Peruse our Virtual Album and Tickle Your Funny Bone!

Welcome to the 6th Edition of Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images!

Show us that picture that never fails to bring a smile to your face! An amusing incident, a funny face, an unusual situation. Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that tickles your Funny Bone. . .

A big Thank You goes out to everyone who participated in this edition of Smile for the Camera, there were 29 posts by 28 contributors. As you peruse the pages of our virtual photo album, I am sure you will find more than a few pictures that will tickle your funny bone!

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Leading us off today is Midge Frazel of Granite in My Blood. She reminds us to "Never forget that your parents were once young, crazy and impulsive; even if they are gone, laughter about them will endure forever." Good advice, indeed. Her contribution to the carnival is My Parents Tickle My Funny Bone and it's likely to tickle yours too!

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Amanda Erickson presents Photo of my grandfather having fun posted at Random Ramblings. Two pretty girls and a "drunken" young man. Is it for real, or just pretend? Amanda's grandfather reveals the truth.

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Sheri Fenley, The Educated Genealogist, provides a "word picture" of her "Mummy Dahling" as "a lovely woman, a little uptight, a lot of prim and proper" but does that really describe Sheri's mother? Seems there is a funny side to her mother too, as shown in It Must be Genetic.

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Linda Stienstra, blogging at From Axer to Ziegler, presents some recent family pictures in These Just Tickle my Funny Bone!. A happy, laughing family with a little guy whose laughter is contagious and another of a couple of goofballs! When I viewed Linda's second contribution, Wouldn't this make you laugh out loud? I did, laugh out loud that is.

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Normally, you wouldn't think that a picture taken of a man in the hospital would be funny, but Elyse Doerflinger shows us that it can be with Hilarious Pictures Of My Family posted at Elyse's Genealogy Blog. Be sure you find out what he's reading!

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Wendy Littrell gives us "Scream" for the Camera posted at All My Branches Genealogy. Wendy says "Yes, we are a bunch of sick individuals! This picture shows just how twisted we are." Well, it is Halloween after all.

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Jasia, the lady with the Creative Gene has some new-found cousins with a sense of humor. And it shows in It Tickles My Funny Bone..., which is also a very nice tribute to a WWII Navy veteran.

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At I Dream of Genea(logy), Amir Dekel presents us with a photograph of his paternal grandfather that shows "an amazing blend of extreme happiness, some sadness, pain and sheer terror". And given the circumstances, I agree! You'll find it posted at I Dream of Genea(logy): Smile for the Camera.

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T.K. asks "The funny bone is in the ear? Who knew?" Check out Tickle! posted at Before My Time. A wonderful, amusing portrait of mother and son!

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Colleen M. Johnson presents Pouty Laughs posted at CMJ Office Blog. Colleen has a right hook that had her grandfather laughing. And a second photo has Colleen admitting that "Pouty faces tickle my funny bone."

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Summer is officially over and autumn has set in. Where has the summer gone? Miss Jocelyn presents her Summer '08 Memoirs posted at A Pondering Heart that will have her smiling with remembrances for a long time.

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Bob Franks presents Yawning for the Camera? posted at Itawamba History Review: The Itawamba Historical Society. Bob says "From the first time I saw it many years ago, this photo has always brought a smile to my face. To me, it looks as if the subject was caught yawning the moment the photographer captured the image with the camera."

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Julie Cahill Tarr recently went antiquing and rescued some orphan photos. One in particular, Funny, Ha-Ha posted at GenBlog, made her chuckle. Their expressions are priceless.

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Terry Thornton, of Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi, presents A photographic essay of an orphan --- a visitor at Christmas. He says, "A few years ago, Sweetie and I "adopted" an orphan. During the few weeks the orphan was at our house, he took over our household. He was out of control --- and in need of a Ten Step Plan for rehabilitation. We sent him on his way and our household returned to normal --- what a relief. All we have left of that time are these photographs."

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One picture says it all! Donna Pointkouski combines all of the suggestions given in the prompt for this edition: "an amusing incident, some funny faces, an unusual situation" in her contribution My Father, the Comedienne posted at What's Past is Prologue.

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With My Dad, the Birthday Boy - But on a Horse?? posted at Attala County Memories, Janice Tracy wonders was a horse, a car, a tractor, and a wagon pulled by a goat all “accepted” as normal places for photographing children “way back when"?

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"Is this your grandma? Let's see, height, about 6'4", clean shaven, broad of shoulder... hmmmm..." Well, Sheri Bush says that Kind Of A Drag . . . posted at TwigTalk is an orphan photo but I wonder if she is just embarrassed to claim it as one of her family?

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Melody Lassalle presents Look! It's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! posted at The Research Journal. Melody says " I can’t help but look at that fake city background, then the car, and laugh."

