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Fall is Fire on the Mountain with Yellow Aspen Leaves

7 Sep

Ok, well maybe not here in Auburn, but right now, the Aspen groves of the Rockies are ablaze with color. After flipping back over some fall photos of the last few years I came across this one, taken at this exact time of year, but at the 11,000 foot range in the Rockies. You can’t see the glorious fall colors that surround these tall pines from the photo, but at the time, it was about 40*F outside and the entire surrounding area was full of yellow aspen trees, like the one shown below. Fall has to be one of my favorite times of year, almost as much color in the fall (if you look closely) as there is in Spring.

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Auburn Tigers Football vs Arkansas State Game 1 Photos

4 Sep

Well the 2010 Auburn football season is officially under way. Today Auburn kicked off against Arkansas State and it was one of the most beautiful days weather wise I can remember for an opening day. Usually unbearable, today it was actually in the mid-80′s. The game was great, except for Auburn’s ever changing rules of what you can and can’t take into the stadium.

My favorite shot of the day has to be the girl in the Auburn band with her game face on. Some band mom somewhere knows who she is… just love the character of the shot. Click on any to see the larger size. War Eagle everyone.

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Toomer’s Corner to be Rolled in Auburn Soon :: Friday Feet

3 Sep

It is about that time, less than 24 hours left before the first kick-off of the 2010 College football season here in Auburn. A time of the year that needs no explanation if you live in the South, certainly not if you live in Auburn itself. Tomorrow, the city with a population of 58,000 turns into one of the largest cities in the state and 87,451 will pile into Jordan-Hare Stadium to celebrate. So our Friday Feet is none other than the greatest college player, Bo Jackson.

The photos here are really the calm before the storm. We decided Friday night would be a good time to roam around and gawk at all the RV’s and people who have come to visit. This was actually our first dinner at Hamilton’s on Magnolia. We have been meaning to visit Hamilton’s for literally years I think and just never had the chance. It was super, highly recommended if you are coming to Auburn.

After I get back from the game against Arkansas State tomorrow night I will post some of the days photos as I have for the past several years. I no longer have my super long telephoto lens, but that just makes getting good shots more thought out. War Eagle!

To see some of the previous few years game photos just click on the links below for each game.

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Monday Morning Photos of a Sunrise Surprise

30 Aug

This morning just when I opened my eyes this is what I saw above. My face just happens to face east right out a window, and this morning these low clouds turned into a beautiful sunrise. The colors fade so quickly but the brilliance produced in a matter of five minutes is just amazing. As I write this there are virtually no colors in the sky and the sun has retreated behind the thick clouds but what a great surprise to wake up and see the colors of a sunrise.

I was only able to take a few shots and by the time I got over to the pond (last photo) the colors were already just about gone, (time sequence of the shots was about 2-3 minutes). You can click on each photo to see a larger image, hope you enjoy them as much as I did when I ran out in the grass in my bare feet.

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Edwards Resolved and Acres of Grass to Cut :: Friday Feet

27 Aug

I thought I would post something a little more lighthearted than my last few posts, and I have wanted to get back into doing my weekly series called Friday Feet, so here it is. My last Friday Feet post was one year ago, almost to the weekend, so I think it is about time to pick it back up again. Seeing that this is the last weekend before football season starts, the push is on over at our place to get as much grass cut as we possibly can so we can skip the process over the football weekend when Auburn plays Arkansas State.

Too bad it doesn’t feel like football season outside… it still seems to be hovering around 100*F every day but I know colder weather is on the way. We do have quite a bit of grass to cut out here so I thought I would get a head start and go out and start cutting today. Some people hate cutting grass but I really don’t mind at all, it gives me time to transfer my studies from in front of the computer to my headphones. Of course I am sitting on various sizes of John Deere tractors that propel me ahead, otherwise I probably wouldn’t like it.

I really find that changing your routine and environment are as important to study, contemplation, and worship, as going to church on Sunday morning. Jonathan Edwards often got on his horse (literally) and went out into greener pastures for several hours at a time to refresh his mind. I know the connection between cutting grass and Edwards’ contemplation is a stretch, but it clears the mind as much as running or cycling does for some.

Jonathan Edwards Resolved #1

Edwards wrote two types of pieces that are now referred to as Miscellanies and Resolutions. His resolutions are one of the most fascinating short pieces he ever wrote. These are not your ordinary resolutions, and today, I am reminded of Edwards’ first “resolved”.

#1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

I think I will chew on that over a few hours and a few acres of grass. Have a great weekend.

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The Dog Days of Summer, Version 2010

17 Aug

The only thing that seems to like the fact that the heat index has been over 100* (much of the time over 110*) this summer is our dog, and the Lantana.  I couldn’t think of a better shot for “dog days of summer” than Ebby sitting on her heated bed.  The dog days of summer are certainly here in south Alabama, the grass is all brown from lack of rain, the pond is all dried up, and you can’t go outside without getting swarmed by deer flies.  Some people like this time of year (I am guessing those who live in Montana, or Wisconsin, or Colorado, where the temps are in the mid-60′s right now), but down here, all I can think about is being able to walk without feeling like I am going to die, and being able to sit outside with a fire going in my fire pit.

