-Gramps-

Today I am thinking about one of the things in my life that I am passionate about, something that goes well with owning a coach. That something is Photography. When I was a young boy I took pictures with a Kodak Brownie box camera. While attending broadcasting technical school in Washington D.C. in 1972, I tried my hand at shooting transparencies (slides) with my dad’s old Agfa 35mm rangefinder with a bellow lens. I had some success with it, during daylight hours anyway. When the first Panda Bears arrived from China at the Washington National Zoo, I attended the acceptance ceremony, hosted by Pat Nixon. I was up in the press stands snapping away. I still have those pictures. A few years later I found myself high in the mountains above Nogales, Arizona. As a network news cameraman (videographer), I was there to tape the assembly of one of the first network broadcast satellite dishes built in the southwest. I was running around with a heavy shoulder mounted portable video camera, with a battery belt strapped to my waste and carrying a three quarter inch video tape recorder. I taped the building of the dish, which was mounted on a platform overlooking a five hundred foot drop. The techs building the dish, one was my brother, had to strap themselves to the dish legs to keep from falling to the rocks far below. I captured on tape a number of beautiful sunsets and sunrises. My brother did the same with his Olympus OM-1 35mm SLR film camera. Later, after watching my recordings and knowing what was on his exposed film, I decided that I had to get my own 35mm camera. A few months later I visited a catalog showroom in Norfolk, Virginia where I purchased a Minolta XG-1 SLR along with an accessory package that was composed of a bag, a cheap 135mm lens, a flash, and a lens cleaning kit. This purchase started a long love affair with photography which would include many more cameras, and lenses, lots of reading, including the 16 volume Time-Life photography library (which I still own), and one day a complete color darkroom set up in my wife’s laundry room. I stored mixed chemicals and boxes of paper in the refrigerator. This was not always popular with all members of my family. I became a semi-pro photographer. I use the term semi-pro because I did not do it to make a living but I did make money at it. I made money shooting weddings, portraits, and other special events. I also made money selling my pictures at art shows. I was one of the photographers at the PBS television station I worked at. My function as video engineer, both in the studio and on remote locations, gave me an opportunity to shoot still shots behind the scenes. These shots were displayed in bank lobbies and libraries around this area and I sold copies to various people who saw them. My pictures were also published a few times in the local paper. The money I made went to feed my habit of taking pictures. It paid for film, chemicals, paper, and new equipment. I also entered a number of photo contests sponsored by local camera shops and cities. I won a few prizes, none of great monetary value, but winning meant a lot to me. The contest gave me the chance to meet other shooters, some of which became friends, and I learned a lot from them. I had my darkroom for about four years and then the opportunity to start my own phone business presented itself. I then had to make a decision about what was going to get most of my time and energy. I thought about what the head photography curator of the Chrysler Museum said to me when he was judging the photography at one of the local outdoor art shows where my work was on display. He asked me if I really took the pictures. He was pointing to one in particular when he asked this. Taken a bit back I answered with an emphatic Yes. He then told me I did good work and to keep at it. To make a really good picture took two shots, one in the field and one in the darkroom. To give up my darkroom meant giving up my ability to make the kind of finished art I wanted to make. However, I needed to make money to take care of my growing family, so it was a sad day when I sold my easels, large darkroom timer, trays, color developing drums, really good Saunders C760 dichroic color photo enlarger and watched them go out my back door. I went into film withdrawal. I threw myself into the phone business and didn't touch a camera again for months. Eventually I did get back into it. I purchased a new Minolta 550si Auto Focus camera. I took pictures with that camera as my telephone business took me around the world. I shot pictures of my kids, of the mountains, the sea. Not having a darkroom, I concentrated more on making a better picture inside the camera. I intensified my study of light, depth of field, the capability of different lenses, the best techniques for using a flash. I purchased a Minolta Dimage digital rangefinder camera when that technology was new. I was disappointed. I liked the instant picture, but I found the quality to be very lacking compared to film, so I stayed with that medium for quite a long time. I did scan many negatives and slides for posting on various picture hosting sites. I did post production work on some of those scanned images