To Blog Me is to Like Me

Pin It Did you know that you could like this blog? Yeah, I figured that you already did because - most likely - you’re pretty savvy like that AND you’re on Facebook, too. But did you also know that you could like Backroads Photography?

Well, if you didn’t know this before, then I just wanted to let you know now…after all, we’re probably friends in the real world and that’s what friends do; and really when you think about it, why shouldn't you like me in the cyberworld as well?

Okay, now go and share this juicy little tidbit with each and every one of your other friends, because these are delicious, just like your favorite something-or-other slathered in butter and cream, and then baked into golden perfection.

I should probably mention that I'm needy, too...but only because we're friends; just don't tell anybody else, okay?

By the way, comments are off for this post...you know, just if you were wondering...

Weekly Kodachrome - The Red Balloon

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I took part in a relatively unplanned photography session the other day. As kind of a last minute thought, I took along a few balloons – after all, balloons always lend a sense of excitement and fun, don't they? I gave one of these balloons to the middle boy of the family, whom I’ll simply dub as ‘D’ for the sake of this post.

As he walked away with this red balloon in hand, I was suddenly struck with the remembrance of my own days of elementary school, when my teacher would show us movies from time to time. For some reason or other she’d gotten the movie, The Red Balloon. It is a story – told mostly without dialogue – about a boy named Pascal and a balloon he rescues one day.

The movie focuses on the friendship forged between this young boy and a red balloon. I was so impacted by this film that I remember wanting a red balloon of my own after seeing it.

Fast-forward to a dozen years later when I’d be teaching a summer camp of energetic seven and eight year-old kids, and talking with them about the importance of good friends and being kind to those who were different. I remember each of them wanting – after seeing the movie – a red balloon of their very own. Having already thought of this, I went into the back room of the center and brought out the dozen red helium balloons, which I tied to each of their back jeans belt loops, stressing the importance of friendship and kindness. Then, for the remainder of the day, each and every child had a red balloon of their own which followed them everywhere they went.

It was amazing to see how differently they acted.

It's amazing to see how something as simple as a red balloon can change someone's behavior.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did.

Oh, and just if you were interested, you can view the original Albert Lamorisse film, The Red Balloon, HERE or a trailer for the 2007 remake (which I just discovered existed, watched most of, and didn't like nearly as much), The Flight of the Red Balloon, by Hou Hsiao Hsien HERE. From the trailer you will be able to link to the full film if you're interested in watching it.

Happy TeachinFOURTH of July 2011

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i heart faces

When I was a kid the Fourth of July was all about Fireworks.

It was about school being out and the long, lazy days of summer stretching out before me; it was about trips to the river with inner tubes in the back of the station wagon and cousins coming to visit for days on end.

The Fourth of July was about family reunions and camping out in the backyard in tents. It was about roasting hot dogs over campfires in the early evening as the smoke from the bonfire drifted lazily through the yard. It was burning marshmallow torches and running through the forest and screaming like banshees. It was a time of night games and insect bites. It was watching shooting stars and making wishes that never quite seemed to come true.

The Fourth of July was standing in front of the makeshift roadside stands with a few dollars I’d been saving for months on end clutched in hand. It was gazing at the rows of brightly packaged pyrotechnics arranged before me, just waiting their time to set the skies ablaze.

The Fourth of July was about blowing up cowpies with my longtime friend, Jess. This was—by far—one of the greatest and little-known pastimes of all. We’d see how close we could get to the bovine pastries and still not get nailed by the flying shrapnel when the crater was blown from the varied meadow muffins we encountered. The fresher the better, and juicy was all about the splatter.

If Jess was icked more then I…well, then life was good.

The Fourth of July was homemade popsicles and sitting the front slab, with the sticky stuff running down your chin and forearms. It was all about sunburns and snickering with friends at those crazy Laffy Taffy jokes until our sides ached.

That was the Fourth of July when I was a child.

But now that I’m older, I realize that the Fourth of July is so much more.

The fourth of July is about freedom. It’s about sacrifice. It’s about the men and women who fought for the rights we have today. It’s about the day we celebrate our independence from England. It’s the day we commemorate the nation we live in and love.

