Sunrise from Dodgeville Hospital
Taken with a 4MP Olympus C4040Z. This was the view that greeted me when I left Dodgeville Hospital the morning after the birth of our second child, Kate. She had been born the evening before. I'd taken lots of pictures and was scurrying home to upload pictures for my parents to see back in England. This was in 2002 and the layout of the hospital was different. The primary entrance for those going in or out of the maternity ward was at the back of the hospital and it overlooked a wonderful scene of rolling farmland. On this particular morning my timing was perfect and as I looked up after walking through the doors, I saw a most amazing sunrise. I had my camera in my hand, lifted it up, took a single picture and then continued on home to download pictures of Kate. It wasn't until later that I looked at the picture and loved it as soon as I saw it. Perhaps not the best composition I could have made, although looking at it now, I got most of the basics right, but certainly a picture with lots of meaning and memories for me.
Continue reading →A Farm Near Burlington
Taken with a 4MP Olympus C4040Z. This farm is on the outskirts of Burlington, WI, visible from Highway 11 (old Highway 11, since the bypass was built). I would see it every time I visited my wife back when we were courting and always thought it was a delightfully picturesque scene. One time when visiting my inlaws, we had a quiet day and I decided to go and see if I could get a good picture of it. I like how it turned out and my wife liked it so much that she asked me to get a large print made, matted and framed. It now hangs in our den and looks very nice.
Continue reading →Cover Song - Learning To Fly performed by William Shatner
Learning to Fly has always been a hauntingly beautiful track from Pink Floyd and when you add in William Shatner's distinctive voice, acting the lyrics instead of singing them, you end up with a fun cover track.
Continue reading →Sunset in Iowa County
A classic from 2002. Taken with a 4MP Olympus C4040Z on the way home from an afternoon drive. I saw the scene in my rearview mirror first and stopped to take this picture. I loved the way that the sunset was backlighting the trees and silhouetting the farm buildings.
Continue reading →Acts 4:7 - By what name?
And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Acts 4:7
I love the fact that the askers of this question have a clear understanding of the correlation between power and names. A miracle had been performed and was making them look bad, so something had to be done. They couldn't deny the miracle, as it took place in front of plenty of witnesses. It also didn't help that the healed man insisted on being excited about it in the middle of the busy temple. They needed to find out how this was done if they were going to figure out what to do about it.
The religious leadership in Jerusalem was still upset about that whole "Jesus thing" and the two disciples of Jesus performing a miracle and then preaching about him in the temple annoyed them greatly. They had the men arrested by the captain of the temple and thrown into captivity overnight. That should cool their enthusiasm for talking about Jesus! The next morning everyone important, and everyone who thought they were important, met at the temple for the show trial. It wasn't going to be a real trial for two reasons, first the Romans currently occupying their land would not allow any death penalty judgments and secondly, there was no way that innocence was going to be permitted to be an outcome. This was the religious leadership of the Jews flexing what authority muscle the Romans still permitted them. Peter and John were going to be dressed down, no doubt about it.
Continue reading →