using different software programs including PhotoShop and others. In other words I was dabbling into the world of digital photography. I dabbled around the edges anyway, but I still could not see a real compelling reason to buy a DSLR. One day about seven years ago my daughter Jeri called me and said she was getting married. Jeri and her fiancé Tom would be hosting the event at the Little Switzerland Lodge and Resort on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Marion, North Carolina. The lodge had a staff photographer and as part of their wedding package, he would take pictures during the ceremony. She wanted me to take all the before and after and some during the wedding before I walked her “down the isle”. She wanted my shots, like the staff photographer’s, to be digital. She then informed me she would buy the camera for me. This presented me with a very interesting opportunity. I purchased the ten mega pixel Sony Alpha 100 DSLR. This camera had just hit the market a few weeks before Jeri’s call. The bundle included the camera body, 18-70 zoom lens, battery and charger. It cost one thousand dollars. I had a hard time with that price, but considering all my Minolta AF lenses would still work with the new camera, the cost was worth it. However, I could not allow Jeri to spend that kind of money so we split the purchase. I had a few days to learn the ins and outs of the camera. It wasn’t that hard. I took a couple of classes at the Ritz camera store where I bought the camera. I tried, but I found the classes to be a waste of time. I could have taught them, plus I got tired of hearing that the only camera you should own is a Nikon. That is a most silly untrue thing for someone who works in a camera store to say. Jeri and Tom were married on October 7, 2006. I took some shots before the ceremony started, then sat aside my camera (and my cell phone) to walk my daughter down the stone pathway to the side of her soon to be husband. I wished I could have been in two places at once. I really wanted to shoot her walking down the isle. Maybe I needed a small drone to hover in front of us and I could have used a remote control? Just kidding. My daughter Christine recently started taking a digital photography course at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. Christine enrolled to pick up some, what she thought, would be a few easy credit hours. She found out the class is not that easy and she also found out she likes it. She likes taking pictures with my Sony Alpha 100, a camera that meets the class requirements. The two of us have spent quite a bit of time on the phone discussing photography, including the various parts of a DSLR, lenses, and how they all work together. We have also talked about techniques, how to develop an “eye” for a good shot. Christine grew up around photography; it was a part of her life just like computers and telephones. Now photography is a part of her life again and I have enjoyed helping her. Working with Christine started me thinking. I thought I could provide a few lessons in digital photography, specifically Digital SLR photography here. If you want to get into taking really good pictures, something a lot more than a snap shot, then I can help. I will provide lots of information, both basic and advanced, about choosing and using a DSLR. To make it really interesting I may provide some tasks for you as well, that all depends on the responses I receive here of course. Shall we begin? Today’s lesson is a bit of an introduction. In order to become a better photographer you need to know two main things. 1. How to use your equipment. 2. How to use your eyes. What is a DSLR? It is a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera. It combines the optics and mechanics of a Single Lens Camera with a digital sensor instead of film. The term SLR or Single Lens Reflex, refers to the fact that light, passes through the lens, hits a mirror which turns the image right side up and displays it on the viewfinder focusing screen. When the picture is taken the mirror flips up (reflex) as the shutter opens, the iris in the lens closes, and the sensor is exposed. The final image looks very close to what was seen in the viewfinder. The best DSLRs have interchangeable lenses. They can have an optical or electronic viewfinder. My newest Sony DSLR has an LCD viewfinder. It is technically an SLT not an SLR. The mirror is translucent (T) which allows light to the viewfinder and exposes the sensor at the same time without the mirror moving during the shot. There are many advantages to this that I will tell you about later. In all other aspects my camera is still a DSLR A DSLR with interchangeable lens provides you with almost total control over the image you want to capture. You can adjust the exposure of the shot. Exposure is a combination of the sensitivity of the sensor to light, the speed of the shutter, and the aperture or opening of the iris of the lens. These three things all work together. Exposure starts wit the ISO setting. ISO is also known as ASA or DIN. These acronyms are so old no one remembers what they stand for anymore. They are the acronyms of the original folks who set the standards for