Purposeful

Here's a picture of North Miami Beach I took on purpose. It was my fourth night in the hotel and I had only set foot on the beach once the first day — too many late nights PowerPointing to prepare for my conference. After getting home late from my Uncle's house for dinner I hit the beach at midnight with my tripod to make some long exposures; this one was 10 seconds so the waves crashing on the shore are only streaks.

Incidental

A lot of my photography is incidental: I'm on my way someplace else and take a moment to get a quick shot off. Here are a couple of ocean incidentals taken in between meetings at the hotel during my Miami trip. The first is out my hotel room window; the window inside my shower(!) gave the same view. The second is at sunset from the ground level balcony, taken just after our conference and debriefing were over.

Goodbye Buddy

Today our beloved cat of 17-1/2 years, Larry "Bud" Grandon passed away. Born in Springville, Utah on July 15, 1991, Joanie and I adopted him as a kitten on a slow Sunday afternoon shortly after we got married that August. Joanie immediately noticed him as a standout in his litter. She recognized quality. He's been the third member of our family ever since our first basement apartment in Provo as seniors in college.

Buddy was always known for being wise, aloof, and a good judge of people — he tolerated few. Eventually he got along with the idea of us having children, though it took about 15 years, by the time we had our fourth.

We knew this day would come, though we didn't want it to. It's been emotional, we've been through the Kleenex. It's dawning on us we're now on our own without him judiciously overseeing things.

Someone closed the basement door this evening, the pathway to the litter box. After walking by the third time it still didn't look right. I propped it open again.

Buddy's worn frame is now at rest in our back yard, under a few feet of earth and snow; his soul has traveled to kitty heaven. He'll always be with us in our hearts, and in our house — we'll probably never get rid of all the fur he left behind.

We love you, Buddy. Hope to see you again someday.

The Dark Secret

When my baby brother Matt was a little kid, my other brother James used to taunt him with a dreaded malevolence called The Dark Secret. Nobody knew what The Dark Secret was, it was just something you said in a mysterious voice that gave Matt the jeebies.

I didn’t see the moon at all this week, it usually reflects off the ocean and lights the beach up at night. Looking out the hotel window and seeing nothing where the ocean should be is a little sinister. Are the bad guys out there ready to come ashore? Is there a tsunami zeroing in on me? You wonder what’s going on out there offshore that you don’t know about. When I was young my bedroom used to face the ocean but I don’t remember it being creepy like this. Ignorance was bliss. I’ve turned into a landlubber.

My Mammy

Downtown Miami at sunset across Biscayne Bay, taken from my 15th floor room at the beach.

Coast to Coast

This week I'm in Florida to put on a conference for work. I came a day early yesterday on the MLK holiday to visit family. I had a great time getting new stories from Grandmama, then visiting Aunt Denise, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Sam (Sam's a girl, she's not that kind of aunt; though their old dog Ralph was a girl — they have name issues). Bonus, cousin Sarah's in town and I got to meet her sweet 2 year old son, Ryan.

After my visit I drove from the Gulf Coast to my Miami Beach hotel and caught the Inauguration on the radio. I'm always struck by how flat it is here when I drive across. I was also struck by how the water outside is in liquid form.

After a quick swim in the ocean, I went out for Cuban with the gang from work. Now I'm cranking on PowerPoint. Over and out.

Wisdom

Madeleine got her wisdom teeth out first thing this morning and is doing surprisingly well. Joanie called from the oral surgeon's when Mada was waking up all loopy from the anesthesia, it sounds like she's a happy drunk.

This is a photo I took of a picture of me — does that make it a self portrait?

Pass the Egg Nog

It's getting snot-freezing cold in New York. Tomorrow's high temp is 10°F; Friday it's going to get all the way up to 11°. I was so cold when winter started this time around ... I've tried to gain a few pounds like on that episode of Northern Exposure, and it is helping. There's just more of me to love. Sexy, I know.

Pucker

Icily

Last month's ice storm knocked our power out for 3 days and was a pain. But for the tree limbs that were spared, the coating was icily beautiful.

In 5th grade I was my elementary school spelling champion and went to compete in a bee with a bunch of other schools — and I got knocked out on the word "icily."

To this day I don't think I've heard anyone use it in a sentence. I'm thinking about starting to use it my everyday conversation.

All Fall Down

Malcolm has a way of getting our Little Kids all riled up when it's nearing bedtime.

By the way, I supposedly can't call Malcolm and Madeleine "The Big Kids" because the Pull-Ups diaper lyrics mention, "I'm a big kid now." Yeah, right.

So when I call M&M for dinner or whatnot, I'll say, "Hey Big Kids, get yourselves and your Pull-Ups in here." Someday they'll thank me for building all that character in them.

Blur Girl

I'm working on a PowerPoint on photography tips that I'll present in Miami Beach in two weeks. I'll use this shot to demonstrate how to throw the background out of focus — zoom your lens to its longest telephoto distance and then back up and snap. It's my secret weapon for cluttered backgrounds.

How do my kids always show up in my presentations?

Did I mention I'm going to Miami Beach in January?

Duck Bums

While on my work trip to DC the week before Christmas, I had a night on the town with my tripod for some shooting. These are ducks at the reflecting pool in front of the U.S. Capitol. More to follow.