Gruene, Texas, 2014
This is one of my favorite photos of 2014.
First of all, here are my four boys (three sons and one grandson). It’s highly unusual to have the four of them together in one place, so this was a special day.
Check out the expression on the little one’s face. He is serious. This is a very rare expression, as his typical personality is that of a Big Tease. His father, in the black shirt, is trying not to laugh because he knows that his son, the boy with his little hands on his uncles’ shoulders, is very proud to be standing in the back of the truck and getting his picture taken with “the guys”.
Every time I see this photo–it has a place of honor on the fridge–I smile.
The third reason I love this photo is that it exists. Three hours before this photo was taken, we were hit by a semi on the interstate. We (Banjo Man, Sarge, Son #2 and I) were in Sarge’s replacement BMW (his was having some minor work done on it that day), cruising along in the far right lane preparing to exit. The semi in the next lane over drifted into our lane, hit the back left bumper and stayed there.
We think the driver had fallen asleep, as it took him more than a few moments to realize he was burning a hole in the bumper of a BMW.
We were not hurt. Scared, but not hurt. Sarge handled everything with great calm, with the help of his cell phone and the eventual arrival of the State Police.
If we had been in the mini van we’d originally intended to drive, we’d have been in real trouble.
So thank you, BMW, for our lives.
Cousin’s Weekend, 2014
This picture portrays one of the funniest mornings of 2014. Cousins Weekend had included truck washing and shooting lessons on Saturday, but the Grand Finale was the annihilation of the wacko groundhog that had been terrorizing Banjo Man. We then enjoyed what I called The Assassins Brunch.
Maybe you had to be there.
This photo started my obsession with finding arrowheads via photographs. It was a kind of “Where’s Waldo” exercise that was done at night instead of watching television. Because we don’t have television at the lake house.
I discovered I loved taking pictures of rocks. I never found the tiny arrowhead in the top left corner of the above photo, but my hours on the beach in September and October were some of the calmest hours of the year.
I’m framing this one for my office.
And the one below? I love the shadows and textures. I just know there must be an arrowhead in there somewhere!
We still have power, though the storm is raging outside. The weather pundits say we have 16 more hours of this, but so far the trees are still standing and the driveway remains clear (except for a foot of snow and some impressive drifts).
