By candlelight

Many thanks, Kirk! This will be made into the new banner for my website soon.



We're definitely saving this for a special occasion. Like, camping, for instance.

I go for a kayak

Headed out on the white river yesterday in Jayne's excellent kayak.



Kayaking is fun, except when you are trying to take pictures. Then it floats too much, and you have to beach yourself to get that shot you want.



Then, of course, getting free again can be a problem, especially when you have a camera around your neck that you're trying to avoid exposing to any moisture.



Being out on the river is quite relaxing. Especially drifting, while you listen to the birds and the reeds and the water.


Drifting from ILoveVerdi on Vimeo.

In the end I was forced to exit the kayak and drag it back through the 5 inch deep water. Still, quite fun.

Tweeters unite!

Yesterday, Twitter users from around the Grand Rapids area met up at Hop Cat for some drinks and a chance to joke about the fail whale.



It turns out twitter users aren't so dorky after all.



A few more photos are here. Welcome to device notification: phone, all of you! You should feel honored.

Time for law school

My man Brandon turned 25 yesterday, and since he's leaving for Duke Law School in August, his friend Janelle organized a surprise party for him. Erin and Jaclyn and I drove over from GR, Tres flew in from New York, and there were a ton of people representing the Detroit/Ann Arbor area.

I decided to capture the first raw moment of surprise on video:


The Surprise Effect from ILoveVerdi on Vimeo.

I took a few more pictures which are up here on Picasa. Best of luck to Brandon, and god help him he's going to be working hard very soon now.

Flickr

I've decided to use my flickr account to display some of my better-composed photographs. Picasa will still be up for large albums grouped by event, but check out my flickr stream for some photos you might not see here or there.

Happy 60th birthday!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday. He didn't want too much attention, so we threw him a surprise birthday party with all of his siblings yesterday. After months of planning, fake stories, and discreet phone calls, we pulled off a complete shock:



We had a sizable group, plenty of gag gifts, and a ton of traditional Lynem joking and ribbing.



It was the closest thing to a family reunion we've had in years. It's great to see everyone together again, and I sincerely appreciate all the effort everyone put in to make my dad's birthday so special.



UPDATE: I put up all of the pictures online in a Picasa photo album.

Stuff i found on the beach

Lake Erie, Cleveland, Ohio. Curtis, Cassie, and Nancy.



A box of fireworks, mostly spent.







An American flag.



A brick.



My dream house.

Nemastil family photos

Late night in Gates Mills. This is the house the 7 Nemastils grew up in, and this is the woman who raised them.



I think uncle Hiram looks like Brando.



Maggie has anger management issues.



And so ended the Day of Too Much Beer.

Bowling, finally

Ok, so it took a little while to continue the photos from the Cleveland trip, but here we go. I'm uploading photos from our visit here, though at the moment there are only photos from bowling. Most of them look exactly like these, so take a look if you want to see ones of you. For Lou and Erin, I have videos of you bowling that I'm going to try to figure out how to get online somewhere.

West side until i perish

I am a big fan of public markets. Whether they be butchers, bakeries, food stands, farmers' markets, or art fairs, I love the concept of a small group of specialized artisans exhibiting their (sometimes remarkably tasty) wares. I must be white.



As you might hasten to tell me then, West Side Market in Cleveland is a location I should check out! Well thank you for suggesting it, but I've already had the pleasure.



It has some great art deco architecture, and a great open hall. They sell meat there.



Lots and lots of meat!



They also have a balcony, which offers a photo-op almost exactly the same as the one in the wikipedia article I linked to.



Erin got a crepe with bananas and peanut butter. They also have baked goods! Unfortunately some of the bakers are liars.



This guy was nice though. He sold me a scrumptious loaf of sesame semolina bread. I ate the whole thing by the time the trip was over.



This was a hunger-inducing experience. It reminds me of Quincy Market in Boston, except the food is not cooked. I wish we had a place like this near our home, so we could actually make use of all the great un-prepared stock on sale. As it is though, we had a great time, and I got some great pictures.

Tomorrow: Bowling!

Domicile of anthony and mary beth

Cleveland this last weekend was a blast! I have dozens of photographs that I'm in the process of cleaning up and post-processing, so look for those all week, starting today.

First of all, many many thanks to Anthony and Mary Beth for welcoming us into their beautiful home and putting up with us stumbling back at all hours of the night (probably much noisier than we intended- more on that later). Just know that it was greatly appreciated, and if we ever get the chance to return the favor we won't hesitate!

