The "Scariest Night of Our Lives" Story

It was an ordinary day. Carol and I were relaxing. Last night we had one of the biggest scares of our life. It happened during the night. Our son Derek, who was nine months old, was sleeping in the baby's room room next to our room. We thought we heard him moving around in his crib, so Carol got up to check on him. She went into his room and picked him up and sat on the rocking chair to try to get him back to sleep. All of a sudden he went limp. Carol yelled for me and quickly brought him over to our bedroom. A few months before I had taken training in CPR at school in case I ever needed it to help at school. Well, now was the time it was needed. I told Carol to call the doctor while I laid him on the foot of the bed and started CPR. It seemed like forever, but the doctor finally answered the phone and Carol described what was happening. He called immediately for an ambulance. Shortly after, Derek started to move on the bed and I stopped the CPR. He began to cry and Carol picked him up in her arms and headed for the front door. We could hear the ambulance in the distance and turned on our front light to help them find our house. He was burning up it seemed. Didn't take his temperature, but we knew he had an extremelly high fever. The ambulance arrived and Carol and Derek were immediately loaded in the back for the four to five minute ride to the hospital. Emergency room workers took over as soon as they arrived and I arrived shortly after the ambulance. Dr. Beittel, our pediatrician, arrived about the same time that I did. He told Carol and I to wait in the waiting room while he helped the emergency room doctors treat Derek. Not long after he sat down with us to explain exactly what had happened to Derek. It seems that his temperature had risen extremely fast because of the onset of Roseola. The rapid temperature spike caused his nervous system to short circuit and shut down which caused him to lose consciousness. The doctor wasn't sure if my CPR helped or whether his temperature started to drop on it's own, but he was stable now and was receiving medication for the high fever. Pretty scary night for all of us. The doctor looked at us and realizing what we had just been through, asked if we would feel better if he was kept in the hospital overnight so they could monitor him throughout the night. We both agreed it would be best and would allow us to get a few hours of rest. I called in for a sick day the following morning and mid-morning we headed back to the hospital to bring our son home with us. Wasn't long before we saw the red rash appear which is the result of the viral Roseola or baby measles. It was a night we would never forget. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Never let them know how you did it" Story

It was an ordinary day. It was going to be the last day that my "little friends" would be with me. Today I was going to reveal to my grand daughters how I did this trick with these imaginary friends of mine. I have been doing it on most of the visits they have made to our house from Maryland for the last two years. Always seemed to amaze them when I did the trick. I visited Ziggy's Magic Store in Lancaster a few years ago and asked him if he had anything I could do to amaze my grand kids. He showed me these two over sized flesh colored thumbs that when you place your thumbs in them and pressed with your forefinger, a little red light would come on at the tip of the fake thumb. Now I had to practice and soon I would be doing magic for my grand kids. Shortly after I got the thumbs, my daughter bought this light for me for my birthday that you can put around your head in bed and turn on so that you don't disturb anyone else in bed if you want to read. Press it once and one small bulb would light. Press it again and another light would come on. Press it again and two little red bulbs would light up. Never figured out why you would want two little red lights to read by, but I instantly figured out I would use the light with my thumbs that glowed red on the tips for my magic trick. The light she bought for me came in a small pull string black bag. Perfect place for my "little friends" to live. When my daughter and son-in-law brought my grand daughters to visit the next time I was set. Big picnic at at our house and after we ate I told everyone to come into the living room for a special treat. Showed the grand kids, as well as everyone else, this little bag that had the red lights in it. "My friends" were in the bag and wanted to come and visit with everyone. Now, you have to do this trick in a dimly lit room so no one can see that you have these thumbs on your real thumbs. I opened the bag and pretended to take out one of the "friends" with my one thumb. As I withdrew my thumb from the bag I pressed my thumb and forefinger together and the light went on. Same color as the light in the bag. Looked like I removed my "friend" from the bag. I would hold it up to my ear and it would "talk" to only me. "You say that you want to look inside of Courtney's head," I would say. "OK, Courtney, please come and stand next to me. Now everyone is giggling and excited about what is going to happen. I have her stand next to me and place my lighted thumb to her eat. Push gently and release my forefinger so the light goes out and presto, the "friend" is in her head. Everyone, and I mean everyone including the adults, is amazed at what I have done. You see, only my wife knew what I was going to do. Then I have her extend her arms and trace, with my finger, lightly on her head to her neck to her shoulder to her fingertip and presto! Out comes the "friend" when I push my forefinger to my thumb and the thumb lights red. I must admit that it really did look neat. "Do me next," everyone yells. Well I do the other two grand kids with my "friend" going in the mouth and out the belly button and so forth. Then I have Joy, my daughter-in-law's sister stand next to me. She is in her mid 30s, but very gullible and she is totally in awe of what I have done so far this evening. I have her stand facing me and I have the light enter her nose so she can see it. I release my finger and in goes the "friend." Her eyes grow REALLY BIG. I run my finger down neck to her arm and back up again and then have her turn away from me and run my finger down her back to her waist. She is a little concerned right now because she tells me she can feel my "friend" inside of her and I really believe she thinks that. I reach a little lower and presto, out of her butt comes my lighted finger. Wow! She is relieved that he has come out. And ..... everyone else is rolling on the floor with laughter. Time to put my "friends" back in the bag so they can go to bed. The next night I will repeat the same routine, but without Joy. This has been going on for nearly two years now and I am tiring of the routine. Courtney asked me when she arrived yesterday if she could take my "friends" home with her for a visit. I finally agreed, and she was giving me an instant hug. I was finally going to let her see how I did it. My daughter often thought that when Courtney found out that the "friends" weren't real, she would be very upset with me, but that didn't seem to be the case. She was totally excited to have me share my magical "skills" with her. I explained to both girls how I did the trick and they were sure they could do it. Only problem ...... the thumbs were a little too big for their hands, but didn't seem to matter. Courtney practiced for the best part of the day and was actually pretty good at it by the time they had to leave late afternoon. Haven't heard yet how it went with their new "friends" and their old friends, but I'm sure they both were a hit. They would have to be. They are my grand kids. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - got a call Court and she told me she had a sleepover and her real friend was amazed with her imaginary "friends." And she said she didn't reveal how she did it. She'll be a great magician!!

