Beckwith Mansion & Estate in Palmyra, New York

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First Monday Friends

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First Monday Friends

Today I was visited by several First Monday Friends.  The first Monday of every month I host a free photography get together.  Last month, I must have been inspired to do a video day.  This month, I didn’t have to cancel or ask someone else to host it.  I just had everyone come in to the sitting room and watch some photography videos with me.

It was really nice.  We watched 2 3o minute segments and paused the video every once in a while to talk about what is going on and answer questions.  I think the group really liked it.  I know I did.  (First Monday Event is an event hosted by Palmyra Photographic Workshops http://www.palmyra-ny.com )

We had plenty of door prizes from sponsors so everyone went away with a nice prize.  Bay Photo Labs, Macedon Chiropractic and LensPen all contributed wonderful prizes.

After they left, I worked on my computer rating some photos and stuff.

I don’t know if it is because of my injury or what, but comes 6:30pm and I feel like it is 10:30pm.  Tired, and beat, I’m ready to go to bed.

Kids Say

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Kids Say

Art Linkletter was one of my favorites.  He had a show, “Kids Say the Darnedest Thing”, and it always had me laughing.

Church today was no exception.  I loved how a child announced it was her birthday and admonished everyone to wish her a happy birthday.

The other day I saw a family and the youngest told me she was 4 and soon she’d be 5.  I asked her, “What happens when you turn eight?”

She responded, “You have no more birthdays after 8.”

Again, funny when taken in context.

Kids do say the darnedest things.

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The elders were our dinner guests tonight.  We (Elizabethe made the soup base) made a cream of scallion soup and I made a scallion, bacon, corn and cheddar cornbread.   Just normal cornbread with some crispy bacon sautéed with the scallions, some frozen corn, and about 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese.

Today has been terribly muggy.  When I woke this morning it was 80 and raining.  It felt like a steam bath outside, and the heat and humidity have lingered all day.  The only escape from such weather is air conditioning.  The dehumidifier in the basement is pulling a few gallons of water each day.  I figure we empty about 7 gallons a day from the thing.  (This is just water that’s in the air!!!)

Cleaning Closure

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Cleaning Closure

No temple today because of the cleaning closure.  I spent the entire evening meeting with a client about their new website.  No, this is not a potential web site, but one that has been built using images I shot for them.  It is exciting to see our work being used in a site that is going to get millions of hits a year.

During the meeting, one of the client representatives said they came across many stock images and said, “I bet db walton can do better.”  (Italics added.)

Elizabethe was quite excited during the demonstration of the web site.  She says I’m just being modest, but she’s right.  It is a big deal.  It’s a huge deal.  People all over the world, once this site goes live, will be looking at my work, and if they look at the credits on the site they will see my name mentioned several times in conjunction with the many photos I supplied to them for this massive project.

I can’t tell you more, but when it goes live I will be posting a link.

Let’s just say that photography by db walton llc has taken a giant leap forward.

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We had dinner with our guests at Empire (again).  This time, I ordered the Juicy Lucy Black and Blue.  A burger stuffed with blue cheese and bacon.  Whoa!  It was GOOD.

Elizabethe keeps ordering chicken dishes and wasn’t 100% thrilled, but hey, I figure you can never go wrong with a burger.

 Today was quite a busy day, and it looks like tomorrow will be too.

Good Morning Philadelphia

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I got up and took a walk around the old part of Philadelphia.  What a beautiful area.  So much history!

As I walked behind Liberty Hall I was overcome with sadness.  It really hit me hard.  I guess I was sad because so much of what those men and women in the 1770s fought for has been lost.  We have judges and elected officials that have just trampled the U.S. Constitution.

There was a sad irony of a banner that announced an exhibit about spies and “traitors”.  There are men and women serving in Congress that would have been tagged as traitors in the 1960s.  Yet, today they waste our money spending us in to bondage.

I cannot describe the degree of sadness I felt.  I remember visiting Philadelphia in the 1980s.  The feeling I had then when I visited the hall where our forefathers sat was one of reverence and peace.  Today, it was one of fear and sadness for what might be coming our way.  I didn’t even want to stick around and sightsee; I just wanted to get away from there.   And, interestingly, that sadness left as soon as I passed the last Federal building (the Philadelphia Mint).  After that, I was fine.

Interesting, eh?

