Brothers -In-Law

I don't know how this is going to work, but we'll see. I haven't had much practice multitasking lately so it may or may not turn out. I'm watching a Humphrey Bogart movie on Turner Classic Movies while I'm writing this post and waiting for UPS to deliver my new scanner. I can't wait! It's almost like Christmas.

I've been sitting on this post for a while now, waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen that would be a great lead-in for the subject of Brothers-In-Law. I've about decided it's not going to happen, so I'll just go with what I've got.

This is Richard, who married Karen in 1977. He is a great cook and absolutely loves having a house full of kids - his own, or nieces and nephews - it doesn't matter. I remember once at mom's, when all the kids were driving everyone else nuts during a holiday gathering - and dinnertime was clearly sliding to the right - Richard loaded all the kids into his car and took them to dinner. . . by himself. . . alone. . . with no help! Imagine that.

This is David, who married Mary in 1988. He's a computer whiz and bicyclist (the only person I actually know who would ride his bike to work), who's always on top of the "Austin music scene". He's quiet, has a sharp wit - which he's passed on to his son - and the twinkle in his eye at family gatherings has me convinced that he's got all his in-laws's figured out.

This is Stan, who married Ellen in 1977. No party is complete without Stan. That's an understatement, really. Not many discussions are complete without Stan. Never at a loss for words, he has opinions on most everything and is more than happy to share them. I sometimes think that, to keep a discussion interesting, Stan is willing to argue any side of any point. That's probably not true for important subjects, but I think it is when he feels he can add to the entertainment value of a conversation.

This is Brad, who married Kathy in 1979. Brad died in 1995 and we all miss him. Brad seemed to inspire a party by his mere presence - and it was typically raucous. At one of our Inks Lake campouts, Brad fueled the entire weekend single-handedly by bringing a dozen or so cases of Miller Lite. But he didn't need to supply beer to work his magic - he was hilarious. When Brad and Stan got together, a circus broke out. I remember watching the pair of them painting the eaves on my dad's house one hot, summer afternoon. . .

This is Danny, who married Angela in 1990. He and I have much the same taste in reading material and have shared our books with each other for years. A gracious host for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners - again, for years - he seems only slightly less excited than Angela about their annual productions. He loves sports - playing, coaching, and refereeing; that and his family are what put the light in Danny's eyes.

*****

Bogie's gone, the post is ready, AND MY NEW SCANNER JUST ARRIVED!

Christmas Dinner

We had a relatively quiet Christmas dinner at Karen's and Richard's last night. Lisa was home from Dallas and  assumed the mantle of Chef to Richard's sous chef. (Earlier in the day, Lisa played Richard's saucier.) In any event, the meal was typically wonderful. I often wonder if there's a Tulk that can't cook. . . but I suppose that it's really just as important that there are Parkers around to appreciate Tulk cooking.

After dinner Ben, the hiking boot in the lower left corner, Daniel, with the laptop, and Stephen, with the pensive look, discussed General Heinz Guderian (2nd Panzer Group, Operation Barbarossa) while Natalie watched the Pixar film "Up". In the background, Mother and Richard are probably discussing the surfeit of desserts in on the kitchen table. Please note Karen's exceedingly fine effort at Christmas decoration.

While Daniel elucidated on Guderian, Stephen was coming to the conclusion that Daniel's beard and hat combination suggested an exuberant reveller AWOL from a U-boat Christmas party. The photographer heartily concurred.

This shot, in the kitchen, shows said reveller with his Führer - oooops! Father - sampling several of the desserts available.

Maureen was with us too. I caught her here taking a breath while she washed the dinner dishes, scrubbed the kitchen floor, polished the silver, reorganized the refrigerator, etc. It occurs to me I ought to invite her to dinner at my house. . .

Eventually, we got Maureen to sit down while we worked on the dessert table. Of course, when we were finished with that, we pretty much just wanted to stretch out and ponder the relative merits of buttermilk pie, chocolate pie, and pumpkin delight. The Ecstacy of Socks, below, says it all.

Have a Wonderful Christmas

Gillian flew back to Atlanta yesterday to spend this Christmas with her mother. We had a nice, rather quiet 10 days or so together which climaxed with a great family Christmas party at Angela's and Danny's up in Arlington. The relaxed nature of the week more or less mirrored my first year back in Austin. While the slow-motion lifestyle I've settled into suits me well, please remember those who find themselves similarly becalmed when they would much prefer to be working full-time. May 2010 provide us all a fair share of happiness and as much work as it takes for each of us to be satisfied.

