Collar Box, Candle and Reflected Photo

30 December 2007
Well we go the room thing all sussed out, and Marita Beth and I moved into the new (but proper) room around 1ish. Thanks to Erin at the front desk & Sharon the maid (who were, by the way, the only competent hotel employees I met all weekend), the whole thing was accomplished relatively painlessly. We got moved in and set up just in time for me to get downstairs and set up the music for the Gingerbread Ball. Setup was also very painless this year thanks to so many people giving so much of themselves to help out. In fact, Jim & I managed to get to hotel bar and order a couple of drinks before it was time to change for the event. When I got back to the room, Marita Beth was dressing Dana having already setup the room. I snapped some photos, but I'm not going to publish a photo of Dana in her underwear. Instead you get this:
.
I could post photos of the ball itself, but Clay will have taken many more and better quality photos than I. So, out with them, Clay! Schnell!
Cheers.

~KR (30 November 2007)

Listening to:
I Can See Clearly Now by Neil Finn
from Unknown

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: VICTORIAN, DECORATION, TABLE, DICKENS+ON+THE+STRAND, GALVESTON, PHOTOBLOG

and the brushes go 'round

29 November 2007
The day before Dickens on the Strand. A traditional day off for me as we generally try to get to Galveston on Thursday night so as to make Friday a wee bit less stressful. This Thursday MB had quite a few errands for me, and I had a couple for myself so off I went. One of our primary concerns, rightfully so, was to get the car cleaned. When we get to Galveston we hand it over to a valet and didn't really want to do that with 8 weeks of the gross TRF red mud built up on it. So, while filling up with gas I decided, what the heck let's kill this bird. So, I purchased a car wash with the full tank of gas (goodness, that's expensive!) and drove through. I had my camera so I snapped a dozen or so photos of the varied-hue soap, and the brushes and so on. Quite amusing actually.

After that I ran to Sargeant's to get a pair of pants that they didn't have. So, I drove to the stockyards in cowtown to check the one store I was pretty sure would have what I needed. They didn't either. But, luckily, MB had located a pair online and had them shipped to the Tremont House in Galveston. Then, finally, time for the drive. We arrived at the Tremont House near midnight to find that through a series of miscommunications they didn't have our reservation. Bugger all. 'Salright though, we figured it out and got a decent night's sleep.
Cheers.

~KR (29 November 2007)

Listening to:
Every Woman in the World by Air Supply 
from Air Supply - Greatest Hits

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

Tags: ORANGE, CARWASH, SOAP, MOTION, PHOTOBLOG, CANON

Guinness and Co.

28 November 2007
Any who read this thing know that I have a passion about beer. Some of my friends even refer to me as a beer-snob. I'm not nearly so picky as that, but most definitely know what I like. Guinness could very possibly be called my first true love. My dear friend Ginger knows that. She got this beautiful print for me which my darling wife then had exquisitely framed for me.

What's more, it's framed in such a way as to travel-worthy.
Hooray, beer!
Cheers.

~KR (28 November 2007)

Listening to:
Everywhere by Tim McGraw
on Everywhere

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 11.8 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

Tags: GUINNESS, SIGN, ART, PRINT, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Newly Delivered

27 November 2007
November rapidly closing to an end. TRF has ended and Dickens is just around the corner. Dickens is the start of a very busy holiday season. We save all year for it and enjoy the bejeezus outta it. This year, Marita Beth has crafted for herself a new dress. For years, she's bemoaned the fact that she has only ever had time to sew for others. This year she made that time to sew for herself. In so doing, she commissioned also, a new outfit for me. Here you see the new waistcoat (the checked) and the new frock (the orange) as they lay folded on her table.

I was half-afraid to take a peek, but eventually I did. I love it.
Cheers.

