We spent a beautiful day in Toronto, Canada today with my brother and his wife and their new boy, Hayden. We went to Toronto Island Park and then Sara and I went to the rotating 360 Restaurant at the top of the CN Tower to celebrate our 17th anniversary – it was very cool! (Especially the glass floor!)
Here are some photo highlights from the day. If you see an emphasis on the Blue Jay’s Roger’s Centre, it is because my brother, Jordan Bastian, covers the team for MLB.com. (Tomorrow I’ll be going to a game with some Canadian friends!)
Reminder: Clicking on any image on my blog loads a larger view.
Luke arrives in Toronto!
Luke checking out the Canadian National Tower! (CN Tower)
Luke and Mommy on our walk to Toronto Island Park
Luke enjoys the Ferry Ride
Luke is quite used to putting up with all Daddy’s pictures!
But-cha gotta admit, this is one cute kid!
Contemplating the Vast Needs of the City
A Steeple Pointing Toward the Answers from Heaven?
Once on the island a Car Ride is discovered!
So is a high flying lift across the park!
But later Luke says his favorite ride was Uncle Jordan’s shoulders. Awwww.
Rainy weather sends us home, but soon clears up.
Soon Daddy and Mommy head out on a date!
The shadow of the Tower looms over the city!
As a Blue Jays game is played BELOW us!
They play into the evening as we eat and the restaurant rotates!
I decide on a possible side job!
The outside observatory is spectacular!
(and extremely windy!!)
Soon we are walking home. Babysitter said Luke will be put out in the hallway at midnight whether we are back or not! (Jordan!) Seriously, they were awesome, they took him to the park while we were at the top of the CN Tower. (First two pictures of this post were taken while we were up there!)
Looks like Luke had a great time with his Uncle Jordan!
And Aunt Kelly! Just for fun, here is this train yard from up above:
Yup, we were 1150 feet above them as they played below us!
And then there is one of my favorite pictures of the day. We were walking home from Toronto Island Park when I saw these giant orange letters and I said to the gang, “Hey, we have to go back! There is a giant “H” we have to pose Hayden peeking out from behind the giant “H!” We did get a good solo shot of him, but before first getting one of him with his favorite uncle:
What are a bunch of Christian’s doing hangin’ around the Devil’s backbone? As I mentioned awhile ago, I have started a guys hiking group here in Colorado, and a few weeks ago, we finally enjoyed our first hike. We explored the Devil’s Backbone up in Loveland, Colorado. Here are some pictures from the day.
(As always, you can click on any picture for a larger view)
Here I am at the entrance, it was a beautiful day!
Here is the Fellowship of the King on one of our stops!
The guys got along pretty well for the most part. (note the sign!)
“Devil’s Backbone” is the name of the rock formation that sticks up and runs through the center of this open space.
At one point, I climbed to the top and got a picture of my shadow…
And a picture through one of the holes in the formation. Cool, huh?
We hiked for about seven hours and nearly nine miles, but it was worth it.
At times the lighting was spectacular, even as clouds began to roll in…
I especially love when there are shadows of clouds on the hills…
Some lonely trees on a distant hill were neat to photograph as well…
We spent some time walking together and sharing what was going on in our lives and ministries, but we also split up and just spent some time alone with God enjoying the scenery and the solitude that an quiet open place like this provides away from people and phones and interruptions…
Sometimes taking the “road less traveled” is exactly the road you need to travel. I know that this day away came right in the midst of a bunch of impending deadlines for me. I actually didn’t “have the time” to take the this day away. But then, when do I truly ever have time to take a day away? Never.
That’s one of the lessons I’ve learned in life, the hard way, that it is precisely when you don’t think you have time to get away, that you need to get away. And you know what? All that stuff that you think can’t wait… it can. There are few things in life that can’t wait a day. In fact, everything can wait a day.
I’ve got a list now of about a dozen guys in the Denver area who are on my invite list for this “Fellowship of the King.” I know only a hand full will be able to make each hike, but that’s O.K. But I’m going to keep inviting them. Each time I can schedule a hike, those who can make it, will be my band of brothers who will join me as we hike and journey together and hang out with God and His amazing creation. I’m already excited about the next amazing hike!
