Our vacation in Seattle and Alaska, May 9 - May 18, 2008.
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| A few weeks ago, I was committing herbicide under my deck, when I was startled by a sudden fluttering by my head, and a bird flew away. That's when I noticed the nest. The eggs hatched, and we could watch the little birdies between the slats in the deck. Then, a few days ago, LuAnn noticed this unwelcome visitor, about 5 feet long, who then proceeded to crawl under the corner of the deck and make a snack of the birdies. The two parents fluttered franticly nearby, but to no avail. (Normally, we only see birds, squirrels, and bunnies.) |
Our vacation in Japan, May 18 - June 1, 2006.
Our vacation in London and Paris, Nov 3-13, 2005.
Our vacation in San Francisco, Jul 31 - Aug 9, 2004.
Our vacation in New York City, Aug 9-17, 2003.
| Zoe: Mmmmm, mouse wine? It's just water, actually. She was sticking her whole mug in the mug. |
| Our first Christmas tree. A 3-foot artificial on top of the fireplace, and four stockings: two for LuAnn and me, two for the kittens. A matroshka doll plays the part of Mother Mary in our very incomplete ad-hoc nativity scene. |
| I let the kittens out onto the deck while it was snowing. It was very cute. Cautious kitten-steps, shake a paw, ruffle the back, look around, go to the edge of the deck and look down, look up (where is that stuff coming from?) Millie dug a little in the snow and then tried to eat it. (Food? Dirt? How to classify this new substance?) |
| I woke up the next morning to the sounds of cracks and crashes. I looked at the clock, but it was blank. I got up and looked out the window, and the sky was changing brightness in weird ways. The crashes were branches falling under the weight of the ice. The flashes were transformers blowing. We were lucky: less than 12 hours without power. And we have a gas fireplace. |
| This gives you some idea of what trouble a little ice can be to the tall, skinny trees of North Carolina. |
| We had arches in our back yard. These trees have almost straightened up again. But it's like a warning from the tree: When I fall down, I'll probably fall down here. (Only I'll be bigger then and take the deck with me.) |
| LuAnn at a book signing: Orson Scott Card. |
| "Humane" mousetrap. (The mouse now resides in Umstead State Park.) |
| Meatloaf? What meatloaf? |
This is the first update in a couple months because Earthlink changed my quota again, without warning or explanation, back to 10MB. Suddenly, I was over my limit (at 12MB) and had to decide what to delete before I could upload anything. Finally, yesterday, I fired up my ftp client to figure out what to delete, and... hey, my quota is now 23MB (?!). So I guess I'd better slam some stuff up here today before Earthlink starts feeling wacky again.
| The cats are 3-pounders now, but still very playful. |
| "Purr Programming" - sometimes she pounces... especially at the mouse. |
Our vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains, July 13-21, 2002.
Once we got the house, it was only a matter of time.... We have kittens!
| Millie, our new scaredy-cat, retreats to the pet carrier. (This is a bad picture but it's all that we got tonight.) |
| Zoe, the more friendly one. |
House photos, covering Aug. 2001 - Apr. 2002.
| Chicago had a light covering of snow, but we came back to North Carolina and this happens. |
| I started to make a snowman, but a little voice in my head said "Aflac." (Notice how plump it is. I must've been hungry.) Let this be a warning to birds who may have thought they flew far enough south. |
Added Jan. 3, 2002:
New Year's Eve party in Chicago, Dec. 31, 2001.
House photos, covering Aug. 2001 - Dec. 2001.
There hasn't been an update in a while, for several reasons: we haven't taken any really interesting pictures, and because I was up against my 10MB quota and couldn't decide what to delete.
We are building a house, so we've been saving for the downpayment instead of doing any photo-worthy stuff, and the house has been delayed by about 3-4 months already, so there's nothing to show yet except dirt.
However, I found out today that my quota has quadrupled. That means pictures of dirt soon! :-)
All 25 wedding photos -- the new ones are clearly marked.
10 photos from Amy and Jim's wedding, June 2, 2001.
25 photos from our wedding, March 31, 2001.
