Taking a Break For Awhile!

As you all can see, I've been on a break from journaling.  I just wanted to let you all know that I am fine and all is well in my world at the moment.  I will be continuing this journal, but must take a break from journals for at least the first half of this summer.

With all the price increases in fuel, who would have thought that the marina is busier than it has ever been in it's history?  I think the high price of fuel may be causing folks to stay home instead of taking trips this summer, so they are using the money saved to fuel their boats.  At any rate I have my hands full at work.

On the good news front is the fact that our Grandson Trenton will be arriving by plane this afternoon around 5 PM for a visit.  We will be able to enjoy his company for six weeks before sending him back to his father.  I can't possibly tell you how excited we are and how much preparation we have been doing leading up to this visit.

Trenton is now nine years old and he has never been to Disney Land or Disney World.  We plan to remedy that by taking him to Disney World in Orlando later this month.  If we survive the trip, LOL, I'll have pictures to post when I resume this journal again in July.

We also joined the commnity pool association so that Trenton will be able to go to the swimming pool while he is here.  I just found out that he still does not know how to swim.  As a former competitive swimmer, I will not let him leave here without knowing how to swim this summer.  It could save his life!

  It was really tough for me to get some time off in the summer because its our busiest time of year.  I'm lucky that I have a very understanding boss and that I was able to hire enough help this summer to cover for me while I am gone. 

I'm going to be taking advantage of those two factors again in late August when I fly to New Orleans to attend my sister's 60th birthday party.  I haven't seen Jan in at least six years and I am really looking forward to the trip.  By the time I arrive she will have retired from the Army Reserves as a full Colonel and will be enjoying a much deserved period of rest in her life.

So, that's that!  I am fine, the family's fine, but I'm outa here for a while longer.  I can't bring myself to shut this journal down, it still means a lot to me to be a part of this community.  So, please bear with me and my eccentric writing schedules for yet another year.  I look forward to spending a great fall and winter sharing photos and news and just being here with you all once again.

I had to turn my alerts off sometime last month because my mailbox topped out a few times at 999 and I hate to just delete Journal Alerts from my friends.  I'll try and get around from time to time during my hiatus to read and comment if I can, but those instances may be sparse, so please forgive! 

I wish you all a great summer and I pray for everyone to be safe and sound until we can meet up here again.

Showdown at the Back Porch Door!

The famous “ Docklines …” opening:  “It’s been a while …,”  or, “I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post.”  Take your pick; these lines seem to have become interchangeable for this journal in recent years.   I almost always have good reasons.  Never excuses, mind you, but reasons.  This time is no different.

Since my last post I have been very busy.  I lost one of my full-time employees, (my Assistant Dock Master joined the U.S. Coast Guard and gave his notice), and I hired a new hand and worked many overtime hours because I wanted to train this one myself.  I have also been attending concerts.  Yes, I said concerts, LOL.

The Savannah Music Festival kicked off on Thursday March 20th at the brand new Charles H. Morris Center with a concert by Brazilian Jazz musicians Daniel Santiago and Gabriel Grossi.  Santiago’s fluid fretwork on the guitar was matched by Grossi’s masterful technique on the chromatic harmonica.  It was a brilliant performance and, because it was the first concert ever at this new venue as well as the first event of the festival, it was heavily covered by the local media.  My picture was on the front page of the Savannah Morning News the next day as I was sitting front and center at the performance.  That’s me sitting there in the middle of the photo wearing the red and black jacket.

The next concert I attended was the following Wednesday night, also at the Charles H. Morris Center.  The first concert was by the blues trio of Eric Culbertson, followed by a concert by another blues trio fronted by Sean Costello.  Each artist was masterful in their own right, each with their different styles of the blues.  The blues doesn’t get any better than it did that night!

I was fortunate on Friday night to have the pleasure of seeing Bruce Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs in concert.  These two recorded an album together a while back and have performed together many times since the release of the CD.  I thought it was an unusual pairing, but was not prepared for the shear mastery and perfect blending of these two talents.  Ricky had his Kentucky Thunder Band on stage with him and Bruce Hornsby’s piano was another addition to the band for the evening.  They played some of Bruce’s hits and some of Ricky’s hits and some hits they did together.  Then Ricky did some of Bruce’s songs and Bruce sang some of Ricky’s songs.  The way these two voices blended you would have thought they were brothers.

Tomorrow night after work, I get to see The Derek Trucks Band.  Derek is one of today’s foremost guitar players and just got back from his tour with Eric Clapton.  He is also married to Blues guitar artist and star, Susan Tedeshi.  It promises to be one heck of a concert.  Thursday night I will see a performance by slide guitarists from around the world.  Derek Trucks will be one of the four performing artists in that show; he is one of the most respected slide guitarists in our nation.

