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Photo-A-Day

4th of July 2009

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4th of July 2009
Photo-A-Day #1548

Happy 4th of July everyone! This year we had the family party at our house on the Cape. This year we also participated in the local neighborhood parade. Of course, we saw the country’s 10th best fireworks show. Yep, Falmouth Heights Beach came in 10th overall in a nationwide poll or survey or something like that We’re pretty proud of it. And, in case you missed my twitter stream or facebook update I lost my wedding ring in the waves at the beach.

Morning began with me writing my latest SocialSpark Saturday post: How Do I Make Money Using SocialSpark? I’m really working very hard to give the best info to my crew regarding SocialSpark. And seeing as I’m going to be in both a New York Times and Forbes Magazine article regarding IZEA and SocialSpark I’d better be posting some of my best knowledge on the subject.

My Aunt Corrine and her kids arrived before the neighborhood parade so we all went over together. Eva and my cousin Amanda May rode in the wagon together. My sister Tara created a beautiful quilt for Eva that is 4th of July themed. Eva and Amanda loved riding in the wagon and I got a number of cute shots of them.

The neighborhood parade is an annual event that has gone on for 45 years. Each year it gets bigger and bigger. It is always hosted by Paul O’Donnell our local comedian and all around nice guy. He’s quite the entertainer. He tells jokes and invites the neighborhood kids to come up read poems and sing patriotic songs. The parade and opening ceremonies are always wonderful events. After the opening ceremonies a band, led by Paul O’Donnell on banjo, climbs into Uncle Paulie D’s truck. That is preceded by the banner and Master of Ceremonies, this year was John O’Connell. Behind the truck is the giant American Flag that takes 25 or so people to carry. And after that is the mass of people who came to watch the opening ceremonies. Kids on their decorated bikes, people dressed up and some people who just want to be in a parade. It was really nice.

We headed to the beach where I continued to read Bill Bryson’s The Adventures of The Tunderbolt Kid (hilarious). I played with Eva in the water and we had a really fun time for a few minutes because it was cold and wavy today. I got out and talked with my Uncles. Then my cousin Matt and his family arrived. Hi son Keith wanted to go into the water so I went with him. He wanted to play in the waves so I went and played int eh waves with him too. I was wearing flip flops so I could walk on the rocks. My neuropathy is so painful that I cannot barely walk on a smooth floor with bare feet let alone the rocks at the beach. I was sitting in the waves watching Keith and I felt my flip flops pull off so I reached for them, it was then that I noticed that my WEDDING RING was gone. I had lost it while playing in the waves. It was just gone. I felt so sick seeing my bare hand. I went and asked Mr. O’Donnell for one of his sets of goggles and snorkle. I had no hope of finding the ring in the churning waters of the beach today. So I guess now I turn to Saint Anthony or eventually my jewelry insurance.

With the trauma of the loss of the ring still on me I went back tot he house for the 4th of July cookout. We had plenty of food as always and we tried this new flavor of Helluva Good dips – Cheddar Jalapeno. It was like a jalapeno popper minus the fried outer coating, it was so good. Everything was delicious.

We then headed over to see the fireworks and listen to the musical simulcast. I tweeted that I was at the fireworks and Atlas Fireworks tweeted to me. They were tweeting the whole time that they were on the barge with a special behind the scenes play by play. Not that is how a company uses social media properly. I only which I had known beforehand and I’d have been following them already.

The fireworks were amazing as always and you can read more about the setup on Atlas’ twitter stream very informative plus many twitpics). I set up my tripod and over and over tried to make the horizon straight. I moved and shot until it was time to go. Once the fireworks started however I just shot and shot using the remote and various settings for time. I got a bunch of great photos but no time to format them tonight, I will try to get more pictures up tomorrow.

My Flickr Set of 4th of July on Falmouth, Heights Beach Fireworks Photos is now up.

I’ve posted my Photos from the Parade.

Photo-A-Day

Preserving History

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Preserving History
Photo-A-Day #1514

Today our family came together to celebrate Grandma Theresa. They came with an amazing array of photo albums. My Uncle Richard and my Aunt Donna brought many photos that they had. My Aunt Luann brought albums that were my Grandma Theresa’s personal albums. I spent a good five straight hours scanning each photo or shooting the photos with my camera. The loose photos got scanned and the ones in the albums were photographed. What was really nice about the albums was that under most of the photos were names of a few people in each photo written in my Grandma’s hand.

It is a little overwhelming to pour through moments in a persons history in one afternoon. Seeing them grown from young to middle aged to old. The thing that came across in seeing all these photos was that my Grandma valued family very much. When she was surrounded with family her smile radiated. She loved large gatherings and making sure that everyone had everything they needed. She wouldn’t sit down until everyone had a full plate. She was busy keeping everything going behind the scenes. And she made it look easy. She was the quiet ringmaster of this three ring circus called family.

So, did I spend any time with everyone who came to the house? Yes, I had a really nice morning with my cousin Shaun and his wife Morgan and their son Logan. I took today’s photo of Eva and Logan because they were very cute together. Well, that was when Eva wasn’t being bossy. She needs a sibling to temper that bossiness.

I also spent some time with my Dad going grocery shopping and getting ready for the cookout. We made sure that we got plenty of corn on the cob for everyone in honor of Grandma’s love for it. I don’t know the number but I’ve heard that she broke some family record for eating corn on the cob. I remember one cookout at the house in Wareham where we had fried chicken and corn on the cob on the octagonal table that my Great-Uncle Richard built and the one that now graces our patio. There were many family gatherings with my Grandma and she remembered what everyone liked and made sure that there was more than enough of it on hand. As a kid I loved mashed potatoes. I could eat tons of them as a kid. As I got older I moderated more of what I ate but I remember that Grandma always made a huge pot of mashed potatoes because I liked them. She was great like that.

My Cousin Carissa (In California) chatted with everyone via the webcam on Allison’s netbook. I also got a chance to talk with my Uncles about my Grandma, that was great because I will be giving the eulogy along with my sister Tara. So talking with everyone and seeing the great photos from Grandma’s life helped spark many of my memories and also learn stories from my family to properly honor Grandma’s memory at her funeral on Tuesday.