Welliver Photography

Wednesday Night Rooftop Jams

terry — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:39:38 +0000

There is this hotel just down the street from the Naval Postgraduate School…towards the wharf, but not near the wharf. Most people have probably never seen it; or if they have, they have passed it by without a second thought. Even though it is a hotel, it is more of a local place. The ground floor has a great little 3-4 seat bar. The owner is always friendly. The first time I was ever there was with my buddy Britt (class ’02). He said he saw the hotel in a magazine and wanted to check it out. So, we ended up having a drink or two or three…or four. This was a couple months ago. The great part about this hotel is that you can get on the roof. I was finally able to make it last Wednesday for some live music by Britt and a couple other fellas. There was only about ten people up there that night…it was a beautiful day, but the fog rolled in late and we had to pull out the heaters. So, for the rest of the evening, I sat up there with a good friend and a few I’ve never met before…drank wine, snacked on cheese/crackers, listened to good music, and, of course, took pictures. A great way to spend a Wednesday night after a somewhat stressful week at work. Here are the shots from the evening (fullscreen is better too).

Skill or Luck…..Judges?

terry — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:58:26 +0000

Okay, so this may be my first blog to actually be posted. I’ve started a few before this, but they’ve either fallen by the wayside or I simply just decided not to finish them. Skill or luck with today’s picture of the day. After spending most of the day on iChat (my new favorite video chat program) with my dad or my mom or beth or a combination of all three, I decided I needed to get something productive done for me…and that happened to be…nothing less than going to Chipotle for a late lunch. I take my camera everywhere these days in the hopes of capturing the picture of the day well before the late late hours of the evening. After Chipotle, I planned my grocery shopping (the thing that I actually set out to do) while sitting in a warm car. It was a bit chilly today here in Monterey.

I set out to Safeway in Carmel after not having taken a picture yet. I grocery [verb] (my favorite thing to do–this is laced with sarcasm) still hoping to find the picture before I get back. But, I’m too sore (another story for another day…but I helped a friend pour his sidewalk yesterday, so I’m hurting) to think creatively…thus, no picture. I finally am turning into my apartment complex and see the sun hitting some yellow flowers just right. YES!, I park grab my camera and hurry to take the picture. Unfortunately, the yellow flowers are on the ground. If you’ve ever poured concrete without knee-pads, then you know how much your knees ache. Man-up I tell myself (funny because I’m taking pictures of flowers). I’m kneeling, taking the pain, shooting these yellow flowers. Nothing great, but after shooting a few dozen, I’m confident that I’ve got the shot. Phew! I can relax the rest of the evening…maybe even finish watching the movie I started in the morning.

Now, all this sets the state for the next few shots. So, now I’m carrying my groceries walking on the sidewalk to my apartment and there is now some decent light hitting these violet flowers. A little history on these flowers. I’ve tried to shoot them many times…almost every time I’m walking to my apartment with my camera I think I can shoot these and get a good shot. And every time, I shoot them. And every time, the results are pure suck. Let’s just say that I’ve shot probably over a hundred shots of these things and haven’t kept one. So, not really wanting to shoot them, I succumb to my temptations (like always) and shoot them. I took about 10 shots (low for me). I don’t think anything of it because I know they didn’t come out and I already have my picture of the day.

So, later that evening I edit the shots from the day looking for the picture of the day. Most of the yellow flower shots are out of focus or terrible composition. I keep thinking in my head, great, another still life tonight. But…………then…………I get to the violet flowers and low and behold, I got one. It’s not brilliant and probably not great, but it was the best one from today. And hell, I didn’t even have to crop it. So, was it skill that I was able to get this shot??….judges ruling, pure luck. Hope you like it.

Minden, LA

beth — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:02:46 +0000

Back in February Terry and I headed down the road to the little town of Minden, LA. Minden has a fascinating history. Founded in 1836, It was once a bustling town and home to one of the first public schools in Louisiana. It is also the county seat of Webster Parish. Like many of the small towns in Louisiana, the town has faded from a bustling railroad and lumber mill town to more of a sleepy berg, but the old buildings that survived fires and tornadoes remain. Its a pretty cool place to visit…I hope to get back over there again before I leave Louisiana for good in a couple months.

Terry on Main Street

Plain Dealing

beth — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:28:45 +0000

I’m supposed to be writing a resume right now. Someone should pay me to be unproductive because I’m really, really, really good at it. It seems like any time I’m supposed to be focused and productive with something I end up opening Aperture and tinkering with photos. Too bad playing with photos is the fast track to us living in a van down by the river…otherwise I’d make it my job.