The "A Trip to the Alpaca Farm" Story

It was an ordinary day. We are visiting the Golden Glen Alpaca Farm with our grand daughters Courtney and Camille. Terri K. owns the farm with her husband Andy. They started the farm four years ago on a 10 acre tract in the north end of Lititz, PA. Terri is a secretary at Neff Elementary School in Neffsville, PA and I do a little of the printing for the school, so I got to know her a few years ago when she started at the school. I recently made a visit to her and saw a photo of this cute little critter named Jake hanging by her desk. I inquired and found out she raises alpacas. I asked if I could visit sometime with my wife and grand kids to see them and she put out the welcome mat for us. Terri and her husband have been breeding the Alpacas for the last four years and now have 15 grown ones and 2 that have been born within the last couple of months. They raise the really neat animals to sell and also for their fiber. The fiber is the hair that the alpaca has. There are two breeds of alpaca. The Huacaya breed which has fiber that pulls tight to their body and the Suri breed which has fiber that hangs in locks from their body to the ground. All of the animals that Terri has are of the Suri variety. Courtney and Camille fell in love with the animals as soon as they saw them. They had many questions about them and their coats. Terri gave them a small bag of the fiber which is extremely soft. About as soft as mohair. She showed us two Teddy Bears that had been made with the fiber. You can't imagine how soft they felt. I was impressed. When we first arrived, all of the alpacas were inthe pasture feeding. We went into her home to see some of the products that she had made from her fiber and when we returned to the barn, they were cooling off if front of the fans she has set up in the barn for them. We got a closer look at Jake, who is about three months old now, and Hawthorne, who was born three weeks ago. Alpacas have a gestation period of about a year. People who would like to raise alpacas must now buy them from breeders in the US, since the government has stopped allowing importation of the animals from South America. Courtney and Camille had a wonderful time and talked about their trip to the farm for the rest of the day. I love all kinds of animals so it was a treat for me and Carol will enjoy her new pair of socks that she bought while we were there. She is also hinting about the beautiful sweaters that Terri has for sale. Christmas is still a few months off I reminder her. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - bottom pix shows three week old Hawthorne with mother

