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23
Jul 19

More underwater stuff on the site

Have you seen the home page of my site today? I updated it. Just go to W-W-W dot KennySmith dot Org to see some pretty new imagery on the front page. And then come back here, of course. We’ll wait.

(This’ll take about 30 seconds, but go at your own pace. I’m good.)

(Ready?)

Welcome back, then. And since you’re already here, you’ve likely already seen the good stuff from our dive trip, and if not, kindly click on that “Roatan” link above the post’s title. In addition to all of that wonderment, I had a lot of fun making these little social media promotional bits from the extra dive footage we shot.

This little number comes from an ill-timed photo burst. Sometimes it is challenging to figure out what the GoPro is doing underwater. We plugged the card into a computer later and saw a huge sequence of photographs of nothing in particular and this little thing was born:

When I say footage we shot it, I mean what my lovely wife shot. She was happy snapping away with the camera, and I was happy inhaling a tank of air much too quickly while watching the world go by. Probably 97 percent of the photos and videos we brought back are things she shot. Oh, I’d point out things not in her line of sight from time to time, and I edited all the things you’ve seen go on my site the last few weeks, but she captured almost all of it. She’s excellent at being talented.

Of course I had to get a few of her here and there. And I can’t take just one photograph. While she’s mugging for the camera, I’m firing off multiples, and that led to this fun little gif:

At least 20 people clicked through from those tweets, so it was worth it.

Also, my Photoshop and video editing software are presently loaded up with other spare and recycled clips that I’ll use for … something or another.


24
Jun 19

It was a quiet weekend

This is the Hemerocallis daylily. But you better enjoy it quickly; each bloom only sticks around for a day or so.

We went for a little bike ride on Saturday before the sunny weather turned gray. And then on Sunday we lost power for about seven hours. I was trying to remember the last time I was out of power for that long. I’m guessing it’s been 25 years. But the microburst we encountered yesterday was pretty serious and the local utility company doesn’t really clear the power line paths very well, besides.

So the power went out around 3 p.m. and we sat and read. We decided we’d rather go out for dinner than grill out as another storm cell began moving through. Guess where we went:

And after Cracker Barrel, we made it back home to find more darkness. So we read some more.

Finally as the sun slipped away, the power company’s app kept pushing back the projected repair time. I started kicking myself for not buying extra batteries while we were across town having dinner. So went to the big red box store and got big armfuls of AA and C batteries.

Just as we pulled back into the driveway, the neighborhood burst into light. So we have batteries for next time.


21
Jun 19

Still feels like an anniversary to me

We got roses for our anniversary and they’re now decorating our kitchen. Aren’t they lovely?

You know how it is. You decide to take pictures and then someone has to be goofy about it. And then someone else laughs at the goofiness and then just encourages the instigator. It’s an old story. It happened to us last night. I took the extra photos and made a little slideshow.

We saw this guy last night after dinner while we were out for ice cream.

(Update: He finished second in his age group.)


17
Jun 19

Hanging with the fam’

Friday I sat on the porch swing with my mother and enjoyed a beautiful spring morning. Spent some time at the pool, hung out with a college kid. You know, the usual. Saturday we visited with my grandfather and my uncle. And, just as importantly:

Also, we had a session with a lovely little pooch:

We went to church and had lunch with my grandfather on Sunday. We had dinner at a barbecue joint with my stepfather to round out the Father’s Day festivities. We had a lovely little weekend all the way around.


6
Jun 19

The 75th anniversary of D-Day

A good friend of ours is a US Army officer, a paratrooper. Five years ago, he had the opportunity to jump into France as a part of the 70th anniversary ceremonies commemorating D-Day.

He jumped with this flag, which hangs in my office.

Here’s a video of his jump. He went out the door of a German plane on a beautiful day over Normandy.

That view makes it difficult to imagine jumping into the dark, knowing the enemy you’ve been training for is waiting below.

Ernie Pyle came ashore soon after and helped people back home understand what the men and boys in Europe were up against:

And then, of course, Ronald Reagan talked about some of those famous exploits at the 40th anniversary: