October's Photo Dump

Don't you just love Autumn?

If you're a Newbie to this site, these photo dumps tend to be huge.  Don't worry about reading the whole thing unless you have nothing else to do for the entire day.  I won't quiz you at the end if you're worried about that.  With that said, let's go!

Tattooed guy in a uniform

Is there anything better?  There was a bomb scare downtown and the buildings/Capital were evacuated.  This was my first Iphone photo to show up on this site.  I really need to figure out if there is a zoom button on that thing.

I confess.  I shot a lot of innocent people this month.

Blogger(and now real life) Friend, Ron of Retired In Delaware, hired me to shoot his Family reunion early last month.  Shooting anything outside after September scares me to death.  But after several weeks of rain, it cleared up and was 79 degrees that day.  Just perfect.

I took a lot of other photos but since Ron hired me, these are his photos to share.  So I'm only showing some that he has already shared with his Family on his blog or on Facebook.

Ron wanted the photos at the very end of the day(I gave him a copy on a Flash drive) which also worried me since I wouldn't have time to edit any before he showed them.  But for the most part, I was very happy with the job.  And more importantly, so was he.

By the end of the day, I was beat.  Ron took me out to dinner and we proceeded to copy the photos.  I had warned him that I would probably have around 300 for him to go through.  After copying them, the total number was 836.  Thank God I didn't have to edit them!

His Family(maybe around 60 of them) was terrific and kept inviting me to eat and to join their conversation.  I thanked them very much but I had to keep reminding them that I was actually working.  During my Class Reunion this past year, I wanted to shoot it but I also was part of it and so I didn't get as many photos as I had wanted.  So here's a tip, when you are holding a function, hire someone and then you can enjoy your own party.

Six weeks old.  The cutest baby ever!

Ron, thanks for the opportunity.  See you next year!

Nothing says Central PA like brown wood paneling.

Claire had a craft-day with her troop at a place dedicated to crafters.  That's her with the white shirt and her back towards us.  I can't do crafts to save my life.  Actually, I have no interest in doing them either but I always admire people who have the patience for them.  However, Claire digs this stuff and I'm always vacuuming up beads and strings and all kinds of crap from her room and familyroom.

And somehow it multiplies.  Like if I kill one bead, it comes back as two.  I think crafting must be a girl thing.  If the boys have beads, they are usually pelting one another with them.

Yarn Along, Claire.  Hi Anke!

Speaking of Claire...

Do you think it's obvious that she now likes her new school?  We were worried for her for a couple of months but she has new Friends and is succeeding academically.  Here's a funny story:  Her progress report showed straight As.  One of them an A-.  I said, "Claire, really, an A-"?  She started to cry saying "I really tried hard"!  I quickly told her that I was kidding.  I'll never do that again!  Girls, they're so sensitive.

Honestly, I swear, this whole post won't be about Claire.

But we went to a pancake breakfast at a local High School.  My top boss, President if you will, gave my Family free tickets to attend.  Our boys never sit still and when Jacob was climbing over my head to get from A to B, he kicked Claire in the face.  She's okay.  And he felt bad.  And it's good to know that he felt bad.

After eating, local Heath care providers and Family organizations were set up to attract business.  Before I got there, Fred grabbed some free bags and told the kids to walk around.  By the time that I arrived, they had collected so much junk(pens, clips, lollipops) from these vendors that it wasn't even funny.  I'm still throwing this stuff out.

What the hell?

Johnny reading a book to the little ones.  And may I add, happily reading.  Seriously, I don't know what's getting into this kid lately.  What's he going to do next, Thank Me for something?  I won't know how to handle it!

You do this one.

Do me a favor and caption this photo.  I'll show the answers later.  Just so you know, he's texting.

A good Samaritan.

I was visiting my Sister and this woman comes walking into the room.  She was on oxegyn so I assumeed that she was a resident.  But I come to find out that she comes in simply to visit and talk with the patients.  Don't you love her?

A shot in the dark

If I knew anything about Photoshop, I would place a book in his hand instead of a D.S.  But still, I love this photo.

The littlest vampire

Like Claire did two years ago, Jacob will sit and twist his teeth right out of his head.  And he's not happy until he gets them out.  I think he likes the money.  Kids are so funny looking when they lose their teeth.  When he argues with me, I tell him to grow some teeth and then I'll listen to him.

H.A.R.D.

