Athens, and strawberries

This past Saturday, Kristin planned a family trip to Athens and Watkinsville for a little fun and strawberry picking.

I think she really wanted to go to Athens because they have a Five Guys. She's gone from being a vegetarian to a fiveguysatarian. Seriously.

"It's time for lunch. What do you want to get? Oh, look, there's a Five Guys, right on the square!" Mmmm, hamburger....

Athens is still the same. Athens never changes. The same hobos that were on the bench outside of The Grill last time you went to Athens, they're still there. The townies, the Taco Stand, the arches, they're all still there. Athens is like a time warp, but its immutability is most comforting.

Walker and Tillman on one of the many decorative bulldogs around Athens. (Here you can see Tillman's extra-long, space alien fingers, which are so long they reach from his nostrils to the back of his head.)

Calder liked the ice cream at Hodgson's Pharmacy, only $1 a scoop! Hodgson's moved a year or so ago, right next door to the old location.

But the main reason for the trip was to pick berries out at Washington Farms in Watkinsville. $10 for a big old bucket you pick yourself.

I had honestly never had strawberries other than store bought, which I now realize are styrofoam packing peanuts. These strawberries rocked my world. We could not stop eating these cotton-candy soft morsels of explosive strawberryness. Oh, so good.

Saturday night, we had strawberries and cream. Sunday morning, we had Belgian waffles with strawberries. And then we made the Cooks Illustrated strawberry ice cream with the last of them. Exquisite.

Flashes of Hope

We just got word that our work with Flashes of Hope will be featured in an ad for our photographic lab in the July issues of Rangefinder and Professional Photographer magazines.

Since the beginning of Flashes of Hope, White House Custom Color has graciously donated all of the printing. White House is showcasing their charitable work and we were very happy to be a part of it. We'll be comfortable alongside Sandy Puc, Allison Rodgers and other portrait industry big shots.

Does this mean we're closing in on The Big Time?

Magic Eight Ball says "Better Not Tell You Now."

Greece!

Tonight, we are hosting a reunion of all the artists from the Sept. 2008 photography and painting workshop in Greece.

I was editing my 2300 images for a slideshow and thought I would post a few more. One day I plan to have a permanent gallery on my website for all these images. One day...

Cats, Nafplio

Church at Palamidi, Nafplio

Wedding, Nafplio

Paddleball at Askeli beach, Poros

Askeli, Poros

Turtle Rescue Squad

On a roll this week. I've rescued two, count 'em, two turtles in less than five days. And only one of them tried to tinkle on me.

One was on the way to a rodeo in Resaca last Saturday to create more Rodeo portraits (see here and here; a bunch more on the way), and the other was in the parking lot at the studio.

So, to celebrate the rescue of two more of our turtle brothers from certain doom, here's a good photo from my Deep South series, not a turtle, but another critter on the half shell. You'll have to look close:

Mutt of the Week: Puma!

Puma is 6 years old and is a Plott Hound mix. She was adopted from the Cobb County animal shelter when she was seven months old. 

Puma's mom says: "She brings an incredible amount of joy to our lives. She is very sweet and has a quiet soul. Puma loves playing on the Florida beaches, chasing squirrels, and swimming in the Chattahoochee River. We love her!"

Rodeo Portrait

Yacht Rock Revue

I've been meaning to hit this all week, but last Sunday, the family and the grand-units all went to Sandy Springs for dinner and an outdoor concert. I have to be honest and say my expectations were quite low for the musical component of the entertainment. Most of the times at these things the bands serve as little more than background music for your drinking.

Well, let's just say the Yacht Rock Revue exceeded all expectations and kind of blew my mind. They are an eight-piece band that create pitch-perfect covers of all the soft-rock, AM Radio hits of the 70s and 80s. "Hey Nineteen," "Peg," "Nights on Broadway," "Steal Away," Toto's "Africa." Oh, and a spotless version of Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right," complete with the faux-xylophone keyboard solo. The crowd was totally digging it.

And they look the part, too: Captains hats, tab collar shirts, white pants, yellow sunglasses and lots of chest hair and five o'clock shadows. This would all be a funny sight gag if the guys weren't such solid musicians.

We ended up at a neighborhood party the other night (see Low Country Boil) and one of our neighbors started talking about this band she had seen and how much she loved them. It was the Yacht Rock Revue!

If, like me, you grew up in the back of a Buick Skylark listening to easy rock radio, you gotta check them out. Find them at www.pleaserock.com

Low Country Boil

Can't talk. Eating.

People Against Poop

Our neighborhood has been hit by a wave of criminal activity, starting with rather large piles of dog poop --which rules out our Italian Greyhounds -- appearing in people's yards, followed closely by the blatant theft of peonies, some from beds next to our neighbors' front doors!

As much as I'd like to get a vigilante squad together to deal with the perpetrators on a personal level, I'm really kind of knee deep in photography projects. And we don't have any peonies to protect, so Walker came up with the idea of making a "no pooping" sign for the front yard. He put it all together and proudly displayed it by the mailbox.

Well... Calder took a liking to the sign and decided that he wanted to take it on our walk. He proudly paraded the "No Pooping" sign around the neighborhood, and was met with much approval from passersby.

Baby S.

Baby M.

I could be wrong, but I think we have the market cornered on Atlanta's most cutest babies. We've really been rocking with Sprout Club. Sooo many cute and happy chubby ones. :-)

Baby K.

The Waiting

Baby R.

Bookshelf

Walker