The artists. 

The models. 

You know that you've taken too many photos of your kids and their friends when you get this look. 

Here's a happy vibes photo. Take two long looks and repeat as necessary. 

Kai thought this was the funniest gag ... at least for today. We all needed to give it a try. 

One of the friendly, neighborhood spidermen (very old joke around those parts), Shane Nelson took his whole day to show me around and answer my very naive questions. Thanks Shane! 

Here's the spider lab in Laramie, WY. The boys couldn't come so I promised to bring back pictures. If you want to see the actual spiders, click onto the Macro website.  

Rowan wanted to practice his scooter again, so we took at trip to the local park. He worked on turning by leaning his weight from one side to the other. 

The experienced dancers were on the inside of the circle and the audience members on the outer. At every repetition of the music, everyone would switch partners. 

And trickier. 

And now it gets trickier. 

The Heritage Irish Stepdancers had an audience participation section of their presentation. The boys were of course thrilled. 

Kai gets a tartan weaving lesson. I think he wants a loom. Me too; they're very neat machines. The tartan he's got on the loom is Colorado's state tartan which includes colors from the song "America the Beautiful" (written on Pike's Peak), the columbine flower, and so forth. 

Blacksmiths are very popular with the boys. 

Here's a picture taken by Aden's mom, Amy McCall. That's Aden, my sparring partner there. We all fought to the death and then took a break to eat bananas.  

This is Rowan wearing a helmet at the 10th Mountain Division's exhibit. 

At the Games

We went to the 42nd Annual Colorado Scottish Festival and Rocky Mountain Highland Games today. This is Kai watching the Caber Toss. 

The News from Home

The biggest news around here is that we've started the process to adopt a baby girl from China. We've filled out the first application and looking forward to our first orientation meeting August 13th. The process generally takes about a year, so while exciting, we've still got a long way to go before she can come home.

One more week of summer vacation for my boys and two more for me. I'm hoping to get up to Laramie, Wyoming during the week of the 15th to visit the labs where they study the properties of spider silk. Dr. Randy Lewis, a molecular biologist, heads the group sequencing the DNA and working on ways to spin spider silk for commercial uses.

The end of school is in sight even though these last two classes are reputed to be very tough. This also means I'm starting the job search, but I'm having difficulty finding companies wanting to hire a mathematician interested in biomimetic applications. Some companies list my skills but then say they want an engineer or biologist and I need to convince them a mathematician can fit the bill.

On the 20th of August, we hear the results of the photo competition for the Butterfly Pavilion. The other competition that I entered, the Eldorado State Park Photo Competition, is open for public voting and results will be released September 30th. These are my first entries into any photo contest. I'm a little nervous.

Another bit of news, a story I wrote about ten years ago (it sure doesn't seem that long ago) was selected for a "Best of" anthology. "One in the A.M." will be printed in the Best of Borderlands. Check it out at Borderlands Press in the "Coming Soon" area and order many copies! The synopsis of the anthology at the web site:

Best of Borderlands (Volumes 1 - 5)

Elizabeth Monteleone has selected the most memorable and 
representative fiction form the first five volumes of the 
greatest award-winning anthology series of all time. 
Available in an affordable trade paperback edition that 
will be a must-have for all readers of ground-breaking 
fiction in the genres of horror, dark fantasy, and suspense.

The beginning of September, I'll be setting up a Pro Gallery in Shutterfly to sell prints of the pictures from my Macro blog. I'll keep everyone posted as this develops.

Rowan fell asleep on the couch. I used my tripod, timer on the camera (I don't have a cable release), big aperature (3.2/f) and a slow shutter speed (1/4s) -- all the light is from the setting sun coming through the sliding glass doors. 

This is my little mantis friend. He/she is very calm and poses for photographs, three days running now. See Macro for some closeups. 

Rowan holding our friendly, visiting mantis. 

Our closest wildlife encounter on our trip (not including the insects and birds and a begging chipmunk). 

This is one of the few good pictures in the cave . It was a sad cave, with a heavily stuccoed, over-used appearance. Made me want to do some real spelunking. 

Kai needed nachos. I was trying to take a picture and he was making goofy faces. Finally I said, "Okay, got it, you can stop smiling now." Then I clicked. 

Next we went to Cave of the Winds (Caveat Tourist!). Rowan had a cotton candy craving. 

The boys compare little pieces of petrified wood that litter the path.