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.