So, there you have it.  The stress of losing an employee, the hiring and training of a new one, the burning the candle at both ends by indulging my passion for music at night, and reporting to a regular job by day.   Oh, and add to that the fact I had to go in on my day off yesterday due to the fact that it was the last day of the month and I had to do the month end inventory for the Ship’s Store and the monthly walk-through of my wet and dry boat storage areas.

When I got home from work yesterday, I was in my bedroom changing back into shorts and tee shirt to kick around the house in and I noticed some activity out on the porch.  I did a double take when I peeked out there.  There was a full grown peacock staring at little Miss Emmie through the glass door on the other end of the porch.  I quickly made my way out there with camera in hand.  The peacock, a female, was not fazed by my presence and continued to examine Emmie as though she might be a future meal, LOL.

Emmie held her ground and did some championship staring right back:

I went into the kitchen to get a shot of the bird from a different angle and was able to catch a shot of the only time the peacock spread her tail feathers:

After a while, the peacock wandered around the yard a bit and then just moseyed on off:

In what spare time I have had, I have also been practicing my guitar and trying to do the extra credit Photo Challenge presented by Marie last month.  The challenge was to do a photo project that you had never tried before and, after learning how to do it, present a tutorial on what you started with, what you ended up with, and what you did to get that result.  I have finished my project, now I just have to figure out how to present the tutorial.  I’ll get back to Ya’ll on that one.

I’m sorry I have not been around to read journal these past two weeks, but my whole sleep schedule has been thrown off and I find myself over sleeping in the mornings and I have not been home a lot at night.  I usually don’t get out much, so these night time forays are taking their toll on me.  I hope to get back to normal by the end of this week.  Until next time, take care!

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_5

AOL Community Photo Challenge - March into Spring {Advanced}

ADVANCED CATEGORY - MARCH INTO SPRING

This week's challenge is MARCH INTO SPRING...Is spring popping up in your neighborhood? Daffodils and crocuses popping up through the snow? However spring is arriving (or did in the past, if you're still snowbound), share it with us!

This week's Photo Challenge made me take a close look around and, sure enough, there it was!  Spring popping up right there in my yard.  Here is my entry for the March Into Spring Photo Challenge.  The top pic is the official entry, the second one I included because I thought it was a good shot and deserved to be seen, too.  There is still plenty of time to join the Challenge, all are welcome to participate.  Click the Photo Challenge banner above, or right here:  Community Photo Challenge.

I used a new set of close up filters that I recently purchased.  This is the first time I have tried using them.  There are three in the set with a magnification of 1X, 2X, and 4X.  They are stackable, so you could have the equivalent of 7X if you cared to.  For these two shots I stacked the 4X and the 2X.  I found I cold get closer and more detail with these filters than I could with the macro setting on my camera.  I shot some with that setting two, for later comparison, and I really did like the new filters better.  I did not crop these at all they are framed just as they were in my viewfinder.  I also played with contrast, color temperature and saturation when I developed the raw files.

The trip to Athens came and went without incident.  I did not get to shoot any pictures while I was there.  My fault more than anything else, but I'll blame horrible weather on the second day.  I spent the first day driving around the town and walking around the campus of the University of Georgia.  I fully expected to come back the next day and shoot anything of interest I had noted.  However, the skies opened up on that second day and it was not fit for man or beast outside.  I'll plan and execute better next year when we go to the same training seminar.

Well, I'm looking forward to getting around and seeing all the other entries in this week's Challenge.  I'm sure I'll be treated to a lot of good photography!

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_3

New Extra Credit Photo Challenge

Creative Challenge-Collage

We have a new extra credit Challenge going right now:

Another Creative Challenge-COLLAGE

The Self Portrait Challenge seemed fun & successful, so I wanted to add another this
 week.  Again, you can enter anytime you want. 

The collage can be of anything...you decide, post it on your blog, come back here &
 leave a link. You can add a little explanation on what you did & why.   PLEASE
 follow GUIDELINES (use permalinks).  Like the last creative challenge, there will
 be no judging.

I have posted these collages in past entries, years apart.  I won't make you go back through the archives to find them, I am putting all three collage examples up here for this extra credit.  I have done other collages of sailboat regattas, too, but hey, that would just be overkill, LOL. 

I saw in another entry on this Extra Credit Challenge some editing techniques that are new to me and I want to spend some time learning how to create in a similar fashion.  Don't be surprised if you see more collage samples in the future.

This is the first collage I ever attempted with my digital camera which, at the time, was a Fujinon.  I was inspired by our newly acquired kittens.

Most of my long time readers have come to know about our cat Emmie and the special bond that developed between the two of us.  This collage was inpired by Emmie.

This final collage was done over two years ago to demostrate the process of removing huge items of debris that gets trapped in our marina from time to time.  These items, if left in the river, would prove to be a danger to any boat.  They are hard to see and easy to hit.

