Up, up and away!

Last night I ended up having to work - a Sunday evening; far from one of my favorite times to do anything but crash. But a major City event was postponed from Saturday and the guy that was going to work it (shoot video) couldn't do it Sunday so I figured I'd voluntarily draw the short straw and do it myself rather than beg or plead with someone else to work a Sunday evening.

I asked my 15 yr old daughter Annie along to help and because she enjoys this kind of stuff anyway.

We'd been at Firefall maybe 30 minutes and were waiting for the Hot Air balloons to take off so I could get some shots of them. Against the blue sky and clouds, these colorful puffy things make great pictures.

A guy walked over to us and asked if we could help him crew - he was short-handed. I begged off since I had a 'real' job to do but said my daughter could help.

She followed them around and did a couple of little things and then after a few more minutes he came back and said they had an empty spot in the basket/gondola and could my daughter go up with them? Of course I said yes and maybe 15 minutes later my daughter and crew were airborne! I guess they flew - glided - whatever balloons do - for about 30-45 minutes before touching down. I guess they actually tipped over when they landed.

I hope she had more than just fun but a memory to last a long time of something not many people ever get to do. Sometimes working with 'dear-ole-dad' is not so bad after all!

smiling faces

I've spent several hours over the last few days looking at pictures from my daughter's recent wedding. One thing I notice is that the faces in the background are all smiling.

I hope this means at least a couple of things: that they were having fun at the wedding - it turned out great- lots of people - great weather - good food and secondly I hope it means they are happy for Sarah and Caleb. I know I am and I hope it shows in my smile too!

The Great Debaters

late to the party but my wife and I just watched this little movie. I say little since I didn't hear much about it - no blockbuster talk - no Oscar talk etc. but I have to say except for a few things - it was a pretty good movie.

Directed by Denzel Washington (who also stars) along with Forest Whitaker. I think Oprah was one of the producers.

I have no idea how true the story is - and by that I mean how much it was tweaked for dramatic effect. But apart from the amazingness of it, the movie takes you back to a time and place most of us can not even imagine and by that I mean the Jim Crow south of the 30s. More than anything (except maybe that the role models played - especially by Forest Whitaker) would be good for anyone to emulate. Early in the movie Washington's character asks some of his students to quote various passages - and they do. They have their own favorite quotes etc. Now remember this is at a small all-Black college in East Texas in the 1930s. I'll bet if you walked into the best school of any type in America today and asked some of those questions, students would be hard-pressed to remember much more than "To be or not to be ..." and think that because they can quote a little Shakespeare they are educated. I know my education was sorely lacking in the classics. These kids could quote Langston Hughes. I know who he is but can't quote him or probably couldn't recognize his work if someone quoted it to me.

Anyway I heartily recommend this movie and depending on the ages of your kids - watch it with them. There are some disturbing scenes and some themes may not be appropriate - it is a PG-13 but nothing sexually graphic, not a lot (if any) language. The most disturbing scene is one people should be made to watch anyway to remember some of the horrible things people have done to others because they are different.

It is uplifting, informative, entertaining and well-done.

JT

I can cross one thing off my personal bucket list now. Not that I actually have one of those but if I did, this would have been there.

Thanks to my daughter Gillian (thanks Gilly bean!) my wife and I were treated to an evening of James Taylor at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City.

He did not disappoint. He must be one of the few singers who in their advancing age can still hit almost all of the notes. Only occasionally did I catch him changing to match his range. And of course his guitar sounds the same. How does he do that? I could not see what he played and have no idea what type of strings he uses but to my ear - the sound is the same as when I first heard him back in the late 60s.

He looks very different though. My friends back in college in Texas used to joke that I looked like James Taylor. I played guitar, liked his music and had a huge wall-covering poster of him in my bedroom. He had long dark hair and a mustache. I had long dark hair and a mustache. The similarity stops somewhere about here.

But I still have most of my hair and it is now short. JT on the other hand seems to have misplaced his somewhere.

Regardless he is still great to listen to and I'm glad to be able to say "been there, done that," but I didn't buy the t-shirt. They were asking $35 and up for a t-shirt at the concert. I passed.

My one disappointment with the concert is that he played lots of other folks' music. I'd rather hear all his stuff than his covers - although (and my wife disagrees on this one - she called it "a stretch") but he did Wichita Lineman by Jimmy Webb (made famous of course by Glen Campbell) and I really liked it. You need a high pure voice to pull this one off. Odd thought but I'll bet Vince Gill could do this one too.

I'll probably never see JT again unless it's on a PBS special or something but I'm glad to have had the chance.

Thanks again Bean!

Hub’s passing

In the summer of 2007 my wife purchased a beautiful big horned ram (for those who don’t know – a ram is a male sheep but not all rams have horns.) She brought him home, we groomed him, and learned how to handle this rather large fellow with a big set of horns.

We entered him in the Ozark Empire Fair and were proud to take home the prize for Grand Champion. This means he was the BEST in the whole show for our breed - Rambouillet.

Next up we planned to show him in the State fair in Sedalia – hoping that we could win there too and have something that would help us market our sheep. Prize-winners and their progeny do much better than just your average wooly creature!

But in the next week or so, he got sick. He ran an extremely high temperature. At times we thought he would die and we even wondered if we should put him down. But we did all sorts of things to save his life – including shearing off his really nice coat of wool.

Bottom line – no state fair for this boy. But we hoped we could nurse him back to health so he could still be used to breed with our flock of ewes.

Over the next few months my wife tried a variety of treatments for what she thought was wrong. He seemed to get better but was never his old self. He walked slowly and his gait was ungainly. And he never – to our knowledge – was able to breed any of our ewes. But he was unbelievably strong so we kept him and continued to treat him.

But then last month he started staying down longer and moving more slowy. One evening I looked in on him and he just had that look that said he was not going to get up and would probably die soon.

Within a couple of days he was dead. We felt bad of course and hoped we had not prolonged his suffering.

Regardless, he was a stately and regal animal and will always be Grand Champion of the 2007 Ozark Empire Fair.

There Was Blood

I may be the last person to see and write about this movie but just got around to watching it with my wife last week – I finished it up this week.

OK, I know it won Oscars etc. but I was disappointed. I like Mr. Lewis but his role seemed in some ways like his “Cutter” role in Gangs of NY – more caricature than character. There were certainly some interesting scenes. I can only guess if the settings accurately represent early 20th century California but I liked the visuals.

But overall apart from watching the predictable demise of the Plainview character, the likewise stereotyped portrayal of Eli Sunday – I guess I missed something.

My wife bailed out after about 45 minutes – it did not hold her attention at all.

I was determined to finish this much raved about movie but when it was over my brain went “huh?”

Maybe others have found deeper meaning and significance.