~KR (27 November 2007)

Listening to:
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by ACDC
on Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: FABRIC, DICKENS, CLOTHING, COLOURS, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Stop Sign Silhouette

26 November 2007
I worked from the relative comfort of the bed while Marita Beth & her workers (thanks everyone) packed up the booth. By 6 pm, after a long hard day with no breaks for the workers, she was done and we left. TRF was over for another year. The three day weekend starting the Friday after Thanksgiving was deemed a success and forevermore TRF will end on a three day weekend. As a mercenary money-coveting merchant, it entices and intrigues me. As a human, with a family and a life outside of faire, it pisses me off. But, when you sign the contract with a festival, they pretty much have you by the bollocks. You play their game by their rules, or you don't play. I guess we're playing. On the way home, we drive through Anderson, TX. I've taken many a photo there over time, but never of a particular house. The house, Marita Beth covered in her photos. While she was doing that, I was taking photos of a simply stunning sunset. Sadly, the car was idling and the photos are all a bit shaky. But, I like this one:
.
Cheers.

~KR (26 November 2007)

Listening to:
Bad Man's Blunder by Kingston Trio
from Very Best of the Kingston Trio

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: SUNSET, ANDERSON, TX, STOP+SIGN, SILHOUETTE, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Feathery

20 November 2007
I have in my possession a great many hats. Most of them are single-purpose event-specific type of hat. This one is cross-purpose existing to please both the modern sensibility and that of the elegant gentlemen from the early 20th century. It's a beautiful black felted fedora with a touch of feathery colour to the side.

I love this hat. I bought it specifically to go with a zoot suit I had acquired for a Fractured Fairy Tales party I was hosting; but I have since worn it on many on occasion just because it's a damn fine hat.
Cheers.

~KR (20 November 2007)

Listening to:
Leaving Nancy by Dubliners
on 25 Years of Celebration

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 1 sec (1)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: FEATHER, FEDORA, HAT, CAP, CANON, PHOTOBLOG, CLOSE-UP

The Nearly Ubiquitous Flower

19 November 2007
Marita Beth is home, and I'm feeling damn near human again. I even went to work then went out with the boys after work for quick drink & a game of pool. Again, I didn't drink much, just enough to say I had; I just wasn't up to it. But, MB brought home with her yet another beautiful flower arrangement from John Myers. This is one of the flowers that was included in the spray. I love the orange.

Cheers.

~KR (18 November 2007)

Listening to:
Let Your Troubles Roll By by Carbon Leaf
on Indian Summer

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.3 sec (3/10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: FLOWER, ORANGE, BOKEH, DOF, NATURAL, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

On Which I Trod

18 November 2007
Feeling better. Not good by any stretch, but better. Enough better in fact to go outside and take this photo:

The photo assignment for that week was "On Which We Tread" which I think is a darned clever way to get all of us to take a moment and looksee what we're walking on. I can tell you, I rarely look down to see what's at my feet. Perhaps it's because I can't really see my feet if I look down right now...but that's fixable. Also, it's an interesting look at what we call "Fall" here in North Texas. Yep, brown leaves on green grass. One day all those leaves were on the oak tree overhead; the next day they were strewn upon my lawn having turned brown and fallen overnight. Yep, fall in Texas. It goes by very quick.
Cheers.

~KR (18 November 2007)

Listening to:
Don't Know Why (You Stay) by The Essex Green
on Cannibal Sea

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: FOOT, LEAVES, AUTUMN, TREAD, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Lamp Reflected

17 November 2007
Sick. Oh so sick. Paul and Laura were sick and I believe even Ben was sick. Marita Beth had been sickish with a pretty nasty cold-like thing. Kelly & Joseph had both been sick. But, I'd been in San Francisco and not near any of them. Still I got sick. Suck. On this Saturday, I should have been at TRF with my wife, but instead, I was at home alternating between sitting in the living room trying to catch up on some football (the good, English kind) and visiting the water closet. Guess which one I preferred? At one point, Terrill called and asked me to join he and his kid at No Frills Grill. For some reason, a temporary bout of insanity perhaps, I agreed and went out to join them. I wasn't out long and certainly didn't drink or eat my norm. By the time I got home I was pretty knackered and just wanted a sleep. But, first, a photo:

This is the pretty lamp globe made by our friend, Shannon, as reflected in the hurricane globe on the lamp next to it.
Cheers.

