Photoblogging

Since my last post to this blog my photoalbum has managed to go online at Google Image search.

Once I saw this I finally got around to uploading all of my old photographs. This is simply an archive of most of my family pictures from 2003 to some of 2005. In the fall of 2005 Blogger finally started to support image hosting and I have been taking great advantage of it. I don't suppose there are any guarentees that it will stay online 'forever' but it is nice while it lasts. Of course, I have archival backups of all of my photographs but that isn't the same as the site itself.

I, for one, really like having my photographs online. I know my friends enjoy them too. For anyone else, they can either ignore them because they are pictures of strangers they don't know, or they can live life vicariously through my experiences. They certainly offer an excellent snapshot of a typically American suburban lifestyle within a lake community. Finally, I like to think some of my pictures, not many but a few like the one above, have a certain artistic merit to them. I use the shotgun approach to picture taking. I shoot a hundred pictures and hope just one turns out cool. Thank goodness for digital cameras and a large compact flash card.

In my last post I commented about my busy schedule. Since then, my busy schedule has been happening. So, to recap since the last post.

Monday, July 10th. I did indeed attend the two first degrees that were conferred at Troy Lodge. I acted as senior steward in both degrees and enjoyed great friendship and fellowship. Troy is being very active in recruiting new members and convincing inactive members to come back in. This is all mostly thanks to Right Worshipful Brother Russ Tinker.

Saturday, July 15th. My wife and I hosted the company summer party. It was very well attended and everyone had a great time. I have a few photographs later in this post.

Sunday, July 16th. I attended the Saint Louis Aces pro-am. It was a fantastic event and I got to play for an hour and a half. I was a bit exhausted by the end but it was such great fun. From the aces I got to play with the lovely Maria Corrina.

Monday, July 17th. I attended the Saint Louis Aces match to see Anna Kornakove and our aces. I took my son John and my friend Mike Reiter. Since Terry and Alex were out of town on their own vacation I had an extra ticket which I shared with a friend from work. There are a few phtoographs later. I suppose I should mention that my wife Terry and youngest son Alex went to Bull Shoals lake with the Solomons for most of the week. I couldn't get off of work and, anyway, I didn't want to miss my tennis matches so I stayed home.

Wednesday, July 26th. I went to see the Saint Louis Aces at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center to see the Bryan brothers play. It was very hot driving down to the event. My temperature guage registered 106 degrees! Other than the heat, it looked like it was going to be fine weather for the match. During the singing of the national anthem all of the sudden something very strange began to happen. While the singer was in the middle of the national anthem, out of nowhere, giant wind gusts began to kick up. There was no rain, just tremendous wind. Signs began to fly around and things began to look very scary. Suddenly everyone from the stadium started to rush for shelter. My son John and I stayed put. I figured I was safer in the stadium then rushing towards the trees and it still wasn't raining. It so happened that a 'microburst' came from the north very suddenly. It spawned 80mph straightline winds. It was amazing to sit there watching the whole world try to blow apart. Trees were being whipped with tremendous force. It was quite awe inspiring to be in the middle of it. Once it was obvious the rain was going to hit, we decided to leave. On the way to the parking lot and then exiting Forest Park we saw numerous giant trees toppled over. There was debris everywhere. Driving home was a bit crazy in the torrential rain. On the way back home, at one point, my temperature gauge registered 65 degrees. That is a 40 degree drop in the course of an hour and a half!

Afterwards 500,000 people were without power. A lot of damage was done and the National Guard was called in to help people out. Since a large number of people are out of power for days, and the temperatures have been at or above a hundred, there is a lot of concern about people suffering from the heat.

There are a number of stories and photographs at the Saint Louis Post Dispatch website.

That brings us up to today. I took the day off of work because I am closing on the farm property. This gave me a little bit of free time to update my weblog. This evening I will be attending my second meeting of the 'metaphysical discussion group'. There are supposed to be some more people there this time and I am looking forward to the conversation.

On Saturday morning I am going to the lodge to practice for my sub3 proficiency. On Saturday afternoon I will be attending the installation of officers at Troy Lodge. On Saturday night I will be attending a Saint Louis Aces tennis match with my family.

Sunday my father is going to come down to attend a Saint Louis Aces match featuring Pete Sampras. My father has never seen a professional tennis match before and I am really looking forward to him sharing the experience. The weather is supposed to be dry and cooler this weekend. Since my wife is back from her trip with the good camera I hope to take some killer shots of Pete Sampras at the match.

So, speaking of photographs, here are some to share.

I begin with this piece of news. Our friends Diane and Lenny Brown who moved to Michigan about a year and a half ago are going to move back to Lake Saint Louis. They may be around some this weekend. This lovely couple was featured prominently in many of my previous blog posts. As you can see they are very photogenic and lot of fun!