Thank you blog readers

I decided to look back through my entire blog tonight and could scarcely believe all of the things documented within it. It made me realize how fun its been to write this blog, even if it sometimes becomes difficult to keep up with everything I want to write about.

Then I realized that if no one read it, I'd have little motivation to collect all of these thoughts, images and videos into one document.

So, thank you to everyone who reads this. You give me a reason to write.

These Kids Rock!

I'm working on a story about the Paul Green School of Rock Music in St. Paul. Here's a photo I made Saturday straight out of the camera. I love the movement and light; it's even better than what I was imagining when I set up the shot, waiting for the light to be eclipsed by her figure. By the way, she's 14!
More photos.

Land Snorkeling

My sister in law, Nikki sent me this photo this morning from an October trip to the Minnesota Zoo. I always feel a little strange when Joe's wearing our camelbak and I start drinking from it, especially when I'm walking.

It's kind of like land snorkeling...

Introducing Clocky

Despite the fact that I am a dismal doodler, I often find myself not only doodling, but showing off my doodles. Once I even printed one of these "cartoons" in my college newspaper as art with an opinion piece about blogging. After some teasing, I had to make a personal rule not to publish any more of my "artwork."

Nevertheless, I'm letting my doodles back out today.

About eight months ago I created a new mascot for the newspaper where I work named Clocky. He is loosely based off of the clock clip art that sits on the header of each of our front pages, as seen below:



Although our online news may never stop, the news in our weekly papers so obviously does stop (every day but Saturday) that I've always found the tag line and clock ironic.

And so, when we were thinking of ways to market our papers in parades Clocky was born:


Since, I've been doodling him here and there, giving him thought and word bubbles when appropriate and even naming my fantasy football team "Tick-Tock Clocky."

He has quickly become one of my best-loved doodles.

But I hadn't thought about Clocky much recently until I saw Mr. Goodcents beaming from the side of a Mr. Goodcents sub shop in Mankato on Friday. It was as if, finally, someone else appreciated my concept of placing goofy arms, legs and eyes on an inanimate object to create a nearly nonsensical mascot.

Here he is in all his glory:


I was so impressed with the mascot that we stopped to get a sandwich there. The sandwich was okay, but the endless mascot branding all over the packaging and napkins was what made the meal. He looks like Clocky's long-lost penny-shaped cousin.

New Year, New Laughs

We had a pretty low-key new years eve at home last night with James and Nikki playing games, eating quesadillas and laughing ... a lot.

My favorite moment from the final hours of 2007:

Brooke: "Thanks, Joe for cleaning up that milk I spilled on this chair."
Joe: "Uh ... I didn't clean up that milk."
Brooke: "Um ... Well, thanks to whoever cleaned up the milk on this chair."
Joe: "No one cleaned up the milk."
...

Brooke: "Thanks to whoever's butt cleaned up the milk on this chair."

Happy new year to all!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a very hap-hazard dinner at Denny's Christmas Eve during which a very cute 3-year-old was overheard from a nearby table saying "Happy Birthday Jesus!" while her mom tried to get her to eat her macaroni and cheese.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Why Stop at Halloween?

Why stop with pumpkins?

I've been eating a lot of oranges lately. Gotta spice them up a little.

Action and Adventure

It's been a lot of fun watching my nephew, Joe, grow as a wrestler. When we walked in and started paying for our tickets to event, the salesman asked us if we had a wrestler. Joe put his hand on my belly and said our wrestler was still in there.











Keep up the good work, kid.

Recognition

I made this picture during the tricycle and scooter races at Rambling River Days, the town festival in Farmington, MN. The photographer from our competitor newspaper was shooting the same event and I remember watching and wondering what he was seeing and thinking of what I wanted to see.

It seemed the glory for these kids was at the finish line, so I put on my long lens and hoped for the best. Lo and behold, I'd read the situation right and the above photo is what emerged. I love the drama and whimsy of the image. It's clearly a simple event — the trike tells us this. Yet the emotion, the attempt to capture it for all time on video and the juxtaposition of the teenager in the left corner, inattentively and talking on her cell phone make this image very real for me.

This year, I took second place in our company-wide editorial contests for Best Feature Photo for this shot. It was nice to be recognized, especially for such a fun shot.

I was also excited to win a few writing awards, including a first place for Best Social Issues story for a piece I wrote about Oral Cancer. It's gratifying to win the award, though I'd already been heavily rewarded through feedback I'd received from people who were helped or enlightened by the article.