The picture above was taken this morning from the National Park Service's Purchase Knob WebCam I featured in the Fall when the autumn colors in western North Carolina had captured my attention.

Cousins V

It occurred to me - when I finally looked at the calendar - that 40 years ago today, I left Mundelein, Illinois for my 1 year tour at NavSta  Adak, Alaska. In November 1969 I left NAS Kingsville, went home to Austin for a week, then took off to visit friends in Coral Gables, Florida, Asheville, North Carolina, and Mundelein. I had to pack enough fun into that month to last a year in the Aleutians. I did that, for sure. It was so long ago. . .

*****

It's hard to remember when Drew was this size. The picture of Drew and Gillian was taken at Thanksgiving in 2002 at grandmother's house in Grand Prairie. Angela and the kids were headed home, but there was more fun to be had.

I've always liked this one of Allison and Natalie playing with their dolls in grandmother's living room. This picture too was taken at Thanksgiving 2002.

This shot was taken in 2003 at Thanksgiving, once again at grandmother's house. The holidays are great for taking pictures because of the target rich environment. So many kids, and all of them hams!

But, with Thanksgiving behind us, it's time for Christmas parties. This abrupt change must have decremented the generation switch. This is a picture of Michael and Bill at Bill's annual Christmas party in 2004. Five years hence, Gillian and I will be headed up tomorrow to this year's party at Angela's.

Gillian's Vacation in Oz

I picked Gillian up at the Austin airport Saturday for her December visit. She'd just returned from her visit with David and Amy and told me I could post some of her pictures from the trip. So, the following pictures were taken by either Gillian, David, or Amy. I'll offer brief, incisive comments (as usual) for your edification.

The cockatoo above  dropped by Dave and Amy's apartment for a snack. Such visits are not unusual.

Dave and Gillian took off for a drive up the coast where Gillian took the ferry across the mouth of the Hawkesbury River from Palm Beach, past Barrenjoey Head and Lion Island to Umina Beach to visit with her great aunt Christine and great uncle Bob. Then Dave returned the next day to pick her up at the ferry. These pictures were taken at at the Marine Park overlook on the way back to Manly.

Several years ago, when Gillian graduated from high school and Sally took her to Japan, Sally bought Dave a pair of shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flutes). He was apparently pleased; Gillian says he "takes it everywhere". That includes to the Japanese gardens in Wellington, where Dave and Gillian went to visit their grandmother. Here, Dave is charming the koi a la the Pied Piper.

The pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge were taken at the end of Gillian's trip when Gillian, Dave, and Amy spent the day wandering about the The Rocks and Sydney Cove areas of the city.

These last two are back at the apartment in Manly that last day before Gillian flew home. Above, Amy got this shot of Dave and Gillian on the balcony near sunset. Below, they were sharing bread and honey with another avian visitor - this one a Rainbow Lorikeet. They don't get much brighter than this. . .

Blender Techniques

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to hear that I've decided to declare victory over my recent computer ills.

Mission Accomplished!

As it turned out, the 40 GB slave HD on the old computer is the one that failed - even though the error message I got when this all started told me the master HD was the culprit. When I installed the slave drive in the enclosure and fired it up, all I got for my trouble was the same horrible sound I heard last Thursday - reminded me of trying to crank car that ain't gonna start anyway, and hearing metal on metal that sets your teeth on edge.

So I made a list of everything I could remember that was on that drive and checked to see what was and what was not backed up. As far as I can tell, I'm missing my folder of 2008 pictures, some of which have been duplicated in other folders. For some reason, all the pictures I took on my tour of the Southwest in the Spring of 2008, were duplicated in another folder on the other drive. Good karma, man. I did lose a lot of the pics from my trip to Kim's and Robert's ranch in west Texas - looks like I'm going to have to go out and shoot all those longhorns again, but someone has to do it.

*****

Ever been really thirsty? I'm not quite sure exactly what Lisa's fixing here. We usually like to save Richard's SuperBlender for important jobs - like emergency daiquiris or Nucular 'Ritas - but this . . . I just don't know, although her technique is good.

