Sleep Well, Cat Friends

You did not have too much to offer us. That was not your way. Even so, you were with us through very interesting times of our lives. For good and for bad, we'll not be able to think back to those times without remembering you as well.

Forest, I appreciate that as old as you were, you still had antics. I hope that there are plenty of sunbeams where you've gone in which you can nap.

Duncan, you were a loyal brother to the end and your fate was most unfair. I will miss you curling up next to me on the couch.

Still we see you then remember again that you are gone. I did not expect to miss you.

Aquaduct Redux

Not far from our house is the place where the Mighty Monocacy River meets the Powerful Potomac. Since there use to be a canal along the Potomac, an aqueduct was built to cross the Monocacy. We returned there today to let the dog have a swim and to help the kids develop some hiking skills. With the wonderful spring weather (finally!) we could not help but have a good time, especially Charlie.

giantSteps Hosted on Zooomr

lookingUp Hosted on Zooomr

ductSide07 Hosted on Zooomr

The Avalanche's U6 Season Continues

Today was about the 4th game for the U6 Avalanche. The battled the Dark Blue team whose name I don't know. For the first half, it was a good thing (for the Avalanche) that score is not kept for U6 soccer. Things turned around a bit in the second half, and the mighty Avalanche managed to score a few.

Of all the players on the team, Alex is one of them. He prefers playing defense, but will play offensively as well. He has mastered the finer skills of the game such as putting on his shin guard up-side-up and generally knowing which goal he is defending.

Here are some shots, courtesy of my (new to me) Minolta 70-210 F4 lens, aka "The Beer Can"

cornerKicker Hosted on Zooomr

crazyLegs Hosted on Zooomr

Sights Unseen

I've been using Zooomr to archive and share all the photos that I take that are worth sharing. One nice feature of Zooomr is the ability to create "Smart Sets" which allow you to filter your collection on one or more criteria. For example, I have a kids set and a birthday set. There is even a set of my attempts at artistic photography.

I've also created some sets based on number of times the photo has been viewed. I'm not world famous yet, so right now my "hall of fame" sets are 50+ views and 100+ views.

Today for fun, I also created a set for pictures that have been viewed less than 5 times. Of my 366 photos, 33 have less than 5 views. You can see a screen shot of these to the left.

Looking over these shots, some trends stand out. Logically, newly posted photos are likely to be included (5 of these shots were posted in the last few days). Another trend is [REDACTED]

What surprises me are some of the cool pictures in this set that have been posted for a while and [REDACTED]. The "Chicken on the Can" shot? Who wouldn't want to look at that? The Klingon holding Duck Brown? Not something you see every day. The one with me in Vegas? Come on, I'm not in many of my own shots, so you should look at the ones I'm in.

Anyway, I hope you all take the time to follow the link to this set, then view some of the shots in it so they can get out of the club. I figure if everyone who regularly reads this blog clicks on a given shot, it will only take 3 or 4 additional views to get it over 5.

Busy Saturday

I arose early Saturday morning to catch the sunrise on an old stone spring house that I've been wanting to photograph for a while. It was near enough to bike, and had it not been cloudy, I would have arrived just in time. Even so, I got some half decent shots:

springHouse Hosted on Zooomr

On the ride back, I stopped at another unused old building - this time a barn across from my neighborhood. Just photographing some of this stuff made me feel like I need a tetanus shot.



Next up was the opening day of U6 Soccer - Our Avalanche (now in white) vs the Yellow Wildcats. Both teams showed improvements, and the game was much closer than when these two teams met opening day in the fall (or it would have been had score been kept). Here are some shot of Alex in the "Big Kick" defense:

alexSoccer3 Hosted on Zooomr

alexSoccer2 Hosted on Zooomr

It was then back to the house for a quick lunch, before heading for the Shady Grove Metro station to take the subway into DC. The main reason for this trip was so that Shelley could pick up her packet for Sunday's Cherry Blossom 10 Mile race. (She finished the race in under 90 minutes which is quite impressive for a woman her age). While Shelley was off getting her stuff, the kids and I went to the Air and Space Musuem. The highlight of this was Digital Dome hi-def planetarium show.

It was then time for some hot dogs, popcorn, and requisite carousel rides in the mall before dragging our tired selves back to metro and back home.

familyMall Hosted on Zooomr

ellaMallPicnic Hosted on Zooomr

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alexMall Hosted on Zooomr

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