I spent most of the day at the hospital waiting for a particular surgeon to show up. At four o’clock we still hadn’t seen the whites of his eyes. Since Mom came a few hours after I did, and Ta-Shi needed to be fed, I left and headed home. Fortunately, the hospital is about five minutes from the house and I arrived in no time at all. I fed the dog, grabbed my camera, slapped on my 50mm lens, and did one last shoot around the patio.
I fly home tomorrow morning.
My Dad has had a dart board for as long as I can remember. This one is showing a bit of neglect.
I’ve been up to my eyeballs working on the photo gallery for the baby shower I went to yesterday. The gallery is here, if you’d like to take a peek. The father-to-be is our nephew, so this was a family affair and then some.
Therefore, I haven’t had a chance to go out with the camera, and rather than post something less than, I’m going to post some more photos I took yesterday. Hope you don’t mind.
Jezebel. I was playing with aperture priority and set my camera to f/5.6 at 100 ISO. The camera set the shutter speed to 1/15s. I also had the flash on, so Jezzie came out blurry except for her eyes. I kind of like it!
Nina – giving me her “look.”
Grandma and Grandson (My mother-in-law and our nephew) at yesterday’s shower.
Mother and Son at yesterday’s shower.
Roses for Michelle, from Matt.
I’ve been wanting to share this gallery for a couple of days. Last Friday night Sweetie and I headed out to Stead airport for the Reno Air Races Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. We’d not been back since the crash of September 16th and it’s been a rough nine months for those of us who were there. Still, being there, seeing our friends and sharing how we’d all been dealing with the “after,” was really nice. Really. But there was more to this evening than just food and friends.
When we all checked in at this table each volunteer received a raffle ticket.
People lined up for food . . .
And then the first and best prize was announced: A ride in a T-6. And not just any ride, but a fly-over the Reno Rodeo. That night. Right then. And guess who won? My husband! That he won this ride, this night, after all that he’d been through made it all the more sweet.
When they called the winning number I thought everyone at our table was going to lose their mind when we realized it was one of our own. Much screaming ensued. Sweetie had to head right out to the T-6 hangar for preflight prep, so I grabbed my camera and went with him. What follows are just a few of my photos, but I have a full gallery over at SmugMug. Check it out for a more coherent narrative.
First there was the “I promise I won’t sue if we crash” agreement.
There were four T-6s involved in the flyover. Each plane carried a passenger, but only one carried an Air Races volunteer.
Brad walked out to the plane with Michael, the pilot.
Sweetie tried to act nonchalant, but I know he could hardly contain himself.
Parachute – dorky looking, but necessary!
There are many more shots between the one above that the ones below, so please check out the gallery.
Sweetie looking very suave.
The planes taxied out to the runway and took off.
They then got into a diamond formation that they maintained all the way to the rodeo. Sweetie has some awesome photos from the air.
When they returned the guys put on a little show for us.
Awesome!
This is my favorite shot. Sweetie was in the plane with the smoke.
Seriously, check out the gallery to see all of the photos.
I was playing with lighting again doing some self portraits using diffused flash. This is a cropped version of one of the shots. In the background is the family portrait taken at our wedding.
My iPhone came in handy today. Today I went to the hospital taking the same walk I’ve taken multiple times in the last six days.
The hospital is undergoing a major expansion (due to be completed in 2015).
It’s not a straight-forward way in. This is just the first hallway one has to navigate. It’s quite the winding road to get to the elevators.
Only a right and then a left turn to go . . .
I took the elevator up to the 7th floor and spent the morning with Dad. I found out they’d found a bed for him in the rehab center on the first floor, so with any luck, this was the last trip I’ll have to make to that floor. Dad’s got some major hurdles ahead of him, but first on the list is regaining some control over his right arm and hand, and getting stronger.
Dad’s cousin and her son came to visit late in the morning, though cousin is too casual a word to use for her. She and Dad were more like brother and sister, and thick as thieves for their entire lives. I left, stopped at the store to get bread and paper plates, and spent one more afternoon with my family. Sister-in-law dropped me off at the airport.
I didn’t want to leave. At. All. But I needed to go home. And Dad is in good hands.
I used my Business Select free drink ticket to order a stiff drink. Sweetie picked me up and whisked me off to dinner which included a big glass of wine.
Time for bed now.
My sister-in-law and nephew arrived yesterday afternoon. Everyone except me trooped over to the hospital to visit Dad and then run some errands. I stayed at the house with Ta-Shi and brother’s family pup, Lo, who is as cute as a bug, but much more inquisitive and puppyish than Ta-Shi. She greeted me this morning and joined me on the side patio for my morning coffee.
I’m up early and caught these sparrows perched on the telephone wires over my parents’ backyard.
Carissa Snedeker Photography 