Waffles & Hank the Pup

Just yesterday, James, icaryn's biggest fan, was asking me what's the obsession with waffles. There's not really an obsession, but in the words of JS, they are "legendary." What's not to like? You get to play with your food (decorate them), they're nice to photograph (makes the meal a tax write-off ... just kidding) & they taste good too (at least the fruit is healthy).

Anna, Chris & Beth came over for some of my famed waffles. Even though Anna is a waffle virgin & Chris/Beth are waffle regulars, they do have something in common (besides golf/photography) ... Chocolate Labs.

After breakfast we walked over to meet Hank ... a 6 month-old pup. Shelby is gonna be very jealous when they get home smelling like Hank.


After Chris & Hank were done making out ...


... Beth & Hank were Dirty Dancing!


Hank could tell that I love dogs.


Anna captures the lovefest.

Lost in the Flood

Amy & I were due to tee off at 9:09am, but it wasn't meant to be. I walked across my bedroom & wet footprints appeared in the carpet. Upon closer examination we heard water flowing in the wall. UGH! We shut the water main, but the damage had already been done.

A plumber arrived within an hour & determined where to cut the drywall. UGH! A glue joint came loose, but he fixed it quickly.

Next, the water damage restoration specialists came. They determined that the carpet was a total loss & started ripping it out. Bummer, since the master carpet is only a year old.

There was a lot of water, but they couldn't remove all of the carpet until the waterbed was drained & disassembled.

They removed the baseboard molding & drilled more holes in the wall. Then they set up 3 dryers (one had hoses piped into the wall) & 2 gigantic dehumidifiers. They're REALLY noisy ... like a jet engine & will probably have to run for a week.

After that a guy came to drain/disassemble my waterbed. Next up is a structural engineer & the insurance adjuster. What a MESS! This wasn't what I planned for my day off.

Melissa Rocks!

Amy came to town for a little golf & good music. She got us 3rd row seats for the Melissa Etheridge concert in the 80-year-old historic Florida Theatre. It's a small venue with awesome acoustics.

Amy wanted me to bring a camera & I refused. Eventually I gave in & agreed to bring the F30. Tons of people had cameras & at one point in the show, Melissa asked the audience to shoot videos so she could check them out on YouTube. She puts on a great show, like a cross between Bruce Springsteen & Janis Joplin.

Surprise Party

Emily, Jessica & Madeline threw a great 30th anniversary party at Lizzie & Peter's house.

Bobby & Patty were completely surprised.

There was a little typo on the custom M&Ms. It should say "Bob" not "Boob"!!!

Jessica, Madeline, Bobby, Emily & Patty pose with a life-size cardboard cutout of B & P (age 15 at the prom). They were apparently shopping for engagement rings about the same time.

Yum! Tuna sashimi with a honey soy drizzle.

Billy was pretty animated describing Lizzie's close call (almost spilling the beans on the surprise party) with her Blackberry message below. We all had a good laugh.


Mom & Hank


Jessica put together a DVD of their life in pictures. Very entertaining ... there were some great ones.

Employee Golf Results

Question: What do 3 birdies, 2 bogeys & 4 pars get you when you have a pathetic handicap?
Answer: 1st Place Low Net (with a net score of 18.38) & gift certificates for $7.50 each. Woohoo!

I think JR should have one of those giant winner's check made so we can shoot a team photo for my blog.

Employee Golf

Well I bit the bullet & gave in. I haven't played employee golf since the pink ball incident (July 19, 2006). I couldn't possibly turn down the opportunity to play with JR, Rob & Chris on the back 9 of Dye's Valley Course. Tonight's format was a four person scramble. Each team had to use at least one drive from each player.

Rob & camera-shy JR were ready to go.

We just had to wait for Chris & Gavin to finish their staring contest. I think Chris blinked first.

Rob worked on balancing 2 golf balls ...

... while I was busy shooting details.

I had the best drive on our second hole. I was glad to get that out of the way.

We had 3 birdies, 2 bogeys, & parred 4 holes. Pretty good.

Nice clouds.

Our team had a waffle celebration after our round. Here's Rob's tic-tac-toe waffle masterpiece. JS cracked up when I accidentally referred to it as Wob's Raffle.

Breakfast ... oops, I mean dinner of champions.

Corn Nut Fairy

I had a salt craving & went to John's office to see if he wanted some Corn Nuts. He was at a meeting. I was gonna leave just one Corn Nut on his desk, but decided to amuse myself & do something a little more blog-worthy. I went to his office about an hour later & he was smirking, just about to eat his last Corn Nut.

The Long Drive Home

While driving south earlier this week, I saw this scorched area of I-95 that I wanted to photograph. Since the light was better on the northbound side of the highway, I figured I'd be able to shoot some pix on the way home. From a distance, many areas actually looked like fall foliage. This is a result of last month's wildfires, that caused the closure of I-95. I could've spent the whole day shooting details of the devastation & new growth. Every step I took sent up a cloud of ash.

The Big Day ... Finally!

Today was the closing on my house in South Florida. Yippee! It's been on the market for 14 months. I had to put on a new roof & lower the price substantially. UGH! I'm just relieved this is finally behind me. It's been tough having two houses for 16 months. John won't be able to call me the "land baron" anymore. These are from some fortune cookies I opened last night ...

Here's the brand new roof that's been under construction for the past two months. The actual installation was about 3 weeks, but it was a long process between permitting, tearing off the old roof & numerous inspections.

I was both surprised & appalled to get a notice last week that a lien was being put on my house because there was some red tape (no pun intended) on my garage coach light. I couldn't believe they wasted two sheets of paper, an envelope & a stamp. I think it would have been easier for the neighbor to remove the tape, rather than report me to the homeowners association. It was a remnant of the new roof installation. Mary went to the house to take a picture of it, since I had no idea what they were talking about. I brought the piece of "DANGER/PELIGRO" tape as well as before & after photos to the closing, in case they said I couldn't close.

I shot a "goodbye house" self-portrait in the master bathroom.

After the closing, I went to Sawgrass Mills & Ikea.

Then I went to Brio Tuscan Grille for dinner with Bobby, Patty, Jessica & Madeline. It's in a new area called The Shops at Pembroke Gardens, which looks just like St. John's Town Center in Jacksonville. The Bruschetta Caprese was delicious.