The Stone House

Time apart and a new blog

2010-01-03T22:50:00.004-05:00

Chris and I have come to a mutual decision that we need some time apart. I have found a place to live in Harpers Ferry, a little over 10 miles away from the house (yeah yeah... I know what you're thinking, Harpers Ferry isn't even 10 miles long, but it's considered Harpers Ferry. Hank and June and I will be just a short drive up the mountain). We moved in at the end of December (that's right, just a few days ago, so I'm still unpacking). Chris and I will remain close; visiting for support and friendship, shared hound care when we're busy, etc, so, we're doing all right, and will continue to support one another, we just think that we'll be stronger as friends than in a failing relationship.

That said, I'm ending this blog as I no longer live in the stone house. I have started a new blog for myself and hope that Chris does the same for himself. The stone house is a really beautiful place and I hope that he will blog about his renovation efforts and his plans for the future... I will say no more... see this is why he needs to blog!! (Hint Hint, nudge, nudge, say no more, mums the word...) oh Monty Python... so great.

Anyhoo, here's the address to my new blog, I hope that you'll continue to peek into my silly life and that it still amuses you.

www.bluehousereddog.blogspot.com

Cheers friends, and Happy New Year!

-m

Scotty and Nikki

2009-12-21T10:47:00.003-05:00

Scotty and Nikki came over last night and we had a marvelous time together. It was our first time meeting Nikki, even though Scotty's been talking about her for months. We were of course charmed and think that Scotty made a brilliant choice in partner. Here are a few pictures of them.
They're a relatively new couple and of course they tried not to be all over each other, but seriously... Chris and I had to look at all of this new love oozing from them all night... hahaha, ugh!!!
but Jeez Louise, look at how happy Scotty looks... so we all ate crazy amounts of fondue and watched he and Nikki act like mushy teenagers in love... it was sweet...
oh for the love of all things holy!! Even the dogs had to look away!!! hahahahaha!!
We had a great night, yous twos, please come back and be mushy again soon!
Cheers!

More snow dog pictures

2009-12-20T11:24:00.006-05:00

Enjoy! It's a beautiful cooooold day, perfect for digging out the cars and making snow tunnels (and fondue for dinner tonight).
June jumps into the snow and then turns around and won't let Cane into the pile... hahaha
jumping out
jumping in... in out, in out...
defending the castle
dude, totally leaving the bossy castle...
hahaha, my car's in there somewhere too!
Cane is an amazing catcher, and June was quick to pick up the game
hahaha!! not as graceful, but she had so much fun!
Showoff!!
hahaha, still a bossy snow queen
oh her sweet sweet face... she's so great!!
Hahaha! Check out the mad snow! The park service was out at the crack of dawn clearing the park roads and walkways... Here they are clearing off the pathways to John Brown's Fort
Cheers!

2009 snowstorm

2009-12-20T08:50:00.008-05:00

June and Cane had an awesome time and Hank lay by the fire, warm and happy on the couch, wagging furiously everytime we returned home. Here are some pics.
Saturday morning when we got up, it had already snowed 12 inches and it would continue to snow all day long. Check out the dinky windshield wipers piking through...
by Sunday morning, over 2 feet had fallen... hahaha where'd the wipers go?
but back to Saturday, here's Chris measuring the 15 inches early afternoon on Saturday
of course we went out to play. This was our second snow, the first one was 2 weeks ago, and it was very light and didn't stay. Chris said that the hounds had a great time (I was in DC, and so missed June's first encounter with the white stuff)
She LOVE IT!!!
she kept trying to engage Cane in play when all he wanted to do was find a spot to make yellow snow
bahahaha
I made her sit for her picture, she wasn't too pleased, she wanted to play!
it went play nap, play nap, all day long.
The town was completely empty. I saw Dean post some snow pics on Facebook, but we were out at different times, it was like the whole town was our to play in
June gets crazy face when she plays. She's so gentle and sweet, but when she plays with Cane outdoors, she goes crazy and puts on her evil face
This is not her evil face, this is her, hmm, maybe I like snow being shoveled onto me face
hahaha, even Cane was impressed with how much June loves the snow
I've got to switch lenses and get a good snow face picture
inbetween napping and playing with all of us out there, she'd sneak off to the backyard and play on her own, and we;d laugh when she came in all covered in snow while we were warm on the couch... she just can't get enough!
hahaha
So, this morning (Sunday) we were up at 8am, and at it again. I think we're going to do this all day long again. Out for 10-15 minutes until we can't feel our toes and then in for an hour or two, then out again...
ooh, hahaha! here's her evil face again
oh she's a crazy Yetti in the snow!
hahaha snow face
we got so much snow! it's really amazing! I haven't seen this much snow more than once or twice in my life, and it's always been either in DC (1996 was HUGE) or once in Canada when Christopher and I got snowed in (1999) by accident. I know that the plows make crazy berms, but still, the snow was higher than either dog, even in places that hdn't been touched by the plow... we got some SNOW!
hahahaha, Cane's nose was all I could fit into the picture (standing with a fixed 50, too close)
hahahaha, so much snow, I'm a little in shock, I want to be out in it, but warm, so in and out we go...
I'll post more as soon as we go out again!
Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-19T00:54:00.005-05:00

Aly, sorry to post this, but it was so awesome... this is the beauty of friends... right here...
this is why everything you do matters to someone and why friends are so important (this little chat left me beaming), silly in the cups or otherwise, do no harm, have some silly fun in the safety of your home and love your friends... Happy holidays everyone!!
12:40 AM aly: R you ready for the snow :P

me: seriousl!!

aly: ?

me: girl, we're getting 16-20 inches

WTF!!!

aly: is it snowing like crazy?

me: how bouts you

aly: No the f way?

12:41 AM Nada

me: UGH!!!!

aly: not til Sat and early Sun....a slow movin storm

me: WTF!!! Tomorrow is Chris' b-day party and no one's coming

sigh

aly: Wahhaa?

Not a one?

Boo.

Scotty

me: well, Jay ad Mike and girls are stuck in DC

aly: Donnie

12:42 AM me: Chris' old friends are stuck in Annapolis

aly: Yeah, no one can go cause of the snow now...

me: Donnie's plowing snow for Louden county

I know right, it's 40th!!

aly: So... just the 2 o ya

me: seriously

feel bad

12:43 AM hows yous

aly: Wow. That is kinda sad, bad snow

me: not really, don

aly: I'm OK too cold...

me: 't feel bad, he loves the snoe

snow

sory drunk

me din;

drunk

aly: yea! me too

me: hehehe

hahahah

nice

12:44 AM me: hahaha werd, too much red wine

me too

aly: Need to shift gears...

whoohoo!

more red wine

me: hehe

more red wine

aly: i'll think about that tomorrow....or perhaps at the first of the year..... : )

12:45 AM me: whatevs

drink is hibernation

gone in the spring

hahaha I spelled hibernation right

hahahahaha

12:46 AM we jjst need ot exercise the same amountof time we drink

then we'll be happy

right?

hahaha

aly: word.

me: luffs yous

going to crash

what are you doing for new years

aly: outake has to superceede the intake

me: werd

12:47 AM aly: i did not spell superceede right

hahaaaaaa

me: but i understuud

ood

hHh

aly: ood?

hHh?

me: I;M saving this message for sure

unserstOOD

oh sorry

aly: werd.

12:48 AM me: hahaha I still speelled it wrong

hahaha

aly: duddddde

me: oh bals

ballls

aly: balls

me: hahahaha

thanks

oh dear

aly: THAT I can spel.

me: hahaha

I gotta go

aly: spell.

me: this is awesome

aly: hahahaaaaaa

me: hahahaha

aly: xo

me: stipid

xo!!!

aly: happy b day to Chris!

12:49 AM me: YAY!!

aly: woof!

me: talk to you tomorrow

The Pig Nose Project

2009-10-27T06:31:00.006-04:00

While I was up in New York with the family in July, I brought with me a pig nose that Aly had gotten from some event at Discovery and was in her trash pile.
I rescued it and stuffed it into the one spot in my car not consumed by Aly's stuff when I moved her up to New York (under the drivers seat). So, after depositing her and her things in lower Manhattan, shaking my fist at the f'ed up driving patterns of the city, and fleeing towards Route 87, I made my way to Middletown, empty car, in need of a beer, and happy to be with family... oh, and the new owner of a pig nose.
Well, what does one do with a pig nose but humiliate ones relatives, correct? Hahahaha, not if they're mine.
I started with Aunt Martha, whom hates having her picture made, and we got to giggling.
She made my picture and we started guffawing,
Kurt and Heather saw them and got in line,
Uncle Bill threatened to not take it off and from there is spiraled towards Mandi's wedding, the Pig Nose Project was born.
It started out as a joke to me, just goofing with Aunt Martha, but when I look at the pictures, the smiles people have when the pig nose is obscuring their faces are huge, when they take the pig nose off, the next few frames I made of them are not nearly on the same level of joy.
There's something that feels so good about feeling silly for a moment... and it shows in the images.
It's a social experiment, there's the person, loved one, I see everyday, pretty faces, comfortable faces, and then, when the pig nose is firmly in place, there's the secret part of that person, brimming with love or naughty mirth, the parts of the person that makes them special, peeking out over that pig nose for just a moment, and smiling at me, or barring their teeth, hahaha who can tell the difference sometimes, but all in good humor I'm sure..., and then the pig nose comes off and the public face is there again. It's fascinating that a nose that should make people look silly, makes them shine.
I keep the nose on my dresser. It's going back up to New York with my in December and then down to Miami in January. I'm sure it will go to Thanksgiving, and I'm giving an 'all call' to anyone who wants their picture made with the pig nose, come on up to HF and strap it on...

Cheers!

Reece's first Birthday party

2009-10-12T11:51:00.002-04:00

Chris and I went to Reece's first birthday party yesterday, and had a great time. Jenna and Pete have wonderful friends and I love her parents to death! Here's an album of images from the afternoon. I wish I had the time to talk about this properly, but I'm on hold until December (when I actually have some time). If you click on one of the slideshow images, it will take you to the album if you wanted to see the images in a larger frame.

Cheers!

for Hope and peace

2009-10-09T11:48:00.003-04:00

(I borrowed this image from a ChicagoLand TV blog)
I was scanning the news this morning waiting for some images to upload, and I saw this article

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

and I wanted to cry. Somebody still sees the light. I've been amazed at how this country, once so moved to want to change and unite, has slowly fallen back into the same drowning dog paddle it was futilely kicking at before the President's changed office. I was naively hoping that those people that didn't vote for Obama because of their religious morals, or their 'conservative' ideas or their healthcare ideas or whatever else reasons, oh let me not leave out their racism... I really hoped that once he took office they would see that their way of life wasn't going to drastically change, and that instead of fighting to fight because they 'lost' an election, they'd let go some of that hatred and help their neighbors, and look to 'do no harm'. I wanted so badly to have people want to make a change for the better. I am not religious, but I try to live by do no harm. I try to make people happy, it's so much less effort than making people miserable. And to what gain, maybe nothing to yourself other than having a good day and knowing that others had one too. How can that be wrong... How can people want so badly to fight against that. It makes my heart hurt, and I'll never understand it.

So, good for Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and good for the Norwegian Nobel Committee for recognizing the want for others to live better, and to be better humans to one another. If only so many Americans could see that too. Politics aside, go out and do no harm today. It's the least you can do for others.

Cheers!

Laundry can wait...

2009-09-20T22:04:00.005-04:00

Work is great, and I love that I'm actively shooting again instead of only editing. The commute blows. I take the train in 3 or 4 times a week and sometimes stay with friends in the city. The train takes an hour and a half (one way) and then I hop onto the metro which takes another 15-20 minutes. By the time I walk the 3 blocks to the museum's offices, my round trip commute is 2 hours (again, EACH WAY). I wake up at 5:30am and the early train gets me home around 7:15, the next train gets me home at 9pm. What they hell, luckily and sadly, the job is only until December. I can't wait to start sleeping in again, but damn, I'm going to be job hunting again...
Oh well, now for the weekend. Chris asked me what I wanted to do this weekend and I told him the laundry list of chores I had planned. I did a bunch of them, and then Saturday afternoon we went to Atti's 4th birthday party, YAY! I got to see the boys again! I had a great time and Chris left early to go hunting... hahaha! And every boy above the legal drinking age was jealous... oh boys...
Anyhoo, today I woke up with the rest of my list to do and a bunch of people to call and I felt like crying. Chris suggested we go for a ride and poof, the whole beautiful day is now gone, and I had a great time. The country was just what I needed.
I've got to go to bed, 5:30 is an ugly hour...
Here are some pictures of this weekend.
I'll try to be better about posting, but I'm just overwhelmingly busy, and did I mention the commute... balls, friends... sucks balls... (but at least I'm not sitting in my car stuck in morning traffic, I'm not knocking the train, just the distance)
ok, the pics...
the birthday boy double fisting
I asked Atti to give me his birthday face (love it!)
that's cake coma right there...
somewhere west of Cacapon overlooking the Cacapon river. Chris absolutely delights in saying Kak upon, example: I'm going to take my kak out of my trousers and put it upon you if you don't finish washing the dishes. *sigh*, it's pronounced caCApon, almost sound like 'the capon' river when said quickly... (hhhhahahaha, who am i kidding, I like saying cacapon too...)
Hank loved the ride, but refused to leave the car, and just hung out in the front seat when we went down to the river. I left my keys in the ignition, windows rolled down, no fear... who's going to steal a car armed with a pit bull (even if he is wearing a sweater and too agoraphobic to leave the vehicle)
the walk down to the Cacapon river, Oh my June is the best little puppy ever!! She makes us laugh so hard! This is my favorite picture of the day!! hahaha, Oh Junie, June, June.
Check out the motherload of shale we found. Ugh, I love this blue shale! I made a shit ton of pictures of it, and every single one had beautiful shapes. This stuff is magical, and we were standing on a quarter arce of land that looked exactly like this image. it was beautiful!
Cane and June checking out the crayfish that Chris found in the water. Sadly it's shell was crushed which is why no ones nose got honked.
Chris took this one and I love it!
HA! Everything working in perfect timing. I got the shot in focus, Cane ran though the perfect light, and his funny ear stood right up. TA-DA!
Chris made this one of June with a slow shutter, and I think it's lovely! Check out her fur and her ears!!
June is getting bigger by the day and is able to play faster and harder, and Cane is laying it on a bit heavier... hahaha
oh June, I think Cane might have rung her bell on that tumble... 5 seconds later, they were back at it.
It was a really great day. Weather started off in the 60's and crept up to 80, then back down to 74 by the time we got back home again. The dogs were with us, and not one stitch of laundry got laundered... Cheers!

Amber and Kevin's wedding

2009-09-08T20:24:00.006-04:00

I'm running on empty and exhausted, but I wanted to get these on here and I'll just have to talk about them later. I have a back log of stuff to talk about and now all I need is time.

