September 10, 2003
Wednesday Morning
Hi Everyone :) Well let's try to get
back to normal around here! What is normal?
That is what I am asking
myself.
After the last few years it is going to
be difficult for me to figure all of this out. I was telling
my friends
that I think the next few months may be more difficult than the last six months.
It
will take time to adjust.
As Doug put it I have been handed not my
old life back but something totally new. A blank piece
of paper, a
blank canvas and I have to figure out what to do with it.
I believe it will take time to work through
all of this, but I have a lot of support! I will figure
it all out.
Right now I am going to school and doing what I have been doing. Stay the course
The goal is to get me back to my house in
Toronto by February!
If anyone remembers last week I posted THE
MEADOW - you can read it below again -
and
then finally view some of the photos!
The Meadow - by beau dodson
"I have a feeling were not in Kansas anymore"
I am in a meadow, not just any meadow
mind you, but a meadow that is filled with flowers. In every
direction
you look are flowers. It looks as if someone has dripped
their watercolors over a canvas. Splashes of
orange, splashes of yellow, splashes
of white
flowers are everywhere.
Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz? You know the part where they all
reach the meadow filled with
poppies? In the distance they see Oz?
Yes, that meadow, now imagine that in your mind. Standing there
gazing at
the beautiful painting that is before you. One that only God Himself could
have possibly created.
I look around and I see butterflies, one, two, three butterflies - then a
dozen and then I realize they are everywhere.
Fluttering, flying, dancing in the air! A large one gently
descends right in front of me, it has thick black wings with
brilliant glowing blue streaks. It is oblivious that I am even there. Does it
see me? Does it know why I am here,
perhaps it is here to greet me.
A welcomeof sorts. Then as quick as it came it is gone
As I look up, to say goodbye, I see
the sky, it is a rich blue in color and dotted across it are puffy white
clouds.
It is as if they are watching me as they slowly drift
away.
I feel as if I have been transported
into another world. I have invaded a space that was never meant to be walked
upon, only looked upon. I am where I am not supposed to be. But I
am drawn here.
The flowers they sway back and forth in the wind. I am lulled into a state
of of something akin to a day dream, but my
eyes they are open. I am
not dreaming this is real
I have to be here, this is the place, the place I have been looking for - for that final painting the ending of this chapter.
I have posted the photos from The Meadow!
It is early on Wednesday Morning. I will try and post some of the photos
from
this past weekend.
I have to unpack, go through everything, start thinking about packing for Toronto.
More later...
Went to eat with grandmother and then back to her apartment.
Ok, well let me see here, more photos from the weekend :)
Click away and enjoy
Mother and
Doug - Restaurant Saturday Evening
BJ, Rick,
myself
and Sharron - Atlanta
Norman,
myself and
Mother at Centennial Park - Atlanta
One of my favorite spots in Atlanta in Centennial Park - nice place to go and think
Centennial
Park - Water Fountains - kids love to play in this
Norman and
Mother at CNN News Building - Atlanta, Georgia
I gave David
a new set of Memory Books - They run from Spring
through the Court Hearing
Ok well those are some of the photos from the trip
Working on other projects around here,
including the
Tornado Book - we have received the first draft.
It looks
great so far! I will keep everyone updated on the progress.
Also working on getting books together for
Head Start organizing them. There are about
100 books to be donated to the
center.
9/11/2003
(not my photo)
(not my photo)
The List
LEGAL UPDATE - From My Attorney -
"Guys-
Jim Neill filed a MOTION TO DISMISS on 9/8/03!
Said motion cites, lack of evidence for the reason for Judge
Vinson to dismiss
all charges against Beau!!!!
Automatically, this means that the State WILL NOT APPEAL Judge
Vinson's
decision. She will likely rule soon -- and of course this
will be in our favor.
That's all she wrote!"
Brett Bloomston
Again, thank you to everyone that
has worked so hard to get us to this point. My family thanks
you and I
thank you. I know that I don't deserve anything but I am thankful for
grace.
The riverboat outside my window just started playing Amazing Grace on their Steam Pipes! How fitting.
First boxes to be mailed back
to Toronto
:)
Tonight in New York City
(not my photo - unknown photographer
Remember those who were left behind
September 12, 2003
Well, it has been a slow day around here. The plans I had for
today got all messed up so I ended
up hanging out around here working on some
things. Did manage to slip over to the coin shop
and pick up a few coins for my collection. Took my new freedom coin over there :) Proof
Morgan
1890 - beautiful coin. They loved it.
Tomorrow we are taking Danielle out for her
birthday going to see Freaky Friday! Should be fun!
