Our Stuff

More from Ingrid and I in this one..this is the friends and family cut, not for publication on www.thenewstribune.com!!! Enjoy

Ingrid and I started Thanksgiving off with our first 5K event, a Turkey Trot. More than 1500 other silly people joined in the event around Northeast Tacoma. It was kind of fun…if you like that sort of thing… and I made a video of it which is posted later in this post.

Ingrid’s family all came across the pass for the holiday. It was great to see everyone. The boys hung out all day and left after filing up on Turkey and helping rearrange our new living-room. THANKS FELLAS!!!

Ingrid’s parents stayed with us last night and we went out for breakfast and toured Tacoma a bit.

So, we went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Seymour Conservatory in our front yard — after breakfast at the Hob-Nob — and drove around town showing off the UW Tacoma campus, The Museum of Glass and the Brown and Haley factory outlet store. (Outrageously good!!!)
Then we took our Mountain Bars and drove the Five Mile Drive.

So I’m sitting here at work watching the Apple Cup and waiting for the wire to move some pics, so I thought I would post these images from our morning walk. We walked across the street to Wright Park and stopped by the Seymour Conservatory. This local artist is showing some of his work in the conservatory among the plants and water displays. It was very cool.

Today, I received an assignment to photograph two victims of a horrific crime.

On Thanksgiving Day of 1985, Susan Blount and her son Robert, said goodbye to their husband and father, daughter and sister, nephew and cousin when a briefcase bomb tore apart their trailer in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The bomb was placed on the Blount’s porch by mistake. It was meant for someone else. Now, Michael Toney – the accused killer who is on death row in Texas – is likely to see his sentence overturned because apparently, the prosecution withheld evidence.

For 23 years Mrs. Blount has endured the heartache of her loss – today she told me she just wants some closure.

Here’s an excerpt from a story published in The Dallas Morning News in 2005:

The trial started in May 1999 in Fort Worth.

Susan Blount testified, telling her story of escaping from her burning trailer out the back door. Her son, Robert Blount, told of finding the briefcase on the front porch, and of his 15-year-old sister taking it inside.

“Angela flipped the latches and it exploded, and that’s the last I remember,” Mr. Blount testified.

The blast killed his father, sister and cousin and blew him out the front door.

“There isn’t a day that goes by,” Mr. Blount said in court, “that I don’t think about that day.”

Susan Blount, left, and her son, Robert, pose for a portrait in the dining room of their Auburn, Wash., home Nov. 21, 2008. Susan’s daughter, husband, and nephew, (L-R foreground photos) were killed by a bomb on Thanksgiving Day in 1985 in Ft. Worth. INGRID BARRENTINE Special to The Dallas Morning News

As I left the Blount’s Auburn, Wash., home today, I felt extremely lucky and sorrowful at the same time. I thought about the freak things that happen in a moment and forever change the course of our lives. For me, most of those “freak things” have turned out to be good.

When I sit down to turkey this year, I’m going to pause for a moment to say “thanks.”

Ingrid and I went to the doc today for my 4-week follow up appointment. The Doc said everything is looking good for a February return to the links!!!  I can’t wait. It looks like the fusion is doing it’s thing and I can now lift up to 30 lbs., just in time for us to move this weekend.

Ingrid and I got coffee and reviewed the local races before getting in line. We waited a little more than 90 minutes. Both of us had cameras, so we made pictures and chatted with others in line. We both got stickers and went home for more coffee. I love going to the polls!

JB

I shot two assignments yesterday. One for the Peninsula Daily News – x-country. And the other for The Olympian – Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.

IB