After All, It's A Small World

My grandson, Jacob, started preschool this year. Thankfully, he is enjoying it very much and was even upset that they didn't offer it on Saturdays!

On the first day of school, however, he did suggest to his mom that maybe he shouldn't go because, "you won't be there . . . and I love you!"

But later at school, he made the adjustment a little too abruptly, as far as his mom was concerned, when he sat down with the other kids on the carpet for story time and looked up at his mom and said, "Okay, Mom, see you later!"

He is especially enjoying making new friends. There are a large number of Hispanics in his class and because Jacob didn't want anyone to feel left out, he told his teacher that he would be friends with any of the kids that didn't speak English.

So you might be wondering how he goes about breaking through the barriers of communication and culture. His approach is quite simple, actually.

He just goes up to them and with a sincere and welcoming heart says, "Hola amigo! Want a taco?"

Can you imagine the possibilities that await him as he grows into adulthood? Could we be looking at a future Ambassador to Mexico? Whatever he becomes, God has great plans for him!

The Elusive Two-Headed Rocky Mountain Sheep

Check out this incredible photograph that I captured on my trip up Mt. Evans in Colorado!










Okay, not so incredible!


Okay so, not even believable!

Turning the "Double Nickel" -- 55 and STILL ALIVE!

I'm going to break down my thought process on this one for you.

I was thinking about turning 55 years old and how that's a number we often associate with a speed limit which made me think about how fast time seems to go now, which made me think about how for me one year represents only 1/55th of my life, while for a child who is two years old, one year represents 50% of his or her life, or actually some less if you hold the belief that life begins at conception, but still a very large portion of their existence, and so it must seem like a relatively long period of time to them, which reminded me of how a young child on a trip will often say, "Are we there, yet?" over and over driving his or her parents "over the edge" and how that's because for the parents that time period doesn't represent nearly as large of a portion of their life and so for them it's no big deal, but for the kid, it's HUGE and so that's why time seems to go by faster as we get older, kind of like how if you're driving a car at one mile per hour, it's going to take you a much longer time to get there, but as you increase that speed, it take less and less time, which makes me wonder what it's like for my Dad who is going down the road of life at 86 miles per hour, and at his age I think that's entirely too fast for him to be driving, which makes me think about life after death which must eventually be like traveling faster than the speed of life. (I was going to say faster than the speed of light, but my fingers typed "life" which says it much better!)

Kind of scary! By that, I mean the creative process of my mind.

Flying High in a Bright Blue Sky

Have you ever snapped a picture and been pleasantly surprised with the resulting image that you captured?




Last weekend, my wife and I made another trip to the beach--this time on the "Gulf of Mexico side" of the state. It was perfect beach weather. I had taken my Canon Power Shot camera with me and as we relaxed on the beach, I tried to take some pictures of the seagulls that were pestering some neighboring beach goers for food.


Because the sun was bright and my eyes are advanced in age, I wasn't sure that I had anything worth keeping, but that is one of the nice things about digital photography. You can push the shutter as often as you like without incurring a great deal of expense, and then just delete those shots you don't want to claim as your own!


I clicked off five shots before the seagulls went off to find more willing patrons, not realizing until I got home that in my last attempt I had captured the image that I had been going for.


It reminded me of a time when my college roommate (the now famous photographer, Gary S. Chapman) and I went to the beach and tried to capture photographs of seagulls back lit by the sun. (If I remember correctly, he got the shot he wanted and published it in a supplement to the university newspaper.)


No award winning shot here, but a nice reminder for my wife and myself of how perfect the day was for "beach going."


And even more amazing--the photograph was captured without either one of us getting pooped on!

How Quickly Things Change

I was downloading some pictures onto my computer and came across a couple of photos I had taken during a trip that Nan and I had made to the Atlantic coastline in late March. I was struck by the difference in the two pictures which were snapped one right after the other. Looking toward the South, the first picture depicts a beautiful day to enjoy the beach.

However, looking to the North, tells a much different story!

Nan and I spent maybe ten minutes on the beach, before the cold winds of the approaching cold front encouraged us back into our car.

We tried driving South along the beach and stopped again in a sunny spot, only to be driven back into our car within five minutes, because of the relentlessly approaching storm.