film. What does this have to do with digital photography? Digital photography still uses those standards. Those standards are used to determine how to set the camera to capture a correctly exposed image. The exposure process is a combination of three things…ISO number, which sets the sensitivity of the internal light meter, shutter speed, which determines how long the sensor is exposed to light, we are talking hundredths of seconds here, and the aperture setting or F-stop which determines how large or small the opening of the lens iris. A DSLR will set all the above for you automatically or you can decide for yourself. You do have control. You can set the camera for shutter priority meaning you choose the shutter speed; the camera sets the correct lens aperture or F-stop for you. You can reverse that and set the aperture yourself and the camera sets the shutter speed. The third choice, and it is the one that most photography instructors want their students to use, is full manual. You set it all using the camera’s meter. Let me give an example. The camera is set for an ISO of 200. The f-stop of the camera is set at 5.6; the shutter speed will be at 125 hundreds of a second. How do I know that? because the meter in my camera tells me. Now if I want to set it myself then there will be an indicator in the viewfinder to let me know when I have the correct exposure. Each manufacturer or camera has its own way of doing that. There might be a vertical or horizontal scale with an arrow or pointer that needs to be set on zero. Older film cameras used a ring and a needle… you adjusted the shutter and F-stop until the needle was in the ring and then take the shot. Typically film cameras had an ISO setting as low as 25 to as high as 6400 or more. These settings matched the speed of the film which was on the canister. For example: Kodak Kodachrome daylight film could have an ASA of 25. This was a great film for taking bright colored and very sharp slides in bright daylight. Kodak Ektachrome 400 was good for taking pictures in low light without a flash. The higher the ISO the less light you need to expose the picture. The lower the ISO setting the more light you need. So why not use a high ISO all the time? Well that sounds reasonable, but because of the way the other parts of the exposure process work the final picture may have results you don’t want. Film has an emulsion consisting of fine grains of silver halide salt particles suspended in a gelatin. These salts based on size determined the sensitivity of the film to light, the more sliver particles the less light, the less light the higher the ISO. The more particles the film contains the grainier the film. This translates to a grainer picture from the developed negative or slide. The bigger the picture the more noticeable this grain becomes. Digital photography experiences the same thing only the grain is called noise. The higher the ISO setting the less light you need but the noise, or digital grain, increases. Some cameras produce more noise at higher ISO than others. The older Sony A100 is noticeably noisier at ISO 400 than my newer A57 SLT. Now the question changes to: why use a higher ISO if it increases noise? The answer is because it increases the shutter speed as well. Why is that an advantage? Simple answer is that a faster shutter speed makes it easier to hold the camera steady and capture the shot. In other words, a faster shutter speed reduces or eliminates a thing called blur. With a fast shutter speed you can freeze your subject. You can catch a bird in flight; freeze a baseball pitcher's curve ball in the air. With a fast shutter speed you can take multiple pictures per second as you pan and follow a track star or a horse racing with its neck outstretched as it passes the winning post. A high ISO setting allows for hand held shooting in low light…to a point anyway. I love shooting in low light. I prefer the term available light. If the light is really low then your exposure setting could require a slow shutter speed and as I said that could make it hard to hold the camera steady during the exposure. One way to reduce camera movement is to hold it properly. Elbows tucked in against your body, left hand under the lens with palm up and cradling the lens. This type of hold also helps to keep your fingers from getting in the shot. Another way to reduce camera movement is to take advantage of DSLRs that have built in anti shake. Sony has named this function Steady Shot. Sony built this function into the camera body, some camera makers build it into the lens. I prefer Sony’s method because it reduces the size and weight of their lenses. The best way to avoid camera shake when shooting a long exposure is to use a monopod or even better a tripod. Both of these pieces of equipment are essential to the serious photographer. I think this is a good start to our online photography course. Next time I will discuss in further detail the relationship between lens settings and focus range also known as depth of field. Controlling DOF is a great advantage that DSLRs provide over the conventional point and shoot camera. Gramps. http://community.fmca.com/blog/62/entry-1382-depth-of-field/ Lesson Two.