In both cases, I felt the award winning work was created because I had the ability to recognize the possibility in situations that evolved on their own. That's the beauty in journalism and photojournalism — using knowledge, skill and intuition, not to create, but to capture what has already been created and represent it in such a way that others are able to access its message.

Sweet New Wheels

note: future baby posts can be found on my new blog, Spellbound Baby.


(I'm 23 weeks, or about five and a half months here)



While I was on vacation in San Diego my family threw me an early baby shower. Among the mound of awesome gifts bestowed upon Spellbound Baby was this stroller, which we came in the mail yesterday and was assembled this evening. We brought the baby over to get acquainted with its ride.

It's amazing how much thought goes into choosing each of these baby things. After what seemed like a complicated series of algorithms, we decided on this one because it offered us a full sized stroller that was light weight.

Plus, it matches the blog =)

Thanks for the stroller Dad and Sally. I'll post more pictures of the baby shower once I get them from my mom.

It's Cold

Not much of a newsflash for anyone living in the Midwest, but it is cold today. When I got home from San Diego yesterday it was no-coat-necessary weather (in the thirties) so I was a little surprised at how cold I was when I walked outside this morning coat-clad.

The suddenly frozen lakes should have tipped me off that it was about 9 degrees around ten this morning.

The greatest thing about this winter is that the baby will emerge from it with us.

Half way there, baby

Spellbound baby is halfway here. So I thought I'd post a little update:

We kind of think the baby is a boy. We have no reason for thinking this because we're not finding out the sex ahead of time. But for whatever reasons we find ourselves saying "he is kicking" or "I wonder if he ..." When we do this, we usually recover with "or she," because the baby might be able to hear us now and we don't want to give her a complex if she is a girl.

My mom, niece Elizabeth and friend Amy think its a girl. Feel free to guess for yourself; the odds are great.

As implied above, I can feel the baby kicking now. I started feeling him or her around 16 weeks, but the movement of their little hands and feet are a lot more regular now. Joe even felt the baby the other day, but that was a super-ninja kick.

After the baby is born we will stick their ninja feet in these starfish booties.

In other news, I'm headed to San Diego tomorrow to visit family. I'll be gone for a week.

Fire Coverage From the U-T

The San Diego Union Tribune had an interesting article about people who didn't evacuate today. It talked about both those who died or were injured and those who were able to save their houses.

The story humanizes the fires by bringing to light an on-going battle we fight as human beings — is any kind of property worth risking your life for? It's easy to say no; but the question becomes complicated when you think about wedding and baby pictures, old letters and family heirlooms.

Even if you'd never dream of risking your life over a piece of property, you can understand how some feel a need to when you think of pieces of property as memories instead of paper, glass and wood.

A portion of the story:

On Sunday, four firefighters were injured trying to rescue a father and son who tried to keep their Potrero house from being destroyed. The father – Thomas Varshock, 52 – was killed and his son, 15, badly burned.

Yet as the fires progressed this week, even some firefighters couldn't find it in themselves to second-guess homeowners who remained on their land. It was as though the decision whether to flee or stay and fight was such a personal one that to question it would be like challenging someone's religious beliefs.

Jim Nadal, who stood ground Tuesday morning as the Rice Canyon wildfire roared toward his Fallbrook house, said he felt “a little sheepish” as firefighters approached him while he was attacking the flames with a giant hose. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there; his Red Mountain Heights Drive neighborhood had been evacuated the previous afternoon.

SEAN DuFRENE / Union-Tribune Jim Nadal, ignoring an evacuation order, sprayed down hot embers Tuesday morning as he battled to protect his Fallbrook home. Nadal said that had he not stayed behind, his house would have been lost.

Rather than yell at him or drag him away, the firefighters simply told him to be careful and to stay on the high ground. Then he and the crew attacked the flames together.

Nadal, 52, a real estate broker, credits the firefighters with saving his house. Still, they didn't arrive until dawn Tuesday, after he'd spent several hours battling the flames on his own. (His wife and 16-year-old son had evacuated the neighborhood on Monday night but returned Tuesday and joined the fight.)

“There's no question in my mind that if I weren't here, my house would have gone,” Nadal said.

View the whole story here.

Things You Can Do With A Macalester Education

Joe received this in the mail today from his Alma Mater:



They clearly have been thinking about him.

How I love my husband (name).