~KR (17 November 2007)

Watching:
Blackburn vs Aston Villa
0 - 2 at 58 minutes

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.067 sec (1/15)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: REFLECTION, LAMPLIGHT, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Coming Home to a Stoplight

I'm back home and I'm sick. Oh so sick. I managed a first class seat on the San Francisco - Los Angeles leg of the flight. Bliss. Being in first class enabled me to get to the toilet prior to throwing up. Did I mention I was sick? The flight was short, too short; I couldn't quite catch a nap. But, it was longer than intended after we sat on the tarmac for a while waiting for a plane to vacate our gate. Eventually we got shuffled to a new gate but not before myself and six fellow passengers had missed the connecting flight. Have I mentioned how sick I was? The last thing I wanted was to spend the day, sick, in the Los Angeles airport because there was no E-class available to get me home. One of the few things I really detest about flying on business is the inability of my company (an airline) to guarantee I can get home - even when flying on company business. Luckily a very sweet gate agent was able to locate management with the appropriate authority to book me an E-class seat on the next flight to DFW. So, I only wasted a couple of hours in LAX when it could have been much, much worse. As poorly as I felt all day, I didn't even think about my camera until I was in my own car, in my own state on my way home. I did take a photo; this one in fact: I was just thankful to be home. I'd been intending to go to TRF with MB, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to go down there. So, I got home in time to kiss my wife good-bye and go to sleep. Fitful, uncomfortable sleep, but at least it was in my own bed. Cheers. ~KR (16 November 2007) Watching: Blackburn vs Aston Villa 0 - 1 at Halftime Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320) Aperture: f/16 Focal Length: 23.2 mm ISO Speed: 80 Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: DFW, STOPLIGHT, SUNSET, CLOUDS, LIGHTFLARE, ARLINGTON, TEXAS, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Landing in San Francisco

15 November 2007
Thursday and my last full day in San Francisco. I finished up at the office a tad early and went to a local place called the Elephant Bar for dinner. Before walking in, however, I walked over to the bayside and snapped quite a few pictures of planes landing and taking off from San Francisco International Airport. The light was fading so the quality isn't quite what I'd like, and the telephoto on my little camera doesn't have quite the oomph I might like, but still the photos aren't so bad. Here's one:
.
I even managed to get some of the "mountains" and a sunset. Anyway, the Elephant Bar was overpriced and the beer taps weren't working, so I left. I'd spotted earlier in the week a place called Finn McCool's so I plugged that into the handy Garmin GPS device that I got with the rental car (a sleek Pontiac G6 GT) and went there. They didn't serve food. I had a few beers, stopped at the In-and-Out (again) and went back to the hotel. I had an early flight out. Sometime in the dead of night, I started feeling uncomfortable and by about 3am or so was full-on sick. I slept fitfully the remainder of the night until my 5:30 wake-up call. I blame Paul and Laura for making me sick. :-)
Cheers.

~KR (15 November 2007)

Listening to:
Everything I Do, I Do It For You by Bryan Adams
on Billboard Top 100 of 1991

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: SAN+FRANCISCO+AIRPORT, THE+ELEPHANT+BAR, LANDING, PLANE, AIRCRAFT, BRYAN+ADAMS, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

The Swingin' Door

14 November 2007
Back in 2002, Terrill & I did a whirlwind tour of the Cargo facilities in our system, visiting 12 cities in 9 weeks. One of those stops was San Francisco/San Jose where we spent a week. During one of our nights out we located a fantastic pub called The Prince of Wales in nearby San Mateo. Sadly, I wasn't keeping a journal nor carrying a ubiquitous photo-taker with me, so have no record of it as it was. In January of this year, it ceased being as it was and has become The Swingin Door, having been sold. The Prince of Wales had at one time been The Swingin Door as that's the name the bar had opened with back in 1955. Apparently it was a swingin' joint in its heyday and was frequented by many a famous personality. It would seem the new owner would like to recapture some of that original mojo.

Personally, I preferred The Prince of Wales the way it was, but certainly if I lived in the area I'd happily return to The Swingin' Door for a pint or two and an award-winning hamburger. I did not, during this visit, venture upstairs which apparently is quite the place to be having been voted San Mateo's Hottest Spot for Entertainment. I was plenty entertained by the clientele.
Cheers.

