The Maffitt Wedding

My niece, Arielle, was married on March 19, 2011.  As we normally do these days, we gifted the blessed couple their wedding pictures and wedding video.  It was such great fun, and as you can see, Ari and Ryan are very very happy.  Below are just a few of my favorite photos.

The dress!!  The piano and candelabra made a perfect setting to display Ari's beautiful dress.

 



Alaska's Calling

     Alaska continues to call us back to her pristine beauty and bountiful flora and fauna.  This year we visited from May 25th through June 6th.  We spent a week before our cruise in Anchorage, Seward, Whittier, Alyeska and driving the scenic Seward Highway.

  One of our favorite stops on the Seward Highway, just this side of Whittier was Portage Glacier.  Although Portage Glacier has receded from the Visitor's Center,the icebergs resulting from the glacier's calving make their way to the Visitor's Center. 

One can actually stand at the shore and pull out an iceberg from Portage Lake.  What a fantastic way to experience and touch the past.  

                              

     You know your vacation is perfect when you can truly say the weather was too good.  The temperatures were in the mid 60's to lower 70's and we had absolutely no rain.  We engaged in a lot of activities that were so memorable and it was truly a perfect vacation made even better because we enjoyed it with friends. 

From left to right:  Ricky Dillard, Pat Dillard, Brandon Dillard, Melissa Dillard, Carol Cox & Gary Cox.  This photo was taken by our guide, David Freeman, in Ketchikan, AK.  We are inside an Eskimo Tribal House.  The carvings were beautiful, as you can see.

We saw harbor seals, sea lions, otters, orcas, humpback whales with their calves, eagles, Dall sheep, Dall porpoise, bears, moose, wolves and on and on. 

     You can enjoy the highlights of our trip by visiting our website.  We have included some short video clips of our trip.

WMCTV Channel 5 News has been using quite a few of Gary's photographs of the results from the flooding of the Mississippi river.  Here is a link to a news story featuring Gary's capture of a frantic deer trying to swim to shore after being swept away by the rising flood waters.

Deer Afloat in Flood Waters

While taking photos of the rising Mississippi waters, Gary caught pictures of a young male deer which apparently was swept up in the flood waters. 

He made it to shore only to run into a brick wall which left him stunned. 

Police and animal specialists were summoned to the scene. 

The young spike made it to safety.  You can see him looking back at the crowd.

What a photo opportunity.  It pays to be in the right place at the right time.  You can see more of Gary's pictures at our website.

Mississippi Flood

Channel 5 News continues to use pictures that Gary shot in their lead stories.  Here's the latest.

The Mississippi River in downtown Memphis had reached 44-feet-2-inches as of 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. The Army Corps of Engineers says this is the highest the river has been since terrible floods drenched the Mid-South in 1937 and the worst is still to come.

                            WMCTV Channel 5 used this picture Gary took yesterday.  The parking lot where we stood on Sunday is now flooded as evidenced by this picture below.

Here is another picture from Channel 5: My 5: Rising waters at Harbor Town



Alabama National Fair

At the invitation of the Sanloflers, we ventured down to the Alabama National Fair in Montgomery, Alabama the weekend of October 8th of 2010.

There was something for all ages.  There was a petting zoo for the kids.

 Food of all types and varieties was available.  We just had to have our traditional corn dog and funnel cake.

 

    

We spent a day and a half memorializing Cow Town and the New American Frontier Show in pictures.  We even joined in the fun and helped out a little with some of the events.

Saturday found us showing children and adults alike how to milk a cow and churn butter.

In addition to Cow Town, there was an old fashion Frontier Show with trick riding, demonstrations and a pony express exhibition complete with highway robber and shootout.

Sheep Herding demonstrations were fascinating to watch as Sharon Sandloflin used hand signals to direct her dog.  Everyone watched in awe as the sheep were rounded up and penned by the fiesty little herder.

Carol sold marshmallows for toasting over an open campfire Saturday night.  It was amazing how many parents had never seen or milked a cow nor toasted marshmallows themselves, let alone with their children.  It was great fun.

History of the different frontier work horses was given.  Visit our website and visit the website of the Great American Frontier Show to learn more about this great preservation of our country's history.