We left on Friday with Cassie and Curtis after work, and arrived at the house in Euclid (half a block from Lake Erie) at around 11:30 PM. They have such a wonderful home!



It felt very much like the houses I'd known as a child in Rosedale Park, our neighborhood in Detroit. There is just something delightfully comfortable about it for me.



I actually caught Erin in a real smile! This is how she looks at me when I'm not upsetting her.



This looks like a Motto; Joseph Motto was a sculptor in the family during the art deco period. I love his work!



This is a dark photo, but I liked the mood. Exploring a new house at night is a more intimate experience than it is during the day.



One more image that I liked. Sorry for the high ISO, I was too tired to get out the tripod.



Tomorrow: West Side Market!

Good morning 7 AM meeting

I'm usually not up before dawn. That's because typically I don't have meetings at 7 AM. However this morning was special: special in that "WTF, why is the alarm set for so earl- oh, right." kinda way.

However I was pleased as punch to be able to see this vibrant of a sunrise. It pretty much made the whole thing worthwhile!

Digging

Well we thought we were going to be setting up a fence, but that will have to wait for another day. Clapton is hardly disappointed though; he got to go for a swim and loves being up in Hesperia!



I did get to take some fun pictures, even though it rained quite a bit. Everything is growing profusely due to that precipitation.



Here's a rare self-portrait. I think I need a shave and a haircut.



Birdbath on the back porch.



Erin and Lou in another heated Nemastil discussion. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree sometimes...



This is the Pollen Nation.



I think we got these for Jayne on St. Patrick's day.



Curtis and Cassie came by to help dig the electrical line ditch out to the garage. It started pouring though so we came in for lemonade. (thanks Erin!)



I feel like I'm a 6 year-old again. Yay dirt!



Ok I'm going to be selfish here. The last two are just photos I am kind of proud of. One:



And two:



Ok, the rain has stopped, it's time to finish our little ditch. Hopefully nobody will hit any gas or water or cable lines!

Croton

The wife and I and Clapper (that's Clapton's nickname, one of many) stopped at Croton dam on our way up to the in-laws'.



I took the opportunity to dig out my camera, which I haven't done very much for the last two weeks. So excuse me if these are a little wannabe artsy.



It is such a nice day today! Upper 80s, humid, but for some reason I don't care at all and am enjoying the heat.



This is kind of scary. There were a few of these posted around.



I like this photo a lot, I'm not sure why.



One more, of the great old brick building.

Stormy evening skies

This was a big late-spring storm last week.



And this was just before raining, last night at Alexis'.



I love this time of year! It's about to rain again right now, too. We're up in Hesperia for the weekend, helping to put up a fence. Thank god they have high speed wireless now!

Morels

Uncle Terry has a secret. This secret involves mushrooms. No, not like the happy trippy ones; I'm talking about the $50 per pound variety: morels.



Prized in French cuisine, these are supposed to be delicious. I will have to have one sometime!



Half the fun of morels is "hunting" them. I'm going to have to stay on Terry's good side if I want him to show me where the pay dirt is for this brown gold.

Cirrus clouds

I haven't seen these in a long time!



It's a nice thing to see when you wake up and take the dog out for a poo.



The trees don't seem to notice that it's been chilly the last week.



This was an experiment. Not sure what to think about it.

Near Fremont, Michigan

I took these in the car on the way to the art fair.



A few abandoned barns and farm houses.



Mostly, a lot of farm land. I can't wait for the corn to come in!

Mona

"i is stuck!"



"you free me! heart!"

Barack Obama!

I took quite a few photos at the rally, and they're all up on a public album. I picked a few good ones to put up here.



Turnout was very high. Liz and her new boyfriend Onur arrived at around 6:15 and were turned away because Van Andel was packed full.



The event was loud, energetic, and a bit like a rock concert. When Obama arrived, the whole arena went manic.



Obama came on stage and quickly introduced Edwards, who was there to announce his endorsement. We didn't realize Edwards would be there until we were already seated and Erin's dad Lou called.



There was a lot of cheering for John Edwards, especially from the cute girl in the seat next to me.



Barack really stole the show though. He is probably the greatest public speaker I've ever had the pleasure to watch. He was electrifying, humorous, and if not detailed and specific at least substantive. The speech focussed on the economy, jobs, and poverty, three things that are very important to the people of Michigan and meshed well with Edwards' ongoing message.

All in all it was a good time, very inspirational and filled with plenty of Bush bashing (which always makes me smile). Let's hope he can win in November. I'll be volunteering if any out there would care to join me!