On Friday the fourth I flew into Wichita, and Becs and Jeanne unselfishly left viewing the fireworks to come pick me up.  They're pretty much the best ever...

We drove to the Shoemakers', where we met up with some characters of interest.  The next day, we had a meeting in the morning that was deliciously reminiscent of old staff meetings (I had forgotten how great we all are together), then went out to the Sennes' to do some horseback riding.

But first, we chatted it up with the locals.

Ready to strike out across the prairie...

...and returning from said strike-out.

Joy's got her trusty canteen, so she'll be okay...

This is just a random candid shot of Becs, probably on Sunday.  Sunday we went to church in the morning, took Paul to the airport in the afternoon, and went out for sushi for Amos' birthday.

And there it is, before its untimely demise.

Monday morning Becs, Teresa, and Lisa left, so it was just a couple of us left to hang out.  We went - where else? - to a coffee shop and played Hearts, at which Amos beat us handily.  I did manage to shoot the moon once, though. 

Here I believe Kate is trying not to let on that she has a totally awesome hand.

The rest of the time I mainly spent hanging out with Joy, and sadly I didn't take any more pictures.  We took a walk to an old ruined farmhouse, but it was threatening rain, so I didn't take my camera along and missed out on some great photo ops.  I'm also not a big fan of the rule that says you have to stow all portable electronic devices on takeoffs and landings, because as I was flying into Wichita on the evening of the fourth, there was a beautiful sunset, fireworks on the ground, a perfectly positioned sliver of moon, and city lights composing a very nice shot.  But nooooo....

On the trip home I had a four-hour layover in Atlanta, so I met up with Jared and Erica, as well as Jeanne, who somehow just happened to be in town.  We had dinner, they left, and I discovered that my four-hour layover had turned into a six-hour layover, with an additional hour spent taxiing around the tarmac.  Oh the joys.  Fortunately, I had gone book-shopping with Joy and was sufficiently prepared for such an event.  My parents ended up picking me up in Baltimore around 1:15 AM, which was definitely not part of the original plan.  I got home around 2:00. 

And now it's back to "normal," whatever that may be.  I've noticed a downturn in my creative output as of late, so I have been trying to promote brain activity by reading worthy books.  We'll see if it helps.  At any rate, I have some new submissions for my end-of-year list, which was previously on track to be notably shorter this year.  I finished David McCullough's John Adams earlier this week, and I would recommend it, particularly if you're planning to start a country anytime soon, although you can probably draw applications for other endeavors as well.

Emily

Over the fourth of July weekend I went to Kansas to visit some very dear friends and had a great time.  However, just prior to that, I went on a bike ride around here and took some pictures.  So I'm going to post the bike pictures first.

I've kind of nicknamed this place "Hidden Valley Ranch" because it reminds me of the picture on the bottle.  Technically, though, it's not really a ranch.  Semantics.

This is a road I haven't taken too many times, but I enjoy it because of the constant twists and turns.  Unfortunately, if you're "blessed" with a pessimistic outlook, you see a lovely spot like this and think "I bet there's a huge hill right around that corner."  And, as the saying goes, blessed are the pessimists, for they shall not be disappointed.  When I got to the middle of the hill I started counting pedal revolutions to keep me going.  In a low gear (I don't remember exactly which one), it took me 157 rotations to get to the top.  But on the way...

...I took in the sights.

One of the things I like about bike riding is that you get the big picture (admittedly, not as big a picture as riding in an airplane), but you can stop to appreciate the small picture too.  Especially in the middle of a big hill.

I appear to be surrounded by perfect little farms.  They're everywhere!

So, that's an early July look at my surroundings.  It's a good time of year to be here.

Emily

Summer Stomp 2008

I discovered that water games are pretty fun to photograph.

This little guy was adorable.  He got sick in the middle of the week and had to stay up in the main building with the nurse... he looked so pitiful, hugging his little stuffed dinosaur and sleeping off a fever.  Anyway, all the little girls were in love with him.  I had to carry him somewhere once and a chorus of eight-year-old whispers followed me - "Isn't he cute?"

"Take a picture of me, I'm a monkey!"

They were playing a game called "Earthquake" and I told her to give me her best "I didn't survive the earthquake" face.

Nick went to camp too, which was a lot of fun.

This one makes me laugh... I should tease him about looking like Red Riding Hood.

At the end of the week, they all sign each other's shirts... here's Tanya autographing a little boy.

This was a highly amusing game in which they tried to bump each other out of a circle.  Like wrestling with your belly.

Apparently it helps you concentrate if you stick out your tongue.  I got three pictures of this kid and the tongue's out the whole time.

Love that face...

This was a "capture the flag"-esque game... I'll entitle this one "Get over here so I can tag you out!"

Everyone wanted to pose for the Picture Lady.

This fox belonged to the monkey a couple of pictures above.

So, technically I was the pianist, but I also unofficially became the games photographer.  Sports photography is pretty fun.  Kids make entertaining subjects, too.  All in all, this year's birthday gift has already gotten a good workout.

Emily

Here is the promised picture post.  I'm going to break it down into two posts, one for South Carolina and one for camp.

Jarica on the beach...

The Lana-baby doing her crab impression...

We painted her toenails for the first time.

I had lots of fun with my new telephoto lens.

A blue heron posed obligingly for me...

...then I had some fun with him in the photo editor.

This bird cracks me up.

Cool spider...

The walk down to the beach...

My parents being cute little beach people.

I shot the moon...

...and we went to downtown Charleston, so I shot some of that too.

This little guy was sitting up on someone's rooftop.

Man, those things were all over the place.

Very interesting tree bark. 

"Is that Rainbow Row?"

I painted a flower on my car window to pass the time...

...and made a sand-castle on the beach.

Mom added landscaping.

This is a still-life.  I call it "A Baby Was Here."

Now onward to camp...

Emily

Ahem.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important announcement:

Happy birthday to me.

Thank you for your attention. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'll write a real post later, with pictures and stuff, but I'm at camp this week and so rather short on time.  Let's just say I'm five to the second power today.  I like that better than, say, a quarter of a century, or a third of the way through my life.

Emily