People

Cathy On A Park Bench

Cathy and I went for a walk in the park early this afternoon. It was cool out but not cold and it was nice to be outside. The park, surrounding Lake Frank, had two parking lots connected by roads but the roads have been closed off for quite a few years (if they were ever open, I don’t really know). At the western parking lot, which is up a long hill from the lake, there are benches that are nearly at ground level. That’s where this picture was taken. I don’t think they were originally so low to the ground but it isn’t clear if they have sunk or if the ground has been piled up under them. Either way, they deserve to be used once in a while.

Christmas Eve by Candlelight

Our church’s Christmas Eve service is one of the highlights of every year for me. I enjoy seeing friends, but of course I see most of these same people every week. Somehow, though, at Christmas Eve, I see things in a different light. Sometimes that’s the light of candles. Each year the service ends singing Silent Night while holding lit candles. Every year I take pictures and I always enjoy them, as well. Taking pictures by candlelight is a bit hit or miss. This was taken at 1/15 second at f/3.2 with the ISO set to 1600. To everyone who was there, thanks for putting up with me and my camera. I love you all.

Jane and Katie

Our office holiday party was this afternoon and we had a nice time together. Our group is fairly large and I only know a small fraction of the 150 or more people at the party. One funny thing that happened was Jane, on the left in this picture, came over and asked if she could have her picture taken (on her phone) with a few of us. It seems her kids know her coworkers’ names but aren’t entirely convinced they exist. After all, they only hear names and never actually meet anyone. So, to Jane’s children, here is your mom with Katie. I can assure you that Kasia, Kathy, KC, and Henry (that’s me) are all real people, as well.

Christmas Caroling

We had our third annual Christmas caroling outing this evening. It was cool out, somewhere around 35°F, but the wind which had been blowing earlier in the day had died down, thankfully. I checked my journal and last year it was around 30°F and the year before that in the mid 40s. We had 23 people this year, down three from last year but a few new folks came. Once again, we rode in a trailer behind a pickup truck, fitted out with Timmy on the drums, Amanda at the keyboard, Deb on Bass, and Bret on guitar. We had a good time but I think everyone was ready to get back to the church for hot chocolate and cookies by the time we were done.

Grant Stephen

We were out and about today and decided to see if we could visit our friends, Keith and Collyn and their one week old bundle of boy (I mean joy). As you will probably have guessed, they said we should come. Not being around newborn babies that often these days, I forgot how small they are. Collyn was good enough to let us hold him for a while. He’s a beautiful little boy and was quiet while we were there. I took more than just a few pictures, as you might imagine but I think this is my favorite, with Keith tickling his tiny feet. Congratulations to the happy parents and their newly enlarged family.

Wearing Armor

I’m not a big selfie-taker but I thought you might enjoy this. I visited the fourth grade class at WCA today, wearing mail and a knight’s helmet. The fourth grade studies medieval Europe and their teacher and I thought they would enjoy seeing real armor. The chain mail is actually pretty fine and was made for protecting divers from small sharks. It’s close enough for this purpose, though. The helmet, which is quite heavy, is more authentic and is pretty impressive. I don’t think I’d visit a fourth grade class without that sort of protection.

In addition to talking about knights and armor, I showed pictures of castles and told them about many of the design features. Most of the pictures were of English castles, because I know those so much better than those from France or the rest of Europe but there were a few in Germany and Hungary included. I think the kids enjoyed it and learned something. I know I had a good time.

Many thanks to Steve for letting me borrow his armor for this.

The Family At The Groaning Board

We gathered with family for Thanksgiving today. Thanksgiving is more than just a meal, of course, but the meal is certainly a part of the day. We did take a more traditional family picture, with everyone in nice, neat lines, but I thought I’d post this one, showing us ready to being the meal. I won’t bother to list everything we ate, but suffice it to say, there was plenty. We are truly blessed. But more than the food, of course, it was wonderful to be with family.

Cathy with Operation Christmas Child Boxes

Operation Christmas Child is one of Cathy’s favorite things of the season. We aren’t terribly good at planning way ahead but in this, she does a pretty good job. She shops at back-to-school time for pencils and crayons. Sometimes as early as January or February she will see something and say, “Operation Christmas Child” as she buys it.

A couple years we loaded boxes into our van from the school, filling the back of the van with the seats removed, delivering them to a local collection point. She is going to an OCC facility this week to volunteer. I can’t say exactly what she will do, because she hasn’t done that before. We’ve helped at a collection point but this will be the next step along the process.

This picture is of Cathy (obviously) with her two boxes for the year, as she dropped them off at Redland Baptist Church.

Cathy With a Colander

It was recently Cathy’s birthday and we had arranged to meet our friend (and Cathy’s friend since high school) Jean for dinner. Because she was coming from Virginia and because there was heavy traffic on the beltway (heavier than normal, even), we met a little later than we might ordinarily have done. Before meeting her, we took a small load of things to donate to Attic Treasures, the rummage sale at the Washington Christian Academy Christmas Bazaar, which is tomorrow (November 22). It’s a fundraiser for the senior class and is pretty well organized for a rummage sale.