September 13, 2003
Watching the huge hurricane off the coast
of the Eastern United States. Looks like someone
will get hit next
Wednesday or Thursday - prob North Carolina northward. Could be a
doozie
of a hurricane!
Otherwise looking wet around here, lots of showers and thundershowers today.
Mother and I are taking Danielle out to eat
today and to the movies for her birthday.
Grandmother is going, not sure
who else :) Should be fun!
Otherwise that is it for now. More later
Ok went to Chucky Cheese and then to see Freaky Friday, lots of fun, then we went to the mall :)
Here are some pics from the day
Grandmother and me taken by Tyler
Tyler
and grandmother eating ice cream
Danielle Crouch at the movies
Tyler Crouch and the giant flower
Sunday September 14, 2003
All eyes on Hurricane Isabell, it is going to
hit the USA somewhere between Washington DC
and Rhode Island. Could be a
strong category 3 or 4 when it hits. Will likely be a real mess for some.
Also appears that this thing is going to move over Toronto. Lots of rain
and wind up there
as well. Of course it will have weakened considerably.
Satellite
Image of the hurricane
Met an old friend this evening his name is Gil. I have not seen him
since HIGH SCHOOL :) So
it was kinda strange seeing him again. I
went over to his place to watch a movie and met his friend
Paul. It was
a nice reunion and we caught up on what we have both been doing for the past
few years.
His mother recently passed away so he was telling me all
about his experience with the loss. He seems to be
handling it well and
has a lot of friends to support him. Always a good thing to have!
Paul and I hit it off.
Will try to get to know him a bit more in the coming days and weeks.
Monday, September 15, 2003
WOW - THE WEATHER HERE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! AMAZING DAY - it is like fall outside.
I get excited when the weather turns a bit
cooler and the sky is a beautiful blue with those puffy
white clouds
:) VERY NICE!
Had lunch with my mother and we talked about everything from A to Z.
Trying to finish my photography homework
I can't find what I want to take a photo of, but I will figure
it
out! I need a shot of something from a strange perspective, which
normally isn't hard for me, but
for some reason I can't find my groove!
Watching the big hurricane
still appears that it will hit somewhere along the Northeast corridor.
Expecting winds of 100-120 when it hits. Real mess
More later...
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
The weather here is just amazing.
It is
beautiful. I wish I could bottle all of this up and take it with
me
everywhere I go! Temperatures are nice, no humidity, it is just
awesome! Hope everyone gets
a chance to go out and enjoy it.
Test tonight for college. I need to study. I had lab
last night and we made negatives for the first time, so
that was ummm interesting I had a fun, watching your photos suddenly
appear on a white sheet a
paper was like magic!
Just got word that Norman is going to have
to go back into the hospital for his foot. So please keep
him in your prayers and also keep the Parker family in your prayers. They are the
ones that had the
terrible car accident a week or so ago.
Took grandmother to Dairy Queen then we
went to the park. It was so peaceful there on
the banks of the Ohio
River! The weather is amazing.
A poem someone sent me (part of it)
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
-unknown
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Tuesday Evening.
Sunset on Hurricane Isabel! WOW Is all
I can say!
(not my photo - unknown photograper)
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Morning everyone, another beautiful day here in Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois! I love it!
This is nice Jena sent it to me. I like number two and number ten :)
Busy day around here lunch with a
friend, accountant at 1 pm, and then a birthday dinner for John at 3:30!
Wednesday Evening
Had a great birthday dinner with my friend John Logeman. We went to Ryans, which
is one of my favorite
places to go.
This is John, they came and sang Happy
Birthday to him, I know he enjoyed that. I swear I didn't tell them it
was his birthday - really I didn't ;)
John with his cake
----------
Some Late News From Brett
The
judge in my case has just demised my case that was brought against me.
This was the last thing we were
waiting on! So now it is 100% over!
Now
we can move forward with the immigration issues in Canada! Will keep
everyone updated as I
find out new information.
----------
Went out to eat this evening with my friend
Paul, my old high school buddy Gil, and their
friends Stephany and Joe.
I hope I spelled her name correctly. We all went to Logan's
Restaurant
lots of fun.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Busy Busy - started at 8 am and just got in at 8 pm. (So is it pm or p.m. - I can never remember)
Went over to Massac County and
dropped off all the children books for Head Start. Got to
see a lot of my friends from the past. :) So that was all fun.
After that I went to visit several people
who got hit by the tornado back in May. Things are
coming along for most
of them. Houses being built and trailers being brought in.
