We Say Goodbye to St. Francis Church...

Today was Haley's last day of altar serving at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Roy. The folks were kind enough to let us borrow their camera and I am tinkering with a program from Lumapix called Photo Fusion. It is pretty neat. (Gotta go! This camera has to be returned!!)

Sunday, a day for friends...

Okay, it's Sunday. A day for family, friends, relaxation. Here is Annie with two of her friends (Brenda, left, and Dina, in the middle). This was taken on a Sunday during our mini-vacation to Crater Lake. (We were enjoying lunch at a picnic table on the shaded side of the concession building. By the way, the pizza-by-the-slice was delicious and only $1.50! Great bargain!)

Tonight, Annie, Haley and I get to finally see, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"! Since we are always on a budget we particularly like going to the Forest Theatre. For $20 we can get a punch card of twenty admissions. Most evenings it's a double feature so by waiting a few weeks after release we can find some nice movies to go to for $.50 each! The folks over there even let all Pacific University students in for free! I sure hope they sell lotsa hot dogs and such to keep going. We love that place!!

A Day at Barview, Oregon

Well, this was two weeks ago during our camera blackout period and Haley's Grandma sent us this little composite of some pictures so I want to share it. The folks, Annie, Haley and I went to Barview, just North of Garibaldi. I had camped there as a child but my only memories are of a rocky jetty that protects boats coming and going into the bay there and some scrub brush. I didn't realize just how nice the campground and beach is there. Now we hope to return there soon to do a little camping!

From Bar-B-Q 2 Pizza Party 2 SleepOver!

Big Day (and night) for Haley! She got invited to a sleepover with two of her new classmates. Before that she'll be going to a pizza party for the Jr. Lifeguards of Forest Grove. (This is Haley's second summer of being a Jr. Lifeguard. This is the first year that she has been an instructor's aid at the pool.)

Yesterday Haley hung out with some of her new classmates at the "back to school bar-b-que" and is thrilled to be making friends so quickly. Her mom and dad (Annie and I) also went to the bbq and busied themselves meeting other parents and signing up for the 50+ hours of required volunteer service. I took care of a big chunk of that by signing up for every day of the four day Mt. Angel "Octoberfest" (Sept. 16 - 19). It'll be a blast! (watch for pictures!)



Above you can see the map of "A", where we live, to "B", where Haley is going to be spending the night. According to Yahoo, Haley will be 4.5 miles away, 8 minutes driving time.

(Follow-up: Haley had a great time at the sleep-over. Two new friends, Robin and Emily. They slept outside in a tent, had smorz, etc. Nice!)

Back to school already?!

Today, Haley gets acquainted with a new school. (Visitation School is in a tiny Dutch parish that is about three minutes from our home). Haley enters the 6th grade and has already made some friends there. Next Wednesday the school year officially begins!

Saga of a little camera...

Well, off goes the Canon A70 camera again. Will we get rid of the dreaded "Pink"?

Monday, August 23rd

: Fedex didn't show up with the mailing label for returning the camera. Another day of shooting lost...

• Tuesday, August 24th: Fedex delivers shipping label at 2:20pm, I get to a Forest Grove shipping shop at 3:00pm and am told the Fedex shipped at 2:00pm and besides, he would charge me $2.00 as a handling fee. Right! I return home disgruntled and call the toll free fedex number and schedule a pickup for tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 25th: 9:30am Fedex picks up the camera.

Wednesday, September 1st: One week gone. Heard nothing.

Wednesday, September 8th: Two weeks. Got a letter yesterday from Canon stating the camera had been received and that at first glance they would fix it at their cost. Said to allow 10 business days from letter's date for receipt of camera. Should receive the camera before September 16th.

Wednesday, September 15th: Three weeks. Start checking after tomorrow.

Friday, September 17th: Check on the camera and find it was put into FedEx yesterday. It is due Monday, September 20th.

Monday, September 20th: Camera arrives and is now working perfectly. No charge by Canon. End of Saga.

Boy! What a disappointment! We sent our little Canon A70 camera in to get the replay switch to work correctly, which it was. But, now all the pictures are wonkers!! Canon says they will try again. Stay posted!
More Canon Test Pictures

Picking berries... A labor of love. (Haley at Grandma and Grandpa's, July 4, 2004) 

A nice summer picture. Marion Berry season is now over but the picture lives on.

Here's nephew Mike Ragsdale getting his promotion to Sgt.
Staioned in Japan, recovering from a boating accident.

How 'bout some younger pictures of Haley?
(okay, and a younger Dad too)

This is a 10' x 12' tent we got for $10 at a garage sale. It went with us to Diamond Lake and now I want it to go to Barview, Oregon, a great beach campground is there!

Haley on her 11th Birthday with
Grandma and Grandpa!
(May 28, 2004)

Okay, and let's try Black & White...

Some of our family in the Philippines!

(More Pictures Here!)
Lola Pitts, Jing-Jing (holding Paul Lawrence),
Kay Ann, Kimverly, and Michael Jake.

Just because I can... I am sharing this macro of my thumb.
(Our Trusty Camera ---> Canon A70)

This is a picture that we didn't get on our camera while at Diamond Lake in July, 2004, so I want to share it here as a memory. (Amazing coincidence: further back on this paved path, Haley's friend Holly was also camping with her family!)

Adding Pictures to this Blog is so Simple!

(Our Trip To Crater Lake July 24 - 26)
First I open Picasa, click on a picture I like, and then click "Send Hello"... The picture comes up and all I have to do is add this comment and hit "Publish"! This blog entry is done automatically! Great!!

Picture For Profile. You can see this picture was posted using
"Hello" ---> So, yes, it is easy to post pictures to this Blog!!!

Day One... Why I am Here.

It begins as a search for a way to share photographs.

First I use "JAlbum" which is a way to easily create
webpages with photographs. JAlbum

Sample of my own page after using JAlbum:
Sample Output

But I want on-the-spot sharing with the possibility
of getting instant feedback and that leads me to blogs.

And then I find blogger.com which can use "Picasa" which
is a free photo management software. Apparently there is
an additional feature that will allow uploading pictures
to Blogger.com.

So here I am. Will it work?

Gotta admit I like Blogger.com's ease-of-use!