All the Pages Are My Days

Today was the first annual Lindsborg Community World Fair which was sponsored by Lindsborg Tomorrow, a group focused on Lindsborg's future. Due to the high wind conditions we moved from Swensson Park to the Stroble-Gibson Center on Bethany Campus. In some ways I suppose it worked better indoors (there were walls behind the tables for posting flags and banners), but we did miss the bandshell stage and the general nice atmosphere in the park.

The event featured over 20 tastes, talents and tables representing food and culture from around the world. There was a wide variety of food, available in snack-sized servings, from Asia, Africa, Europe, and both South and North America. The tasty treats included both sweet and savory items and were very good! Most of the tables were decorated with cultural items from the various countries represented, and throughout the afternoon there were musical and other performances from around the world. Great fun!

We even had a contest for the best taste, talent and table. The best taste was won by the Italian entry and the best talent was won by the salsa dance group; their table also won the best table award. Thanks to everyone who participated by bringing a taste, performing or decorating their table; without you, there would be no fair!

In addition to the entertainment, this event provided an opportunity for Lindsborg Tomorrow representatives from each of the Action Teams to give brief updates on their group's past activities as well as provide information to prospective team members. The freewill offering at the door helped raised money to support the Lindsborg Tomorrow effort.

And I took pictures. 330 to be exact! I whittled that set down to 172 and have posted them to Flickr: Lindsborg World Fair. I've also selected the best 50 and posted them to Flickr: Lindsborg World Fair (top 50). Finally, I chose my favorite 20 images and they're shown below.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as the crowd enjoyed the fair this afternoon; I know I had a great time and heard many positive comments from happy fair-goers. A very special tip of the hat to Terry Larson, who was the force behind the first annual Lindsborg Community World Fair. She will claim that Greg, Greg, Glenn and I helped, but we know what really happened; congratulations on a great job Terry!

Continue reading to view the images from the Lindsborg Community World Fair.

Posted by mike 11:30 PM | Comments/Permalink (1)
Categories: Lindsborg | PhotoBlog | top of page

We were looking through old photos last night, and I noticed that this one, of Uncle Rollin and Aunt Adelia, was taken 70 years ago in September of 1937. Looks like they were having fun; presumably the photographer jumped out of the way and wasn't run over!

The tower in the background is interesting. It appears much too tall for a standard wind mill and I'm pretty sure the large electrical towers that dot the landscape came much later. Please leave a comment if you have any ideas.

Posted by mike 2:41 PM | Comments/Permalink (2)
Categories: History | Personal | top of page

September 25th 2004 was a very long day. We left Bridgeport very early in the morning and headed down towards Bishop where a stop at the famous Schat's bakery would help provide fuel for our long journey.

By 8:30 in the morning we were almost to Nevada, and stopped to take a few photos. We were in the most desolate place I think I've ever been. You can see the green spot on the left side of the photos; I always thought it was an extremely remote ranch.

As it turns out, it's not a ranch, but rather an exclusive, private, 2 year men's liberal arts college known as Deep Springs College. The entire valley is known as Deep Springs and as I mentioned, it's really, really out in the middle of nowhere! The photos are taken from the east end of the valley, looking back towards the rest. The college is on the south, or left, side of the photos, and on the right side of the map.

As a little experiment, here's an embedded Google map hybrid (street and satellite) view of Deep Springs:

View Larger Map

I didn't really take any pictures the rest of the trip, as we pushed all the way to Gallup, NM that day, with no stops for sight-seeing. We did eat lunch overlooking Hoover Dam outside of Las Vegas, so I'll close this post with an image taken from where we ate, but from about 6 months earlier.

Posted by mike 11:30 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Personal | PhotoBlog | Travel | top of page

In reviewing my archives I see that I've noted the 1st and 2nd anniversaries of arriving (back) in Lindsborg. For no particular reason, this year I'm marking the day we began our journey, the 24th of September 2004. We spent the night in Bridgeport (Ca), at the Walker River Inn. The first three images were taken in the Sierra Nevada mountains west of Bridgeport, and the last two from the inn.

Posted by mike 7:55 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Personal | PhotoBlog | Travel | top of page

Here's a sampling of the photos I took last week. As usual, there are many more at my Flickr site.