The "Sir Speedy of MTHS" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just finished working with Harry G. on the small AB Dick press at MTHS. I had used it during the week and was having trouble keeping the job I was printing from picking up excessive ink on the left side of the paper. Took forever to run the 10,000flyers I needed for the job I was doing. I called Harry and he stopped to do the adjustments and check to see if I needed any new parts to the press which is about 35 years old. Harry works for the company that the school bought the press from years ago. We got talking and he asked me how long I had been doing the printing for MT. After some figuring on my part, I told him I had been doing the in-house printing for the school district since 1968. Wow, that makes 42 years that I have been cranking up the presses for hall passes, stationery, envelopes, school calendars, bell schedules, and anything small that the press can handle. I also have been doing the football programs and baseball yearbook on the larger press we have in the print shop in room 168. When I taught at the school it was room 308, but with renovations a few years ago, they renumbered the rooms. Why, I don't know. Just to confuse me, I think. Never quite sure why it was room 308, since it was on the first floor. Years ago when Mr. Hower was principal and I was in my early years of teaching in room 308, I had about a dozen keys which I needed in order to get into the school, the closets, laundry room (did the athletic washing), Yearbook room, shops and different classrooms. Couldn't keep them straight so one weekend I came to the school and painted the small insets on all the doors with a different color that matched the plastic colored ID shield that I had put on each key. Made it so much easier for me. Didn't take long for Mr. Hower to figure out who did it and I had to go around and clean off all the paint. Funny, I still do printing for Mr. Hower who is no longer the principal, but still the district chairman for the PIAA (PA sports organization). Then I told Harry that if I counted all the time I had spent in the school district, including the years as a student, it would be an astounding 54 years. I'm still going strong and maybe when I reach the 60 year mark, the district will honor me with a plaque over room 168/308 declaring it the Woods Printing Services. That by the way is the name of the company I formed after I retired. When I retired from teaching in 1999, I asked if I could continue to do the printing and since the new teacher in my room didn't want the responsibility, they were more than happy to keep me employed. I had to do it as an independent contractor though, and I was required to buy a $2,000,000 liability policy to continue to be in the school with the students. At times now I do tire of lifting the 40 pound boxes of paper all the time and doing all the trimming on the guillotinepaper cutter I have in my garage, but I'm good for at least 6 more years, I think!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Colors of the Caribbean in Plants and Flowers" Story

It was an ordinary day. Another day visiting my photos from past vacations. Hoping to get back to the islands soon again and see all the beautiful colors that we have grown to love. At our home in Lancaster we have tried to add some of these colors, but the weather never seems to cooperate and with long stretches without rain and at times not being home to water the tropical plants, the colors aren't as vivid as they should be. I have added a touch of the color found in the plants and flowers of Caribbean in this edition of my blog.

What do you think? Wouldn't you be anxious to get back to the islands to see the vibrant colors shown here? Can hardly wait! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Best Little Boy on Earth" Story

It was an ordinary day. My grandson Caden and I are visiting Central Market in downtown Lancaster. I needed to buy some fresh fish, vegetables and bread and decided to take four year old Caden with me. He enjoys doing anything with me as I enjoy doing everything with him. His bright blue, no really bright blue, eyes light up the market. He got the eyes from his mother. Every stand we go to, they comment on how good he is and how blue his eyes are. He is a really neat little boy. We hit the vegetable stand and I question him about each variety. He knows everyone but the red beets. Probably not a favorite at his house. Then on the way to Kathy's Seafood stand we pass the candy stand. He doesn't say anything, but I can see him looking. "How about we stop here after we eat our lunch?" I ask him. "OK, Tampah," he says. We examine all the fish in the cooler. Talk about the ones that still have their eyes in them. He's not so sure he likes fish. My guess is he doesn't eat too much fish at home, either. I chose a small piece of sea bass and off we go to the next stand. After getting a small loaf of bread we head to a stand that is selling lunch. "How about a hot dog?" I ask him. He responds, "OK, and can we have a bag of chips?" We each have a hot dog with mustard, chips and a soda. Off to the side of the market I spy a table that is about to be vacated. We hustle over and as soon as the couple leave, we take over the table. Next to us are two woman who are already enjoying their lunch. We sit down and Caden takes a napkin and opens it and puts his hot dog and chips on it. As soon as I have done the same he looks at me and tells me we need to say grace. He leads with, "God is great ..... give us Lord our daily bread." The lady at the next table looks at me and says, "I think he is the best little boy that I have ever seen." "Why thank you," I respond. "I think so, too!!" It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pix of Caden after he got his new "Tattoo" of a dolphin while on vacation at Ocean City, NJ

