Happy 4th!

Rob sure knows how to design a beautiful waffle! More to come ... a lot more! We had a 13 1/2 hour get-together!

Chris shot the artiste creating his masterpiece.

The girls were busy stuffing themselves while Chris & I were hard at work.


Anna, Beth, Rob & Chris pose for one final breakfast photo. Little did we know ... our celebration had just begun.

After breakfast we walked around the lake to Anna & Tyler's house. Hank couldn't believe he never noticed the lake in his backyard.

This reminds me of the picture of Chris fishing his lens out of a bunker. Did he really think Hank & Shelby were gonna come out of the water?

Chris decided if he couldn't get them out of the water, he'd join them. He managed to beat both Shelby & Hank to the ball without spilling a drop of his Bloody Mary. FYI ... swimming freestyle with one arm is faster than the doggie paddle.

Shelby didn't give up ... even though she didn't catch a single duck.

One of the key steps in preparing my signature side dish of snow peas with scallions, sesame oil & black/white sesame seeds, is to soak the snow peas in ice water right after they're blanched to stop the cooking. For some reason the ice stuck to my fingers. It really hurt, but suppose it would have been worse if my tongue was stuck on a pole!

Here is a rare glimpse of me cooking.

For our dinner appetizer I made spicy tuna lettuce wraps with snow peas, sesame oil & brown rice. It got rave reviews, but we were all too full to have the rest of our dinner. Luckily, we came up with a plan "B". Since we hadn't grilled anything yet, we decided to reconvene tomorrow.

Hank volunteered to do the dishes.

While Shelby passed out.

Stay tuned for the continuation of our feast ... tomorrow. Being a social butterfly sure is exhausting!

Stadium Front 9

After work, I played employee golf with JS, Mike & Rob. The format was a four person shamble. Each player had to tee off and the best ball was selected. Then each player dropped their ball at the location of the best drive and played their own ball until it was holed. Everybody on the team had to use their drive at least once. The lowest score among the four members will become the team score.

Mike's hat said "Old Guys Rule" ... I guess it's true since he & JS played much better than Rob & me.

Eating Healthy

After our golf lesson, Anna made a delicious spinach salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, marinated chicken breast & poppy seed dressing. It was fab!

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.