US Cycling Championships

120 professional cyclists on a 115-mile course. They pass so darn fast it's really a challenge to get a good shot (at least it's hard for me, with my camera!)

Superman wears Sarah Palin pajamas

Palin fever has swept through my house and I'm now excited about a race that has not caused me to even tune in heretofore.
Just had to get that out there.
Now, I'll return to my regularly scheduled photography.

Aerial photos

My boss on Friday afternoon borrowed my camera to take some shots from above. The top photo shows our school. It is bordered to the right by I-85 North, and appears in the upper right corner of the "block" you see. The lower right corner is a CarMax, the lower left corner is a factory, and the upper left corner (new construction) is a new public high school. It's amazing how an aerial shot flattens a landscape. St. Joseph's is perched overlooking I-85 and the rest of the block on a hill that is almost undetectable from the photo.



Anyone who's blood runs orange will recognize Death Valley in the lower photo, with Littlejohn Colosseum in the foreground. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's Clemson University's stadium.

Thanks to my guest photographer Charlie for the shots!

Ubiquitous neighbors

I live in a really great city. But its unique sense of place is, as everywhere else I suppose, slowly giving way to the universally recognizable. My home is, sadly, conveniently situated a short walk from both of these. More and more, Bill and I would like to find or build a place that has a singular feel to it, away from the chain retailers and nearer to the heart of our unique city.

Last night found us having a party for Mackenzie's 17th birthday, so it's a bit draggy around the house this morning. Of course my husband is up and at it. Bill's riding with a fellow adventure racer, because he is training for a triathlon? half-iron man? adventure race? coming up soon (I can't keep all his races straight!) I'm headed to mass, and this afternoon we hope to meet up and watch the US Cycling Championships, which are being held in our city. I'll try out the new camera there.

Scuba diving

For his 15th birthday Clark got scuba diving lessons. He started yesterday. He usually makes goofy faces when he sees a camera, so I'm particularly grateful for this shot. He's grown this summer and is starting to fill out; he doesn't look like a kid anymore.

Thanks to those who gave me advice. What I ended up doing was going back to Canon. The camera I lost in the river was a Canon Powershot, and I liked it. I decided that I've tried three cameras since then -- an Olympus, a Samsung, and a Lumix -- and I haven't been happy with any, though the Samsung was pretty good. I have a Nikon manual camera that I like, and I hope to get a Nikon D80 one of these days, but for something to stick in my pocket I'm going to go with a known quantity and get a Powershot. Let's hope I don't have to return this one!

Belly dancer

Bill and I tried a Persian restaurant last night, and we were greeted at our table by a belly dancer. A bit out of our norm, but we had a nice time and the food was great.

Gearing up

Clark is working as a trainer for the fledgling football team at his school. They are beginning the program with a C team this year, so Clark and Mackenzie are too old to participate in playing. Clark will work as a trainer, and Mackenzie for his fall sport will run cross country.

I'm not sure I'm happy with the camera. I'll have to work with it more to see if it is operator error or equipment issues. But the pics seem very pixelated to me; very few of the ones I took today are even OK.

When kids get bored

This was what Clark worked on this afternoon.

Here we go again?

In an exciting turn of events, I have bought a camera! It's not a D80...I'm just not ready for that yet, but it is a Panasonic Lumix that I got at Costco on the camera guy's recommendation. I have a 90 return if I don't like it, so I plan on playing with it for awhile and putting it through the paces. But I have a camera! I can blog again! I know you are all just dying to see all the exotic sights in South Carolina!

In other news, Mackenzie has a staph infection (his forearm, of all the weird places). But he hasn't wrecked anything lately, and this isn't a MRSA, so I can deal with it.
My dd is dating someone and called today to see if we wanted to meet him for lunch in a few weeks. Ack!
My job is going well, and I just finished up teaching an online art appreciation class (thanks, Julie!). I had a great time with it, but I'm ready to enjoy the last few days of summer. I start at my job with regular fulltime hours next week.... that's going to be an adjustment for someone who was a stay-at-home mom for 21 years! But it will be fun.

Hopefully tomorrow I can start photoblogging more regularly!