I wish I had the time right now to experiment with the new techniques I have observed, but I must finish two loads of laundry that are both in progress and get ready for a road trip tomorrow.

Paulette has to attend a training seminar in Athens, Georgia, about a four and a half hour drive from here.  I have taken a few vacation days to drive her there.  I will take my PC with me, (the hotel advertises wireless internet), and my guitar as well as my camera.  I'll amuse myself each day while she is in her training sessions and I hope to return with some good photos.  The hotel is on the grounds of the University of Georgia, so I am gauranteed some interesting sights right off the bat!  We will return home on Wednesday.  For all the thieves and burglars out there, Sandy will be remaining at home.  (Just kidding J-Land, I have more trust in you than that, LOL).

If you see a guy on a street corner in Athens, Georgia over the next few days playing guitar with a cup on the ground in front of him, toss in a coin or two, it could be me and you know what the price of gas is these days.  (WINK)!

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_4

Photo Chalenge Extra Credit

 

The gang that is hosting the AOL Community Photo Challenge has challenged us to do a self portrait for extra credit.  This is just for fun so that we might get a glimpse of  those that are joining in on the Challenges.  Its fun to put a face to a screen name. 

At any rate, I am going to submit my self portrait, presented here in collage form.  All the shots in this collage were taken yesterday, 2/15/08.  I used a tripod and the timer setting on my camera and took off or put on different work jackets for the different colors.

I encourage everyone to click on this link to the challenge and go to the comments section to get the links to all the other self portraits of the Challenge Gang!  There are some really creative responses to this one and it is fun to see how each photographer responded.

AOL Community Photo Challenge:  Self Portrait 

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_2

AWARDS

First of all, I just want to say how excited I was to learn that Monica and I won first place awards for the recent AOL Community Photo Challenge.  I am humbled by the judges choices and I also want to say thank you to all who left me such nice comments about my photo.  I must say, Monica's photo was great, too, and I'm glad we are getting to share the award.  Interesting that a winner in the advanced Challenge and Nancy, the winner in the Beginners Challenge had a cat in the shot, LOL.  For a complete list of winners and links to see their entries click on this link:  AOL Community Photo Advanced Challenge. 

While I'm at it, let me add that I was really impressed with the photos in the Beginners Challenge.  We have some great photographers here in J-Land at all levels!  Click on this link to see the winners of the Beginners Challenge:  AOL Community Photo Beginners Challenge.

Now, while we are on the subject of awards.  There has been an award being passed around J-Land sinced the beginning of the month.  It is the Nice Matters award and it is really a great way to tell each other that we think they are nice and that someone appreciates them.  I want to thank those that have sent this award on to me and apologize about taking so long to post on the subject.  You will see my award proudly displayed now in my sidebar on the left.  There are two versions of the award, one for the ladies and one for the gents.

As I traveled around J-Land these last ten days or so, I have noticed that almost everyone already has recieved one of these.  So nice to see the widespread show of kindness.  Here are some very deserving folks who need to have one of these on their sidebar, too. First the ladies:

SUSAN:  http://journals.aol.com/rjet33/CountryLivingSouthernStyle/

 

Catherine:  http://journals.aol.com/chatzeekay/LifeandLessons/

 

Sharon:   http://journals.aol.com/tpiez4me/just4me/

 

Barb:  http://journals.aol.com/bvaneps834/LaughterandTearsintheLast50Years/

 

I have chosen one male to recieve this award from me.  He actually sent me one, but that is not why I chose to send him one back.  There is no one quite like Guido here in J-Land.  He has a heart big enough to fill two continents.  His compassion towards his fellow man is evident in almost all he writes.  He is ever vigilant to alert us to visit those who might need a little encouragement or comfort.  His sidebar should be filled with these awards.

 

 

Guido:  http://journals.aol.co.uk/pharmolo/NorthernTrip/

Well, I'm off now to go on a little photo adventure.  If I'm successful at shooting the event I am about to go witness, I'm sure you will be seeing the results here in some future post.  I need to stop and get a haircut on the way there, so I'd better get a move on.  Take care everyone, I'll see you all next Monday or Tuesday for sure.

 

AOL COMMUNITY PHOTO CHALLENGE

The subject of this week's AOL Community Photo Challenge is:  Love

With Valentine's day upon us this month, our next challenge was suggested by Betty.
Of course, this can be of anything that represents love.  There are many forms of love, so this should be an easy challenge. 
Love is all around us......so find it, capture it, or just use a photo from the past, that says it!

I had no idea how few photos I've snapped over the past couple of years that really demonstrate this subject.  I finally found this shot taken two years ago of my grandson, Trenton and our kittie, Emmie.  There was a lot of affection between these two during the time that Trenton was living with us.  Here is the shot:

I did enjoy this opportunity to go back through my archives and I hope you enjoy this cute shot of the two of them.  Now its off to visit the other entires in this challenge to see what the rest of you have come up with.

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_2