Upside Ann

  Zupe's Halloween costume - much like the last few years - went through SEVERAL iterations.  No one will be surprised that his original idea was to be Thor.  He needed a new - and not Ann-made- Mjolnir.  So, we went to the Spirit Halloween store early in October to find they didn't have that particular hammer.  (*Please note: he wanted a hammer that, if thrown, would wing its way back into his hand.  Readers may be surprised that we found none like that.)  At Spirit Halloween, however, he found a very cool trident and so the costume hero changed from Thor to Poseidon.  I bought green sweat pants.  He had a Poseidon t-shirt and a gold crown. We were set.  He wore that to school for their party - sans the trident - which was deemed a "weapon".  (I considered making an 8-inch cardboard trident, but decided not to push the weapon issue and instead made him a fish bracelet.)  As the BIG DAY approached, Poseidon was dropped in favor...

 Sorry.  I am treat free - except for that 1/4 of a Killer Brownie in the frig.  It can be yours.  Just stop by!

 Badlands National Park. Thor mask.  Last known photograph of Mjolnir. Zupe's interest in getting out of the car to see cool scenic stuff went downhill after loss of his hammer.  Sigh.  Teenagers.

To review: day 2:  Sioux Falls, The Corn Palace, Dignity of Earth and Sky, (sadly not FireHenge), Badlands National Park, Wall Drug.  I am not posting anything from Wall Drug.  I wasn't interested in seeing a giant tourist shop...and then it ate Mjolnir.  Pretty unforgivable.  We ended up spending the night in Sturgis,Wyoming - and thereby eliminated Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills from our itinerary. There was a quick stop at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site which is really convenient to Badlands - but I got creeped out by the nuclear war/atomic bomb atmosphere and begged out of staying.  Kevin and Zupe looked around while I tried to avoid getting stung by some sort of flying insect while sitting on a bench outside.  Nuclear weapons, world-wide destruction have been a horror of mine since I was a kid.  I'm not sure but it may have started after reading " On The Beach " by Nevil Shute.  Why would THAT novel be on a scholastic book ...

 Not this Monday, mind you.  But it was A Monday and it is in keeping with the South Dakota Badlands theme. Last week I watched about 1/2 of a webinar hosted by two insufferably cheerful people talking about taking better photographs.  Here's an example of one of their "light taboos".... asking your subjects to look directly into the sunlight.  I have SEVERAL of these photos of myself throughout the year - not all taken by me.  But me with my wimpy blue eyes cannot tolerate any direct light - note intense squint and look of pain.  In addition, as my teachers wanted me to learn, there are unattractive shadows.   The one good thing I can say about this image- you can easily see those badlands behind us. And - I don't have my finger in the screen. Happy end of October.

  You may remember, I have sort-of-a-thing for  panoramic  photos on my phone.  If that is news to you, here are two reasons why.  These are so much cooler than any of my standard photographs.  They have just so much more there there.  I really appreciate the way both the near field and far field are in focus.   I did not expect much from the Badlands.  A friend of mine had been very unimpressed and this had colored my view.  If they had not been so very convenient off I-90 or not had such a do-able drive, I might have skipped them.  I am so glad I did not.  If nothing else, marvel at that blue sky!  I even managed to earn my Junior Ranger Badge for the park. I would have preferred to not include the edge of the keep-behind-the visitor fence on the first photo and the quarter car on the second.  Not include as in I wish there wasn't a car parked or a fence.  I considered cropping the photo, but felt editing ...