Sometimes, a difference of opinion over technique can cause some fireworks, but it seldom seems to take much effort for Maureen to make Richard see things her way. It's probably her dimples. One thing's for sure - despite the technique, at the end of the day all the daiquiris and margaritas will be gone.

Now Karen, after her trip with Richard to China for Steve's and Tanya's wedding, came back with an oriental technique called "the Whining Crane", which appears to be derived from one or more of the martial arts. It doesn't make the daiquiris or 'ritas taste any better, but it tends to scare off hangers-on who may be inclined to diss her technique.

But Stan is truly "the Man". No muss, no fuss. His magaritas rock! and he stays on task, delivering the product on time and on budget - while calmly refuting any arguments that may arise over his San Antonio Technique. (He used to have a "Tyler Technique", but Tyler's in a dry county so, for the street creds, he had to change it to San Antonio Technique.)

Now I'm thirsty.

Hook 'Em

Well, This has been a fine weekend. I've been trying to work out a recovery plan for my computer ills and, to show you how vexed I was about it, I passed up a chance to go down to Ellen's in San Antonio with Stephen to watch football. First of all, I found a small program on the 'Net that fixed my file access problems. Then, I found a line I'd saved a few years ago in my computer notes that suggested a way to install Picture Publisher 10 on Windows 7 - and it worked like a charm! Then I found upgrades for my photo management program and my voice recognition software. So I've got my files and my programs now, and life is good.

While I was doing all that, I was sneaking peeks at the Conference USA Championship game as the East Carolina University Pirates beat up on the Houston Cougars. One of the signs in the stands brandished by a Pirates fan had an arrow pointing at his friend standing next to him. It said:

"The only Cougar I like is his mom!"

Then came the football highlight of the day - which almost matched my computer maintenance successes. That would be watching 'Bama dismantle Florida in the SEC Championship game. Of course, watching that game I kept hearing the whispered warning, "Be careful what you wish for." Alabama was awesome.

And finally, there was the Big XII Championship in the Cowboys new stadium in Arlington - known variously as "Jerry's Place", "The House that Jerry Built", or - Stephen's favorite - "The Boar's Nest" (or is that "The Bore's Nest"?) The Longhorns didn't impress anyone - till possibly the last minute and a half. When the clock hit 00:00 (the second time) Hunter Lawrence had kicked a last second field goal and Texas won - by a point.

HOOK 'EM

*****

If there are any sailors out there, they should recognize the signal flags at the top of the post as 

WHISKEY PAPA.

Thanksgiving 2009

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that Thanksgiving at Angela's and Danny's went very well. Of course, that was last week, in the Pre-Windows 7 era. I'm really feeling adrift without my image processing program, though some other areas are returning to "normal". I decided to go ahead and post a few of the pictures from the holiday in Arlington simply because my blog looks so drab without a few pictures.

Early Thursday morning Blake was ready for the party to start, but learned that being the "early bird" isn't always what it's cracked up to be. There were a few of us stirring but, with most of the clan still asleep and a few fanatics off running Turkey Trots, he must have found the early entertainment value of the environment well below his expectations.

Melissa and Tracy returned with Matt from the Fort Worth Turkey Trot and things picked up with their infusion of energy. Lisa surfaced a little later after running in the Dallas Turkey Trot - she had to pick up her various pies and her storied sweet potatoes. . . thank Heaven.

Lauren was ready by the time dinner was served. In the meanwhile, she worked off her excess energy by cruising the sun room on her "Rip Stick" and amazing her aunts and uncles with her mastery of the high tech skateboard.

After the Thanksgiving meal - and the Cowboys taking care of the Oakland Raiders - "the Big Kids (okay, Stephen and I) found ourselves at loose ends waiting for the Texas / Texas A&M game. I wandered out front with my camera and sat for awhile on the retaining wall, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my back. Cathie pointed out a butterfly flitting about Angela's flowerbed and, a few minutes later Lisa cruised by with a comment about my "shooting bugs" again. (She says lepidopterae are still bugs!) I was drawn to this burnt orange and white example and took its arrival as a good omen for the upcoming game.

Update 1

Well, in ten hours I managed to install and test Microsoft Office, Lotus Organizer, and Power DVD, Picture Publisher, Calendar Creator, and Dragon Naturally Speaking failed - but Dragon has an update that I'll get to eventually. Surprisingly enough, Office and Organizer both installed with no problem.