If you aren’t in Colorado, let me encourage you to start something for ministry folks near you! It doesn’t have to be hiking. What refreshes you? But don’t make it “ministry.” And I’m not talking about starting a “ministry network.” I’m talking about getting away from work and talking about work, to just be with God and talk about life and family and what God’s doing in your heart and what on your mind.
That kind of thinking and reflecting just doesn’t happen in your office. You need to get away. You need to get where you can hear God and feel His presence. Where is that for you?
Find it! And go there regularly. God puts places to find Himself everywhere, if you look for them, they can be found, you just have to be looking.
Man, I wish I lived up in one of those homes on top of those cliffs! Those folks have got a view!
And if you are a guy and want to really get away, consider joining me on Yosemite Summit this may – it is the most spectacular place on the earth where God showed off His creative talents and where you will be awe struck at the things He made!
One of the guys e-mailed me this and said he thought perhaps he found the real “devil’s backbone!”
If you are a male ministry leader in Colorado and would like to know when the next Fellowship hike is, be sure to contact me and let me know so I can add you to the invite list!
And no, I’m not referring to almost being struck by lightening in Yosemite last year! Nor am I directly talking about my near heart attack last year either – though for all practical purposes I might as well be. If almost dying twice in 2009 taught me anything (and it taught me a lot!) it made me realize that long life is not something you should assume. So let me say it again, and I really hope you will hear me this time: (this is now directly from my journal on my solo sabbatical)
Everyone ought to almost die. If not, they really should try to pretend or reflect on what it means to live as though they are not sure of long life.
Let me set the record straight. I’m not afraid of dying. Never was. But after almost dying (twice!) I’m no longer afraid of living! I refuse to put off the life I want. If that sounds selfish, let me rephrase it – I refuse to put off what I believe God is calling me to do. (sound better?) I no longer assume far off “somedays” exist! Two to three years is as long as I assume I have. That DOESN’T mean I think I’m a dead man in five years! Without going into detail – I have a clean bill of health, I avoided a heart attack, and have a stent in a healthy heart. It just means that if I want to do something, I START PLANNING IT! I know better now – start planning it, or it’ll never happen!
Someday is just another word for NEVER!
What are you saying you will do someday? Write a book? Go on some dream vacation? Produce a resource? Start a business? (Go on Yosemite Summit or Unbridled?) I can’t even guess what it is for YOU, but YOU know what I’m talking about… I’m scratching that itch RIGHT NOW. I know I am.
The point is, start planning it NOW. At least get out a pad of paper and start scratching out the first few steps.
One of my life long dreams was to go to Yosemite in Winter. It seemed impossible. The only way it happened was to start planning it. And then God came along and took care of the “impossible” part for me! He surprised me by taking care of the one detail I couldn’t manage. Do you think God won’t do that for you? Do you think He loves me more than you? Bah!
Watch this video of my little dream come true. This took over four years to come true. Even longer if you count the years I was too scared and too busy to dream the dream! Enjoy! Two days snow shoeing through Yosemite in winter and then ask yourself,
What “someday” am I not trusting God for? And start planning it.
There is just something amazing about these images of water captured with a high speed camera…
Every time I come across them, I star at them…
and study every detail…
every ripple and splash…
every color and reflection…
knowing that if not for the camera’s super fast shutter…
I could never enjoy this captured moment…
stolen out of time for me…
to hold in my hand… or in my mind…
a moment… forever…
how sweet it is!
an accident? hardly!
a planned disaster, actually!
a beautiful mess.
an explosion of motion and energy…
caught in the motion of the moment…
the camera catches what we miss every day.
MAKES ME WONDER… what do we miss? What could we capture with the camera of our eye, if we would just focus throughout the day? A sweet smile? A gorgeous cloud? A curious animal? An enlightened moment? An encouraged person?
What are the moments of our day that God creates that we miss? The splashes of his Grace? The colorful moments that He gives us? The green lights when we are in a hurry? The short line at the store? The empty parking spot near the door in a busy parking lot? The familiar face in a crowd that calls your name? An unsolicited “I love you” from your child? Whatever they are, don’t miss them today. Capture them in your in your minds’ eye, and cherish them.
(did you scrool too fast? look at the pictures again! did you drive too fast? walk too fast today? slow down already!)
Well, I was going to keep this kinda quiet… but word is getting out about my electrifying experience with lightening in Yosemite and the pressure for me to tell the “full story” is increasing, so I’m giving in hoping this doesn’t discourage anyone from coming to Yosemite Summit in the future!
