Here comes the weekend. And once again, it's time for the Saturday Photo Hunt, that wacky, madcap meme that has bloggers posting a photo depicting or interpreting the theme of the week. Photos come from each blogger's own archives or are snapped just for the occasion. This week's theme is SCOOP.

This one was easy in that I remembered a single, ice cream-related photo I took a few years ago and had on file. But it was also difficult, in that I can't think of a single other photo in my files that would work for this theme. Usually my problem is narrowing down a list of way too many.

I've always liked this shot. This was taken several years back, when my son was a preschooler and we were in the local MOMS Club. We had a MOMS Club event at a Baskin Robbins here in Alexandria. I'm sure I took other shots at the time, more standard pictures of preschoolers eating ice cream, photos in which you can see their faces. I don't seem to have saved any of those. But I loved the sense of excitement and anticipation that radiate from these kids, even from behind, as they watch their treats being scooped.

I scream, you scream,
We all scream
For ice cream.

This week, the theme for the Saturday Photo Hunt is a tough one: Zap! I struggled with it at first. Then I remembered some fireworks photos I took last year at the 262nd birthday celebration of the City of Alexandria, Virginia. So here is my take on Zap!

Here among the PTA families of Mount Vernon Community School, some of us are still recovering from the 2012 Big Flea, which took place this past Saturday, May 5.

For six months we collected enough donations to fill a warehouse full of the used stuff, referred to by us fleamongers as "junque." We accepted furniture, sports paraphernalia, electronics, toys, baby equipment, CDs and DVDs, housewares, small appliances, bicycles, collectibles, exercise equipment, jewelry, tools, and even a car. Friday, we spent the day having it all hauled over from our storage facility, unpacking trucks, setting out merchandise, rolling out tables, and pricing the junque. And Saturday, the sale was on in the elementary school gym. I worked all day, mostly in the jewelry department, though I did find myself helping out in housewares from time to time. By the end of the day, we had made a little over $25,000!

The PTA will use the money to fund a variety of projects at this Title 1 public elementary school, including field trips, teacher support grants, in-school assemblies, after-school clubs, book giveaways, enrichment activities, and so much more.

I'll post some pictures once I've had a chance to upload them.
 

I was away yesterday and couldn't post, so here is my Saturday Photo Hunt photo picture for this week. The topic is texture. I had a great time at Cemetery #1, the oldest cemetery in New Orleans, photographing all the different textures around me. Graves in New Orleans are above ground, not buried. Many of the tombs are hundreds of years old and showed a variety of textures, like this spot where the plaster facade had broken away, showing the brick beneath. I liked the contrast of the rough, weathered textures and the new, soft, moist green ferns sprouting between the bricks. Life and death, intertwined.  

I hadn't planned on a trip to the emergency room this evening. About 5:30, a neighbor appeared at my back door. That was odd enough; Viktor speaks little English and almost always lets his wife - whose English is slightly better - act as liaison with the non-Russian-speaking neighbors. He explained as best he could that his wife Anna's blood pressure was too high and asked if I could drive her to the hospital. They have no car. Of course I put on my shoes, gathered my son, and drove Anna to the emergency room. Viktor couldn't come with us. Anna babysits during the day, and the toddler she cares for was still at their house.

My 10-year-old was great about it. I had been just about to get him some dinner, so I grabbed a granola bar for him to eat in the car. Anna couldn't walk without help, and was deathly pale and sick to her stomach. I worried as I drove that she might pass out. She is in her 60s and usually seems active and healthy, but she does have a history of high blood pressure and heart problems. I'm glad we're only 7 minutes from the hospital. When we arrived I ran in for a wheelchair, which Jon Morgan insisted on pushing. We stayed there with her for an hour or so, until she had gone through triage and was taken to a cubicle. Her blood pressure was still a little high but had come down a lot. The dizziness was passing, and her color looked much better. When we left, I told the nurse I'd have my husband drive Viktor over tonight. Bob speaks Russian so he'll be a lot more useful than I could be.

Most of Jon Morgan's dinner tonight came from the hospital vending machine, but if that's the worst thing that comes out of the evening, I'd say we're all doing just fine. I hope Anna is well enough to come home soon.

Happy birthday to Will Shakespeare!

No definitive records of his birth exist, but most scholars accept April 23, 1564, as the Bard's birthday, because of church records that show his baptism having taking place April 26 of that year. Babies were commonly baptized at three days old. (They also accept this date as his birthday because they like the symmetry of it all - Shakespeare having died on April 23, 1616, presumably his 52nd birthday.)

