Monthly Archives: August 2014

 

 

Our group has been having a wonderful time, fellowshipping and shooting a great variety of subject matter!  It has been even more fun that we expected!!  This is very talented group of shooters and great folks, please enjoy some of the kinds of subjetys we have been  able to shoot!

 

 

One of my favorite stops was the turn of the century (1900’s!!!) pharmacy at the Kentucky Fudge Factory, more on that location later, it was fantastic and in downtown Harrodsburg!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Tomorrow I’m headed up to Shaker Village for what can best be called a family reunion.  The folks that are coming to Shaker to join Jim and I are, in effect, family!  We started a program to reward attendees that had attended four or more workshops, kind of a thank you and incentive program.   What we never realized was that these people would transition from being great “customers” to being “truly great friends”!  We got to know them as people, not just students!  Over the years I’ve come to realize just how much our brothers and sisters in Christ and friends mean to us.  God’s greatest gifts are the people he places in our lives.  Nothing trumps the value of family and friends!

 

For the next few days I will try to get off some blog entries, but if I miss a day or two, please forgive me, I’ve got something more important to do, love on the great gifts God has allowed me to enjoy and make sure they know how thankful I am for them!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

My good friend Sam Garcia sent me this sign, this morning, I love it!  So some thoughts on retirement.  Notice it doesn’t say, DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!  I have to do all kinds of things, but not because someone is blackmailing me with my job!  Employees have to do what their employer says must be done, retired folks do what they desire to do.  When Sherelene gives me a “Honey do list”,  I want to help her, after all she has worked hard with for our family and allowed me to follow my dreams!
Retirement is not stopping working, it’s starting working on the things you want to work on!

 

I’m on the road almost as much as when I was working a full time job.  That suits me fine, I think sitting down and waiting to die would not be near as much fun!  Serving God can’t be accomplished from the couch!  I have to say this is the grandest adventure of life!  Hard work for Him is play!

 

Now some photography suggestions:

 

1.  Buy one camera that you will always keep with you!  May I suggest something like the Fuji X100s.  It is the single most impressive camera I’ve ever shot and being limited to a single focal length of 23mm (35mm equiv.) at f 2 speed.  It excels at low noise at high ISO, the lens is ridiculously sharp and it is quiet as a church mouse!  Of course other alternatives exist, but pick one, it will change the way you photograph forever.

 

 

2.  Sign up for KelbyOne, the opportunity to learn more than you ever imagined is there!  And may I shamelessly suggest taking a His Light or Jack Graham Workshops as well!

 

 

3.  Give up all pretense.  Embrace, cherish and love our craft!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

I was born February the 9th, in 1946 in Harlan, Kentucky.  My father was the manager of the Coca Cola Bottling plant in Harlan.  It was a magical time for two young boys to live under. Life was an endless adventure, playing with toy soldiers on the rocks in our back yard on Ivy Hill, using playing cards to make our bicycles sound like motorcycles.  Later we shot a sock full of flour with our BB guns, and then went swimming in the water hole, it was a great time. We both graduated from Harlan High School, yes, we were Green Dragons!  My point?  It was a different time.

 

I saw the first episode of Superman on a black and white TV, and waited by the radio every night to hear the Roy Rogers show.   We watched Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best.  Our family had dinner every night together at the kitchen table.  We prayed at bedtime, and we addressed our parents with yes sir, and yes mam.  Dad taught Homer and I how to bait a hook and how to know when we had a bite on our line.  Homer learned better than I did!

 

I know we can’t go back, Harlan is still there, and Homer lives in the house we grew up in, but Mom and Dad are gone, and our grand parents, and our aunts and uncles, and we had a bunch, all gone.  But the memories aren’t, and even though we can’t go back to a simpler time, we can remember that time, and we can be molded by our past.  When I hang out with my brother I can see my father’s kindness, concern, and care.  No, we may not be able to go back, but I can still relive those days with Homer.

 

Thanks Homer, for letting me come back home again,

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim