast. The theme for this month was One. Let's get started.

My mother-in-law's birthday is March 2, we were going to be out of town so we celebrated early. One candle multiple cakes of multiple flavors.

We were gone because I had a conference in Aruba. Not too bad of a way to spend a week. This sailboat came by at the same time every day.

This was either hole number 1 or hole number 10, I can't recall. Either way, they both have a one and I did not get a hole in one. 

One slice missing from the pie.

These guys are taking off just after we land every time I go to Tulsa. I never get tired of watching them.

 
Since my first photo was actually taken on February 28, here is a bonus. One leg, enjoying a scenic lunch while backpacking with my scouts.

So there is March. I need things to slow down just a little and by little I mean a lot! Check out the other amazing photos over at the a 'lilhoohaa blog. This brings to end a full year of Photo Blogging Challenges. On to the next year! 

Photo Blogging Challenge (February 2014): Red

This months HooHaa Photo Blogging Challenge theme was RED. I was really surprised at the lack of RED in my photostream considering Valentine's Day being all about red. But I did my best, here we go.

This is actually one of my boys' sandwich wraps but it looked enough like a table cloth and it's RED!

We had a string of cold, rainy days, not as many as some of you, I'm sure. Anyway, it warmed up quite nicely after a string of these so it was pleasant to dine al fresco.

My wife made little baked fruit pies one day. The next day, she used her left over crust to make these little savory meat pies. They were delicious.

Many people know that Waco is the birthplace of Dr Pepper but it is also the home of Big Red. For me, nothing goes better with BBQ than an ice cold Big Red! Their old advertising is true, "it's not strawberry, it's definitely not cherry, it just tastes RED!" That concoction, by the way, is Vitek's Gutpak. It's a little like a Frito pie with BBQ. It won the Cooking Channel's Best College Food competition last year.

To wrap things up, the boys asked for tickets to see Imagine Dragons for Christmas. We obliged. I wasn't real familiar with the music but enjoyed myself as did they. They definitely listen to stuff I can't stand. This, fortunately, was quite entertaining. And they covered Rush's Tom Sawyer for us older folks. So they can't be all bad.

So, take a look at the other entries over at HooHaa's Blog and check back here next month to see what we have cooked up!

Photo Blogging Challenge (January 2013): New

This month's them was New. Handy since it's a new year. So that's how we'll start this.

We spent our New Year in a hotel room in Scottsdale, AZ. We were there for the Fiesta Bowl. Our first BCS bowl!

My Baylor Bears were the well favored team but UCF had different plans and really caught our guys buy surprise.

Something old is something new for me. The historic Waco Hippodrome Theater was purchased and is being renovated. I was able to obtain some of the old seats. The place has a lot of history. I'm happy to see it preserved again. Elvis used to watch movies there.

Amy found a stray kitty, we got him fixed and were looking for a new home. Amy's sister took her instead.

Amy ran the Houston Marathon, but the day before we all ran the ABB 5K, everyone did a great job, that's a new PR for me in a 5K.

A new year and new scouts means lots of new scout skills to learn.
 

So, that's six. I can't count and I can't decide which one I would take out. It was hard enough to narrow it down to these. Why don't you take a look at the a 'lilhoohaa photo challenge page and check out the other fantastic entries. I can't wait to see what the February challenge will bring.

Photo Blogging Challenge (December 2013): Festive

Can you find a more festive month than December? What a great topic for this month's HooHaa's Photo Blogging Challenge. I like it when I have more pictures than I need than when I'm scrambling to find five that fit.  On to the photos.

I started out December on an annual trip to the city. We have some business partners that have an annual Holiday party in New York City. It gives me the opportunity to spend some time running around town. We had less to do this year which gave me more running around time. I walked close to 15 miles one day. The lions at the Public Library were in a festive mood.

I always enjoy hanging out a Bryant Park and watching the skaters.

 

Upon returning from New York, my Baylor Bears had one more game in their old Floyd Casey Stadium. A new stadium is being built on campus. Our first game of the season, the temperature was over 100F, 125F on the field. Our last game was well below freezing and a freezing fog settled in. In an upset, the Oklahoma Sooners had defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys just before our game kicked off. That upset turned our game into the Big XII championship. After a close first half, my Bears kicked it into gear and defeated the Texas Longhorns. It is our first Big XII championship and our first outright conference championship since 1980. A ceremony followed the game and the lights were turned off for the last time.

 

Fast forward to Christmas, because it really seemed to happen that fast. We had some office parties and such in between, but they seemed to have happened so long ago. We have all the family at our house every year. It's works out well with all the steps and in-laws. We were very low key this year. I'm happy to have my dad with us another year after his heart issues plagued the last two.

We had planned on being in our new house this Christmas. The weather this summer was wetter than usual and delayed construction. While I wish we were in already, it was nice to spend one more year here. I hope that this is the last time you see the view below.

That's the five I pulled out. Feel free to visit my flickr stream here to see more. And check out the rest of the participants at a lil hoohaa's blog. Until the next time.

Film is not dead! - 2013 HooHaa Challenge: My Life

I'm lazy. I admit it. And I procrastinate, too. I waited until almost the very end to get started on this project. Then the deadline got extended, sweet! I'll shift gears because December is no time for Hallowe'en pictures, right. Then lazy kicked in again. It mixed with busy and here I am, 10PM CST, I should be packing to leave but I'm writing this post instead. (Procrastinating!)

