Sunday With Kelly

Jeanne and I are so blessed that Annie and Kelly decided to move to Pennsylvania. I remember Casey saying when they decided to move here, "Well, that proves my theory. Central Pennsylvania is a black hole; nothing escapes!" He, of course, was referencing the fact that Annie was moving back, after living here only a short time and having had plenty of opportunity to get away and stay away. Central PA is a bit 'capturing' like that. Roots run very deep here. Jeanne and I were surprised that we had any roots at all here but tickled that we would have grandchildren down the street from us.
I think if they didn't live down the street from us we'd feel a bit like the house in the above picture, a little alone, a bit dark, and a tiny speck in an awfully big landscape. But they are here so we don't feel that way and they are fun to have around. Both of them know what they want and how to get it (fortunately they are greatly desirous of good things). Before Christmas they hinted enough that even I got the message that the camera I had given them several years before had reached the end of life. I thought about getting them a digital SLR but it seemed at their time in life it might be easier to pack a good point and shoot. I found a really nice point and shoot at Costco and got it, thinking Christmas for the Dittos was done. Either the hints were not enough or I hadn't listened well enough or I got the original message and contorted it into my own will, because they really wanted a digital SLR.
They went out to Washington state for Christmas and came home with the very sad tale that none of their pictures turned out. I had them bring the camera up to the house, tried it out, thought it was fantastic, but there was obvious discontent on their part. Somehow we transitioned to, "If you want me to take the camera back to Costco and just give you my D70 I'm good with that." (I had received a new camera from Santa, a D200 so the D70 would go completely unused). That made them happy. I packaged up the D70 with two lenses and some other accessories and gave it all to Kelly. He was heard to say after he got home and started taking pictures, "Annie, I can't take a bad picture with this camera!" (another veiled effort to insuate that my pictures are only good because of the camera!)

So, on this particular Sunday, it was about 4 in the afternoon, we had all eaten and were sitting around the house. I said, Kelly, let's go out and take some pictures. He was all over that. We got in the car and drove. That is one of the coolest things about my photography experience, I've driven more unknown roads in the last month than in the previous 14 years (the GPS comes in very handy when trying to get home). We drove out Stackstown Road and wound up at Nissley Winery. It's a beautiful place. We'll need to return when there is some light. It was great fun to be with him and we got a couple of acceptable pictures. I love bridges. Maybe because they remind me of the atonement, in fact, I guess bridges remind me of Christ because he is the very thing that bridges the gap between us and God. Thanks for a fun afternoon Kelly.