Diary Archives - Page 3 of 5 - The Rev. Kenneth Allen

At the Carwash

July 16, 2011

Today, on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our Boy Scout Troop held a carwash.

It was great, seeing as the sun peeked out all morning, the rain disappeared and a long line of pre-sold ticket holders showed up for services rendered. (Beats the automatic wash at the Chevron, any day.)

This was also a chance to sort out a slew of hoses in the Rectory Garden, which had been dormant since Katrina. They all are headed to the dumpster after today’s work force declared them unsuitable for use. I readily agreed.

Here’s La Couronne, my beloved Crown Victoria getting her weekly bath. She’s lookin’ good!

And this went on until 1PM, whereupon as if on cue the skies opened and the heavens burst forth, drenching our area with a downpour that cleansed the earth anew. First time since yesterday.

After the 4:00 Vigil Mass it rained again. It’s been a beautiful week for rain.

Looking forward to the Jazz Brunch tomorrow after the 11AM Mass. Should be an amazing time. Ciao.

Relay for Life Dilemmas

July 11, 2011

Friday night our CYO walked all night long in the local Relay for Life.

The kids love it. They look forward to it with wild abandon and glee. And it’s a fun, safe, invigorating time even if it’s completely exhausting.

I have hundreds of pictures to post.

Even though I never actually post hundreds of pictures.

And then I wonder, why do I take so many pictures in the first place.

(And why don’t I resize them correctly?)

Some of these made my Facebook album. But Facebook is another dilemma for another day. (I have a thousand friend requests and am at the limit of friends for a long while now. So maybe I should have made a public person page. But… who am I to have a fan page?

(It’s not an overwhelming dilemma.)

But back to the Relay for Life.

Someone emailed me asking me if I was aware of this?

Yes, the American Cancer Society supports Planned Parenthood. Yet, it was with a stop-smoking grant, not funds for abortions.

So, I have mixed feelings about this. I have he feeling it will be an issue.

For now, this appears (to me at least) to be a relatively new concern. And if the kids are there and the Archdiocese is promoting the event, I will be out supporting them. As for the future of it, we’ll have to give this matter some more thought, prayer and research. No one wants to be supporting abortion rights with money raised to fight cancer.

At the same time, I support anyone and everyone who is trying to quit smoking. But that’s another story, for another time.

Better Gardening Through Photoshop

July 6, 2011

Oh. Yes… This could work.

You know, there’s a lot you can’t write about as a Priest. For instance, a lot of what we do during any given day, be it working with the disenfranchised, counseling, Confessions, etc.

But when I’m not doing any of that, and I’m not reading, and I’m not at the gym, and I’m not in my office, and I’m not intently studying modern Church happenings, or doing laundry or trying to clean my room or sitting around with my feet propped up, or deep in prayer, I’m hard at work in the garden.

(This area needs a lot of work.)

(It’s going to be the Marian area.)

(In case you hadn’t noticed.)

That’s something I can write about. But it’s a work in progress, and definitely needs a bit more time. Still, it’s something to look forward to.

But you know, I just can’t bring myself to post the picture of the actual garden as it really looks. I think I prefer denial and the vision of what might be, what will be, to the cold, harsh realities of life.

On the other hand, what harm could there be in posting a picture of the back garden as a ‘before’ kind of thing, while anxiously awaiting the far off completion and the eventual ‘after’ photos?

Yes, that’s a very good idea. In fact, here is the garden as it actually looks with no Photoshopping involved. It’s very much better than it was before, and it’s a fair start to a kind of… hmmm.. why yes, that’s absolutely a very smart way of doing things.

AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!!

::hyperventilating::

OK, yes, that’s much, much better.

Excuse me. If you need me, I’ll be deep in prayer.

Fourth of July

July 4, 2011

There’s nothing more American than watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. And there’s nothing more inane than me heading out with my camera trying to photograph them.

But we’re making progress here.

Obviously there’s a ways to go! But, a lesson learned: scout your location with more than a minute to go before the show. Electrical wires in the middle of the photos aren’t quite an artistic advantage.