We looked around at other things that had been given and sat chatting for a while on some nice, vintage, (and pink) motel chairs. Then Cathy decided she’s buy this colander to plant sedums in. Naturally I took her picture wearing it as a hat (or helmet, perhaps). I didn’t buy anything but the next day (tomorrow, at the sale itself) I bought three books.

Cathy and Jean

From the school we drove to Rockville and met Jean at Ruby Tuesday in Federal Plaza. We got there ahead of her (because the traffic on the beltway was worse than expected) and I did a quick shop at Trader Joe’s while Cathy bought a few things to fill out her Operation Christmas Child boxes. Then we had a delightful time with Jean. Because we live so far apart (and yet so close) we don’t see her anywhere near often enough. Naturally we stayed at our table much longer than we normally do, but we had missed the busy time and there were empty tables, no one was waiting for us to leave so they could eat. After we left, I took a couple pictures of Cathy and Jean outside in the cold.

Henry, Cathy, Brian, Lisa, Goldie, and Kippen

We had a treat yesterday and today. I got a call from our good friends, Brian and Lisa, who were driving from Georgia to Massachusetts and wanted to stop in to see us and spend the night. Brian came to our youth group with me, since I couldn’t very well get out of that at such short notice (I was teaching). Then we stayed up late talking. This picture was taken about four minutes after midnight, so it counts as a picture for today (I did take other pictures today but you don’t care). We were trying to get both dogs to look at the camera on its tripod but, as you can see, only had limited success.

Abbie

Dorothy was in D.C. yesterday stayed through the weekend. This evening she was going to spend the night with her friend, Abbie. Abbie works at Panera Bread (in case you were not able to figure it out from the picture) and had to work until closing this evening. We went there for a late dinner and then Dorothy stayed to wait for Abbie to get off work. I took a couple pictures of Abbie. They may not be great pictures but it’s hard, actually, to get a bad picture of Abbie.

Sokho

As many of you know, I have been the acting youth director (or is it student ministries director?) at church for almost exactly a year. It wasn’t something I had planned, but circumstances were such that I felt it was the right thing to do. I had been working with the youth (this is both middle school and high school aged kids) pretty much since the summer of 2011, when my good friend, Bill, asked me to take his place for a trip to Toronto, with Center for Student Missions. That reminds me, I really need to thank Bill again for that.

Anyway, from the start I was clear that I don’t feel equipped to run a youth program but that I was willing to be used. God spoke through Balaam’s ass (Numbers 22:28) so I knew he could speak even through me. Nevertheless, when Jeff told me that he wanted to hire Sokho as an associate pastor and that he would lead the youth ministry, I was quite pleased. I’m so thankful for this young man and look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.

Crazy Cat Lady and Eve

We went to a Day of the Dead party this evening at the home of one of Cathy’s soccer teammates. This picture is of Cathy with our hostess. Cathy, as you can see, was dressed as a crazy cat lady. Ara was Eve (played by Tilda Swinton) from Only Lovers Left Alive. I was dressed as a chef, complete with a length of blood sausage in my jacket pocket (because, I mean, blood sausage).

The best costumes we thought were the best were the samurai and ninja couple but a lot were very clever and a few were seriously elaborate. I’ve never really been crazy about costume parties but that’s almost certainly because I have such a hard time coming up with any good ideas for a costume. Being able to put something on an hour before leaving and having it work is about all I can hope for. That worked this evening, but a little planning ahead could go a long way. I already have been thinking about what I might do for a future party. Now if I can only get the work done ahead of time, so it’s ready when the next party comes…

Dorothy and The Interns

I suppose that title sounds a bit like a singing group from the fifties. It’s also a little off because Dorothy is actually one of the interns. Also, the eighth intern isn’t in the picture. That’s life (”that’s what all the people say”). We crawled down I-95 to Richmond this evening and dropped Dorothy off. We had a nice dinner in a little place called Tarrent’s and came back to her apartment just as the rest were coming back, as well. So, we got to say hello and I got to take a few pictures before we got back on the road. Coming home was much easier and we made the trip in about two and a quarter hours, including a stop for gas. We only had to slow briefly for two areas of construction and for some rain the second half of the drive.

Photo Booth For Stacy and Bryan’s Wedding

I’ve already posted a few pictures to Instagram and Facebook of Stacy and Bryan’s wedding but now that I’m getting caught up on my blog, I’m posting one more. This one is of them after the ceremony and just before the reception really got going. Stacy had asked me if I’d be willing to set up and man a photo booth at the reception. This is what I came up with. I got the idea from Dorothy’s high school art teacher but built it to my own design. It’s not everything I could have hoped, but I was basically pretty happy with it. The other guests at the wedding seemed to enjoy dressing up a bit with funny hats, masks, etc. and posing for pictures, so I guess it was a success. If you would like to borrow it for a wedding or other event, let me know.

Dorothy and Hannah

We drove down to Richmond to get Dorothy today (or maybe I should say we crawled down, because it was about three and a half hours each way). Shortly after we got back, Hannah came over. She happened to be here on her fall break, so we were fortunate enough to have her for the evening. The girls let me take a few “normal” pictures (of which this is one), although we took a fair number of not-so-normal pictures, as well. I’ll let the girls post any of those that they want to share.