Oyster Roast Shower for Leigh & Josh

Pam and Bubba graciously invited all our family to a shower for Leigh and Josh. It was a beautiful night, full moon, not too cold, the food was wonderful and everything looked so pretty. Thanks!Catherine admiring the "blue moon".

Family Tsunamis

Well I've been derelict in my blog duties, but it's been such a busy time. I'm playing catch-up (again) but these images were from last night and the previous night when after multiple late night trips to the airport we finally had everyone accounted for.

Merry Christmas

From our house to yours, have a wonderful Christmas€

So another weekend draws to a close ..

If nothing else, keeping up a blog is a constant reminder of the passage of time. Tomorrow is another Monday, and Friday will be Christmas Eve - almost another year gone by. For us it is a crazy time. On two continents and from other states, family members are preparing to fly to Charleston for Leigh & Josh's wedding on January 2nd. We're getting down to the wire here with all the planning for the big event as well as multiple related festivities. Rob arrived back from the UK last night and things will really start to ramp up from here. Tonight we just chilled, caught up some, and enjoyed roast lamb. Leigh and Josh were babysitting Madeline and Josh, so this snap is of them sitting on the verandah as the sun went down.

Soccer Champs!

This evening we braved the cold weather to watch Matt and his co-ed team play the season final at the Ft. Moultrie Middle School field.They won, and one of the goals was a PK taken by Matt that curved exquisitely, just skimming into the top left corner of the goal. Go Matt!!. Leigh and Josh were there too - oh, and Logan, wearing a Christmas sweater.

Bob's trains

Today I went to photograph model trains belonging to Bob from work. I am writing an article on his lifetime train passion for the quarterly newsletter. Actually it's more of an "occasional" newsletter - kinda like my blog, but I digress.
Anyway, the entire house is filled with track and trains running everywhere - under the furniture, through different rooms, on the diningroom table ... He is upset because he hasn't been able to set up his outdoor Christmas display due to all the rain we've been having recently. That will be part two of this assignment - the outdoor display.

Another baby pic - she is cute!

Since I haven't had the opportunity to do much fun photography this week, and since the the weather has been pretty miserable anyway, I am posting one of my favorite photos of Madeline, taken last weekend when she was just 5 days old. You can see more of her here

à bientôt

Nancy Gochnauer
10/13/56 - 12/05/09And so we stood in the rain and said goodbye for now. Until we meet again, farewell my friend.

Today I lost a very dear friend

Nancy - thank you for your friendship, for your example of how to live with courage, grace and love.

You Hold Me Now (Hillsong)

On that day when I see all that You have for me
When I see You face to face there surrounded by Your grace
All my fear is swept away in the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need and forever I am free
Where the streets are made of gold in Your presence healed and whole
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life I will stand through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day there's a hope that never fails
When Your name is lifted high and forever praises rise
For the glory of Your Name I'm believing for the day
When the wars and violence cease all creation lives in peace
Let the songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness, no sick or lame
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

Welcome Madeline Coffey

Madeline Coffey, born to Chelsea and Tom, at one day old. Congrats - she's beautiful.

The USS Yorktown, Patriots Point, Charleston SC

I had an opportunity today to photograph some of the normally "off-limits" areas on the USS Yorktown.
This is a huge vessel, and some areas still contain (consumable type) items used while it was in service during World War 2. Our engineers have been working on a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) project which involves documenting, analyzing, and managing inventory data. This is necessary for many reasons. Anyway, without getting too technical and rambling about things that I know very little about, it was a fascinating look behind the scenes.
A little history ... The USS Yorktown (CV-10) was the tenth aircraft carrier to serve in the United States Navy. Under construction as Bon Homme Richard, this new Essex-class carrier was renames Yorktown in honor of Yorktown (CV-5), sunk at the epic Battle of Midway (June 1942). Built in an amazing 16 ½ months at Newport News, Virginia, Yorktown was commissioned on April 15, 1943. Yorktown participated significantly in the Pacific Offensive that began in late 1943 and ended with the defeat of Japan in 1945. Yorktown received the Presidential Unit Citation and earned 11 battle stars for service in World War II. Much of the Academy Award-winning (1944) documentary "The Fighting Lady" was filmed aboard Yorktown.

