Fun hairstyles from the past

As You Requested...

I forgot my number one rule for the blog: this is a visual medium....

A Bridge too Far:


Forest Spirits:


Please?:


Celebrate!:

I'm So Excited!!!!

Announcing.....
.... that I, Debra Sportel of Sportel Photography, have have earned the right to be called Master Photographer! I just found out that all four of the prints I entered into the national Professional Photographers of America print competition earned a merit. This gives me enough merits (points) for my Professional Photographers of America Master of Photography Degree. And since all four prints will "hang" as they say, I will also get a Photographer of the Year pin. Cool, huh?
Thanks all for putting up with my annual pre-competition anxiety... and also for giving me your honest opinions on the photos when I ask. Don't worry, I'll ask again!
Love, MOM

They Say It's Your Birthday

I would like to thank everyone for the electronic photo frame that I received for my birthday today. Now I have the task of deciding what photo's to display electonically in my new office. I'm accepting images at the current time, assuming they pass FCC guidelines.

Prime

Ben goes Hunting!

I took Avery to a 2-year-old birthday party today and they had rented one of those bounce houses! The party was for Sully - they live up the big hill from us and his mom is Ashley, baby sister is Maddy (Madeline) 5 days older than Adeline. . . isn't that funny? He's been talking about monster trucks all week because that was the theme. We've also been working on potty training more and he's earned a few Bob the Builder toys for #2's.

Anyhow, we've seen deer and foxes run through our yard quite a few times, but today we had the bull elk visit and then graze for a while. They even laid down in the woods next to the seasonal stream while Ben was running around taking pictures - without getting chased :) It kind of reminded us of when Deb was getting close to the bear in our driveway last fall! I actually saw these elk up the mountain on someone else's property a couple of weeks ago, but we didn't think they would come down here. It will be fun to hear them bugle in the fall - maybe Avery and Uncle Dan will give you their impressions while we are in Minnesota. See you soon!

Not a postworthy note...

So, Katie is a nanny....and the girl she was with yesterday wanted to go see a movie. They went and saw that movie. Katie went into the theater fully expecting to hate the movie. She came out liking Transformers. Yep, Katie saw Transformers and she liked it. Just thought I would let the world know.

Here are some pictures from our visit to one of Denver's world-famous beaches. It was 95 degrees out and the lake was still cold!

Pictures from our trip up north

Here are a feew picks from our trip around Michigan.

Here is Katie at the Grand Hotel....It costs 12 dollars to get any closer than this.

Here is one of the coolest roosters around. We thought Grandpa might want to see him.

Here is the sunset on Mission Point by Traverse City.



This is the view out of our window at the Gray Hare Inn.

Here is our first campsite ever.




Our view out of the Amway Grand.

I got hungry when we hiked around the entire island.....


Just thought you might want to see some of where we went on our honeymoon. That, and I am trying to compete with the pictures Reuben and Rach are putting on this thing.

Sam and Kate

Minnesota Plans

Just a quick post about the motel we reserved in MN. Sorry, we were too late to get the one with the slide. Apparently Willmar is a hopping place that weekend. We did however talk to a very nice woman at the Americinn. We reserved 4 rooms. Two for Wednesday night arrivals (Sam and Kate; Mom Dad and Mattie) and two for Thursday arrivals (Ben and Ashley and kids; and Reuben and Rachel). What we do have is complementary breakfast, pool open 24-hours, and free internet access. They also have a spa??? Anyway, if we are ever there we will have something to do. Bring your suits.
All of the rooms are reserved under our name (Randy and Deb). We got the AARP discount! ;-)
MOM

Rainy London

The last two days of our trip were in London, where we stayed with my friend Yuli and her husband Paul. Above is a pic of us with them in their kitchen. It was so nice to finally have a homecooked meal and stay in someone's house after all the hotels and eating out. It was great to be back in London, even though it rained pretty much the whole time we were there. It was wonderful to see Yuli again and for Reuben to meet her. It was also great to show Reuben where I was for almost 5 months! After we settled in a little at Yuli's,we headed downtown. We went to a pub for dinner where we had some good beer and fish & chips (below)! The other picture above is of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye.


Below are some of the sites of London from our walk around the city the 2nd day we were there. Right below is the famous Tower Bridge.



Above is the London Eye and the pic next to it is of part of the Westminster Abbey.

The picture above is us walking back to the tube station through the cute suburbs of Southgate from Oak Hill, the school I was at when I was there. We took the tube out there the day we got there and walked out to the school.


Drinking coffee at Caffe Ner0, a chain of coffee shops in London. This is at my favorite one! An added plus was that it was great to have larger coffees than the ones we'd been having in Italy!


We spent our whole 2nd day there walking around the city, some of it in the rain. On the right is Millenium Bridge crossing the Thames River with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. The next one is of us by Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.



These are pics at Oak Hill, the college I was at when I was in London. The picture of Reuben and I is the view from the back of the college. There is a cool wall that we're sitting on the divides the lawn from the pasture. I used to sit out there and read and reflect. The other pic is of the back of the main building of the college.

Okay, so there's the London post! I promise you will be seeing more of Italy and some of Greece soon!

Vote for the cat with no name!

Ok, so mom and dad's cat needs a real name. So I propose a family vote. If Mattie reads this within a week, then she can vote too. One vote per family member, including inlaws. Here are the options in no particular order:

1. Howard (cat's current name)
2. Spot (cat's old name)
3. Frenzy (Decepticon)
4. Bonecrusher (Decepticon)
5. Juice (Avery's personal favorite)
6. Whocares (Katie's idea)

The polls are now open.

Identify This Bird...

OK, we think he's a Sandpiper, but can't figure out what kind. Maybe he's a baby. We might have to ask Steve...

Sweet Adeline

We're Home!

Hi Family!


We made it home from our mini adventure... and we have pictures. Surprise!
We had a nice time. Pretty challenging and relaxing. Not as exciting as Europe, but nice. We hope to return.




A Loon...


Common Goldeneye...


An Iris for Grandpa...


Our morning reflections...





Rock Lily


Some cool rocks...


Very calm Lake Superior on the ride back to Mainland...