The question I keep getting is, “Were you really struck by lightening at Yosemite?” Well, since I’m typing this from my current location on earth (rather than heaven) the technical answer is, NO! But… I was in the middle of a strike that hit trees all around me and there is that mysterious jagged hole in my poncho to account for! So when I posted on Twitter and Facebook that my most exciting experience at Yosemite was being struck by lightening… it wasn’t much of a stretch!
So here’s the story! We started out Day One with a spectacular all day hike that began at Sentinel Dome, where the view is absolutely breath-taking. Here we all are on the top of Sentinel Dome:
After our chapel time and quiet times alone, we took the Ponomo Trail, a little traveled segment of a longer trail, in order to loop around through the woods and then to the edge of Upper Yosemite at the top of Sentinel Fall. Here we are at the top:
Yes, I photo-shopped myself into this picture, since I took it! You can’t see the water fall in this picture, because, well, we are above it, BUT you can see we are higher than El Capitan in the background! O.K., here is a picture of the falls… as close to it as I wanted to get:
It’s hard to tell in the picture how HIGH we are, but that is the valley below, some 3000+ feet below! Here is a view of it (from Google images) from the bottom, it cascades for awhile before it final long drop to the valley floor:
Next we left the sunny warm open areas and entered into a forest where the temperatures were still cool and snow was still on the ground!
We forged rivers… (OK, one creek)
and finally all arrived at Taft Point at different times since the group spread out over time depending on their hiking pace and whether they constantly stopped to take pictures. Which is why I usually am one of the last to arrive at the meeting spots. Taft Point is simply amazing!
Taft Point is one of the highest places that has a STRAIGHT DOWN view, over 3500 feet. (hard to see in this photo, but there is one of the few railings in all of Yosemite at the very tip where you see the guys standing!)
I know, I know… what about the LIGHTENING!? I just want to make sure you know, it’s not like we just went to Yosemite and got attacked by lightening, it was a spectacular day… with an even more spectacular ending! So, on to the lightening…
Here’s me at Taft Point, in what very well could have been the last picture of me ever taken! It indeed was the last picture of me that day! By the time I got to Taft Point, we had started to see some clouds appearing East of us toward Half Dome and heard some thunder in the distance. It is a known fact for Yosemite hikers, that being out on large open granite surfaces is not safe if lightening is even remotely possible, as the lightening, being unable to absorb into the rock, will travel across the surface at, well, lightening speed, until it finds grounding. Being in the path of that lightening is, well, let’s just say, not recommended. Oh, and Taft Point is a huge open granite area, oh, and with a metal railing at the highest point!
As the leader of the expedition, and taking our group’s safety seriously, as soon as I got to Taft Point, I called out to the guys that we needed to leave and skipped going up to the point myself even though I’d hiked all day with this being the final destination. But there was another “final destination” I wasn’t interested in reaching today, if possible. Let me say for all the wives reading this – the group was not in any danger at this point, but we weren’t going to stick around until we were!
We regrouped, counted to nine (something we did often!) and once we knew the entire group was accounted for, headed back to the van. At this point, due to the loop we were doing, we were only about a mile and a half from the van. We headed back, and over the course of that last segment, the group spread out again until six were back at the van and I had two guys with me. About half way to the van the rain started, and by the time we got near the parking lot it was pouring HAIL. Seriously! We went from a beautiful sunny day with clear skies to rain and hail!
AND NOW THE EXCITING PART! (you skipped to here, didn’t you?)
Because the trail was blocked by a creek and in the rain we didn’t want to walk across the log that would normally be the easy way across, the three of us headed down river a bit until we could find some rocks in the creek that were high enough to cross over. I went first, called out to the two guys behind me that I’d found an easy way across, and then headed up toward the road. I could see that I was about 200 feet from the road, and gathered that the parking lot was probably another 200-300 feet up the road. I was almost out of the storm and into the van! I was feeling bad knowing that the six ahead of me were locked out of the van in this hail, but fortunately they had found a small pavilion to huddle under.
