
4.27.2009
4.26.2009
Art at the State Capitol
Here is the official explanation of the event. Students from each country in Ohio were selected to represent their schools. Four kids from Sarah's school were chosen. In case you can't read it, I'll try to transcribe it accurately here:
2009 Statehouse Student Art Exhibit
The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and Ohio Arts Education Association have partnered to bring outstanding works of art by Ohio's children to the Ohio Statehouse to celebrate the Arts--starting on April 1, 2009--coinciding with the Governor's Awards for the Arts in Ohio and Arts Day.
This exhibit recognizes the talents, creativity, and innovation of students who received high quality arts education instruction as part of their academic experience in school. Participants in the exhibition were selected by arts educators in each of the Ohio Art Education Association's regions that span the state.
Celebrate arts education and enjoy this beautiful exhibit by Ohio's children.
Here is the artwork in question. I didn't know what it looked like, except for the fact that it was "a sandwich." But what a sandwich it is! In my dreams I imagine a sandwich like this. Truly it is glorious.
Here is Sarah with Mrs. Love, the school's art teacher. The assignment was to produce a sandwich that illustrated ten of the food groups provided. (I guess that is what inspired such an impressive sandwich that I might only hope to see on a plate in front of me some day. Go back to the previous photo and see the foods stacked together: 1. bread, 2. onions, 3. fish, Swiss cheese, 4. carrots, 5. mayonnaise?, 6. olives, 7. lettuce, . . . what else do YOU see?
4.18.2009
4.14.2009
Hocking Hills, part 2
You can see here that I am now the one toting Hannah on my back, as opposed to the previous day's walk. I was looking forward to carrying her, but I'll admit wondering if it was a wise decision once we started up and down the trails and I wondered whether the person with the worst balance should be loaded off center with another person. But I managed to avoid catastrophe.
It was a great experience for sure. It makes me wonder, honestly, why we haven't tried to get over there more often. It is so close and a day trip to a park is free. I hope we make the time to do it again, soon . . . when the weather cooperates more.
Photos from Hocking Hills, day 1
There was a cat visiting when we got there and Sarah and Grace enjoyed the novelty of a pet. They played with the cat on the large deck off the living area.
So, we took a mini hike in the early evening of day one. Down the road--and down the hills--from where our rented cabin was sat the Clear Creek Metro Park. It offered several walking trails and the one we chose was basically a stroll through a meadow alongside the creek. It was a good way to get everyone acclimatized to the walking and to get Hannah comfortable with the backpack harness that we borrowed from a church friend at the last minute--and BOY, was THAT a good idea!
There was some predictable squabbling about who walked in front of whom and stuff like that. I remember similar fights from my childhood camping and hiking past. We could have taken some of the other trails that branched off from the Clear Creek starting point, but we didn't want to run the risk of turning an ankle or anything.
I was impressed with the harness, so much so that I am tempted to get one for ourselves--assuming that the family wants it back. But that is probably a foolish hope since Hannah will be growing up faster than we'll likely take another trip like this. And I don't know if they make a similar harness for a two+ year old.
4.11.2009
4.06.2009
4.03.2009
3.21.2009
3.19.2009
3.10.2009
No Idling!

Here's another "picture taken while out" that I thought I might be able to get some comic mileage out of. (Taken while I prepared to gather Grace from the elementary school after-school drama club practice.)
*****
At face value, there isn't anything wrong with the sentiment behind this image. We DO want our children safe from the noxious fumes of idling cars that callously burn fossil fuels and generate toxins in the air.
ESPECIALLY if said noxious air looks suspiciously like a certain mysterious Smoke Monster from LOST. I don't want my precious girls menaced by a smoky cloud of security nanites or consciousness given form or mystical spirit of an Egyptian past or guardian of time or whatever this week's theory on Smokey happens to be.
And why, do you ask, am I sure that this sign is a surreptitious reference to LOST? Well, all of us that have stuck with the show up to and through season 5 know that Time Travel is what's up. And don't those generic kid forms look a bit too old to be representing elementary school kids? Surely they've been thrown forward in time by Smokey McMysterious there and aren't adequately prepared to live in this technological world without enough proper elementary education!!
2.28.2009
Scenes in a Grocery Store

Do you see it?
This brush is ION infused! Ions!
When I was a kids, ions were used to power the interstellar engines of Darth Vader's spaceship. Now we have harnessed the power of the ion to fight the tangles in staticky hair!

Yeah, I'm babbling.
If you were properly concerned with the Ion brush that I started this post off with, then you should truly be concerned at the profusion of brushes here. It's like a Republic shipyard of Star Destroyer death here!

But seriously . . . WHY in the holy name of capitalism do we need this many hair brush choices? Are there REALLY that many different types of hair?
Finally, the image that started it all off. You've got to hand it to whomever tagged this bag of diapers with the cool shades. It caught my eye and got me looking around for more.

2.27.2009
2.26.2009
2.15.2009
2.03.2009
1.24.2009
Town Terrace in Tifton, Georgia
I took these first three pictures on our most recent 2008 Christmas trip to my hometown of Tifton, Georgia.
Here is another view of the sign, giving you it's full shape and design. The small houses in the background are also part of the complex and were, I think, intended for more long-term residential rentals. To the right of the picture, you could get to the Office area where Mrs. Van Gundy lived and rented out the rooms.
Yeah, that's right. I lived here for a summer.
When Lynda and I were first married, it was the summer of 1995. I was one year removed from graduating from college at Georgia Southern and one year into my Masters degree. We needed a place to live and the Town Terrace was the right size for us. Plus it was affordable. We stayed there for half of July (once the honeymoon in Charleston was over) and most of August, before I had to return to Statesboro to begin year two of my graduate school work and Lynda started her first math teaching job in Burke County.
*****
These pictures are from when Lynda and I lived there as newlyweds, in July and August of 1995. As you can see, not much has changed.

When you walked to the couch/bed, you turned left at the dinette table to see the hidden kitchenette. I'll show that in a different picture.

After working for my dad in the corn fields all day in the hot Georgia sun, I would drive home to our newlywed pad, take a quick shower to clean off the sweat and dirt, and then relax at poolside while the sun went down. (Lynda never let me wear my shoes inside the door and probably would have made me strip naked at the door to avoid tracking in all the dust I collected on me all day.) The best thing about doing this was that Bing Crosby (no lie!) would be playing over the speakers mounted into the lights that illuminated the pool. The Van Gundy's did their best to maintain a Fifties illusion to this place. I suppose I should have unwound poolside with a stiff drink to stay in character. But I was younger then . . .

1.11.2009
1.10.2009
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