Amber, one of my 4 closest girlfriends (Amber, Patti, jenna and Aly) got married this weekend to Kevin, the nicest man in the whole land. It was a beautiful wedding, and in true Amber fashion, she was a half an hour late.

hahaha...

love you tunaface!

here are some pics.
Amber getting ready. She's got this great sun room and although it was hotter than hell, she sat there patiently baking in the sun about an hour before the wedding...
I shot with Jenna and Kevin's best friend's wife is a wedding photographer, and we both sighed a huge sigh of relief... ew left it to her to get all the money shots during the wedding, and we just stared off into space making pictures of cool things... it was awesome, three photographers to cover a wedding of 40 people... hahaha!!
I love this picture, she's getting fake eyelashes... hahaha!! really, the onl time our social circle wears fake eyelashes is when we're going to a gay bar and want to impress the queens... (sigh, oh, the good old days)... they looked fabulous on her!
running a half an hour late, can't get the door to lock...
Amber and Patti arriving
this was pretty much the final look she gave Patti before taking her father's arm and walking down the aisle... Patti, smile plastered onto her face, check, scared look in her eyes... , check, ready to start drinking, check check check... I love this picture!!
hehe, Amber sneaking off for a drink while her new husband (left) and brother in law (right) waited for their portrait
wedding was done, family pictures were made, time to go eat and party... I didn't see a smile like this the whole time she was getting ready... hahaha... oh brides!
You're a lucky man Kevin, and we love you for loving her so much!
Cheers

A Quick June moment

2009-08-16T21:22:00.004-04:00

I have a ton of backlogged stuff to talk about, so here's a quick June moment and I'll try to get to everything else this week.
Cheers!
Cane is enjoying Chris' new truck, a lot...
it was almost 90 degrees today and so down to the river we went. Here's sweet June stomping in
She loves swimming to people when they're in the water. She swam right up to Chris (whom she adrores anyway) and butted his face with her nose. hahaha!!
This face just melts me!! Haha! She's got water freckles on her muzzle!
Cane teaching June the finer points of playing stick
hahaha, June ignoring the finer points and Cane really trying to get her attention... He would stop and say woo woo woo wooo wooooooooooooo!!! which would make Chris and I pay attention, but June is her own little girl... *sigh*
hahaha, oops, she made a bigger jump than I expected! She's growing so quickly!!
YAY for summers! (and fuzzy caterpillars, which I safetly put down and then June promptly squashed as she ran past me... *sigh* nature is tough)

June Bug Water Dog

2009-08-09T22:21:00.007-04:00

Scotty came by this afternoon and we immediately quit cleaning the house, grabbed the hounds and ran to the river. The temp hit 95 degrees today and is forcasted to be 100 degrees tomorrow... and we don't have air conditioning...
Anyhoo, we packed some PB&J's, a couple, few beers, grabbed Cane and June and went to the same place as yesterday (the Maryland side of the Potomac River). I didn't even try to get Hank to come with us... water and heat... no way...
We had a wonderful time together. June is a water bug and although she's only 4 months old, she did her best to keep up with Cane. We were all amazed by her endurance until, as we were crossing the bridge back home, she yacked up this mammoth size (like half her body) glorp of puke, right on the bridge. I was walking her, and Chris suddenly said, "Holy Crap" and I stopped and looked down and there it was. She yacked just like a dainty lady, no nasty sound, no dry heaving and slogging around in a sad circle, nope, she was just walking along, tail wagging, and oops, out came a gigantic splatter of vomit. HHHHHahahahahaha!!!! As Chris and I looked at the pile in absolute wonder, June started ahead to catch up to Scotty, and not knowing what else to do with puke in the middle of the bridge, I bent down and repeatedly scooped it up in my hand and threw it over the bridge fence into the river for fish food. Hahahahahaha!!! GROSS!!!
So, with that lovely image of our new girl in your head, here are some pictures of our afternoon.
June and Cane play really well together. Cane, for the most part is very gentle with her, and he's a great teacher. She follows him out to go to the bathroom, and stays close to us without having to keep her on lead or continuously call her back from wandering.
June adores him and for the most part, he seems to like her... I'm sure that he tires of her stealing all the raw hide and hiding them around the house, but other than that, she seems like a pretty good little sister
hahaha, granted every once and a while we'll look over and he'll be eating her face... *sigh* you gotta learn somehow...
watching the two of them together in the water makes me sad that Hank doesn't participate, and also that Hank just hasn't been the same since Roark has passed... I really wish I could force him into having some fun... poor Hank...
oh man, look at them together...
and synchronized shakes... hahaha!!! Good times...
every once and a while June would take a time out and catch her breath
and watch everyone in the river... it was a perfect day to be submerged.
hahaha, here's Cane playing rough and June not quite holding her own.
Oh thank goodness, a normal shake picture... after yesterday, I was afraid that she was going to look like a cute dumbass in every image I made of her...
She's becoming more agile everyday... by the time she's done growing, I bet she'll be bigger than Hank and Cane (but not combined)
Super Puppy!
Super silly puppy!!
Chris took this one. I was in the water and darn it if she didn't strike a pose! Grr! We need a waterproof case for our camera, bad!!!
isn't she just lovely... I'm smitten!! I think that this is what she's going to look like when she's full grown.
HA! and this look is partially why... ugh, June... you are just perfect!
Cheers

Nailed it!!

2009-08-08T13:43:00.005-04:00

I got the job I interviewed for on Monday. I'll be filling in for Cathy while she's out on maternity leave. She works at the Holocaust Museum as a Photo Editor and Photographer and I'm so excited about this, I can't talk about it without waving my hands and blathering on like a spastic idiot. Suffice to say, I'm going to have a very busy 3 months ahead of me. Luckily (for the blog) I'll have an hour and a half commute on the train, to and from work, each day so I'll have lots of time to catch up on my blog, and my kids writing and my knitting and all the other stuff that's fallen by the wayside as the summer has wound up it's big honking foot and kicked me square in my pants. I start training this Monday. Chris is going to watch the boys instead of me, and I hope he brings his camera and busts out some amazing pictures of them (and I hope they don't torture him to pieces with their energy!!) hahaha!
Yay for me! and thank you so much Jenna and Jen Davis for giving Cathy my contact info. I owe you ladies big time!!
Cheers!

not so photogenic...hmm, blame the Photographer...

2009-08-08T13:19:00.004-04:00

HA!! It seems we have a wee beastly, non photogenic hound on our hands... Chris and I took the dogs for a walk this morning. Hank made it halfway down the street before he decided he was done, so I took him back to the house and then the rest of us crossed the river on the train bridge and took a lovely stroll in the C&O canal bed and then a dip in the Potomac river. I brought the camera and took a million pictures of June and when I got back to the house to look through them I laughed... and laughed and roared... What a goober!! She's 16 weeks old this week, and she's almost 25 pounds now. She's the best puppy ever! She rarely barks, doesn't lick, she's good in the car, has had only a couple accidents in the house, sleeps through the night at the side of our bed and in the morning, nothing's been destroyed and no accidents, she walks on lead without pulling, and I take her to the General Store when I help out and she sleeps behind the counter the whole shift... she's super puppy. Oh and when I screech her name in a motherly way (ugh!!! Poor Chris), she curls her body into a half moon and comes wagging at me like a little crescent with her head tilted to the side and a goofy smile on her face... I want to 1- die and 2- shove her in my cheek to save for winter... I just want to squeeze her to pieces, but instead I just say her name at a pitch that makes everyone in the house gasp in agony... other dogs included... hehehe... oh my...she's a love!
She's such a beautiful little puppy, but my gosh, these pictures I made of her today are ridiculous! SO, we had a great time. I'm on my way to pick up all the poop in the backyard (Yay... *sigh*) and then take a well deserved shower (everyone who stands near me today, let me hear you say, "Hell yeahs...")and then I'm helping out next door at the General Store, selling t-shirts to tourists... hahaha! I couldn't do it full time, but it's nice to chat with folks and see where they're headed and yak about directions and places to eat.
June and Cane in the river. She's going to be a water dog. I know she's built for it, webbed feet, part Lab (and part something red is her official breed, hahaha), but she just runs right in and if we'd crossed the river to get home, she would have been swimming right beside us the whole way. She LOVED being wet.
OOOhhhhhhhahahahahaha!!!! And no joke, this is what most of the rest of the pictures I made looked like... What the hell!! hahaha...
oh hahaha, from the looks of it, I think her face is afraid of her butt's wicked shake! Shake it girl...
again... what gives... and where did my normal looking hound run off to... hahaha, ear out, tongue out, tail up... legs bent... too funny!
coming out of the river... hilarious...
shaking big old gremlin head... fabulous...
just relaxing? oh vey...
hahaha, Chris took this one... I love it!
Chris took this one too, I think she looks adorable... maybe it's just me that makes her look like a moron... hahaha!!
Cheers!

Street Art, so great and necessary

2009-08-05T01:07:00.005-04:00

Joshua Allen Harris keeps making me smile, I think I may have talked about his garbage bears a while ago... if not I should have, they're so lovely. Well, I can't sleep and so back to the internet I go for cheerful inspiration... YAY for art like this. Like Joshua says, "it's magical, it's what Art is about..." (I hope this kid has a grant!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6xCT2aTSo

and of course, here's that silly song again (still my favorite)... fyi, it's got nudes running through the woods, so if you're not awake yet... be warned (but my gosh, that music! there's something so perfect about this sound! It inspires me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI8S0RvNgbQ
Cheers!

a bit nervous...

2009-08-03T00:31:00.010-04:00

So, I'm going into DC tomorrow to interview with a museum. It would only be temporary work while a woman is on maternity leave, but I'm very excited about it. That is until right now, because it's midnight' thirty and I'm still fretting about the 20 image portfolio I have to show them. OK, so everyone knows I'm not a Photojournalist, I'm just a Photographer (you know, babies, dogs, nekked people, bugs... the usual cool stuff), but I worked in news at AOL and I live with Chris (and award winning photojournalist)... and dude, it puts a little pressure on me...
So, I pulled and pulled and pulled at my current stuff from the last 6 months or so, and came up with about 150 images... hmm, need 20... So, then I asked Chris to pick his favorites... thank goodness for his eye... he narrowed it down to 24, and I'm keeping it that way...
And so, this is what I'm walking into DC with tomorrow... well, this and long sleeves and my silly, sassy professional self (god, I hope I remember how to act professional... cross your fingers for me). Oh and one more thing. I've titled each image and that's all I want to say about them. I'm hoping that the titles I chose say exactly what I was trying to capture. Hopefully, the people will look at the images, and then read the file name and either ignore it because it's self evident or think "oh, ha, that's just what I saw too... how clever...)
hahaha!, oh, it's late... wish me well tomorrow...
Cheers!
Adjustments
Armed Suspects
(This one's a nekked picture of Konrad, and I promised not to put any of those on the blog, so, I covered up the Kaiser's unmentionables with a picture of my new puppy, June... YAY!!! The museum will get the uncensored version)
The file name is: Bare
Being Good
Breast Cancer Survivor
Eno Hammock
Farmer and Daughter
Fat Sally
Good Summer
Happy Worm Sad So Long
holding the wall up (with cool)
Hopping Contest
Jen Linn
loud Loud LOUD
marriage
Newlyweds
Patients (I couldn't decide if I wanted to call it patience or Patients... I chose Patients because Patients go in with a laundry list of complaints for the doctor, just like the lists of booty that Santa has to politely listen to...)
Post Lunch Haze
Post Tantrum
Pre Gig
Short Winter Days
Surrogate Mom
Tire Swing
Two Older Brothers
Thanks to everyone whom patiently lets me harass them, their animals, or their children with my camera. (oh, and if you click on the images, they'll open up to their full size, which is a dinky web size, not a 'print out to frame' size)

Finished the HFF Calendar

2009-07-31T11:18:00.003-04:00

YAY! I finally finished the calendar for the Harpers Ferry Foundation and we're waiting for a hard copy proof which should be here next week. Cross your fingers that it looks awesome, because if I have to spend anymore time on it I'm going to puke and cry, and then throw myself a funeral. It took soooo much longer than expected and although I think it looks great, I think that psprint.com, where the foundation wanted the calendar printed, well, psprint can suck my left one. They were so user unfriendly, I had to call them every step of the way, and I'm not a moron. I must have spent over an hour on the phone with them just yesterday, not including the day before or the one before that, making sure that everything was right before I approved it for prepress. What a crazy website. There were tons of instructions, but none of them easy to find and none of them in order of relevance. What I needed to do was created 14 images, 12 months and a front and back cover. They had a template already for the months, so I pulled that down, added some holidays (they had christian ones, so I added a couple Jewish ones - like Hanukkah, and I slipped Ramadan in there too). Then I looked online, found no instructions, and so began with the cover. Loaded that bad boy up, approved it for prepress, and damn it... Grr, nope, I had to create one pdf with multiple pages (WHERE DO THE INSTRUCTIONS SAY THAT!!!). So I think had to get back onto the phone, ask them to remove the one image, get into acrobat, create a portfolio, blah blah blah, all the rest of the crap that's so boring and very time consuming... Anyhoo, everything is great now, and I can't wait to see the proof. I tallied up my hours and this puppy took me just under 40 hours... that's a full frigging work week for a calendar!! Am I rusty? possibly... but now that I've got a calendar and 12 postcards under my belt, I'm excited to make some of my own... Beware of my terrible sense of humor and images... coming soon to a Harpers Ferry store... I can see the nose picking postcards in my head already... hahaha!!
So, the calendars should be ready hopefully in the next few weeks. Here's the front and back cover, and if you're thinking about buying a 2010 calendar for next year, please think about purchasing this one... cause I made it, and it's for a good cause. All the proceeds go to the Harpers Ferry Foundation.
if you click on this picture, it should open up to a larger image if you want to see the thumbnails of the month images.
Cheers!

We're going to be famous!

2009-07-31T11:05:00.003-04:00

Like Rockstar famous...
When I was up in Middletown, in February, I went with Kurt to one of his shows. I think I probably blogged about it, but I don't recall. Anyhoo, it was in the basement of someone's house, whom, as an adult, I felt bad for this kid's parents. The basement was absolutely trashed, and yet those poor adults still had to look at it as they went down there to do laundry... so be it, I would have thought it was just heaven 15 years ago... I mean, the drywall had holes in it, graffiti on the walls, dust devils swirling in menacing flurries across the stained and smelly carpet... it really was teenage heaven. (and my mother would probably vouch for the disgustingness of my bedroom when I was a teenager, which this kid's basement didn't hold a candle to... so I'm not knocking it, I just somehow outgrew my adoration of it... thank goodness!!)
Kurt and his band (and I) had everyone there beat in years by probably a good 10... hahaha, Kurt's band, Armed Suspects played a great show, had a great time, and then we all went home, the aging rockstars (in their 20's and early 30's) had to rise early for work the next day... hahahah!!!
Anyways, I made a bunch of pictures of them and they're using one for their upcoming album. Yay for me, Yay for them, Yay for you guys whom should all listen to them and buy a CD.
Here's a link to their music and the picture I made that they're using.
http://www.myspace.com/armedsuspects
Cheers!

a lot going on... I need a valium...

2009-07-26T21:59:00.006-04:00

drowning in things to do that aren't paying gigs...

but, I promise to talk about all these great moments and days when I finally having some breathing room.
Ladies weekend in Ocean City, NJ with Aunt Martha, Aunt Mary and Cousin Chris(sy) in late June
the boys and I had a great bike ride and played in the Potomac river a couple weeks ago, here's Silas and his shell face (the kid is so creative is makes me smile, big time!! He sees the best stuff from nothing) He ran up to me, soaking wet and said, Hey Miriam, look at this... I wanted to hug his creativity, but instead said, oh man, that's Coooool!
JR's been up here while Kathy's recuperating, and we've done some bonding. He's a stubborn kid, but he's got a great big hug and a goofy sweet smile, and he LOVES sitting on my lap while he talks to me which just melts my heart (and puts my legs to sleep, he's a BIG 5 year old!!) Here he is with June (my latest little girl... see, I've got a lot to talk about)
Mandi's wedding was beautiful! It was the most decadent, and lovely wedding we've been to... and we loved every second of family drama and wedding fabulosity... I personally, love this picture... Chris(sy) had a ball... watching her made me smile all night long. (I missed Pop a lot, he would have loved it)
Konrad has a whole new set of smiles and was so happy to see me I almost cried. Hahaha, and he's got more teeth and is a whole new boy. I can't wait to see him again in two weeks! Oh! and I got to make nekked baby pictures of him, but I'm not posting them on the blog... too many weirdo's, but I thought they were great, and he loved being nekked, the sassy rascal!! (except for when he tried to get off the leather couch and his unmentionables rubbed against the couch and he made a sad ouchie sound... hhhhhhahahahahaha, oh boys... so sad... totally didn't occur to me... hahaha...)
and this our formal self portrait (June and I). I tried to wait until this winter to adopt another dog, but I just couldn't wait. Dean was fostering her and her sisters, and her disposition was just too good to pass up. Mike K. adopted her sister, and both of them are sleeping next to me right now and we'll have Ollie (Mike's new girl) until next Monday as they're going in this Wednesday to be spayed and then will recuperate together. They're wonderful little hounds and she's been a breath of happiness this summer that I've sorely needed.
oh, and the town asked me to create a calendar for the town's foundation. I said, sure! and have been plowing ahead with the graphic design and creation of the calendar using our images as well as other photographers the town reached out to... most of the other ones are amateur photographers, but all together it's turning out to be a lovely calendar. So, once they're printed, please buy one! This was my first rough draft of the cover. It doesn't look like this anymore, but the actual cover is on the tower upstairs (I'm on the laptop). The picture is by Terry Tabb (which if you remember, is the same guy we used images from when I made the postcards). He makes some nice images, but whenever he stops by he only talks to Chris which makes me laugh, what a butt... I guess I'm not a good enough photographer to talk to... I guess he doesn't know that all the postcards and other stuff the town has made that's used his images have been put together by me. Oh, and that I'm a photographer by trade not hobby. Hahahah, boys are funny sometimes... girls don't bite... it's ok to talk to us...
So, we're having a sassy, busy summer. I'm with the boys tomorrow and then have the rest of the blissful week empty for house cleaning, blogging and putting together my children's photography website which should have been up and marketed months ago...
sigh...
Cheers!

Aly and Abe...