Most of the image files I tried to transfer came over with no problem, but a few folders are giving me problems and, within those folders, the images aren't being recognized as jpg's. In any case, I'm going to watch the end of Georgia / Georgia Tech and go to bed. I think this business is going to take awhile. . .

Good News and Bad News

This will be a necessarily spare post, for reasons which will become clear shortly. The Good News is that Thanksgiving at Angela's and Danny's was typically wonderful and that my return to Austin on Friday was pleasant, as I departed early enough that holiday traffic was "not a factor". I arrived home soon enough that I didn't miss any football. The Bad News is that at halftime of the Alabama / Auburn game, my eight year old computer crashed - evaluation of the meltdown damage is TBD and will probably trickle in over the next few weeks.

The Good news is that my New Computer - which I obtained this morning as soon as BestBuy opened - is up and running. The Bad News is I'll be very busy and have to be very lucky to recover all my data. Even the pictures I took Thursday in Arlington had already been dumped to the computer. I've got a recovery plan - it just remains to be seen whether it's any good or not.

The Good News is that the Old Machine lasted through the Windows Vista Era. The Bad News is I don't have a clue whether my favorite image processing software will run on Windows 7 - I've been using that software, Micrografx Picture Publisher, since Version 2 and had been using the final Version 10 (there will be no updates) and I absolutely hate Photoshop.

I was going to continue with the Good News, Bad News theme but I think I'd better get busy implementing my recovery plan. I already found out last night that I don't enjoy the football as much when I can't access the Internet during the games. I'm sure glad I got my new TV a couple of months ago to help me through this. . .

Lake Powell Sunset --- Again

Well, I went back to the original picture files and, sure enough, my forgetting the tripod left a slice missing in the middle of the composite below. I did find a third picture I could use to fill the gap after adjusting the zoom, exposure, and fixing the boat's wake. All in all, I'm satisfied with it. But it would have been simple with a tripod.

Don't forget - you can click on the picture to see a larger version.

Lake Powell Sunset

Returning to Page, AZ after a day of taking pictures at Bryce Canyon National Park in April 2008 I was lucky enough to find the turnoff to the Lake Powell overlook that Kathie had pointed out to me a couple of days before. I'm used to overlooks that are fifty feet or so off the road, like in the Smokies; this one was about a mile from the highway down a gravel road, but Kathie had told me it was a great view and she wasn't wrong.

The first shot is looking NNE over the Wahweap Marina towards Castle Rock. When the lake level is up, there's a channel across that penninsula from Wahweap Bay to Warm Creek Bay in the distance. Since my visit they've deepened the channel - Castle Rock Cut - by eight feet. When the lake level is high enough that the route's open, it cuts about 12 miles off the voyage upstream.

 

The second view is slightly right of the first - the marina is at the edge of the picture. I took this whole series of shots from the overlook sitting on the tailgate of my pick-'em-up truck. And, of course, the whole series reminds me how annoyed I was with myself for not bringing my tripod along. So many of these vistas cry out for a good panorama and I forgot the tripod! I may go back through my shots and see if I can create one after the fact - I'll let you know.

This last shot was shot slightly to the right of the second, looking east with Navajo Mountain on the horizon in the center - maybe I can align these three. At any rate, what I like best about these, I think, is the dark foreground with warmly lit scrub brush, gravel, etc. It was interesting to sit there for 45 min watching the light change and shooting while the sun sank behind me.

Illusion

I was looking for something else, but came across these pictures which I've always liked. One Saturday afternoon in the summer of 2002, Gillian and I grabbed our cameras and took the Suburban up to the Smoky Mountains to see what we could see. As usual, we headed north through Ellijay and Blue Mound, Murphy and Andrews then, just before entering the Nantahala Gorge, we turned north and headed up through Robbinsville towards Fontana Lake, and back east towards Bryson city. I think these pictures are of the Little Tennessee River, though I wouldn't bet my camera on it.

The thing that intrigued me about our roadside view of the river, and what these shots attempt to show, is the initial confusion and possibly even a little vertigo induced by looking down through the leaves from the riverbank and seeing clouds in the Carolina blue instead of the fast-moving, rocky stream you typically find in the Smokies.

 

Of course, the sky and clouds are simply reflections in an unusually wide section of the Little Tennessee on a bright day devoid of even the slightest hint of a breeze. It's interesting to me that, looking at the pictures, you can concentrate on the leaves and determine that you're looking down through the branches - then allow yourself to notice the sky in the background and experience that confusion again.