At this point everything is both fuzzy and crystal clear – don’t ask me to explain that – but as soon as I reached the road and started to walk toward the van – IT HAPPENED. It is difficult to describe. The words I have to use don’t do it justice. But there was this incredible NOISE – yes, an explosion, all around me. Scared is not the word. I was beyond scared, but only for a nano-second, honestly. It was like I was so terrified in that instant as I had no idea what was happening – I just froze – then I saw red billowing flames ahead of me followed by a pillar of smoke of biblical proportions and realized that lightening had struck VERY close. For the next few seconds, I wondered if I was dead. That sounds strange, but I just had a stent put in my heart a month before, and had been given the OK to go to Yosemite via stress test, but in that frozen moment, I wondered, “If your heart stops, do you feel it?” I couldn’t feel anything anywhere in that moment, so I wondered, “Do you die instantly, or do I have a minute to soak in life?” It was literally just a few seconds and I could feel that I was truly was OK and not about to keel over. I heard the guys behind me calling out to me and asking if I was OK. I heard them, but was still in shock (no pun intended) so while I answered, I knew they couldn’t hear my soft answer. When I could, I yelled that I was OK, and we’d better get to the van as fast as possible. I was finally able to look away from the explosion that was still smoking and noticed wood fragments were scattered everywhere, I instinctively reached down and picked up the piece at my feet before starting toward the van, the last two guys were now with me.
Yes, I thought of taking pictures or grabbing my video camera. No, I didn’t!
When I was walking toward the van my head was down and I noticed that there was a huge jagged hole in my poncho. Was I struck by lightening?!?!? It was a brand new poncho and it had been fine before the lightening strike! It was then that I realized my leg hurt a little. Not much, but like I’d been hit. We got to the van and I just handed the key over and asked another guy to drive, I was still kinda in shock. (not literally!) I was wearing zip off pants that convert to shorts so I unzipped them to look where my leg hurt, and there on my leg was a bruise – not huge, but clearly new. (I took a picture, but I’m sparing you that!) I looked at the wood in my hand and realized I must have been hit with “shrapwood” from the exploding tree! (Later, when putting my PJ’s on, I was to discover multiple bruises, I had been hit in several places by flying wood!)
The conversation in the van was charged with excitement. This was both exciting and sobering. Debate broke out on where the lightening struck, and how close it was to me. The guys by the van saw it hit much higher and farther away than I described. The guys behind me described it as being even closer to me than I thought. It was a bit of a puzzle, but we were curious, so we decided to return the next day to investigate.
The following morning was our sunshine at Glacier Point, which just happens to be a mile or so farther down the road than where we had parked the van the day before. It was pitch black out when we drove by so we couldn’t see anything.
After an awe-inspiring time at Glacier Point and our chapel time, we headed back to to the cabin to pack up for our hike that would begin in the valley today… but not without stopping first at the scene of the crime from yesterday:
Of course, I wanted to go back to the very spot I had been standing when the lightening struck! It felt kinda wierd to revisit the spot. My foot prints were visible and it appeared, that contrary to what I remembered, I had actually moved backward 4-5 feet reacting to the explosion, judging by the foot prints and dug in impressions that matched my shoes. (We were all acting like CSI guys!) Most of the wood debre was now gone, either washed away in the storm, or perhaps cleaned up off the road, but as I was standing in “the spot,” someone pointed out the large piece of tree that was lying RIGHT NEXT to where I had been standing!
It may go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway… what if THIS ’stick’ had hit me? In a very large area, on BOTH sides of the road, wood scraps lay everywhere.
Not all of it was on the ground, some was up in trees:
Look a little closer, that’s not a twig!
As we walked up and down the hill, it turned out ALL the reports in the van were correct, as lightening had struck several trees, on all sides of me, in an area probably more than 50 feet circle.
This is the tree that I saw on fire and whose fragments probably hit me. It doesn’t look like much damage to the tree from here, but up close it’s kinda crazy…
Wood was ripped off these trees so fast and so hard that branches still stuck out in places like rebar from concrete! And the parts of the trees that were damaged spiraled from top to bottom, so it was hard to get a picture of all the damage.
Here you can kinda see how the damage spirals toward the top of the tree! And there is another 8 feet below and up higher on the other side toward the top!
Hard to even image the POWER of something that can rip through a tree like this!
Matt McDaniels holds up a massive segment of a tree he found… yeah, I know.
Me and my tree. Wow.
Well, what can I say? Yosemite Summit was a blast. Can’t wait until next year. Statistically, it can only be safer!
In conclusion, one of the guys shared at our chapel time the next day that God had given him a verse for me, and thought perhaps this could be my theme verse for Yosemite Summit 2009. I think I like it!