32 photos from our honeymoon, April 1 - 8, 2001.
| LuAnn, first time skiing! |
| Me & LuAnn, Wintergreen resort in the background. |
| First stop: Jesup for Christmas. Brent, Michele, LuAnn, Rosalyn, and me. |
| Showed LuAnn the UF campus. Let her wrestle this gator. |
| Visited Uncle Jim & Aunt Lois' family. This is a tough action shot: their grandsons Eric, Conner, and Ryan. |
| Then we headed down to some more of my old stomping grounds, Tampa. This picture of a lemur was taken at Lowry Park Zoo on a beautiful 70°F December day. |
| And then ah shot a buck. |
| A leopard. That's motion blur, right? |
| Clearwater beach, later that day. LuAnn, with a pirate ship in the background. |
| At Busch Gardens, we didn't get any good pictures of the roller coasters we rode. In fact, we didn't get any good pictures at all. But the thing about this dolphin shot is that it is timed so perfectly. |
| Then we drove to Ohio, through the ice and snow, to spend New Year's Eve with LuAnn's friends. In this picture, I have introduced Jim and Phil to Twixt. Phil is winning (black), but the first peg of Jim's comeback is shown. |
| Amy, Becca, and LuAnn, wearing their silly hats... not long before midnight, of course! |
20 photos from our little vacation in Pittsburgh, Oct 19-23, 2000.
| Why go to the fair? To see the tiger show, of course. |
| LuAnn among cheesy stuff at South of the Border. Can you find her? :-) |
| With "Pedro". |
| Latest picture of Brent, by Brent himself with the camera set on "time bomb" (12-second timer). |
| We were planning on the beach, but the weather did not cooperate. We decided on a boat ride instead, and we got soaked - first by choppy waves, then by rain. |
| LuAnn and me on the ride back. Soaked. Photo by Brent. |
| Brent, still fascinated by the "time bomb", took this group photo. Just like last year, except that LuAnn is in it, and Dennis isn't. |
| Brent and his grampa. |
8 photos from Sarah and Tom's wedding, June 24, 2000.
| My mom & dad gave me this photo of themselves. I guess they want me to scan it and put it on the web. |
| Kids are so smart these days - it's scary. |
| Rosalyn's blue ribbon at the horse show, shortly before her 5th birthday. |
| Some of my friends think we're living in a tropical state. |
| The gorgeous sunset as I was driving into Jesup -- I just picked up my digital camera and started snapping away. This doesn't really capture it. |
| My niece Rosalyn and nephew Brent. |
| Lauren, my cousin Shari's daughter. |
| My sister showing Rosalyn an ornament. |
| Brent gets another good picture of his father Dennis. |
| Brent opening presents, my mom & dad in the background. |
| That Smash Hockey game was a hit. Mumzie (grandma Ruth) playing against Rosalyn, while Michele plays an annoying pinball game in the background. Also in the picture, for the observant: two iguanas and a Pikachu. |
| Brent sure loves fire. (Brent, Papaw (grandfather Gerald), father Dennis). |
| The word "fire" applies to two of my nephew's interests. |
| "Geek girl in training" -- my niece Rosalyn at the computer. |
| Me and my parents' cat Banshee (photo by Brent). |
| A cute picture of Rosalyn at her riding lesson. |
| A group shot (me, my dad, my mom, Brent, Michele, Rosalyn, and Dennis), taken by Brent, age 6, who is fascinated by my digital camera... and especially its 12-second timer. |
| What do you get when you put together a little girl who wants to be a birdie, with a little boy who wants to be a bird hunter? |
| Everyone has the right to go a little nuts sometimes. |
| We're definitely in the South. |
| Rosalyn's 4th birthday, March 21, 1999. |
| A proud mom: when Brent first learned to walk (circa 1993, at the house in Jackson, NJ). |
| My mom. Bad mom. Bad, bad mom. |
| My parents' cat Banshee. Their only cat, since Ivan's recent death. Photo taken by Brent. |
| The dalmation and the pirate - Halloween 1998. |
| Rosalyn's favorite activity. |
| My brother-in-law's boat. My mom is standing in the back; my dad is up top, video camera in hand. |
| My nephew and niece, Brent and Rosalyn, on September 6, 1998. I have to keep updating these pictures, they are changing every time I see them. |
| Rosalyn and Brent, March 1998. |
| The more things change, the more they stay the same. |
| Rosalyn and "Papaw" at the beach in Florida. |
| Another great photo taken by Brent, age 6. My mom & dad, and their cats Banshee (white) and Ivan (black). |
| The best picture we have of Dennis. Yet another photo taken by his son, Brent. |
| Brent, just after his little sister Rosalyn was born. My sister wrote on the back: This is one of my favorites... Rosalyn is about 3 weeks old and Brent is trying anything to get attention - including standing between the camera and his new sister. Finally I just took a picture, but it exemplifies his feelings at the time: "Hey, Mom, I'm still here!" |
| Brent, with a football. |
| My sister's family, back when Brent was 2. |
| My mom and dad, photograph taken by Brent, age 5. |
| The space shuttle lifting off, as seen from Titusville. |
| Nostalgia: a view of Carnegie-Mellon University's Hamerschlag Hall. |