"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy-Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please!"

Well hello strangers. It seems like I havent posted anything in FOREVER! I have been so busy this summer. Beach trips, mission trips, summer reading--and much more! I havent found hardly anytime to take photos, or make a blog post.

I wanted to post this "Special Post" before I give you a photo today, because I have begun a new project. Please say hello to my NEW blog! http://www.hpadventures.blogspot.com/. Now, if you didnt guess by the title of the post, this new blog will focus on one thing: The magical and wonderful world of Harry Potter! I have been an avid Harry Potter fan for years--seen all the movies, and more importantly, read all the books! But now I have decided to re-embark on the journey through Harry's years at Hogwarts, and take a closer look. I want to share my thoughts, opinions, and questions with everyone, and hopefully readers will share along with me.

I will still be busy photo blogging on LOAA of course, but I decided to take another one of my loves and blog about it. So if youre a Harry Potter fan, please stop by! The link again: http://www.hpadventures.blogspot.com/.

Thanks!
-Rip

P.S: Someone once asked me if I made up that quote in the title when I shared it with them. The answer is no! The quote is the first line of the Hogwarts school song, found in Book 1!

Food, Fourth of July, and Launching Rockets

Wow. It's been a while since Ive posted.... or maybe it just feels like it. I have returned home from my Alabama Rural Ministries mission trip, been to visit friends in Decatur for the 4th, then brought my friend home with us to stay another few days in Birmingham.

ARM was great. We travel about 2.5 hours south of Bham to Tuskegee, AL to do our mission work. Our church (Trinity Methodist) team was divided into smaller teams of 6-7 people. Each of these teams then go to a work site, to do construction and repair work for those who do not have the means to do so themselves. It's a great thing, and this past trip was my 2nd time going.

You know, honestly, I sort of feel like I skipped the 4th. We didnt do anything terribly special or shoot off fireworks or anything. At one point in the day I said to myself "Oh. Its the 4th...".

The shot above is of our meal (well, part of it) on the 4th. Or maybe it was the 3rd. I dont know--either one. We had Beef Carpaccio, which is thinly sliced raw beef, topped with an aioli/horseradish sauce, arugula, and caper berries. It was delicious. I believe the recipe came from Birmingham chef Frank Stitt's new cookbook,  Bottega Favorita. My friends laugh at me when I tell them what we eat on holidays like the 4th, where most just throw some hot dogs on the grill. My parents are foodies. But hey--there's nothing wrong with a good cookout.

I had a good action shot of my friend Manny beating the slices of meat in order to thin them. My dad didnt think to get them sliced at the store when he bought the meat. Anyways-- the photo got lost somewhere in between my memory card and Picasa. I'll see if I cant dig it up.

Manny (my friend who was visiting from Decatur) and I like science stuff. Particularly stuff that flies, explodes, shoots, etc. So, we went to Hobby Lobby, and got a rocket to launch. We got setup with the launch pad, electronic launching thingy, and the rocket itself. We put it together and shot it off on the Shades Cahaba Elementary field yesterday. It was so cool. I posted a video of the launch on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQinPNBugZQ I'm in the blue shirt.

Ha ha-- I'm a total nerd.

-Rip

Perfectly Framed Art

I took this photo while riding a NY subway, the Purple 7 line, from Queens to Manhattan. Just as you descend under the East River, this rooftop and surrounding buildings is visible out the window. I like how the train door window frames it, too.

The frame also sort of reinforces what I like about grafiti. In my opinion, although grafitti is illegal, and is some cases, very destructive, I think it is a real form of art. These people pour their emotion into the art they display on these buildings. And I imagine many of the citizens who are doing this have quite interesting stories, too. Just like the "You Are Beautiful" graffiti in Birmingham... not all graffiti is bad. Illegal or not.

I just returned from our annual Gulf Shores, AL beach trip. Believe it or not, my camera never left its case the whole time. Sometimes, I just dont have that push to get up and shoot. I should have many good shots from our next trip to Grayton Beach, FL as I did last time. (See January posts.) Tomorrow I am leaving to go on my church's Alabama Rural Missions (ARM) trip. We are traveling to Livingston, AL (no, not my last name, the town...) and will be assisting needy residents in construction/renovation/home repairs.

I apologize if my blog bores you all. Its kind of just a mush of photography/travel/my-thoughts-on-everything/my life that no one cares about. Ha ha- I am going to try and steer back in the direction of photography and not just blogging.

So thank you to all of you who have put up with my long, drawn-out rants about the various issues of the world. Have a wonderful week. :-)

-Rip

The Lady at Her Finest

I have returned home from the trip to NYC I took with my church's (Trinity United Methodist) youth choir. We did all sorts of cool stuff--sang at missions, local churches, and toured the city. The first few days were wonderful. 75 degree weather, sun--it was awesome. Then it joined the ranks of Alabama, hitting 90+ degree temps.