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With The Chart Chick: The smile on a little girl's face. posted at The Chart Chick, Janet Hovorka, shows us several of her mother's favorite pastimes, well, maybe one isn't quite so much a favorite.

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John Newmark presents Smile For the Camera: Funny Bone posted at TransylvanianDutch. A grandmother who hides behind a large pair of sunglasses and a grandfather who prepares to dive into the water - aren't candid photos the best?

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Msteri River says "This family line is full of silliness!" and you can see the truth of that statement in It Tickles My Funny Bone posted at Heritage Happens.

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Carol presents 6th Edition Smile For The Camera - Funny Bone posted at iPentimento In Your Reader. She says, "I can’t say this picture necessarily makes me laugh, but it does make me smile :)"

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M. Diane Rogers, blogging at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt' says " Here's a family photo that always makes me smile!" Funny Bone - Smile for the Camera.

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At Taylorstales-Genealogy, Pam Taylor authoritatively states Laughter really is the best medicine! and gives a short, loving tribute to "two people who loved to share a smile and a laugh."

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Randy Seaver presents Family Photographs - Post 26: The Kids posted at Genea-Musings. According to Randy, "Children always make me smile, and laugh, and appreciate the gift of unconditional love between parent and child, and grandparent and grandchild too. These are my favorite people in the world."

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Over at Destination: Austin Family, Thomas MacEntee wonders if it is Funny, Embarrassing or a Cruel Joke? What? You ask? I'll just say it involves a cake and a 13-year old girl on a special day.

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footnoteMaven shares a special photo of Mr. Denver Colorado posted at footnoteMaven. There's more to the tale than a tall hat!

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And, rounding out this edition of Smile For The Camera, is my contribution Funny face, I love you! posted right here at kinexxions.

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The word prompt for the 7th Edition of Smile For The Camera is Oh, Baby! Show us those wonderful family photographs of babies, or those you've collected. Share the ones that are too cute for words, or those only a mother could love. Your favorite of grandma or grandmas' favorite. Grandpa on a bear skin rug or grandpas' little love. Everyone has a baby photo, so let's see it!

Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative, yourself, or an orphan photograph that is the epitome of Oh, Baby! and bring it to the carnival. Admission is free with every photograph!

Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

Deadline for submission is midnight (PT) November 10, ...

There are two options for submitting your contribution:

1. Send an email to the host, footnoteMaven. Include the title and permalink URL of the post you are submitting, and the name of your blog. Put 'Smile For The Camera' clearly in the title of your email!
2. Use the handy submission form provided by Blog Carnival.

Uphill track!

I'm alive and on the uphill track! It is a good start for the rest.

Nisqually Rock Avalanches - Frequency and Size

For those of you still watching these large rockslides from the Nisqually Cleaver, here's a little more information for you. I called Kate Allstadt of the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the University of Washington and asked her for some seismic data that may show a better picture of the frequency of rock avalanche events.


She was able to graph some data that shows the distribution of the major rock avalanche events over the period from June 24th to July 7th. You can see in the graph that there is a trend decreasing in frequency and size. So it appears that the danger could be abating - but only gradually.


I must say that this correlates with direct observation, as there have not been any major rock flows down the mountain in the last week or more. The lowest extent of the largest debris path is to an elevation of about 8200 feet. Here is a graph Kate produced that shows the data from the seismic sensors installed on Mt. Rainier. The horizontal axis represents the date. The vertical axis represents the number of events per hour. The top row identifies single and large events.

Morning Harebells at the Spirit Tree

Sometimes it pays to force yourself to try something different. On a recent sunrise shoot at the Spirit Tree, I used only my Canon G11 point-and-shoot camera and not my usual "big" camera - the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Using the G11 forces me to look for different compositions, something more “unique” than the typical landscape shots that I tend to look for when using the Canon 5D Mark II camera. This image is the result of that morning’s search for something different. I always notice the Harebell flowers when visiting the tree in the summer, yet I’ve never before tried making an image that shows both the flowers and the tree. The G11 with its rotating viewfinder screen allowed me to make this image. Since the flowers were on the side of a rock and very close to the surface of the water, I don’t think I would have been able to compose this shot using my bigger camera.

I/O Merino and jjobrienclimbing&style

Climbers, you know I love wool. So I felt an instant affiliation when I got the chance to shoot some promos for South Aussie company I/O Merino.

This is the first of several posts we'll be doing for io. It's good looking gear, and the Principal Style Editors at jjobrienclimbing&style are psyched to be involved.




Look out for the mens collection too.











Remember my Strictly No Synthetics tour of Tibet and Everest base?

Silk, Cashmere and Merino. Love the stuff.