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him —
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
Psalm 18:11-12
Yes, I still have that piece of wood I picked up, and plan to keep it as a reminder of how God protected me that day. Every day of life is truly a gift… perhaps that is why it is called the Present.
Today is Mother’s Day! So, of course, we were celebrating Sara today! Luke even picked out his first present for mommy. (Actually, it was his first time going shopping to pick out a present for someone, and how appropriate that it be for mom!) After brunch at mommy’s favorite restaurant, we headed to the park to play. Dad brought along his new fish eye lens which he got for Yosemite Summit which is coming up fast!
I had some fun experimenting with a fish eye lens, its very cool!
The Bastian Family – Mother’s Day 2009
Luke at the bottom of the slide
Whoa! That looks pretty intimidating!
Peeking up over the side as the boy approaches
Is that MY kid? What a cutie!
A here is the official MOM OF THE YEAR in the Bastian House!
and why do we love her so much? here are just a few reasons:
What is my favorite subject? Is it math? science? English? recess?! Nope – it’s not a school subject at all, its a photography subject: my little boy.
Daddy and the Boy
Today we headed over to Garden of the God (note: I leave off the “s” as it is not Garden of the Gods, but of the One True God and Creator whom I worship!) While Luke’s favorite thing was the toy cars for sale at the Trading Post, my favorite was getting to take pictures of him at this beautiful place! (not my first time here!) And it should be noted, that if I’m in the picture, Sara took the shot, and she’s not a bad photographer herself! (She’s a great photographer!)
“Look Dad, a ROCK!”
I love Luke’s curiosity and enthusiasm over the littlest things. Often I had to call him on to see greater things when he was content with a little stone or stick. I wonder if my heavenly Father ever is trying to lead me to more amazing things and if I get content with lesser things and nearly miss the greater?
Luke in his “special place”
Luke loves finding little places he can crawl into and feel like it is his own “special place.” Many times, even just at home, he finds the greatest pleasure out of the simplest things. What a lesson to us who sometimes place the bar so high in order to be moved or excited that we miss the joy that can be found in the little things and little places that are all around us.
He just can’t help it.
Of course, I think my son is adorable. But I especially enjoy it when others walking by stop to compliment my wife and I on our cute little boy. The power of encouraging words. A reminder to not always be focused on our own enjoyment, but to make the effort to encourage others along the path, even in little ways – it can mean a lot!
Between a Rock and Cute Place
As I look at this massive rocks and wonder about the ways they were slowly formed over time I can’t help also thinking about the ways my little boy is being slowly formed over time. I’m not the only influence, and my influence will slowly diminish, but everything I do right now is having a major impact on shaping the boy (and the man) he will become. The words I use, the way I react to him and events, the tones I use, the attitudes I model, the instructions I give, but more importantly, the example I give – are shaping him. What a scary honor!
Future Heart Breaker
When you look at my son, you see a cute boy. When I look at the same picture I see so much more… because I know him. I am enjoying his daily developments, his growing sense of humor, his budding interests and talents as well as his sin nature I am working to correct from the heart rather than merely by seeking to change behavior. I see the boy inside and love him more than I could ever describe. A cute kid to you is a part of my life and very reason for living. I wonder how my heavenly Father looks at a picture of me? You see me – but God sees ME.
“I’m Stuck!”
He didn’t get stuck, but he surprised me with his courage! There was a crack through this giant rock about the length of our van, and I asked him to stand in the crack for a picture. The next thing I knew he disappeared deep into the rock to appear out the other side! I worried for a minute that if he got stuck I wouldn’t be able to get in there to help him, though he easily fit through with some careful footwork. I wouldn’t have told him to venture in and out the other side, but his adventurous spirit made this dad proud.
“I see you!”
Here is Luke peeking out of a crack out the side, half way through the crack he explored to my surprise. I love the adventurous exploratory spirit of children. TOO MANY adults lose that zeal to learn and explore and GO where they have never been before. We become too content with our routines and “responsibilities.” When is the last time you blew off “normal life” and explored something or somewhere? If you can’t remember, you are over due!
TOP OF THE WORLD!
