Summer rain

There is something about a rare long slow summer rain that calms me.  I enjoy sitting on the back porch and listening to the drops as they hit the metal roof and slide down to water the grass and plants.  Speaking of plants and water, they are my favorite things to photograph. Just something about water on a green leaf fascinates me.  The different shades of green, the textures, the goodness that water is doing to the plant.

Dear blog -- I'm bringing you back to life.

After years away from this blog I wasn't even sure it still existed.  Well, it does so I'm bringing it back to life.  I always enjoyed it.  I have been thinking a lot lately about getting back around to some of the things I enjoy doing.

I had started riding my bike again then we had a heat wave as I was training for a short benefit ride for Renewal Ranch ( http://www.therenewalranch.org/ ).  I was easily riding 30 miles and had signed up for that course.  For some strange reason of all days my legs cramped and it was both legs front and back, top and bottom but I made it over that last hill and rolled through the finish.

Early this morning I went on a photo walk.  I used to love doing these.  You grab your camera and head off some place then get out and walk and just really take it all in and photograph things.

Cregeen's Irish Pub

Downtown North Little Rock

It was fun reading back in the early post of 2005 and the things going on.  This was 11 years ago and there was one Thanksgiving post were I "got in a quick 50 mile ride today".  I keep telling myself I really need to get this belly off so I think I'll stop writing and go for a ride!

Life is good.

Empty it out

For years we have talked about cleaning out the attic but something or some excuse always got in the way.  Well today we got half way through.  3 full sized silk trees, various car parts from the kid... you name it and we probably had it up there.  Oh and huge stuffed animals that boyfriends of Emily's had given her over the years.  One year I even pulled them all down and used them for a back prop for our baby dedication day at church.  Yes, that many.  It felt 105 degrees up there but I was not going to stop.  Some of the trash bags had broken down to the point of turning back to dust of the earth.  HA!
I will be nice to have a fairly clean attic to start filling up from the middle aged years of our lives.

Shoals

When I was a child we used to take a 6 hour drive to Muscle Shoals, AL to see my Mom and Dad's families.  It was fun once we got there except when the adults just sat around and drank coffee.  One of my aunt and uncles had a house on the Tennessee River and nothing thrilled me more than a day of swimming there.  Aunt Beck was the craziest of all the aunts and uncles and they we're a bunch. My Dad's family have passed and only 2 of my mom's are alive. Both live in "Mus-shoals".  We heard that the old house was torn down as part of the expansion by the church which has always been across the road.  So I wanted to see if I could get anything from the old house as part of Mom's Mother's Day gift.  I contacted the pastor and come to find out the house has not been torn down but will be sometime or moved.  He said we could come anytime and could take anything that would preserve the memory!  So on May 3rd we are going to walk through the old house one more time, get a few bulbs (flowers) and do a photo session. I've not been back to Shoals in about 25 years at least.

Go back to square one and enjoy

I know, it's been years since I really blogged.  I enjoyed it a lot but like so many projects I did I got burnt out and took a break,  Today I went to pick up my bike at a great bike ship in town called Spokes of Little Rock.  I actually had punctured my tire last week and called to see if they could fix it.  I took it in at lunch and they fixed it while I was standing there and made a couple of other small adjustments for free.  Holy cow, it's the Chikfila of bike shops... you know ... over the top customer service.  It was great. I was on my bike afterwork that afternoon and loving it.  I scheduled a tuneup for this week and picked it up after work.  The place was slammed packed but I and everyone else was treated like a VIP.  There is even a coffee bar in the place.  They rolled the bike out and it looked brand new.  No I'm serious, brand new!  I was so excited that I may have even strutted a little on the sidewalk walking it back to the truck.  I was proud!  In fact I would have gone to ride tonight but we had the son and his wife over for dinner which is a good reason not to ride.  They'll be moving out to Denver in about a year so I want all the time I can get.  So tomorrow I'll run down to Benton and enjoy a few moments with my mom then work on her yard a while and then return to Sherwood and roll out for a afternoon lea sure ride on my bike that looks brand new,

Life is good!
Geo.

Looking for me? I have a new blog

Hey there! Ya looking for me?

I have a new blog over here at :
http://theglassofphotogeo.blogspot.com/

Come on over and enjoy!
Geo.

Photo stuff

I rented a lens from LensRental.com out of Memphis. I highly recommend them. I have been shopping for a new lens, well, awwwrighty, I've been wishing for a new lens but it had to be under 6" in order to get into stadiums with it. They have this crazy 6" rule at most.

My daughter and I started a Daughter/Dad weekend trip where we go to an out of town Razorback football game. Last year we went over to South Carolina but this year is was much closer to home. Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. It's just a few miles down from Memphis, TN, which is just an one and a half hour drive from our house.

I took Friday off and we headed over and of course had to go to a mandatory mall first. Then I suggested the Memphis Zoo. We had a blast. Even Em thought it was more fun than shopping. I was able to get some pretty OK shots while at the zoo.

Saturday we ran down the road to Ole Miss to see the Razorbacks whip up on Ole Miss but Lord have mercy it was an spooky game. We were supposed to run off with the game and whip them big time but that didn't happen and the quote after the win was, "Well a win is a win." If I heard it once I've heard it a million times in 2 days.

This weekend my wife is taking our daughter on a Daughter/Mom weekend. They are heading over to Nashville, TN for the Razorback vs Vandy football game. It may seem a bit off that a Daughter/Mom weekend involves football but when the daughter dates a player you drive the road to the stadium. They will have a blast because my wife has been to Nashville several times.