Otherwise, I went to see my grandmother and
had lunch with her and then
headed back to Paducah to work on projects.
Cheetah with his flower lei from Hawaii - a
gift from Kristy :)
Friday, September 19, 2003
Morning everyone - hope everyone is ready
for the weekend! Doug and Erick are
coming down to visit me
from Toronto. I am looking forward to seeing them as always.
Norman is still in the hospital, he is
supposed to be out by Saturday! I hope that is the
care. I talked
with him on the phone and he said he should make a full recovery.
I am having dinner with my sister tonight at 6 p.m. I think Mariah is cooking!
A friend gave me some roses :) very
nice! They smell great.
Friday Afternoon Update
Norman is out of the hospital now, just so everyone knows! :) He is doing
much better
and his foot his healing. I am glad to hear this. Norman has been
through a lot over
the last few years. Good and bad.
Just got back in from the hospital, been
there all day. I have a lump in my left peck and
it has been getting
bigger so I thought I should go and have it checked out. Probably a
good thing
I did.
They did a mammogram/sonogram and blood
work. They decided that they are sufficiently
concerned enough to want to
remove it. I am supposed to go back to the DR next week. I am
not
sure when they want to do the surgery. I will keep everyone updated as
always :) I am
sure it will all be just fine.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Well this is getting to be a very long page
:) Sorry about that, I don't think I will break it up
though till the
beginning of the new month? Hope that is good :) I know some of you
do not have high speed, sorry about that!
It is a BEAUTIFUL day outside and temperatures dipped down into the lower
40s last night!!!!!!
Almost RECORD COLD TEMPERATURES!!!!! Ok I know I get excited about the little things
in life but still FALL IS
DEFINITELY IN THE AIR!
Enough about the weather.
Doug and Erick are coming to visit from Toronto today and I get to
drive to St
Louis to pick them up. It looks like I am going to have to drive up
alone. So, long
drive ahead and then back. I am thrilled that they are coming though and this is a bit of a surprise
visit. Perhaps
they are checking up on me?
There is a motorcycle show going on outside
my window, the parking lot of FULL of bikes
and my SUV is stuck in
there. I guess I will try and move it here shortly.
Otherwise that is the plan for the
day - going to St Louis to pick my friends up.
I will post more later tonight with photographs :)
On the medical front, some of you have
asked questions about what the deal is. I don't have a lot
of
answers. I know that the DRs are concerned about what they saw on the
tests yesterday.
There is no possible way for them to know if it is or is
not cancer until they take it out. It is VERY
rare for men to have
breast cancer so the odds are definitely in my favor here. I am not
worried
either way, I mean I have survived a lot more than something like this
:) It is all good and
will be ok. I am not
worried just go with the flow here and have it taken care of.
Ok more later.
Doug and Erick have arrived! :) We are
going out to eat with mother and grandmother, to
The Mansion Restaurant in Golconda,
Illinois. I have never been there but I have heard all
about it. It is supposed to be good.
I will post photos later tonight of all of
us at The Mansion :)
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Rainy Sunday here in Paducah :)
Went to breakfast this morning with my friends from Toronto and Paducah.
Breakfast in
Paducah - on Broadway Street
Doug and Erick being chased by the Paparazzi
Sunday Evening
Went to eat out with mother, grandmother, and my friends. We had a great time, grandmother
was in a
funny mood :) She always make me smile and laugh - she can be pretty funny
sometimes!
Need to get to bed - I have to drive to St Louis and back tomorrow. I am
leaving here around 11 am
or so.
Monday, September 22, 2003
Nice day outside it rained all night but the sun is out now. :) It should
be a nice drive up to St Louis.
I made it back from St Louis. Doug and Erick are safely on their airplane and on
their way home.
Long day driving...
Tomorrow morning I will go to this DR and
see what he wants to do with this lump. Hopefully
everything will be just
fine. I called this morning to see if they could tell me more about what
they wanted to do tomorrow, but the DR was busy and the nurse said he was not
really sure.
He thought he would do another examine before deciding what
to do. I will post an update
tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Morning - the sun is shining brightly outside! :) Not a cloud in the
sky! It is going to be another beautiful
fall day here in West Kentucky
and Southern Illinois.
Speaking of Fall:) an early blast of
cold temperatures is headed for this region and Toronto.
We could actually see our first frost for portions of the Ohio Valley during the
last few days of September!
Pretty early.
I have to be at the DR at 9:45 a.m.