I was asked recently how being a dad had changed me. The question surprised me. Not that I couldn’t go on and on talking about it. But it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. (Getting married is up there pretty high too!) I thought for a moment on how to answer and finally said, “I always thought I loved children more than most people, in fact, I didn’t think it was possible for me to love a child any more than I aleady did. But once I became a dad, I discovered why there is a completely different Greek word for parental love – because it is a deeper, and richer and more powerful love than I had ever experienced before. Something that can never be explained, only experienced.”
Being a dad has changed me to the core in ways I could never articulate. But most of all, I think I understand now what it really means to be a child of God. That understanding deepens and expands every day in ways I never could have anticipated.
Being a dad is one of the single greatest thing in life. I can’t wait until tomorrow!
I know I’m supposed to be taking it easy and recovering from near death and all that, but today we planned a whirlwind fun day that was relaxing and enjoyable – both because of the people we hooked up with and the sights we saw! We started out in Colorado Springs (where we are staying) and went up to Littleton to have breakfast with ToddLiebenow, the Top Puppeteer and El Presidente of One Way Street, and #1 puppet and creative ministry supplier in the world. (for real) I’ve long wanted to see the OWS headquarters, and finally got to!
Todd Liebenow and Karl
The extra treat was that I had Sara and Luke with me and my little boy (who adores all my puppets) got to see “where puppets come from” with a tour of the factory. I could not photograph much out of fear of compromising industry secrets, but here is Lukey with some eyeless lambs:
Luke among the Lambs
After One Way Street we headed up to Loveland to the Group Publishing headquarters where I had a meeting with Christine Yount who, besides being executive editor of CM Mag, has a new official title I love: Children’s Ministry Champion. (I guess there is room for another!)
Group’s Lobby has a TALKING moose head!
I also got to finally meet CM Mags managing editor, Jennifer Hooks who I’ve known only via e-mail as she has edited some of my writing for Group such as The New Deal article in the Jan/Feb ‘09 issue. Why was I meeting with these ladies? (I also met with a business guy about a deal on CM Mag for Kidology.org members that should be in place soon, just another perk for Kidology.org members!)
Ever wonder where the other end of the moose was?
ANYWAY, I was there to finalize the details for a column in Children’s Ministry Magazine. That’s all I can say at this time, but I’m very excited to be a regular contributor to the magazine now. More details soon! (I’m so sorry I forgot to get a picture with the Groupies – but I got the moose!)
After I left Group we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park hoping to see some live animals as well as some spectacular mountain scenes. I wasn’t disappointed! On the way out I caught this Mountain Goat on film:
It really is a mountain goat!
O.K., so that picture isn’t that great, but I had to turn on the camera and point fast! (And no, I was not driving, Sara was driving so I could enjoy the view and take pictures)
As you can see, the driving was a LOT of fun!
If I ever came to this park as a child, I don’t remember it, and I was very much impressed with how beautiful it is! Not quite Yosemite, but it’ll do!
Snow covered peaks above Rocky Mountain National Park
Lots of variety from the mountains to the landscapes and an abundance of roaming animals!
Unfortunately, Luke slept through most of the animal sightings – but we’ll be back! He just woke up when we got to Bear Lake and went for a short hike to see the snow covered frozen lake:
The Bastians on Bear Lake! (luckily, no bears!)
It was a short visit, but I considered it a teaser and plan to be back here many times in the not so distant future! I feel like I’m home here – as my earliest memories are from when I lived in Colorado as a boy.
Here’s a few more pictures from our special day (as we called it for Luke)
Mommy and Luke
Daddy and Luke
Sunset over the Rocky Mountains
Dusk in the Valley
Luke in his favorite spot – Dad in his.
I love Colorado. I am praying that God might enable me to raise my son here. I love the climate, the scenery, the culture, the people, the opportunities to explore God’s creation, and the presence of God I feel when I am here. Pray with me that my family might be able to call this home some day.
I have often been asked to blog about Mac Tips (since I know a LOT of Mac secrets!) Well, tonight I responded to a fellow Twitterer with some help with iPhoto and after sending the e-mail, thought I’d post it here just in case it helps someone else.
QUESTION: How to you combine multiple iPhoto Libraries onto one drive and access each of them?
I recently combined all my iPhoto libraries onto one external drive because I had multiple iPhoto Libraries and it was getting a little crazy:
Macbook Pro (2003-2006, and 2006-2008, i had started over when it got too big)
macbook air (used when I travel)
mac mini (family photos)
mac G4 (scanning old family photos)
But I got to where I had to keep switching between machines or remember which machine had which photos. I finally wanted to get them ALL onto my Mac Mini since it has the massive monitor and a double decker external drive for back up.
