Traci Iserman and Tony Sartori

I had the honor this weekend of photographing the wedding of Traci Iserman and Tony Sartori at Tavern and Chapel in the Garden in Port Orange, FL. It was a gorgeous day as you can tell and gorgeous people to work with! Enjoy this sneak peek of their event! I wish them the best in their married life!

For those of you who were guests at this wonderful event, the full viewing of pictures is coming soon. Watch your inbox with the announcement from Pictage.com!

I made Google!

Yeah! Now I'm listed in the google map section! Granted on page 2. But hopefully I will get higher rankings soon.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=wedding+photographer&near=Saint+Augustine,+FL&fb=1&view=text&cd=20&hl=en&latlng=29908580,-81318354,11636833801572528018&ei=qIUYSOCWEZHMjQPUppj-DA#

Our Love Bug, Summer

Summer came to live with us last week. She is part blue tick hound, part pointer and full of love. We are getting used to each other. So far I think she likes having us be her new humans. She grew up with a brother and is suffering from some separation anxiety issues. But we are working on it. She had a rough night last night. There is something that she has been exposed to, either in our house or out on our walks that has given her hives. So she's super itchy and agitated because of it. It seems the bathtub feels good to her since this is where she is spending most of her time today. I feel so bad for her. I hope she has a better night tonight after the antihistamine the vet gave us kicks in. We also have to give her a bath when Jason gets home tonight in this oatmeal medicated shampoo. I'll try to get some pictures. She is a little camera shy which I'm hoping she'll eventually overcome.

Have you ever wanted to...

yell at someone but instead leave a nasty note on their car?? Today, I'm walking across the library parking lot. I'm looking down because I was walking into the setting sun and forgot my sunglasses. The next thing I know I'm blind sighted with excruciating pain. Some $%^&&*!! had a 12 foot pole sticking out the back of their pickup. No flag or anything hanging off it. It hit me square in the nose. I was so lucky that I didn't ram an eye (occupational hazard) into it or anything. No blood, but my nose hurts like hell. So I went into the library, wrote my nasty note on the scrap paper by the catalog computer and put it on their windshield. So there!!!

New house chaos

So it seems we had serious rain storms here in Florida while we were away. When we got home we found that we put a garbage can in our kitchen in very convenient location. The ceiling had leaked and the bucket had 6-8 inches of water in it with only a few spots that were wet nearby. By yesterday morning the ceiling sheet rock had started to bow a bit. By yesterday afternoon, it was a good thing I had all the cupboard doors open because the ceiling fell down onto the open doors. I was in another part of the kitchen when I heard the crackle and thump, turned around and was shocked to see that it had fallen. By the late afternoon the property management company had sent a handyman over to take a look. He sliced off the other half of the panel and you could see the huge collection of water that had soaked the insulation and puddled in the plastic underneath. Not to mention that all the sheet rock was moldy and bug infested. The house has a flat roof and it seems that the owner had not kept the drains cleared. The roofing guy that was here today confirmed that the drain pipes were filled solid with tree waste and gook. One pipe had even been buried under landscaping. This of course caused "ponding".

So this kind of puts a crimp in our unpacking. I had almost finished unpacking the kitchen. Fortunately I was able to move all the stuff on the counters out before the ceiling panel came all the way down. The place is still a mess though. They estimate that will be a week to 10 days before the whole job is finished. Thank god we are only renting!

Thank you

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks. They have been truly appreciated. A few have asked about my father's obituary. This ran in last Sunday's Az. Republic.

http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=LS000105291173X

Jason and I are back in St. Augustine now trying to dig out from under all our boxes. Hopefully I can post some photos by the end of the week. I have to use the big camera because my little canon elph met an untimely end when I dropped it on our tile floor with the lens out. :O(

Big hugs to all!

Theodore Alfred Gardiner 1930-2008

My father passed away Saturday morning, March 1. It was very peaceful. He had eaten a big breakfast and was happy as a clam when the big stroke finally came. He was gone very quickly. My love to all that have been so supportive during this time in my life. Thank you for your prayers. He is with my mom now.

Beach Sunday

For the first time since we moved to Florida, Jason and I spent Sunday morning sitting on the beach. I go to the beach almost everyday for exercise, but it was really wonderful to just sit and read. Jason was not as liberal with the sunscreen as maybe he should have. He is kind of lobsterish today in weird patterns from using the spray sunscreen. We have an umbrella somewhere but god knows where, so we went for the full sun. Normally I wouldn't post a photo that has a speck of a person in it. But since Jason felt it necessary to take my picture in my bikini, I am happy with the person-to-sky ratio.

New website up and running!!