The Ravenel Bridge on Saturday evening

Thanksgiving Day

I had promised myself I was not going to over-indulge, but how can you not on Thanksgiving Day? Tomorrow will be my day of atonement with extra laps at the pool, but today it was mimosas at Pam & Bubba's in the morning, and Thanksgiving dinner at Nancy's in the afternoon. Great food, fun times, and now I feel like a python that swallowed an elephant.

Sunday at Willtown Bluff Plantation

The Ace Basin Task Force celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Ace Basin Project this afternoon at the beautiful Willtown Bluff Plantation on Yonges Island. The event saw the gathering of a veritable "who's who" in the land conservation arena on a local, State and Federal level.The weather was disappointing - cold and rainy, but everything else was first class.

GEL Oyster Roast at Poplar Grove Plantation

Today was the annual GEL Christmas party - only we combined Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and had it early in the season.The weather held off, there was plenty to eat and drink and I'm told the oysters were the best!Poplar Grove Plantation is a really great place to throw a party.

Fall in Charleston, SC

One minute the leaves are green and attached and next time you look, they're gone, or brown and barely hanging in there. Oh well, the Spring is pretty.

This afternoon, the Edisto Island Open Land Trust held its annual oyster roast on Sand Creek Farm. It was a beautiful day, the oysters were great and the kids had a great time too.

So its the weekend again and there's lots to do. It would be really nice to see the sun again .... Maybe tomorrow. However, it's the season of oyster roasts and Thanksgiving, so maybe not.

Blogging in perspective

It's been almost a year since I began this, and I will finish the year out, but what began ambitiously as a daily blog degenerated quickly into an (almost) daily blog, and next year will become an occasional blog. It's been an interesting exercise, and useful for overseas family who like to keep abreast of my activities, but I'll just have to be better about writing in future! I plan to spare readers (if there are any left) the bland details of my daily grind, and save this space for special trips and events.

Rainy night in Charleston, SC

Jam packed Saturday

I think I could probably teach a class on how to maxx out the hours of a day. Suffice to say that I got a bunch done and I will sleep well tonight - well, maybe. Did a family portrait shoot this morning, finished designing and printing wedding invitations, swam laps, took Logan to TWO parks, cooked dinner for the kids.. Is that all? Feels like it should be a longer list. Anyway, here are a couple pics of Paul, Nicole and Brennan (and dogs.)

Friday again ..

So Friday seems to find me at Folly - the instant antidote for the work week. This evening was great - cool and so pretty. Logan had a ball, and I got some good exercise.Later, family and friends got together for dinner, and it was a fun evening - war of the generations, and some payback for the times the kids thought they ruled. This pic is of my crazy kids - Leigh (five foot and not much) giving Matt (six foot something) a piggy back around the kitchen.

Charm of downtown Charleston

I had an errand to run downtown this evening, and since I needed a "photo de jour" I stopped at one of my favorite gates on Legare Street and took this. Tomorrow is ..... FRIDAY!

Tuesday, November 3rd

Today saw the first day of a very important 2-day seminar at GEL. We had 40 participants, some of whom had flown in from the West Coast to attend. It was a long day but it went well. The food was fine, the AV equipment didn't malfunction, everything pretty much went as planned, so one down, one to go. This is what most of my day looked like.....but inside my head it was a cool, fall evening and I was sitting looking over the Charleston rooftops and waiting for the moon ...

Another weekend whizzed by ...

It's Sunday evening and hard to believe tomorrow is Monday. Even harder to believe that we are into November - season of Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations everywhere. Please ... I'm really not ready for caroles. Anyway, a couple photos from today because it's the only time I managed to get out and shoot. Spent some time on Edisto this afternoon and then came back to Charleston with a plan to shoot the full moon rising over the city. That sort of worked, mainly because the clouds tended to obscure the moon, which became a secondary issue. It was a great evening nevertheless.