So, here below is a small sampling of the weekend shots... enjoy

Life and training

Well, life and training are bumping into each other. I'm just going to have to make time for this like I did my bike training. Let's just say Saturday morning is going hurt some. Then Sunday will hurt some more.

On the photo side: The full moon is great tonight. Was out in the back yard shooting but just not getting what I want and it's a "school night" so not planning to pack it up and take it out. Last Saturday night at the Razorback game (we beat Auburn by the way! ) the TV camera did a shot of the moon. Man, what a super expensive piece of glass can capture. They put it on the Jumbotron and you could see every crater. Outstanding!

Run along

It's been a good week as far as training goes. Of course it's baby steps but then that's what I keep hearing about marathon training. Slow and easy build up. I'm sure before long I'll push myself a bit more and more but I'm following the Jeff Galloway plan. A buddy named Scott is a runner and a serious one. I asked him what was the one thing you wished someone would have told you about running when you started. He told me to train on hills for endurance and to read a book from cover to cover called, "Marathon, you can do it." It's by Jeff Galloway and it's a great little book packed with good stuff.
I hope you got to see the October 4th episode of Biggest Looser. Tim Tebow and Drew Brees made appearances as well as several other NFL greats. The thing I noticed about Tebow and Brees as that they seemed to be the most generous with their time. Tebow was awesome with the folks on the show. He got right in the middle of it all and worked out hard with them. He seems like a genuinly good guy. It was inspirationsal to me. I told myself that I would ride the spin bike while the show was on. I made it for an hour. I didn't realize when I decided to do the spin that the show was 2 hours long. HA!

Terri has been in MN for the past few days on business and got home tonight! Great to have her home. I bet I sleep better.

Life is good!

13.1

Throughout my life I've never really been one to run until I was recently challenged with it. I'm embarking on a new journey of sorts and like every new challenge there are all the "I wonder if...". I remember when I first started riding my bike and would be out on the river trail and folks would fly by screaming fast in there fancy gear and holier-than-thou bikes. I had a comfort bike and a helmet. In all honesty, if you want to just ride and enjoy, that's all you really need.

So about this running thing, where did that come from? Yeah, I know you all want to know. My daughter and I were sort of joking around about it then realized we were both sort of serious. I started doing a little research which was asking some buds, "What is the one thing you wished someone would have told you when you started running?" I've gotten some good answers. The big one seems to be "Get good shoes from a running store that have been professionally fitted."

I started a little bit of training this week at lunch. 1 mile Monday, 1.5 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday, and off today. Not trying to jump too fast but at the same time 1 mile was done very quick. I didn't feel very pushed.

So I figured since I promised some photos in the blog I would combine the two. Nah, I'm not going to run with a big Nikon camera but some entries will be photographic and some running.

One of our goals is to run the St. Jude's Memphis Marathon next year (2012). We plan to go over and walk the course this year and it will give u a good visual for what to expect next year. I suspect we'll be doing a few 5k's along the way just for fun and we have to start building our running event t-shirt collection! HA! I couldn't tell you how many bike event t-shirts I've had through the years.

I'm excited! First one foot and then the other...

Reset

It was one of those days you don't want to end. But, it did and it couldn't have ended better. A beautiful sunset while fishing with my son. We didn't do good at all but that was really beside the point. Just hanging out the the kiddo does me a whole of good.

I'm hoping to try and update this blog three or four times a week. I used to d so good but then life gets in the way.

Next weekend, Labor day weekend, is the start of football season in America. We hadn't planned on going to Fayetteville next weekend for the game but luck into some tickets and it's a night game so why not. We'll see m daughter's boyfriend play so it makes it more fun.

It funny because for the last 2 or 3 months I've had stuff piled in the garage so one of the cars was out every night but I told myself before I went to bed tonight that we'd be able to get both cars back in the garage and close the door so I worked on it this afternoon and got the job done. Still have some things to haul off but that's the easy part since all you do is pull up to the drive through of this place and they take everything.

I know this was short but this boy is sleepy.

March 25

March 5th

Old tackle box

The reds

The purples

The peppermints

Day after the storm... the thaw

As the snow began to melt the flowers returned with even more buds ready to welcome us to another wonderful spring season. I played with the ISO setting on the shot above to give it a dramatic effect on purpose. I continue to learn creative photography.

The photo below is at our neighbor down the hill.
I really waited too late and missed a lot of the snow I had been
hoping for on this shot. I do like the blue sky and bridge reflection in the water below the bridge. Well I guess we need another snow storm
so I can go back and get the shot huh?!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog!
Geo.

Snow storm 2.9.11

I think I'm ready for spring now

The bicycle came out of hibernation

The bicycle came out of hibernation today. Yesterday it was 75 degrees here in Little Rock and this afternoon it was 65. Since I care for my folks on Saturdays I can really only get rides in on Sundays. Today was "Launch Sunday" at New Life Church (NLC) and we have so many different groups you can join. I signed up for the NLC bike club. They actually had a mixer ride this afternoon and I jumped in and rode. Not to pat myself on the back but I stayed with the front group even as we rolled at 21mph. Not a bad comeback ride for someone who has been off since what, July? I really had a blast! It reminded me of what the group I used to ride with was when it started getting big. But those guys all got really really fast and into racing. I admire them and they all have done outstanding. Sorry, I didn't take any photos. I'll try to do better.

Snow berry

Snow berry (sounds like a cereal)

New Orleans religion

One religion of New Orleans

Ya gotta know ya Hogs to understand this photo

Ya gotta know ya Hogs to understand this photo.
Wooo Pig Sooie!