The "Master Framer" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just finished framing Michael Jackson's red leather jacket. Yep! That Michael Jackson. But, not his coat. The coat belonged to a fellow who runs the pizza shop up the street from Grebinger Gallery where I work part-time for Keith who was a former student and yearbook photographer for me when I taught school at MTHS. The pizza guy used to wear the coat when he was very small and it was a replica of the jacket the real MJ wore, right down to all the zippers and mesh on it. Pretty neat! The guy's mother wanted to have some photos of her son, a photo from a magazine, a song lyric, and the jacket framed for him for his birthday. Boy, will he be surprised. And it turned out really neat. I did it as a shadow box which was 38" long, 26" high and 2 1/2" deep. Did it using black suede mat board. It is MJ Cool! Took forever to do the job. First had to design it on the computer with the four openings, then cut the top and bottom mat on the computerized mat cutter. Then the hard part. Had to hand stitch the jacket to the suede with fishing line. Stitched it 12 places to make sure it stayed in place. Never allowed to change the integrity of the piece so I had to always use seams which made it tougher. Couldn't see a stitch when I was finished. I also had to fasten the zipper pulls with hot glue so they wouldn't flap if turned over. Topped it off with Museum Glass which costs a fortune to use, but it looks as if there is no glass on the piece and it will preserve the piece forever from the sun and and any other rays. I have been working for Keith for over 10 years now. After I retired in 1999 from teaching, Keith and I talked about working part-time for him. Wasn't too tough since I taught photography and printing in school and this job consisted of the same things. Framing was a lot more complex, but after a year or two, I could do anything that came along. On Grebinger Gallery flyers they refer to me as the "Master Framer." Over the years I have framed baseball, hockey, basketball and football jerseys, both pro as well as amateur and HS jerseys. Girl's dresses are a favorite with people. Have done many flags from golf holes where people travel to see tournaments. Also have done a few shadow boxes for people who have had holes-in-one. Include the ball, tee, sometimes the flag, scorecard and usually a plaque to commemorate the event. Have to wrap the ball in a mesh material and attach it to the mat board with hot glue so as not to affect the integrity of the ball. Military memorability is a big hit to have framed and I have done many of these. Usually with the photo, ribbons, awards, and a plaque. Did one not long ago that included the military whistle from an MP soldier. Also do 3D collages of the customer's photos or of Keith's Lancaster Co. photos. Can be done in many sizes and Keith lets me do the designing of which photos go where. Makes for a fun day when I do one of those. The job has kept me busy over the year and I have been a constant learner of new techniques to use for preservation. The routine double or single mat is a snap to do. But, to the customer, any job they bring in to the gallery is going to be a memory for them for a close friend or relative. It has to be perfect when it goes out the door. I take pride in how they look so that Keith can also take pride in giving the customer the best job available to them. Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday Mr. Caruso. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Slides that Turned Into Film" Story

It was an ordinary day. I had just picked up my photos from CVS Drug Store. The family had traveled to Disney World three weeks ago for the first time. Actually, it was the first time we had all flown in a jet. That was an experience in itself. Our oldest, Derek, is 11, our middle child, Brynn, is 8, and Tad our youngest is 6. The airplane ride was an adventure of a lifetime for all three. Almost like going to an amusement park. We flew from BWI airport directly to Orlando. After picking up our luggage we headed to the car rental company where we got our transportation for the week. Didn't stay on the grounds of Disney, since the price is about double what you have to spend to stay in a nice motel close by. We knew when we went that Epcot Center was only partially completed, but the kids wanted to go to the water park and The Magic Kingdom more than Epcot anyway. We had a great time throughout the vacation with a side trip to Sea World. Actually, Sea World was more of a favorite with the family than Disney, so we made 2 trips to see the Dolphins. During the trip I must have taken close to 20 rolls of color slides with my 35mm camera that Carol had gotten for me for our first Christmas after we were married. Great camera and I got fantastic shots with the Kodachrome film. After we arrived home I was anxious to get the slides developed and start looking at our memories we would have for a lifetime. I had used the CVS store for about a year and they always did a good job with my film and slides, so I headed back again to the store. Well, I had just returned home from the store, ripped open the bag of what I thought were slides, and found they had developed the film as if it were print film. Now, I was really ticked off. All the photos had a blue green tint to them. Hopped in the car and headed back to the store. Showed them the receipt tags and that they were marked for transparencies. They didn't know what to do of course. I kind of figured that, but I was really mad. They wanted to know what they could do to make it right. They did refund the money, but that wasn't enough for me. I told them I wanted to return to Florida and shoot them all over again and have them done the right way. And, I wanted them to pay for it. Whoa! They thought I was nuts! I told them to give me the number of their headquarters and I was going to call them. Well, in a few days I calmed down somewhat and they did try to reprint some of my favorites over again and try to correct the color balance, but never did work right. Last time I ever stepped in CVS and I told everyone I knew to never use their photo services. Now you know the same. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - sample pix of what all my slides looked like when printed on paper after the wrong development.

