Front Royal Annual Celtic Festival

Kim, at the festival

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ow much can I say about how much we love Front Royal? A great number of very trying circumstances came together to prompt our move to Front Royal. We knew that God was in control, but we had no idea what a wonderful place he had in mind for our new home. We also had no idea that our son would one day want to wear a kilt. We’re waiting to find out the exact tartan for Kim’s ancestry. If we don’t find that, we may get David a Unity kilt for next year’s festival.

David, dressed in his Celtic battle gear

This past Saturday, Front Royal celebrated its 2nd Annual Celtic Festival, and it was another wonderful time. It seems that something is happening in Front Royal every weekend. The town puts on a great air show, canoe and kayaking events, historic battle reenactments, There are festivals for the changing of the seasons, to celebrate the local horse farms, berry farms, and vineyards. And this past weekend, the folks from Appalachia and Shenandoah gathered in Front Royal to celebrate their mutual Celtic heritage.

I have never really paid much attention to my own heritage—perhaps because much of it seems to be apocryphal, having been passed down via word-of-mouth and embellished by each new generation. And recent events surrounding immigrants who seem to not like our nation very much have given me a bad impression of those who hold firmly to their non-U.S. culture after they immigrate. But this event allowed me the opportunity to experience a different perspective on both of these things.

An interesting looking couple

First, my wife is of Scottish descent. So when we entered the festival and were asked what clan we are part of, she was able to answer with two family names. One man looked up the ancestral name “Hamilton” and gave us some information about the Hamilton clan. It gave a context to the festival that made it very enjoyable for our family.

Then, at the Calling of the Clans, representatives from some of the larger clans carried out their ancestral national flags and stood at attention in front of the town gazebo. On their far right was the American flag. After calling the clans, they read some amazing historical documents written by the Irish, the Scottish, and the Welsh leaders from years gone by. Then everyone saluted the American flag and sang the National Anthem. It was truly inspiring to see these folks who cling dearly to a national heritage they love joining together with American pride and proclaiming their commitment to this nation.

The Calling of the Clans

David got to dress in chain mail and a knight’s battle helmet and he got to hold quite a few long swords. We met a couple of falcon trainers and got to see their birds up close. We heard a lot of great Celtic music, we saw phenomenal Irish dancing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event. And, once again, we were reminded of how grateful we are to God for bringing us to this wonderful town.

 

Blog Header - June 20, 2010

I took the photo for this blog header this past Saturday at the 2nd Annual Front Royal Celtic Festival. I’ll try to post a bit about this fun event soon. But for now, this falcon was one of the attendees—and he is totally awesome.

Blog Header - June 16, 2010

I took this photo at the wonderful retreat home of Thomas Jefferson—Poplar Forest, Virginia. The historic Poplar Forest puts on special events a few times each year and the woman in this photo is one of their regular period actors. She uses flax to make all kinds of things, including wigs.

Poplar Forest is a fantastic place, and it gives you a unique feel for Thomas Jefferson, one of our most amazing and inspiring founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote most of the writings we are familiar with from this location, which was his home after he the public life of the U.S. presidency. It is located in Forest, Virginia, the next town over from Lynchburg, Virginia. We were frequent guests at Poplar Forest until we moved to Front Royal this past August. It is one of the things we miss from Lynchburg.

Friday - Music

Andreas Vollenweider

I’ve got to see you again! – Norah Jones

 

American by birth—Ignorant by choice

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know this post has a somewhat provocative title. I’m not trying to cause trouble—just wanted to bring your attention to an interesting blog post. In “We are all born ignorant: I just didn’t stay that way,” Pastor Larry Jones answers an article written by an atheist, the title of which is “We are all born atheists: I just stayed that way.” I think he makes some good points.

Read the article here.

 

Blog Header - June 13, 2010

My blog headers are usually photos that I have taken, but this time I thought I’d share with you one of my muses—Steve Hanks.

Early in our marriage, my wife discovered a small art shop in old town Fredericksburg, Virginia. We lived nearby and began to frequent this wonderful little art gallery. Over the years we collected a good amount of paintings from some of our favorite artists. But our absolute favorite artist and the one whose paintings cover the walls of our home is Steve Hanks. His water color paintings boggle the mind for realism and for the beautiful portrayal of family life and private moments.

