Day 92- Heads Up!

Hurray- a sunny Saturday! Time to think about cleaning up the deck after a very long month of rain.  Miles and Papa did some watering, while Henry slept and Miles’s mama, Caitlin, and I played with photography.  She has a knack for spotting good photo ops- so I ran and got the macro lens when she spied a ladybug crawling on the ground. We took turns taking fabulous macro shots- every spot and body part in focus! Then we discovered it was, um, damaged- and were so grossed out we deleted the photos. I don’t think insect photography is my true calling . . .

Next, Caitlin found a wonderful spider web, which will be my photo of the day.  She even brought me a kitchen chair, so I could get close enough to get the shot- it is very nice to have my own photography assistant!  I think our roles will be reversed at some point, because I am teaching her how to use my camera- with the idea of handing it down to her when I eventually upgrade to my fantasy camera (Nikon D7000).

 

I think one of my favorite photos today is this shot of Miles watering a plant.

Melinda3 Comments

Day 90- A Family Tradition

When I was a little girl, I had a special rocking chair that was just my size.  It was painted white (probably full of lead. . .)  and had faded blue cushions.  I loved my little chair, and I would sit for hours, rocking my dolls and looking at books. Eventually, I found out that it was my mother’s chair when she was a little girl and that her brother and sister had had similar ones.    When I had children of my own, my parents had the chair refinished, and it came to live at our house.  We are now on the fourth generation of children rocking in the chair! My mother was born in 1910, so the rocker must be almost a hundred years old!  Every time that Miles has come to visit, we have taken his photo in the chair, so today he is sitting in it for my photo of the day.  Maybe another day I will take a photo of Henry in it.

f/2.2, 1/250, ISO 500, 35mm

Melinda1 Comment

Day 89- Off to College

Henry and Miles went to college today!  Miles was very excited about it and wore his Thomas the Train backpack for the occasion.

Our friend, Nevin, teaches Child Development at Santa Rosa Community College, so Henry was invited to be the subject of an infant observation.  The students wrote down what they noticed about his behaviors, while Nevin pointed out signs of his stage of development. It was a lot of fun for both boys- especially because there were presents involved!

Melinda4 Comments

Day 88- Henry and Papa

We had such a busy, active day! We spent the morning at Giggles in Concord- a fun indoor play center for toddlers and preschoolers.  Then it was lunch at Red Robin and shopping at Babies RUs and Macy’s- a full day for two little guys.  I took lots of photos of Miles playing (and Henry sleeping)- but for my photo of the day I chose this simple one taken at breakfast time.  Here is Henry with his Papa:

Melinda4 Comments

Day 84- Busy Playtimes

Life is very busy at our house with the grandbabies!  Errands at Costco and Target went smoothly today, thanks to excellent behavior by Miles- earning him a special art project (melted crayon art) after lunch AND a new building toy.  Drawing and building are Miles’s passions- which we are happy to encourage.  Henry’s activities right now center around eating, sleeping, and just looking extremely cute!

 

 

Melinda2 Comments

Day 79- Waiting . . .

The grandbabies are arriving day after tomorrow! It will be Baby Henry’s first trip to California, and we are getting things ready for him and his big brother.

It is so hard to wait!

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 400, 35mm

 

Melinda3 Comments

Day 49- I Heart Cake!

The theme for this week’s Project 52 is LOVE, and, in our house, nothing says love more than German Chocolate cake!

f/1.8, 1/250, ISO 1600

Today is my husband’s birthday- number 62! He has always loved German Chocolate cake, first his Grammie’s recipe, and then mine (doctored with LOTS of chocolate chips). It is baking now- and ohhhh I’m starting to smell the chocolatiness- YUM!  Happy Birthday, Lonnie! ❤

Photography note: I must confess that I played with photographing the batter dripping off the beater first- with no spectacular results. That is why I used such a high shutter speed and thus had a wide open aperture, causing shallow depth of field.  Too shallow for this photo, in my opinion- my punishment for my obsession with drops!

Melinda6 Comments

Day 43- Matt!

Our son, Matt, has been working in Phoenix for awhile, so we are having a quick visit with him before we head to Prescott tomorrow to see our good friends, Debbie and Dale. After he picked us up at the airport, we headed to his usual spot for lunch near our hotel.  I snapped a few photos- using auto white balance- and am noticing a difference from photo to photo.  I am beginning to wish I had never heard that auto white balance isn’t the way to go . . .

But he looks pretty cute anyway- looking a little like Dad!

 

Melinda4 Comments

Day 27- Huh?

Abstract Portrait?  That is this week’s theme of Clickin Moms’ Project 52, and trying to get an idea of what that means and what to shoot has been challenging.  Frankly, I’m sick of thinking about it!  I actually think that the photo I took of my husband reaching for his Starbucks mug (Day 6) would probably qualify as an abstract portrait, but that was Week One.  I am not particularly satisfied with any of my efforts today in terms of the assignment, but I’m hoping that giving each photo a cool title will make it more of an Abstract Portrait.

Since I made Lonnie stand on the dock in the cold, I am including this one: Man in the Fog

And here is iPhones and Coffee: Portrait of a Marriage (subtitled Mocha and Bokeh). . .

And, lastly: Self-Portrait


There- I’m done!  Round of applause…

Melinda6 Comments

Day 20- A Happy Man

Our Christmas present to ourselves arrived today- Hello, flat screen HD and 3D!   My husband is one happy man!

Those are 3D glasses, by the way-  Shrek may look a little wonky in this photo, because my camera does not shoot 3D!

Lighting helped out by my light scoop!

Melinda2 Comments