The Ivorian President comes to DC July 2011

Although the interview I was supposed to photograph was cancelled, I was able to get some nice pictures of the President as he greeted about two hundred supporters that gathered from several states including South Carolina and New Jersey.

I was able to finish the book of photographs for Hiedi and her family. I used a new publisher, and although I am not really happy with the book the quality is nice. Now I just have to put something that I like....

Sunrise ceremony

Recently I was able to go to Arizona and witness an Apache sunrise ceremony. It is a young woman's coming of age ceremony. It is a cross between a spiritual celebration and a test of endurance and strength of will. The young girls who begin the 4 day event definitely are strong young women when they finish. Supported by family, friends, and community they are pushed to new limits and hopefully emerge with the knowledge that they are physically and mentally stronger then they realized, that the support they have will be there in the future and that they now know where to find that inner strength to face any of life's challenges.

Never having been tested like that I do not know how I would have done. I would like to think I would have been able to make it. Heidi, the young lady above, should definitely be proud of herself. I am very impressed by her and wouldn't be surprised to see her do amazing thing in her future.

Welcome to Fall. On one of our drives to Shenandoah we stopped just to enjoy the view.

Well

car meets deer

So I realize that its been a while. Back in Nov. on our 3rd trip to Shenandoah although we had a wonderful day, it ended with a wildlife encounter that kind of spoiled the mood.

I saw the first deer and even the second out of the corner of my eye, as it ran around the front of the car. The third one however-hit the drivers side window and broke all the glass on the left side including the windsheild pictured above.

After denting the roof, breaking the glass, and scaring everyone he bound off into the woods. I am very happy to say that no one in the car was injured. Now the car looks totally renewed and you would never guess it was damaged. (Of course a totally nice looking car is not real photo worthy)

The park was nice and quiet. Being a Monday afternoon in the Fall, most of the crowds were gone. Lee and I now have 2 park annual passes. One for this park and one for Great Falls. I think next year we will simply invest in an annual park pass that gets us into all of the National Parks that require a fee. It is definitely worth it to support such beautiful places.

Fall...heading to Shenandoah. I tried to stop at the Hollis Farmers Market only to discover they were closed. But the drive was very scenic.

Thursay I will be heading to Shenandoah National Park again and hoping it will be in full color. After the farmers market disappointment, I went to the park, but the trees weren't quite at the peak of their fall color.