The promotional photographic team at jjobrienclimbing&style, after some deliberation, decided the best approach for this job was to put one of theses merino tops on an awesome climber, get her on a classic steep route, put her through her paces, and take a sheepload of photos. And they did.













Issy cranking hard on a hot 35 degree October day. Climber and top still working at peak performance.











Issy twists and stretches, like only she can, but that merino keeps up with every move.

Neither climbing nor style was ever in danger of compromise.









"The I/O Sport Crop Top is a snug sports bra that wil feel luxurious against your skin whilst keeping your chest warm. It is designed with flat seams and no scratch tags so that it will hug your body and feel fantastic all day". $39.95





Stop press: Justfor being loyal and stylishfollowers of jjobrienclimbing, you can use the discount code iom30 and get 30% off when shopping online. Click the icon to go to the store.










Turns out wool is good for climbing. Who knew?










Look out for the logo. jjobrienclimbing endorses it. You should too.






& jjobrienclimbing

First Light, Foggy Morning - Pigeon River Valley

The fog this morning was incredible. Unfortunately I did not make it out to take any pictures of the fog at sunrise. So, it made me go back to some photos from a foggy morning in July that I never posted. This photo was made after a night of photographing the northern lights along the Arrowhead Trail in northeast Minnesota. As I drove home via the backroads I noticed that there was quite a bit of fog in the Pigeon River valley below me. I pulled over at the Pigeon River Helipad Overlook along Otter Lake Road and waited for the sun to come up. I knew that once the sunlight started to hit the fog it would be an incredible view. Sure enough, as the fog started to glow from the light of the rising sun I was awestruck by the beauty and depth of the scene laid out before me.

Missed Opportunities

So without employment getting in my way, and a great weather system for climbing, you'd think I would have posted more trip reports in the last week.

Well, this is what I was trying to avoid when I mentioned my planning not always cooperating. Or is that the weather not cooperating with my planning? Anyway, weather has been great, and I was unsuccessful in getting partners for last week. Now that I have an influx of partners, I have an injury (blisters) that is keeping me from climbing. I am not happy, and I could be out doing a lot of cool things. Hopefully I'll be healed up enough for the weekend to do something fun.

This is the exactly the type of thing I need to stop happening for me to have a more fruitful and enjoyable climbing season. It also makes me more aware of the scheduling aspect of climbing. I said I would be more open to changes of plans, but I think I need to be more strict about my plans. I should come up with a plan for the good weather, and then find a partner. Not put multiple objectives on the table and find someone who may be willing to do them with me. The shotgun method is not working. Time for some sniper accuracy.

4 days after.

Gretton - Harringworth - Seaton - Lyddington - Thorpe by Water - Gretton

11.5 miles, with Barry, Eddie, Gordon, Maureen. Sunny, very warm day.





The sun was shining in Gretton, though some of the valley was in mist. We followed the Jurassic Way from Gretton, out past Harringworth Lodge, and over the fields, across the road from Deene to Harringworth and into Shotley.









Two views of reflections on the very still lake near Harringworth Lodge.





A goods train on the Welland viaduct, seen from just above Shotley. You can see Harringworth church steeple and further back, Seaton church.





From Shotley we walked into Harringworth, taking the footpath past the stables, and through the churchyard. The church was open - it was cleaning day.



Inside the church is a plaque commemorating Fanny Maria Blaydes, nee Page Turner, who died aged 64. She was the wife of the Vicar of Harringworth. On 21st August 1884, she was returning home in a pony phaeton, from a visit to friends in Gretton. The pony took fright for some reason and reared up. Mrs Blaydes fell out and died on the spot. There was an inquest in the Swan Inn, Harringworth, and the Rev Blaydes later had a stone placed by the road where she died. The full story was published in Taking Stock No 1, by the Gretton Local History Society.

The stone is inscribed

Hic Obit

FMB, Aug . . .1884

Sudden death, sudden glory.

I'd noticed the stone several times, but was intrigued in Jan 2005, when I saw that someone had left flowers there. A sad footnote on the plaque in the church was that one of their sons died at sea at the age of 21.

Eggs for sale in Harringworth.The path goes alongside the house, but was a bit tricky to follow properly.I have several photographs of Seaton church through the viaduct - this is Harringworth church, looking back from the valley floor.Once we had found our way back to the correct path, we crossed the Welland, and made our way round the renovated farm, through a 'stile' where you slide the bars through the posts, and out to the road between Caldecott and Seaton. We crossed this and almost immediately on our right was the path over the disused railway up towards Seaton. From Seaton we took Grange road, which became a track and led us gradually down to Lyddington, passing by, but not climbing nearby hills.We are not sure what this is - on Lyddington village green.

