Walk and Rock for the Kids... and Journey

What an event! Hope Productions, created to provide resources to support youth and children’s charities throughout the U.S., held an inagural event here in Sacramento Saturday, May 23rd. It began with a walk around midtown Sacramento that started at Raley Field, down Capital to the Capitol, up 10th St. to K St., throiugh the Downtown Mall then back to Raley Field. With bands stationed along the route and one at The Hard Rock Cafe, over 1,000 walkers showed up to support the cause of seven charities in their inagural year. They raised over $850,000. The charities that benefited were:

Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento

CASA for Children, El Dorado County

OKIZU

Keaton Raphael Memorial

River Cats Foundation

Wind Youth Services

People Reaching Out

Here are a few photos from the walk....









Then that evening, a concert... Yeah, a concert! It started with a VIP Dinner and Auction, then The Lost Boys played a few songs to get the crowd warmed up and then JOURNEY! What a night! Here a few photos from the event...

The Cross

This a repost from the Veneration of the Cross service from last year... Still very moving

So many of you know that Easter is one of the most important days of the year for Christians and there are many services during Easter week that Christians of all denominations participate in remembrance of the what Christ did for all. But one of the most moving services that Mary and I attend is the Good Friday, Veneration of the Cross at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in midtown Sacramento.

The service begins with the celebration of the Eucharist and then a huge cross is brought into the church where it is passed over the crowd where everyone has the opportunity to touch the cross symbolic of what Christ had to do as he carried His cross to Golgotha. After which the cross is laid on the floor of the church and people have the opportunity to step up to the cross, kneel, pray, and lay hands on the cross out of respect again to what Christ did for all in His death and resurrection. If you have never attended such a service, you are missing one of the most moving and emotional services of the season. Hope to see you at St. Francis next year on Good Friday. Halleluiah! He has risen!

Dinner with Ty

OK, I know it's been a long time since my last blog entry but I've been facebooking (now a verb) a lot and posting photos and videos.

So anyway, it's been a couple of weeks or so but Mary and I had the pleasure of dining with the Kubicek's (Matt, Laurie and Ty). We had a great time visiting, the wine was excellent and the dinner fabulous. Thank you Matt and Laurie very much. And that Ty Kubicek... well, it's hard to describe what a pleasant young man he is. Anyone that knows the Kubicek's and Ty knows what I'm talking about but is hard to describe. He's free thinking, imaginitive, intuitive, bright, funny and can have meaningful dialog with adults.... and he's only 5 years. And that's the coolest thing about Ty is that he's 5 and plays in the backyard with big trucks, has a dog, and eats spaghetti like a kid should eat spaghetti...

Thanks Ty for having us over. Can't wait to do it again...

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

I know this is a photography blog but I just love to eat good food. Thus my passion for cooking. Here's a recipe for New Orleans style BBQ Shrimp. Most recipes for this dish are secret so don't be spreading this one around....

Enjoy!