John's Pizzeria

Day 326



I needed to be in New York for work on Monday morning, so I went up Friday afternoon and took Shelley along for the weekend. She had not been for there for 12 years, and I rarely had time for site seeing on my other trips, so it worked out perfectly. My friend Fraser arranged a dinner for us at John's Pizzeria, since the pizza you fold is on the list of foods tourists must eat when in New York. Good choice by Fraser, since the pizza was excellent and folded very nicely.

Watching the World Go By

Day 325



Way back when on our honeymoon in South Carolina, my wife and I purchased two gargoyles. I'm not sure why we did this, beyond the fact that no one gave us gargoyles as wedding gifts. We named them Agador and Spartacus after a character in the too funny movie The Birdcage. It is a sign of how long we've been married that I cannot recall if this one is Agador or Spartacus. Regardless, the pair now sit on our front porch and keep an eye on things, and make anyone venturing into the cul-de-sac hesitate and wonder if they really want to come by.

Leatherman

Day 324



I'll bet if MacGuyver was made a decade later, old Mac would have carried a Leatherman instead of his trusty Swiss Army Knife. I'd have to think that if you were going to build a hang-glider out of duct tape, dental floss, and last week's laundry, the multiple tools of the Leatherman would be oh so handy.

Little Boxes

Day 323



I don't know why they make green ice cream cones, and I really don't know why we bought them, and I totally have no idea why my kids think they are awesome. Didn't stop me from taking a picture of one though, right before I filled it up and ate it.

A Spider Can

Day 322



By most viewed shot is of a small statue of Captain America. I don't know what it is about that shot that makes it so popular, but I was hoping to repeat the success with this shot of a small Spider-Man statue. Must be the old Parker luck, but so far I have not been successful.

inDognito

Day 321



My dog and I are both firm believers that animals should not wear clothing. No clever costumes, no cute sweaters, and no Halloween costumes. Despite this, when I found myself with 1) a dog, 2) funny glasses, and 3) a need to take a picture, it was a perfect storm that I could not resist.

Tower and the Sky

Day 320



The time had come to go back to the Flying Dog Brewery, to celebrate a race in which I did not run. As hard as it is to believe, they have actually improved the place since the last time we went. The bar area is bigger and fancier, and the beer is still free (though now you have to buy a $5 glass to enjoy the free beer. I'll predict we'll have a quite a collection of these glasses before long.)

Thanks to the Brothers Bernota for organizing the festivities.

Never Stop

Day 319



There is only one good pizza place within a 10 mile radius of my house. Luckily this pizza place is right near the Point of Rocks train station. With the wonderfully byronic weather, I could not resist some long exposure shots. This was my favorite of the set, but I am also fond on this one.

Thankful

Day 318



I did not want to go to my son's elementary school for their Thanksgiving lunch. It was two weeks before the actual Thanksgiving, I was sure the food would be mediocre, and I thought I was just too busy. After a very unpleasant morning, I decided I needed to get out for a bit, so I decided to go anyway. I was very thankful that I did.

Zippity Day

Day 317



I've always been a big fan of the hooded sweatshirt - be they pull-over or zip-up. That is why I was so surprised when I realized that everyone else in the world now calls them "hoodies". When did this happen, and why did no one tell me?

Super Super

Day 316



Look - up in the sky! It's a store. It's a grocery store! It is a Super Center. A Super Fresh Super Center to be exact. I used to do my shopping here but no longer, because, ironically, their food isn't really all that fresh. Now I shop at Giant, even though it is much smaller.

Emily

Day 315



Several years ago, my son was heavy into Thomas the Tank Engine, and friends. As happens with most fascinations, this faded with time until the engines of Sodor and their accessories were resigned to a lonley existence in a drawer in the basement. That is until a younger friend came to visit and the trains were retrieved. Now, at least for the moment these toys are back in the action.

Run

Day 314



Taking a picture of a candy bar is not the best thing you can do with a candy bar, but it is something. This was one small part of the Halloween bounty that came into our house now that my kids have realized that more houses equals more candy. Being the good father that I am, however, I do not let my kids eat all the candy they get. I make sure a good portion of it goes elsewhere.