From Lyddington we walked up Thorpe Road, with its double hill, then down towards Thorpe by Water. We didn't go into Thorpe, but took the footpath opposite Thorpe Road, after crossing the road between Caldecott and Harringworth. This crosses a couple of fields, then goes under another disused railway, and over the Welland on a bridge with one handrail.We followed the river for a while, until crossing a field towards some trees, where the path comes out near a farm building. From here the path continues up hill by a hedge, then cuts across a field to a gate. At this point we crossed the railway line which is still in use, and after another kissing gate, made our way through a field with evidence of ridge and furrow. We came out at the gate behind the church.



The trees are changing colour down near the river.

Credit Check?

And I bet you thought I got all this gear for FREE, didn't you?



Ya, that is a good laugh! As you might imagine the Blog/just me generally/ goes through or at least sees a lot of gear. I have some interesting stories as a consumer. These are comments from transactions just from the month of December to date in early Jan. . It was a big month for me. A lot of money going onto and getting credited back to my CCs. And enough cash transactions I'd rather not add them up right now. I thought I'd share the good will I received. The comments here are based on real incidents on a few retail purchases, refunds, exchanges, warranty from 12/4/12 till today. Some of which are still being processed when this blog post was published, on 1/13/13, much to my dismay. No one knows who I amor cares who I am when I am buying gear. Although one of the sales staff in all of this did recognise me from Cold Thistle. It was fun to chat about some of the great productstheirstore did offer.



Steep and Cheap *A+, in stock goods,almost the speed of lightshipping and easy returns to the CC. aka Backcountry.com *A... in disguise. Only an *A for Backcountry because they dicked around on a price match and lost a sale for the effort.



Mtn Gear *B+ (reason: initial delivery was a little slow across state)

Bought on mail order. 5 business day delivery. I get 2 or 3 day delivery from the Portland stores as a comparison. Called the retail store a day before I was to be in Spokane and wanted to know if I could try on a couple pairs of boots. Walked in with a pairbought via mail order. Walked out with a new pairafter paying the difference in retail price and sales tax. Easy transaction. Mtn Gear has a habit of selling items they don't have in stock and making you wait. Likely happened with the mail order pairin this case..if the shipping time from Colorado is a clue. Hard to make a living if you have to inventory and warehouse every item in your mail order catalog. But some actually do just that.



Eddie Bauer *A+ (reason: everything was amazingly easy and seemed fair to the consumer)

Bought at retail in the local store. Returned a couple of items, one 9 months old with out receipt. The other items 6 months old. All new with tags. No receipt refunded for the lowest sale price. Fair enough. But more than 1/2 of what I had paid originally. The rest were refunded to my card and credited to my account the next working day. And because almost everything I was interested in buying or might have been interested in buying was at 50% off I dropped another $500 while I was there. But the the biggest reason I spent an additional $500? Was because I knew Eddie Bauer would stand behind the products no matter what I decided. Now or a year from now.I may not love everything they make but I know I won't get stung buying or returning it. EB is fast becoming one of my favorite gear supplier and that of my partners. Begrudgingly may be but none the less it is happening.



Patagonia *was a D-* now a solid F (reason: terrible return/refund time frames and communication)

By far the worst retail experience I have ever had with one company to date and involving the most amount of money on one transaction. Returned a used item ($400) and a new item ($250) no receipts. (my bad) The used pant was refunded at the full $400 the new jacket @ $100! Not happy about that and shouldn't have returned/accepted that price withthat kind of a loss. Down $150! That is less than half of retail. 1/2 is thekind of price I like to pay not what I want to lose.I was a bit shell shocked on that one so I took a gift cert, and wanted to think about what I wanted next at Patagonia.



Mail ordered a new $450 jacket. Paid via a CC. Free 2 day air. 4 working days to deliver. Returned jacket. They received in on the 28th. Acknowledged via email on 28th. Refund was not been processed and not back on my card until Jan 4th. Quoted anywhere from 7 to 10 working days.



Bought more at the local retail store, 3 current, new items. $950 @ retail. Paid cash.Retail store didn't have a very good color selection but I needed to know sizes. After some thought I asked both retail andmail order if it was "easy" to exchange items for color through PatagoniaMail Order. "No problem" I was told. Patagonia mail order received items for exchange, ( I paid for tracking) no acknowledgement of that receipt. They got them on the 12/ 28. I received the replacements on Jan 12. Time frame to date? 16 days. Iwas told today it will be at least10 WORKING days. They hit their estimate. What others seem to be able to do in 36 hrs.I really like some of the newest Patagonia gear. Just way too much to deal with trying to get exactly what you want if the retail store doesn't have it. And a little weird on returns.They ended up replacing the items for color and credited my CC on one item instead of doing an exchange and returning it. They did apologise how ever when I called looking for my jacket.