Aside from that faux pas, I shot on complete manual, with a tripod. I ended up opening the f-stop all the way to 22 at times, then dialing it back down and playing with the ISO a bit for some of the brighter shots.

Also, I increased the contrast in several because I liked the brighter effect. But… that does kind of blow out some of the highlights.

However, I’m not trying to win a prize here, so… might as well have fun with it.

It’s not like we have fireworks shows every day.

And I have to confess, I’ve never really shot on full manual before. Here I did, and varied the shutter speed from 1 second to 5 seconds. It’s not that horrible for a complete rank amateur who knows absolutely nothing about photography, though there are obviously some things I have to work on.

But, the Fourth of July is a special day hereabouts, and fireworks are the order of the day all around.

We grew up with huge stashes of fireworks we’d set off on the front lawn, before they were illegal in the city.

After that, everyone else had them. Hahah, heheheh.

I almost really like this shot, if it weren’t for the wires.

Blowout!

Here is a shot just as the strobes started to go off and light the place up like… like… like daylight, for lack of a better analogy. I played with the aperture a bit, and the ISO setting. I think.

I remember after I had been playing music for decades, and people would tell me they were starting out with piano lessons. I encourage everyone to go for it, and recall the hours and hours and hours of practice that go into technique and artistry. Compared to my time behind keyboards (well, even without that), I’m a complete noob with a camera.

Here are the offending wires. I left for the show at 8:40, and found a spot on the levee a bit farther away than is good for these shots. Especially since it was behind the wires. I got set up right as the show started.

But all in all, a good exercise. I’d post the other hundred shots, but I’d rather go pray night prayer. I pray that the holiday was enjoyed by all.

A Busy Sunday

July 3, 2011

In between Masses today I could be found roaming the gardens looking with a furrowed brow at the ivies growing on fences, weeds taking over rose beds, and the plethora of rocks in the side garden. Utterly beset, I decided to take a picture of this small statue. It used to bother me since it was the center of attention in the main garden (which needs much, much work…) But now, there’s a statue of Mary in the center, and this guy’s off to the side in the cabana area.

Sheesh, spot the euphemisms in that paragraph.

You can see Mary in the background, but thanks to editing software you cannot see the ivies and other fence blight detracting from recent plantings.

Hopefully, I won’t be seeing it soon either. Spectracide and Trellises… come to papa.

Crepe myrtles are good trees, though the constant floating down of their tiny flowers forms drifts all over the patio on a daily basis in heaps and mounds. Still, the trees do provide some nice shade and a degree of privacy. I use a leaf blower to clean the soft carpet of flowers — the deep, deep, soft carpet of flowers, which collects all over the back area each day.

Well, I usually do it every other day. Sometimes every third day. At least once a week. It’s hot outside you know.

Then we have the flowering coleus. I haven’t grown coleus in awhile so I really am not sure wether to deadhead it or just let it be. Any ideas? Sounds like a quick google is in order.

After I watered everything thoroughly this morning since it was dry as could be with not a cloud in sight, we had a torrential downpour in the afternoon. But I had clipped some roses, and stuck them in with this parsley-in-a-glass. Parsley keeps longer with its roots in water, and it was a handy receptacle for the roses, since I had not cut a long stem. I also had been starting some mint and some coleus, which I had just placed in small glasses of water. Both stems sprouted roots fairly quickly (especially the coleus!), and I have them now in small pots so the roots can take in a well structured form for planting.

I made a brief visit to an oasis of a pool deep within the bamboo forests of Old Metairie. But you know how torrential downpours can be with lightening strikes and thunderclaps. This is about as close to the pool as I got today. It’s about as close as I usually get. But, that’s a long story for another time.

And tonight… fireworks!

I’ll probably revisit this in the next few days. It was fun taking pictures of them, since I’ve never done it before.

Which is evidenced here in this completely blown-out photo. I wonder how you prepare for the finale of a fireworks show when everything is bright as daylight, after your camera has been using wide open apertures and high iso’s.

Hmmm…. Something new to study. This could be fun…