On my way home from work today, I heard a radio interview. The person being interviewed, and sorry I don’t remember who it was, stated if we do not get a handle on the Coronavirus, our hospitals will be overwhelmed within 10-15 days. Listening and reading, many people still believe we are overreacting to this… Continue reading Hospitals Overwhelmed in 10-15 Days
Tag: Parenting
A Visit with the New Grandson
This weekend, we finally were able to meet our new grandson. What an exciting time it was! We went over to my son’s apartment bearing gifts from a grandma, an aunt and us. Little O now has many new clothes, wipes and diapers, and an OSU Buckeye shirt (thanks Aunt Barb and Aunt Nancy). My… Continue reading A Visit with the New Grandson
Checks and Fraud
You thought I was going to write about politics again, didn’t you? Not tonight. I’m taking it a little more personal this evening. It has been a day, and not just because of the Trumpists and the Department of Justice, and not because of the New Hampshire primary. It is about a deposited fraudulent check… Continue reading Checks and Fraud
All Heil King Trump I
Doesn’t roll off the tongue does it? Regardless, get used to it. With the Senate vote of January 31, 2020, we now live in a monarchy at best, a dictator at worst. If a monarchy, it won’t be the type we associate with Queen Elizabeth II, a constitutional stickler, but more of an Ivan the… Continue reading All Heil King Trump I
We’ve Lost Our Commonality and Natural Connections
Before I begin, here are some factors in my lens of the world: gay, husband, father of several adopted children, progressive liberal, fiscal moderate, believe refugees and immigrants are good for the U.S., educator, believe in family, think children need to be told no and awards/trophies should be earned, women have the right to control… Continue reading We’ve Lost Our Commonality and Natural Connections
Happy Thanksgiving!
I thought I’d get all my thanks in today as I’m taking a break from social media on Thanksgiving day. Here are the top things for which I am thankful in my life: My job, which came at just the right time. Finding one was a little rocky at the beginning of the move, especially… Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving!
Are You as Exhausted as I Am?
Thursday night I slept for nine hours straight. That is almost unheard of for me as usually I’m quite fine on about five-and-a-half hours. It is even becoming a regular occurrence of having to take a nap when I get home to make it through the evening. I was and have been exhausted. I’m not… Continue reading Are You as Exhausted as I Am?
Educators Unite
I’ll begin by saying I’m not an organizer and have never organized a protest of any sort that I can recall. What I’m about to propose I freely give the mantle for someone else to hang and run with it. I’ll also say what I’m about to propose is radical, out-of-the-norm in many ways, and… Continue reading Educators Unite
Photo Fun
Today has been a good day. Did some weeding, some watering, Facetime’d with my mom, a trip to Costco with my husband, and was able to just sit and read one of the books I’m in the middle of at the moment (Bernie Sanders’ latest, Where We Go from Here).
Then there was the photography.
One of my son’s is taking a photography class at school. He has rented a 35mm Canon Rebel (Canon is the best btw) from school, and they are learning to use their phone camera better as well.
This morning he let me know he had an assignment due and he needed to go to the park for pictures. Now I pretty much plan out my weekend days because they go so quickly. My first reaction in my head was, what wasn’t I going to be able to achieve of my personal list to get him to the park? My second thought was why had he waited until the last moment to say he had to go. The first thought I kept to myself, the second I did ask him in the future to not wait until the last moment to say he had an assignment as the weekends can be pretty full.
Regardless, we finally had time late afternoon to go to Washington Township Park. It is a pretty good park. Can’t wait until the changing of the leaves to go back when it will be ablaze of color.
The assignment was emphasis. I asked what that meant in terms of the expectation of the teacher. He said the photo needed to include something of color that stood out from the background. Since he’d already been to the park before with friends, he let me know where to park and which trail to take.
Along the trails we crossed some streams, saw a couple of what appear to be old Native American huts of different types, and lots of green flora. He asked about how to use various features on his camera, which made me have to think through ISO, f/stop and depth of field. We also discussed how to make the camera focus on an object, then move the camera while keeping the focus on the same object, but keeping with the rule of thirds.
I had a good time with him and remembering how much I enjoy photography—if there was money in photography as an art form still, I’d enjoy it as a career. From what I could tell, I think he had a good time too. Hopefully I was also able to help him learn a few new things and different ways to frame a photo.
Here are a couple of the photos I took on my iPhone since I’ve not uploaded the ones from my Canon yet.
Hope you enjoy them.
—All images are my own and copyrighted to me.
A White Quandary
I saw the above picture shared on Facebook. It is a great picture of a family reading together. At first I loved and shared it. As soon as I hit return, I immediately wondered if that was the right thing to do and unloved it, then deleted my post. I’m currently reading White Fragility by… Continue reading A White Quandary
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 