The Fourth of July!

Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I think part of the reason is that I was born in 1976, during our bicentennial. I used to collect "drummer boy" quarters for the same reason. I miss my country. I'm a little sad that this is the second birthday America has had since we've been gone. We had a great party here to celebrate the occasion. We had three friends from Texas over for a cookout. I made Australian burgers over Korean charcoal.(real wood charcoal). It was delicious. John, Amy, and Eden brought pasta salad that was also very tasty. We also had a very paltry amount of fireworks that we found in the party section at the store. I lit a few fountains, some roman candles, and sparklers. After the Turner's left, Sarah and I had some fun with our camera's extended shutter release. We tried to spell our names with the sparklers, but it didn't work as well as we would have liked. The good news is, we have plenty of sparklers left.

In other news, I am teaching a Vision Workshop the subject of which I was allowed to choose. I am teaching 18 fifth and sixth graders the basics of photography and how to photograph God's creation. Today was the first day. I joked with some of our friends tonight that I taught the kids all I know about photography today and I have 5 more days to go. It rained heavily all day, which I normally welcome, but most of my plan is to show the students a few rules and ideas and then let them loose outside to shoot. Tomorrow should stay dry for us. We will spend the day in the middle of creation. I'm going to start a flickr page devoted to the children's work. They are already getting into the spirit of the workshop. It is so much fun to watch them trying to get images and trying to replicate something I just did. It's quite flattering. I will try to link the new flickr page within a few days or so. Stay tuned.