My job is hard sometimes, but I just persevere! Mid-80s. Abundant sunshine all weekend. The original date for this wedding was November 2, but there was a last-minute schedule change because of a hurricane. Michelle and Bob joked that they would name their first child “Noel” after the storm. I think I spent about four days on the phone with Travelocity trying to get everything straightened out. And it was a nightmare for Michelle’s mom and friend Ashley to coordinate with the change. But it was worth it! The hurricane actually veered east before it hit this island. So everything at the Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya Resort was in perfect condition.

The first few slides are from the rehearsal. The ceremony was at 10:30 a.m. After lunch everyone changed clothes and jumped in this amazing pool. Luckily for me, when I took my shirt off and jumped in with my camera, my chest served as a built-in light refletor.

Michelle, Bob, and their families treated me so well for the entire weekend. Thank you so much! I had an amazing time!

Slideshow music by Switchfoot.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When I told you I was yours, I was yours.” – Switchfoot.

The Mamas (Laressa, Nicole, and Meredith) worked hard this Christmas to make it a time of not only getting, but giving for our kids. Instead of exchanging gifts between the cousins, they decided to sponsor two orphans and send boxes of goodies across the world. During our Christmas celebration Christmas Eve morning, the kids showed each other what they bought and packed the boxes together and even prayed over the boxes and the children who would receive them. Madelyn prayed that the boxes would arrive safely, for the girl who would get it, and that she was thankful that we had an opportunity to give! We put her on the spot, praying in front of the entire family and it was beautiful and heartfelt. She’s a gem!

Great job, Mamas!

We did this through WorldHelp. Check em out!

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” – Albert Einstein

I got two more George MacDonald novels for Christmas! C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying “. . . I’ve never concealed the fact that I consider him [MacDonald] as my master.” His 19th century novels have gone out-of-style because of their frequent use of heavy Scottish dialect, which I’ve been able to decipher after reading “Malcolm”. The tie-in to this post about The Hobbit is that Tolkien regarded MacDonald highly as well. One of MacDonald’s books is titled There and Back which is the same subtitle as The Hobbit – or There and Back Again.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It was one of those exquisite days that come in every winter, in which it seems no longer the dead body, but the lovely ghost of summer. Such a day bears to its sister of the happier time something of the relation the marble statue bears to the living form; the sense it awakes of beauty is more abstract, more ethereal; it lifts the soul into a higher region than will summer day of lordliest splendour. It is like the love that loss has purified.” – George MacDonald, opening passage of The Marquis of Lossie

Shot all of this with my cell phone. Here’s another vid of just our girls . . .

Happy 39th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” – Charles Dickens

Kawasaki and Kiyosaki are two very good authors. Not necessarily fantastic writers, but what they write can change your life.

Their number one is the real number one–timing is everything. Hate to give out too many trade secrets, but this is what we call “sweet light”. It’s actually a little later than what you would normally think, but when the sky light matches the light hitting the front of the subject, then you’re in business. A few minutes makes a huge difference on these shots. Start early before the sky has darkened enough and take a shot about every minute or so until the sky has completely darkened. You’ll be amazed at what you get. The really awesome cobalt electric blue dusk shots are when the camera is facing somewhat to the west, in the direction that the sun has just set. Not necessarily due west, but definitely not due east. Not that you’ll have much control over this if you’re shooting the front of your house, but you might be able to position yourself for a more westerly direction.

Oh, and speaking of blogs, I’ll be moving this blog over to ericmccarty.com very soon. I’m going to revamp it and make it look a lot better and functional. Just a little warning for you.

Merry Christmas,
Eric

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.” – Taylor Caldwell

That’s right. Her first two teeth this week!

Here’s the historical probability map for one inch of snow on Christmas. The map will change to an actual forecast map on the 18th. Here’s the link to the map. It won’t change here on the blog. Not looking good for Johnson City, TN yet, but I’m feelin’ it this year!

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Judy Haynes: We’re booked for the holidays.
Phil Davis: Vermont, huh?
Judy Haynes: Oh, Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow.” – from White Christmas, 1954

For online photo sharing and editing you’ll want to check out flickr. Just this past week they added photo editing on site which is an amazingly easy feature to use.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day.” – John A. Wheeler

The players jumped up on this box right in front of us and the student section . . .

QB Matt Stafford’s got his game face on during The Dawg Walk.
Touchdown Bedlam featuring my bro, Jason. (Aunt Kim has the best seat in the house–in the pits, shall we say, if you take my meaning.)
Madelyn gets into it.
Red is beautiful.
Laressa and Madelyn. How did I do so well?!
Kicker Brandon Coutu and RB Thomas Brown.
Macy likes it.
Some guy in the stands took this for us. I really like my sister-in-law. Just didn’t realize I was standing that far away!
A nice and somewhat inebriated individual got Hairy to pose with the girls and is actually holding Macy in this. I cropped him out.

Myah has a perch.

Myah has enough.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We just stepped on their face with a hob-nail boot and crushed their nose!” – Dawgs Announcer Larry Munson calling the last second victory over the Vols in Knoxville in 2002.