This week’s theme was “On the Move“. The in-laws were in town for the standard three birthday plus father’s day celebration. As part of that celebration my father-in-law wanted to go on a right down the C&) Canal in Georgetown (more photos here).

I wasn’t sure what to expect… All I knew is that we would be on a boat in the canal which would be pulled by “donkeys”. Well the “donkeys” turned out to be mules and the boat was actually a barge. A few men and one woman (pictured) commanded our vessel dressed in period 1870s garb and gave us a bit of a history lesson during the hour(ish) ride. The highlight of the trip was being raised and lowered in a canal lock which moved our multi-ton barge 8 feet straight up and down.

I know what you’re thinking… “Sit Back and Relax” sounds an awful lot like last week’s theme “Take it Easy“. The thing is they are completely different because last week involved no sitting (except maybe this photo).

Katie and I are moving the Philadelphia next month and the photo above was taken during a trip to find an apartment (which we did!). We’ll be living about a block from Rittenhouse Square and apparently there was a documentary made a couple years ago aptly titled “Rittenhouse Square“.

The photo above was taken at the Amtrak train station shortly after our arrival in Philly. I was a bit sneaky and he never knew I took his photo… After posting to flickr a commenter let me know about a group called 100 Strangers which he thought I may be interested in. The idea of the group is to not only take a photo of a stranger, but to talk to them and “tell their story”. From the group page: “Step out of your comfort zone to a new level of portrait photography. Start by taking 100 portraits of people you don’t know.”

I’m not committing to this just yet, but I am definitely giving consideration to doing the 100 Stranger challenge. I think it could be a good way to take interesting photos and meet some people. Maybe I’ll even attempt to do all 100 strangers in Philadelphia… I’ll have to give this some thought.

“Take it Easy” was more of a command I was trying to get myself to follow this week which didn’t really happen (until the weekend). My birthday was this week and I went to not one but two Orioles games against the Nationals (one win and one loss). Katie arranged for a couple pals from out-of-town to make a surprise visit and we all went to the Saturday game. Stan (pictured) was confused when he didn’t see a hoop anywhere, then apparently took a nap.