Zappos *A+ (in stock items, sale prices,fast deliver, easy returns)

I ended up buying a new Patagonia jacket and the matching pants from Zappos that Patagonia took "forever " to replace or simply kept. These guys always rock. I should give them more of my business.



Mountain Hardware *C- (reason: slow delivery and not such a great warranty)

Ordered a new jacket.Paid with a debit card. Did it the same day at the RAB order below. 5 days on delivery from RAB. 18 days for delivery from Mtn Hardware. Dismal. Returned a pair of gloves on warranty. Gloves were obviously damaged on a rappel. But leaking previous. I was offered a 50% discount on a new pair of gloves. I bought the gloves offered on "warranty". Same price you could find on line any time BTW. Not like the old days when they actually honored the "lifetime" warranty.



Dynafit *A+ (quick delivery)

5 small orders in 45 days. No fuss, no muss, credit card and ground UPS from Colorado. 4 days. Easy on onereturn (miss ship)as well.



La Sportiva *A (quick delivery,two really odd and separate addresses)

No fuss, no muss, credit card and ground UPS from Colorado. 4 days.

They rocked getting out two pair of skis to wildly differing mtn town addresses very quickly.



Moose Jaw *A (but could be an A++ if they would ditch the slow boat deliveries)

Ordered a $600 jacket on CC. Took for ever and a day to arrive on FED EX/USPS

8days, 6 working days. But once returned, the return was processed next day. Refund on my CC the next. Almost the best ever.



US Outdoors *A, Items in stock, quick delivery (from Portland) and easy returns. Some what slow getting it back on the card. They took a week.



Outland USA via Amazon.com *A+

Free shipping and 3 day delivery including the weekend, Tenn. to Seattle WA!



Cold Cold World *A+ (worth the wait)

Impeccable custom orby design packs, made by hand to your order, delivered in a timely manner. It doesn't get any better than that. Seriously, it doesn'tget any better on custom gear.



RAB *A (again quick delivery)

No fuss, no muss, credit card and ground UPS from Colorado. 4 days.

Ordered a new jacket. Paid with a debit card. Did it the same day at the Mtn H order below. 4 days on delivery from RAB. 18 days for delivery from Mtn Hardware. There stuff is good enough that I stopped fretting about the odd sizing for me and simply have the garmentsprofessionally tailoredif I can't live with the factory fit.



Native glasses *F

Warranty replacement for faultyitemscost me $35. on my credit card and myshipping. And two returns to get it right. I won't buy another pair of Native's because of the really bad customer service after the sale.



REI *A+

Love them or hate them. Never a hassle on returns for any reason and aquick refund back to your card. Almost immediate credit card refunds but always within 24 hrs since I started paying attention a few years ago. If they have what you want still an amazing place to do business with.



Everyone has a holiday shopping story I suspect....some good, some GREAT and some just as bad. That is mine for Dec . What is your's?

Bicycles, Walls and the Passage of Time

Over the holidays I received a DVD of a film diptych that I'd long wanted to watch: Cycling the Frame and The Invisible Frame, directed by Cynthia Beatt.



In 1988, Beatt made the short filmCycling the Frame. Described as a "cine-poem," this 30 minute documentary follows a young British actress (Tilda Swinton) as she cycles along the perimeter of the Berlin Wall in what was then West Berlin. It is a 100 mile journey along mostly abandoned roads and overgrown dirt paths crossing forests and fields. The ever-present wall, with its menacing guard towers, turns the landscape surreal: It severs railroad tracks, creates paths to nowhere, and separates waterfront properties from the bodies of water they front. As Swinton pedals, she vocalises her stream-of-conscience thoughts about the things she sees and how they make her feel. As she grows tired of cycling and overwhelmed with her surroundings, the film begins to resemble a dream sequence. Finally she arrives to her Brandenburg Gate start and concludes that "this place is mad."



More than two decades after the original journey, the director and actress set out again to film the follow up, The Invisible Frame. In , they retrace their route along the now long-absent Berlin Wall. A visibly more mature, sharper dressed Tilda Swinton cycles the perimeter, this time weaving back and forth across the phantom border. There are signs of life now: The roads have bike lanes and motorised traffic. On some of the dirt paths we see joggers, dog walkers, children and other cyclists. But despite an apparent return to normality along these stretches, the majority of the landscape is no less eerie twenty years after the wall's removal. We see abandoned buildings, barren fields, dingy looking lakes, random bits of strangeness. It's as if scarred, dead space remains left where the separation used to be. Disconcerted, Swinton meditates on this as she pedals, concluding that "when one wall comes down others come up."