2009-06-23T15:17:00.005-04:00

Aly, her new friend Abe, and Jay came up for the weekend and we had ourselves a time... by the time they left on Sunday, and then Alex and Steve came by, and then Chris and I went to dinner at Al and Alison's, Chris and I were like happy zombies, bellies full of brains and with mild hangovers... it was a good weekend.
Here's Jay lying in the Shenandoah river.
Aly, Abe, Chris and I went down to the river with a backpack full of beer and two tubes so that the A's (Aly and Abe, because I'm tired of writing it already) could tube back to our place.
We stood in the Shenandoah river with Cane, drinking our first beer, when a park ranger came up to us and gave us a hundred dollar ticket because he's a good guy (his words, not mine). He could have given each one of us a hundred dollar ticket so in his mind, and because we were polite and well behaved (again his words, what are we, dogs?) he was a nice guy.
He could have left us alone instead of fucking with us which in my mind would have made him a nice guy... funny how unreliable witnesses are... Anyhoo... apparently there's a gray area in the law. You can't drink in National Parks, which we know, but you can drink in the rivers, because they're in West Virginia and the law doesn't hold to them. We were all standing in the river drinking a beer when our tubes started to blow away, Aly and I ran after them and after catching them, we tied them up and left them on the sand... and started back to the water, beers in hand, therefore drinking in the park and not on the river... Yup, officer good guy... he's super fucking swell...
I'm not mad at the officer, he probably is a very nice guy, I'm mad that police, here to protect and serve, are so far from that, it's embarrassing that that's their motto. We weren't doing any harm. We weren't being loud, not littering, not being offensive in any way... we would have only been out there for maybe 20 minutes while we got the A's into their tubes and on their way.
GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRR!!!!!
I seriously don't want to fucking talk about it...
never mind...
Anyways, Chris got the ticket because he was holding the backpack and we all chipped in 20 bucks...
hahaha, whose the jackass photographer standing with the sun behind her making a huge shadow in the tube... what a dope...(duh!!!)
So long A's... avoid all things in uniform!
When the A's got back from tubing, we grilled out, ate on the porch, Chris and Jay went off to bed first and second
and then the A's and I talked all night until around 2am when we were just probably not making sense anymore but having a great time.
The next morning, we made stop action movies on Abe's camera and Jay made pancakes. Here's Abe twirling slowly in our kitchen being caught on film one frame per second. The 5 of us had an amazing time together and Abe, who only knew Aly and had only known her for a couple of days fit in perfectly and when they finally all left,
I had a soft spot in my heart for him and am sad that Aly is moving to New York and He's going to Afghanistan for a year with the State Department...
I liked the two of them together... they fit well, and it was exciting to watch them in the brand new wonder of being madly attracted to one another.
This is my favorite picture of the weekend, star eyed and silly...
Well, wasn't that all sappy and romantic (and PISSED OFF... stupid rules and gray areas and just general harassment by people in uniform... ugh! lame... sorry Park Officer, not mad at you, just mad at your job...)
Cheers! and steer clear of anything in uniform, I'm not kidding... uniform means gray laws means trouble... WTF!

Worst babysitter EVER!!!

2009-06-23T14:46:00.004-04:00

Hahaha, I sat for Konrad last Thursday and had an amazing time! I hadn't seen him for a couple weeks, and his growth was amazing! he's a totally new little man! He's taller, and communicated with me like never before. He cries have taken on a meaning... the fussy hungry one, the I want to stand up one, the damn it, turn the friggin page already, I want to look at the rooster again, not the pig one, the I'm tired one... he's starting to make sense to me... and his smiles... they're all brand new!!! He's scrunching up his nose and then he squeals and laughs and the light in his eyes, his mirth and pure delight is so wonderful, I want to squeeze him right though my breastbone and into my pounding heart. Hahah, luckily Corey and I have talked about this and that last sentence isn't a threat, it's a good thing...
So, want to meet the new smile? It's really wonderful!!! I have to start bringing the dinker dog too, I'm missing all of his sounds... they are really just divine!
hahaha, THIS is the new smile! hahaha, isn't that just wonderful! And he smiled like this to me all day long (well, almost). I must have 30 pictures of this smile at different points in the day... it made me smile all day long too!
we had a really great day. Konrad was happy almost all day long and although he didn't really nap, his attention span gets longer every time I'm over, and his exploration of everything around him makes for a million wonderful moments like this one
oh man, I was dying when he was in the swing, he loves being in it, and then there are moments like this one where I kid you not, I think he's trying to give himself a head rush. He leans really far over and then as he swings back, he whips his head back and laughs and laughs
hahaha, Norman hung out with us for a good while, even though I wanted to take him back into the house because it was really muggy and warm, but he just sat out under the tree or stood there watching the neighborhood folks walk by with their dogs or kids.
yup, that new smile was there 'almost' all day... I'm still getting the hang of what he needs and getting it to him before he brings out the waterworks. It's really cool that he's starting to use it selectively. Here he just couldn't reach far enough onto the couch to reach my cell phone (which I powered off so he could maul it), and so he reached and reached while I shot, and then he burst into tears (which I shot, hahaha, BAD babysitter) and then I pushed my phone towards him and the tears were gone.
and then the phone fell on the floor and under the couch, and there was another immediate thunderstorm of tears... which I shot because I'm the wosrt babysitter EVER!!! hahahaha, and then I scooped him up, grabbed the phone, gave him a magic blanket ride and the world was once again just perfect. (This is my favorite image of the day)
HA! Cheers!

Our first Keys game!

2009-06-23T14:30:00.003-04:00

Chris took me out to a ballgame as a birthday gift... and Jay went with us! hahaha, how romantic! We went to our first minor league baseball game in Frederick, MD. Their team is the Keys, and I imagine that they feed the Nationals or the Orioles... but I'm not sure. We had an awesome time, ate our way through the game and then goofed off like total photo nerds and laughed at one another until we about peed our pants. I love that Chris and Jay are such good friends. I enjoy Jay's company immensely, he and Mike Kleinfeld and Donny treat me like a sister and I can't thank them enough for including me in all their boy fun when they come to visit. They could just as easily grab Chris and flee, but I never feel excluded when they're here... Thanks men...
Anyways... here are some of the highlights from our first game. I was a little sad to go because last year on the same week, my Pops was supposed to come down to visit and we were going to take him to a game, which would have been our first time, but he bagged out on us because he wasn't feeling well, and then 2 months later he was gone, so going to the game, for me, had a tinge of sadness for missed opportunity, but I'm so glad we went.
Chris eating peanuts and having a damn good time
since it was by birthday treat from Chris I gorged myself... here's my baseball hat of chili cheese fries, which I immediately dropped on my shirt... I didn't even get one nasty delicious french fry into my mouth before I was wearing a big gloop of chili cheese... Happy Birthday to me!
Jay started shooting through the little whole on the bottom of his coozy and then we all had to nerd out and do it! YAY!! It was so much fun! Thanks Jay, you big nerd!! We adore you!
Chris or I shot this, I'm not sure who since there were about 50 of these on the camera... hahaha I'm sure Jay has about a hundred of them too... Nerds Nerds Nerds!!!!
Cheers!

A bike riding boy Monday!

2009-06-23T14:15:00.003-04:00

Marty brought home some guitar wood from his conference and we all gathered around to look at it. The wood was skinny and gorgeous, and when he told me that sometimes the wood sells for hundreds of dollars, I gasped... but it's just wood! Aah, but it's just wood that makes music, and inspires creativity, and that's something priceless...
Last Monday was hot and the boys and I wanted to be outside and free! I was feeling great and felt confined indoors... we played on the swing set, checked the chickens, goofed off with Donkey
aand then we all piled into Marty's van and drove to Sandy Hook, which is right across from Harpers Ferry. It's in Maryland and is right along the C&O canal trail which meant that we could all ride ours bikes on the smooth dirt lanes of the canal trail and then cross the bridge into Harpers Ferry and say hi to Chris and Jay Premack, who was visiting for the afternoon. Here are the boys at it again with the park's water fountain...
we piled into the house and found that Chris and Jay had just returned from tubing... we ate lime sherbet and chatted with Chris and Jay until the boys had cooled off and they were ready to head back home for some more serious playing (hahaha, Avery was disappointed that there weren't more puddles on the trail, he was hoping to be covered front and back with mud spatter by the time we crossed the bridge to eat sherbet)
I narrowly avoided a huge water fight
was dazzled with feats of bravery
and made sure Atti didn't drown in his brothers' love...
It was another awesome boy Monday!
Cheers!
Oh!!! And, I had to borrow a bike form the boys because I sold my bike (that I hated!!) and the bike I borrowed from them I LOVED!! Marty told me they got it from the dump when they were dropping some stuff off... they brought it home and spruced it up and then as a thank you, they gave it to me! So, now I own a Gary Fisher dump bike and I absolutely LOVE IT!!! Thank you guys so much for my new bike! I want to go riding every Monday!!!

The new wall outback

2009-06-23T13:52:00.004-04:00

Chris has been getting out some of his energy by building a new stone wall in our backyard. He built one when he fist moved into the house to hold our garden, and now he's building 2 more that will be about 3 feet high for 2 more raised beds we've created on the ouside of our backyard where we park the cars. I'm so proud of him for learning so much from Donny (who's a stone mason) and then applying it to our house. I think the wall is looking awesome and his cairns are attracting plenty of tourist attention.
Here's a woman who was so inspired by his art, that she took some small stones in our yard and made a tiny one. I yelled thank you to her when she was done (I shot this from our kitchen window) and she yelled back something really sweet like, You're welcome, they were so wonderful, I couldn't help myself!'
These guys were so thrilled, they took turns taking pictures of each other with the cairns.
Cheers!
Hey, speaking of cairns and natural art, we borrowed an Andy Goldsworthy DVD from Marty and I'm really excited to watch it. Andy's stuff is just stunning!

the latest batch of earrings

2009-06-23T13:28:00.005-04:00

So, once I'd finished the necklace, bracelet, earrings set for Sally, I was so pleased with myself, that I just sat there looking at my beads and marveling in their pretty colors...
Several hours later, Chris walked into the living room and said, "oh my god! are you OK!!". I was bent over like a hundred year old lady at her birthday party ready to blow out her candles (hunched back, slack mouth, glazed eyes, you know...), beads were everywhere, I'd made 20 new pairs of earrings and I was, not joking, dehydrated. I tried to sit up straight to answer him and I groaned! hahahaha!!! Chris laughed and asked if I needed anything and I said, 'professional help and a beer...'
I had to take an aspirin that night and do some yoga before I felt right again...
but here's the payoff baby!!
(oh, I also made 68 new magnets over the weekend... phew, I'm ready for a vacation from crafting, I think...)
Cheers!

Windbreaker like the jacket?... oh um, that windbreaker...

2009-06-23T12:33:00.004-04:00

We took in a thru hiker who was just great. He makes banjos, and was only 23 years old! hahaha, such a baby, but such an old soul! He helped Chris with the stone wall out back and we all had a great time talking about alternative energy, which Windbreaker had majored in while in College. OK, for those of you not familiar with the Appalachian Trail, here's a link to that. Each year, because Harpers Ferry is almost the half way point on the AT, we get a ton of Hikers coming through town. Some of them are section hikers (hiking only a part of the AT) and some of them are thru hikers, starting in Georgia and walking the mountains all the way through to Maine. Everyone who gets onto the trail can choose to use a trailname this way having a unique key for people to remember and also differentiate themselves from one another. Windbreaker's name is Patrick, which I'm sure there are several of them walking this year, but I bet there's only one Windbreaker... and no he's not named for the light jacket...
So, anyhoo, hahaha he was very polite with us and I never smelled him living up to his name, which was awesome!
He stepped off the trail the day after hanging with us to go to a wedding and will be back with us at some point in the near future to resume his walk. Good luck kid, we had a great time with you!
Cheers!

Chris, and why antlers are so fascinating

2009-06-23T12:25:00.004-04:00

hahaha, I love this picture of Chris, making his warthog face with a pair of sheds. He's just fascinated with antlers and here's why (and here's the website where I got this facts)
http://www.huntonly.com/deer_hunting/whitetail_deer_antler_facts.html
10 Whitetail Deer Antler Facts
~ Deer Antlers are the fastest growing bone known to man and can grow as much as a ½ inch a day.
~ Deer Antlers are attached to the deer’s skull at a point called the pedical.
~ Antlers begin growing in March or April and reach maturity usually in August.
~ While antlers are growing they are covered in a living vascular skin called velvet. The velvet supplies the bone with oxygen and nutrients.
~ After the antlers reach maturity, the velvet is shed and the bone dies. This dead bone structure is the mature antler.
~ Every year usually between December and March antlers and fall off, this is known as shedding.
~ Nutrition, Age, Genetics, Injury and many other factors influence antler size and shape.
~ About 1 in 10,000 female deer will grow antlers, although usually much smaller then normal mature antlers
~ Bucks will usually grow their first set of antlers at about 10 months of age. This first set is usually a spike or “fork horn”. ~ Whitetail Deer can have 2 different types of antlers, Typical and Non-Typical. Typical is symmetrical on both sides with points growing straight up off main means. Non-Typical are asymmetrical and can have points growing in any direction.

Donkey

2009-06-23T12:15:00.003-04:00

We babysat Donkey for a few days while the boys were away at camp with Erika and Marty had a guitar convention in PA. We had him for about 24 hours before he ran out the door and ended up at the pound. Hahahaha!!! Oh you bad Donkey!! We had to call Marty (after hollering the word Donkey, all over town like 2 braying jackasses) and ask him to go to the pound to retrieve his dog (and pay the pound 50 bucks). He is so easy going and took it like a champion telling us that it's a common occurrence and to not worry, but we still felt like failed parents... anyhoo, for the next 3 days, we kept him attached to the stair case railing by a long chew proof cord.
I felt terrible for him as I moved the cord up and down the stairs so he would always be in the same room as we were, but he seemed fine. He played with Cane relentlessly and we even went down to the river and tied him to a tree so he and Cane could play in the water and on the sand... I really wish he wouldn't run, because he's a perfect companion for Cane and I'd love to have him over every time the boys were here, so Cane could have some play time...
Sigh, I saw the boys a few days later and the first thing they said was
"Guess what! Donkey went to the pound again over the weekend! And in Virginia it's only 35 dollars to spring him!"
hahaha!! Bad Donkey!! (But he's got such a great personality!!)
Cheers!

Ruby turns one!

2009-06-23T12:04:00.003-04:00

Ruby celebrated her first birthday on June 1. I was sick and didn't make it over (man, I didn't even call... I hate being sick), but I went over about a week later. We haven't seen her in a while. A few minutes here, a wave there... the farm is in full swing again and so the best way to spend time with her is to start our Farm Day Fridays again... and I can't wait! Well, since we've been absent, she's now pulling herself up, squatting, has taken a few steps alone, she's eating all sorts of stuff (bread's her favorite) and she looks like a child. She sits like a child and bends like a child... compared to Konrad (who's only 2 months younger than her) she doesn't look like a baby anymore. It's really amazing watching her grow. I see Konrad about every two weeks and so I don't notice his growth as much, although he's going through amazing changes too... there's just so much being absorbed by their little bodies and then applied... it just mesmerizes me...
I like this picture... half an eye, a few fingers... some cool tea... and a wet chin
aah! and Shawna might hate this picture of her, but I love watching her watch her child... there's a smile I can see myself ghosting as I watch my dogs, but I'm sure it doesn't have nearly the wattage that lights up Shawna's face (or Corey's face) when they look at their children... it's pretty damn cool!
Cheers!

a lovely morning

2009-06-23T12:01:00.003-04:00

I was walking up to babysit Konrad last week and made this around 7:30am...
aaah Harpers Ferry is so lovely. That's the Potomac River Bridge, on the right is Virginia, on the left is Maryland, and I shot it from the point, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia... cool...

Celebrity sighting!!!

2009-06-23T11:58:00.003-04:00

Alex and Steve were in Harpers Ferry this Sunday and stopped by with their new puppy Juno! YAY!!! She's adorable and soft and related to the Obamas' new dog... second cousins or something...
Here's my take on what she looked like...
Man, I've got puppy lust bad!!!
Cheers!

A Catfish bit my big toe...