Tom if I were in New Zealand I would have to visit Matamata and the home with the big green round door.

I started to say that the picture you posted shows a very arid place...hot and dry...but I guess that changed didn't it? Do they have Monsoons down there? Oh, I wanted to ask if you find the night sky a bit confusing. During my visit some years ago to Diego Garcia, I found the southern sky to be obviously strange...no recognizable constellations. Derrick.

Welcome to the Community and it is nice to have a new fellow blogger.

I am enjoying your Blog quite a bit Tom. I am a bit jealous, my coach has been sitting in one place for two months! Taking it to the Dismal Swamp tomorrow. Not quite the same as New Zealand.

Aggravating hot water heater. Some problems are the same at both ends of the wold aren't they? Derrick.

Waiting for Photos!

Tom, I think you might need to re-title your blog to "Tom and Louise on Tour Down Under"

The last chapter http://community.fmca.com/blog/62/entry-374-eighteen-months-the-conclusion/

Here is a quick link to the next part. http://community.fmca.com/blog/62/entry-227-eighteen-months-part-4-my-dads-darkest-hour/

Wow Tom, sounds fantastic.

I use the zBoost YX545 with the zBoost Yx039 high gain directional dual antenna. Works great with RG-6 coax cable.

From my blog here at FMCA.com: I have a bunch of rules for owning a Motor Coach. We have owned a coach for nine years. I can create a new bunch of rules for buying one both used and new because I have experience at buying both. I have no rules for full-timing it …I don't have a clue ... not yet, anyway. We have made some serious decisions in the last few months that have told us that full-timing it could very well happen at some point in our future. That point may be sooner than later. The thought of living in the coach for an extended period of time doesn’t bother me. We have done it a few times already. Just after our son Joel was graduated from college (notice my proper grammar) we took a four-week trip in our first coach. For part of that time he and his sister stayed in the coach with us. We all came out alive. At the end of the month on the road, I was not too eager to get back to work. The idea of going full-time is entirely different. Do we move toward full-timing it slowly? Making big changes in one’s life is like running a marathon -- start out slow, conserve some strength for the end and, if you start to stumble, make sure you stumble in the right direction. I think a long trip, say six weeks or more, should be the first thing Diane and I do. This trip would not only be the longest one we have taken, but the destination should be somewhere special like Niagara Falls or deep into the Smokey Mountains or back to Disney World. It would be a trip without looking back home. No worrying about customers. No phone calls from them either. This trip would be a time for Diane and me to get to know each other all over again. Let’s assume that we really enjoy our two months time on the road. We take to it like ducks to water or something to that effect. Then what? I don’t really know how to go about making the transition. Do we store some things? Do we sell our stuff? Do we give things to our kids? Do we do all the above? Selling our house, parting with “things” we own, some for more than forty years, causes me to grieve even before it happens. I mentioned a duck to water. I may be a duck tossed in a stream. I have to float with the flow. Diane has been downsizing for quite a while now. She keeps telling me to carefully evaluate every non consumable item I want to buy. Her favorite phrase is: “Do you really need it and if you do will it fit in the coach?” She did not ask for anything for Christmas except for Kindle books. She wants me to digitize all our slides and pictures. I can see where her head, and more important, where her heart is headed. I should know, after all, she is the reason we have a coach in the first place. I think she has been working toward living on the road for a lot of years. I am not sure how to do this but I will learn. Don't I have rule that owning a motor coach is a never ending learning experience? Gramps Derrick.