While these aren't cycling films exactly, the prominent role of the bicycle is impossible to ignore. From a practical standpoint, a bike was necessary to make the films happen. Much of the route along the real/ phantom Wall is not accessible to cars, and traveling 100 miles on foot would not have worked with the scope of the project. The speed of the bicycle matched the speed with which the narrative needed to flow, and even the camera crew traveled via a cargo recumbent. As each film progresses, the bicycle begins to seem increasingly important, merging with Swinton's visceral sense of self. She starts to mention it in her stream-of-conscience utterings, to talk about space in relation to not just her, but to her and the bike, to confuse herself with the bike. While this contributes to the mystical feel of the films, it will also be recognised by cyclists as a completely normal sensation to have during long rides.



It was interesting also that the bicycle seemed well-matched to Swinton's person in each of the films. In the original, the actress's flowing clothing looks worn and a little disheveled; her hair natural and slightly unkempt. The bike she rides is a rickety swoopy mixte with faded paint. In the newer film, Swinton is dressed in a stylized and sophisticated manner. She wears architectural-looking clothing and shoes. There are sharp angles to her haircut, her hair now a platinum blond. The bicycle she rides is angular and modern, its paint metallic. This transformation in personal style and bike echoes the rift I felt between the earlier and the latter films. Cycling the Framecame across as spontaneous and exploratory, whereas The Invisible Frameseemed stiffer and more choreographed. The actress/cyclist is no longer the same person and does not relate to this landscape in the same way. She talks about openness, but speaks in political and philosophical generalities and is seemingly less present in Berlin itself.



Can we ever recreate an experience, or re-visit a place? And can we ever really understand another country, as we tour it on a bike with a foreigner's benign detachment and predatory curiosity? These are the questions these films, with their collective 200 miles of cycling along a real/ unreal wall perimeter, ultimately seem to be asking.



If you are local and would like to borrow my copy, drop me a line. The Invisible Framecan be viewed on netflix, but the original Cycling the Frame was not available online last time I checked.

Wedding Day!

Jessica and I got married today! We had a beautiful ceremony filled with friends, family and love. It really was a perfect day. We'd like to extend our thanks to all those that helped make this day perfectfor us. We appreciate and love you all!



Special thanks to Timothy Young for officiating, Staci Drouillard for the incredible cake and our friend Paul for taking beautiful photos throughout the day! And a very special thanks to Carah Thomas, Rod Dockan and Al Oikari of Cook County's Most Wanted for providing the awesome music for our ceremony. You guys were incredible and we totally loved the "Joy of My Life" song... you guys are the best! Thank You :-)

Jemez Creek Picnic

We stopped at the gas station across the road from where we normally buy Indian fry bread since there was no one selling it, and bought bean burritos and peanut butter cookies to have a quick picnic by Jemez Creek. There was some water in the creek but not as much as is normal during April. One photo is from inside a covered picnic area looking out toward the trees and road. Another is of a tree that has grown up through the roads, a real bonsai tree.

For Kevin.....

Godspeed my friend.......you are missed.



"People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I
didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't preparing for them. It didn't even know
they existed."
- Cormac McCarthy


http://kevinlandolt.blogspot.com/

The Amazing Bloomin' Cactus

This Christmas Cactus was given to me six years ago when it was about 6 inches high. Now it is 24 inches across and the highest branch is 15 inches high; the pot is 7 inches high. The first half dozen flowers bloomed last weekend. I counted 20 full blooms, 6 more ready to bloom, 10 medium sized buds and more than 50 small buds just coming on. It is incredibly beautiful, the pictures in no way do it justice but I just had to share. The most blooms that have ever been on it at the same time has been six. Has anyone ever seen a Christmas Cactus with so many flowers?

Purple Petunias!

Friday, June 3rd - - Another beautiful day in Salt Lake City. Another “lunch date” this time with Carol's husband who somehow managed to get us free desert (the waiter forgot to give us a discount on coupons we had). Another slow stroll through Temple Square and the lovely gardens. This really is an incredible place!

Those Pennsylvania Ancestors...

Back in March, when "The Journey" came to an official end, I mentioned there were several research trips that I wanted to take, one of which was to Pennsylvania.When I went to Pittsburgh to attend GRIP in July, I thought about staying the following week for research. But I hadn't really taken the time to properly prepare and returned to Indiana instead.



Coming up, the second week of September, I'm planning on meeting a friend at Acadia National Park in Maine for a week. I thought perhaps I could do a little research on the way, but that's probably not going to happen since, due to other commitments, I can't leave here until the 5th. So maybe, I can spend some time in Pennsylvania afterward.



Anyway, I started looking at those Pennsylvania ancestors, most of whom are "Pennsylvania Dutch" with the odd migrant from Connecticut (Sprague) and several Scotch-Irish (Dunfee & Hazlett) that came in through Maryland.