 

The Quality of Light

Stephen and I were discussing shadows and changing light in relation to his paintings and my photography. On my drive through the Southwest in the spring of 2008, I didn't have the luxury of arranging my shooting schedule to the changing light - I pretty much had to shoot what I saw when I saw it and move along. Generally, the lighting at midday is much less dramatic than at sunrise or sunset but, if you look for it, you can usually find something to snag your interest.

When we got deeper into our discussion of reflected light, the picture above came to mind. I took it in Antelope Canyon from a cruise boat on Lake Powell. The rim of the Canyon was over 100 feet above the lake level. In this instance, the rock face shone reflected the clear blue sky for the most part and appears cool to the touch. But to the right, where the underside of the rock reflects light from the red sandstone, the edge of the Canyon almost seems to be catching fire.

On a somewhat grander scale, the canyon wall - even when in the shadow of the sun - is comparatively well lit by reflected light from the opposite face of the canyon. In contrast with the sky, the red sandstone is clearly warm. I find it especially interesting that in this picture, the sandstone seems even warmer than the glow of the sun itself, barely masked by the rim of the canyon.

Another variable affecting the quality of light is the angle of incidence. This study of the texture of the canyon wall was shot almost perpendicular to the wall - well below the canyon rim - completely in shadow, and lit primarily by reflected light from the opposite wall. Indeed, without knowing exactly where I was when I took the picture, I wouldn't be able to tell that this picture wasn't in direct sunlight.

NAS Kingsville, TX

Can you say South Texas? Rattlesnakes, Prickly Pear, and Santa Gertrudis cattle. The King Ranch and Padre Island. Tony Joe White* and "Polk Salad Annie".

On November 5, 1967 - 42 years ago today - I reported for duty at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station Kingsville, TX. I was an Air Controlman Airman (ACAN) fresh out of Air Traffic Control "A" School at NAS Glynco, GA. I'd been in the Navy since the previous March, finished boot camp in June, and been mugged on Jacksonville Beach, FL in July. I had an early pick among classmates from available duty stations - but none of the "Prime" duty stations was available (Barbers Point, HI, North Island, CA, or Pensacola FL). I followed the conventional wisdom and passed up sea duty on a carrier, briefly considered Argentia, Newfoundland, and Keflavik, Iceland (also considered sea duty - there must be a reason for that) and settled on Kingsville because it was only 200 miles from home (there was nothing available near Asheville, NC).

 

Kingsville was a good place to start out, with plenty of local traffic - three oversized training squadrons (VT-21, VT-22, and VT-23 flying Grumman TF-9J Cougars), and regular visits from wandering Air Force birds to keep things interesting. It was here, on one of my first trips to the control tower, that I saw a flight of two T-38's from San Antonio (Kelly or Randolf AFB) in a surprise break at midfield for runway 35 between numbers three and four of a flight of four Cougars in the break for runway 13 (the duty runway). Apparently, none of the pilots even saw their opponents in the traffic pattern, and everyone in the tower was struck dumb. For my part, I was so traumatized by the event I fairly jumped at the offer to attend GCA school and spent the next seven years in Radar, where you didn't have to watch actual airplanes.

*In 1964, Tony Joe White's band played an uninterrupted engagement of eight months, six nights a week, in a Kingsville club. I have to assume the club was The Inferno. He was still coming back regularly when I left Kingsville in November 1969, and always packed the house.

Halloweens Past

When I sent my last post, I saw the date and remembered I'd collected these pics Halloweens Past. I only regret that I missed the Halloween at Inks Lake many years ago. I invite any of you who remember that weekend to tell us about it below in a comment.

1984 - David and Lisa after a hard day of pre-school at Child Craft.

 

1986 - David at our home in Powder Springs, GA.

1986 - Kat (Nicolette) the Cat in front of Grandmother's house in Grand Prairie. I scanned this from Mother's collection, so I suspect Cathie or Dad took the picture.

 

1987 - David as Dracula at home in Powder Springs

1999 - Nat the Bat at home in Austin. Maureen sent me the pics.

2006 - Lauren and unidentified friend at home in Arlington.

 

2007 - Allison, Gillian, and Lauren at Ellen's and Stan's in San Antonio.

2007 - Allison and Lauren w/ jack-o-lantern in San Antonio.

2007 - Kat and Gillian in San Antonio.