Scattered Thoughts . . .

Lukey really seems to enjoy sailing and I definitely enjoy our time out on the boat together. We went sailing a few times this summer, as always, but this summer I managed to capture some video of one of our outings with the intention of sharing it here. Well... okay... the real intention was to add this video to my large collection of videos of the grandkids. I did, however, want to also share it here. I shot about 30 minutes of video on this particular outing but I miraculously edited the video down to about 12 minutes so it is a bit more bearable to watch... especially for those of you who aren't Lukey or me! It is still a bit long but I wanted to keep all the minutes of footage that showed some interaction between the two of us. There was plenty of time when we just enjoyed the sailing in silence but, as Lukey gets older, there is more and more talk between the two of us when we are on any of the boats. We both had a great time... Lukey was a pleasure on the boat and it

I have a little bit of time to kill before heading to another medical appointment this morning so I thought I would add a few more photos to my blog.  I'm heading to a new specialist this morning... a type of appointment which is never really 'fun' and with a new doctor you never know what to expect. There is a lot of unnecessary crap hanging over my head right now including the threat of losing my Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Actually, this really pisses me off and adding in this new specialist isn't helping any.  So, I have a bit of time to kill this morning and thought I would share a few photos from last week... This first photo is of a slightly uncooperative loon. Although he was paddling away from me, he kept looking back to see if I was still there photographing him...  This was an early morning photo. The contrast was low because I had to bump up the exposure quite a bit to capture some detail in this mostly black loon. Now the loon

I've been struggling with some ideas of what to do with all of my older video clips shot on cameras with far lower resolutions than is typically displayed today.  The video world and televisions are quickly upgrading to 4K while 6K and 8K cameras are already readily available. Full HD video clips only fill one quarter of a 4K screen... so... what to do with all these older clips to make them look acceptable at a time when resolutions are increasing drastically? To make matters worse, I have a lot of HD video (not "Full HD") which is even smaller! I got to thinking that I could use those lower resolution video files in picture-in-picture windows and they might not look so bad at the higher resolutions. The only way to know for sure was to try it. A screenshot of this side-by-side video technique. I went searching for some video clips and found some sailing clips that I shot way back in 2013. We were at the lake for Adam's birthday on this day. It's always

I've been stuck indoors this week due to some health issues so I've been sifting through photos and editing some of them. Today I'm having difficulty lifting my left arm in addition to all the nauseating symptoms of the past week keeping me close to our bathroom. Most of what I've done today with these photos required the use of a mouse with my right hand though so I happen to have a couple of photos to share. Both of these photos were shot at the lake and both photos were captured on beautiful sunny and warm days. The first photo I inserted below is of Kenzie kayaking with Nan. I had the sun at my back in this shot so the clarity is really nice and the background drops off smoothly and quickly. I like how they stand out against the shore in the background as well the clarity and tonal qualities... of course, this photo also reminds me of a typical nice day out on the lake so that is nice too! The second photo was shot by Sheila. She grabbed my camera while I was

Sheila has been good at grabbing one of my cameras whenever I'm out on the sailboat. She's gotten some good shots of Lukey and me sailing as well as good shots of me sailing solo.  There was one particular day which was a very frustrating day.  It looked like a good day for sailing with the rough chop and stiff wind and I did have some really nice and exciting runs but the wind turned out to be a major disappointment after a few wild and wet runs. I didn't notice the problem with the wind until I lost all wind... I sat there in calm water all of a sudden... then, I looked more closely at the direction of the chop all around me... to my left, the chop was headed toward me... ahead of me, the chop was headed toward me... to my right, the chop was headed toward me... and here I sat in calm water. The wind all around me was blowing hard in very different directions.  When the wind blows hard it is usually a good thing for sailing but when it is coming at you from three di

We had another beautiful day yesterday (today too, but I may write something about that tomorrow). Liza and John visited in the evening to have dinner with us and spend the night.  Dinner was delicious... Kansas City style ribs (two full racks), corn on the cob and homemade fries. We've been eating well at the lake house! The weather was great so we spent much of the day in the water. We had some thunderstorms through the night but the weather was hot and humid yesterday during the day... Another day of teaching Lukey how to sail...

I got up out of bed at 6:30am this morning so we could all go kayaking as the fog rose off the flat, silent lake... it is now after 8:00am and everyone else is still asleep in their beds!  I guess there will be no early morning kayaking today... maybe I'll get to eat a quiet breakfast on my own. In the meantime while I am waiting for everyone, I sorted through the hundreds of photos I shot yesterday. It was a really nice Father's Day here and here are a few photos from all of our activities yesterday... We thought that this might have been an eagle or perhaps a hawk... it was the usual ugly-duckling... the Vermont Turkey Vulture. I suspect many people THINK they see a Bald Eagle but it is really one of these ugly scavengers. Deep water training... Deep water training... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing... Lukey and Papa sailing...  Kenzie has not gotten up the nerve to get in the sailboat yet. Luk

Yesterday was a busy day but one which left me overwhelmingly fatigued. I ended up sleeping a solid 12 hours last night... the kids slept about 11 1/2 hours... and Sheila slept about 10 1/2 hours!  I've shot hundreds of photos in the past few days and here is just a random spattering from yesterday and this morning...  Early morning... a loon still snoozing on the water with head tucked... Lukey and Papa sailing... Kenzie and Nan... Lukey and Kenzie are always watching and pointing out air traffic... Pop and Lukey... Lukey is practicing his paddling skills so he can soon kayak on his own... Our resident pair of loons this morning... I've never been able to capture a photo of a dragonfly in flight before... This particular dragonfly has has been very cooperative the past few days... he would hover right next to me whenever I was shooting photos from the dock. Early morning on the deck... The lake is already busier than it has been

Lukey went sailing last year for the first time and he loved it! I have already posted a video and photos a year ago showing Lukey's first time sailing. As the only other person in the boat for this milestone, I can tell you that Lukey was excited and proud of himself. Lukey and I sailed quite a bit until Uncle Adam arrived... on leave from the Air Force. After Uncle Adam arrived at the lake, he stepped up and gave me a little break from being the tireless skipper and sailing instructor (thankfully) . During Lukey's second week of sailing, he started sailing with Uncle Adam when the lake was suitable for a very young beginner. We had a lot of heavy gusting and changing wind so conditions were not ripe for beginners all the time. When the weather was suitable for fast and wet sailing, Uncle Adam went out solo as Lukey enviously watched from shore. When the wind and lake conditions were on the calmer side, Uncle Adam gladly brought Lukey out sailing. I happened to re

I put together some of my favorite photos from the past month and thought it would be nice to share them here and write a short blurb about each image. I've shot a couple of thousand photos in the past month so there were a lot of photos from which to choose... some are better images than the few included here but... as of tonight... at this moment only... these are some of my favorites... This first one is a beautiful photo of the house... illuminated by the golden glow of the setting sun reflecting off the lake...  I love the warmth and clarity of this image...  nice little sailboat on the lawn too!  (We just need a nice little wooden runabout tied to that dock...) I have to admit that I happen to have quite a few shots of Lukey in a pose just like this... the classic shoulders half turned and yet still set back with no slouching, great eye contact, chin pointing out, nice jaw-line... however, I am drawn to his eyes in this one... he is well lit and there are few distract