It was my Sister-In-Laws baby shower this weekend so she asked my wife to take some pictures of the event with my camera. As a result I have a lot of editing to do before this weekend approaches when I have a photo shoot of my own to do as I must make space on the computer before then. As I am going through them I am starting to realise that my wife not only has a wacky dreams of Australian chefs but she also a fetish of womens' feet.

I Really Need To Be less Judgemental

When it comes to the weekly grocery shopping trip, I much prefer to go to Smiths rather than Walmart. Partly because I have found that the meat in Smiths taste better than the Walmart variety. Why that should be the case I do not know, but the Walmart meat does seem to taste like cardboard.

But another reason is that at Smiths they don't feel the need to greet you at the door. I've always thought that Walmart were patronizing to the older worker, the disabled or the sick because thats the type of worker that they seem to use as greeters. Personally I thought that the older worker or even the disabled worker would have been more useful in another position, something that was more involving than "Hello, welcome to Walmart". But the day I saw a man standing, using a zimmer frame for support with an oxygen tank by his side, performing this role I was disturbed and thought that Walmart was taking the piss.

But a few weeks later, with my back once again acting up and my papers not yet finialised and therefore unable to visit the doctors for fear of it costing me a fortune I am looking on that Walmart memory a little differently. I realise now that I looked upon that sight as someone who is used to living in a country with a socialised healthcare system. That man I saw that day, living in a land where you need to have insurance to afford healthcare, probably had to work just to be able to pay his health costs, and Walmart was good enough to give him a job when many other places couldn't have accommodated him. It's not like he could have dragged his oxygen tank around the floor of the Olive Garden whilst serving diners.

I may well have changed my mind over the role of some of the Walmart greeters but until I taste some better meat, my opinion on that remains the same.

America Lost

When I saw this old abandoned store I could almost taste the ice-cream that a young American kid bought long ago, whilst smelling the fruit carefully stacked by the shop owner and feel the newsprint between my fingers rubbed off from the daily paper.


It's shops like these I have seen plenty of in old American movies and photographs.

When I moved to the States back in March I hoped to see old authentic shops like these still open and active. Sadly though the reality is its mostly malls and big stores with little character that seem to exist in Utah today. So far, in my admittedly limited experience of Northern Utah of the past few months, a few small shops that I have seen have tried hard to replicate the look of the old store such as this one but lack a certain something to feel authentic.

So when I saw this store I couldn't help but dream a little of reopening it and bringing it back to life and making it once again an active, useful part of town. Sadly though a town as small as Bear River that is situated about 10 miles or so from the the Interstate with all its modern amenities sprawled by the roadside will probably never be able to bring life back to such a store ever again. The price of progress I guess.

It's a shame that such places that give a taste of what small town America must once have looked like for so many are now only stopping places for the curious to take a photograph or two.


At least they haven't yet knocked it down.


Listening to: Paolo Nutini - High Hopes

A Crazy Few Days

A year ago marriage couldn't have been further from my mind. Then I met a girl that broke through my defences and all that changed.

Just 4 weeks we were making plans for getting married in September/October of next year. And then we brought forward those plans. On a crazy, limited, budget we decided to marry on the 29th of May this year and then repeat our vows in the manner that we had been originally planning, later on.

It was going to be so easy. A small simple ceremony in a courthouse with a couple of witnesses, a few photographs taken and a nice meal at the end of the day with some friends and family. Not hard at all until you realise on the day before that the booking you thought you had for the courthouse hasn't been placed and you have to find an alternative at the same time as when you have an 8 hour drive between 2 States to do. That was all stressful enough but then we had difficulties getting a restaurant to take a booking for 23 seats. You would think a business would be happy to cater to a booking of that level but not in Utah apparently.

Thankfully it was all resolved in no small part to the energies and generosity of my new wife's Sister and Mother - who made what was supposed to be a small simple ceremony a beautiful day indeed.

Anyway here are some photographs of the day

The Bride getting ready - or is that an instrument of torture?

The beautiful BrideImportant conversation about flower duties

Rest time before ring carryingGetting photographed is boring when there is a pond to be explored

Despite the worry and the stress of the day before, everything turned out well, far better than we had planned. A beautiful Chilean woman made a Scotsman a very happy man. Of course we have to repeat it all some time in the future - this time we are going to be better organised!

Listening to "Worried Man" Paolo Nutini