On Christmas night, Diane and I met Gary and Janis for dinner and a movie. We got together at the Commodore Theater in Portsmouth for smoked chicken salad and fruit, ice tea and popcorn. We had not seen each other since the rally so we chatted about that before the show started. We all came away from the rally knowing that everyone who attended, including us, had a good time. Many, including Gary, learned to appreciate “It’s a Wonderful Life” more. Gary watched it again when it was aired just last week on NBC. We talked for about our hour about our families and how our Christmas day had been. Gary and I headed upstairs for some popcorn just as the theater lights were dimming. We watched Saving Mr. Banks. I really enjoyed the movie. I think we all did. I like a Disney ending. Isn’t that what we all want in life…a Disney Ending? Eight o’clock Saturday morning found me back in the meeting room along with Gary getting things ready for our full breakfast. The first thing I noticed on the way over was that the weather was starting to go south. In other words it was beginning to get cold. I didn't mind. It is Christmas time; it is supposed to be cold. Gary started the pots of coffee while I made sure the tables were in order. Janis arrived next and Diane not far behind after taking Teddy Bear for a trot around the campground. The caterers arrived at just after eight with lots of aluminum trays of food. I was surprised at how much. There were cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, pork sausage links, turkey sausage patties, really flaky biscuits, and some of the best buttery grits I ever ate. There was plenty of juice and coffee of course. By eight thirty the place was full. Everyone seemed very cheerful, and ready to get this part of the festivities going. I heard very positive comments about the previous evening. Once again I rang a bell. As soon as I had everyone’s attention I announced that we would be eating, the Marines had arrived and once the Toys for Tots presentation was over our business meeting which included installation of our new offices would commence. We held hands, one our men said Grace and then the line formed. Breakfast was good. The two Marines, in their dress blues, sat with us at the host table and we chatted for awhile. Then they stood in front of the toy table, which by now was quite crowded with all kinds of toys and told us some history of the charity. They gratefully accepted the toys, packed them up and were on their way. We cleared the breakfast item and reset the buffet tables to work as officer tables and then the meeting began. Once the meeting was over I took the floor to announce that dinner would still be at six, happy hour at five. I also announced that the trivia contest would be a team effort. “The contest will be by table so I advise you to not sit by someone stupid!” That got a laugh…one of many before this day was over. The morning ended and every one headed out, some to go shopping (some for gifts, some for vintage clothing for some reason), some to one of the local bar-b-que spots for lunch, and some just decided to hang around in their coaches. The four hosts decided to go vintage clothing looking as well. Diane needed a 1940s hat. I didn’t need anything. I had my hat and along with that a brown three button suit, brown button up sweater vest, burgundy cap shoes, white French cuff shirt (with 60 year old cuff links!) and a burgundy striped tie it yourself bow tie. They all looked like they could have come from the movie wardrobe department. I tried the ensemble on a couple days before the rally. Along with the gray Stacey Adams fedora,I added some old wire rim glasses. I walked into the living room where Diane was sitting on the coach. She looked at me with a surprised expression: “You look like my Papou.” She said. We headed out to a place called the Old Mill shops in Weldon. There was a big flea market/consignment area there and who knows we might get lucky. We did get lucky. I found Diane an old 1940s black pillbox hat with a big side bow and gold beads around the crown. It reminded me of the style hat a stewardess would wear on the Pan-Am flying boats of the late 1930s or early 40s. It cost 14 bucks. Best of all it fit. “If this makes you happy, I will wear it” she said. It made me happy. We bought a couple of other things including a really cute animated snow-man baby (it plays peek-a-boo) which I wanted to buy for Diane to add to her collection, but she said no, “I have too many of them already and we are planning to downsize.” I bought it anyway with the plan to give it away that night. We traveled back to our coach where not much happened the rest of the day. Around three we started getting ready for the biggest event of the weekend. I let Diane go first and gave her lots of space. She refused to wear a dress or heels because that was too much trouble