Memorial Day

My little reflection on Memorial Day. Growing up, Memorial Day meant the opening of Rice Pool; it marked the beginning of summer, the end of school. I gave very little consideration to what its actual purpose was or even why it was named "Memorial Day." Over time, Memorial Day has come to mean a bit more to me.

Clover Park High School is near where Cherise and I live; sometimes when I walk Aslan, we walk by the school. Aslan likes it there because the grass is thick and has lots of interesting scents and the occasional fallen tree branch for him to claim. This weekend, the high school transformed the lawn into a memorial.

I first thought the markers were merely representative of Soldiers over time, but after looking closer saw that each marker had a name and dates for Soldiers who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I went back this morning and found the marker for John Edds - my roommate at West Point for a year.

 It's a funny kind of reassuring to know that people like John are remembered by more than those who lost them directly.  

Football and Puppy

Two recent events in this post. First up, my first Bears game. Paul and Vim, friend from Milwaukee were able to grab some tickets to the game; probably because of the Bears highly disappointing season so far. While it was a Bears loss, it was fairly contested throughout. The stadium, crowd, and food were everything I hoped for. Most of the pictures I took were actually of the city while getting to the game. Looking back, I wish that I could have had a tripod with me as all the night shots were taken by hand.



I took this picture of a beer tap when we grabbed a bite to eat on the way to the game. (1/20s at f/2.8, ISO 800, 70.0mm)


I liked the way the bridge, river, and buildings framed this section of the skyline and Sears tower. (1/50s at f/8.0, ISO 100, 24.0mm)


This was from the same bridge, but a slightly different angle. Again, I wish I'd had a tripod. (1/13s at f/2.8, ISO800, 24.0mm)


Merchandise Mart is the world's larger commercial building with 4.2 million square feet. (1/13s at f/2.8, ISO 800, 24.0mm)


Bus handles... (1/60s at f/2.8, ISO 800, 62.0mm)


Again, I wish I'd had a tripod... (1/30s at f/2.8, ISO 800, 48.0mm)


I took a similar shot at a University of Illinois game a few years ago. This didn't turn out as well, but it's still a fun shot. Again... a tripod would have been nice. (1/5s at f/9.0, ISO 100, 26.0-70.0mm)


Some might say the best the Bears looked all night... (1/60s at f/4.0, ISO 200, 70.0mm)

The second post is of Cherise's and my new St. Bernard puppy. His name is Aslan. Most of the pictures here were taken when he was around 6 lbs. We've had him for 3 weeks now and he is already 15 lbs.


Eating/Swimming... the little guy was pretty uncoordinated the first week or so. (1/100s at f/3.5, ISO 400)


(1/60 at f/3.5, ISO 400, 62mm)


His eyes are not blue anymore... more of a green/gray (1/125s at f/3.2, ISO 400, 105.0mm)


(1/30s at f/5.6, ISO 100, 105mm)


(1/320s at f/8.0 ISO100, 70mm)

Spurge gets married!

This summer I was able to go to Paul and Elizabeth's wedding in Milwaukee. I was there as Paul's best man, but still managed to take a couple pictures along the way! Here are some of the highlights. Most of them are in black and white.


Peter Marshall - one of Paul's groomsmen and one of his close friends from Wheaton College. This was at breakfast the morning of the wedding. We finally got Paul to break his diet... I think his diet was called... anorexia or something like that...



The lovely remnants of our breakfast!



The Church where they tied the knot. The lighting in there was great.



Vim - One of Paul's groomsman and close friend from Milwaukee. This is the man with insider connections all over Milwaukee.



At the Rehearsal, I didn't get to take many pictures, but here is one I did catch...



Me with Paul.



This is one of my favs. I managed to catch a glimpse of Elizabeth checking herself out in the mirror...



Shoes... Girls and their shoes, I will never understand.



This was while we were walking to take pictures in downtown Milwaukee



Leaving the church... I was fooling around with some of the brushes in Photoshop (I still have very little idea of what I'm doing in that program)



Paul and "Lizzy" sharing a moment at the reception



Taken during Elizabeth's Father's welcome at the reception.