The Fourth of July is all of these things; it is the celebration of the past and the present…and one day it will be the celebration of the future, wherein it will become many more things as well…



Happy TeachinFOURTH of July to you…

You might also want to try Sweet Shot Tuesdays, Show off Your Shot, Your Sunday Best, This or That Thursday, and Community Global for other great photo memes.

Weekly Kodachrome - Leading the Way

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Last week my friend, John, took me to see Crystal Geyser in hopes that it would erupt. Unfortunately, it merely bubbled and churned – having no set schedule as to when it would discharge in its ostentatious majesty.

But we waited anyway.

As John, my new friend, Melinda, and two of John’s kids explored the travertine-deposited spillways from the geyser leading down to the Green River, the last rays of the scorching sun melted away behind the eastern mountains. The sunlight coated the landscape with its unearthly glimmer, and the yellow and orange layers of travertine glowed like a pumpkin on Halloween night. And as John’s son and I walked the watery-coated surfaces, I noticed how our shadows contrasted so deeply with that of the the iron carbonate. It was then that I took the lens cap off my camera, and snapped the Kodachrome of the Week.

<center><a href="http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekly%20Kodachrome/" target="_blank"><img alt="Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi0e1GL4TLj1n6H-veDNFvj6gHUt_9-X1MWA6Qo-0zyEHW2dGTMl4JeI8v_q4AdNQxb8FADxYjLPhQnxl1rEPTU9B2N1_m9vVei9Ea8PXDRASzVKotvo4jseesUFUvqazg0pxtTAN75ao/s800/Weekly%252520Kodachrome.png"/></a></center>

Did you take a photo in the past seven days that made you smile? Please feel free to include a link to the image in the comments section if you did.




Crystal Geyser in a nutshell: Back in 1935, a group was drilling to locate oil and accidentally discovered – and unleashed – a pocket of water and gasses from underneath the earth’s surface; the gasses have been escaping ever since and pushing up massive amounts of cold water from the ground, sometimes shooting water as high as 100 feet in the air. Yes, the area has a sulphuric odor about it, but in the right light, and at the right time - with a crosswind - it is nothing short of magnificent.

Media of the Week - The Beating of My Heart

Pin It There comes a time in each and every one of our lives when we find ourselves eating our words.

For me, that day is today.

I’m sure you remember – a year or two ago – when I talked about chick flicks. Heck, I even went on to write a post about them over at Four Perspectives, talking about…let me see, how did I put it? Well, I think I told some of my friends that I’d rather gargle shards of broken glass - or something along those lines.

Well, today is the day I find myself taking back everything I ever said about chick flicks. You see, today is the day I was at the theatre and saw the trailer for The Beating of My Heart.

I have tried several times to put into words how I felt watching this at the theatre today, but to be honest…words just can’t do it justice. I nearly broke into tears at time code :38 when one of my favorite songs in the world came on, too.

With this I share with you today’s Media of the Week…a bit more serious than some of the past. I hope it touches you as much as it touched me.



Oh, and just so you know...I posted today over at Four Perspectives.

P.S. You probably realize that the poster and movie title both are fakes, btw. But I can't wait to see this movie...

Media of the Week - The Power of Words

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Enjoy your day, I'm sure it is a beautiful one; the funny thing is that sometimes it's all in the way we choose to look at it.

I'll see you in a few days, back when I'm in a world where the Internet is again an option. I just know that this trip will not be another one of these.

Makes Me Smile #6 - Maple Bars

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I went to the bakery at Lin's grocery store - the one that makes those fabulous maple bars. The thing is, I only get these delights a few times a year when I'm in the area, so I always make the most of them. Since it was kind of late this particular day I figured that all of the maple bars would be gone - after all - they were the donut usually absent from the shining glass cases before any other pastry.

I approached the bakery section with trepidation, and saw row upon row of cinnamon twists, bear claws, raspberry-filled, and old-fashioned, but notably absent were the maple bars. I consigned myself to being donutless for the day as I knelt down and looked in the back of shelf two. And there, behind the row of chocolate glazed were two maple bars staring back at me in all of their deliciousness.

I quickly bagged these golden gems, paid for them at the register, and left Lin's with a spring in my step and a grin on my face. Two maple bars...one for me, and one for my dear friend, Michelle.

Maple bars make me smile.

BTW, I did post over at Four Perspectives today...