So after many laborious weeks my new website is up and fully functional. Thanks to everyone for your input and copy editing. Check it out if you haven't yet and make sure to bookmark it. There will be new galleries from time to time as new events unfold.

http://www.kategardinerphoto.com

I opted to only have music going with the galleries instead of all the time. I personally am the first to shut off music on a site I visit, but I think it does add something to the galleries. Plus don't want to get people busted at work.

My first NASCAR experience

Our friends Rob Brule and Mark Shreve are visiting us this weekend for the Daytona 500. We went to the Craftsman Truck race last night at the track. For as much as racing is not necessarily my favorite sport, I will completely admit that I LOVED IT!!! It was so fascinating to watch the physics involved with getting these cars around the track. I don't think I could do an entire weekend of it but last night was pretty cool. See for yourself.

Kate Gardiner Photography (and Jason) move to St. Augustine!

Here are some photos of our new house and the new home of Kate Gardiner Photography. It is located right in the heart of the old downtown, about 100 yards from the Fountain of Youth monument to Ponce de Leon. We move in Feb. 28. I'll let you know if my wrinkles start to recede!

I decided yesterday to do some exploring. One block over from us is the Fountain of Youth front gate which is lined on either side by these huge trees covered in Spanish moss. At the end of our road is the marshland that extends out for a mile or so to the ocean.

I then headed downtown for some lunch. I ate at this wonderful wine and tappas bar which you can see in in the photo with the stop sign. It is located on the balcony of the building on the left. There is a gorgeous Greek Orthodox shrine on the main shopping street. You would never know it was there if you didn't see the small sign over the door. It is dedicated to St. Photios.

The main shopping area is closed to car traffic which is really nice. In Newport, RI you have to watch all the crazy drivers in the shopping area. This just makes it less congested. Many of the walls that fence off gardens in the downtown area are made of oyster shells as you can see in the last photo here. The sun and rain played tag while I was in town. This blossom was from a nearby bush.

More NYC trip photos

So here are some more photos from our trip to NYC in December for the NASCAR Champions Week. It is such a rarity that sun shines down in the concrete jungle. It was so beautiful.

This is one of the rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria where the modified series had one of its dinners. The whole room smelled divine! I can only imagine the floral budget for this dinner.

The snowflakes were on the side of a building. Can't remember which building.

Here are Jason and I at the Rockefellar Center Christmas tree.


The last photo was us at this "hot" night club called Mystique. It was great people watching. All on NASCAR's tab.

Tony and Traci Engagement

Saturday I spent the late afternoon with Tony and Traci at the Daytona Beach Pier for their engagement session. They are getting married April 26 at this great place called Tavern and Chapel in the Garden in Port Orange, Fl.
Here are some of my favorite images from the afternoon. It is so easy to photograph beautiful people! Plus Traci had these rock'n shoes which you can kind of see off to the side in the last image.

Bocce on the beach

So I think these retired folk are in some sort of league at the beach resort behind them. Jason and I saw them playing bocce a month or so ago. Basically from what I can decipher, they draw lines in the sand about 40 yards apart then they try to get closest to that line without crossing it. But the sand here is really compacted and things roll forever. Looks like fun though.

Tuesday at the beach

Today's video has a bit more sound so turn up your speakers.

New Years Polar Bear Dive

So as many of you know Jason and I have an annual tradition to jump into freezing cold water on New Year's Day, washing away the crud from the year before. Sometimes this is in a sanctioned event for charity or an improvised body of water. This year we were in Phoenix so we substituted the Atlantic for our friend Judy's pool. She took these of us as we dunked our heads three times for good luck and then skeedadalled out.

Monday morning beach

Here are some snippetes from my beach walk this morning. I try to walk as often as possible. It has been cold and rainy most of last week so I didn't get to do much. I'm really going to start making more of an effort to remember my point and shoot. I would have shot more video today but ran out of space on the card.

I like to think of this as God's bubble bath. I did not speed the video up any. The bubbles were just quivering that fast in the wind.



These birds fascinate me. They aren't gulls, I don't think, and they all remind me of the bird version of Grampa Munster.

I do hate it when people feed the gulls as they fly overhead. Mostly because I have been a poop victim. But it made for a nice photo today.

Trying to catch up

So I was cleaning off my desktop today and found this photo. I've been meaning to post it. This is Jason and I with Jimmy Johnson and his crew chief along with the 2007 trophy at the end of the year banquet in NYC. It gets bigger if you click on it. More to come I swear!

Hello all, so sorry it has been an epically long time since i posted. I'm in Florida now at least until 12/18 and then off to Phx through the New Year. Just got back from NYC and Conn. for Thanksgiving and the end of the year NASCAR banquet. Had lots of fun! I'll put some pix up later.

Cheers!

