2007 August - Regular Life

Train Your Eye on This (Pic of the Week)

August 31, 2007 Mark Williams 13 comments

(click any image for bigger and sharper)

We lived a mile from these tracks for about a year. Ben, who was only two when we moved away from there, first flexed his verbal muscles by declaring, “Wain!” every time he heard the locomotive’s horn Dopplering toward us.

Spectacular sunsets were the norm from our street. We lived in an area that was fairly flat, just north of the Ozark Mountains, between Joplin and Springfield, Missouri. Despite all the reports that colorful sunsets are a sign of the pollution in the air, capturing them on film has held a special place in my heart since my teen years.

Photography, Pic of the Week none

My Son the Flesh-Eating Musician

August 29, 2007 Mark Williams 16 comments

Ben’s logic continues to develop. And I quote:

“Did this fish have a mouth? Was it alive and swimming in the water?”

After he gets the answer, “Yes,” he continues to wolf down his baked salmon. So, we dodge that bullet.

Then this one comes when the in-laws have us over for steak (it was delectable):

Culture & Society, Food, Kids, Parenting none

Wordless Wednesday Fifteen

August 29, 2007 Mark Williams 19 comments

(NOTE: Readers of my story, “Off Planet” get a culmination in today’s installment. Others, get on board, please, instead of reading ahead.)

(click for bigger and sharper)

See other Wordless Wednesday participants at:
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/

Photography, Wordless Wednesday none

Portrait of a Saturday (The Sequel)

August 27, 2007 Mark Williams 8 comments

(NOTE: Readers of “Off Planet” may proceed to Part 7 now. To start at the beginning, click here.)

The great Benjini whips up a spell.
(click any thumbnail image to enlarge)

We made it through another portrait session with Benjamin.

Although I was tempted, we didn’t order any prints of the top picture. The little guy was being so silly that it was tough for the photographer to get many keepers. I think if they would have started with some mild efforts to get him to smile, it would have gone a little better.

I just hope Ben doesn’t repeat one of the phrases the photographer used to get him to smile.

Kids, Photography none

Geek Out Freak Out (Pic of the Week)

August 24, 2007 Mark Williams 8 comments

A boy moves tiles that represent spaceport buildings.
(Click any pic to enlarge.)

The Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History wasn’t like a convention at all. The crowd resembled the folks seen at church, the mall, downtown, or at the office. Only a few kids were dressed up like characters from the movies.

Had we been there the day before, at the costume contest, it would have been a different story.

Movies and TV, Pic of the Week, Science none

I Am Not Thirteen

August 23, 2007 Mark Williams 7 comments

NOTE: Part 6 of “Off Planet” is available to all those reading it (and to those who are not).

The people in the above photos are not virgins.
(click any pic to enlarge)

My wife went to a museum’s Star Wars exhibit with me, and all I got her were some stinkin’ flowers. If you’re looking for full geekery from the exhibit, then you’ll have to wait. The rest of this is about everything but that.

As far as the flowers go, they were beautiful and expensive, but you get my drift.

Over our 15th Anniversary Weekend (as it is now and forever named), we enjoyed a variety of entertainment and leisure activities. We ate, laughed (and laughed), read, and strolled.

After we spent an unholy amount of money on dinner.

Travel none

Wordless Wednesday Fourteen

August 21, 2007 Mark Williams 13 comments

Click to enlarge and sharpen.

Please also visit other Wordless Wednesday participants.

Photography, Wordless Wednesday none

A Weekend for 15

August 21, 2007 Mark Williams 11 comments

NOTE: All readers of “Off Planet,” please report to Part 5. All those who are not reading it yet, please start at the beginning.

My lovely wife on our 15th Anniversary “trip.”
(click any photo to enlarge and sharpen)

Rather than perform a time-consuming feat of photo resizing and clever textual depictions of the weekend’s events, I’ll just say this:

Uncategorized none

Pooling Your Skills (Pic of the Week)

August 16, 2007 Mark Williams 14 comments

NOTE: Readers of “Off Planet” may click here to read the fourth installment.

Click any pic to enlarge and sharpen.

Earlier this summer, we withdrew Benjamin from baseball because after two good practices he squalled every time we tried to coax or gently force him onto the field. He never asked to play baseball, but we knew other parents who had signed up their nearly-four-year-olds and we thought it might be fun for him.

We were very cute, I’m sure, picking out a glove, a helmet, and shoes. The team sold us the uniform.

Bear with me, this is about swimming.

Fun, Kids, Outdoors, Pic of the Week, True Story none

Bavarian Bob Marley

August 15, 2007 Mark Williams 5 comments

Bavaria – A state in southwestern Germany famous for its beer; site of an automobile factory.
— TheSage’s English Dictionary and Thesaurus

To hear Bob Marley sing “Edelweiss,” you must go to a German restaurant in Texas.
— Me

August is a very busy month for us. I’m hoping to run low on material in September.

Among the other fun things we do for Shannon’s birthday each year, we have dinner with her mother and stepfather, and Shannon picks the place. They do the same for me, but that’s not why we’re here.