2009-06-23T11:35:00.005-04:00

hahaha, I went into DC last week to help Aly pack up her apartment (she's moving to NY) and when I showed up with a big bandage on the big toe on my right foot, Aly asked what happened... and I told her...A big fat literary lie. Which was almost the truth just not quite.
"A catfish bit my big toe"
which is true and false. It's true that a catfish was indeed on my toe, false that it bit me, false to lead people on to assume that the catfish was alive when it was on my toe, and false that the catfish was the reason I should have received a few stitches (which since I'm uninsured, I did not do).
here's the real story...
Chris and Donny went catfishing a week ago or so, and after a big old catfish dinner, we froze the remaining fillet for a later meal. We read that we can safely eat about 3 fish a month from the Potomac or Shenandoah rivers up by us without keeling over, so we thought perhaps we could eat one a year without toxic effect... cross your fingers please. Last Monday, Chris took out the fish to thaw so we (including Jay Premack) could have another catfish dinner. Said catfish went into a 9x13 glass Pyrex dish along with some vinegar and water and into the refrigerator. Sadly, our fridge is so overcrowded at the moment, the Pyrex didn't have any shelf space available to it, so it was laid precariously on something else and then the fridge door was quickly shut. Yay! Catfish brining in the fridge = yummy vittles after a long day of babysitting the boys (and the bigger boys, meaning Chris and Jay, spent the afternoon tubing, so we were all pretty tired). Opening the fridge to grab a beer while chatting with Chris and Jay in the kitchen, out spills the Pyrex dish from the 3rd shelf and almost takes my toe off. The Pyrex didn't break, it just hit my foot with such force that it cracked my skin in half at the joint. The fish flopped out onto the floor and I started walking over to the sink, fish in hand, to apply the 5 minute rule on it, wash it off and get it back into the fridge.
hahaha! Chris bolts up 3 flights of stairs, moving faster than I've seen him move in a while and then returns with our full medical kit. Jay says something like, doesn't that hurt and my smart ass shoves out my tattooed arms, and says, does it look like it would hurt... it's not bad (meanwhile, my big toe was throbbing and when I touched it, I couldn't feel my own skin or toenail!! hahaha) I'm hobbling around the kitchen and Hank is wagging after me licking my blood stains off the kitchen floor. Chris tells me to sit still and stop making a mess and Jay watches everything with a beer in his hand and probably glad that he's single with no pets... hahaha!!!
So, it was pretty deep, and could probably have benefited from a couple of stitches, but it's now been 8 days and I'm pretty sure that by tomorrow I'll be able to leave the bandages off and start flexing my toe without fearing that my skin will burst open at the seam and wink at me with glossy yellow fat cells... hahaha it was pretty gross!!
this was after 4 days... I had the bandage off and was watching something on the internet. It got to a funny part and I laughed and curled my toes up in delight... and bled all the way up the stairs to rewash it and get another bandage onto it... UGH!!! lame...
Cheers!

My Jewelry is going to Auction!!

2009-06-23T11:11:00.002-04:00

Sally emailed me to say that she liked the earrings that I've been making and asked if she could purchase a necklace, bracelet and earring set from me for a fundraiser she's throwing in August. She's the Education Director for the National Society of Accountants. I can't find any info on the auction right now, but I'll ask her and post it up here when I have something.
So, I've only been making earrings for a few months now, and I've never made a bracelet or necklace. Oh, also, I rarely wear jewelry. I have a few necklaces I like, but they're just a chain with some type of charm that I like. My favorite necklaces are the ones my Mom sends to me for my birthdays (she keeps them simple), or the ones I collect from Andrea Haffner. Oh man, I love Andrea's charms... so, as you can see, I'm not a jewelry hound, so when Sally asked for a full set, I got very excited at the opportunity and then broke into a cold sweat.
Anyhoo, for the next week, I put my head into the bead boxes I have, roamed through Etsy to see what type of necklaces I like, and then came up with my own version of what I thought 3 pieces of coordinating jewelry should look like, since I myself do not have a matching set of anything... underwear and bras included... hahaha, oh dear...(sorry Chris) and this is what I came up with...

This is the bracelet. It wraps around twice and then the two little flowers hang off it and the whole things is jangly and loose
On the necklace, I added a bird pendant that I like and tried to keep it simple but not plain. The beads sit right on top of the pendant (obsuring the birds a bit) and makes a tinkling sound when they knock against one another.
oh, and the blue beads are made out of stone, they're not plastic or glass. The champagne colored beads are fresh water pearls and the light milky blue beads are cats eye. I feel weird because I wouldn't wear anything like this, there's just too much going on, too dangly, too many accessories on me that would make me feel over ornamented. Granted, when my chapstick has a tint to it, I feel like I'm wearing makeup, so maybe I'm being a bit over sensitive...
Anyways, I'm babbling and could possibly even be blushing, so here's my first effort. I'm happy with it and Sally sent me a great thank you saying she was pleased with it too.
Sally, thanks for giving me the chance to do it, I hope they help offer some kid the opportunity to attend college that he/she might not have had otherwise.
Cheers!
Oh, and did I mention that I quoted Sally a price and she sent me a check for a larger amount... Girl, I was so thrilled I called my Mother! hahaha!!!

A quick Boys Friday

2009-06-23T11:06:00.003-04:00

I caught a rampant cold (I think from the boys) and had to cancel my Monday with them a couple weeks ago. Marty asked if I could come by on Friday and I jumped at the offer... Sadly, I was still a bit under the weather, and so here are 3 snapshots I got from the afternoon I spent with them. It's also been so long, that I have no idea what we did...
hahaha!! Technology is melting my ability to remember anything...
thank goodness for pictures...
we went a couple stores down from the house and squooshed pennies that I found in their birthday years and they thought that was pretty awesome.
Cheers!!!

WTF Harpers Ferry, just WTF...

2009-06-23T10:53:00.002-04:00

WTF my friends... There goes the summer. I'm so behind on everything, that I actually think I've got a little time on my hands. Then I look at all the folders on my desktop and realize that I'm so swamped, I should be in tears... all day long... for about a month...
So, here's what's going on.
I'm moving Aly to NY this Thursday. She got the boot from Discovery with a fine severance package and she's heading out of DC for good. Good for you girl!!! I'm going to miss you like hell, but I run while you've got the chance!
I'm then hanging in Middletown with the Family for a week while Chris heads off to the mountains for a little man time.
Chris does not want to open the coffeehouse (something that's still making me grumble, but, if he doesn't want to do it, then we'll find something he does want to do... grumble, grumble...)
We are still hoping to do workshops, but we put everything on hold to do the coffeehouse, so it's like starting from scratch in the middle of the season and I'm not even sure we can pull off successful workshops at all this year... (ugh, fuck, it makes my head hurt just thinking about it)
There's a ton of other stuff going on right now and it's got some really bad mojo attached to it. Our beautiful little town is rotting from the inside and in the past month we've had a run in with the cops, one with the park rangers, and we've been to two of the ugliest town meetings I've even attended. Now remember, there are 300 people who live here... WTF!!!
So, I guess, instead of rambling, I should just say that Chris and I are ready for a break. I'm hoping that once I return to Harpers Ferry next week, that we'll be able to go camping for a few days and sort out the 'what are we doing to pay the mortgage' stuff and then organize ourselves so we can harvest with Shawna and Attila for Farm Day Fridays again this year, and get ourselves going on everything else... cross your fingers and send us some good mojo, cause this town's got me in a funk right now and I've got on my new birthday sneakers and I'm ready to bolt...
lame...

Heather and David's Wedding

2009-06-10T16:34:00.006-04:00

So, Jenna called and asked me if I wanted to shoot a wedding with her... I wanted to say no right away because weddings scare me. I know they give Jay Premack a high, but I'm more comfortable with kids, dogs, and naked folks (just to keep things spicy...). I couldn't say no though, I love shooting with Jenna. She's irreverent, sassy and full of mirth... I have the best time with her shooting weddings, carpooling, or just having a few beers and hanging out in her living room (once the kids are in bed). So, there I was, gear on both shoulders, wearing all black, and nervous as hell to meet the bride and groom. Heather and David, as it turns out, were freaking awesome! This was a second wedding for Heather, and she was so over the big fugly white dress...
she wore a strapless black and white dress with Jimmy Chu blue heels (YAY!!) and David wore a tan suit. I shouldn't have been nervous, because Jenna knows what she's doing and gets all the important shots, and I just look around like a lost child making pictures of whatever I want... reminder to myself... reread the finer points of using a flash... I hate using the flash, mostly because I've never actually sat down and read about how flashes work, I just slapped one on years ago, and have been bullshitting my way through bright popping lights ever since... Suck it up girl, you suck at flash photography... *sigh*, it's true... when my friends offer to give me lessons, I should know at what magnitude I've sunk in the realm of sucking... I'm at dead bottom... (I am very excited to go out tonight though and test out some High Dynamic Range images. Chris and I ran into Joseph this week giving a workshop on HDR in Harpers Ferry and after looking at his website, I can't wait to make my own...they don't even look like photographs, which makes Chris' photojournalist eyes twitch, but I like them, it's art, and it's pretty and there's some lovely magic to it)
Anyhoo, I had a great time, and so did everyone else... The wedding was one of the nicest I've shot, everyone was so relaxed, it was an outdoor gig, and then a reception on the top floor (rented out) of a hopping Mexican joint in upper NW off Wisconsin Avenue... To me, it was the way weddings should be... no thousand dollar dresses, no 18 bridesmaids and groomsmen sweating and fidgeting next to the officiator (what, I was being PC... I didn't say priest or Rabbi...all sorts of folks get married... and everyone should have the right to get divorced!) and then a fun party in a fun place... done. Nothing crazy, no white horses strapped to a gaudy slay (oh hahaha, very Freudian, I meant Sleigh) to come carry off the loving couple you came to hang out with, kids were allowed, it was an afternoon affair, and everyone went home tired, happy, buzzed and full before 7pm...
What a great time. The bride had no tears, the groom didn't have cold feet, and they both cried during the ceremony... Again, Good Times, I say... good times...
Anyhoo, here are a couple of my, looking off into space, silly pictures that I made to compliment the real ones that Jenna took of the wedding.
I can't wait to see hers, I'm sure they're just beautiful!
Cheers, and Congratulations to another couple in love!

Shannon's 40th birthday party

2009-06-09T12:19:00.005-04:00

Yup, I did says 40... I know, looking at the pictures, Shannon looks like she should be having her 30th birthday party (and she acts like it too!! hahaha) but all the birthday signs said 40, so I'm going with it. I stole Jenna's idea of a backdrop from when we shot Heather and David's wedding in late May (yup, I know, I still haven't put it up, but I'm almost done editing, so hopefully today or tomorrow) and it worked really well. Shannon had her party at the Palace of wonders in NE DC, and it was the first time I'd been there. The bar is tiny and charming. The decor is brilliant and they've got a rooftop patio, and wide, inviting floor to ceiling window doors for an entrance. Everyone had an awesome time and after the party, we all moved over to The Pug and continued drinking until I don't know when, because I went home at 11pm. Well, actually, I went to Merv's house, which is like home to me in DC. Thanks for letting me stay over, Merv... the new bed in the guest room is fabulous! So, here are some of my favorite shots...
I don't know who this is, but she was having a great time and has a wonderful smile
same with this woman... never seen her before, but darn is she pretty!
and then we have Bob... I've known Bob forever... I started working at the Politiki (a bar on Capitol Hill) in 1999 or 2000... and have known Bob ever since. I have a great birthday story about Bob... well a few actually... Bob's birthday is the same day that my good girlfriend Jenna got married, so I always remember it... it was September something... hahaha, OK, so I don't exactly remember what day, but I know if I celebrate one, I celebrate the other too! Also, at Shannon's Birthday party, Bob and I ended up arm wrestling, a couple times... you know, left arm, right arm, left arm again... just to make sure... well, Bob let me win by toppling over backwards on his chair and landing on the ground! Hahahahahah!!! I've never been allowed to win in such a grand fashion before... Bob, you made my sore arms so proud!!! hahaha, thank you for being so gracious!
This is one of me favorite shots of the night! Paula and Georgie look fabulous!
Here are Paula and Keith... two of the best folks on the hill!
oh and this is the backdrop I put up! I loved the sassy red feeling of it... it fit right into the Palace of Wonders! Here's Christy, her date (ugh! I forgot your name, sorry!!) and the birthday girl. Christy is one of the funniest people I know... seriously, besides Patti Gunn, she's a riot!
hahaha, Merv and Georgie hamming it up...
Shannon and her college roommate... (again, this is why I have to blog immediately... I'm forgetting people's names... and it's only been 4 days!)
Shannon and her fabulous ladies!
HA! Timmy and Ann Margret on the 12th street bus stop. Timmy asked me to make this picture... apparently he's always wanted one... cool by me... It looks nice large, here it's a bit hard to read
Shannon's bobble head that she got for her birthday... hahaha, it looks just like her and it's drinking a beer! hahahaha
Happy Birthday girl, you look half your age!!!
We all had a wonderful time!!
Cheers!

2009-06-08T17:01:00.002-04:00

Here's the latest batch of earrings I made... on sale at Sugar Magnolias, 'a cute little gift store', right here in Harpers Ferry, WV!
YAY!

spontaneous pool party!!

2009-06-08T13:53:00.010-04:00

THANK YOU PETER AND KELLY!!
Chris and I got a call from Scotty yesterday saying he was on the road, passing our place, heading to Peter and Kelly's for a pool party. I thought he was just calling to brag and I wanted him to stop by so I could kick him in the sacks before he went to have so much fun, but he invited us to come along and my heart just leaped right out of my skin and into my, still packed away for the season, bathing suit! YAY!!! We are babysitting, well, dog sitting Donkey, the Boys' dog, and so we left Hank (doesn't like the sun, water or heat) at home and grabbed the two younger boys, two towels, money for beer and chips and beat feet (flip flopped feet) towards Frederick, MD. I've been on the fringes of knowing Peter and Kelly for almost as long as I've known Scotty. When Scotty and I were roommates in the late 90's, he gathered a group of amazing friends around him that are still a tight knit family. Peter and Kelly are part of that group, and luckily they thought of us, and poof!! Spontaneous invite to a POOL PARTY!!!
So, I've got a ton to do today and I'm going to make this short... coming up this afternoon, I've got the wedding Jenna and I shot, Linda's garden party from Mid May, more earrings I made (I know, I know... but Ghostbusters, and Ghostbusters 2 were playing on AMC and I couldn't sleep and watching TV with idle hands makes me feel lazy, so watching TV while making earrings is not technically watching 4 hours of bad 80's movies...) and Shannon's 40th birthday!
Cheers! and Thank you Peter and Kelly for having a pool in your backyard and being super awesome folks to spend a Sunday with... you're welcome to the Ferry anytime, old friends!
hahaha!! Sean (or Shawn) was walking through my picture, but, oh hahaha!! Check out the pose on Peter... SASSY!!!
Here's a lovely portrait of Adrienne... She is a really beautiful girl with tattoo stars on her ribs that made me want to hug her and smile really hard with a beer in each hand! I didn't have a beer in each hand I had a camera in them... but talking to her made me smile.
I love when people get together and have a party and their dogs get a spontaneous party too! Here's Syd (Scotty's dog) trying to hump Donkey (The Fair boys' dog that we're dogsitting) and Cane watching the whole thing... Donkey and Cane love one another to pieces... they play the whole time they're together and Donkey leaves old Hank alone so he's no trouble at all, and we're happy to have him over. Cane loves the attention of a dog around his age and I love seeing Donkey bite Cane's ankles to get him to play, because that's exactly what Cane does to poor old Hank and it drives Hank bonkers... hahaha!! Wait 'til January Cane, when we plan to rescue a new brother for you!! hahahahaha!!!
all the dogs ended up in the water at some point... here's Scotty with Syd...
I think Gail had the most fun (or the most to drink). She was a freaking riot! Here she is doing solo synchronized swimming... hahaha!!! Nice toe point!
Meredith called Scotty just to say hi while she was driving back from hiking and just happened to be driving through Frederick, so she stopped in and had herself a ball.
aah!! and here's Sally! I'm not sure if she and Scotty are dating or just becoming friendly (hahaha becoming friendly... jesus, how old am I...) anyhoo, I don't want to presume they're dating, but they have been going on dates, so I'm excited for both of them to be having such fun together. I think Sally's a lot of fun and shyly very sassy... Chris and I both hope to see more of them together this summer.
Chris and Sean (or Shawn) watching everyone in the pool. Chris wasn't feeling great and so didn't make it into the pool... I called sober driver though, so he did have all afternoon to sit poolside, drink beer, talk boy stuff with Sean (or Shawn) and watch ladies in bathing suits frolick in the water... not a bad day for anyone...
yup, this is what all of us looked like all afternoon... shit eating grins... and having one hell of a time... Cheers you goons!!

