Grayson Highlights

The last few posts to this blog have centered around my recent family trip to the Grayson Highlands State Park. My sister-in-law Lori Lipkin and brother-in-law Craig Setzer arranged the whole thing and I was glad that we were able to participate in the festivities.  We had a blast especially with the bike ride on the VA Creeper trail.   I like the discussions we are having about making this trip an annual event.  It is only about a 4 hour drive from Raleigh to the state park.  I must say this state park has the cleanest bath houses I have ever seen in any camp ground. 

I finally had a chance to put all the images from the trip on the trianglephotoprints.com web site.   

This slideshow below showcases my favorite images from the trip.  Please place your mouse over the slideshow to see it’s added features like the thumbnail option, gallery link to the images, and full screen display.  

This slideshow requires the Adobe flash player.

If you are having issues viewing the above  Steve Picks slide show,  please try this link directly from the trianglephotoprints.com web site.   Do not just take my word for it,  please feel free to browse all the galleries from this trip.   Let me know what you think.  Did I pick the highlights or did you find some images that need to be included in this slideshow?

Thanks for stopping by!!  See ya soon!

Carole’s beauty shop and breakfast grill

On the way back from the camping trip, we spent the night at my mother-in-law Carole’s home.   The plan was to drop off Sophia for a few days with her grandma while she was still out of school.  As tradition as Carole’s house, we woke to a very nice breakfast meal.  It was no different this time.   Carole prepared  a dish called “SOS” which according to Carole has some sort of military origin.   Since this is a family-rated blog, I will suffice to say we had hamburger milk gravy over biscuits.

Anyway, after breakfast and three days of camping, it was bath time for the girls.  It was quite obvious from looking at the bath tub that  Carole used it for other purposes than taking baths.  So to work off my full belly,  I decided to scour out the bath tub so my little darlings can get cleaned up.  Each turn in the tub was followed up by beauty session at Carole’s beauty shop. 

Here are few shots from the styling session.

     

Both kids were happy as a lark … Then the bill came…..

A Man and his Guitar

In my younger years or my BK (“Before Kids”) years,  I was known to play a little bass guitar in a couple of bands that played around the Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham NC area.   I never could play quite as well as my bass idols, but my heart was definitely into music and it still is.  Besides a good photograph, there is nothing like a good song to get your emotional juices flowing and your memories glowing.  

I remember in the old days when I put a bass instructional  VHS tape in the player called “Mastering the Groove” by Randy Jackson.  He was one of my many bass idols at the time.  Yes, this is the same Randy Jackson that sits in judgment on the popular American Idol television show.  I can not help to laugh every time I hear a contestant tell him that he does not have any talent.  I guess they never heard Randy play the bass guitar or in most cases themselves sing.

When I first met Jackie almost 15 years ago,  I knew she had a brother that played drums.  He played in some heavy metal band in Tennessee at the time.  He was also a black belt in Karate.  He would never have any trouble from me.  His passion for music and karate continues to this day.  He has moved on to play multiple instruments with a broad musical scope and does some shows in the western part of the state.  Now, he is a one man band still living his musical dream. 

Here are some shots  I took of Mike Lipkin that I call  “A man and his guitar.”  Who knows you may see them sometime on promo flyer hanging on a wall or in a window of a bar or coffee shop in western North Carolina. If you do, try to have a listen for a little while and be sure to tell him that Steve sent ya!!!
 

 

Easter Baskets – NC style

What do you think about when you hear the term “Easter basket” ?  Some will probably think about the typical woven basket the children closely guard and fill with some candy encapsulated plastic eggs that have been age appropriately hidden for them to find.   This term may also have others pondering  a family get-together with grandma’s home cooking or childhood stories of the biggest chocolate bunny they had ever eaten.

Well, this Easter  came on the “heels” of  Carolina Tar heels winning the NCAA men’s  basketball national championship game the previous weekend.   Other basketball teams like Wake Forest,  Davidson,  NC State, and Duke also play a little basketball in North Carolina.   Apparently just not quite as well as the Tar heels - at least for this year.   It seems that a North Carolina family  Easter celebration that included a few of these Easter baskets was more than appropriate.

 

Well, Grandma was not going to be left out.  First up, Grandma Carole!! 

All the kids get into the act

With a little basket height adjustment, a couple of dunks:

 

As a Tar heel  grad and fan , I love this sequence especially the ending(look closely):

 

This epitomizes the Duke season !!!!!  Go heels!

For those that attended this Easter basket session, the entire gallery can be found here.

See ya soon!!!