I made a list of the known ancestors and several "persons of interest" noting where they had lived and when. Then decided to map it out to visually "see" the various locations. I had done something similar back in .., but with a map that included all of the eastern states. Comparing this map to the earlier one shows that more ancestors have been found in Pennsylvania, more than I thought.






Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, is in Dauphin County.

Double-click on the image to view a larger version.


It's a bit overwhelming when I think about researching in all of these locations! Back in 1986, on-site research was done in Fayette, Westmoreland, Adams, and York counties. And, of course, quite a few records were found on several visits to Salt Lake City last year. Perhaps I should just spend what time I have at the State Archives in Harrisburg?



Research plans for some of the ancestors are in progress - listing what is known about them, the documents that I already have, and what I'd like to find. Of course, the amount of information known varies considerably, dependent mostly upon how much research time has been devoted to them in the past.



Below is the list of locations and ancestors (or persons of interest) in Pennsylvania. Some people are listed in multiple counties. Alexander, Schuder, Sprague and Stoever are in my Dad's lineage. All others are in Mom's lines. Some of them I don't know where they were prior to where I found them. And, of course, there are the ancestors that were "born in Pennsylvania" with locations unknown, such as James Neal, Peter Wise and Conrad Stem...The number in front of the county name refers to the numbers on the map, going from the east side of the state to the west side.



1 - Northampton (part of Bucks until 1752)

• Bayer/Boyer, Adam - Williams Twp (1733-1754)


• Brinker, Andreas & Regula Herter - Lower Saucon (1735-1764)


• Brinker, Ulrich (married Apolonia Bayer/Boyer, d/o of Adam) - Lower Saucon (1735-1785)


• Brinker, Andrew (With wife Barbara Lederman, moved to Westmoreland shortly after marriage in 1785.) Lower Saucon (1760-1785)

2 - Lehigh (Philadelphia until 1758, Northampton until 1812)

• Williams (Willems), Johannes & Margaretha - Whitehall - (1736-????)


• Williams (Willems), Thomas [Daughter Margaret married George Yerion about 1770. Both families to Westmoreland by 1785.] - Whitehall - (1736-1785)

3 - Lehigh (Philadelphia until 1758, Northampton until 1812)

• Yerion (Jerian), Mathias - Lynn - (1732-1761)

4 - Montgomery (Philadelphia until 1784)

• Hoffman, Burckhard [Person of Interest] - Upper Hanover - (1727-1770)


• Hoffman, Michael - Upper Hanover - (mid 1700s)

5 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Hoffman, Michael - Douglas - (mid 1700s)

6 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Hoffman, Michael - Alsace - (died 1777)


• Schädler, Dietrich [Person of Interest. Baptism sponsor of Dietrich Hoffman in July 1751.]


• Schedler, Engel [Person of Interest. Did she marry "my" Michael Hoffman? Is she the mother of Dietrich Hoffman?] - (1740s-1780s)


• Alter, Georg Henrich [Person of Interest. Possible father of Susanna Alder/Alter who married Dietrich Hoffman] - (1750s-1780s)

7 - Berks (Philadelphia until 1752)

• Daniel/Daniels, Adam - Bethel - (1738-1777)


• Forster, Wilhelm Georg (aka William Foster) md Magdalena Daniel in 1774 - Bethel - (1764-1780s)


• Leatherman (Lederman), Jacob - Tulpehocken - (1740s-1762)


• Leatherman (Lederman), Peter - Tulpehocken - (1740s-1801)


• Leatherman, Barbara, d/o Peter md Andrew Brinker - Tulpehocken - (1785)

8 - Lebanon (Lancaster until 1785, Dauphin until 1813)

• Stoever, John Caspar III - Bethel - (1785-1805 to Ohio)

9 - Lebanon (Lancaster until 1785, Dauphin until 1813)

• Stoever, John Caspar II - Lebanon - (1742-1779)

10 - Northumberland (Southern portion of county was part of Lancaster until 1772.)

• Schuder, Nicolaus - Mahonoy & Washington - (1772-????)


• Schuder, Christian & Christina Stoever - Mahonoy & Washington - (1772-1803 to Ohio)


• Forster, Wilhelm Georg (aka William Foster) - Mahonoy - (1780s-1798 to Shenandoah, Virginia then Ohio about 1807)

11 - Lancaster (Chester until 1729)

• Steinweg/Stoneroad, George -Lancaster - (1754-???? married Veronica Danner 1763)


• Danner/Tanner, Veronica - Lancaster - (married George Steinweg 1763)

12 - Lancaster (Chester until 1729. In 1853, part of Martic where the Brubakers had lived became Providence Township)

• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 1st - Martic - (1730-1755)


• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 2nd - Martic - (1730-1802)


• Brubaker, Hans Jacob 3rd - Martic - (about 1760-1817. Married Elizabeth Steinweg about 1788, to Ohio about 1817.)

