People

Elliot

We were sitting behind Elliot and his brother and sister this morning in church. I think this picture speaks for itself, so I don’t have much to add except to say what a cute boy he is. I showed him the picture and got a bit smile, but of course, I couldn’t take a picture of him while I was showing him this one.

Anna On The Tire Swing

I had a good night’s sleep even while sleeping on the ground. I often don’t sleep well the first night anywhere other than my own bed, even on a reasonably comfortable hotel bed. That means one night camping trips are generally a write off in the sleeping department. But I woke refreshed and enjoyed the cool morning. A few of the kids were up early fishing and I cleaned a cooked a reasonable sized bass along with the sausages and eggs. It was a relaxing day, variously spent fishing, watching the fire, eating, and enjoying the tire swing. We raised it a bit by looping the rope over the branch, because any but the smallest riders made it hit the ground.

Here is Anna, having a swing.

Nick, Katherine, Fiona, Anna, Grace, and Hannah

After work I headed up to Pennsylvania for another evening with a camp fire. This picture is of some of my fellow campers, cooking marshmallows, enjoying the fire, and each others’ company. It was a beautiful, cool evening with a warm fire. We really could not have asked for more. It’s been so busy at work that I was really looking forward to this time away and I must say that I was able to disconnect and rest, both physically and mentally for about 24 hours.

Dorothy

Shortly after I got home this evening, Dorothy went out into the back yard and cut some flowers. We have quite a few right now, particularly black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia), Buddleia davidii, Verbena bonariensis. She was putting the flowers in a vase and stopped long enough for me to take a few pictures of her. I like this one.

She colored her hair today. She’s done that before, so it’s not a big deal, but this time the die was purple colored. Actually, with her darkish hair, it’s not really all that unnatural looking. Since I was expecting purple, I have to say that I like the way it turned out.

I’ve been looking at portraits lately. Generally we think of a person smiling at the camera as the right thing for a portrait. Many times, however, a relaxed expression, not frowning, but not actively smiling, can be very nice, as well. I like the expression in this portrait, as well as the soft lighting from the overcast sky.

Karlee and Dorothy

At Ocean Isle Beach there is a church service on the beach each Sunday morning. We’ve meant to go before but this year we actually did. I took this picture of Karlee and Dorothy shortly after the service ended. It was a good way to start the week. Karlee has been to the beach with us every year that we’ve gone since the summer after she and Dorothy were in fourth grade together. We didn’t go in 2007 because we were in Greece and in 2009 we were in Boston for Steve and Maya’s wedding, but all the other years since 2006. Karlee has been to family reunions and actually knows Dorothy’s second and third cousins about as well as Dorothy does. She is definitely one of the family.

Up River Cemetery

Those of you who follow my postings on a regular basis know that I sometime get a little behind. Sometimes that is due to the busyness of life and try as I might, I just don’t have time to sit down and process photos or write the little stories that go with them. The recent radio silence is not so much because of the busyness of life but rather because I’m not sure what to write and I’m having a hard time with it.

My cousin passed away on Saturday evening. Technically, he was my first cousin, once removed (my mom’s first cousin). It wasn’t completely unexpected. He had been poorly off and on for quite a little while. Still, it isn’t easy when the time actually comes. It’s harder still when it is someone you admire and respect. Clinton was a kind and gentle man, well liked by acquaintances, well loved by those who knew him. He will be missed.

That’s all I have to say here.

Nate, Hannah, Dorothy, Sara, Anna, Shelly, Suzy, Miranda, Barry, Katie, and Henry

All that was left for us to do this morning was have some breakfast, pack up, and clean our housing site. Once that was done, the group posed for a few team pictures, including this one that includes me (there was a handily placed wall where I set the camera). It was a privilege to work with this team and I’m extremely proud of all of them for the effort them put in this week. It is true that in the larger scheme of things, we didn’t do a very significant amount. On the other hand, I think we all came away with a little better understanding of some the needs in a city like Philadelphia. Thank you, Miranda and CSM, for putting up with us, including our silliness and sarcasm.

Prepared to Serve at Manna

We started the day at the camp again, as we did each day this week. We had lunch quickly and then left to go to Manna, a non-profit organization that cooks and delivers nutritious, medically-appropriate meals and provides nutrition counseling to neighbors who are battling life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, renal disease and HIV/AIDS. The team packaged over 1,000 meals as well as putting together English muffin sandwiches and various other tasks. I don’t know the name of the woman on the right, but our team is (from left to right): Suzy, Anna, Shelly, Katie, Sara, Hannah, Dorothy, (and in front) Barry and Nate.