Harrisburg Area Roller Derby to be exact.  Another real life blogging Friend, Jen of Dyke Evolution, invited me to attend a roller derby bout that was held in our area.  In fact, as of last week, she officially is a DerbyGirl herself.  Congrats Jen!  Anyway, I remember watching Roller Derby in the early 70s on t.v. but I have never seen it up close and personal.

Confession #2.  And a few of you know this already.  I love to see women fight and go after each other.  Really, it must be a guy thing that's wired in but I love it!  And I think I know where it comes from.  When my grandmother's house was ruined in Hurricane Agnes in 1972, she was moved to a temporary trailer court that was set up in our hometown park.  I honestly remember this but if my Mom wants to correct anything here, she can. I was at my Grans and it was dark and these two women(probably teens, I was 4) were beating the hell out of each other.  Pulling out hair and scratching faces.  Ah, two trashy women ripping each other a new one in a trailer court.  What more can you ask for?

So anyway, I went and I had a blast.  Jen was there early and she managed to pull me on to the floor for some close-up shots.  Really close-up!

C'mon girls, you can do better than that!

But, I had to end my secret straightlife early because I had to help Fred put the kids to bed.  But now that I've had a taste of this, I'll be back!

Men in trees

Our neighbor, Tim, had a large tree removed in front of his house.  One more good storm and this baby would have fallen.  I hated to see it go but I really would have hated to see it fall onto my house because that's where it was leaning.

It's a hard-knock life

This woman lives on the streets year round.  It takes her forever to walk the block because she has so much stuff that she wheels around the city.  She's been there forever and when I worked downtown over 15 years ago, I tried to talk to her but you could tell that she's not "all there".  I'm not sure where she goes at night but you can see her there regardless of the weather.  And let me tell you something, it gets mighty cold here.

And soon, these Yahoos will figure that out.

Coming back from a downtown meeting last month, I drove past the Capital and saw these people hanging out.  I was so excited to see them.  Not because I support them but because I was happy that Harrisburg could say that we have our own Occupiers.  I would have talked with them but I was afraid that the conversation would go something like this:

Occupier #1:  Can I have your camera?
Me:                Why?  I've worked hard in my life to afford things like this.
Loser #2:        Do you know that the corporations want to see old people die?
Me:                Um, what are talking about?
Chick:            My body is mine and so are my reproductive choices!
Me:                I'm sorry, I didn't say anyth...
Scumbag:       You're part of the problem!
Me:                I ah, um, what?
Occupier #1   So just because you have a job, you think that you should have more than me?
Me:                Well, yeah, I guess.
Loser #2        Second hand smoke is responsible for the deaths of 4 million Latino newborns in Iowa alone.
Me:                I'm not sure that that's true.
Chick:            My breasts are for nursing my young, not for you to gawk at!
Me:                I swear, I wasn't even looking at yo...
Loser #2        Cheyney secretly plotted to bomb Tibet in 2003!
Me:                No, really, I don't think he did.
Chick:            You're a pig!  I hate you!  Should I get a perm?  Do you think I'm pretty?  Yakkity-yak...
Scumbag:       Socialist Party Forever!!!

Long story short, I didn't Honk.

The first one I've seen so far

This same guy had Obama signs all over his yard in 2008.  How you go from one to the other is beyond me.  But won't 2012's election year be so much fun to watch?  And if Cain is the Republican nominee, all I can say is that I'm voting for the Black guy.

Wheels of Misfortune

We needed to get the Jeep Liberty inspected.  So far, it's been a great car.  But we ran out of luck this year.  Below is my face after I just heard how much the car needed and the price.  I made the guy at Firstone take my photo.

I mentioned earlier this week that I was in a bad mood on Saturday.  This news, plus the snow falling behind me on my car were the main reasons.  For me, the day went down hill after that.  The snow was pretty but I just wasn't ready for it in any which way.

Happy Halloween from:

Johnny 

Claire 

And Jacob and Joshua.  On a bad Sugar-high

Done!

Question:  Would you prefer Periodic Photo Dumps over these monthly ones?  It's a lot to take in, I know.

Your Friend, m.
p.s.  I would like to give a Shout-Out to my 200th Follower:  Please go and welcome Martha of Minimalist in the Making.  It was super nice hitting 200 Followers and to have that person be someone who seeks Simplicity in all things, was the icing on the cake.  Seriously, go say "hi" or I'll be pissed!  m.