Spider Roll

Day 313



Spider-Roll
Spider-Roll
Does whatever a spider-roll does

Many Colored Days

Day 312



"Some days are yellow, some days are blue. On different days, I'm different too." Both of my kids loved this book when they were younger. It has nothing to do with this picture, really, other than the title, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

Fire Leaf

Day 311



This leaf was from the same Japanese Maple on which the mantis was not well hidden the day before. Seasons change and leaves fall, and even in that, there is some beauty.

Eye of the Mantis

Day 310



Another theme that seems to be going on here is Mantises (Manti?). It all started back on Day 115 with the discovery of an egg sac. On Day 128, the babies hatched and left home. They grew up, and came back to visit from time to time.

And now, as fall turns the leaves to red, she was spotted again. I know this a she because a couple days later, she was laying a new egg sac on this very same tree.

Next in Line

Day 308



It is a shame that trees go from "awesome fall foliage" to "dead looking" in a blink. A couple days after I took this picture of the cherry tree in the front yard, the last leaf had fallen, and I knew it would be many moons until we'd see new ones.

For you Roth365 historians, this is the same tree that was getting snowed on in January and had a robin building a nest in March.

Call me Chicken

Day 307



I've taken up a new hobby lo these past few months - smoking meat. Everything else in life moves much too fast, so slow cooking is literally a nice change of pace. This chicken, along with two racks of beef ribs took about five hours, but man, was it all worth it.

(And yes, I realize I got out of order with these posts.)

Red vs Blue x2

Day 309



Election day in the USA, and with all the talk of red states vs. blue states, I figured it was a good time to revisit the red and blue bottles. Perhaps I should have made the blue bottle much, much bigger than the red one to be more accurate.

Cap Back Off

Day 306



One thing that really helps when you are trying to take a good picture every day is to always have a good camera with you. Though I am hugely pleased with my Sony a700 DSLR, and would recommend it to anyone who was in the market, there are some times when I just don't take it along. Maybe I have good reasons for this, like it is big and inconvenient to carry everywhere, and I don't want to accidently leave it in a rental car, or maybe I am just lazy. The point is, I don't always take it with me.

Still, not wanting to miss out shots of things that just happen, I decided to get the Panasonic LX3. This is camera is the perfect combination of powerful and portable. I'll probably do a fuller review in the future when I have more experience with it, but for now I can tell you that I plan to take this everywhere I don't take the DSLR. So, you can probably expect more shots from this camera on future days.

My Jasmine

Day 305



I'm impressed that my daughter did not choose to be Cinderella for Halloween, but instead went a bit in her own direction and chose Jasmine. Likewise her favorite muppet on Sesame Street was Ernie (not Elmo) and her favorite character on the Rudolf Christmas special was Hermie.

I'm also very impressed that she did not get cold in this outfit, and managed to hit quite a few houses thank you very much.

Your Move

Day 304



Both the kids have recently gotten into playing Checkers, and given their ages, they are not half bad. It won't be long before they can trounce me for real. It is also nice to see them enjoying a low-tech diversion for a change.

You Will Be Mine

Day 303



She is an old dog doing an old trick, but with the reward in sight, she is more than willing. Here's to you, Charlie. It's Milkbone Time.

Wish

Day 302



Five is a magical birthday because you are old enough to understand the concept of the birthday wish but young enough to truly believe in its power.

Tomorrow You'll Be Five

Day 301



One of my most favorite parts of the day is checking in on the kids before I go to bed. Maybe because it is the only time I get to see them when they are quiet, but it is something I always look forward to (and will go do tonight as soon as I finish writing this). This particular night was something special for my daughter, because she fell asleep as a four year old, and would wake up as a five year old. 1,827 nights is a long time, but even after 18,000 more, she'll still be my baby

66 to Go

Day 300



I was really hoping to do something special to celebrate Day 300. Instead I reused an idea that I had already used three times before, on the first day of each season. It is not as easy as it seems to come up with 300 original ideas. Regardless, the streak is alive.

Roar Lions Roar

Day 299



A very busy Saturday was topped off by an exciting and crucial Penn State victory over Ohio State that took several years off my life. By the time it was all done, there were mere minutes left in the day, so in honor of my a big win by my alma mater, I present to you the mighty Nittany Lion.

If I Only Had a Brain

Day 298



The pictures of Halloween decorations continue, this time with our newest addition - a handmade scarecrow made by the hands of the boy and me at his elementary school's fall festival. We had some trouble with the paper bag head, and the replacement paper bag head, so we went a different way and used a pumpkin.