Steve’s water looks so real you expect the painting to get you wet if you were to touch it. The fur on the cats and dogs in his paintings looks so soft you can practically feel it with your eyes. The women in his paintings exude strength and confidence while at the same time showing a rare feminine vulnerability. And perhaps that is the reason I like Steve Hanks’ paintings of women so much. They remind me of my wife who has that strong feminine quality while at the same time being one of the strongest women I have ever met.

Hanks also uses lighting in a way that inspires my photography. He makes extensive use of backlighting—with long shadows falling from the surrounding trees through the foreground toward the viewer and the translucent fabrics picking up the brightness of that light. I have tried for many years to produce photos that evoke the same emotions as Hanks’ paintings evoke. I have a long way to go, but it’s a continual encouragement to my photographic vision and growth.

Steve Hank’s Gallery

Making an IMPACT

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ever talk about your relationships or your job on a blog!

This seems to be the unwritten rule of blogging. In fact, it could be considered an actual (“literal”—to use an extremely overused and improperly used term) written rule, since there was a whole chapter dedicated to it in the blogging book I bought for my wife when she launched her blog. Apparently, many folks have gotten themselves into trouble by commenting on their public blogs about relationships with people they’re unhappy with or by discussing what has happened on their job.

I am now going to violate this rule. In fact, I’m feeling brazen today so I’ll violate it in both parts. Part 1: I love my wife. We’ve been married for almost a quarter of a century and I would not trade her for the world. But that’s not the purpose of this blog post. Part 2 (the actual purpose of this post): I am very proud of the firm I work for.

Waiting for the day to begin

I am employed as a graphic designer / photographer / desktop publisher by Deloitte & Touche, the largest Tax and Audit firm in the world. I have been with Deloitte for eight years now and have learned to greatly appreciate its culture.

For the purposes of this blog post I will focus on only one area of the Deloitte culture—volunteer community involvement. Deloitte & Touche encourages its employees from the partner level all the way through the firm to the staff level (where I reside) to get involved in our own communities—providing pro bono services unique to our skills or simply providing a strong back or an analytic mind to help our local communities thrive and prosper. This is a serious commitment at Deloitte & Touche. It even enters our personal mentoring and coaching sessions, which at most companies focus only on how to get ahead at work and how to benefit the company. Deloitte puts its money where its mouth is, in a manner of speaking.

Making care package greeting cards

In celebration of the firm’s commitment to community involvement and to draw the attention of our employees to this initiative, Deloitte sponsors IMPACT Day once every year. On this day Deloitte essentially shuts down our offices world wide and sends the employees out into their communities in groups. They dress us in Deloitte IMPACT Day shirts so we will be easily recognized and we help out at rehabilitation centers for the elderly, Boys and Girls clubs, emergency service organizations, homeless shelters, business leader cooperative centers, and on and on the list goes. It is a wonderful day and our employees return thoroughly excited about what they’ve done and about how committed Deloitte is to benefiting society.

Emergency Preparedness Roundtable Discussion

For the past two years I have been asked to photograph the Hub Event—a significant number of seminars and training sessions all centrally located in a large facility with many training rooms. Last year’s event was held in the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. This year’s event was in our new office just outside of D.C., in Rosslyn, Virginia. These events have held CPR training, computer literacy skills training, Emergency Preparedness coordination, help for the Capitol Area Food Bank, and many other laudable efforts. One large room each year holds myriad Deloitte employees around a huge table filled with custom card-making supplies. The Deloitte employees make hand-made cards that will be included in care packages built by another large group of Deloitte employees. We then send these care packages to high school students, wounded veterans, and others in need of encouragement.

Finished care package cards

Another room houses many Deloitte employees reading essay after essay for the Orphan Foundation of America. The winner of this essay will receive a full university scholarship to help them on their way as they leave the status of “ward of the state” and move into adulthood.

It is truly wonderful to see my fellow employees at Deloitte voluntarily making such a huge impact. And as the photographer I get to see more of it than most. And it swells my heart with pride that Deloitte & Touche does this.