while hosting this party. I think she had a legitimate point. Earlier, I bought her a forties style black and white dress which I found at Macy’s but she didn't want to keep it both financially and logistically. She is a wise lady. Diane took her new hat and combined that with a Fuchsia suit jacket, a wide black belt and old style slacks with black round toed shoes. She finished it off with some antique Christmas marguisite jewelry. The whole effect was pretty darn good. I couldn't tie my own tie it yourself bow tie so Diane took care of that for me and she also helped with my cuff links.. “Well now, George.” She said as she fastened a cuff and helped me with my jacket, “I think you look pretty good.” I put on my hat, a gold pocket watch in my left pants pocket, hooked the chain to my belt and looked in the mirror I thought she was right again. The final touch was a large light brown leather suitcase with straps that could have been a movie prop. It was provided to me by Janis, she brought it to the rally, and it looked like the real deal. I was thrilled with it. I looked forward to seeing what the other party goers would look like. I was hoping for some good competition. I didn't know it yet, but I was going to get just that. I went to the back to the room first with some items to put in my suitcase which included printouts of the trivia contest, pencils and prizes for all the winners. I made sure the room was in order, went back to the coach to help Diane carry our drinks and presents for the party. Gary and Janis caught up with us on the way back. Gary had borrowed a black bow tie and suspenders from me. He was dressed like a bartender with a white shirt and black shirt sleeve bands. Very appropriate for Gary to be Mr. Martini for the evening. Janis told me I looked like George Bailey. Well, that was the whole idea. We went in, and I shed the jacket while I set the banquet table with the leftover goodies from the night before for people to snack on during happy hour. About five fifteen our guests arrived including a very convincing Mr. Potter in his wheelchair, George in his football uniform, Carl and Dot came as a Gangster and his girl and others dressed for the forties. The best dressed contest now had a good number of candidates, I was glad to see. The caterers brought a ton of food, all of really good. While it was being set out on the table, I pulled out my suitcase and distributed pencils and copies of the Trivia contest, all six pages of it. One went to each table. It looked like a high school final exam. The surprising thing was, everyone dug right into it, even to the point that when dinner was announced no one wanted to get in line. They all kept on working at it. Of course everyone did finally help themselves to ham, turkey, stuffing, real mashed potatoes, Mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and peach cobbler. During diner the black and white version of the movie played silently on the TV. I informed all that when The End came up on the screen, the contest would be over. The contestants learned that some of the answers to the quiz could be seen, if they watched close enough and could read lips. People were huddled together discussing the questions; a lot of phones were out with Google being accessed. I never said that was not allowed. The very back table was using a couple of books about the movie that were on display on the table with the village. That was cheating, but pretty smart at the same time. I sat and chatted with Gary, Diane and Janis as they tried to answer as many of the trivia questions as they could. I was disqualified from playing, as I knew all the answers. At times the room was so quiet with just the hum of whispers and big band music playing (not too loudly) in the background. There was one interruption required during all this time. I needed votes for the best dressed. Once again I opened George’s suitcase and removed my pre-made ballots. I instructed all to vote for the top two people who fit the criteria. It didn’t take long for the votes to be turned in. My table did the tallying. Once the votes were counted first and second place were obvious. We had a tie for third. I had not voted yet so it fell to me to break the tie, which I did. I stood up to announce that we had our winners and that Mary Bailey would be presenting the prizes. Diane (who received a couple of votes) asked for Betty to come forward. Betty, who wheeled Mr. Potter into the room, came up front. Diane opened the suitcase and then said to Betty: “You have won third place and so I present to you…” She handed Betty a sea salt grinder full of sea salt. “Salt! So that life may always have flavor.” There was applause. Diane then turned to me and announced that I had won second place. She removed a long French Baguette from the case as she said. “I give you bread that this house may never know hunger!” There