Walt and Mickey

It's been a few days since I posted a photo, and what better way to restart than with Walt and Mickey posing in front of Cinderella's castle. I had to overlay the castle itself with a handheld no-flash shot I tried to catch the castle glowing. So, there's a bit of blur. Still, it came out all right.

RIP William Hagle

Kathie and I are back from the difficult weekend of burying her father, William Hagle. I was lucky to have been in his family for 32+ years. He was a funny and interesting guy. I loved him as a father and will miss him.

We both started off nervously. However, after the flight, we went over to her brother Jim's house. As we talked with Jim, his wife Sue, and Michael, their son, and Kathie's sister Kay, we started telling "Pa" Hagle stories. That loosened us all up. Once we reached Corsicana and sat with the body, more stories came out. By the time of the viewing, everyone seemed to feel more comfortable. Kathie told a story about a time when we were all in the car going to a mall. Pa and Grandma Hagle got into a disagreement about which direction we should travel. Pa felt he had the final answer when he commented, "I'm not talking about how to get there (with the emphasis on the word how). I'm just talking about how to get there (with the emphasis on the word get)."

The next day was the graveside service. The preacher came from FBC, Corsicana. He did a good job using scriptures from Psalm 62 and 1 Corinthians. However, we all laughed when he added a quote at Jim's request. It is from The Shootist, a novel by Glendon Swarthout and a John Wayne movie. "I will not break. I won't tell anybody what a tight I am in. I will keep my pride. And my guns loaded to the last!" All agreed that described Mr. Hagle very well.

Both events were well attended, by family from the DFW area and the Houston area, and friends from the DFW area and the Corsicana community. It was very nice that they all took the time to support the family and pay final respects.

I realize how lucky I am to still have both parents. Please pray for the Hagle's as they come to terms with not having any living parents. Kathie is thankful for brother's family and her sister's family. Jim has been a superstar for years, as he was the only one there in TX that could help take care of both Louella and Bill as they got sick. A special thanks to Jim for that.

Here is my only photo of both.

From * A Legend In My Own Mind *

Here is the link to his obituary.
http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=223153&fh_id=10576

KnKn2K9

Post title inspired by Geek Weeks.

Here is a photo treatment inspired by Andy Warhol. Did you know he is dead? Well, he still is.
Here's where I started. Kathie and Kendall somewhere outside together. I guess you can see that, huh? Well, let's go Warhol on this picture.
A couple of filters and a little color later, you end up here.
Now, we tweak the colors to create a contrast from the previous choices.
And one more time.

It is true that Andy put his all together in a 2x2 matrix, but if I did that, they would all be a lot smaller. So play like they are presented in that format and you won't know the difference.

Happy Birthday, Phyl

This is a birthday wish to my daughter-in-law's mother, Phyllis. We attended her 40++ party last night at Kyle and Lyndsay's place. The photo above was taken at the party. It looks like she's having fun, right? We all did. Congrats to her. Thanks to all for sharing it with us.

And now, Phyllis shares her birthday with the day that the Cardinals won a trip to the Super Bowl! Congrats to them.

By the way, do NOT play Bohnanza with Kyle. He is ruthless in his negotiations. No congrats to him.

Nothing Beats Bang! Yet

For the last 3-4 weeks, I have been borrowing games from the crew at work. Many of them are fun, but so far, nothing can beat Bang! Of course, Bang! is the Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, Renegade card game. Dad ordered it online and received confirmation that he would receive a copy while many others missed this opportunity. They are already sold out. Even faster than the Cardinals playoff tickets, I think (and they only took 6 minutes). It has been out of print for years, so he is lucky.

What else have we tried? Loot, a pirate game. Fluxx, a game where the rules change depending on what cards have been played, as does what it takes to win (I've heard there is a Monty Python version). Bohnanza, a bean-planting, trading card game. Ticket to Ride, a card game that takes you on a train trip across America. Kung-Fu Fighting, a card game that lets even me have hands as fast as lightning.