The Fire Through My Dad's Eyes

(from getty images, obviously)

My dad sent me this email this evening, which explains what the last few days have been like for him:

We had 3 days of fire to keep from burning our place. The CDF engine from across the road from us, our local guys were charged to save our home. They parked in front of the house from around 11am until the threat was over. God bless them, I can never thank them enough. I keep the grass low 100 yards or more from our house. Stucco house with stucco eves and a fire system inside. We were hit 3 times on the house. The first one came down slow and gave us some room from the big brush which was about 100 feet from the house. When the big hot fire came we had a dirt road to help, then a brush filled gully on our property that went up hot. The firefighters fogged my wife's garden that would have gone up next so it would not catch. I kept the horse and equipment barns alright by running around stopping little grass and wood chip fires from getting out of hand. After a neighbor's motor home went up the fire spread back to the north side of HWY 78 again which burned the Smokey the Bear sign, grass field and the old ranch house across the street. The old school house around the corner also went up as well many other homes in our valley. We are very blessed and lucky. It looked like a war zone that first day and night.

After the fire crew had the house secure they turned it back to me. I was alone and wound up stopping grass fires around the barn most of the night. It was super hot as you all know. Sometimes I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. Very scary.

The second day we had 3 engines on our west fence line as a grass fire was coming back into the wind which would have come to the house from down below. They handled it so professionally and at least one engine was here all day and parked across the road watching our hillside all night. We are so thankful. We have continued putting out hot spots up until 2am last night. Ironic as it is the last one was putting some dirt on what was left of the CDF Smokey the Bear sign. I was sitting there watching it finish up burning and the wind picked up so said goodnight to Smokey.

We are an evacuation facility for horses and have some here now. If anyone needs a place to go it is safe here now. We set up our stable area to protect the horses and it worked out so far. I did take the John Deere out and scrape a couple of places early on where I could not get to with water. The roads are not open. If you have horses and PM me to come here, I could meet you at the road block and help you get through.

Our hillside burned and we lost about 8 oak trees. There are still lots more there but from the front of the house to the road still looks normal. We are still on alert for spot fires.

On generator power and no phone. We are all helping each other out here and have no idea when power will be restored. Like camping now. We are all focused on water, food and power. We still have 16,000 gallons of water here. I am going to hook up my generator to the well pump eventually so we can keep our water supply up. Tim came by today and borrowed a water tank so we will keep water going over the hill for them for sure. Told Tim to come as often and take as much as they need and we will let him know if we get low.

We are fine so not worry about us at all. Now we can help some others.

More fire

I talked to my mom, brother and one of my college classmates that's in his senior year at USD today. My brother's fine and said he talked to my dad yesterday and he was doing well. My mom's doing well. My friend at USD said it wasn't raining ash there as it was in 2003, at least not yet. School's been canceled for the major colleges and all county public schools.

I had to share this pictures I saw under reader submitted images on the LA Times website. It's of a fire more in the LA area, but I thought it was striking.

Fire update

I got an update from my brother this morning.

Though fires are still raging strong in SoCal, the fire has passed my dad's house. As of 9 a.m. it was on its way to the town of Ramona, though Santa Ana winds are pushing it along quickly.

He's still alone up at his ranch, but he's just putting out small ash fires and doesn't have to worry about any big ones right now.

As long as we're all thinking positive thoughts, think a few for Brett's parents, who were visiting Brett and Amy in Iowa when the area they live in was evacuated.

With Santa Ana winds still raging, its difficult to fight the fires, which my brother said had now become four separate fires. They suspect the one that threatened by dad's house was caused by a downed power line, my brother said. He also said the 30-50 mph wind is so fierce that helicopters are unable to drop flame retardant on the fire.

We escaped the first fire, maybe not the second

My dad lives on a small ranch just outside of Ramona, CA. When the Cedar fire hit in 2003, his current house was in Escrow and he was lucky enough to have not been touched by the fire. My cousins, who also live in the area, had to evacuate, horses in tow. But, for the most part, everything turned out alright.

After the Cedar fire, which burned 300,000 acres in the area and sent ash raining down throughout the county and city of San Diego for nearly a week, a new fire station was put up across the road from my dad's new home. We always joked that his house was the best place to have a fire, because the proximity of the station. However, that station was put in specifically to protect the Cleveland National Forest — the forest in which the Cedar fire began. The firefighters always said they'd help my dad if he needed it but their first priority is the forest.