I know those days are coming, because football season is the only thing being talked about down here now.  Only about 2 1/2 more weeks before Auburn kicks off the 2010-2011 football season, but at the moment, I am just thrilled the first game is at night.  With the temps at night still in the 70′s and 80′s, they should kick off this game at midnigh, but at least Auburn now runs some of the games like Talladega (they use to run that late season race during the day, and it was miserable too).

Fall is coming, probably 2 days in mid January, but the sun and the calendar says cooler weather is coming, but I think Ebby likes it just the way it is right now.  I still feel like she looks, and I am ready for something more like –> Samford Hall and Auburn University in the Snow.

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Apple iPad Goes Mainstream with Mom’s Birthday

14 Aug

I haven’t posted any normal family fun stuff in a while so last night I thought I would grab my camera, take a break from studying for a while and do a birthday photo shoot. Last night we had the privilege of getting to celebrate my mom’s birthday with her. My dad did decide about a month ago that he was going to get her an iPad for her birthday, so I was quite looking forward to the unavailing myself.

Being one of those early adopters I was really looking forward to helping her get it all setup, and get to see how easy (or hard) it would be for someone totally unfamiliar with the iPad to get around at first glance.  So I guess you could say that Apple’s iPad has gone mainstream now.  Thrilled to see my mom giving it a go, she was thrilled to be able to get her email and had no problems at all getting around.  She was downloading apps and books within minutes.

We all piled in the car and headed to the local county diner (very elegant for special Birthday parties).  They happened to have live gospel music on Friday, wasn’t even aware they did live music, and then home for some GiGi’s cupcakes (which just opened up in Auburn) and presents.  Besides being over 100* outside for the umteenth week with 100% humidity, it was a wonderful evening, and it felt great to take the camera out again. Happy Birthday mom, hope you enjoy your new fruit.

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4th of July Fireworks from Auburn Alabama // Video

5 Jul

Each year we usually go see the fireworks put on by the city of Auburn, and this year they were worth the wait.  I wanted to post a very quick video of the finale, in part for a friend of mine who didn’t come out to see the fireworks saying he would prefer to watch them on the computer, so here they are.  I also wanted to test the video quality of my iPhone while shooting at night, not bad video for a phone.  Too see the full 720p HD version change the resolution below or click on the video.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

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Happy Anniversary, 17 Years Has Flown By

11 Jun

It’s is hard to believe but today, 17 years ago, my wife and I got married.  This particular anniversary was a little different since Deborah would normally be sitting in the next room on a normal day, and this week she is in Denver teaching a hand quilting class, and it just happen to fall on our anniversary.  So, Happy Anniversary Deborah.  I think this is actually the first time in 17 years that we actually haven’t been together on June 11th.

The time has just flown by, yet I can almost remember every day.  Anyone who says marriage is easy is crazy (or isn’t married) but I wouldn’t trade it for anything with you Deborah.  Sorry we couldn’t be together today, so in place of getting to go out somewhere nice tonight, I, of course decided to make a video for you of little bits of our 17 years together.

Really really hard to believe it has been 17 years.  Can’t wait to see what 17 more years has in store for us (which would be the year 2027, yikes).

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Memorial Day Flag Flying from Auburn Alabama

31 May

I am glad we still celebrate Memorial Day in this country.  Somehow it seems that as the political correctness of our culture takes over everything we end up loosing an understanding of what made this country great in the first place.  It sickens me to see stories like the one of the Iraq veteran who displayed the American flag in his apartment window and was told to take it down or face eviction due to the fact that the flag is offensive to some of their residents.

Charlie Price of Wisconsin served 8 years for his country in Iraq and Kosovo to find that he isn’t even allowed to fly the flag he fought for in his own window. The couple is now fighting to amend the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 to include renters, and I hope they are successful.  Sometimes it seems that you are no longer aloud to hold an opinion in this country because it might offend someone.  Who are these idiots who have now decided that we need to be a country of brown plain-jane, average, robots, who all believe in the same thing and can never disagree with anyone else?

There is no greatness in average, no conviction of ideals or principles in living a life of medium gray, and these types always seem to get the headlines. It gets tiring to hear the moaners, whiners, and complainers beat the drums of complacency and strive towards moving the country to be average, but sometimes they seems to be yelling the loudest.  Now, instead of being the innovators and inventors, we are having to rely on Russia and Russian built rockets to take us into space, who would have thought that 20 years ago.

It is still the greatest country in the world, I just wish some of it’s residents would take a history lesson and see that America was not built on being average.  The History Channel just finished an interesting series called America The Story of Us.  Though some of it was a little subjective, it showed the overwhelming story of how much innovation, determination, and sacrifice people made because they believed in themselves and what this country stood for.

My family has had people who fought in the Civil War, WWI, both of my grandfathers served in WWI (see Son of a Son of a Photographer), one flew a B-24 Bomber in WWII in Europe, my dad served in the Air Force, and my cousin decided to go into the Navy after 9-11 and is currently serving in the Navy on a nuclear submarine.  I am thankful for their service to this country.  Because they served, my wife and I are able to enjoy living in this great country.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day.  It has been quite a stormy weekend with some crazy weather but I managed to get outside and take a few photos (and some of the dog of course).  The heat is definitely on its way, the pasture, trees, and everything around has taken on the brilliant green of summer.

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