So let's pretend it's early November. Let's pretend I wrote all of this then. And let's pretend I got 15 usable shots. I really had a good time using a camera I haven't used in forever. I was going to start out by saying that I cheated a bit. I didn't have B+W and Color film in the same speed. I had made the choice to use some expired stock I had in the beer/film fridge. The B+W is Fujifilm FP-3000B Professional Instant Black & White Film. The color film was the last pack of Polaroid 669 ISO 80 instant color film. The camera for this project: A Graflex XL with Polaroid back.

The challenge topic is My Life. If you are a regular reader of the A 'lil Hoohaa, you know that in October, Hallow'en is pretty much my life. You can read my guest post here. So all my photo's were taken while setting up and taking down my Hallowe'en set up this year.

Focus was a bit of a challenge. I took the B+W in the dark. My DOF was pretty shallow. But I like the look.

John, my oldest, dressed up as some sort of ghoul or banshee. He had built some graves and left the shovel in the yard. When the kids would come to the door, he was standing perfectly still, leaning on the shovel. Many people asked me where I bought the decoration and then he'd start to move. He got a big kick out of scaring some older kids.

I got me a couple of new ladies in my life this year. This is actually a double exposure. The Graflex makes them a breeze.

I tried a few more double exposures but could never quite get it right. This one is close. The boys are just ghosty too.

The color was all right, but I really like the B+W. I read that they were discontinuing this film now. I hope I can find some more.

This next one is another of John's annual setups. I moved it around a little, but he builds this Punkin' Headed Boy for me every year.

And this last one is of the porch/graveyard setup. I normally cover the porch in black fabric so you can't see what's there until you get there. I think I scared too many kids last year so I dialed it back a little this year and left it open so they could see form the street.

My plan was to break a few more rules and take some of the Christmas lights. That would require a couple more film packs. I used all my color film and I don't think B+W and colored lights was a look I was going for. So here are the best six.  That's about the lot of it. I like the challenges. I sometimes overload myself with them but keep 'em coming. I'll do what I can. Sometimes better than others. While you are surfing, visit the other entries a a 'lil hoohaa. Until next time.

Photo Blogging Challenge (November 2013): People

The theme for this month was People. I had originally thought to spread it out a bit but exploring my stream, I decided to stick with the morning I took photos at the Veteran's Day Parade. My kids participate every year through their school so I usually go out and try to capture some of their activity. They were one of the last 'floats' this year so I saw a lot of folks go by before them.


There was a pretty good crowd for a Monday morning parade.


The local Drill Teams were well represented.


Plenty of unique individuals sporting the red, white, and blue.


My sister-in-law co-hosted the local broadcast of the parade for the City Channel.


And finally, the kids made it down to us.

Make sure you check out all the other participants in the Photo Challenge at the a 'lilhoohaa. And make plans to join in next month.

Photo Blogging Challenge (October 2013): Fall

This month's challenge was Fall. Around here, Fall brings football, fairs, and slightly cooler weather. I'm a big fan of Hallowe'en too; so I always look forward to that. Without further ado, my month's photos.

Waco hosts the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo every year in October. The boys keep getting more and more adventurous on the rides, especially Will.

The rodeo has grown quite a bit over the years. It's a qualifier for the PRCA events. We sponsor a team for the Calf Scramble every year. That's where high school kids chase down a cow and, if they catch it, raise it to show the following year. It provides some scholarship money for them and is always fun to follow their progress.

Our school only offers flag football and only through 6th grade so this is our last year of cheering on the Wildcats. I coached them a few years ago and I enjoy seeing how they have improved over the years.

The fall also brings Big Tex and the State Fair of Texas. Big Tex, who started his life as a Santa Claus in Kerens, TX, was destroyed in a fire in the last days of the fair last year. You can read about it here. We got to see the new and bigger Big Tex this year. I'll leave out whether he is better now. My mom is back from her summer in New York and we spent the day with her and the cousins. I needed a Fletcher's corn dog fix.

As I mentioned, I love Hallowe'en. The weather has been uncooperative so I'm pushing up against tomorrows deadline on getting stuff out. I've changed it up a bit and I'll post an update with the final product after it becomes final.

It's difficult to pare down 179 photos to just five. I invite you to take a look at my world on my Flickr photostream. Until next month... Visit the other entries here.

Photo Blogging Challenge (September 2013): Outdoors

September can be a pretty good month for getting outside in Texas or it can be miserably hot. We had a decent mix this year. I've been trying to bike some more. I've managed to get out quite a bit and do what I can to dodge traffic and get away from the house.

One of my photo prompts took me out to see some old cemeteries. We grabbed a couple of caches while we were there.

Fall is football season. My Bears are doing well so far. William decided to wear his horsehead mask to the game. There he is down by the 50.

This past weekend, we finally got the Troop back out for a campout. It was National Public Lands Day and we canoed down the river between the Confederate Union Grounds historical site to Ft. Parker State Park picking up trash along the way. We got rained on and ended up having to cut the weekend short due to severe weather but had a good canoe and picked up a lot of trash.

There's my month in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to seeing what the others have been up to.

EDIT: I was in such a hurry this afternoon that I forgot to include this picture. I took it with a little point and shoot and I get excited when those turn out well: