Category: Family

Devin at Dartmouth

Family, Portraits


My posts this week have been from our trip up to New Hampshire to see my son Devin who is entering graduate school at Dartmouth College. Like most students in this day and time, he’s having to figure out how to finance his education and live. So, for the time being, he’s working at a food co-op in Hanover. He’s enjoying his experience and he likes the people he works with. Just one ironic note. They’ve placed him in charge of the beer aisle, and unlike most college students, he doesn’t drink.

Below, son and mom shopping on the street.

(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Hospital Art

Family

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

My son Devin’s friend Cally (Cally and Devin are seen above during a visit) has spent most of the summer in the hospital at UNC-Chapel Hill. She hasn’t been ill though, rather she is taking part in a choline depletion study for the Nutrition Dept at UNC. That means eating food that has no choline in it, which is pretty much nothing but sugar and water and a small amount of protein. Though she does have the chance to get outside for a few hours each day, most of her existence is in a small hospital room and the adjacent hall. Being forced to live in a contained space is at the least stressful, and Cally is doing her best to cope with the situation. Stress sometimes triggers a rise in creativity, and Cally has been doing just that. She reads, writes in a journal, and most interestingly, draws on her food service placemats after each “meal”. She has created quite a portfolio of wonderful illustrations, some of which appear below. Click on the image for a larger view.


(all illustrations copyright 2009 by Cally Womick, used with permission)

Christine

Family, Portraits

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

My wife Dedra and I raised two boys, so for years we never knew what daughters were like. My older son Tristan changed that last year when he married Christine, so we finally have that daughter. All I can say is we didn’t know what we were missing. Christine has lightened up the lives of our whole family. She’s a keeper.

On the Road to New Hampshire. The adventure begins.

Family, Portraits

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

This morning my wife Dedra and I dropped our younger son Devin at the train station in Greensboro to catch a train to Boston. Devin is on his way to Hanover, New Hampshire for a job and graduate school at Dartmouth College, which is a long way from Grays Chapel, North Carolina. We will miss him profoundly, but a new adventure in life awaits him. Godspeed Son, we love you.

Cousin Sarah

Family, Portraits

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

I went up to Virginia Beach a couple of weeks ago to teach a digital camera workshop. While I was there, my cousin Sarah graciously allowed me to stay at her and her husband Don’s home. Sarah and I grew up together in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Her family lived just a half mile or so down the road and all of us kids were like one family. I enjoyed our short visit. She is a gorgeous lady and a great hostess.

High School Graduation Congratulations

Family, Portraits

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Congratulations are in order for my son’s friend Cally Womick who graduates this evening from Gray Stone Day School, a charter school located on the campus of Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina. An Honor student at Gray Stone, Cally will be attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in the Fall on a full academic scholarship. Cally is the daughter of Chip and Sharon Womick of Ramseur, North Carolina.

Old Farm Outbuildings

Agriculture, Family, Farm, Randolph County


The most interesting things sometimes on old North Carolina farm homeplaces are the many outbuildings. At my Grandfather’s homeplace in Grays Chapel (Randolph County,south of Greensboro) there are several; a smokehouse, a washhouse, a chicken coop, pack house and grainery, besides the regular barn. Each had it’s specific use and each still has it’s own personality.


(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

Purple Iris

Family, Flowers, Randolph County

(photograph copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)

I live in my great-grandfather’s house on the family farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, just south of Greensboro. My immediate family has lived on that farm for almost one hundred years. A lot of the plants and flowers around our house date back to or are part of the original root stock from those planted by my grandparents and great-grandparents. For instance, we have a huge English boxwood and a magnolia that have to be at least a hundred years old each. Outside of our bay window is a flower bed full of iris transplanted from my grandmother’s garden. They are an old fashioned variety and are now at their annual full bloom.