The craziness begins

So this will be my last post for awhile. I am shipping my computer off tomorrow so that it has a head start on me going to Connecticut. I leave for Conn. on Wed. Only 12 days until the wedding!!! I have so much left to do it is a bit overwhelming. I will try and post before the wedding and I'll try to once we are on our honeymoon. Hopefully we will be able to hit an internet cafe to do some updates. Although if you are watching the news, half of Greece is chard right now so hopefully that will work out ok. Wish me luck!!!

Love to knit

Today was another knitting brunch with my knitting friends. Leah, Robert and Oliver didn't come because Robert wasn't feeling well. But Erica, Penny and I got a lot done on our respective projects. I worked on a little craft project for the wedding and did some knitting. Erica worked on her epic quilt for her sister and Penny scrapbooked. We were wondering Ann, whether you are still scrapbooking since you took up knitting. I bet you still were, Erica and Penny had their doubts.

no news is good news

so everything is going along smoothly for the moment. my aunt connie has decided to come to conn. for the wedding which makes me super happy. flying is not her favorite thing but i'm glad she took a dose of braveness!

all for now!

Use it or lose it

So today I helped my friend Chris shoot a wedding up here in phx. It has been a month since I even picked up my camera and I felt very out of sorts. I was technically off all day in my exposures and shooting rhythm. I have to find a way to really work my camera back into my daily life. I haven't wanted to shoot a single frame of my father during all of this, mostly because I don't want to remember a single moment of this summer down the road. Actually that isn't true. The time I've spent with my friend Deb and her family as well as Erica has been truly wonderful. Plus the time with my aunt has been a blessing for both of us. She hasn't had anyone to really go shopping or out to lunch with since my mom died. She and I went to the mall on Thursday and it was really lovely. I've also gotten to reconnect with my friend Kathi from high school which has been great. I'm hoping to start this architectural project next week for a local firm so maybe that will be a bit rewarding.

A little bit of lightness

So I feel a bit lighter these days since the new caregivers have arrived. Dad likes both women and they seem to be catching on really quickly to his likes and dislikes not to mention the fact that he isn't putting them through the wringer. The last guy he didn't like so he made his life a living hell. I've spent the last two days shopping and i LOVED it. Therefore the lightness.

Come and go

So the first care giver has left the building. His name was Ray and was pretty much a dud. Dad didn't really care for him and berated him every moment he could. I was willing to let him stay a week before I said anything to the organization because dad is pretty demanding and I didn't know how on the ball these people were supposed to be. The gal they sent over the weekend was even worse but she was only a temporary so I didn't get too up in arms about her. I think she said two words to my dad and he was instantly hating her as well. Not to mention she had no skills in the kitchen and I should have been paid for her shift since I did all the work. Ray came back on Monday and it was equally as tense. Then he just didn't show up yesterday morning. The company is hugely embarrassed to the point where they are calling me almost every hour apologizing and making sure I'm satisfied. Honestly it is getting to the point where they are making it worse by tripping over themselves.

They sent a new woman today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because she is very nice, in her 50's and knows how to cook and grow things outside. We shall see about the evening gal. It is a different person so not sure what that will be like. I would say that will be the more difficult of the two shifts.

Hot cats!

Jason and I took a stab at swing dancing while he was here. It was a beautiful night and I only got stepped on once! Thought we looked pretty hip so it deserved its own post. Jason was here for a week and it went by so fast. Dropped him off at the airport this morning for a flight to Providence via Chicago for another race in Connecticut and Long Island over the weekend. It meant so much to me to have him here this week. Only 36 days until the wedding!!!

Photos! Photos!

Here are photos from my birthday bash at Chase Field/BOB where the DBacks beat the Braves. Jason and I were joined by Deb, David, Kayla and Jacob as well as our friends Erica and Casey. It was a great day.

31 and counting

I had a wonderful birthday today! Thank you to everyone that called, emailed and text messaged me today. As well as my wonderful friend Ann who knitted me a towel and sent me a goodie from William Sonoma! Oh and the birthday love from Aunt Janny was most appreciated as well. Jason is here in Phx this week which has been lovely. I feel like I have been able to relax for the first time in months. We went to a Diamondbacks game today with Deb, David, the kids and my friends Erica and Casey. The Dbacks won which was cool since neither Jason nor I have ever been to a major league or minor league game where the home team won. We were convinced we were going follow Pete Rose into the baseball hall of fame, banned from baseball. Must go to sleep now, will try to post pix from today tomorrow.

A relatively good day

Today we had three doctor related appointments starting at 9am. I thought for sure by the end of the day, Dad would be ready to pass out, but honestly I think he had more energy because he didn't sleep all day. We saw his chiropractor first who did a bunch of massage, then off to the cardiologist for a check up. Dad's blood pressure is still below 100 so the doc tweaked some of his medication. But other than that the cardiologist thought Dad was doing well.