~KR (14 November 2007)

Listening to:
Fjarskanistan by Amina
on Animamina

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Tags: SAN+MATEO, CALIFORNIA, THE+SWINGIN+DOOR, PUB, BAR, RESTAURANT, BEER, AMINA, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

The Hungery Hunter

13 November 2007
After a very long day in which I trained a bunch of people, took a break, trained a bunch of people, ate lunch, trained a bunch of people, took a break and trained a bunch of people, I was tired and hungry. The In-And-Out burger just didn't hold me over and I really wanted a beer. The previous night while out, I had spied a promising looking restaurant just down from my hotel, so off I went, not even bothering to stop and change clothes. The restaurant was called The Hungry Hunter and apparently has been serving the city of South San Francisco (The Industrial City) for some forty years.

I walked into an immense (45 minutes or more) waiting list, so went on into the bar to wait. Luckily, they serve food in the bar, too. I got myself a simple lager called, appropriately enough, The Hunter, and tucked into the menu. The Hungry Hunter? Since when does one hunt cow? That's pretty much the menu. Cow of various types, shapes & sizes. But, that's ok. I like cow. I ordered a blued strip, ceaser salad, mashed potatoes and rice pilaf. Decent, but by no means write-home-about (but apparently good enough to write-in-a-blog-about). Then it was back to the hotel for, hopefully, a better night's sleep the previous one.
Cheers.

~KR (13 November 2007)

Listening to:
She by Kiss
on Dressed To Kill

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: SOUTH+SAN+FRANCISCO, HUNGRY+HUNTER, RESTAURANT, BAR, DINNER, NIGHTTIME, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Up Pompey!

12 November 2007
I spent the day travelling from mid-US to west-US, and despite gaining two hours in the transit, it still wiped me out. I had a quick bite to eat at a lovely little Italian restaurant called Cecilia's, then settled in for a quick night-time read. Even though my bookclub is currently reading Love in the Time of Cholera I just couldn't bring myself to take the book on the trip. It's actually a surpassingly well-written book. However, at nearly 100 pages in, I'd still to discern a plot, so I've set it aside. I'll finish it someday, I suppose. But having grown up in a time when fiction meant a plot that moves the reader along, I was struggling to enjoy it. So, I brought with me a non-fiction book: Up Pompey!

Up Pompey is a fantastic book where "a clueless American sportswriter bumbles through English football," although I believe that Chuck Culpepper is not quite so clueless as he might lead some to believe. I can't quite figure out, and I'm not through reading it yet, whether he's writing to an English audience and trying to prove the validity of "their sport" vs the inanity of "our" sport; or is he writing to an American audience and struggling to point out the superiority of football to American-football. Either way, and I believe however you feel about Associated Football vs American Football, the book is very well written and immensely enjoyable. I shall loan it to Terrill when he's done and look forward to the "Delusional Rant" that will be forthcoming. :-)
Cheers.

~KR (12 November 2007)

Listening to: Kirstie's by Millish
on Millish

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850
IS Exposure: 0.8 sec (4/5)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: UP+POMPEY, BOOK, ENGLISH+PREMIER+LEAGUE, SOCCER, CHUCK+CULPEPPER, CANON, PHOTOBLOG

Wine in the Winerack

11 November 2007
Ah, a week away and I'm behind again. This post, written on 19 November, belongs to 11 November. A photo of a fine wine rack. The rack was found and purchased on eBay for pennies some years back. It's recently been, once again, filled to capacity by some Gewurtzaminer by Fredricksburg Winery.

On the wall behind the rack you can make out the Cry of the Clan MacRalph and the slogan for East Wind Games: Ludo Ergo Sum (I play, therefore I am).
Cheers.

~KR (11 November 2007)

Listening to:
Victor, Fly Me to Stafford by My Little Aiport
on the ok thing to do on sunday afternoon is to toddle in the zoo

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Tags: WINE, FREDRICKSBURG+WINERY, Gewurtzaminer, EAST+WIND+GAMES, LUDO+ERGO+SUM, CANON, PHOTOBLOG, MACRALPH