So Will, this one's for you! Happy 448th.


He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

It's time for another edition of the Saturday Photo Hunt. This week's theme is REFLECT.

I took this photo while riding down an escalator in the convention center, the Palais des congres, in Montreal. There's a huge wall of windows in a patchwork of stained glass - big colorful squares of it. Inside the building, there's a shiny mirrored wall. The person sitting on the floor is resting against it.

I loved the way the colors poured in through the glass and bounced all over the room. In the photos I took from the escalator, I tried to capture the way color and light transform the space so that nothing seems solid. It felt almost like being underwater. Add to that a convention center full of thousands of sleep-deprived science fiction convention-goers (I was there for WorldCon at the time) and the scene reflects a quiet moment amidst the sense of unreality we were all feeling by this point in the week. Of all the photos I've ever shot, this is one of my favorites.

It's time for another edition of the Saturday Photo Hunt. Every week, intrepid Photo Hunters snap new pictures or search their archives for ones they've taken in the past, for an image that embodies the theme of the week. This week's theme is STURDY.

The photo shows my son sitting on top of a really big lump of anthracite coal. This was taken in the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, an old mining community in the northeast part of the state. This supersized briquette is in the town square in front of the historic train station. And it does seem quite sturdy.

Curious about the town's name? This has nothing to do with the photograph, but it's an interesting story.The town was named after the first Native American Olympics star, the runner and all-around athlete Jim Thorpe. In addition to being the only Olympian ever to win both the pentathlon and decathlon (in Stockholm in 1912), he played both professional football and professional baseball. Reportedly, he also excelled in horseback riding, basketball, and bowling. In fact, ESPN named Thorpe one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.

Surprisingly, Thorpe never lived in this town and, in fact, never even set foot in it. So why is the place named after him? After the athlete's death, his impoverished widow thought he had earned the right to be honored for his accomplishments. But his own state, Oklahoma, refused to erect a memorial. When Patricia Thorpe read that the small town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, was trying to attract business, she made a deal with town officials, who happily agreed to re-bury him there, erect a memorial, and change the town's name to honor him. And so his legacy survives. You might even say it's sturdy.

 



The theme for today's Saturday Photo Hunt is "awesome." Here is a shot I took of Old Faithful, when I visited Yellowstone a few years ago. We stayed at the Old Faithful Inn, close enough so we could watch eruptions while sitting on the balcony with a drink. But this picture was taken early the next morning, before all the day tourists arrived, from a spot close to the geyser. I had to take a dozen shots to get that sunburst through the trees.

Once again, here is the Saturday Photo Hunt. It's Monday, not Saturday, but I'm two days late because I had trouble deciding with photo to use this week. The theme is "fresh."

I took the photo on Oahu, in Hawaii. I loved the way the light was streaming down, so that the orchids seemed to glow.

But you know, I could be wrong about that. Maybe I should go back there and make sure.... Strictly in the interests of photographic integrity.

This week, the theme for the Saturday Photo Hunt  is SPICY. I took this photograph at South of the Border, a kitschy, over-the-top Mexican-themed rest stop along I-95, just south of the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

     For hours along the interstate, you've endured a parade of billboards extolling the charms of this place with dubious puns ("You never SAUSAGE a place!") and cringe-inducing cartoons of Pedro, SOB's horribly stereotypical mustachioed mascot. (And yes, South of the Border's abbreviation really is SOB.) When you finally reach Dillon, South Carolina, and see that giant sombrero rising above the trailer of the 18-wheeler that just cut you off, your curiosity has been piqued. You simply have to stop to convince yourself you're not hallucinating.

     Where else will you find a 200-foot-high observation tower shaped like a sombrero? Not to mention the 97-foot-high entrance gateway in the form of Pedro; you can drive between his legs! The place also sports t-shirt shops, souvenir stands, a Buick-sized silver shoe (why?), electric cacti, a bad Mexican restaurant, and a herd of garishly painted plaster animals. It's Roadside America meets Tijuana. On jalapeno-flavored steroids. Spicy.

(Still having trouble with the sudden blurring of sharp photos as soon as I post them here. Not sure what's happening there. Sorry about that.)

This week's Saturdy Photo Hunt theme is PLAY. Here is one I took of my son when he was four years old. I hung a sheet on the back porch, chose a variety of outfits and props, and did an all-afternoon photo session. He had a great time!

Unfortunately, this photo blurred up the moment I posted it on LiveJournal. My original was clear. Not sure what's happening there. But if you click on it, a sharper version will pop up.