This photo essay is from a little wandering I did a few weeks back. Plain Dealing is a small town straight north of Bossier City, LA. It happens to be on my long-ride training loop, and each Saturday morning when I ride through these empty streets and by the old auto garage I wonder about what must have been. It seems there is a lot of this “what must have been” around rural LA. Sad, but it does make for great photo subjects.

Enjoy. Leave a comment if you like. Hopefully with things getting a little lighter at work there will be more photo essays…let us know what you think–good, bad, or otherwise.

Spring Break, Part 2

beth — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:48:03 +0000

I suppose if there’s a Part 1, there should be a Part 2. While my parents were visiting the lovely state of Louisiana, we headed down to visit the cute little town of Natchitoches, the oldest town in LA that was made famous in the movie Steel Magnolias (which I’ve never seen). Natchitoches, which I’ve spelled wrong every time I’ve typed it so far and is somehow pronounced Nack-a-dish, is also famous for its meat pies. So after one of our morning rides we headed down through the always so interesting Louisiana countryside in search of a meat pie.

As it turns out, Natchitoches is apparently a town of morning people. Arriving in this hamlet after about 3 pm will lead you to closed restaurants and empty streets. Perhaps they siesta, I’m not sure. Never the less, we wandered around oogling the French architecture and old buildings. We did find a local drive-in sort of place that had meat pies, so the trip was not a waste. My two cents–not bad, but meat pies in Australia were way better.

One last cute one of Mom and Dad.

I think they enjoyed the trip, and its always fun to spend time with them. It was probably their last trip down south, as I’ll be moving back to Monterey in September! I’ll have to take them to Yosemite the next time they come to visit.

Spring Break Part 1

beth — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:54:19 +0000

Yes, still way behind on updating the bloggie, but progress is progress. I figured I should post about spring break before Memorial Day and the official start of summer. Did I take a spring break…no. But, my parents did come visit me over their spring break. As the long Iowa winter continued to dump 70-some inches of snow and they ran out of places to pile the white stuff around the house, Mom and Dad decided that a week in the mild spring climes of Lousyana was an improvement.

The main reason the parents escaped Iowa was to get a few rides in without needing studded tires and lobster gloves. So we took a couple of rides around the seemingly endless fireroads of Barksdale AFB’s East Reservation. The area makes for some nice, long gravel road rides–perfectly sampled on a cx bike.

And after every good, long ride you need an even better late-afternoon lunch at the best little bistro in Shreveport. And blackberry bread pudding for dessert.

Just Because…

beth — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:33:49 +0000

My relatively pedestrian morning at work followed by a lovely lunch hour of playing with the dog slowly derailed into a large pile of suck once I returned to my big, bad cubicle for the afternoon. And that afternoon lasted well into the evening. So now its time to go to bed and I’m left trying to find something to distract my busy mind from the ridiculousness that will be my day tomorrow…wait a minute, I’m about 100 days behind on photo posting, so hey, how about one of those photo essays I have planned in the queue. Plus, I’m enjoying John Stewart’s banter about the oil spill, so its not time for bed just yet.

As for the photos, remember way back in January when I was stuck in Montgomery, AL for a month? No? Oh yeah, that’s because I suck at updating this blog. Anyway, yes, I was in Montgomery for a month, and Terry was even with me. There’s a base in AL that Air Force likes to send all of its officers to every few years to learn how to be better officers. And all of us officers go because we get to drink beer more than we normally do because there’s nothing else to do but…drink beer.

Amazingly, in the less-than-desirable locale that is Montgomery we found this incredible burrito lounge. Yeah, those words don’t really go together…big fatty burrito and swanky lounge wear doesn’t really conjure up the best mental image, but I’m telling you, the El Rey Burrito Lounge in Montgomery is top 5 Mexican places we’ve every dined in…and trust me, I’ve eaten a lot of Mexican. This is an educated opinion. Plus, they have a beer list that is something like 200 brews long. Mmmm. Besides the tasty tortilla-wrapped delights, unbelievable salsa, and the cold beer, its a cool location in this neat old neighborhood in Montgomery called Old Cloverdale. So, if you’re ever in Montgomery for some reason, go there. Eat there. Drink there. Its worth it. There’s also a great little wood oven pizza place called Tomatino’s just across the street if burritos and salsa so good you could drink it aren’t your thing.