Still, it was beautiful--mostly because we were sharing it together.

Space . . . The Final Frontier

I've been wondering if there is much excitement over space travel anymore. This summer marks the 40th anniversary of man's landing on the moon. I was fortunate enough to witness the launch of that historic flight. It was a time of great excitement in the space program, but many of the people alive today missed out on America rising to the challenge of that monumental achievement.



Today, there is a much different feeling about it. I would guess that most people didn't even know that the space shuttle Discovery launched into space yesterday evening. I, myself, just happened to hear about it and decided to take Nan to the east coast of the state for a better view of the 7:43 PM lift-off.





We, along with many others parked along side of a highway not too far from the Kennedy Space Center. The sun set in the West. Then a star quickly shot out from the horizon to the East.






In a very few minutes it was well on it's way. The people watching around us broke into spontaneous applause. Pretty neat. Well worth the time it took us and a nice reminder that mankind is able to accomplish some pretty monumental tasks.

In Touch with Heaven

One of the greatest treats for me, that came out of our vacation to see Amy, Gary and our grandkids, was the chance to meet my granddaughter, Heaven. Heaven is now almost 11 months old and this was the first time I had seen her.



I was sure that she would come right to me, but this was not to be the case. I had to work on her a little, but it didn't take long before she realized that I was trustworthy. And once that was established she was very affectionate. I was amazed at how good she was at snuggling in and pulling me close.

I have so enjoyed that moment with each of my grandkids, when they have trusted me enough to fall asleep in my arms for the first time.



And Heaven didn't let me down. There is nothing quite like holding a peacefully sleeping child!

Justin's Style

Justin is the next to the youngest of Amy's kids, but he does a pretty good job of keeping up with his big brothers.



In this picture he is playing the part of Buzz Lightyear and defending us against some sort of alien invasion. But even the best of superheros need a nap from time to time.


While we were visiting, we took the kids to the nearby playground to play. Everyone was getting dressed to go when Justin emerged having fully dressed himself--completely backwards!

His shirt was on backwards, his pants were on backwards, and the cowboy boots he insisted on wearing were on the wrong feet. Talk about having your own sense of style! Nan helped get his clothes straightened out, but no one was talking him out of wearing the boots.

Gydeon's Viewpoint

One of the great joys on my recent trip to North Carolina was to be able to see how my four-year old grandson, Gydeon, has changed over the past couple of years.

He is full of energy, quite handsome, and speaks very clearly and precisely.

He has his own unique viewpoint on life. And he has a four-year old's way of explaining things.

While playing in the backyard while we were visiting, Gydeon, got into some water and as a result, got his shoe and pant leg wet. He explained it, as if he was surprised by what had happened, saying,

"Something made me step in the water!"

In the picture above, Gydeon was sitting with his brother eating raisins. But something tells me that there is a lot more than just that going on in this little boy's mind!

Winnie the Pooh and Shaney-Man, Too!

Our second oldest grandchild, Shane, will be six this year. He is quite a character as you can see from the pictures. He has a sweet smile and a sweet heart.

He also has a good memory. He remembered a trip that Nan and I had made to visit him and his sister a couple of years ago in Savannah, Georgia.

Nan and I had arrived too late to pick them up on the day that we got there so we got a hotel room for the night. Early the next morning, Nan got up and went to pick them up, leaving me asleep in the hotel trying to recover from not having slept for two days prior to making the trip. Shane remembered coming back to the hotel room and jumping on the bed to wake me up.

How could you not love waking up to a smile like his?

Nan's New Hairstyle

It has become a tradition, whenever we are fortunate enough to be able to visit our grandkids who are out of state, that our oldest granddaughter, Elania, who is now eight years old, does Nan's hair for her.

It makes for some interesting hairstyles, but Nan is always a willing subject. So I thought I would include a few pictures of the process from our recent trip to North Carolina.


In this first shot Elania seems to be looking into a mirror at her "beauty station" and deciding what style would work for her. (Actually, she was looking at a video game on the TV that her brothers were playing.)


This shot shows her busy at work on the now tangled mess.



Here we see how Elania really gets into her work by sitting on her subject's shoulder and pulling that ponytail tight!

Nan survived the ordeal and the tradition lives on, just as the bond of love between them continues strong.