Tim, Tiger, Tinto and Timing
Even though Axel and I are often on the road on weekends, we have always treasured the rare Sunday mornings that we spend at home. And almost every one of those Sundays, we’ve watched Meet The Press. We’re fascinated by the mechanics and machinations of American politics, and there has been no one who has presented the issues and the personalities as completely as Tim Russert.
My guess is that God was as perplexed with our political scene as anyone and asked Tim to explain it to him.
Godspeed, Tim Russert, and our thoughts and sympathies to Luke, Maureen and Big Russ.
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On a lighter note, there we were at Del Mar ShowPark this weekend. Across the street was a parking lot assigned to the US Open volunteers: there must have been a thousand cars there. We were about 12 miles from Torrey Pines, but only got to see those last few amazing holes of Tiger’s when we got on Saturday. But I did download the US Open Leaderboard widget onto my Blackberry. If you saw me walking around the showgrounds with my big honking 300 mm lens in one hand and my Blackberry in the other, and either grumbling or squealing, well that’s why! On Sunday, we packed up the stand in record time, hoping to get home for the end, but we were still driving when Tiger birdied the 18th to tie it up with Rocco Mediate and force an 18 hole playoff. If we’d still been at ShowPark, we probably would have heard the roar from the crowd. So … that’s what I’m watching as I’m typing this.
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Tinto, I think, has a love/hate relationship with horse shows. He’d rather be with us than stay home alone, but when Axel and I are both working at a show (Axel was teaching a judging “L” program D1 session), then he’s got to spend most of the day stationed in my display tent. He’s a really good “greeter”, though. He’s got such a high cute factor that people can’t help but chat with him. He won’t eat breakfast, he won’t eat the kibble I bring to the show, but he’ll happily share my lunch, and any other food that is brought into my tent. I’m glad that he never barks at shows, and he’s learned to just relax on his bed while he waits for me to return. But even though he normally sleeps most of the day in my office, he rarely sleeps while at a show. When the alarm went off at 5:30 on Sunday morning, he didn’t move. He just opened one eye halfway, as if to say, “you’ve got to be kidding.” Axel didn’t have any sympathy for him, because he’d been up until 1:00 Saturday night grading “L” program tests.
But Tinto was very happy that some of his friends were there: his “aunt” Katie, his dog-camp-mate Bear, and his new best friend, Susan Walker.
Susan is the “timing” part of this post. In the week between being asked to photograph this show and the actual weekend of the show, I had called all the people that I usually ask to work for me. Between the US Open, the Del Mar Fair, and Father’s Day, everyone was booked elsewhere, so I arrived at ShowPark to set up my stand on Friday with no help on hand. I mentioned this to Karla Palmer, the show manager, and Susan offered to jump in. Well! It turns out that Susan is an Apple girl, a computer wiz, and is completely familiar with iView, my photo cataloging software. She’s a successful Young Rider who happened to not be showing this weekend. She did a fabulous job, and made my weekend at the show a treat. A big thank you, Susan!
I’ll post some favorite images later.
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