I will post an update later this morning or early afternoon
depending on
when I get back in :)
Back from the DR :)
The DR wants me to wait and watch it for a
little while before they do anything. He said it is possible that
it is
something that could go away. He told me to watch it for a few months
unless it changes dramatically.
So that is what I shall do for now :) So that is good news.
It is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
day outside no words to describe it - perhaps this will best tell the tale
:)
Click Here - Caught
playing in the flowers - always living life to its fullest!
I guess that about sums up my mood as well!
Starting to decorate for Halloween around
here :) I want to be in the FULL FALL MODE of course,
I love all the
holidays!
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Sunny outside this morning, but it is
supposed to rain and storm this evening and tonight.
We shall see, sure
isn't much moisture in the air, so I doubt we get too much.
I was in Wal-Mart yesterday and they
ALREADY have their Christmas stuff out!!!!! Good grief! Kinda
early
for Christmas?
Getting ready to go get my hair cut and then take photographs for photography class. Still trying to catch up.
I am picking Mariah up from school
today and we are going to the coin shop to get her some Walking Liberty
Half
Dollars :) Then I am having dinner with Deena and her family this evening.
This is my first photograph from
photography class. We are using black and white, it is called The
Widow.
It is a lone tree in Central Massac County in a field. I
had to make the negatives and the print myself. It was fun.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Ok hmmm thought I wrote something this morning :) But I guess not!
So I am late on
updating I guess
Nice day again seems like this is going to last forever! Which is fine with me - I love Fall.
I spent most of the day working on photographs:) for my class.
I picked Mariah up from school and we went
to the coin shop. She picked out four Walking Liberty
Half Dollars and a 1995 Proof Set. Trying to catch her up to 2003. So that is
good. I got a really nice
rainbow Morgan Dollar that the coin shop owner
purchased for me from another dealer. It was an
awesome coin. First
real rainbow Morgan that I have seen from this shop!
After that I headed down to Deena's and
Tony's to eat dinner. We had spaghetti, my favorite! I
guess she
knew that ;)
Tyler and I played with bubbles (no not the monkey) and built a big train track!
Here are a few pictures
Danielle was sick with the flu. She
had a temperature of almost 102 degrees! So that was
not good at
all. Hopefully she gets to feeling better real soon.
Ok well trying to work on this tornado
book. It is in a weird format - fun fun - so I can't get the
pages to
open. This could be a project in the making! I am sure I
will figure it out eventually!
Meanwhile on the other side of the world :) David is in Shanghai! He
sent this photo this evening
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Morning Morning Morning :) ANOTHER
beautiful day outside, I am getting spoiled by all
of these wonderful
days! I love it.
Going to take grandmother out for lunch today, not sure where we are going.
I also will be meeting with the Methodist
Pastor in Metropolis (if I can catch him) about their new
organization to help
the people hit by the tornado. We are still working on who gets the money
from
the book. So I want to talk with him and see what their group is
going to be doing :)
The book is almost finished, the next to final draft is done. We are reviewing it now!
Ok more later.
BREAKING NEWS..LIVE FROM DOWNTOWN PADUCAH
OK FOLKS WELCOME TO THE 2003 PADUCAH BBQ FESTIVAL :)
I SEE THIS OUTSIDE MY WINDOW!!
THEN THIS IS MY PHOTO WITH SOME
GIRLS, THERE WERE THREE BUT ONE TOOK
THE PHOTO! ;) THEY WERE ON A SCAVENGER HUNT. THEY NEEDED A MOVIE TICKET,
A PAIR OF BOXERS, AND SOME 3D GLASSES. I
HAPPENED TO HAVE ALL THREE OF
COURSE :) SO I AUTOGRAPHED THE BOXERS FOR
THEM :P (Sorry it is blurred)
THEY ARE HERE BECAUSE THEIR FRIENDS ARE GETTING MARRIED!
THERE IS LIVE MUSIC OUTSIDE MY
WINDOW ACROSS IN THE PARKING LOT :)
COUNTRY MUSIC WITH LINE DANCING!!!!! WOOOHOO!
DOUG AND ERICK :( YOU ARE A WEEK LATE MY FRIENDS
More as it develops - live from Downtown Paducah!
More Breaking News
THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE TORNADO BOOK IS
FINISHED! I HAVE A PRINTED COPY
HERE IN FRONT OF ME! THINGS LOOK
REALLY GOOD SO FAR! WILL LET EVERYONE
KNOW WHEN IT IS FINISHED!
David is still in Shanghai, some more pics
from over there - he sent these :)
Pearl Tower In Shanghai
David meeting with clients. Click
Here
Friday, September 26, 2003
Morning everyone :) Hope you can catch up on all that reading from above :)
Tired was up late late last night working on a project!