Essay reading for the Orphan Foundation

Since this year began, I have posted a few times about the need to show “steadfast love and faithfulness.”

If you’re interested in reading any of those posts, here are a few: Discerning God’s Will | Biblical Success Manual | Sitting at the Feet of the Instructor | Whose Definition? | Biblical Success Manual II | Start With God. I should probably point out another aspect of Deloitte culture here: commitment to a diverse workplace. The afore-mentioned blogposts reflect my highly religious paradigm; Deloitte would not necessarily agree with everything I say in those posts. But they are committed to having folks of all different background, religious traditions, ethnicities, etc., working collaboratively for the mutual benefit of all of us. It’s a great culture and another thing I am proud of Deloitte for.

CEO Barry Salzburg and RMP Gary Tabach talking with a volunteer

IMPACT Day is a tangible example of a large firm committing its resources to show steadfast love (kindness) and faithfulness (dependability) to society.

Kudos to you Deloitte & Touche. I’m proud to be part of this firm!

Deloitte.com | IMPACT Day

 

Happy birthday, Kim - We love Front Royal

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esterday was Kim’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kim! So we decided to take advantage of one of our town’s unique offerings—baseball.

If you were to walk straight through the woods behind our neighborhood (“as the crow flies”) you would come to a large playground, a pavilion with lots of picnic tables, a swimming pool, and a large baseball complex, including a wonderful baseball stadium. The front of the baseball stadium proclaims that this is the “Bing Crosby Stadium.” Quite a conversation starter when we take visitors around our town to see the sights.

The stadium was built in honor of Bing Crosby who visited the town of Front Royal when he was in the Washington, DC, area on business. The town was raising money for their Little League facilities and Bing Crosby donated a large sum of money to kick off the fund raising. Crosby, who was always a promoter of youth athletics, later made another very large donation to bring the needed funds into the town of Front Royal. This stadium was built in his honor due to that event and to his commitment to Little League athletics.

We have heard the sounds of the games from our bedroom window at night, but this was our first visit to one of the games, and it was a blast. The athletes were college-aged and played quite well. The Front Royal Cardinals were hosting the Rockbridge Rapids. It was a good night for the Cardinals who took the game 7-0.

Two concessioneers

The young kids (including David, who is not so young anymore) grouped at the end of the stands and ran out to retrieve any pop-up foul balls from the parking lot. If they turn the balls into the concession, they get a free snack. So the stadium employees don't have to scour the parking lot for balls after the game and the kids get to eat lots of sugar. A true win-win situation if there ever was one. And it kept David occupied throughout the game.

A cute little girl watching the game

Because this is not professional ball, the players do not get paid and are not provided with housing. We met one of the families that opens their house to a couple of players. And it was fun listening to the crowd cheering their favorite players on—often the players who stay at their house.

The experience reminded us of the Lynchburg Hillcats minor league games we loved attending so much while we were living in Lynchburg. The stadium is not as large, the stands not quite as full. And there is no mascot (we miss Southpaw). But we’re close enough to walk to the games, the people of Front Royal are a thoroughly enjoyable group of people to spend an evening with, and the game play was very good.

David, waiting for another pop-fly foul

We have been truly blessed to have been moved to this town in the Shenandoah Mountains. Kim’s birthday just gave us one more experience and one more reason to love this town.

 

Blog Header - June 9, 2010

The firm I work for has quite a few offices in downtown Washington, DC. The office I work in most often when I work downtown is located on the corner of 10th and G Streets. The light posts that line the streets outside this building have beautiful seasonal hanging flower baskets. I took this photo a few years ago in the spring, just as the flowers began to bloom.

Blog Header - June 6, 2010

When we lived in Lynchburg, we had a wonderful biking and walking trail very close to our house. It was wonderful and we took advantage of the trail on a regular basis. This photo is on the trail about halfway between our house and downtown Lynchburg. A high railroad bridge was directly above the camera in this picture, so this was a spot that we stopped at quite often while we were walking or biking along the trail. David would climb the hill to get a closer look at the train tracks and Kim and I would take photos down below.

The Blackwater Creek Trail is one of the things we really miss about Lynchburg.