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