We start with a flock of wild turkeys near Kanopolis.
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Next, two views near the spillway at Kanopolis.
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Our backyard pimento plant, planted late in the season, did yield one very nice red pepper.
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Flowers from our backyard.
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Closeups of the relatively rare flower from our Swedish ivy plant.
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Posted by mike 12:48 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: PhotoBlog | top of page

Yes, that's a crab, and yes, that's a trash can. No, it's not a still from a horror movie. Click the image to find out more about this coconut cracking, seemingly larger-than-life, hermit crab.

Thanks to apostropher for the link.

Posted by mike 11:24 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Humor | top of page

Thanks to Tom at Random Acts of Reality for the links to a tragic tale of cars, alcohol and young drivers. Given the new school year has just begun, and with it a zest for new experiences, this is a timely story.

I am reminded of a terrible accident in San Jose in the early 90's, where there were multiple fatalities caused by an extremely drunk teenager at the wheel. It was after that that we tried to make it clear to our daughter (who didn't drive at the time) that she should never accept a ride with someone who had been drinking. She just needed to call and we would come and get her, with no questions asked.

I'm also reminded of the first time that I, as a young adult, realized I was in a car that I shouldn't be in. No, I wasn't smart enough to get out, but there 4 eyes on the road the rest of the way home, and I've never ridden with someone who's been drinking since then.

Anyway, the story that follows, told from the perspective of a police officer, a paramedic and a hospital nurse, provides both a compelling read, and could save a life if just one young person reads it and makes a better decision. And parents, make sure your kids know that they can call you anytime for a ride home, with no recriminations. That doesn't mean you can't calmly discuss what happened the next day, but remember the most important fact: they got home safely.

Scene: a small town, anywhere in America.

The closest on-duty officer takes a call around 3am.

On the scene of the accident, we hear from one of the paramedics.

And finally, the conclusion, brought to us by a nurse on duty at the hospital.

Be safe out there!

Just to be clear, click on each of the links above to read the 1st hand perspectives from the officer, paramedic and nurse.

Posted by mike 5:34 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: General | Personal | top of page

While visiting the Kansas State Fair I took some long exposure photos that were inspired by a recent Thomas Hawke led photowalk at the Santa Monica Pier. There is an amusement park at the end of the pier, and it was the night-time long exposure photos that really got my attention. Given the opportunity, I tried to do something similar with the rides at the state fair. I had reasonable success, with my 10 favorites shown below; more long exposures from the Kansas State Fair are visible on Flickr. The photos were taken at iso100, f/16 for 5-8 seconds

Posted by mike 9:02 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: PhotoBlog | top of page

My new digital SLR, a Canon 40D, arrived on Friday, and after work I headed down to Maxwell State Park to take a few photos. My results were nothing special, and the bison weren't cooperating, but I got enough good shots to get a feeling I'm really going to like this camera.

The 40D is a worthy upgrade from my original Canon Rebel XT (350D), which I've been using for the past two years. Not so much in the mega-pixel race, as it only goes from 8MP to 10MP, but for a whole host of new features, including improved focusing capabilities, bigger viewfinder, and probably the most interesting, and somewhat new on DSLRs, Liveview capabilities using the rear LCD panel.

The Liveview capability, coupled with the remote image capture feature (which works on my Mac!), make it much easier to take great macro photos. The focus may be adjusted using the remote control program, and the focus spot can be zoomed 10X, make it very easy to achieve a precise focus. Focusing on a large LCD monitor is obviously much easier than looking through either the viewfinder or the a 3" screen on the camera!

The photos below are from Maxwell, up through the sunset, and then the rest were taken using my ad-hoc home studio setup with a 12cm macro tube extension on the camera and a white light lamp for illumination. The ability to accurately focus using the computer was nothing short of amazing!

The final image is a sort of special effect, infinite mirror type of image gained by careful positioning of the camera viewing the Liveview preview window.

And of course there's a bunch more photos from both shoots over at Flickr.

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Posted by mike 2:03 AM | Comments/Permalink (0)
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I've been wanting to play with the Mac-based comic creation program, Comic Life, and this weekend I finally had a chance. My first efforts are show below:

It's Labor Day today, and Greta and Mabel note the occasion.
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It's easy to get these two things confused.
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Talking turkey (a little early); this was actually the first comic I created using Comic Life.
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The next two are in the LOL Catz vein, a subject worthy of its own posting at a different time.

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Posted by mike 12:39 PM | Comments/Permalink (0)
Categories: Humor | top of page