We left Philadelphia and headed back home.  We pretty much drove straight through. 

It’s been a long day.

PNE – Day 3

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Another day at PNE.  Classes started at 8 a.m.  I went to a class by Don Chick on lighting.  Don really knows his lighting.  It was great.

Then, I went to a class by Michael Grecco about lighting.  Michael has a different style than Don.  Don is great for the portraiture stuff.  Michael’s stuff is more edgy and more up my alley.  Both were great.

I skipped the parties and stuff in the evening.  Again… not my bag.  I really wish they would either have an opening party, or a closing party, and use the time gained for more classes or workshops.  But, that’s me.

We’re Off to New Jersey

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We hit the road this morning around 9 a.m.  We stopped at Sauder’s to purchase a few snack items (mostly candy).  From there we drove across to Syracuse and then south. 

We stopped at the Oakland Township (formerly Harmony, PA) so Elizabethe could see the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration site.  I stopped at the old Hale homestead and took some photos.  It appears the church might be excavating the old foundation.  They had it taped off so people would not disturb it.

From there we headed south through Scranton, PA, and then over to New Jersey. 

We arrived in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, around dinner time and found there was hardly anyplace close to the hotel for food.  We found an Olive Garden and ate there.

Packing and Preparing

Talk About Disorganized

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We had a great group of guys show up to help Enrico and Louise move.  We were all ready to go, but the truck rental place was not.  Talk about disorganized.  It took the guy over 90 minutes to get the truck ready for us to take.   It seemed that this guy was driven by distraction – every distraction.

We finally got the truck and got their storage units emptied and everything moved in to their new place.

Mirror

 

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Elizabethe and I went to Sauder’s.  I sure love that place.  We bought seeds for sprouting, and some baking supplies as well as some cheese and ham hocks.  Oh, I shouldn’t forget… cinnamon bears too.

Bears...mmmmm

I baked some bread and we enjoyed some grilled cheese sandwiches on home made bread.

Bread

Endowment Day

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We stayed last night at my brother’s house. We got up early to get to the Mt Timpanogos Temple were Natalie and Amber would receive their endowments.

It was quite wonderful to see 4 of my 5 daughters there. Plus, as an added bonus, Chris had made it back from Iraq to be there too.

After the temple we went to Bedeo’s for lunch. While there, Rebecca recorded a phone call from her stake president telling her that Chris and her have been cleared to be sealed.

Immediately after the announcement, the girls started begging Bethe and I to stay. After several phone calls, we arranged for coverage at work and rescheduling of flights and rental car.

It was then off to take some bridal shots of Natalie.

We took some photos of Natalie at Cabela’s. This one I grabbed with my iPhone to post for Jeff and Kathy.

We ended the day with Brianna’s blessing. It was well attended and a wonderful way to end such a wonderful day.

Route 66 Day 3

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We got up before sunrise and headed to Safeway to buy some food for breakfast.  The Grand Canyon is directly north of Williams, Arizona and a  little over an hour drive.

Grand Canyon

I hadn’t planned for how foggy it would be around the canyon.  When we got in to the park, we headed east towards Desert View to take pictures.  The drive there was slow and spotted with snow showers and dense fog.

There were a few breaks in the fog once I got there, but they were so short-lived it was hard to photograph.  So, I got back in the car and we drove back towards the junction, stopping at each stop along the way.

Finally, I pulled up to one of the pull-outs and there was a break in the fog.  Beautiful orange light came through lighting the canyon walls on the other side.  The snow adds to the beauty of the canyon.  If you haven’t seen the Grand Canyon in the snow, it is worth the trip.

Grand CanyonLone Tree at Grand Canyon

After seeing as much as we wanted to see in the sub-freezing weather, we headed back to Kingman for the night.  After checking into our hotel, we went to eat at Dambar Steakhouse.  It was so-so.  I was a little disappointed.  At $22 for a steak dinner I expected a little higher quality meat and better aging.  (I’m picky when it comes to beef.  A good aged steak will have a bit of a tang to it.  This tasted a little bland which typically means the beef wasn’t aged properly or not long enough.)

We retired for the night with the goal to sleep in tomorrow. 

Oh, and I lost a compact flash card.  I think I might have dropped it in the snow.  So, tomorrow I need to go back to Cool Springs for some photo re-takes.