While there is no easy way I know of to combine them all into one library, I actually don’t think you want to, every time I hit 10,000+ photos in a library it gets slow, because, as Apple won’t tell you, when you open iPhoto is loads EVERY thumbnail in your library upon opening, and it kills your memory and makes your machine start to drag. I wish upon opening it would open only the most recent import folder. (Duh) But I’m not on their payroll and I doubt they read my blog!
ANYWAY! The solution is actually rather easy!
Copy all the iPhoto Libraries you have to the external drive, and rename them each to a name that makes sense to you. Renaming iPhoto libraries does not effect the files inside, but DO NOT rename anything inside or iPhoto will fail to open them!
For example, my libraries are named:
iPhoto 2003-2006
iPhoto 2006-2008
iPhoto 2008 (just started this January)
iPhoto Yosemite (I made a new library on my Air when i went to Yosemite Summit)
iPhoto Family Archive (i am scanning family photo archives from my parents, want to keep separate)
iPhoto Temp (for when I am just doing a project and using iPhoto as a tool rather than a place to save photos long term.)
HERE’S THE GREAT TIP: When when you open iPhoto, HOLD DOWN OPTION while clicking the iPhoto icon and it will bring up a window offering 3 choices: Quit, Create Library, and Choose Library
Note: occasionally it opens under other windows, so if you are waiting too long while holding option, let go of the option and touchpad/mouse button and use expose’ to see all windows and you’ll see it.
Quit: Duh
Create Library: you can make a new one here, and you can navigate anywhere to make it, even an external drive. No need to be limited to your Pictures folder.
Choose Library: Navigate to where ever your iPhoto Libraries are, even on an external drive and pick the library you want to view/use.
NOTE: If you just open iPhoto without holding Option, it will just open the last library you used, so you can have a default one if you want, just always open it once when you are done using another, or remember to Option choose the one you want when you open iPhoto.
SHOULD ALSO NOTE: If you are putting all your iPhoto libraries onto one drive, be sure you mirror it once in a while to another drive, or you’ll be crying the day that drive fails and you lose all your photos. (Yes, even Macs can have a hard drive fail, that is life, and when Jesus promised in this world you will have tribulation, he may have been thinking about PCs, but Macs can fail too.) I don’t think Time Machine will back up an external drive!
I also use this to give my wife access to one of my libraries as a “read only” – she knows any edits I won’t get, but having access to a backup of my library saves her needing to ask me for a picture she needs.
I hope this helps those with multiple iPhoto libraries or who would like to be able to better organize and manage their photos with separate libraries.
The annual pass to Brookfield Zoo has turned out to be a good investment. Free parking. Free admission. Free soda. (good on the wallet, not so much on the waist!) Free shuttle ride. Free shows. Too bad it takes about $20 in gasoline for us to get there and back!
Of course, we saw all kinds of animals! (Took the ones above from the tram!) I enjoy taking pictures of the animals – I do not enjoy smelling them!
However, it is not the animals that Luke enjoys the most. Oh, sure, he likes them. He’ll look at them when we point, and can even identify several by name. But there are other “creatures” on display at the Zoo that he will run to! And he’ll spend more time with each of these “animals” studying them, than he will on anything with fur or wings or hooves. Yup, you guessed it, the Cars on display from various dealerships.
Oh, yes. The cars. When we said we are going to the Zoo today, Luke’s answer is, “See Cars?” But our favorite thing about the Zoo is not the animals or the cars… it is being in a safe place where Luke can run around and enjoy a rare form of freedom to lead us around for a change, and for me, it is a wonderful opportunity for my hobby – “Luke Photo Journalism.” Here are some of my favorites from today. (Thanks for indulging me!)
Luke enjoying the playground. It’s a tunnel!
Luke behind bars… “I’m innocent!”
Luke, the fashion model.
Luke, the old fashioned greeting card.
Eager to get on the carousel.
Around and around with Dad.
Proof that I take pictures of my wife too!
It was a great day hanging out with the family. One of my good friends, Alan Root, said recently at Kid U, “Every day God gives us a gift – he gives us today. That is why it is called the Present.” It was a good reminder to live in the moment and enjoy TODAY. As Jesus said, “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