Severe thunderstorms outbreak expected
today in this area. It looks like a lot of hail, high winds
and possibly a few tornadoes.
Mainly in Missouri and Illinois.
More later ...
Evening - LONG day. Been working here
since morning on some projects :) and keeping an eye on
the severe thunderstorm
outbreak!
This is what is coming our way radar at
8:45 p.m.
Hopefully this BBQ thing will be over
soon because there are several thousand people out here
lots of tents and
so on. It won't take much of a wind to cause a big big mess.
Lots of thunder and lightning outside
now. Storms are here. Thankfully the BBQ thing is over :)
otherwise
everyone would be looking to get inside!
Extremely heavy rain falling outside and
winds are gusting to near 45 mph. Lot of warnings in
Missouri and Illinois earlier few tornadoes in Missouri.
Once all of this passes it will be a nice weekend, a bit cool though.
This is my county as the storm hit :)
All the red is very heavy storms. Paducah is in the middle there
(KPAH is
Paducah)
Saturday September 27, 2003
It is a BEAUTIFUL Saturday Morning.
The
sky is blue with lots of white puffy Cumulus clouds
floating around!
The storms ended around 2 am last night.
We picked up over an inch of rain in Paducah.
It should be a nice weekend
from here on out!
Afternoon...
Mother, grandmother and myself all
headed out to eat BBQ and see the sights. There were a lot of
people out
there! I did see my dad and deb, they had just finished eating and were
going to look at some
of the crafts and listen to the music.
We had a blast eating and walking around - just being together.
We were able to catch the Hog Calling
Contest and the Chicken Clucking Contest. All very exciting!
BBQ FESTIVAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Grandmother
trying to bring the cows home
Doug eat your heart out! This is how
people in Western Kentucky cook REAL BBQ
Grandmother watches the river pass her by
David sent me these photographs from China
Shanghai -
Our River Boat Pilot
Shanghai - Silk Embroidery
Ok well that is the China update.
We are in super project mode around here (that means I have a big project that I am working on - for my mother and grandmother) have been for awhile!
Still weeks away from completion though.
It is getting cold outside and Winter
Weather is coming :) Temperatures will fall into the 30s
tomorrow
night!!!! Kind of early for that kind of weather! How much longer till
I can sing "Let It Snow
Let It Snow Let It Snow"
Sunday September 28, 2003
Well what a wonderful weekend this has been
:) I enjoyed every single minute of it! From being with my
family
to spending time with my friends Gil and Paul :) Awesome Awesome
Weekend!
Just got off the phone from David who is
in Tokyo. He is having fun over there doing both his business stuff and
seeing some of the cities!
My mother and grandmother I know had a good weekend and they enjoyed the Paducah BBQ Festival
Staying busy working on projects here in between everything else.
I am working on editing the tornado
book and that is taking some time to do. It is 110 pages long! It
looks
GREAT! It should be finished in the next few weeks. I will of course
let everyone know. The Metropolis Planet
has worked so hard on this. I am proud of it. I know they are as
well. Great people have worked on this book.
Cold weather tonight temperatures down into the 30s! This should help the leaves turn a bit.
Monday, September 29, 2003
Good morning everyone the frigid southlands saw their first frost this morning :P
Portions of Southern Illinois and Southeast
Missouri dipped down into the mid 30s! Cape Girardeau
had 35 degrees, Carbondale 36, 39 here at the foot of Broadway! Cold for this
time of year.
This is going to start the leaves changing I would imagine.
Busy day ahead, working on the tornado book, lab at 1 pm, and meeting mother at 3:30 p.m.
Updates:)
Busy Busy and Busy
The book is coming along, finished most of the proof reading, still a few more days to go on it
Spent several hours working on photos at
the college. We were supposed to show MOTION,
|then we were supposed to
take a picture of something IN motion but make it look like it is not.
Motion Photo (this is a wind up dog. I left the shutter open for one second)
Stopped Motion (I left the shutter open for only 1/4000 of a second to capture this spinning jack on a mirror)
Unusual
Perspective
(thank you Cheetah for once again being the model)
NORMAN UPDATE
Norman had surgery on his eye and he is
home from the hospital now. Let's all hope that this brings a nice
improvement to his eyesight! Will keep everyone updated here on the
web-page.
September, 30 2003
Went over to see grandmother
today. We went to Dairy Queen. Took a little nap at her
house while we watched tv.
Then back here to work on projects and then
school. Don't feel well.
More later
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