Happy New Year!

Happy new year everybody!  In traditional fashion, we turned in a bit before midnight...way past my bed time!

I decided to grab my camera today to snap some photos of Ian and Leah.

Leah was first, and Luna decided to photobomb us.

From the living room, we went back to my office/studio and took some photos there.

I brought Ian down, and the excitement was palpable...

I must have deleted about 3000 photos where his eyes were closed or mostly closed, but I did finally manage to get a decent photo of him.

Not our best work, but not too shabby, either.

Best wishes for a happy and blessed 2019!

Marc

Holiday Ball

Last night was the Holiday Ball for my hospital, which meant Catherine and I needed to get all dressed up. It was a different way to celebrate our anniversary...22 years!

I sat next to another PT from a satellite clinic - we've met before, but it was nice to get to know her a bit more. Funny thing, though:  she brought her boyfriend and when I asked where he was from, he somewhat abashedly said Mt. Gilead in Ohio. So when I told him I was from the Bucyrus/Galion area, he knew right where that was. Small world.

Cheers,

Marc

Happy Thanksgiving!

We invited some family to come visit us for Thanksgiving this year - Mom and Chuck accepted the challenge! Catherine made a crazy amount of food that we will be working our way through for quite some time.

While they were here, we visited the Woodlawn Manor House, an old farmhouse that was apparently a part of the Underground Railroad.

They were kind enough to pay the admission fee to tour the grounds and for the guided tour of the house itself. I most enjoyed the barn, but it was COLD!

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend to everyone!

Marc

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day everyone.

As part of the festivities, I thought I'd get a photo of Leah, since it had been some time since she has sat in front of the camera with the lights on.

Nothing terribly new on our end - have a blessed day!

Marc

Pumpkin Chunkin

This weekend was Ian's first campout with his new Boy Scout Troop - which was their annual "Pumpkin Chunkin" campout. In the past, they've taken all the unused (not purchased) pumpkins from a farm after Halloween, and they launch them from a hillside on a local farm.

We camped at the bottom of the hill, on the other side of the little creek. We had some Cub Scouts and Webelos visit - which this had to be a great time for them. Several of the adults said that Ian was a great teacher, very patient with the younger kids, on the sling shot station.

They also had a trebuchet which launched some pumpkins probably a hundred feet or so into the air, and then because of the hill, another 20-30 feet, which made for some great exploded pumpkins.

We spent the night, which was cold - first frost of the season. Thankfully, the rain got itself out of its system the night before.

Have a great day!

Marc

Red River Gorge, part 3

The last morning in the Red River Gorge was pretty chilly...and I almost bailed to stay warm in the hammock, but eventually decided to head on out. So glad I did!

I again got there a bit before sunrise, and took some photos of the stars. This time, the fog was thicker and much closer to the overlook. When I stood at the edge and looked down, the tree tops were shrouded in fog, which was pretty eerie.

There were some clouds hanging around, that I hoped would catch the sunrise - and today did not disappoint!

These two photos are about 5 minutes apart.

The beautiful colors built over a 30-40 minute period - it was amazing to watch it unfold and a joy to photograph it.

Cheers,

Marc

Red River Gorge, part 2

Monday was a day of steady rain, and Tuesday was cloudy, but dry. We did a fair bit of hiking Tuesday, and settled on a campsite near the Chimney Top Rock overlook, in the hope for a good sunrise photo opportunity.

While sunrise fizzled, there were no clouds that caught the early morning light, we did take some photos of the stars and fog lifting. Later, we made our way to Rock Bridge Arch, which is the only "true" bridge in the area (with water flowing beneath it).

Just upstream from the Rock Bridge Arch is the beautiful Rock Bridge Falls. There were some stones to cross from the trail side of the river to the photo side of the falls and river. It was easy to find, and very worth it.

We decided to camp in the Chimney Top Rock area (again) so we could photograph the sunset - the overlook faces north-ish with great views to the north, west, and south, and good views to the east. We had a better light show, but still did not get the clouds to light up like we had hoped.

I won't complain, though. We had the place practically to ourselves, enjoyed cooking our dinner at the overlook, and then went back to our campsite and sat by a fire to chat while we stayed warm and whiled away the evening.

Cheers,

Marc