The Kleinfelds in Harpers Ferry

2009-06-02T00:30:00.007-04:00

Mike's parents came in for a visit. This was our first time meeting them and we had a great time. We walked up the street and ate at the Secret Six for dinner Saturday night and then met up again on Sunday morning and hiked back to Harpers Ferry from Keyes Gap, with a little detour to a Loudon Heights overlook for lunch. We probably hiked just shy of 10 miles and although I loved being out on the trail, by the time we were about 2 miles away from town I was exhausted, lagging behind and so pitiful, I wanted to find some underbrush and bury myself in it until I felt better. When we got back, the boys went to get the car (we left it at Keyes gap) and Mrs. Kleinfeld and I had a lovely conversation. She probably thinks I'm a nutball, but hey, talking with her was like talking to my Mom. I even told her that Chris and I are uninsured at the moment (health insurance) and got the Mom lecture about really needing to have it, even if it's just catastrophic. Hahaha, I laughed and told Mrs. Kleinfeld that the next time I talk to my Mother, I'd tell her I'd already gotten the Mom talk about health insurance for the week, so she didn't have to lecture me this week. We hugged and they were off to eat dinner in Shepherdstown, and I dragged my sad bag of bones upstairs for another lame night of trying to sleep. Here are some of the finer points of our hike. Enjoy!
our portrait by Mr. Kleinfeld
the Kleinfelds in Harpers Ferry (well, actually on the AT in WV)
ha! whatever this wee plant is, I wanted to pluck it out of the ground and weave it into my hair like a crown... it was just lovely
oh stoopid Tulip Poplar tree flower... you're so pretty and waxy, but darn it, where were all the morel mushrooms that were supposed to have grown underneath you this year?
Chris stuck his in a tree, but Mike brought back the one he found and is going to press it. I'll ask him to make a picture so I can put it on the blog.
Chris was usually the first in our line and so was the first to see these magical babies... I love mushrooms... they're just so beautiful!! When I saw these, I desperately wanted one of the rooms in our house painted in this color, they made my heart leap and I bared my teeth at them in a huge smile. (Chris made this picture)
Cane saw this dude first. He was pretty adamant about us not messing with him. I managed to touch his tail as he was cruising away and he immediately turned towards me and coiled up in a strike pose... hahaha jerky black snake. (Chris made this picture)
These guys however, were much more hospitable. The larger of the two clammed up tight, but this little guy was so curious... I love turtles too... well, box turtles, not the big snapping turtles that live in ponds just waiting to bite your toes off when you wade in the check the temperature... bad turtles!
mmmm, more mushrooms... Mrs. Kleinfeld asked me what type they were and I very sincerely said, Pizza mushrooms, and she didn't even smack me like I deserved... good Mom! (but don't they look like pizza dough with some marinara sauce and cheese on them.
This was our lunch spot... aaah, I love the mountains. Mr and Mrs. Kleinfeld are in amazing shape. They clearly whipped my butt on the hike. I do have the excuse of being ill, but I think they still would have whipped me, even if I'd felt right as rain... we macked our PB&J's in the perfect sunshine on a Sunday afternoon... it was really fantastic (I wanted to crawl back into bed the whole time, but even feeling like a run over cat, it was still a great hike)
here we are heading back down the mountain and into town. the white marker on the tree is the AT marker. I take them for granted because we see them everywhere. Our front door is on the AT, but it's still pretty great when one of them makes it onto our pictures. Chris took this with that in mind.
I assume that the Kleinfelds had a good time. It's kind of hard not to in such a beautiful environment... Cheers Kleinfelds, please come back anytime you'd like!

The Kaiser and the swing

2009-06-01T23:00:00.007-04:00

Last week, a day before my birthday, I hung out with the Kaiser and his new swing and made some great pictures. Corey brought home these beautiful white peonies for me and I made lovely pictures of them in her beautiful blue vase... and then in the next 2 days, my birthday came and went, and shot a wedding with Jenna, and I guess I formatted the card and shot over it. I'm still pretty steamed at myself for losing a whole day of images (Thank GOD I wasn't on a shoot). Anyhoo, luckily, I got to see him two weeks in a row and so here is the wonderful day we had last Friday.
hahaha, I wear a size 6.5 or 7 shoe, but look how huge my feet look. Konrad was impressed too...
and here's the Kaiser in his new swing. He LOVES this thing... I think he was in it for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon... he just laughs and shrieks and giggles in this thing.
and! every time I come over, he's got a new facial expression! Check this one out! hehehe
and here he is in full shriek! Happy as a clam, swinging towards and away from my camera with a spectacular view of the green grass and a huge tree
hahaha, he is going to eat that star naked! That poor star will be eaten away to just it's glowing insides by the time this teething little man is done with it!
ooh, hahaha!! The star tried eating Konrad for a quick second!
and so Konrad moved on to an easier target... come here you delicious swing, I's gunna eat ya!
oh he's back to the star... hahaha, when Corey left for work, Konrad was in the swing, and when she came back for lunch, he was in the swing again, and Corey said, has he been in there all morning! hahaha, I bet he would have if I'd let him!
after lunch, we found a new game! Konrad was on a blanket trying to sniper crawl away onto the wood floors where he's so darn fast, when I picked up the blanket edge and pulled him to the other side of the room. He looked up at me in surprise and glee and squealed like I was the Beatles, live in concert. So I did it again, and again and again until my back hurt from being hunched over pulling a blanket with a squealing 20 pound little boy on it.
and then came Mt. Saint Konrad. We were sitting in the middle of the living room and he was leaning over a book trying to get it into his mouth when all the sudden, there was a rumbling... I think it actually started in his feet, and as it traveled up his legs, gaining momentum, it finally erupted in a massive poop shooting fart that made me roll onto my side and laugh my face off. When I rolled back up, I thought, maybe I should check his pants... so I peered over to take a look and... hahahahaha!!! The Kaiser had erupted! I mean baby poop up his back almost to his neck... I've never even heard of exploding babies before, but apparently it's very common! Here's what was left of his outfit after I'd given it a good washing out in the tub. Corey said that he'd erupted earlier in the morning before I'd gotten there, so I assumed that I would be safe... hahahahaha, nope!
in his new duds, Konrad decided to check out the sleeping Norman. I'm always a little nervous when he gets this close to Norman. In Norman's defense, he's an awesome hound. He's laid back, has an awesome personality, is always wagging, has never even given me the stink eye and he's so very calm around Konrad, but still, he's an older dog (9 years old) and what's the saying... oh yeah... Let sleeping dogs lie...
or in Konrad's case, keep touching them and making their paws wiggle
hahaha, here's a close up... that is so sweet!!! boink, that's soft... boink, that's soft... boink, that's ooooh, it moved!! boink...
once we'd pestered Norman until he got up and walked into the other room, we tried playing Tupperware head (hahaha, which he hated!). Is this considered babysitting, or just aggravating the child...
I had a quick bathroom trip. Every time I have to go to the bathroom, I pick up the Kaiser and put him in his play pen. This is probably overcautious, but I'm so afraid that he's going to bump his head or fall and start to cry, and I'll have to scuttle out of the bathroom with my pants around my ankles and that will be the exact moment that someone knocks on the door and then checks the window to see what we're up to... yup, that's how my life rolls... pants down, bent over mooning the neighbors trying to pick up a stunned child sobbing his eyes out. I think I might even have anxiety dreams about this... no naked in front of the class for me... just screaming babies and mooning neighbors...
hahhhhhahahahaha!!! my watch, Corey and Brendan's little man, and one dastardly awesome expression!
oh, and the last of the dogwoods are in bloom. We ran into Bart on our walk, and Bart said that these are a hybrid variety of dogwoods that are immune to the dogwood blight that's going on and they bloom later in the season by about a month.
I also noticed that they don't have the red tipped petals that make me just sigh when I see dogwoods in full bloom. They are still so lovely though...
aaaah, I want to wake up every morning feeling like this picture... (ugh, or just please, maybe tomorrow I won't wake up after a restless night of trudging downstairs to make tea, trudging back up 3 flights of stairs to the bathroom to search for Sucrets knowing that they're going to burn my tongue when I fall asleep with one still in my mouth and then trudging back to bed only to find that Chris, Hank and Cane have stretched out and there's no more room on the bed...)
lame... Cheers!

Last week's Boy Monday

2009-06-01T20:46:00.012-04:00

I'm behind on blogging. Our house guest was picked up by her Mother this past Wednesday and Chris and I breathed a sigh of relief. I promptly got sick and have felt like boiled ass ever since. This past weekend, I sat for Konrad (and tried to make sure I didn't breath on him in case it was a cold and not allergies... I think it's a cold... *sigh* and Yay! no allergies) Mike Kleinfeld's parents came to visit and we had a lovely hike with them (me, mouth breathing and coughing all the way, with a fever... but it was a Sunday hike, I couldn't resist... paying for it today, I'm telling you... ugh!!) What else... I hung with the boys last Monday and had a great time and moved this week's Boy Monday to Boy Friday... hopefully I'll be fully recovered by then... I guess that's all, it just feels really busy. I've got to post about the wedding that Jenna and I shot, and the garden party that Linda had, and the beer tasting we went to, and the basement purging and how the coffeehouse is coming along (slowly!!) and I formatted a card of Konrad images the day before my birthday (Damn me!!) and I'm still recovering files from my working cards trying to find them again... grr... see, this is why I feel so busy.

OK, anyhoo, let's see what I can remember from last week's Boy Monday. I'm going to have to do this by pictures... (hahaha, thank goodness I take so many, or I'd never remember anything)

someone is a shortly shorn sheep, right in time for summer... look! It's Silas' face! no more hair to twirl for a while. I think it's a great 'do for the summer!
I love bugs, and love that the boys love them too. Atti pointed this little dude out and I picked him up and then passed him around... millipedes are so wiggly!! We played on the swings for a while, but it was really muggy last Monday, and when Atti went to music class, the older boys and I fled inside to hang out in the shade (hahaha, the shade of the roof...)
we played with these planks for a while and I got some great sequences of our creations being blasted apart by Nerf bullets. I'll put them together in a video and post it later. Here's Silas making the highest swirly of the afternoon. Hahaha, the boys also learned the other definition of a swirly (the one with a kid's head in the toilet as it flushes, swirling their hair) hahaha, boys... I fit right in... It's going to be a sad day when they out mature me... I'm expecting it any month now... hahaha!! Swirlies... hehehe
Every week, I try to get them to make up a story and then paint or draw it... they always resist me and it's like pulling teeth to get them to create one, but sometimes I prevail... this past week, instead of asking them for a story, I asked them to create the worst curse (which I frantically wrote down as they streamed out of their creative little mouths).
I cursed Silas to have no bunghole and so will have to poop out of his mouth forever (ugh!! I know, I know... but I can't help it, butts are their respective functions are just so funny to me!)
Silas cursed me to poop in my pants, forever, lick the toilet, puke out of my ears, and nose and eyeballs, die, and then (I'm a sucker for dying and then doing stuff) run away, fall into the river, get banged around, SUFFER, and then drown...
By this time, Avery was clawing the ceiling waiting to get his curse out, and it wasn't disappointing. Avery cursed 'The World', the whole world that helicopters would hover around my house and men would jump out and rob me blind and then steal my house and I'd be homeless on the streets and I'd fall and crack my head and then my brains spill out onto the sidewalk and then roll away into a pool of gasoline and then my brains catch fire and the whole world explodes and then everyone dies, except for my brains (on fire) Chris, and the boys and part of my body (well, one arm and one leg and no brains) and I'd be drowning in space because there's no air in space, and so I'd have serious brain damage (hahaha, very serious since my brains jumped ship and are currently on fire floating around in space). Chris suffers no damage and is doing just fine pacing around on the moon and he sees my on fire brains floating by and the brains say, 'hi, I'm Miriam' and then Chris marries my brains (that are still on fire) and Avery and Silas are flying past Chris and his new brain bride laughing at us and trying to smash into us and Chris falls down and sits on my brains and accidentally poops on it/me, well, my brains on fire, me, and puts out the fire which is good, but bad too because it's lower gravity on the moon so his fire extinguishing poop just floats around him and his pooped on smooshed newly wed brain bride. And just then Atti speeds by in his rocket ship and Avery and Silas beat up the rocket and Atti floats off into space in his space suit laughing. ~The end~
*Sigh*, Mondays are the best...
as soon as Avery was done with his world curse (with a liberal amount of help from Silas), I sat down at the table and started to draw part of his curse. The boys both grabbed a marker and helped me... we worked on it until Atti came back from music and then it was almost time for lunch.
little kids and gum don't go well together... (just a little Monday wisdom)
and here are all of Erika's men (except for Donkey, the dog). Marty was showing us video of the boys from one of their cameras.
after lunch, Marty had suggested that Silas work on his math
and Avery work on his writing... *Sigh*, if Chris and I have kids, I don't think I'm going to be the disciplinarian... I managed to make Silas solve 10 addition or subtraction problems, and Avery squeaked out one page of cursive...
and then Avery snuck underneath the porch, turned on the water and the boys went wild! Atti was the first one soaked
and he ran for the other side of the porch, the dry side, and ended up behind me because I had the camera and hollered 'no drenching me!' as a sopping Atti ran towards me.
Silas, who had been standing close to me when the hose was turned on, of course, ran towards the water and was dripping in seconds!
Atti hid behind the fort, behind me, and watched it all with pure delight
and here's the mastermind in action...
hahaha, once everyone was all wet (but me), they were hungry again and we all piled into the kitchen for a snack, a rice snack, snack.
and what's the best way to eat a rice snack, snack? By playing rice snack moustache, of course! hahaha, I think I'm going to print this montage out... (oh, and if you click on any of these images on the blog, it will open up a window with the full size image. I make them small for the web, so they're useless to print out, they'll look like poop, but on your screen, they'll be nice and big!)
snacks devoured, we were ready to flee outdoors again.
Atti took a forever ride on the tire swing
and Silas brought out the trombone (which like a dumbass, I called a trumpet... hmm, I'm not very musically alert... it seems). I LOVE this picture... I only wish I'd caught it from a different angle and I really wish I hadn't underexposed it! Grr! So, I guess, I HATE this picture, but I love what the boys are doing in it! Man, they were laughing so hard!
Atti worked on getting his pppptttthhhhhbbbttt down for a while. The trombone is bigger than he is! hahaha...
and Silas ran around after us trailing huge trombone farts and then blaming them on us! hahaha!!! I have a crush on trombone farts, they sound awesome! Thank you Silas!!
I drew the vague outline of a car (well, 2 big circles and a lopsided trapezoid) and Atti was completely absorbed in coloring it in. Every few minutes, he would look around and catch my eye and say, 'Do you think I should change markers?' and I would smile and say, 'sure, if you're ready to!' hahaha, he is the sweetest man in all the land.
while Atti was coloring, I started to draw a car, and Silas came over and started drawing right next to me on the same piece of paper. I drew a dog farting on a cat and then addressed the card to their dog, Donkey. Hahaha, Avery came over and got in on the action. He started to write all sorts of foul stuff on the card, Miriam is a lard ass, and stuff like that, (to his credit, it was retaliatory... I believe I wrote that he had bad breath or something) so I then asked Silas to read it out loud for everyone to hear (he's a pokey reader, and so I ask him to read whenever I can). And what's better to read than terrific insults hand written by his older brother! hahaha. I'm sure this is not what Marty meant when he asked me to encourage the boys to read and write during the day, but hey... they were reading and writing with gusto!! Here Silas had just read something about my ass... or perhaps the 'S' word... (Kids are so funny, Avery doesn't say it, but he sure knows how to spell it! Look at him eyeballing me. I think Silas was surprised to read the 'S' word, and Avery was cautiously hoping he wouldn't be in trouble for writing it. Hahahaha We all busted up laughing!!!)
Hahahahahaha!!!! reading and writing is AWESOME!!
Cheers!

mo mo earrings... oh dear...

2009-06-01T20:30:00.006-04:00

So, I'm obsessed, it seems... I've been having trouble sleeping these last few days. I either have one hell of a head cold, or allergies... I'm hoping it's a head cold, because it will eventually go away and I'll be fine. If it's allergies, someone please kick me in the face... hard...

Anyhoo, it's completely disabling, my throat is so sore it hurts to breath, my face feels like I should give it a funeral... nose clogged, ears clogged, lips cracking, mouth breathing, nasty me... poor Chris.

So, I've been making earrings when I can't sleep... here are some more attempts. Oh, also, Maryanna encouraged me to make cards to hold the earrings, so Chris and I designed them, and then I designed cards for Maryanna. Yay!

Enjoy

(Ps, Carolina, I'll drop yours in the mail tomorrow!)

mo earrings...