13 - York (Lancaster until 1749)

• Berlin, Jacob & Ann Margaretha Euler - Codorus - (1740s)

14 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Berlin, Jacob & Ann Margaretha Euler - Berwick - (1750-1790)


• Berlin, Frederick Sr. - Berwick & Hamilton - (1750-1836) - Susan [Wagner ?]


• Berlin, Frederick Jr. - Berwick & Hamilton - (1771-1843) - married Juliana [Dietzler ?]


• [Dietzler ?], Juliana -


• [Wagner ?], Susan -

15 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Rupert, John, Barbara [baptism of Eva 1787] - Latimore - (????-1787)

16 - Adams (York until 1800)

• Dunfee, George & Mary - Cumberland - (1790-1800)


• Dunfee, George & Mary - Liberty - (1800-1830)


• Dunfee, James & Sophia (Hazlett) - Liberty - (1800-1830)


• Hazlett, Jonathan & Elizabeth - Liberty - (1810-1830)

17 - Franklin (Cumberland until 1784)

• Cow, Henery (aka Henry Coy) - Montgomery - (1790-1804)


• Hoffman, Detrick (2 sons married daughters of Henry Coy) - Montgomery - (1790s-1804)

18 - Bedford (Cumberland until 1771)

• Helm, Conrad - Bedford - (1804)

19 - Bedford (Cumberland until 1771)

• Helm, Conrad - Londonderry - (1807-1811)

20 - Somerset (Cumberland until 1771, Bedford until 1795)

• Stoever, John Caspar III - Milford - (1802-1805 to Ohio)

21 - Westmoreland (Cumberland until 1771, Bedford until 1773)

• Yerion, George - Mount Pleasant - (1773-1804) - wife Margaretha Williams


• Brinker, Andrew & Barbara Lederman - Mount Pleasant - (1785-1805)

22 - Fayette (Westmoreland until 1783)

• Sisley, Lewis & Margaret Ellis - Washington - (1790-1826)


• Stem, Conrad - Washington - (1820-1840s) - married Indiana Sisley before 1833, to Ohio before 1850. He was born "in Pennsylvania" in 1804.

23 - Washington (Westmoreland until 1781)

• Ellis, James - Fallowfield - (1780-1803)


• Ellis, Nathan Fallowfield - (1780-late 1790s to Ohio)

24 - Erie (Allegheny until 1800)

• Sprague, Thomas Sr. - Springfield - (1800-1805) - Came from Connecticut, went to Montgomery County, Ohio.


• Alexander, William - Springfield - (1800-1805 to Ohio) - Married Lucy Sprague.

Bucks, Philadelphia, and Dauphin counties are colored-in because they were the "parent" counties for the areas in which ancestors settled. Depending upon the time frame involved, research may be required in those counties.



I hesitated in posting this since it may turn out that I don't get to Pennsylvania for research this year, but thought I'd post it anyway since I spent so much time on it and also in the hopes of hearing from anyone researching these lines or with ties to these people - leave a comment below or send me an email at kinexxions "at" gmail "dot" com.

Chillaxin' at Meadow Run

Laura and I decided to have an easy day. So we spent the morning climbing a few lines at Lower Meadow Run in Ohiopyle State Park. We warmed up with alap on the Main Flow in verygood conditions. If you look back to my post fromJan 29th and compare thephotos, its pretty impressive how much ice built in just afew days.

























After our warm up, Laura wanted to try out her new picks on a mixed line. She topped out on the Main Flow andwent over and rigged a TRSeason Finale.She took her turn and made it up to her usual high point and came off. Not bad for her first go.























ROUTE NOTE: Although this line has beentop roped for years it has yet to see alead ascent.I've wanted to give this thing a whirl for quite a while, but thethuggish nature, poorrock quality and my inability to sack up has kept it as a someday kinda thing. Well I decided its time to put it to rest. So this time I decided to take gear with me and see if I could findreasonable gear to protect the route. Well I successfully climbed it and placed the gear on TR. I found 2 placements and 1 stubbie in 35'. Goes like this, first is the screw at the ice bulge (not necessary, but there),next isa #5 BD micro at 15'.Pump through the next 12' of crux to a good hook and a get the #.75 camalot. Finishatanchors.Falling while clipping the cam would most likely result in a grounder.Gonna take some EXTRA spinach to pull this one off.Laura went again pullingthe gear as she went up. She did way better this go. She made it up to the cam without falling. If she didn't have to stop to fuss with gear, I think she might've had it with no falls.I'manxious toto head back and give it a true attempt on lead.SEND or SPLAT! Either way the photos should be good! Since it was a mellow day for us, most of the photos are typical ass shots (we all knowhow much everyone loves those).I've tried to include afewof the moreinteresting!