The "Man with Different Colored Eyes" Story

It was an ordinary day. Off to the optothalmologist to see how my eyes are doing. I have to go every 9 months because of a family risk of glaucoma. I also have to be checked every visit for my eye "freckles." An eye freckle is a change in the pigment inside the eye, changing the eye color in a spot, similar to a freckle on the skin. Eye freckles are usually harmless, although they should be watched for signs of growth or change, which would indicate a more serious condition. Just as you would watch a new mole or freckle for signs of skin cancer, an eye freckle could, rarely, I found out today, develop into a cancerous melanoma tumor. My previous eye doctor told me that I should constantly monitor my eye freckles to be sure they weren't growing. He really scared me when talking about my chances of getting eye cancer. Today, Dr. Jones, asked how long I had the discoloration which is s series of hundreds of pigments which form clusters of cells which in turn form tiny freckles cropped closely together in the bottom half of my right eye. My eyes are a blue-green color with my right eye having the bottom half covered with the orange freckles. I have many comments when people actually take the time to look me in the eye when talking to me. They tell me they have never seen someone with two different colored eyes. It is not really rare, but also not all that common to have two different colored eyes. I told Dr. Jones that I had the freckles from birth. He said over the span of the last 15 years he has had only one person who developed cancer in a freckle, and that was a person who only had the freckle for a short time. Someone who has had them for a lifetime would have almost a zero chance of developing cancer in the eye. If you do develop cancer in the freckles in the eye, the treatment includes laser surgery and radiation therapy. Both treatments will cause vision loss in the eye, but will not cause you to lose your eye. My vision today with my glasses was 20/20 in my right eye and 20/25 in my left eye. Near perfect! He told me he will document and keep a close watch on the optic nerves in my eyes, since they show some signs of aging. This is what he will watch to monitor my chances of getting glaucoma. Guess my eyes are keeping up with the rest of my body in the aging process. He told me he didn't see any reason why I had to return until next year. "Just enjoy the freckles and the attention they bring," he said. And I will!! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Some of the Most Important Things in Your Life" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was playing American Legion Baseball after my senior year in high school. American Legion is summer ball and is kind of low key compared to high school baseball. When I entered 10th grade in high school I decided, with a few of my friends, to play football. Now I was a 140 lb., 6' 1" string bean and I was going to play high school football. Well, I ended up playing quarterback on the JV team and was given the chance to play a few plays between halves at a varsity game one time that year. I also got to play 2 plays on defense in a game we were ahead by a gadzillion points. At the end of the season I realized football wasn't for me. In the spring I tried out for the baseball team and did much better. I got a chance to play on the JV team, but not at the position that I was used to playing in summer ball. I was placed in left field instead of my usual 1st or 3rd base position. Still enjoyed it, but I could hardly wait for summer ball so that I could play in the infield again. That summer I played for the Grandview team in the Eastern Lanco Midget league and had a great season. Ended with the second best batting average on the team and helped the team advance in the New Era Tournament at the end of the season. Then came September again and my birthday. I WAS 16! I knew football wasn't for me so I decided I would give up football in high school and get a job to help pay for the gas and insurance for the car that I had purchased at the end of the summer with the proceeds I made from raising guinea pigs in my back yard. Got a job at a local department store that had recently opened and was instantly wealthy. Kind of! Enough to keep the car on the road and some extra for bowling and eating fast food every weekend. Then spring came and high school baseball was ready to start. Now I had a really hard decision to make. Give up baseball so I could keep the car running or play baseball which was my passion. I knew I would probably get to play the infield this year, but after days of thinking about it, I decided that working after school and weekends was what I wanted to do. BAD CHOICE I found out in the next few months. I really loved baseball and now I could only watch it. I knew I was better than over half the guys on the team, but I had made my choice. Did play summer ball again, but not the same as playing for your high school. Funny thing though, I never did learn my lesson, since I never did play high school sports again. Years later I regretted it so much that I vowed it would never happen to any of my kids when they reached that stage in their lives. All three of my kids were exceptional athletes and I made sure that they didn't make the same mistake that I did. They had transportation to use if needed, but throughout their lives I tried to stress that getting a job and working could be done after high school. Matter of fact they had their entire life to work. I think they all were glad for the advice. I only wish I had been given the same advice when I was growing up. Come to think of it, I probably was given the advice, but ignored it since at the time, my car was more important to me. How dumb!! Sometimes you learn life's lessons the hard way. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Colors of the Caribbean Beaches" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was sorting through my collection of photos I have from vacations and I made a selection of the most colorful photos I have taken over the past ten years since using a digital camera. I actually have thousands, but here are a few of the colors that are found on the beaches of the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. I recently did a picture collage with colors of architecture and now comes the beaches. Anything from the azure colors of the water to the bright and vibrant colors of the beach chairs and umbrellas. The final photo in the group recently won first place in the SMX Travel Forum photo contest. Hope you find one you enjoy.