2009-05-27T14:27:00.003-04:00

So, I've been playing around with earring designs... Maryanna got me a beading book for my birthday and I poured through it looking for inspiration... it worked. Over the weekend, I banged out 18 pairs of earrings. Maryanna is selling them in her shop and it makes me smile every time I go in to chat with her and someone has a pair in their hands, holding them up to the light or commenting on them to their friend... Yay for crafting...
Last night as I was making a few pairs, Chris was rooting around in my beads and wires. I asked him if he wanted to make a pair and he immediately said no, but I know how alluring the shiny, colorful beads can be... you start looking at the different sizes and shapes and then start to see the complimentary colors and how they can be clumped together or teased out to make lovely little pieces of art... *sigh*
Anyhoo... maybe he'll make a pair...maybe he'll just keep playing with my pliers when I'm trying to use them... hahaha, sweetman...
Here are some of my latest attempts.
Cheers!

Mother's day

2009-05-24T19:20:00.004-04:00

Jesus Mary and Joseph, I forgot to write about Mother's Day! hahaha!! oh man... sorry!!
We went down to Bob and Annie's to celebrate with Chris' Mom and family. We always have a good time there, and this time was no different. Here's some Mother's Day action, Enjoy!
Chris brought me a tasty malt beverage which was yoinked by Chris' Mom (hahaha, Mother's Day privileges rock!), so I tried to get a picture of her chugging it... hahaha that would have been awesome, but she just said thank you, and daintly sipped it in the afternoon sunshine.
That Sunday was baking, and we all sat in the sun soaking it up. I had the tilty with me, which I've about used to death, we should really return it to Mike before I name it... (sigh, because then it's ours forever, even if it gets into the garbage all the time and ignores us when we call to it...)
Here's Bill soaking in some rays while laughing about something I've since forgotten... Bill has a very dry sense of humor (so it seems to me) but when he gets to laughing, it's just great... I love his laugh!
Here's Annie's Dad watching her Mom... aah, that's a great look... I can only hope that my friends catch Chris looking at me this way... pretty super...
Bob broke out his home made Limoncello and we all had a mother's day toast. Oh, wait, except this stuff was meloncello, and it was like fire water... hahaha oh yes... Bob made moonshine'cello... hehehe
remember being 7 years old and hiding under the table in your own little universe of shiny shoes and conversation you could care less about swirling aimlessly above you... me too...
ooh hahaha!!! Chris' Mom had a bit of an optometry incident... thank goodness for her poor vision, keeping her safe... that's what I always think whenever something bonks off my glasses... knock on wood I've got the nearsightedness (um, or the farsightedness... I can never remember... and frankly don't care as long as my glasses are firmly on my face).
hahahaha, oh if I could only get the truck back on the ledge, all would be right with the world...
Yay for Mothers!!
Cheers!

The Printing Press

2009-05-24T19:11:00.005-04:00

Corey and Brendan recently sold Corey's antique Printing Press and I ran over to get a couple shots of it before it vanished. Ooooh, it's from the 1890's, they guess, and it was absolutely beautiful. I wanted to rub my cheek along the smooth edge of the wheel that has been cranked by an untold number of ink stained hands resolute on disseminating something they just couldn't keep to themselves. I got a bunch of shots of just the press, but it looked better with Corey and Konrad in the frame. Interestingly, the machine went from being a sad piece of history, when in the frame alone, to being a loved relic with Corey and Konrad in the frame... cool...
aah, I wish they had the space to keep this old beast forever... but hold on tightly, let go lightly... behind them is the smaller press Corey plans on using (when she has the time... *sigh*)
So long printing press...
Cheers!

Skipping to nowhere...

2009-05-18T17:58:00.013-04:00

I asked Atti what he was doing, bouncing up and down in the hallway and he politely said, I'm skipping to nowhere...
Man, my Mondays rock. The boys came to our house today and I'm glad they did. The weather was beautiful (I don't think it got past 75 degrees) and we were all in long sleeves.
Atti had music class in the morning and the older boys and I took Cane for a walk and just idly talked for a while about Nerf guns and birthday parties and floods and why mud cracked by the banks of a flooded river after the water has receded... you know, the usual cool stuff we talk about on Mondays.
haha, here are the boys scaling the wall to get out of the canal
and Cane following suit. Cane, whom is usually very shy around kids, LOVED running with them today. As the weather gets warmer and we spend more time outdoors, I'm sure Cane is going to be on many adventures with us.
Silas made some pictures with his new Birthday camera! YAY!! I'm very excited for him, my little photographer heart beams with pride at his interest. I can't wait to post some of his pictures on here.
Avery showed me a new trick with his found penny and then we went back to the house to eat lunch and wait for Atti to get back from music class. Silas finished reading a book to us out loud, Avery practiced his cursive, Atti did a huge floor puzzle, then we went back outside again. We checked out the Hayward Shepherd monument in town and then had a discussion about how Avery felt about it, which was awesome. He's such a bright and thoughtful kid. I explained to him that the controversy surrounding Hayward Shepherd was that John Brown and his raiders shot him to death while Hayward was running to warn the passengers of an incoming train that there was a raid in Harpers Ferry and that Hayward Shepherd was a free black man. I read the monument to the boys. The monument praises Shepherd for "exemplifying the character and faithfulness of thousands of negroes who, under many temptations through subsequent years of war so conducted themselves that no stain was left upon a record which is the peculiar heritage of the American people, and an everlasting tribute to the best in both races". I asked Avery what he thought about John Brown the abolitionist, and Hayward Shepherd the man trying to help people and do his job. Avery thought and thought and finally said something to the tune of, I don't know what to think, both are right, no slaves and do a good job. Child, I totally agree... He's a great kid, and I love challenging him with ideas of philosophy, because he'll take the time to chew on it for a while and give me an honest, best thought out answer... if only all adults would do this... what a world we'd live in.
When I got back home, I researched the controversy, because I don't know anything about it, and here's what I learned, it was a little more involved than how I explained it to Avery...
~ on the afternoon of October 10, 1931, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated a memorial to Heyward Shepherd, a black man and first victim of John Brown's 1859 raid, in the small town of Harpers Ferry. The ceremony opened with a welcoming address by Henry McDonald, the white president of a local black college. McDonald described the dedication not as a day to "remember discord" of the past, but rather highlighted the monument as a tribute to "fidelity to duty, faithfulness in times of stress, [and] vigorous defense of honor." He encouraged black men and women to see that whites were indeed willing to share their advantages with all those races who were submissive to the will and desires of whites. Matthew Page Andrews, a white historian from nearby Baltimore, was more explicit than McDonald in his efforts to invoke the proper black-white relations in regard to the events of Harpers Ferry and slavery. By contrasting Brown's "vociferous exit" to Shepherd's "quiet passing," he implied that blacks should imitate the faithful and humble freedman rather than the violent, crazy Brown.~
Anyhoo, we sat by John Brown's Fort
we sat by John Brown's fort, hahaha, right... I love this picture because Silas is rolling into it and Avery is midway through his somersault. (It's not translating well in this small size, sorry)
(we sat by John Brown's fort) and Avery and Silas had a wheelbarrow race alone because my wee orange legged partner heard a train and had to run and look at it.
Silas found a bird's nest under the old wagon and showed us, and then put it in a nearby bush so other birds could use it (and I wanted to hug him, the good kid!)
and then we stayed in a spot close to the train tracks so Atti could see all the trains that passed through town and I read a story out loud called Tom-Tit-Tot which is a version of (Rumpelstiltskin). Silas asked a great question that made me want to hug him so hard he would have feinted. In the story the mother tells the king her daughter can spin 5 skeins of yarn a day when the King overhears her incorrectly grumbling about how her daughter ate 5 of her pies that day. The King is impressed and he marries the girl because of her amazing spinning ability. Silas stopped the story and asked why the girl didn't just fess up. *Sigh* Kids are great. I explained that she should have but her Mother had instigated the lie and even though the girl should have fessed up, the arrangement might have been made outside of her and that she might not have had the opportunity to say anything to the King until after they were married and then he might have chopped off her head when he found that he'd been lied to even if it was her Mother that had told the lie and she was just keeping quiet about it (which he had threatened to do earlier in the story, part of the bargain for marriage was spinning 5 skeins everyday for a month once a year)... Silas took this in and then said, I would have told him anyways... hahaha!! Good kid!
Atti leaned all over me and at one point, after we'd all been wrestling for a while (which basically entails all three boys launching themselves at me and then me picking them off and delicately tossing them off so they can do it again... or tickling them off... hahaha, they're very ticklish!!) we went back to the story and I started reading to them again on my stomach and Atti climbed onto my back and lay right on top of me in the same position and put his head in between my shoulder blades and said, I love you... and I said, I love you guys too... and damn it do I mean it! The boys rock... I can't say it enough. I LOVE my Mondays with them.
the older boys jumped off the walls a million times (I like this one in tandem)
and then Silas asked me to take one where he looked like he was diving, and then jumped down and did a headstand and then asked me to look at both pictures... hahaha!!! The wiseass looked like he'd jumped off and hit his head...
as we headed back to my place, we grabbed a drink at the fountain, Silas ended up soaked,
Atti ended up soaked,
and it was a riot!
Cheers!

I passed the mom test...

2009-05-17T15:09:00.006-04:00

Tuesday night Corey surprised Brendan with dinner and a show in Baltimore. I went up to their place around 5 and after Corey nervously gave me emergency contact numbers and kissed her little man thousand times... we waved to them from the front porch and they were off (for the first time while leaving their little man with a babysitter) to a romantic night on the town.
Konrad and I walked around town in the gorgeous weather until Shawna and Ruby showed up.
We sat in the grass with the wee ones and got in some good girlfriend chat time
we accidentally stumbled (or thoughtfully decided) our way into paradise, and up here in our dinky town, things are friggin grand.
Shawna and Ruby stayed for an egg snack, and Konrad ate sweet potatoes from me for the first time.
Ruby is in the learning phase of making things fit... on the head into one another... it's all about the interlocking pieces
I love being around these women whom have so recently come into my life... Shawna, Corey the other women I know in town, these ladies are all so beautiful in their unique ways, and I'm lucky to have them as a part of my life.
Norman agrees...
Here are the little ones in the play pen... hahaha
it's fascinating watching them learn. Shawna has been teaching Ruby some sign language and she signed to me the other say and I about fell off the planet... I was so surprised as the translating voice inside my head said 'apple'... hahaha!! Yikes!
hahaha!!! What amazing creatures we are... and the Kaiser has a whole Broadway show of facial expressions that just crack my ass up...
and then, around 7pm, the Kaiser got tired... and started looking for his parents so he could go to sleep... and they were on the moon, or in France, or I'd eaten them whole and he could smell them on my breath... and kids... the shit hit the fan... hahahahahaha!! The poor man cried for almost 2 hours before he finally exhausted himself... I held him, rocked him, sang to him, lay with him, bounced him, read to him, banged pots for him, went outside, inside, outside, inside, I rocked him in the stroller, showed him his favorite picture of him and his parents, and that poor little man just broke my heart to bits when his little finger would touch the glass over his Father's face and slowly move it to his Mother's face, and start to quiet down as I said repeatedly... Moma, and Papa, and Konrad, and then he'd look up at me, his tired little head on my chest and just bawl... his little legs kicked and his back arched and he just howled with frustration and passion... the message was so clear... Lady! Give me my damn parents back, because I'm so tired and I can't sleep without them... please...
and when he finally fell into a fitful sleep, I realized that I'd passed the Mom test in my mind. I'm very afraid of being a bad parent... I'm sure everyone is... and thanks to Konrad, I think I'm going to be just A-OK. In all the time I couldn't calm him, and with everything I tried, I never once became frustrated with him, his crying, the constant overwhelming sound that echoed off the walls never once bothered me, or became overwhelming emotionally, it never crossed my mind or heart to be angry with him because I was doing my best and it wasn't good enough... the only thing I felt was sadness that he was suffering and the urge to try harder to get him peacefully to sleep so he'd be happy again.
Ha, thank you little man for the very important lesson, and I'm sorry you had such a rotten time getting to sleep.
Cheers!

A short boy Monday

2009-05-17T14:30:00.006-04:00

We've had a really busy week, and it hasn't all been wine and roses. Here are the good parts, and I'm going to leave the bad parts out. In short, Chris and I took in a house guest without realizing that the person has major issues. It's been a disruptive week and we're having a level of tension in our house that we've never experienced before... gladly, Chris and I have become more grateful of our relationship, which we've lately been taking for granted. We've been together for 3 years now, and I guess this is the settling in point (as people whom we've reached out to for advice have told us... apparently year 3 and 7 are mean for some brawling...) We're just getting back into our grooveagain and this disruption has eased us in more quickly...(there's always a positive to everything huh... hahaha, go figure)
Anyhoo, enough with the cryptic crap that I don't want to talk about anymore. Chris and I are well, and the house guest issue will soon be resolved... so more importantly, let's get down to some boy talk. Since it's been almost a full week since I've seen them, I'm starting to forget every minutia of our afternoon. I had to leave at 2 pm last week, so it was a short day. Their baby chicks hatched last week... ugh!!! they're adorable!
Aunt Anne brought Silas a cool new toy... and I learned that she's part of a circus... I can't wait to hear more about it, I love seeing her, she's a burst of awesome girl energy!
Avery got a pogo stick and is bouncing around like he's got try outs for Cirque De Soliel coming up... he's really in his element on this thing. I tried all afternoon and managed 4 jumps in a row before I fell off... (We counted up to the mid 50's before avery got tired and Silas was in the high 20's). If I were watching myself, I imagine I would have looked like an elephant, trunk up and roaring with mixed fear and agitation, balancing on a blade of grass and trying to jump up and down in place while not stomping any surrounding blades of grass... gracefully... hahaha, I must have looked like a complete ass (yeah yeah... 5 cents... it was worth it).
Silas looked like he was going to jump over the house with it,
and Avery can stop walking and just pogo where ever he needs to go... *sigh* When did I get so BIG! Anyhoo, I had an awesome time... I tried skateboarding down a ramp (the boys make it look SO easy) and I almost ate the porch, and Anne, their Aunt was in town and neither one of us had the balls to jump the skateboard off the porch, even though the boys gave us a demonstration and then begged us... hahaha.
We pulled some feathers off a peahen (a lady peacock) that had an unfortunate accident,
the feathers were just divine... I would like to have peacocks and hens in our yard once we have some land...
and Atti got squeaky clean when he himself had an unfortunate accident of his own (thanks for the helping hand Grandma)... hahahah he's too funny... seriously though, there was a riot in his underpants... jeesh!!
So, there completes another fantastic Monday...
oh, and someone had a birthday this past week, and turned the ripe old age of 7...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILAS!!!!!!!
Cheers!

The Sprout!!

2009-05-10T22:09:00.009-04:00

Our friend Karen has a 'little Sprout' whom we adore... This morning we had a mini portrait session with them on our way to Mother's Day brunch with Chris' family. Here are a few images that I liked... I brought my tilty and my 16-50 and my 24-200, I mean I was all geared out... 2 bodies, 3 lenses, I even brought my reflector, but I don't think I was at my best... I wanted to be, but I think that I was just a bit out of my element (which makes me so irritated... I should be able to shoot anywhere in any situation). I was in a townhouse development and there was more street and sidewalk area than I've seen in a while. The inside was lovely and well lived in, but the rooms were all dry wall and I've gotten so used to wood and stone to create interesting backgrounds, that I think I've become lazy in my compositions, and it really showed here). I asked Chris what he thought of my raw shoot and he said that he felt I was off too ( I love that he's honest... but it sucks when he's right)... Now, this is not to say that I didn't make images that I think Karen and her husband will cherish (I made images that I'm proud of, it just wasn't easy)... I did capture a moment in their lives that 'the Sprout' will eventually leave behind as he grows, but I just couldn't settle into a groove, where I shot a burst of 4-5 continuous images and then by muscle memory, shifted my angle to do another burst because I knew that I'd nailed a shot. I tried and tried, and pushed and switched cameras, and angles, and lenses and speeds and aperture and it just wouldn't come. I felt like Frankenstein with a phantom limb controlling my camera... I had to remember to move, to not overwork a dead shot while I missed the smiles and natural motions on a bad angle, it was really frustrating because Karen doesn't live close to us and we see them so infrequently, if I don't nail it, I won't get another chance. I wanted to throw my shit down and have a major temper tantrum... *sigh*

That said... 'the sprout is a beautiful little man with an easy, wonderful smile, even if he has a touch of shyness around me. Here are my picks...

