Scattered Thoughts . . .

The other night while sifting through old hard drives in search of nice photos, I found a photo of a duck that was...  well... not so great but it had potential. I loaded it into my editing and post-processing software... I still wasn't too optimistic that I could save the photo or make it interesting though. I shot the photo one early morning while out on my kayak... it was foggy... the duck was hiding in the dark under some brush hanging out over the shore of the lake... there was very little contrast and almost no color... but, when I zoomed in to view the duck's head, the focus was pretty good considering the amount of fog and lack of contrast and color. I had a digital negative to play with though so I wondered if I could make something of this image.  After using a few different techniques over the course of about an hour or two, I managed to find a way to produce an acceptable image. I don't have too many good photos of ducks so I was excited to have found this o

Early morning is definitely my favorite time of day at the lake house.  First off... I like waking up to a quiet, peaceful and an organized house. I enjoy getting out on the lake in my kayak as the morning fog is lifting and being burned off by the warm sun as it rises over the mountains behind the house... the lake slowly comes alive and brightens as the sun burns through the fog... it is quiet... it is serene...  Photography and videography seem to be much easier during these times perhaps because I am refreshed and there are no distractions... It is nice coming back to the house after an early morning kayak outing to find the house quiet... I awaken everyone by starting the coffee and putting some bacon in a frying pan...

Last summer, as with most summers, we had guests coming and going at the lake house constantly. We had a really fun time with everyone! Among those visitors were Tom and Karen. Tom and Karen brought their kayaks with them so we could do some paddling around the lake together. The weather was beautiful albeit a little windy so we paddled all the way down to the south end of the lake where the dam is located. The wind made paddling back a little tough but it was nice to get out on the lake with them.   Most of the land south of the house is State land on our side of the lake so it is a great direction to paddle if you want to spot some wildlife so that is the direction we headed. Also at that end of the lake is a bit of marshland which I quickly learned is a wonderland to Karen. We paddled into the marsh until we hit some beaver dams which were blocking our way so we turned back and visited the man-made dam at the end of the lake.  I've been to the dam a number of times

Since I'm having some rather poor health this week, I've been trying to focus on improving my photography and videography. Over the past eight or nine years, I've done a lot of coursework in photography and, as a result, my photography has improved significantly over time. I just started studying videography very recently so that still needs a lot more coursework and practice. In the meantime, I have photography to help feel a bit productive on days when I'm struggling with my health. Our time at the lake is again close upon us so this is foremost in our thoughts now. Since the lake is what we've been thinking and talking about everyday, I've been revisiting old photos from the lake. I am sharing two panoramas here...  This first panorama was shot while I was in my kayak... I shot five handheld shots while sitting in my kayak... it was our last night at the lake this particular year. Sheila, Adam and I went for a short paddle before tying the kayaks on the

Last week, for the most part, I experienced a lot of lousy health which interfered with getting anything accomplished on the house. We're pretty antsy to get this other bedroom finished but my health is making that seem like an insurmountable task. I don't even remember what the health problems were last week... some combination of typical Systemic Mastocytosis symptoms... but I spent most of the week sleeping. I felt halfway decent on Saturday but only managed to accomplish about an hour of work before the overwhelming fatigue took over and rendered me useless.  On Sunday, I felt great! It was Sheila's last day of a usual short weekend and it was Mother's Day too so I decided to use my new energy by spending time with Sheila rather than working on the house. I figured I could put this time aside for Sheila and then work on the house the following day.... Wrong again. My health crashed again. At some point this week, I did manage to squeeze in an hour or two of

For Mother's Day, we invited Sheila's parents to join us for dinner.  Later this afternoon, Will and Sue will come by for a few drinks and we have some planning to do with them for an upcoming journey to Dayton and the National Museum of the US Air Force.  This morning, I prepared our Mother's Day dinner... my mouth is watering already! We'll be having  shish-ka-bob on the grill... it is now marinating in the refrigerator... it should be delicious! Now if we could just get the rain to stop in time for me to fire up the grill and cook dinner, I'll be a little bit happier about cooking outdoors!   (Unfortunately, I have not found the time nor energy to finish building our outdoor kitchen area which will have a roof over it... other problems keep delaying this project.)

This morning, Liza and the kids came to the house for a quick visit for Mother's Day.  Kenzie had a bouquet of flowers in her hand and she firmly and clearly stated "these are for Gee " as she held them away from me. She was so firm in her intentions that I think she might have knocked me over if I had reached for Gee's Mother's Day flowers. So, we now have a bouquet of flowers on our kitchen table and I wanted to shoot a quick photo of them to share here.  After shooting the photo and uploading it to my computer, I couldn't help but notice something rather significant... a photographer's happy mistake... The one flower which naturally caught my attention... the flower which instantly captured my undivided attention... the flower which I intentionally put in clear focus... this one flower is standing tall, standing proud... standing beautifully... as though she is standing tall over her children and grandchildren providing comfort, protection and lov

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

It is almost a year beyond when this occurred but here is the long awaited video of Miss Mac kenzie kayaking with Gee! (Scroll to the bottom of this post for the video.) It was a beautiful sunny day but one more optimally suited for sailing because it was so windy. Adam was out on the sailboat so Sheila and I headed for the kayaks with Lukey and Kenzie. The kids kept track of Adam the entire time we were out there and Adam whizzed by us a few times to say hello.  As we got dressed for the kayaks, Lukey grabbed Papa's NASA ballcap and Kenzie decided to wear Gee's large-brimmed hat. In hindsight, we should have packed the top of Gee's hat with a t-shirt or something so it wouldn't keep sliding down over Kenzie's face. This year, we have hats and stylish sunglasses for the kids.  The lake on this particular morning was very choppy which made any video I captured with a camera mounted on the bow of a kayak very bouncy, wobbly and, unfortunately, almost nausea

I've had Systemic Mastocytosis episodes ranging in severity from 1 to 10 over the past decade and a half. Some episodes are worse than others but they are all quite debilitating.  Some episodes last for weeks, some for days, and, on the rare occasion, only hours. The symptoms of these episodes are varied but always include physically, mentally and emotionally debilitating symptoms, a lot of pain, and even life threatening symptoms. Last night, however, I experienced a type of episode which was new for me. Many other patients experience this type of episode often but it was a first for me. I don't think this means much since each patient presents this illness differently. Last night, my breathing became difficult rather suddenly and then I quickly noticed that swallowing was difficult. I definitely knew this was not a good thing! Within about a minute, I realized that my throat was swelling and closing.  I quickly grabbed my bag of medications as well as my emergency medic