was laughter and more applause and by this time everyone had to know what the prize for first place would be. Diane asked for Frank to roll forward. “And to Mr. Potter I present” and then there was a chorus from all in the room as Diane lifted a bottle out of the case. “Wine! That joy and prosperity will reign forever!” I looked at Frank and said “Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!” in my best George voice. There were a lot of cheers as Frank, aka Mr. Potter, rolled back to his table. Even a warped, frustrated old man deserves first place sometimes. I didn't mean you Frank. A few minutes later as dinner continued and folks went back to the trivia questions they had passed over, THE END appeared up on the big screen. I rang my bell to announce the Hardest “It’s a Wonderful Life Trivia Quiz” was now over. It was time to review all the answers and determine our winners. I quickly read the questions followed by the answers, all fifty seven of them. There were a few “I knew it, why did we change it?!” responses along with some “We should have had that one.” The winning table had correctly answered fifty two. Mr. Potter was sitting at that table. I guess it was just his night. I carried my suitcase to the table and before I opened it I told the room I had one more question to ask of the winners. “What did George say when he hit the cigar lighter?” The table answered as one: “Wish I had a million dollars!” “Correct! You have won and here are your prizes” and then I opened my case, pulled out an old measuring tape and threw it at Mr. Potter as I said: “Except for you, because you don’t measure up!” That got a huge laugh. “For the rest of you here you go” Then I handed them all, including Mr. Potter, a chocolate bar wrapped in a million dollar bill. I also gave one to the oldest person there. We all call her Mom and she just turned ninety. “I think that anyone ninety years old who last night watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the very first time, unlike me who saw it for the hundred and something time, deserves a million dollars!” Everyone agreed with that. The rest of the night was a blast. We had our gift exchange and there was some stealing which created a lot of laughter, shouting and applause. Billy, our resident Santa made sure no one got too naughty. I had my gift stolen twice, I stole one from Mr. Potter. Why not? He owned me eight thousand dollars. I ended up with a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Crème and matching glasses. How appropriate is that? Diane, Mary, the light of my life, took home a box containing three gorgeous electric candles. When the last present was unwrapped, and my peek-a-boo snowman in the plain brown bag, was one of the last, the evening was officially over. No one wanted to leave. Everyone milled about or continued to sit even while all the hosts cleaned up and prepped for the next morning’s breakfast. I figured that was pretty good evidence that so far the rally had been a success. Tomorrow it would be breakfast; goodbyes pack it all up and then home for Christmas. The morning found us there early, hustling around making fresh fruit salad, ham biscuits, laying out trays of Danish and heating up leftovers from Saturday’s breakfast. Our efforts presented everyone with a good looking spread. A lot of our people leave early on Sunday. They skip breakfast to do so. Not this time. Everyone came. They prayed, they ate, and they talked. We heard so many good comments about how much fun the last two days had been. It really did my heart good. No one was in a big rush to see it end. When finally Andy closed it, we had lots of people stay and help us clean up. A special thanks to Grover and Margo for helping me box up my village, they saved me a couple of hours at least. Diane, Gary, Janis and I were the last ones to pull out of the park. We were all tired but we knew it had been worth all the work. The only thing left to do was to hug goodbye and say “Merry Christmas!” Now I know that this blog entry has gotten a bit long. I don’t apologize for that. The length is necessary to convey to you what I said at the beginning; I, we, wanted to make it possible for all my friends to really enjoy themselves. Many of our group had gone through some very tough times during the previous year and I believed they needed this weekend to reaffirm their faith in friends and family and something even greater than that. We did our best to create a Disney Ending. I wanted them to remember it, long after this rally was over. Now I am thinking about the next one the four of us will host…. I already have a name for it. How does the “LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES RALLY” sound? Gramps PS if you want to take the IAWL quiz here it is: http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2006/12/most-challenging-its-wonderful-life.html