Next we went down to St. Joe's for a follow up ultrasound on the clot in Dad's right leg. It is still there and it's not any worse but the radiology tech wouldn't say if it is better. Dad can't take blood thinners the way other people who have clots do since he is such a fall risk. Just today he was walking through a door, snagged a bit of his arm on the door frame and started bleeding. So obviously he doesn't even need to fall to bleed.

It rained like crazy here about 4pm when we were trying to leave the hospital. It has been a long time since I saw rain like that here. It happens all the time in Connecticut. But seeing people wading in knee high water to cross the street in a desert is just weird. Phoenix needed the rain though and it made the temp stay below 90 degrees which is unheard of for late July.

Setback

So last night I was coming back inside from lighting the barbecue in time to see dad go crashing to the floor. He was feeling pretty good yesterday so he decided to take off from his chair without his walker. Then I guess he decided he should go back and get it. The turning process didn't go well and I there was no way I could get to him before he went down. He's ok for the most part. He ripped the skin away from his elbow. Not bad enough to need stitches but pretty ugly looking. Our friend Judy, whose a nurse, came over and said that if we weren't concerned with the aesthetic aspect of a scar she didn't think we needed to worry about stitches. I think we are past that at this point.

It made me very angry that he decided he was all better and didn't need the walker. I then caught him again last night being ocd and trying to accordion fold the bedspread while only balancing against the bed with one hand and no walker. Just as I got to him he got tangled up in his feet and started to fall. Fortunately I was right there and was able to hip check him, changing his course so he fell on the bed instead of the floor. Despite only weighing 141 lbs. right now, he is still too heavy for me. I had a hard time picking him up off the floor when he fell the first time yesterday. We have these old library stools around our house that my mom got when she worked at the library. So I used one of the short ones from a kid's table to put dad on so I didn't have to lift him very high. But there was still an instant where I thought I wasn't going to be able to make it which would have been bad.

I have an appointment with an in-home care agency on Tues. to start finding a replacement for me in his care giving. He is just so much more cognisant when he is at home compared to other places. Even at the doctor's office he is much more confused. So I guess as long as he can afford it, we are going to try and make this work instead of the carehome.

saddness

today my dad woke up very confused. he thought it was sunday and was dressed and knocking on my bedroom door at 6:15. i didn't know why he was up, just thought he felt like getting up early. at 10 min to 7am he said, well are you ready to go? go where? church. dad, it's saturday. it is? once i convinced him that it truly was saturday, he slumped into a quietness that lasted all morning. his chiropractor sent us home with a vibrating massage thing for me to use on his back this weekend because dad's muscles are so stoved up. by the end of the 15 min i felt so jumpy and pretty much did the rest of the morning. i went to a yoga class at 11am and could feel the saddness creeping in. the saddness is exactly what my dad had been displaying all morning. i really think the massage i gave him let the bad chi in.

i've heard that massage therapists have this problem from time to time. the cares and troubles of whomever they are massaging, transfers into them. the bad chi travels from their clients into them. i'm assuming they know how to get rid of it. wish i did.

sorry i haven't posted any photos for such a long time. this is the most unphotographic period of my life. never thought that would happen.

A wonderful weekend

Today was my first day back on the daddy detail after a wonderful carefree weekend in Newport. My bridesmaid Jacqueline and her amazing mother-in-law, Joan, hosted an elegant luncheon on Sat for my bridal shower. The weather was gorgeous (75 degrees and sunny) so we devoured carmelized brie, mixed greens w/strawberries, chicken salad on croissants, and to-die-for chocolate cupcakes out on their deck. Not to mention endless white wine spritzers. I felt incredibly loved. Good friends, good weather, good gifts, good beach and good booze. Could not have asked for anything better.

Guilt and its many forms

So today I finally made it to the gym. I've been kind of letting my dad believe that I have these important errands I have to run which means he has to stay at the care home. I know I need to do things for myself like go to the gym or out to coffee with a friend just for my own sanity. But that doesn't mean I don't have guilt. I was talking to my friend the other day who has two kids. I told her that at least she and her husband have jobs that they HAVE to go to so the kids have to go to daycare. But I could be at the house and sometimes am at the house when he is stuck over at the care home. I don't really tell him I come back here to work on the computer or make calls since in theory he could be here while I'm doing it. But it isn't that simple. Just like those who work from home can't get crap done when their kids are around. Something else always needs your attention. So far he actually seems ok to leave alone for a little bit. I went to the grocery store on Sat. for an hour and a half. I made him promise me that he would not get out of the bed. He sits on the side of the bed and uses a urinal so the whole bathroom thing is less of an issue. I leave the phone with him with my number printed in big numbers, the newspaper, his walkman and the remote. But the whole time I'm gone, I'm worried about whether he has gotten up or not.