Right now, fire is threatening my dad's home. I don't know all of the details, but I know that my brother and step mom are safe away from the fire and that my step mom is not able to return because they have blocked all incoming traffic into the area. My dad is the only member of the house left to fight the fire.

I'm not exactly sure why it is safe for him to still be at the home (i.e. why he hasn't been evacuated) if there is fire threatening the home. However, that is the case. I'm not even sure if the fires he's been fighting are related to the massive fire burning in the area. All I know is that he has been fighting fires for a while, at least some of which are coming from piles of junk in his neighbor's yard.

San Diego is experiencing heavy Santa Ana winds, which create the ideal conditions for fire. It's possible he's fighting some sort of small backyard fire.

Though the fire department helped him the first day he was fighting it, they were called elsewhere today. I'm not sure if the firefighters that helped him were from the Ramona fire department or the forestry one across the road from his house.

My dad's very spiritual and I just wanted to ask that you think some positive thoughts for him, or pray, depending on your belief systems.

I'll post an update when I know more.

Art in Iceland

We launched a new section at work, which has been eating my time like a very hungry caterpillar, but I wanted to throw up a picture I took in Iceland.

I'm also working on a website, so stay tuned.

Spellbound Baby

Photo from our wedding
by Michelle King, MK Photography

As most of you know, we're expecting a baby around April 1st. The midwife due date has moved up to March 31. Maybe we'll have to get a pool started =). The baby and I are both doing great, now that I have recovered from my crazy bought with pneumonia. The illness doesn't seem to have affected Spellbound baby, who's measuring perfectly on schedule.

A few things about Spellbound baby:

First I thought it was a girl. Then we both thought it was a boy. Now I think it's a girl again. Whoever said the mother is 65% right, wasn't counting on me changing my mind =). At this rate, I'm going to be 100% right.

He or she is a wiggle-worm, ninja-kicker. Though I can't feel it yet, the baby was wiggling and kicking a ton when we had an ultrasound two weeks ago. Yesterday the baby kicked the machine the midwife uses to listen to the baby's heartbeat.

If our memory of genetics is as clear as we think it is (no guarantees) our baby will almost certainly have blue eyes, dimples and either positive or negative type O blood.

He or she will also have an awesome name we're not ready to share.

But we will share the sex, if the baby is willing to show us at our next appointment on a very special day, October 30. October 30 is also the anniversary of Joe's sister Jody and her husband Toby, as well as the birthday of their youngest, wrestler-dancer-kindergartner Joe E.

And, because the joke has already been said: Yes, this will be a highly photographed child.

Sneak Peak of Ali's Senior Portraits

I shot a few senior portraits for my niece, Ali, yesterday. Today is first day of her senior year of high school and her brother's (AKA wrestler, dancer Joe E.) first day of kindergarten. Have fun, both of you, and everyone else starting school today.

As always, more to come later.

A Few Photos From Iceland

Greetings from the Land of Fire and Ice

Here is a sampling of what we have done on our trip so far (you may need to use google to get the full picture):

- Seen the sights in the golden circle (geysir and gulfoss)
- Seen Pingvellir National Park (where Europe and the Americas are slowly growing apart, physically not metaphorically)
- Climbed to the volcanic crater of Mt. Hengill (inactive, we think)
- Walked behind Seljalandsfoss and walked to the top of Skogafoss
- Hiked the Skaftashedl Loop, seeing both glaciers including the great Vatnajokull, the largest ice cap in Europe and the third largest in the world
- Walked on Snivafellsjokull, part of vatnajokull, using crampons and ice axes
- Had lovely lobster pizza and lobster pasta in Hofn (pronounced "hup" as though you are hiccuping)
- Drove the windiest and windiest roads you can ever imagine (yes, those are two different words)
- Seen LOTS of sheep — shy ones, white ones, black ones, brown ones, brave ones, a few that really liked the grass near the road, and a few that even met us on the road.

Pictures when we return. Hope everyone is well.

Off to Iceland

By tomorrow morning (around 2am Midwest time) I'll be in Iceland. I'll return August 22 with stories and pictures galore.

Have fun while I'm gone!

Apparently, I'm a Goldfish

After a long absence, I reunited with my favorite Goldfish crackers today, the Parmesan flavor. And what did I discover on the package? A batty-eyed cracker version of myself. Would you look at that, my name is even trademarked as a cheese flavored cracker. I hope they don't send me a cease and desist letter ...

More of my lovely cracker doppelganger:

Moments like this make me glad I have a blog.