Enjoy the photos…and leave a comment if you like. Terry’s been working his butt off sprucing this page up, so let him know what you think!

Random scene over the patio fence.

The first round.

Serious discussion.

Sign language.

From the patio.

Beer List (just clicked this one, but now I see I should have shifted because that brew in the glass is a North Coast Blue Star I think).

The street scene in Old Cloverdale.

Beer Fridge.

Ladies Room.

Snow Day

beth — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:04:40 +0000

We had an uncharacteristic snowfall here in Lousyana on Thursday night. My unofficial measurement was about 4 inches on the grassy areas. I had already planned to take the day off on Friday so casually waking up that morning to a lovely blanket of white over everything was perfect. Terry laughed because I really was acting like a kid on Christmas morning, but I couldn’t help it. I love fresh snow. We haven’t lived anywhere that really has a true winter since we left Colorado in 2003, so waking up to a pristine white landscape made me giddy like a school girl. The snow even made Lousyana a wonderful place to be for a bit…beautiful and serene, with all the yucky red mud and brambly undergrowth hidden away under a clean sheet.

We decided to build a snowman, but apparently I don’t know how to build one. I guess the snow in Iowa was always too dry or blowing around to much to make many snowmen when I was growing up. Luckily Terry is some sort of snowman-building engineer, so he did most of the work to get Freddy the Snowman off the ground. I have no idea why we named him Freddy. We slapped a camera on a tripod and with my handy-dandy Canon timer remote-controller to capture our progress in 10 second intervals. Smash all those images together and you get a fun little movie…

Too bad the snow was completely gone and we were back to our usual brown yuckiness by about 1 pm. I’ll get some images posted here a bit later to show off the snowiness. Also, don’t forget to check out our ongoing 2010 Photo of the Day project on Flickr.

Dustbuster Du

beth — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:58:18 +0000

Saturday morning me and my holiday belly headed out to the other side of Shreveport for a little event called the Dustbuster Duathlon. Pretty easy event: 1.5 mi run, 11.75 mi bike, 1.5 mi run. Here is where I would usually complain about the ridiculously chilly temps in the low 20s, but on the way to race my sister e-mailed me about being cold in Iowa and my aunt twittered about it being -24 F in Sioux Falls, so I’ll keep that whining to a minimum.

The whole race for me was comical at times. First, it was incredibly foggy at the venue today. There were spots where the visibility was less than arms length, I swear. So rather than warm up on the bike on the local roads in the thick fog, I figured I would just run to warm up. I set up my transition like I knew what I was doing (I definitely don’t), and then went to stay warm in the car. Thinking that we started at 9, I was warming my feet and watching all the multisport-geeks out warming up. Around 8:30 I decided it was time for that one last bathroom break before getting ready (not the kind you should hold). There I was, strolling around this pecan farm looking for a bathroom, porta-potty, a large bush, anything. I find nothing, but I do hear this voice trying to yell something that sounds like “5 minutes. We’re starting in 5 minutes.” Wait a minute, who is starting in 5 minutes? Is there a kids race? Those people around the starting area look adult-sized. Crap!

I tried to nonchalantly jog over to the car to grab all my racing accoutrement, all the while thinking, I’m about to do this Du and I really need to doodoo. Oh well. I strapped on my number, my big ass GPS watch, my Fox mountain bike gloves, and double knotted my running shoes. I rushed over to the starting line, did my usual sizing up of the competition…they all had shoes that didn’t have to be double knotted. Oh well. So there we are, in the freezing cold, getting a very detailed, turn-by-turn description of the entire route, and then we were ready for the gun. Oh wait, no, we had to take a time out to pray for the beautiful bloody freakin’ freezing morning and for our safety and all that. Huh? Anyways, then we got the gun and we were off. Run run run. Not much to talk about on the first 1.5 mi part, into the transition zone sitting about 5th, unknotted my running shoe laces, threw on the SIDIs, blew Terry a kiss and out I went on my road bike sans TT bars because I couldn’t find all the pieces to put them on the night before.