My friend and I decided though that taking care of kids is way easier than taking care of someone who used to be a functioning adult. If one of her kids does something they aren't supposed to, she can just send them to their room or ground them. I can't do much about it if Dad refuses to do something. I will say the one liberating thing about my new role as caregiver is that the stupid shit he always wanted me to do as a kid I don't have to do anymore. For example, he always wanted me to put all the things that needed to go on the table for dinner onto this tray. I hated the tray. It was heavy and things had a tendency to teeter off it and I just didn't like it. We used to go 8 rounds all the time over this dumb tray. But early this week I was setting the table and he said you know it would be much more efficient if you used the tray. I replied that I was 30 years old, on verge of getting married, a professional photographer and now 24 hour caregiver, and if I didn't want to use the damn tray there was nothing he could do about it. So there. It was nice. :O)

what a difference a week makes

wow, last week at this time I was at the newspaper in New London finishing up my last night as weekend photo editor. this sunday marks the end of one of my hardest weeks of my life. i got home monday and they released my dad from the hospital on tues. i took him over to the care home i arranged for him after we left the hospital. wed. morning at 6am he calls me saying i have to come pick him up right now because he could not spend another moment in another institution. the first night obviously did not go well. i guess there was some noisiness on the part of the staff at the shift change which pissed him off. plus he said he could hear someone down the hall moaning. so i am now a full time caregiver. the first 24 hours was the scariest. i had no idea what i was doing and i guess i still don't. i didn't sleep much that night because i kept going to check on him, swearing i heard him fall. he was asleep in bed everytime i went to look. i'm going to rhode island next weekend for 4 days so he knows he has to stay there while i'm gone. since wed, i've had him there almost everyday for a shower and for a 4-6 hour stay with hope that easing into it will make it seem less a big deal. i'm probably kidding myself because i know he will hate every moment of it.

he keeps trying to do things the way he has always done. not launching himself forward with the walker at a crazy 45 degree angle has been a tough concept to get through to him. his blood pressure still plummets when he gets up so he has to stand for a few moments before moving to let things level out a bit which he doesn't always remember to do. today he had two dizzy spells but so far (knock on wood) hasn't lost his balance. i have to get him dressed in the morning and poach his egg just right. i have to listen to him bitch about bush or the asinine commercials that he seems to feel forced to watch on t.v. but i think this is the fastest way to some sort of recovery. i'm not sure what is going to happen to my father over the next weeks and months. i hope he can come to connecticut for the wedding. the doctor said that he thought it would be ok. he would just need to get up from time to time.

i just wish he would brighten his attitude about everything. the reason he hates the care home so much, which by the way is not nearly as traumatic as he makes it seem, is that he sees a bunch of old ladies waiting to die and he sees himself in the same position. i try to tell him that this place is not going to be his future. it is a place that will keep him safe until he can get back on his feet again. i actually like all the ladies there and they like him quite a bit, but he won't interact with them much. there is one lady there that definitely has alzheimers but she knows it. our first evening there she kept repeating that her husband owned the feed and seed store and did dad know him. finally after the 10th time the store came up dad said, oh you were just saying that. she apologized and said she didn't mean to repeat herself all the time it just happens that way sometimes. dad says well that's ok i thought maybe you had more than one husband that worked at the feed and seed store. she laughed and said no, just the one, and that's all she could handle. so he could be charming if he wanted to. my mom had an uncle bill who was in his 90's and would say when he got depressed he would go down to the nursing home and help out the old people. i wish dad would help out the old people instead of dwelling so much on how he was one too.

A bit of vacation

So I am headed back to Phx tomorrow after spending 10 days in Connecticut. I had two weddings to shoot during that time, plus I owed The Day a couple of days. Plus I got a lot of stuff done for our wedding. I won't be back in CT until Aug. 29 so I had to meet with a lot of our vendors while I was here.

It was a mixed blessing being here. It was nice to get a break and be able to think a bit outside of all that is happening with my dad. But it was incredibly hard to have to try to manage his healthcare over the phone.

He still is in the hospital. The rehab center was going to release him to the care home right before I left, but then they decided his blood pressure problem was too volatile to have him out of a hospital setting. So they sent him back to St. Joe's neuro lab. He has now been there the entire time I have been gone.

There were some rough patches in the last week. He got extremely dehydrated and his medications were making him out of his head a bit with paranoia. He told me he thought he was in prison and that he'd been trying to call 911 for someone to come rescue him. Then he said that it was a conspiracy and that I was in on it to keep him prisoner.

