I found myself this morning looking down on my walk. I was nudged to look up. Why? Well, up certainly has more to see … at least it did this morning.

I have a natural tenancy to look down. I guess I’m watching out for something that might be dangerous … oh, watch out for that barely recognizable dead bird, oh … there’s a piece of trash … or that very dangerous blade of dried up grass …

I’m not in danger of quicksand or a huge sinkhole … so I looked up this morning on my walk.

What did I see? I saw a fantastic light show with the sun coming up and coloring the wispy clouds, I saw the largest v-formation of birds I’d ever seen … probably 200-300 birds heading south.

So, this morning I’m reminded that I need to look up and enjoy what God has in store for me.

– Kyle (Mr. Critical)

Well, if you know me then you know that I enjoy both … food and photography.

So, with this I am able to “feed” two passions.

To see more of my food photography check out my photography portfolio at www.dreier.com.

-Kyle

Since moving to Franklin, TN from Dallas, TX my wife and I have noticed that we’re not the only ones in love with our new surroundings—yet loyal and proud of our previous home state, Texas … as my wife says “Always a Texan.”

We continue to get people stopping us on the road and in parking lots to ask us where we got our window sticker … I Texas TN … and now you can get one for yourself.

Want an “I Texas TN” bumper sticker? How about 4? Share ‘em with your TX/TN friends. A pack of 4 is only $6 bucks (plus $1.50 shipping/handling).

Are you from Texas? Post a “comment” and let us know where you’re from, what you miss from TX and what you like about TN. If you’re from Tennessee and living in Texas, let us know what you miss about Tennessee.

Kyle Dreier

While at first glance you may have thought “careless” it’s actually car-less. Yes, I’ve decided to trade my $60 per gas tank fill up for the way of the old world. Not really. I’m just in waiting for my “new” car from Dan. This waiting has been good.

The other day I had a meeting scheduled in downtown Franklin and decided I would walk the 3 or 4 miles from my home. I overestimated my pace and underestimated the time it would take. As it ended up it was about 1 1/4 hours.

It was a peculiar morning as I headed out and, as usual, I had my camera in tow. It had rained earlier and the sky was quietly moving on. I didn’t camp out at any one point of interest but as I was walking I did see things that prompted a quick snap-shot.

Honestly, this was a great walk and besides being late to my meeting (sorry Brian) my soul was fed and I’m sure my heart benefited from the exercise.

This is a sampling of what I saw between Fieldstone Farms and Downtown Franklin.

Yes, that’s what the sky looked like. Almost like a painting.

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Um, … more sky.

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This growing just a few feet from traffic along Hillsboro Road.

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A cute little house just behind the rec center.

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Is this poison ivy? I never know.

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I love the graphic nature of common things.

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Location, location, location. 2 blocks from Downtown Franklin.

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This is a neat stone wall on the edge of a very old cemetery.

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Rose garden at the corner of South Margin and 4th Avenue.

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So there you have it. What took me over an hour to walk you just got to enjoy in less than 2 minutes.

– Kyle Dreier

Well, I have to say that I gave “My Name is Asher Lev” the good ol’ college try. Actually, I gave it better than that seeing that I wasn’t the best of readers in college – at least in my first round of college at Baylor.

I have the utmost of respect for my pal, Johnny Rogers, who recommended this book to me. I think I’m just not as smart or as patient as he.

In the book, Asher is preoccupied with his gift of art. I can relate. He and his art are not fully understood by those around him. I can sorta relate. The part that kept me from getting further than half way through was that the author Chaim Potok didn’t further the story … at least not at a pace to keep my attention.

Part of my problem is that I think I prefer non-fiction. I was interested in the human elements surrounding the Jewish persecution but would have been more interested knowing it was historically accurate. I may have been but I don’t know. Once again, my ignorance revealed.

I’ve had other artists recommend this book so I really really fought hard to finish it, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I did, however, pull a Harry from “When Harry Met Sally” and read the last page. It was the same at the first half of the book. Asher, his art, his whining, his not being understood.

I guess one redeeming nugget from the book is that I need to spend less time reading about art and artists and more time doing art. Maybe then I’ll have a better basis for my criticism.

– Kyle Dreier

It was brought to my attention by Heather Reddington yesterday that it has been more than a year since I’ve blogged on our adoption process. Me, being “always right” immediately challenged this claim and found out quickly I was wrong and she was right. So, now for an update on the past year …

We are still in the “waiting” stage BUT China does have all our paperwork. Our “log in date” is July 23, 2007. This means that on that date the Chinese authorities logged our paperwork and put us in line basically.

As of today “referrals” (the documents which actually have one’s child’s name) are coming about 24 to 26 months after login date. This being the case we’ll get our referral for our daughter, who we’ve already named Ruby, sometime around August 2009 or later. It is likely she’ll be about 12 months old at that time. If you do the math, this means that she’s probably been conceived but not yet born.

This is an odd place to be for us as we wait. To think that we’re adopting a little girl that isn’t yet born. That her mother may not have yet made a decision to give her up or abandon her. To think that this mother probably loves this baby girl very much and may be having to make a difficult decision because of finances or cultural pressures. We just don’t know but we pray the mother is healthy and is taking good care of this precious yet to be born girl.

In the meantime, we wait. At this point the only items on our to do list are to do fund raising and apply for grants to help offset the costs. In the end it’ll likely be around $16,000 to $20,000. Thankfully that is spread out and we’re about halfway through the expenses.

Look for another entry … in less than a year’s time.

- Kyle Dreier

Can I shoot one photo a day? Seems easy enough, doesn’t it. I’m already a few days into my personal challenge and am enjoying some of the creative stretching thus far.
To see my progress take a look at my photography blog.

 

Click image(s) to come see …

– Kyle Dreier

This is a blog entry about my new blog … Kyle Dreier Photography Blog.

What you can expect in my new blog is highlights from jobs/assignments plus general musings about photography equipment, photography experiments and pretty much anything relative to my photography passion.

See my latest post about the lunar eclipse.

Be sure to subscribe to the RSS for both Kyle Dreier Photography and Mr. Critical.

-Kyle