I have to be honest, I was really worried about how it would work out with 90 teenagers. But luckily, no one got lost/hurt/..... anything else.  I took this while walking the perimeter of the Statue of Liberty, with the summer sun in the background.

The common disease of summer boredom is encroaching upon me...in May we're all like "Yea! We can sit at home and do nothing all day!" And now we are sitting on the couch passing time by drawing faces on our lesser-liked teachers in the yearbook. I try to avoid that by filling my summer with activities and things... church youth functions, mission trips, beach trips, that sort of thing. We are heading to Gulf Shores, AL this weekend for our annual "Mom's-side-of-the-family-beach-trip". My grandfather rents a big house and we all stay for a week.

Well, I hope all of your summers are going well. You know it literally just dawned on me that adults with most jobs have to work over the summer. Alas, it is something to do.

-Rip

Don't Forget

I feel like sometimes, after a disaster such as the one that struck Alabama in April, people feel sorry and send their best wishes... and then move on. I'm not saying we have to stop dead in our tracks, but I do think that we should continue to pay mind to the on going recontruction. Especially after our attention is being thrown to tornadoes all over the country!

This is a piece of insulation (yes, you heard me) from someone, somewhere's home, that got blown into our front yard after the storm. This is just one of 10-15 bits we've found, ranging in size from 1 to 4 inches in diameter.

Well, I am in NY right now, and wrote this last Friday. So, if my attempt at scheduled post doesnt work, please forgive me.
-Rip

It's so hot...

that even ever-so-valiant Reese Cup gave up. Last time we met up with RC on LOAA, (a friend just introduced me to that acronym for Lens of an Amateur!) she was freezing her poor little (yet absent...) tail off and was making an active attempt to get in the house. Now, I think she threw in the towel.

It probably looks and sounds like that we dont care for our cats and that they're always outside. But be assured, RC has plenty of time inside... after she has done her business. Some day I will try and get our other feline--clover. Anyhow, yesterday, she had good reason to quit. We were on the downhill slide to 100 degrees!! If there was one thing that drove me straight out of Alabama, it would be the summers.

Well, this is my last blog post until I head off the New York with my church group. I am going to prepare one post for sometime next week, so we'll see how I do with pre-posting.

My dad and I have been playing tennis most mornings lately, around 9-10, and we can hardly stay out there 45 minutes before we are worn out from simply the heat! It's especially hot for just the beginning of June. If June is this way, kill me before July.

Soap making went well the other day. Rather than melting some glycerin bars, coloring and re molding them, I actually made it from scratch. All it involves is Lye, Distilled Water, and Olive Oil. Click here to see the recipe. We didnt want 20lbs of soap, so despite the instructions, I scaled it down quite a bit, just to make a few pounds. Email me if you would like my smaller version, as it turned out fine, contrary to what the site says. Currently, the cut-up soap bars are sitting on some wax paper curing for two weeks.

Wish me luck traveling to NY with a group of 50 people.
-RL

In Memory

I know, I know, it's not exactly on time. But I felt like even though I missed the actual day, that I should post this picture in honor of our veterans. I heard someone say, on TV or radio that "Rather than a day of remembrance that happens to be a day off, Memorial Day is now a day off, that happens to be a day of remembrance in most people's minds." I like that quote.... I think it is very true. I mean, obviously, because I forgot to do this on the actual day, I am not one to talk about paying a whole lot of attention to Memorial Day. But I still think it should be advertised as a day that we honor those who died for us, rather than a day off from work or school.

Anyhow, regarding the photo, I really, really like this picture. I suppose it was a good day for this shot, but it also just captures so much of the US. The famous NYC skyline, framing our beautiful flag waving in the breeze. It was quite a nice day in NY, as I recall.

I know this is entirely irrelevant, but does anyone else get on a site called StumbleUpon? It is (seriously) one of the BEST things EVER invented. When you register (for free!) it has you go through this long list of all sorts of interests. Some of mine include Photography, Design, Gadgets, Humor, etc. Then, you enter the interface and click "Stumble." Then, it pulls up a website that has to do with your interests. For example, it recently showed me this site about all of these innovative, awesome hotels around the world. Some... or most, for that matter, are more useful than that though. For instance, a site on shooting (with a camera...) tips came up. You can then "like" or "dislike" a site, and S.U. learns about what you do and dont like.

I'll shut up about it--just click the link above and check it out. My username is Ripster3859, if you join and want to "friend" me.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day and weekend. Tomorrow I am going to attempt at soap-making. Its something I have developed a random interest in, and I'm going to give it a try. If all goes well, then I'll share the recipe. Not as complicated as you might think.

I'll keep you posted, (as always... do I write too much stupid stuff in my posts?)
-Rip