That was one of the worst conversations I've ever had to listen to. It scared me so much. I called and talked to his nurse who said she was aware of the problem and had called the doctor. I talked to the doctoer later in the day and he said it was a combination of the dehydration and medication. They got an IV in him and my cousin Patty who went down after I called her in a panic said it really calmed him down and made him come around again.

Since then, they did a chest xray and cat scan to make sure that the blood pressure problem was not some rare form of cancer which it was not. However they did find a pulmonary embolism that was lodged between his heart and his lung. They thought with his inactivity lately it formed in his leg and broke off, making it's way back north. They said it was sheer luck that it didn't kill him. So they threaded a filter into the vain to prevent it or anything else that shouldn't be there from making it back to the heart.

So it is a mixed bag going back there tomorrow. I'll be more able to be on top of things, but not very fun things to be on top of.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers through this. My dsl still was not up and functioning when I left so hopefully more posts soon.

American Healthcare for Older People Sucks

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers over the last week. I can't believe that I've only been here a week. Dad is doing okay but is itching to get out of the rehab facility. They orginally were going to release him on Tuesday, but the docs couldn't figure out why his blood pressure was so volital. One minute his blood pressure would be 144/80 lying down. They would have him sit up and it would go down a bit. Then he would stand up and it would plummit to 60/40. Scary stuff and a recipe for a stroke. It seems some of the medication the cardiologist had prescribed after his pacemaker was having a bad reaction. Of course they didn't seem to figure this out until two days ago so he has been pretty unsteady on his feet all week, especially after he ate. You know how they say no swimming after you eat. Same reason, blood goes elsewhere besides your head.

I had the horrible task of looking for a nursing home for my father this week. The rehab facility seems hell bent on getting him out of there. I thought I had found one that wasn't full of drooling people in the hallways that the insurance covered. It was called The Terraces.

NOW HERE THIS!!! THE TERRACES RECEIVED A "D" ON THEIR HEALTH DEPT. INSPECTION!!! DO NOT SEND YOUR LOVED ONE'S THERE!!

The place looked like a spa and I was ready to put my dad there. Then I got a tip to ask to see their state survey. They got a D because some of their patients had fresh bed sores and an entire wing had urinary tract infections!! They only had 1 staff member for every 16 patients. Unbelievable!

I pray that none of you ever have to be in this position. But unfortunately because no one wants to even think about this time in their lives is the exact reason elder care is in such shambles. The Arizona Republic did a big story this past weekend about nursing homes where people died from neglect and were being sued by families. Would you believe that on the "preferred" Blue Cross/Blue Shield list actually had those same facilities listed!!!!

I can't believe that any company who is interested in profits as much as insurance companies are would want their name associated with any sort of establishment that was such a liability.

Unbelievable.

But I found a solution. A wonderful organization here called ElderOp took me to different group homes. I was a little surprised to hear about group homes. I always thought group homes were for troubled teens or people who just got out of jail. I found this amazing care home (better name) that is a couple of miles from dad's house. It is beautiful. Dad would be the 5th resident in this gorgeous huge ranch home. There are two staff members there at all times. The decor is very art deco/ frank lloyd wright. Their meals looked wonderful. They have a pool in the backyard that the residents can use, a brown, fat toto dog named buddy and a giant parrot named xena. It is in no way a nursing home, but a place where he can recoup with 24hour supervision and not feel like he is in an institution. Insurance doesn't pay a dime, but clearly not having them associated makes for a much better environment.

The gal that runs the place is in her late 30's and went to the same high school as I did. She is my new hero.

My internet connection will in theory be up at my dad's house tomorrow so postings I hope will come more frequently.

Going Home

Sorry for my lack of posting over the last few months. Busy, would not discribe my life right now. For those of you who haven't heard, my father fell in late May and fractured his skull. He bled into his brain a bit, but it isn't as serious as it sounds. He spent two weeks at Barrows in St. Joe's Hospital in Phx. Then he was transferred to Health South rehab in Scottsdale and has now been there for almost two weeks. His condition has improved greatly. The head injury affected his speach, swallowing and his short term memory, but overall he is still my dad. He doesn't remember falling he just remembers sitting on the bed at home and the voice coming out of his mouth being garbled and alien sounding so he called 911. The big lump on his head definitely gave the doctors a clue as to what was going on.

I flew out to Phx a few days after it happened and spent a week there. It became abundantly clear to me that I needed to come and spend the summer there to help him get back on his feet. For the most part the decision was rather simple. I had already planned to quit my job at The Day the week before the wedding in Sept. so quitting a few months early wouldn't be a big deal. I do have a few weddings booked to shoot in Connecticut this summer so I will fly back for those.