The ten photos above are just a small sampling from the thousands of beach photos in my collection. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "220v Tends to Fry Everything" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just arrived at the Alamanda in St. Martin for our yearly visit to the island. We started staying at the Alamanda three years ago. Really nice place with a great staff who treat you like family. We are staying on the ground level in a room that has a view of the many types of flowers and shrubs associated with the Caribbean. Fantastic aromas greet us every time we walk onto the back porch. We get a complimentary breakfast in the morning and free chairs on Orient Beach at Kakoa Beach Bar. What more could you want. How about good old 110v electricity. The Alamanda is on the French side of St. Martin and therefore has 220v outlets. Don't dare plug anything into an outlet or you will fry what ever you put into the outlet. Before we went to St. Martin this year I went to Walmart and purchased a set of adapters for the 220v outlets. I guess the key word here is adapter. After we had supper the first evening, I decided I was going to plug in my power strip so I could start to charge the camera, phone and my razor. I got one of the adapters out and put it into the wall outlet in the bathroom. Next I plugged in the power cord into the adapter. Then I hit the "On" switch on the power cord. And then ....... total darkness. I blew everything in the apartment out, including my power cord. Really fired it. Now what. I headed to the front desk to ask what to do. Geraldine, the desk clerk for many years, said she would sent someone to help. In about 5 minutes someone arrived and searched with a flashlight to find where to reset the breaker for the room. No luck. And the next room was also out of power. Boy did I really do it! After 30 minutes of not knowing what to do, they gave us another room, just for the night. We had to take everything with us that we needed for the night and headed to the other side of the place. I was pooped and within a half hour was asleep. A short time later, Carol woke me and said we were moving back to our room. Pack the bag again and head back. Seems that the breaker was in the other room that was without power. There was a connecting door between the rooms and both were on the same power unit. Well, I found out the next morning that my adapters were just that. Something to allow me to adapt their outlet to my plug. What I really needed was a converter which would convert the 220v to 110v. The staff was so nice that they left me borrow a unit for our vacation. I'm sure they wanted no parts of me trying to plug something else into their 220v again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos are of the Alamanda entrance and of our room.

The "Favorite Caribbean Sunsets" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was taking photos as the sun was setting in Barbados. Some of the best sunset shots I have ever taken have been taken in Barbados. For years I have been trying to take a photo showing the "Green Flash" which is the instant the sun disappears into the horizon. At times it creates a flash of green light which is nearly impossible to see (read about it in my story titled "The Green Flash" from December of 2009). Well, I have never been successful at taking a photo which included the "Green Flash", but I have close to 100 sunset photos taken since I started using a digital camera. I have included a few of my favorites with comments about a few of them at the end. Here goes ..........

Top photo was taken in Antigua from the beach at our resort. Second photo was in St. Thomas on the east end of the island. Third photo was taken in Turks and Caicos as we ate supper. Fourth was taken from Happy Bay while the fifth was in Grand Case. Both are in St. Martin. Sixth photo was taken in St. Croix. This one is the only one which is different in that it was taken at sunrise. The last three were all from Barbados which is the southern most island to which we have traveled. Final pix is of a fisherman getting in the last cast before dark. Sunsets were just gorgeous every evening. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.