Attach a GoPro Hero 2 camera (Redneck style) to a Turtle shell and you have a whole new way of looking at life. Images and video captured with the GoPro camera mounted on the turtle during the Gary, South Dakota July 3rd, 2015 Turtle races. 
Below is a short slide show put together on iMovie and uploaded to Youtube including a video clip featuring the results…
Everyone loves a small town celebration and nobody does it better than Gary, South Dakota.
Friday, July 3rd will be here soon so I’d better go outside now and search for just the right turtle for the races.
See you in Gary, SD!!
It was a warm, summer day as my mother accompanied me on a trip to a little South Dakota town just across the border from Minnesota. A job interview was scheduled for a teaching position and the day resulted in a job with a new life living in a small, farming community.
Yeah, I can see myself doing this a couple of years… which stretched out to 26 years plus additional substitute teaching years.
It was an emotional ending for the last Grant-Deuel High School sporting event held in the Revillo, South Dakota gymnasium. I listen for that memorable roar of Go, Big, Blue!, smell the fragrant concession stand popcorn and gaze at the sea of blue and white filling the stands… now merely memories of days gone by.
https://animoto.com/play/ABcOOnGDRvH0ITNaMwkOEA
Blessed be the memory…
Shout out to the wonderful custom artistry of Leon Kaiser of Kaiser Kreations hidden away near the historic Gateway to the West – Gary, South Dakota. Thank you, Kaiser Kreations! You are a gifted artist and we appreciate your talents.
This piece of metal art is 12″ X 12″ of 1/8 inch metal and will hang on our wall along with our enlarged photos from this adventure.The lines make up the scallop shell which is the symbol of the Camino de Santiago, a backpacking pilgrimage across northern Spain dating back to the Middle Ages. I asked Leon to also include three crosses to symbolize our Christian faith. The words at the bottom are the common greeting among hikers along the Camino de Santiago and means good path or good journey.
This 500 mile walking pilgrimage allows for unique life experiences while exploring history and culture and has become a personal favorite experience for us.
Take a peek at their designs at Kaiser Kreations on Facebook. (Click on link)
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ~ I Peter 4:10
I was lying in bed early this morning listening to Minnesota Public Radio and they reminded me of the anniversary of the horrendous ice storm of 2006 along the Southwest Minnesota and Northeast South Dakota border.
I remember it began with rain that morning, changing to freezing rain which froze to any surface it touched, eventually in heavy proportions. Power lines sagged with the weight of the ice and outages quickly ceasing any activity requiring electricity. Some were out of power for up to two weeks.
While this power outage was inconvenient, it did force us to go without electronic devices and interact with family on a deeper level. Playing cards, board games, talking, etc. were activities often engaged in when there was no electricity. Neighbors helped neighbors by opening their homes to those still without power and helping in whatever capacity was needed. Creative thinking was put into force as we tried to come up with Innovative ways to prepare meals and feed the family.
I captured this image near our home as the last rays of light danced across the ice on its branches. This tree is now reduced to a pile of wood as it was demolished last summer.
Last Friday, during a substitute teaching gig, I was recruited to do a yearbook photo shoot with the seniors at the football field as the field sees its final days.
Typical for South Dakota, it was windy which allowed me to catch a nice breezy flag shot just before the sixth grade took the flag down, ceremoniously folding it following proper flag etiquette.
All of this leads up to the featured blended image. Flag waving in front of the school, seniors enjoying a warm, autumn afternoon and a football field that will never feel cleats digging into the turf or hear the roar of the crowds again.
Change is never easy. You fight to hold on, you fight to let go…
…and time marches on.
Works published or created before 1923 are considered public domain so I should be safe with this image from 1913 taken in Gary, South Dakota. A public domain work is a creative work that is not protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone.
Below is a scan of the original mounted print:
The image below has been edited to crop out the torn edges, visible spots retouched and made the shadows a little richer.
Along with old photographs comes stories and memories triggered from days gone by. My mother-in-law recalls a dance hall above this bar and when the dancers would be rockin’ the floor the ceiling lights, in the bar, would swing.
Farmers’ Night, usually occurring in March before spring work, was held in the dance hall where families would enjoy entertainment and hoped to win a prize. She remembers one Farmers’ Night as though it were yesterday: A handsome young man, that she had been corresponding with in Oregon, had returned to Gary and there he was… at Farmers’ Night. They were married the following fall…
Thank you to Buck Dessler of Gary, South Dakota for retrieving this gem from his childhood home.
Have you ever wondered about copyright laws and old images? The following link contains a chart with the laws when working with older images:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
RJMeyerArts 