I came back to Connecticut for two weeks to wrap things up here. I felt I owed The Day two weeks notice. I leave Sunday for Phoenix very early in the morning.

There are so many things at the house that need to be done that have been a bit neglected since mom died. Dad is so arthritic that big projects have been too daunting for him. So I plan to get the house humming again, help dad through this tough time and hopefully pick up some freelance here and there.

I will also try to keep the blog up. I think this summer is going to be very difficult for my dad and I guess for myself. There is a huge possibility that dad will have to retire and maybe not live at the house anymore. Who knows. I'm trying to be optimistic but I don't think he is happy being alone, but probably won't be happy living anywhere else.

Kate Gardiner Photography Blog Up!!

check out the latest addition to Kate Gardiner Photography Today's post is all about the fabulous Holga camera and the nifty images you can make old school style for very little $$$. Cheers!

New Blog coming

So I am revamping my other blog that will be attached to my kate gardiner photography website. I'm kind of fired up about it. I was talking with a bunch of other photographers the other day and they were talking about their blogs. I wasn't sure what they were writing about until I checked some of them out. Mostly they cover cool photo things they find, cool wedding stuff or one guy had just written about chosing a new color for his bathroom. I'll post again when it is up and running!

In the meantime, I am getting used to my new digs. My roommates are super cool. We get involved in conversations and then realize we are late for whatever we were off to do. So that is cool.

I am going to Daytona Apr 1-4 to rescue jason from living in boxland. I'm totally excited to get the place settled. I'll post pix when I them.

new home

sorry i haven't blogged in awhile. the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. i went to florida to find a place for jason and i to live. i found this great apartment in a two family house. it was built in 1938 and reminds me of the inside of Henry Higgins house in My Fair Lady. If you haven't seen this movie definitely put it on your netflix list. It is an enormous apartment. i'm not always the best judge of square feet but i know the place in new london we were living in was 700 sqaure feet and this place could easily fit 3 of our last apartments in it. and it is only $25 more a month than what we were paying here! i was a little dismayed when i first got there because i was sure we were going to have to live in one of those mega-plexes with 400 other people. i actually went to check one out that the lady there told me not to get too close to the pond at the complex because they did have an alligator problem from time to time. WHAT!!?? all of the swiming pools there have a mesh covering over them like a screened-in porch. i assumed it was just to keep the bugs down while you were out there, but no that is just a side benefit. it is so that you don't get a surprise waiting for you in the deep end.

the other odd thing (and trust me there are many) are the billboards advertising specials on handguns at various "discount" gun shops. seriously they showed pictures of which guns were on sale. picture, for those of you in phx, a big billboard on camelback road not telling you about the latest offering from verizon wireless, but a big fat guy pointing the way to his gun store! man and i thought arizona was pretty gun obsessed.

oh and the drive thru cigarette shop was nifty too.

jason and i watched the movers pack up all our crap this week and load it in a truck headed to daytona. (i hope) that was an odd experience. it was great not having to do anything but god help you if you put anything down. my sunglasses were sitting next to my keys on the table and they packed my sunglasses. they also packed my phone charger which was still plugged into the wall. nice.

jason spent the last part of the week here up in springfield, mass. at a big racing expo. who knew they had these? he had to run the booth for the touring series he does p.r. for. we are meeting up in hartford tomorrow to have lunch before he has to fly back to daytona.

i moved my stuff that i managed to wrestle from the movers into my new digs which are literally right around the corner from where we were living before. i met these people through an ad on craigslist. i haven't really seen them at all since i moved in. our schedules seem to be fairly opposite.

whew! guess that's it for now.

Jason's First Day

So today was Jason's first day. He left for Florida Tues night after work about 1:30am. He stopped in Delaware for a few hours of sleep at a hotel and then drove it the rest of the way. He got to Daytona about 1am Wed. night. Just talked to him and his first day was a whirlwind of nascar mucky mucks, names, faces and departments. he got an office. no window but it has a door. it is 9pm and he said he was going to read his book for a few minutes but would be asleep very soon. i don't think he's been to bed before midnight in a VERY long time.

Big News

So up to this point I have been introducing the upcoming news as "So I have a bit of news". But I've been told that is not "a bit" of news. And no I'm not pregnant.

Jason has been offered a job doing p.r. for Nascar. So as of Feb. 7, 2007 he will be a new resident of Daytona, FL. I'm going to stay here in New London until after the wedding. Then I will also be a new resident of the Sunshine State. None of this will affect the wedding plans. Too much is already rolling with that to change.