(Karen, the shoot was fine, I'm just venting... I wanted to slide into your home and bang out some amazing images of this slice of your life, but I was having a tantrum inside because I really had to push today...) So, here's the handsome 'Sprout'.
looking out the glass door with 'wormy, his red, paper worm (I love that wormy is smiling a thin papery smile)
'the Sprout' fell over and konked his head. Sadly, I was closer to him than Karen and I could feel Karen start towards him, and I crouched down, she assumed I was going to help him, but I just started shooting away... hahaha, I got the shot, but am I a rotten person, for shooting with gusto instead of helping? *sigh*
walking to the pond (we never got there, 2 year olds are pokey when grown ups are on a timeline)
found a trike in someone else's front yard... 'the Sprout' looked back at Mom to see if he was allowed to sit on it (ahahaha, once he was already sitting on it)
all boys love being upside down...
our wonderful friend Karen and her little, ticklish, man
a quick but exhausting shoot. Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers we adore out there...
Cheers!

Being a part of the community...

2009-05-09T19:07:00.006-04:00

This morning I walked up to the gazebo in upper town Harpers Ferry to help out Shawna with the plant sale.
She was alone with Ruby (Attila was in DC at market) and had called the night before to ask I wanted to help... hahaha, Duh... of course I want to help... plants and babies... I"m so there... Shawna and Attila have Mountain View Farm at the Blue Ridge Center and it's where we do our volunteer farming in the summer. Last year we helped them harvest every Friday and brought home all the fresh vegetables we could ever want. It was an awesome trade, and I hope we have enough time to do the same this year (on a lesser scale).
The morning was beautiful and Corey was there with Konrad and Karen and Jon-Marc were there too. The Gazebo is right up the hill from us and it's a lovely smidge of open park surrounded by gorgeous old homes.
Karen is due in 7 weeks and we're really excited for them. Folks came out in droves and bought out most of Shawna's starter plants (ha! which I didn't make a single picture of... duh...) and I came home with enough to not have to start any from seed this year (which we haven't yet, so that was an awesome barter!!!). I brought home some squash, peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, lettuces and chive plants to add to our mater plants we got last week at the Sheep & Wool festival. I also brought my camera up to the sale knowing that Ruby would be there, so here are a few shots from this morning. We are heading out to a Mothers Day party for Chris' Mom tomorrow and are also doing a quick portrait session with the Sprout. We are also expecting Arin Mason at some point tomorrow (whom will be staying with us for a month or so while she finishes up her book) so we're going to have a crowded house. Yay Spring!

Happy Mothers Day to everyone out there!!
Konrad loves to be upside down... hahaha, I love seeing him like this and could make a thousand images of him laughing and screaming with glee as his head fills with blood and his sweet face gets all ruby red...
there's was a bench under this huge bush that's in bloom right now and lucky me, everyone decided that it would be a good place to keep out of the sun... (I love that Corey's shoes are bright yellow...)
every time I turned around, there was another great picture to be made as beautiful women sat in the shade and laughed... I was just delighted with that stupid, enormous bush, the warm weather and that all my friends are amazingly pretty! Life is good.
Here's a neighbor... I'm not sure who he is, but I think his name is Winston and he's quite dashing!! I love a hound with a big square head.

and who can resist a hound with one ear perpetually up... he's adorable!! Again, no idea who he is, but I know his owner drives a red Miata... dog knowledge is funny.
and look at Ruby's teeth!! Shawna says they're growing in from right to left, not front to back... hahaha... silly teeth. *Sigh* time is moving so fast!!
Cheers, and Hug someones Mother!

So THIS is how you get Polio...

2009-05-08T13:36:00.008-04:00

A couple evenings ago, Chris and I were idly chatting and it came up that Chris has a small scar on his arm from his Polio vaccination, he was born in 1969 and I think it was just part of the kid set of vaccinations you had to receive in order to attend public school (I'm not sure about that though, I looked it up online and I couldn't find any info about U.S. mandatory vaccinations). As far as I know, I was not vaccinated against Polio because I was born in 1975 and they were no longer a mandatory vaccine. Anyhoo, while we were browsing the web, we realized that neither of us knew how polio was contracted, so we looked it up... hmm... it's a fecal oral transmission. Uuuugh... totally could have lived without knowing that... but funny how things work...
So, that brings us to this morning. The sun was out (it's been raining for over a week now) and we decided to chug some coffee and head on up to Keyes Gap to talk a walk with the hounds and hunt for morel mushrooms. The dogwood flowers are almost all gone which means that in old wives tales time, morel hunting is almost done for the year too. I was excited that Hank wanted to go with us. Lately he's been spending most of the time on the bed, and I think he's still depressed that Roark's no longer with us. This morning though, when i put on my camping hat (the luck of the Irish be wit ye...) Hank hopped off the bed ready and willing.
Keyes Gap is part of the AT, and so there were a steady stream of folks along the trail. A few serious hikers passed us and smiled at the dogs, and a fair size group of high schoolers on a fieldtrip followed us for a bit and then passed us up (Hank didn't get off the path in time and was suddenly surrounded by folks and he just started walking along with them as if he were part of their trip... it was very funny. We had to call to him before he realized that we weren't in the crowd, poor old man...)
Here's Chris hiding from Cane. I saw Cane tearing up and down the path and I thought he was just getting his run on, but then Chris said, kind of quietly 'He's looking for me" and I realized that indeed, Cane was cruising the path for Chris... hahaha, Daddy's boy! Chris had stopped moving and was hiding behind a tree waiting for Cane to find him, but with all the rain and mud, I guess Chris' smell wasn't sticking to anything, and Cane, who is usually a great tracker, couldn't find him and was getting nervous!
Here's Cane, right before he found Chris. As soon as he found him, he stopped tearing back and forth along the path... dogs are awesome.
We skipped off the path a bit (which was super muddy from all the rain) and started circling tulip poplar trees in hopes of finding the elusive but very delicious morel mushrooms. Last year we only found 8 of them and this year we were determined to do better. Well, about 15 minutes into our trip, we were surrounded by gnats (so prevalent and awful this year) and we had both eaten a couple with our eyelids (SO ANNOYING!) and had swallowed several of them. We hadn't seen a single mushroom and were getting pretty close to saying F' this and heading home, when I looked around for Hank and saw him sliding his chin in something on the ground. This is always a bad sign. Mr Stanky LOVES finding dead things in the woods and then rolling in them. Amber and Patti Gunn have a particularly wonderful story of when they drove Roark, Hank and Babe (Amber's pitbull) home the morning after spending Thanksgiving in Purcellville, VA (I had to leave early for a photo shoot, and they dropped the hounds off at my place in the city later that day). Patti went out for a walk with the hounds, Roark was on lead (because she never came back until she was ready to return... grr!!) and Babe and Hank were trotting along beside her. We were all pretty hung over and so it was a few minutes before Patti realized that Hank wasn't next to her... she called for him and he came trotting out of the woods looking exactly like Roark (hank is a blond boy and Roark was a brindle girl... they look nothing alike!) Hahahaha, apparently Hank had found a rotting deer corpse and had rolled around in the rib cage until he had on enough 'war paint' to look like Roark... UUUUUgh!!! The girls said he smelled so bad that they had to drive the whole way back to DC with the windows open... hahaha, It was below freezing that day and Amber's heat didn't work in the jeep. They were not happy when they finally got to my house. Hank went right into the tub and the girls went home to shower off the Hank funk and drink themselves into forgetting... hahaha
So, this is Hanks M.O. we shouldn't be surprised by it anymore... but this morning he hit a new, stinky low. As soon as I saw his schmeering himself with 'war paint' I called to him and he looked up all proud and happy and came right over to me... and I just about puked.
He smelled GOD AWFUL!!! And I'm not squeamish... we hunt, we dismember deer corpses for food, I cleaned up poop that spontaneously fell out of Atti's pants 2 weeks ago... I'm not fazed... it's just the normal stuff that happens in life. Hanks stench was not normal... it was not even animal... it was HUMAN! (yeah yeah, I know we're animals, but I've never smelled animal poop that was even close to being this foul). Even worse than human pooh, it was human Hiker pooh... pooh that's been sloshed around in the intestines, high in protein, high in unbathed hiker smell... ugh!!! It was so rotten... I dragged him to the nearest mud puddle and gave his face a funeral!
Cane (half in a puddle) and Chris just watched us, up wind, and Chris laughed at us while making pictures.
Ugh! I dipped my hands in the muddy water and splashed it against Hanks face effectively wiping human shit all over both of my hands...
and then I did it again...
and again...
and again... (is that considered playing in another persons poop...) until there was no more slick, light brown, human poop on Hanks face, neck and somehow, the top of his head
or on his collar... ugh, we might have to throw this bad boy away!!
Hank smelled like shit, my hands, watch, hairband, wrists, shoes, and just general person also smelled like the worst human shit ever, and all I could think was, god my lip itches... this is how people get Polio... fecal oral... FECAL ORAL!!!
I wanted to die! hahaha, Chris was gagging walking next to me and when we got into the car, windows down, the two of us moaned unhappily all the way home... ugh, so bad!
So, we got home and Hank Cane and I made a beeline for the shower.
Cane just got a rinse to get the mud off, but I had to wash Hank twice, then Chris did a smell check, which Hank failed,
and I had to wash him once more with Dawn dish washing soap before he was allowed out of the bathroom. I washed myself twice and then passed the sniff test (thank GOD!!) and Chris and I sat around in the bedroom laughing and saying that this would be the best story all week (next week) and this is why we love Hank so much... boy is he a fun dog... Chris is now calling him Stank instead of Hank, and Hank is sleeping peacefully on the couch after his wild morning adventure.
hahaha, Happy Friday to you! and to all the hikers out there... BURY YOUR POOH LIKE A NORMAL ANIMAL, you turds!!
Cheers!

Danny MacAskill's our new hero!

2009-05-06T11:39:00.006-04:00

So, while I was writing about the boys, Chris came upstairs with a video link that a friend of his had posted in Facebook. I have to share the link, because Chris and I watched it with absolute amazement and delight. I clapped and laughed and oooh'ed... and can't wait to look up more videos of this kid! So, enjoy!
Oh, for the love of all things holy, I can't figure out how to embed a youtube video onto this post... F' me..., here's a screen grab and the link to the video... F'ing lame... sorry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

Cheers!

Are we going to have to give your elbow a funeral in the mud puddle?

2009-05-04T22:00:00.015-04:00

It was another in a series of rainy Mondays with the boys... Marty called Sunday night to see where we were going to play, and I asked if we could play there since Chris and I had the grand idea to demo the 3rd floor bathroom (as if we didn't have enough to do already!!). When Marty asked us why, we simply looked at one another and then did a simultaneous shrug... 'it needed to be done... it's been raining for 3 days and is supposed to rain all week... we needed more room... um... why not? *sigh* the house made us'... we've been possessed by the bones of this house and when it says lighten my load, we are only too willing to oblige... (stoopid, awesome house) I'll have pictures of that later this week, we're still working on putting it back together...

Anyhoo, so Monday morning, Chris and I drove over to their house, making sure to hit every puddle on the way. We're hoping the sun comes out sometime this week, so we can hunt for Morel mushrooms!! Come on SUN!
The boys, the tilty lens and I veered off to play and Chris and Marty sauntered off to Marty's workshop to work on their joint project.
Chris is making pictures for Marty of his business, Fairbuilt Guitar Company in exchange for Marty fixing Chris' mandolin and guitar which have both been sitting broken and idle for too long.
Chris is thrilled to have a photo project to work on, and I am happy to see him shooting again. These two images are just mock up ideas. Chris made maybe a dozen images while chatting with Marty and then went home and worked them into design. I can't wait 'til he goes over there and really sets up to shoot, it's going to be amazing! I'll post some more when that happens. Oh, and if you're looking for guitar repair , or just want a beautiful hand made guitar, Marty's the go to guy.
So, what do you do with three boys stuck inside on a rainy day?
you space out on the couch while feeding the dog... while avoiding having to read a primer book that Marty asked that Silas read at some point in the day. Silas is not a reader, and I don't know how to tell him that books are awesome! If I could get paid to read good books, I'd read all darn day! Silas could just be one of those people who doesn't read though... Chris reads to learn stuff, but rarely ever for pleasure... I think it's weird, but so be it...
you space out at the kitchen table... Atti has the dreamiest expressions... I would love to be a fly on the wall of his brain watching the things that go on in there... it must be a marvelous place...
you grate cheese for burritos while eating about half the block... (poor kid wasn't very hungry for lunch!)
we watched the gecko eat crickets... delicious! (this is a leopard gecko, correct?)
we watched home movies of when the boys were babies. This fascinated them! All three of them were completely absorbed in watching their behavior as babies... they'd laugh when baby them laughed on screen, and clap when baby them were clapping... and then they'd tell me all about baby them's actions and what baby them was thinking... it was really neat to listen to their own commentary on growing older
hahaha!! at one point I turned around to make a picture of them watching baby Avery, and I caught a double picker!! Nicely choreographed boys...
this was more of what I was expecting to make a picture of... I think they were watching baby Silas eat and make a MASSIVE mess. Baby Silas was eating with his mouth, nose and eyes... I kid you not, that baby face was covered in food like it was sunblock and he was going to the beach... covered!
here's Atti watching one of the older boys as a baby
and Blanche the cat watching the boys pick their noses in tandem
and Donkey the dog, waiting for Silas to pounce on him, or for all of us to look away so he can quietly munch on some legos. We also managed to play connect 4, the hungry catipillar game, have a monster lego car derby, and we had a severe pillow fight (that was so much fun, I suggest everyone try it ~ no hitting above the neck)
we went outside and tried to play, but it was just too wet... poor flower took a severe thrashing from Silas' foot after this shot... and then ended up stuck to my back when he threw the petals at me... they were really pretty even off the plant, so pink!
we blew bubbles for a while...

and here's my favorite picture of the day... lately it always seems to be Silas, the boy who hates having his picture made... well Silas, this one is just a beauty. It's perfect light, and it's a perfect private moment... Kids are lectured on nose picking and grow up to be adults whom pick their noses in private... but, nose picking is human... and for those people who tell you they don't pick their nose, well... they're lying.
Here's my other favorite picture of the day. Avery, Silas and I had a hopping on one foot race course contest. I tried to take video of it, but that's silly, making video while hopping on one foot... duh, all I got was a bunch of lurching ceiling and floor shots, so instead I hopped the other way and made this one. I love the color and blur. Oh, and I came in last. I always do... the boys must think I eat lead for breakfast, they're faster than me at everything... when did I get so old!!
We measured our headstands. Silas had the longest one and I marked their toes on the wall right above Avery's bed (sorry Marty and Erika, but it's in pencil).
and I cracked myself up all day long. There was a huge mudpuddle off the porch and any time the boys took a time out to tend their wounds (which is often) I'd ask them if their (which ever body part) was going to die and we'd have to give it a funeral in the mud puddle. This phrase just delighted me to no end, and so I'd laugh as I asked if their butt, their testicles (their word of choice this week), their elbow, their pinkie finger, their nose, their eyeball, their buttcrack... etc was going to make it, and then roll out 'the funeral in the mud puddle' noise... I wonder if they thought it was fabulous as I did, or if I was just annoying the crap out of them by saying it so often... hahaha, I'm sure they'll tell me next Monday.
I wish everyone had Monday adventures like we do, it's a fabulous way to spend a day!
Cheers!

Sheep & Wool '09

2009-05-03T11:23:00.005-04:00

It was a rainy Sheep&Wool weekend this year. We went yesterday in the hopes that the rain wouldn't be as bad... YAY! for us, we stayed dry the whole trip even though it threatened rain the whole afternoon.
We met Karen, Todd and their son, 'the sprout' there, and although I keep up with their blog, we haven't actually seen her since just a month or so after 'the sprout' was born (it's been about 2 years). We had an awesome afternoon, well, most of us did. Chris is so good to go to these things with me... apparently he has a 'rub up factor' that cannot be denied. His observance of the afternoon was "I've never had so many middle aged breasts rubbed aggressively against me in my whole life". HAHahahahhaha... poor attractive Chris... He was manhandles by middle aged chubby knitting women powering through the crowds to buy yarn. What a way to spend a Saturday...
I brought the tilty to make images of yarn, but of course, I got there and then all I could do was touch everything in sight and Chris ended up only making a couple of pictures (because much of the time he was shielding the camera from attacking mammaries).
So, here are 3 pictures of an entire afternoon we spent at Sheep & Wool '09
Oh, and if you don't know what it is, it's a fair they hold the first weekend in May at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD every year. it's free to get in and it's all about the fiber.
here's the booty I came home with... a beautiful one ply, bulky, pure wool, celery colored yarn (a little over a pound of it) and an superfine alpaca cream color yarn to go with the charcoal gray yarn we bought last year for Chris (I was supposed to make a Christmas sweater for him this past year, but he couldn't find a pattern he loved for the yarn, so we're still looking). I think I'm going to make a simple Celtic cabled, fisherman's sweater in the charcoal, and then maybe rim the neck with the cream or maybe edge the cables... I'm not sure... I'll find something he likes and that looks awesome and not 80's nasty cabled sweater'ish. I can't wait to work with the yarn, it's so soft...
Here's 'the sprout' enjoying his ice cream mouth at the fair. He's a beautiful little boy and we're heading over to Karen and Todd's place this coming weekend for a portrait session. YAY!
Cheers!