The guys that play during lunch time at work still have others that I have not seen play, nor have I borrowed them. Which ones have I seen them play? Bang! is easily their game of choice. I asked for that this weekend, but the guy that owns it was taking it. What is up with that? Anyway, Bang! is number one. Number two? Ticket to Ride card game (there is a Ticket to Ride that is a board game that they also play sometimes, but they seem to like the card version a bit more). Kung-Fu is number three (again, this is ratings based on how often I see them play it). Others that I have seen are a Zombie board game, Carcassonne, a medieval city-building game, and two or three others that I cannot remember.

Kyle and Lyndsay are into Pit, but it didn't grab me the other night. We play Scattergories with the folks sometimes. And Kathie wants us to get some Mexican Train dominoes.

What about y'all? What games grab you? Is it more board games or card games? Which ones do you not like?

Goin' To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo, How About You, You, You?

We all decided it was a nice day to take the girls to the zoo. The weather was practically perfect (high 67).
Let's start with some animals. Here are the lions chilling. They did not want to look me in the camera, so I settled for profiles.
One of Bella's favorites is the giraffes. Here they are staying up on the hill in their veldt exhibit. So, it was probably less fun for her than Out of Africa, where she got to feed them.
For an extra fee, zoo-goers can touch the sting rays and crabs. By the time they got in there, though, Bella got splashed and so did not want to actually touch them. You can see her tucking her arms under her so she will not get wet.
I mentioned in a previous post that I try to catch people in unguarded moments for photos. I think I was not successful here and it seems Kyle and Lyndsay might be mugging just a bit. Then again, maybe that's how they always look.

Gingerbread House...of sorts

It's a Christmas tradition. We went over to Kyle and Lyndsay's to help Bella make a gingerbread house. Actually, we started yesterday, but the main walls needed to dry for a day before we could decorate. So, here we are, back on the day after Christmas, 2008.

One thing I definitely like is catching my photo subjects off-guard, so they don't pose or anything. Here, I caught Kathie mixing the icing and she didn't even see me coming.
OK, so Alison, Bella and Lyndsay are hard at work, making the gingerbread house all lovely and everything. Kyle, though, seems less than pleased for some reason. Maybe it's because he lost Kendall's shirt and doesn't know how. I think I'll just stay behind the camera.
It's finished already? And it only took two days? This calls for the famous quote, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Doesn't that just fit? Check out the lovely figure on the side of the roof there. If one gingerbread man doesn't have a head, we can improvise. Why? What would you do?
Gingerbreading is a messy business. At our house, we have our dog, Morris. I vacuum once a quarter or so and trust Morris for the other cleaning up, like under the table. What can Kyle and Lyndsay do, though? They don't have a dog.
So, if the house is finished, what else can we do? Kyle, being the loving and kind father that he is, decided he would box Isabella on the Wii. She is having fun. He seems a bit more serious about it. He probably won.
Out from behind the camera, it was time for Pops to read to the girls. Here we all are deeply engrossed in our story. Sorry. I cannot remember what book it was. Probably not War and Peace.

Reindeer Games?

What are reindeer games anyway? Maybe we are playing them and just don't know it? Well, here are some of the games we played.

On the day after Christmas, I indoctrinated Kathie, Alison, Kyle and Lyndsay with Bang! The Bullet game. I think they liked it because...
They also played it when we went over to the folks' house for New Years. Now, Carey's family and the folks have seen the light. In fact, G-Dad ordered his own copy. Well, backordered, since it has been out of print for at least a year. Here, Kari is letting Isabella help her play.
GrandMom is trying indoctrinate Kendall with a computer game. Good idea. It'll be a few years before she's ready for the Wild West like Bang!
While we were at G-Mom and G-Dad's, Carey brought over her Wii Fit. Here is Lyndsay trying out the Hula Hoop game.