The job will be totally great for Jason. I'm so proud of him. Nascar has minor tracks the way baseball has minor leagues. Jason will be overseeing the p.r. for that segment of the organization. So he will be doing a lot of traveling at least in the beginning to familiarize himself the different tracks. Back during the summer he was talking to their head honcho saying that their website for news of the minor tracks sucked and here were 5 easy ways to fix it. They were farely impressed with what he had to say so they asked if he was interested in a job. They flew him down to Fla. the week of Thanksgiving for an interview. And then made the offer last week. We kept it under wraps until everything was official because this was great opportunity for him and didn't want to jinx it!

They are paying to move us so all our furniture will be gone by the end of Feb. I'm hoping to move into this apartment around the corner from us where they are looking for another roommate. Should know by Wed. whether that will work out. Otherwise I may couch surf for a little while. I'll keep everyone posted. Phone number will stay the same. I knew the moment I got that photo wall up this would happen! :O)

See I told you it was big news!

My First Photo Wall

For years I've wanted to build a photo wall in my house. I always admired ann's and wanted one too. however i HATE dealing with frames, mats, prints and hanging things. For some reason on this day I just was in a mood. I just started hanging everything. I just eyeballed it and it turned out pretty good. I'm going to add a few more small ones at the bottom.

as promised

ok so here are the long awaited photos of my ring! enjoy!

cold finally

well it finally feels like winter around here. after many days of temps within a few degrees of phx, yesterday it was only 30. Today my nifty weather station deb gave me for xmas a few years ago says 44. there are daffodils sprouting in my side yard. it seems they got confused. i need to get some mulch to cover them. poor things.

look i've blogged again!

wow this makes two now!

i got pictures today from a friend from college who just hatched a beautiful daughter, nora rose jarrold (yes ann, its adam) it is so weird how we are all at the ages our parents were when we were born. some, i know passed that point a couple of years ago, but times are different. i think people did adult things sooner then. they say 30 is the new 20 or something like that.

Welcome 2007 and more blogging

So once again after much pestering about my lack of participation in my blog, i have returned. i am posting a photo which, hopefully will work better now that i have moved my blog into their new google system. jason and i did the polar bear dive again yesterday. this is our 5th year of our new years dunking. it almost seemed like cheating though. it was 53 degrees out and the tide was in. piece of cake.

p.s. there was a bit of photoshop done on this photo to keep it a p.g. rated blog.

we've moved!

ok so at the risk of the whole world knowing where we live, our new address XXXXXXXXXXX

(i've deleted our address. if you didn't copy it down then call me and i will send it to you.)
figured it would take me ages to actually send out a mass email. this weekend was a bit nuts because jason's brother got married on sat. i shot the wedding and jason was in it. so after 11 hours of shooting, we fell into bed at 3am. jason's mom and aunt knocked on our door at 7:30 which was great because otherwise i don't think we would have gotten our rears out of bed until noon, we were that tired. other members of his family joined us through out the day so we had 8 people helping us move. it made it soooo much easier. the only downside is that i have no idea where anything is. i'll post some pictures soon.

holy cow twice in one week!

it is so wicked hot outside!!! i'm not knocking those living in the desert. but it is SUPPOSED to be that hot there. it doesn't sneak up on you, it doesn't prevent you from sleeping at night, and i swear i never had my eyeballs sweat the way they do here. of course being the good journalist i am, i have to go immerse myself in other people's sweat misery and document people looking like they are melting into their shoes. this is harder to find than you might think. most people don't walk down the street when they feel this way. they hide. so that leaves construction workers! which are oh so fun to shoot. that statement could be considered dripping with sarcasim if i was dripping with sweat!!

turning 30

so friday was my 30th birthday. i had some issues with it as i think i have written about on previous blogs. i stayed up on thursday night until midnight and i know this is going to sound pitiful, but i actually cried when it hit midnight. dumb, i know, especially since i wasn't born until 1:30am on 7/28/76 and that was phx time. but i woke up friday morning, put on my frida khalo t-shirt (since i figured that if anyone didn't give a rat about their 30th birthday, it would be her) and went about my day. i met with a bride first thing, went to the retired ladies home where i have been working on a photo project, had lunch with jason and then went to target, tipsy. yep, i was parked at target and jason dropped me off after i had a bomber sized corona at lunch. i highly recommend. i got to sober up while debating tiki torches or citronella candles. good times. sunday we had a big bbq in the backyard of our current house. which made it kind of a goodbye party as well as b-day party. but now i feel better about 30. i do feel like i've accomplished something and i also feel a slight divide between me and the 20-somethings that work here at the paper. but i guess that is ok. maybe the phrase should be changed to "don't trust anyone UNDER 30!"

thanks to everyone for the calls, emails and cards. it made the day great!