2017-01-01 - Sunday - Happy New Year!

Some thoughts about this blog going into 2017.

This is my 1396th post since I started this blog in 2008. How did I ever find the time to make 1396 posts? Who would have thought it would live this long? It's become a part of my everyday life and a way to document it. It's also a way to stay connected to the friends and family who read it.

Here's the email I sent out to friends and family about it on 6/20/2008:

I apologize in advance if I've already told you, but I finally started a blog.  No, I'm not too old --apparently there's no age limit.  :^)

A lot of folks I know are blogging (you can see a lot of their blogs listed on mine), so I thought I would give it a try.  It's just another way to keep in touch in the '00s.

I hope I can make it interesting.

http://jbftimes.blogspot.com
Thanks,

jbf 

At 1396 posts over 9 years, that's 155 posts per year, or about 13 per month (rounded). Who knew?

Here's to almost nine years of blogging and still not knowing what I'm on about.

On to 2017...

I hope it's interesting.


On Sunday we loaded up the van and drove back to Charlotte. Funny, the van is always more full on the way home.

It was a nice drive especially now that I installed my auxiliary port and I could listen to my iPod during the trip.

Loaded for bear.

When we got home we picked up some take out food and I received the most appropriate fortune I've ever seen. It struck home since I've been in the "field of computer technology" since 1979.

Yes, 38 years and still enjoying it.

So far.

Fortune after the fact.

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2016-12-25 - Sunday - Merry Christmas!

For many years Christmas morning was about getting up early with the children and opening presents, making overnight cinnamon rolls, and going to a relative's house for Christmas dinner.

Now the two who enjoyed the cinnamon rolls the most are gluten free, the children are all over 21, the relatives have moved away, and the person who wakes us up early on Christmas spent it with her fiance's family this year.

We got up at a leisurely pace, opened our presents, I made a big (late) breakfast, and then I ripped the dashboard of the van apart.

I bought an auxiliary port to connect my iPod to the car stereo in 2013 and toyed with the idea of paying someone to install it. I decided for Christmas to do it myself (after watching a video on dismantling the dashboard on YouTube).

As usual, the hardest part was removing the clipped-in bezels without breaking them. Once that was done, it went pretty smoothly despite the photos of general destruction.

Gaping holes.

A huge mess.

Finished.

The 3.5 mm jack and the power switch in the re-purposed ashtray.

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2014-08-09 - Saturday - To Rehoboth

Saturday, we drove to Rehoboth Beach, DE for our summer vacation.  The drive wasn't too bad, about 9 hours with a few stops and lots of laughter with Karen and Stephanie.  It was an easy drive with almost no interstates.

After greetings and exploring the house it was time for supper.  We had a nice meal and caught up and then it was off to the boardwalk and some Kohr Bros. ice cream.

The house has an integrated music system with a control panel and Boston Acoustic speakers in every room all connected to a closet full of components.  We can listen to our choice of satellite radio, terrestrial radio, CDs, or even an iPod. There were two iPod jacks available so I plugged mine in to "iPod 1" and had my music in any room I was in, even the balcony and the screened porch.  Nice.

Eva (foreground)
Justin, Meredith, Ryan, and Audrey at the 'kids table'.

Eva (standing)
Mark, Angela, Rich, Scott's hands, and Karen.

Stephanie and Pop-pop.

Pilgrimage.

I know it's blurry.
It was before I upped the shutter speed, but I like the movement.

Scott, Mark, Angela, Stephanie, Meredith, Audrey, and Ryan.
Notice how everyone is studying the menu board except Ryan.
I guess he's not used to someone having a camera in hand.

Relaxing on the balcony.

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April 13 - Monday - After the festival

Saturday turned out to be a really nice day with the threat of thunderstorms that never materialized.  We had a great turnout and I was so busy that I never turned on my iPod, which is usually a fixture in my booth.  I only got a couple of photos during the show, but my friend Edson Scudder took lots of them.  He is a very good photographer and I am proud to be including some of the ones he took of me and my things.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the pottery festival.  It was great fun.

I was not the last person to arrive, but I was absolutely the last person to leave.

Folks shopping in my booth.

Some of the garden stakes I made with terra4m
(except the pig, Elaine made that one).
Photo by Edson Scudder.

Latest face.
Photo by Edson Scudder.

First wood-fired face.
Photo by Edson Scudder.

The mad potter of Charlotte.
Photo by Edson Scudder.

For reference, George Ohr - The Mad Potter of Biloxi.

Talking to people --go figure.
Photo by Edson Scudder.

Let the unpacking begin...

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