Now for the fun part of duathlons. Lots of men run really fast. And lost of those men can’t ride a bike to save their lives. And seriously, you paid how much for that fancy schmancy Cervelo and disk wheel only to have platform pedals and old school toe clips? Did not changing your shoes really save you that much time in transition? Or do you not have the fancy speed lace running shoes? And if you can’t steer your bike in a reasonably straight line, maybe you shouldn’t use the aerobars just yet. At any rate, I was picking off the fast runner men for the first few miles of the bike portion, which distracted me from the fact that my legs were freezing. It was definitely cold. And still foggy. In fact, it was so cold and foggy on one portion of the bike that the water droplets collecting on my sunglasses from the fog were actually freezing, which made it a little tricky to see at times. Luckily the sun started to break through and melted all the frozen bits off. The remainder of the bike was rather uneventful…two women passed me (darn tri girls stomping out massive gears), so I think I was in 7th as I came into the transition. Terry was on the side of the road snapping photos, so I was sure to blow him another kiss…

Changed my shoes, tied my double knot again, threw my running hat back on, and out I went to finish the last 1.5 mi run. I could definitely feel my lack of bothering to break a sweat since returning from Cyclocross Nationals in Bend back in early December. The legs were heavy and still moving in pedal-like circles, but after a few steps I slid back into my running rhythm. I was happily bumbling along, made it to the turn around, and headed back toward the finish. With the sun now behind me, my shadow was visible in front of me…and then I realized that I looked like some sort of crazy Yeti with my hat all askew and some crazy 80s-style big-hair wings poking out. Good goo I looked like a hot mess. But I finished, didn’t get passed by any more women, so I figured I was 7th.

After the race someone had a big vat of red beans and rice for us to eat and Terry continued to mock my insanity for running, biking, and running again in the freezing cold. I was patiently waiting for transition to open again so I could grab my bike and was hoping that the results would be posted somewhere since we were chip timed so that I could see how I finished, then we could go. I kept waiting and then finally they said that they were going to hand out awards. I just wanted to see the print out of splits and all that since I didn’t think I had placed, but I stood around and listened to the awards ceremony while Terry sat in the car warming his feet. I heard the overall winner’s time, and I was about 10 minutes behind her. Then they started into the age group categories…I was faster than the 20-24 winner, but the 25-29 winner smoked me. Then they announced the 30-34 second place finisher…wait a minute, I think my time was faster, maybe? Then they called my name as the 30-34 winner! Haha! I headed back to the car with my new plaque. Terry was shocked! He didn’t get out of the car to take the podium pic since we both thought I was 7th and wouldn’t get anything. So the winner shot had to happen in the car!

Next event on the opening race weekend of 2010: mountain bike race! Way more fun than anything involving road running and TTing on a bike.

Well Hello

beth — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:38:52 +0000

I see that I sucked at blogging in 2009. It was a crazy busy year…moved away from Monterey and Terry to Lousyana, bought a house, settled in to a crazy busy job, confirmed on too many occasions that I hate road racing, tried to race elite cyclocross in a place with no cyclocross, and battled a few million mosquitoes and spiders. Maybe I didn’t blog much because I spent much of the year bitter and/or frustrated with being away from Terry or struggling with cycling or just burnt out from my job, and I didn’t want that funk on my blog. So, while I hate the idea of New Years resolutions, it is a time for a fresh start, so let’s fire this bad boy back up and start sharing some photos and fun stuff. We have a plan to do the photo/day thing, so watch Flickr for that…

One of the highlights of the year was a little addition to our family. I went to a cx race in Ft Worth in November and came home with a puppy! I’d been wanting a brittany spaniel for awhile, but Terry was vehemently against having a dog. He claimed allergies. I grew up always having at least one dog around the farm, and normally we had 2 or 3. My dad used to hunt pheasants and quail with his brittanies, and I love the breed’s demeanor and spunk. I found a litter advertised in the Dallas paper, so after my ridiculously poor showing at the cx race, I headed out to find a puppy. I ended up with a preciously little girl I named Massey, after the Massey-Ferguson tractor that was on the farm where I bought her. It was nice to have another warm body in the house and something to keep me busy/entertained after work. But Terry was not happy. He was pretty upset that I got a dog. Yes, I was in the doghouse over this one. But she was so cute…

I went home to Iowa for Thanksgiving, raced my first UCI event at Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City (yes, Meredith Miller lapped me), and Massey came along. Everyone loved her. She was just so cute and traveled really well. But Terry was still grumpy about it. Despite being all the way in Monterey and not having met her, he was convinced that all dogs are the devil. Finally, Terry graduated and came home for the holidays. He met Massey and fell in love! Now every time we go out he has to check out the dog treats and toys aisle to see if there’s something else he can get to spoil his little girl a little more. She follows him around the house. He totally pampers her. We are now a happy family of 3. And be warned…you may see lots of adorable doggy pics in 2010.