An Evening Off in Philadelphia

In the evening, we had a little free time. We went to a little pizza parlor in downtown Philly and enjoyed fresh pizza while watching that last 20 minutes of so of the Argentina vs. Netherlands soccer match. Unfortunately, neither team was able to win, so they flipped a coin and it went to Argentina.

After dinner we went to a miniature golf course in Franklin Square. Here, part of our team poses on a replica of the famous Philadelphia LOVE sculpture in the golf course. From the left, Hannah, Dorothy, Anna, Suzy, and Katie at the bottom.

Anna and Shelly with Water Balloons

I took more pictures today than yesterday but didn’t get a lot that I was happy with. I was also distracted by a fall that I took while playing with the third graders at camp this morning. It hurt a bit, but I didn’t think much of it until about two hours later when I noticed a bit of blood in my eye. Since it was similar to what happened after my first cataract surgery, five years ago, I knew what it was immediately. I didn’t do much the rest of the day, taking a few pictures but mostly just sitting while the others worked.

Our afternoon was spent at a Salvation Army site, doing odd jobs. They included organizing a few storage rooms, which needed it pretty badly, as well as filling this small wheel barrow with water balloons for an upcoming event.

Cooking Burgers and Dogs

Each morning in Philadelphia we worked at a summer camp for little kids (across the river in Camden, actually). Each afternoon we had a different opportunity to serve in the city. Today we visited the Mary Jane Home Enrichment Center, run by Mrs. Williams. She had us set up a grill and table from which we served hamburgers, hot dogs, and sausages to anyone who wanted them. I enjoyed chatting with a few local men who stopped by for a meal.

In this picture, Nate took over the grill for a little while (so I cold take pictures). Shelly was in charge of getting buns ready and passed on to the others, who served them to our visitors. It doesn’t look too busy, but it got going shortly after this was taken. We fixed about 40 burgers and at least that many dogs and sausages, putting some chicken on at the end, because there were still people there asking for food.

Anna, Fiona, and Kimia

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I took the youth group camping (along with some other adults, I’m very happy to say). On Saturday we had a pretty leisurely time, canoeing, fishing (and a few folks learned to clean and fillet a fish), swimming, walking, etc.

Anna and Kimia took the canoe out with Fiona in between them. It wasn’t long after this that people started swimming. At that point, the canoe was upside down most of the time. But this is before that, when it was being used for it’s advertised purpose.

Gwen and Her Serious S’more

The youth group went on a camping trip this evening and, as far as I could tell, everyone had a good time. We got to our site in Pennsylvania in the late evening and got all the tents up before dark but it was dark by the time dinner was ready. After dinner, most people roasted marshmallows and made s’mores of various descriptions (some foregoing the chocolate, some the graham crackers, etc.).

Gwendolyn made the s’more to end all s’mores, with seven marshmallows, two chocolate bars and two entire graham crackers. Fortunately, she is young and fit and can afford the calories.

To answer the question you are thinking, yes, she ate the entire thing.

Abbie and Dorothy

It was the night of the annual Erick’s Hope benefit dinner this evening, at Mama Lucia’s. It’s a pretty good excuse to have a nice meal and the fact that we get to see a lot of friends doesn’t hurt. Normally we have our youth group Bible study on Wednesday evenings but I decided to encourage the youth to support Erick’s Hope, along with their families (and a lot of them did). This was the first time we’ve actually met Dorothy’s friend, Abbie, who joined us for dinner and shared this awesome pizza with Dorothy.

Dorothy and Hannah

Dorothy’s good friend, Hannah, came over this evening to pick up something she had left in our car over the weekend and I took advantage of that and got a few pictures of her with Dorothy.

Cathy’s Soccer Team

It was an absolutely beautiful day today and we did our best to spend some of it outdoors. Dorothy and I visited a few of the yard sales in our neighborhood. Every year a local real estate agent organizes a community wide yard sale so there are dozens throughout the neighborhood. Dorothy and I bought a few small things. Then, we went to see the end of the first half and all of the second half of Cathy’s soccer game. After the game I took a few team pictures. Cathy has been playing on this team (or some version of it) since before we were married, which means for more than 30 years.