People

Maureen, Linda, and Cathy

Our company doesn’t bother recognizing 5, 10, or 15 years of service in any particular way (except of course they pay you, which is pretty nice). Because we do well at keeping people for a long time, the first big recognition is at 20 years. Every three years they have a dinner for those who reached the 20 year milestone during the preceding three years. Cathy reached that point about a year ago and was recognized, along with 95 others and 5 who had reached 40 years, at an intimate dinner with about 950 of our closest friends. I brought my camera and took a few nice pictures, including this one of Cathy with two of her fellow honorees, Maureen and Linda.

Dorothy and Abigail

Dorothy is blessed with so many friends, I’m just glad I can keep them all straight. Actually, I know most of them reasonably well so it’s not a problem, although I have this probably rational fear that I’ll mislabel someone in a picture. Their self-esteem will plummet, their grades will probably drop, and their whole life will be ruined. Or they’ll be embarrassed, anyway.

In this picture, we have Dorothy and Abigail. I’m not worried about getting the names wrong in this picture, anyway. The two were heading out for a few hours of fun for the afternoon.

Dorothy, Kendra, and Briannah

Twice a month (or there abouts) a family opens their home for the youth group at “that other church” that Dorothy sometimes goes to. Actually, it’s one of two “other churches” that she goes to. Anyway, Overtime, as they call it, was this evening and Dorothy went. Rather than simply going to pick her up when the time came, I went a little early so I could take a few pictures, including this one of Dorothy with two of her friends, Kendra and Briannah.

Urban Bar-B-Que

When you mention barbecue, I suspect that most people don’t think “Maryland!” This isn’t exactly a mecca for BBQ aficionados. With a father from Memphis and a mother from North Carolina, I have a somewhat equivocal view when it comes to what’s best. On the one hand, pulled pork, to me, means North Carolina and I prefer the vinegar based sauces typical of that style. Ribs, on the other hand, make me think Memphis. A good dry rub and proper cooking and they don’t need sauce (although a little for dipping won’t do you any harm). My favorite, though, is tender brisket, cooked long and slow and with just a little sauce after serving. I care less for the overly sweet barbecue that’s dripping with sauce, but that’s not to say I’d turn down a good set of Kansas City ribs.

Anyway, all that is to say that there is a place in Maryland (places, actually) where you can get barbecue the way it was meant to be. On the way home this evening I stopped at Urban Bar-B-Que and picked up dinner. If you’ve never been, I recommend it. Actually, if you have been, I still recommend it. http://www.urbanbbqco.com/

Dorothy and Julia

My Tuesday photographs are starting to all be taken at Dorothy’s friend Julia’s house. Dorothy goes there regularly on Tuesday and unless I’ve already taken pictures that day, I’m sure to get something there. Fortunately they have interesting things about. Not least in terms of interest, is Julia herself. Julia’s mom, Maureen, is not really happy having her picture taken, although she’s appeared twice here. Usually pleas that I not take someone’s picture fall on deaf ears but when the person asking hosts my daughter each week, well, I will try to honor that.

Kendra and Dorothy

I took some pictures at BWI airport this afternoon but they aren’t particularly interesting. Better by far to have a couple familiar faces. Familiar to some of you, anyway. I think this picture reflects well on Kendra and Dorothy. I also took a few “selfies— showing my Abe Lincoln beard but they’re just too scary to be made public.

The lighting was a bit tricky because if I aimed the light forward then the wall around the mirror was too bright and if I aimed it backwards then the wall behind the girls was too bright. This one is a little dark but balances the light better than some of the others.

Dorothy and Hannah

It’s a festival day at school tomorrow, meaning there is no homework due, so Hannah came home with Dorothy and spent the evening at our house. I was up on a Skype call for most of the time but they watched an episode and a half of Downton Abbey, season 3. No spoilers, please, as Hannah doesn’t know what’s coming (well, she knows some of it but we’re trying to keep the rest mum until we get to it). This is how I found them watching the TV when I came downstairs.

Kendra and Dorothy

Dorothy had the day off today and spent much of it with her friend, Kendra. So, when I picked Dorothy up after work, I figured I’d take their picture. This time, you get the somewhat dubious honor of having a picture with Tuffy in it. Now isn’t that something?

Rock Creek Worship Team

For a church as small as ours, we have more than our share of talented musicians, both instrumental and vocal. As a non-musician, I have a lot of admiration for people who can sing or play and it was nice, this morning to see mother and daughter singing together, so Cathy suggested I take a few pictures of them.

Shelly, Julia, and Dorothy

The youth group got together to watch a movie at the church this evening. The Avengers isn’t exactly Gone With The Wind or The African Queen but it was fun to get together with the young people and hang out.

I took a few pictures while the movie was playing, which wasn’t really appreciated because a flash in a dark room is a bit jarring. After the movie ended and the lights were back on everyone was much more receptive. Even Shelly allowed herself to be talked into getting in a photo.

Henry

Our friends, Andy and Greta had the youth from church over for a Super Bowl party this evening. Although I’m not a youth, I was allowed to come because, well, just because, I suppose. I took quite a few pictures of everyone but none of the group pictures really conveys “watching football” and since this is such a cute picture, this will have to do.

Henry has been featured on this little blog thing before, in a post titled Another Henry on December 09, 2012. Let’s be frank, there are a lot of cute kids out there. There may be kids about who are as cute as Henry but you’d be hard pressed to find any cuter.

Cathy and Jean

The Music Guild at WCA had a coffeehouse this evening, postponed from last Friday when the snow caused the cancellation of evening activities. I took a few photographs at the coffeehouse, or more precisely before the coffeehouse. During the performances I switched over to video and recorded most of them. After it was over, we went to IHOP with some of our friends, including Jean and her daughter, Maria. So, here we have two of my favorite women in the world. Cathy and Jean.

Kendra

Dorothy’s friend, Kendra, came over today and they basically hung out. In the afternoon we made them go for a walk with us in the neighborhood. Naturally I brought my camera and, also naturally, Kendra brought hers. She often mugs for the camera but for this picture she actually gave me a very natural smile, which I really appreciate.

I took some other pictures on our walk that I like well enough. I decided not to post them, though, because I decided I’m much more likely to take similar photos in the future. I’ve done this before. I take two or three pictures that I like and I want to pick one of them for the day’s picture. I usually choose the one that I’m least likely to reproduce again and post that. Of course, if I like a different one significantly more, then I’ll post that one. This only applies when a few are at about the same level of likedness.

Dorothy and Riley

Dorothy loves to visit her friend Julia and I can’t say I blame her. The whole family is just fun to be with. On this occasion, they had an extra dog staying with them and today’s picture is of Dorothy and Riley.

Dorothy, Julia, and Maureen

Yesterday I completed my second year of taking a photo a day. This web site contains that second year. My first year was on Facebook and I’ve been meaning to add them here as well. As I start my third year of living photographically (not that I didn’t take pictures before that) I want to take a moment to thank all the friends (and a few strangers) who let me take their photograph. In particular, Dorothy has been very patient with her old dad and her friends have likewise been very good to me. Here we have two of our favorite friends, Julia and her mom, Maureen, with whom Dorothy spent the day.