Candace and Dad Go Deep Sea Fishing

Trust me, it's not often that only two of the family are allowed to go off and do something without the rest of us! :-)

But who am I to be jealous? I went on this very same boat with the very same Dad two years ago.

Barnegat Light - more memories.

At this point in the trip, Uncle John was apparently the most interesting subject for photography.

Much more picturesque in my opinion. :)

Fisher man, fishing boat, fishing tackle... all in one! Creation always outdoes man.

This photo tried my resolution not to be envious. There's something incredible about being out on the ocean, riding the roller coaster of the waves, having the breeze spit foam into your face, etc.

Uncle Ivan - the one who put the trip together. Yeah... he's a character. :-)

Candace caught a small fry right through the eyes - the type of thing you cannot do if you try.

Aunt Anna in for the long haul.

Dad sells fish all the time. This was a great opportunity for him to find out where fish actually come from. He probably thought they come out of a warehouse or something. ;-)

Candace got to experience something I didn't: fishing in the dark. It's one thing to be able to see nothing but sea all around you, but it's another to be able to see nothing but nothing.

Butchering Blues

Candace and cousins.
You should have seen this photo before I corrected all the red eyes!!

Cameras tend to pop up on occasions like this. People that I didn't even know had one suddenly do.

Aunt Anna - very young at heart (which is why she was along - not that that applies to everyone who went along ;-)

Garage Update

Pouring Flooring

Dad and the first driver didn't appear to have much to talk about. ;-)

2nd driver - different story.

This guy isn't just standing about watching; he's still working hard!

Uhh... most of the time, that is.

And he does spend a good deal of time anticipating the luxuries to come.

Mowing the floor?

Working his way up.

Conrad went to such heights to get this picture that I had to post it.

Vans in Vogue

(This was probably the most expensive day of the project: builders, plumbers, electricians, heating guys, etc. The amazing thing is that almost everyone who worked on this project was our relation in some way.)

Lunchtime - what brings them all together.

Blowing insulation (in the summertime at that!) must be one of the least desirable jobs imaginable.

The stage we are at now.
I believe this guy would be at home on a stage; he's a regular clown. He's got the personality, he's got the stilts, he yodels while he works, and he has a hat full of tricks.

We all thought the stilts were pretty interesting. Earlier, when the insulation crew was here, one of them was an Amish man on stilts. We thought it would make a great picture! But, knowing that Amish don't always appreciate getting their pictures taken (yes, we know things like that ;-), Candace asked him before she did. He said, "Well, I'd rather not, but if you really want to..." After that, we couldn't decide if we really wanted to.

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God Bless
~Carmen~

This Blog Is One Year Old...

...and here are the fireworks to celebrate!

Also, to celebrate, I am taking a vacation. ;-)

Actually, I am only taking the break out of necessity; I truly do love blogging. For me, blogging has two ingredients: time and photos. Photos I have in abundance right now for the same reason I don't have the time: the last two weeks have been the busiest in the year (I hardly had time to set up the above photo). Today I have the honor of being a bridesmaid in a dear friend's wedding, and I have been quite busy making my dress for that. My eyes have really been opened about how much work a wedding is - it's fun though! All things considered, I decided not to post (in normal length) this week.

A few reflections on this past year of blogging seem to be in order. First and foremost it was a learning experience... in many ways. I even learned some new things about myself (not always fun :-). Back when I started this blog, it was "one big experiment" that I thought would be fun. It has been more than fun actually; it's stimulating and something I really, truly look forward to doing every two weeks. (You know, I think I would do this even if nobody looked at it. But since you do, I don't have to think twice. ;-) An interesting fact that most of you probably don't know is that when I started I wasn't necessarily planning to make this primarily a photo blog. Every single post, excluding my opening introduction, has been a photo post. :) And I take a lot more photos than I ever did before.

God is good!
~Carmen~

Good Evening Everyone,

This truly is a Saturday Evening Post. For those of you who faithfully sit by your computers waiting for me to post, thank you for your patience! You see I had beans to help can this morning, a bridal shower to attend this afternoon, and so on.

Most of today's photos are from a local event which our church participated in. It was a good way to get to know people in the community.

Well, so you don't have to wait any longer...

Schoeneck Community Days

First thing upon arrival, Candace and I were asked to guard the sound tent.

The first shady characters we chased away were the members of another band who wanted to set up their sound system! (I think they were more suspicious of us than we were of them.)

Conrad shakes his head over "their" sound system.

One Man Audience
The band was about as popular as their sound system.

A three-legged photographer (you'll just have to trust me on the photographer part).

They look like they're missing something.

Maybe they are!

Candy Bomber

A whole tray of french fries later, she still looks like she is missing something.

Considering everything was ten cents (that's right - just ten cents!), I find it rather interesting that the icecream window on the right has so little business compared to the other window.

Now, we Martins... we definitely had a partiality for that right window.

Barrels of Fun

Making sure the hayride driver doesn't miss out on all the good food.

(I posted this picture for you, Mrs. Groff :-)

My wonderful piano student Amber fishing for treasure. (Anything you can get for only ten cents is treasure for sure :)

Three junior firemen ready for their first assignment.

Wait a minute, you can't all go first.

Taking his job seriously.

By the looks of it, the target takes its job seriously too. It's not going to be shot down easily.

Finally... it's down.

Candace chooses a very appropriate place to eat her John F. Martin-donated hamburger.

I spy... a Martin marvel, a Botsford brownie, a Phero favorite, and an Einwechter edible (just so ;-).

(In case you haven't noticed, I sometimes like to make controversial statements on this blog.)

And when you run out of dimes to buy tickets, all you have to do is throw a football through a tire and they give you a free ticket. (I should tell you though, the ball doesn't always want to go through the tire.)

Meeting old friends for the first time. ;-)

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend." These two are working hard at it.

Monique multi-tasking.