What sound does a Harley Davidson make...

2009-05-01T14:33:00.009-04:00

Blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb blahb...

It's funny the noises you'll make to pacify a 9 month old... hahaha amazing... when I got home last night from watching Konrad, my mouth hurt... I'd basically talked all day long (think drama lessons for loosening your mouth muscles). He's almost 9 months old and just started crawling as well as saying mamamamamamama mmaaam aaamm aaaaa mmmaaammaamma... and well, what do you say to that besides, blahb blahb blahb blahb...

it seemed appropriate at the moment.

So, anyways, Konrad is growing like a weed. He's much larger than the last time I saw him (about a month ago) and as he's started inchworming through the house which is giving him a wee set of muscles under his baby fat. Looking at his baby shape yesterday, I was surprised at how long and lean he's becoming.
Last month he was a blob of non verbal joy, and this month he's a sniper crawling, screeching (at an insanely high pitch), giggling little man. Corey mentioned he was fussy from teething and then fled the house, and I was scared that he'd be even more reluctant to hang with me than usual (haha, he's so worried sometimes when he misses his Mom), but yesterday was awesome. He was happy to scoot all over the house and with all the new and fascinating things to inspect I was pretty much there to make sure he didn't order in a pizza and have a party while his folks were at work. He was an autonomous little man. I brought the tilty lens with me as well as my 16-50 lens and shot the afternoon away. We took a couple long walks and rubbed our bellies on every floor on the main level. he'd scoot towards me as I lay on my side, camera to the floor and I'd scoot back as fast as I could trying to keep him in focus. He thought this was a great sport and by the time the afternoon was over, my lens was covered in wee fingerprints, part of my battery grip had been slimed with baby saliva, and we both had a fair share of norman hair on us (even with Corey and Brendan keeping a clean house)... The Kaiser was almost tears free the entire day and even had such fun with me that he tried his hardest to avoid taking an afternoon nap. I wish I'd brought the dinker dog to record his struggle. He'd look at me and smile and then burst into tears for 2 seconds and then sigh and look off into the distance and then notice me again and smile, and then burst into tears and wave his hands, etc. Luckily the weather was nice and we hung on the porch with him in the pram and me rocking him back and forth in a long soothing rhythm across the wooden floor planks that eventually vibrated him to sleep. As a walked home, I had a big goofy smile on my face... it was another really great day of babysitting.
So,all of these pics are in the slideshow, but these are a few I really liked...
I had the front door open for a bit, during the middle of the day when it was the warmest. Last weekend it was in the 90's, and then this week has been rainy and brisk with highs in the mid 60's... I love Konrad's trail of toys behind him, with his quest to touch Norman the dog and just hang outside, almost complete. Konrad's going to be one of those kids that just can't be kept indoors. If he's fussing, out we scoot onto the porch and he stops immediately... won't go to sleep, into the pram and out we go for a walk... raining or too cold outside, we just rock gently in front of a window and he quiets down...
Did I mention how fast he is!! I took a bajillion pictures with both cameras just trying to make sure I had some good ones in focus. I can understand with the tilty lens that focusing is more difficult because of the accordian, but with my regular lens, it was still hard to get a sharp shot because he would get up some steam and come grunting towards me like a train going down hill... once he started, he'd just power towards me and sometimes just couldn't stop until he'd barreled into me. I had to lift my camera into the air to avoid him konking his head into it... hahaha... he's a smiley tank!
Corey came home for lunch and we made Pizza (thanks for the D'oh Brendan). Here's a quiet moment in front of the stove, waiting patiently.
This was one of the last images I made inside before we spent the rest of the afternoon on the porch. He was so tired from being so active, but he just could not bear the idea of not scooting. He was trying so hard to keep up his pace, but his little arms were done, and he'd wiggle forward, and stop to catch his breath so he could cry for a second before wiggling forward again... oh it was so sweet to watch...
Who's the most handsome cyclops in the whole house!
Cheers! enjoy the slideshow!

Hey Miriam! Look at my butt!!

2009-04-28T11:57:00.014-04:00

I went to the boys house yesterday for the first time. I dragged my feet a bit in the morning while Chris and I had coffee and he laughed at me for being hesitant... 'what if they devour me on their own grounds' I wondered... kids are always better behaved in new environments, ie. our house... but coffee in hand, Chris and I went out to their house and I steeled myself to be even more tired at the end of the day than usual. Hahaha, boy was I right, I came home exhausted in shambling pieces, but we had an incredible day. The boys did not devour me whole, and they were the same at their house as at ours... they are such good kids that I thank their parents for letting me hang out with them all afternoon, every time they come to gather them up Monday evenings... Marty just laughs at me and thanks me again for watching them. This Monday I brought the tilty lens that we borrowed from Mike. I have barely touched it, but was over the moon about the images of town Chris came back with the other day, and I've been dying to test it out. YAY for boys and tilty lenses. Mike, thanks for letting us borrow this fun little gem, we've made some fun stuff.
Oh, did I mention it was 98 degrees yesterday? Not kidding. The boys have a thermometer on their porch and we watch it crawl ever closer to 100 degrees all day long, when it got to 98, we were sure it would break, but it plateaued there and then crept back down a bit as I packed up my things to leave (around 6pm)... 98 degrees... I was in heaven... I've waited for Miami weather since last fall when it snapped early in October... and I've been wearing long sleeves and shivering ever since...
So, here's our yesterday in the sun with the tilty lens.
Cheers!
We started the morning by dragging out a bag of pellets (which I forgot to put away, sorry guys) and building a bike ramp. Avery caught some decent air, but more-so with his butt which always jumped off the bike seat and way up into the air as his legs kicked out wildly before finding the petals again on his way down.
Silas, in true Silas fashion ~the boy's a daredevil~ caught massive air and tried to get enough clearance to jump the house. Even his cheeks fill up with air. When I showed the boys this picture, they laughed and laughed... In the full file, Avery is sharp in the background watching Silas with wide eyes and a big smile
Silas said he was going to jump the clown bike, but then fooled me... and wobbled past me with a big 'fooled you' grin on his face
We went in for a while to cool off (Atti went to music class with Grandma) and played 'the Egypt game' which is a board game mix of Egyptian trivial pursuit and monopoly. It was fun for about 20 minutes and then this happened about every other roll of the die (which was even more fun, but it really slowed the game down)
If you don't live around here, I'm sure you don't have this issue, but for us, the stinkbugs have been insanely abundant for the past year. Even this winter, when our stone house hovered around 42 degrees in the parts we don't heat, the stinkbugs chilled out, marching their little helmet bodies around like they were paying rent and part of the cable bill. Well, the boys house is in the same boat, if not worse... they're everywhere! So, Marty, their Dad, finally had enough and they now have a stinkbug jar, half filled with water and the final resting place for stinkbugs who are lazy marchers. If we can catch them, into the jar they go... and if you swirl the jar around, it makes a stinknado!! We did this for a bit, but then one of the stinkbugs was still vainly swimming in the stinknado of all his dead relatives and Silas felt bad and asked if we could dump the jar out. Avery and I agreed (and I felt like a monster!! hahaha, ugh, where's my stinkin compassion!! no pun) and the jar was emptied off the back porch.
I showed the boys the tilty lens and Silas was fascinated. The boys have finally started ignoring the camera almost completely and are now taking an interest in being behind it. I'll have to start bringing my dinker dog for them to use while I am shooting. Below are a bunch of my attempts to make an awesome image with the tilty lens. It's difficult to use with moving objects because the slightest motion from your hands on the accordion lens shifts the focus. I think the final tally of images made yesterday was in the 300's... and only around 24 images made it onto this post... sigh... It's frustrating sometimes knowing you could have made the shot with a regular lens, but some of these are really great (pat pat on my back... but they are... and I'm not taking it back) and they wouldn't have been as interesting without the tilty.
enjoy!
Atti's feet
Avery on the tire swing
Atti's rubbers (yeah yeah, go ahead, laugh... but its the proper usage)
Silas getting up from a skateboard wipeout
Marty's workshop. I think this is the way the tilty is supposed to be used. I was probably about 200 yards from the workshop and the tilty did it's stuff... I pushed the curves a bit in photoshop, but other than a cut for web size and a small push, this is the original image I made

Silas gave me "the moon", which I warned him I'd make a picture of and put on the blog, but he seemed very unconcerned about it, so haha Silas! Here's your butt with Mona Lisa's face on it posted on the internet for everyone to see!! Told you I would! (I imagine that Silas had a similar serene smile on his face as Mona Lisa does... maybe she liked mooning people too...)
my favorite picture of Silas from yesterday. The tilty is very subtle, but it worked like long glass which made the shot.
Avery climbing a tree
Avery showing me how his Grandmother punches people, after I asked him to stand in the hard light. Nice form Grandma...
and hahaha, Avery giving me the butt when I asked him to move over a smidge and do it again... nice one Avery... see, look how great the light is though!!!
Atti in the hard light. I asked him to stand in it and he went right over to it and spaced out... big time... I wonder where he was... I bet it was awesome... (he was holding a bright red bigwheels car and slowly running it up and down the cabinet door)
in a house with 3 growing boys, there are still these beautiful spaces of absolute quiet and perfect light.
Silas and Avery on the porch
I must have made 30 pictures trying to get one in focus... this was the best I could do... (easier made and better composed with long glass, not the tilty) oh well, still fun to experiment, and Silas was having a ball on the swings.
again, made a bazillion before I could get this into focus, and at this range, I was maybe 10 feet from Atti, there's no need to use the tilty. Atti LOVES the swings... I pushed him for about an hour while goofing with the older boys and then he said, 'let's go inside now' so we all tromped inside and Atti pulled himself up onto the couch and slept for a good 2 hours... hahaha, it's tough being 3 years old with two older brothers...
Avery showing me some karate moves. Every once and a while, I catch his face as it will look like when he's an adult and darn, he's going to be a good looking man. I love this picture, his child's arms and adult concentration... (that said, we had a rock throwing contest and this kid can throw further than I can, and I'm no slouch!)
When Chris came to get me yesterday evening, the bunch of us went up the hill to look for morel mushrooms and I snagged this image of Marty with his sons... the tilty is on overkill, which reminds me to carry another camera with a regular lens...
Cheers to another superb Monday!

i AM a crafty bastard!

2009-04-26T18:21:00.002-04:00

Sold my first pair of earrings... YAY!
Gone!
Cheers!

an old friend...

2009-04-26T17:55:00.005-04:00

I went to Baltimore yesterday to meet an old friend I haven't seen in a decade. The last time I saw him was on the long ride back to DC after accidentally being trapped in a blizzard in Montreal in late April 1999. We went on a whim in t-shirts and tennis shoes and came back shivering and several days late. I remember having to call into work "trapped in Canada by a blizzard..." hahaha, really, the dog DID eat my homework. And then 10 years went by... and we called a couple times, emailed, he was in Thailand for a while, I moved to West Virginia with Chris, and then in February he emailed again, he was back in the country... and I was so curious...
and in the end, no matter how much time passes, the friends you loved when you were young are still themselves, and you are still you, no matter how much you've tried to be someone else, someone better, more mature, or just different than you thought you were as a child, or as a teenager, or as someone your friend once knew...

it's so very comforting and a bit torturous to hear someone say, 'you're exactly the same person I remember you to have been'.

I didn't dream at all last night. I guess I didn't need to review any memories in my dreams (like I usually do... Sarah R. I had one of us in St. Augustine, just last week, eating bread sticks at the pizza hut, hahaha, must not have eaten enough for dinner...) as I'd just had a lovely afternoon drinking coffee, catching up, and watching the Rangers beat the Orioles with a memory in person that I sort of expected never to make anymore memories of... It's a small world sometimes, Cheers!

A Quick in out

2009-04-24T20:08:00.005-04:00

sped into DC to shoot for Merv. Ended up at the Tune inn for burgers before we left...

took some awesome stuff...

enjoy...
Jay and I listening to Mike and Chris... mmmm PBR on tap, Natty Boh in hand
Mike listening to Chris. I like this picture. A lot of kids have brown eyes with a lot of green in them, but it's hard to tell unless you catch them in the right light. Mike has a lot of green in his brown eyes.
Mike helping Chris with his portrait
my favorite picture of the day! Hahahahaha.... that's my man!
hahaha!!! Jay is awesome, and I'm sorry to say that, indeed, this is Chris' girlfriend!
hahaha, not to be left behind, half Mike, half seal shows his stuff...
Aly joined us late and left early... I miss you girl...

Tilty Town, USA

2009-04-24T10:39:00.005-04:00

Chris borrowed a lens from Mike Kleinfeld and had himself a time with it in our little town, I'm so jealous, I can't wait to play with it too... Here are his first images with the lens . All the pictures of the stone sculptures and walls are things that Chris has dry stacked this spring. They're really beautiful and the tourists love them! It's Chris' little release from working on the house and it seems to really piss off the batty Realtor trying to sell the house next door. Hahaha, art as revenge, I love it!
Cheers and enjoy the pics

earrings are the new spring...

2009-04-23T22:46:00.006-04:00

We're still waiting to take down the sheets that we hang in the doorways for the winter and usher in the new spring... sadly, we're still wearing our fleece jackets indoors and sleeping with our socks on... I hear rumors on the internets though that this weekend is going to be in the 80's... I've got my fingers crossed and a spring dress and flip flops waiting on the closet door.

Last night, Tammy, Maryanna and I went to Winchester, VA to take a bead class at The Potomac Bead Company. I've never heard of the company before, but apparently it's a huge franchise. I'm not thrilled to find that out, but I can't lie. The store was beautiful. It had clean wood floors and the walls were covered in lush beads. In the center of the store were long tables of loose beads in pristine white cups. For me, this is a visual and tactile heaven. I love all the color against the wood floors and creamy walls, and even more than the color, I love feeling the beads. Picking them up one at a time and feeling their shapes and their textures... weaving my hands through the bigger bowls and rolling my fingers across big schools of beads like fish in the ocean... they catch light and reflect it off my face and I can feel the colors luring me, or showing me their dull sides so I know not to choose them... mmmmm.... love it... We had a two hour class, which we all loved, and we each made 3 or 4 sets of earrings. When I got home, I babbled relentlessly to Chris (whom waited patiently for me to wind down) and then when Donny came over to drink a couple beers with us, I took out my beads and made another 4 pairs. I'm now the proud maker of eight new pairs of earrings. I can't wait to make some more. I tried making a bunch in New York, but I wasn't very good at it... I'm not sure why the class changed my approach to making them, but it did and now I've got a different pair of eyes when I look at beads and the options I have when using them for earrings. I am now going to cross my fingers and hope that the library has an earring making book I can check out for new ideas. YAY!! I'm hoping that I can sell every pair (to finance making some more...). I enjoy making them like I enjoy knitting... maybe earring making is what knitters do in the summer...
This was the whole class. It doesn't look very glamorous, but the store was lovely and the teacher, the woman standing (I didn't even catch her name, I was so excited to create, hahaha) was nice and patient. The only thing I didn't like about it was that we only learned how to do one wrap with the wires. I would have like to have learned as many as would have fit into my excited skull.
hahaha, Maryanna put on a pair of reading specs hoping to see the tiny wires better. There we were, 5 ladies all hunched over and squinting at wires and beads... aah, Thursday nights, how they've changed... (to all of you who remember bartending on dollar bud nights at the Pourhouse... hahaha, we got old... thank GOD!!!)
hahaha, Here's Tammy and her first earring attempt. Tammy and her husband Gary own a gift shop up the street from us and they have become very close to Maryanna.
here are the 4 pairs I made at the class. I loved being able to pick through the beads and chose which ever ones I wanted to instead of having to commit to buying a strand of beads that I might never use... all around it was a good experience, and the class was 18 dollars (minus the beads) so it was a great and affordable ladies night.
and here's my favorite pair I made on the left (I might keep these, I love the beads, they look ~to me~ like dogwood flowers) and Maryanna's first pair that she made in class. She's got a great eye for color and more importantly she's got a great eye for the type of jewelry that people might want to buy (and seeing as she has the shop on our first level, this is a good thing).

Cheers!