Break: Until I've got something to say

So, I need a break from this blog thing. I need some time to evaluate my work, study good work, and jump back out there to get better. My approach to this blog in the past was to just post whatever I shot- good or bad, loose edit, random thoughts and personal postings. I'm not sure how the postings will change, but I'm leaning more towards editing tight.

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New Conductor, Magician, Preschool Learning

Balloon Fest Kicks Off

Johnathan White, 12, and Natalie White from Saginaw watch the After Glow at the start of the RE/MAX of Midland Balloon Festival Friday night. The festival is celebrating their 18th Anniversary at the Midland County Fairgrounds this weekend.

Shovel, AAA, Textile, Soccer, Balloons

Bob Cole shovels soil from a compost pile off Airport Road in Midland. Cole, a history teacher and cross country coach at Meridian High School, has made several trips to the pile to collect the soil for next season on his 2 acre garden. "This season's pretty well shot. I let the deer get the rest of the corn," he said. Cole, who lives outside Midland, was in town for his team's cross country meet at Stratford Woods.

Lynne Dryer is Field Manager for Midland's AAA Michigan branch that was recently awarded top honors for Reader's Choice.

Gerhardt Knodel works to hang one of his textile pieces he purchased in India, at the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art in the Midland Center for the Arts on Tuesday afternoon. Knodel retired in 2007 as the Director of the Cranbrook Academy, a position he held since 1995, to return fulltime to studio practice in Pontiac, Mich. From his collection, world and historic textiles will be displayed alongside Knodel's new textile work called, "Recovery Games," beginning Saturday, Sept. 13.



Dow freshman, Connor Baak, celebrates his game winning goal with teammates, from left, Dallas Trahan, Brando Laetz, and Adrian Avina during Wednesday's game against Midland. Dow defeated Midland, 4-3.

Dow junior, Dallas Trahan, heads the ball while colliding with Midland senior, Logan Matthews, during Wednesday's game.

Treven Knoll, 10, prepares to release his set of balloons with the rest of his fifth grade class, from left, Stewart Zondlak, Andrew Bartos, Daniel Wunderlich, and Alycia Horny in commemoration of September 11, 2001 outside the St. Brigid Catholic School. The school's eighth graders came up with the idea to release 170 balloons to recognize the seventh anniversary.

Portrait, Fire, Soccer

Joe Mattler, a second chair tenor for Midland's Music Society Chorale, has been singing with the group since 1971 and has saved the program from every concert he sang. He was recently awarded the Music Society's Jo Harrigan Volunteer Award for 2007-2008 for his participation with the choir and administration.

Firefighter Matt Schieber and Lt. Greg Schmidt of the Midland Fire Department work to put out a mobile home that caught on fire Monday afternoon. The vehicle had been there for the past year and the owners were working on moving it to sell it when the fire erupted.

(From left) Mercedes Ross, Mike Ross, 17, and friend Josh Jammer, 18, watch as the Midland Fire Department extinguishes a mobile home that caught on fire Monday afternoon. Ross and Jammer were trying to start the mobile home in order to sell it, but it would not run. "We started walking back down here and my grandmother was running out," Ross said after he and a friend left to find tools in order to work on the vehicle. Mercedes Ross was the first to notice the fire.

(From left) Swan Valley's Andrew Heinrich goes up against Bullock Creek's Tim Broomall for a header during the game Monday afternoon.

High School Football

Estate Sale

cutline: Franz Timm, from Vassar, tries to find a key to match the 1930 Ford Sedan Street Rod parked in a garage belonging to Edgar Hart, a former accountant incharge of the payroll department for The Dow Chemical Co., who recently passed away. "They had some of the keys labeled," Timm said about organizing a bag full of automobile keys. "You get used to doing some of that stuff."


cutline: (From left) Franz Timm and Dave Albrecht of Albrecht Auction Service Inc., sort through keys to some of the 14 automobiles once belonging to the late Edgar Hart for an estate sale in Sanford on Saturday.


cutline: Dave Albrecht, owner and operator of Albrecht Auction Service Inc., checks inventory Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Saturday's estate sale in Sanford. Albrecht and a crew were preparing everything from unused tools to 14 automobiles owned by the late Edgar Hart. "They usually don't need this much help," Curtis Pennell said. Pennell was one of several friends of Albrecht who came to help wash cars and prepare for Saturday's auction.

Hazmat

A woman sits in the back of a bus used to transport people to the MidMichigan Medical Center after being decontaminated Tuesday afternoon. Fifteen people went through a decontamination process by the Midland Fire Department Hazmat Response Team following the release of an unknown substance from a package at The Salvation Army. Authorities discovered the substance was pepper spray.