Generations Hand Photo

A friend of mine asked me if I wouldn't mind taking some "hand photos" while her mom and grandmother were in town. Cool idea, I thought. So, with her, her mom, her grandma and her two boys, here's my favorite from the day. Her grandmother saw a photo on the internet somewhere (God bless her!) and wanted to try and replicate it. This was not one like the internet shot, but one I wanted to try out. Taken with the 50mm prime for those of you who will be curious about that...

Future Blackmail Material

I got a new version of my photo-editing software/organization ware for XMas and have been slowly going through and organizing all of my pix from the last few years (no easy task for those of you who know how many pictures I take).

It could be that I haven't taken too many new photos lately, or it could be that this is a little payback for the homework tantrum that Devin had today, but here is a beauty for your viewing pleasure...

This is my darling, then 7 year old, son playing dress up with his sister. Can't WAIT to submit this one to the high school yearbook!

Shhhhh....Bill is Sleepy!

http://www.comcast.net/providers/fan/popup.html?v=626467581&pl=626586823.xml&launchpoint=Cover&cid=fancover&attr=default_headline&config=/config/common/fan/default.xml

Not quite sure why this struck me funny, but it did. We've all fallen asleep in the middle of something, but his timing and choice of location were clearly not ideal. Must have been a fun conversation with the wife last night!

Piping Mad!!

So, what do you get when you add a 57 year old house and a clogged pipe? That's right - a burst pipe!! Right in the basement over the washer/dryer in our storage area (the source of at least 5 floods in the last few years). Thank goodness I was here to catch the second half of the water in a bucket.

Now, the water that was stuck in the pipe was filled with pureed food (mostly ham) from the kitchen garbage disposal. Yuck. I may never eat ham again. I was literally gagging as I cleaned the scum out of the sink.

So, our cast iron 2 inch pipe needs to be replaced. The plumber (who is starting to get to know us pretty well) is coming tomorrow to replace it with PVC. I did hear him talking to Neil at one point and heard the word "copper" and almost had a heart attack.

Fortunately this wasn't quite as hideous as I thought, but we have no kitchen sink, downstairs bathroom sink or shower until it's fixed. And for the cost of what could have been my new washing machine, I'll have a new pipe. Whoopee!!

My Mom reminded me of the time it happened in their old house on the second floor and drained into the living room ceiling. So, this really could have been much worse.

Plus, we'll get a clean (er) basement out of it.

Sprung

http://www6.comcast.net/tv/articles/2007/12/17/People.Kiefer.Sutherland/

Ok, drunk driving, not good. But in this day and age where everyone in Hollywood is getting nailed for doing it it's nice to see someone who actually took their medicine standing up. No courtroom drama, no sobbing photos, no claims of claustrophobia in the cell, just doin' the time for the crime. Hats off to someone who made a mistake and paid the price like a man. Was starting to wonder if these peoplle existed anywhere anymore.

Cutie Patootie Face

Don't you love those looks of wonder on wide awake newborns faces? Here is a photo of my 2 & 1/2 week old nephew E. Isn't he just precious???

Neil calls the second one "family of 5". Let's just say the thought makes me queasy.

Last one is E's very proud "Auntie Lu". Love the moniker she's chosen for herself. Isn't she beaming?? We've all decided that E looks just like his Oompa Tommy.

Deb's Magical Touch

Deb took this picture I took of Julia and waved her magical photoshop wand over it (makes it sounds easy, doesn't it?) and here's the result. LOVE it!!! Thanks Deb!

Graduation

So, it's over, I submitted my last assignment tonight for my photography class. It was bittersweet. I told her in my essay (yes, there was an essay) that it felt like boot camp. My muscles hurt, and I'm tired but it was worth it.

I have to admit I'm a little sad about the comparison I had to do between my first and last week photos b/c I'm not sure what I've learned has totally evolved into my pictures yet. But, my biggest goal was to learn all the manual settings, and I've done that and then some. Here are a couple from this week.

I got a new lens from my Mom and Dad and it's really nice. The weather's been not fully cooperative to play with it fully, but I got a glimpse this week of what it can do. Props to Deb H for sharing her 9 months of toiling with the focus and saving me the time. I see what you mean, Deb.

Happy New Year!!

I trust everyone had a happy New Year and Happy Merry Chrismahannuqwansica?? Good, good. I've been neglecting my blog (and sooooo many other things) mostly because Santa spoiled me rotten and got me a new computer for Christmas. So, with the joy of a faster processor and a 500 Gig external hard drive for all my photos comes the sad reality of moving everything from one thing to another. but, it only took me a week and I didn't have to pay someone to do it, so bonus all around.

Christmas was, well, busy. I'd be lying if I said 2007 would go down as my favorite Christmas season ever. Too much to do and the joy, though periodically present, seemed harder to find. Everyone seemed to be "downsizing" their Christmases this year and I don't know why I didn't jump in on that. But, there were some wonderful thing that happened and some very cherished memories, so that makes it worth it.

Bottom line is that one of my 2008 resolutions will be to start all of my knitting now. I think that will help.

One of the best things to happen this past week was that I finally became an Aunt!! Little Eli Joshua was born a few days after X-Mas to Josh and Trish (Neil's step-sister). He's waaay cute and you do forget how little they are. He's exactly the same size Devin was at birth, but I really don't remember them being that little. There is finally someone in the world that will be calling me "Auntie Kelly". Yeah!!

We had a nice visit with John and Libby this past week. We got to check out the new sushi restaurant in WH Center. In a word, yum. My only beef was that the acoustics are terrible and I felt like I couldn't hear a thing (though I do have issues hearing in places with lots of backround noise). The food was incredible. If your wallet is feeling up to it I HIGHLY recommend the toro tartar or the toro jalapeno if they have it. Heaven.

Spent a wonderful New Year's eve with friends old and new at the home of our friends Ellen and John in town. There were 5 couples, with kids, and most of us made it to midnight. I need to get pix of their oldest son's room, LOVE how Ellen decorated it.

Many more things to write and tell, but I'll save it for a rainy day. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2008!!