This & That

It's a Glorious Fall, Until...

It's really been a spectacular fall.

It's been full of the things I really love about the season...

...the leaves, the colors and the light.

Collin has shared his perspective fall from back east as well. He took James and David on an overnight camp out in one of the national parks in his neck of the woods (literally). As an aside, we really need to find out what kind of tree puts out these enormous leaves.

I mean, what's not to love about this time of year?

Add in a couple of cute kids and you've got a recipe for a perfect day,

even when you forget the pancake mix for breakfast and you end up eating jerky for the meal.

Seriously, the only thing better than seeing the amazing colors of the season in these pictures would be being there in person.

Yes, one could wax eloquent on the beauties of fall until.....

one has a major leak between the well and the house

that has to be excavated six ways from Sunday.

Which necessitates turning off the water to the house. Then theoretically things are all fixed,

until you realize that they're really not, and they have to come back and do more stuff. I guess I need to be grateful that it didn't happen in the dead of winter, right?

 

Through Collin's Lens

As I mentioned in a previous post, Collin has been taking a lot of pictures with his camera lately.

This day at the park it was these boys' cute faces. Here's John.

I really like this one of David,

....and this one of James...just very true to life.

I miss these cute faces, but I'm going to go out and see them later this year.

Collin got really close to this.

Just looks really interesting.

Collin also worked on some family pictures. James cracks me up here. He was told to give his biggest smile and I think he managed that.

Collin took a day and went hiking by himself and got some very interesting shots.

He was hoping to get some good leaf shots. He did, but I'm saving the best ones for the weekend.

It's really interesting to see what's different about his part of the country.

A fun few hours for him.

The ??th Annual Cackle & Craft

I'm not totally sure how many years my sisters and I have been getting together, but it's been lots. Last week we gathered at the cabin with our mother and spent some quality time.

Most of these pictures have been taken by my younger sister who is a photographer, and does an excellent job documenting our goings on.

We took a wander on the mornings we were there, seeing the sights and making sure the Gus got some Fetch It Up time. Ollie has pretty well given it up because Gus never lets him get the stick. Ollie's old enough now that you can almost hear him thinking, "Yeah, knock yourself out, kid." There were wildfires in the region so the air quality wasn't perfect, but we made it work.

One day our walking took us up the road.

My mother decided she was going and insisted she didn't need a walking stick.

By the end of the walk this had happened.

We had a couple of big semis pass us full of sheep going who-knows-where. I always hang onto the dogs so they don't get in the way of anything.

My sister has started a sublimating business, which is sort-of like screen printing....but not really. She prints graphics out on special paper with special ink and irons them onto non-cotton (and that's important) material. For us she printed fun maps of the states in which we live onto microfiber towels and we made them into tote bags, which was a cute project. She also had little bead clips we could attach to them.

My other sister has a husband who very kindly helps prepare projects for us to put together. This year he cut lots of wood for us,  and bundled it together so we didn't have to guess what went where. You can see his organization skill here as he numbered one stack, "1 for the money, 2 for the show," and so on. The other set of wood we needed was labeled in military phonetic alphabet... Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo... On top of that, he lettered and numbered the back of each piece. Needless to say, there were no mix-ups in wood placement.

We attached a nail gun to the compressor at the cabin that we use to blow out the pipes in the winter. That made it so we could construct these cute trees. The bonus was that the wood came from a fence they tore down, so we were upcycling/recycling/reclaiming....pick a word.

I managed to get a few card kits put together, mostly lifting designs from my favorites....Debbie Hughes, Cathy Zielske, Laura Bassen, and Lisa Adessa. I have very few original thoughts, but I copy very well and appreciate those willing to share their talent in the public forum. In the evenings we watched chick flicks. If you haven't seen the movie "The Quartet" you're missing out....and you have to watching it all the way through the credits. That was the favorite of our time together.

I mentioned that one of my sisters is a photographer.

She always manages to catch little details the rest of us gloss over.

The salt lick is being well-loved.

This was lying on the ground on one of our walks.

I've tried really hard to get good pictures of these little weeds,

and the dinosaur grass. 

She does a much better job of it.

Getting together with my sisters is always one of my favorite times of the year. All of us feel closer each other, refreshed, and look forward to the next gathering. Almost as soon as we go our separate ways, we look forward to the next time we see each other, and I include my brother in that as well. 

A Study in Fungus

Collin went exploring his new area last weekend and sent me a series of pictures he took.

I'm not sure about the message he was trying to send his fungus-hating mother,

...but included with a couple of pictures of the boys, were these pictures of various fungi.

While I have to admit to the photographic quality of all these pictures, and they are beautiful photos...

There's just a little something about them that makes me shiver just a bit.

Family Photos in the Breeze

Recently, I took some pictures of Eric's family. It was a bit of a rush job right before family Sunday dinner, and as is usual in the spring and fall in Idaho, there was a chilly breeze blowing.

You can see that Caroline is trying not to shiver. One of the exciting parts about taking family pictures with little ones, is trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

Dudes, look at Gramma! Truly, it's a major feat.

We walked in a slow circle around my house, looking for places that might work. I actually liked the idea of this place, but trying to balance Caroline and Emmett on the fence was a little tricky...they're sort of gripping onto Eric in terror, and the lighting was splotchy.

This was a good place, but Sam the cat was a big distraction.

This also wasn't a bad spot.

I thought it might be fun to try a picture in one of the apple trees. It worked pretty well....except for the branch right in front of Emmett's face, but it took us so long to get everyone into the branches, I took them anyway thinking my daughter-in-law, Jan, with the mega Photoshop skills could fix it.

Then we switched to the kids by themselves. Miss Gwen is looking more and more grown up.

We got a couple of really nice ones of Caroline.

I liked this one quite a bit despite the fact she wasn't looking at me.

And here's our Emmett.

Trying to coax a smile out of Ephraim was a little tricky, but we finally got one.

And I promised the kids that if they cooperated with me, we'd do a silly one at the end.

Exploring the Back East with a New Camera, pt. 1

I mentioned in a past post that Collin got a new camera and has been doing quite a bit of experimenting with it.

He took his boys to an air and space museum and got a few pictures before Christmas.

One of the space shuttles is in residence.

David was pretty impressed with the size of things.

The Enola Gay lives there as well. He's certainly getting to see lots of history out there.

...while he takes pictures of these cute faces.

The National Botanical Garden has a display with everything made from things found in nature....sort of like the Rose Parade without as many flowers.

There were plenty of things for the boys to look at, other than the camera.

I thought this one was especially geared for our family.

The detail is just incredible, and if you're wondering how it stacks up against the real thing....

He can help you out with that.

Other People's Cameras, the DC Version

Collin got himself a Black Friday/early Christmas present of a new camera that he's been getting used to.

I got a few pictures from his early experimenting which is always nice, since he lives the furthest away right now.

These first few are from David's birthday, and I love the little toddler curve of his cheek right here.

Of course, James had to have a turn. 

Last weekend Collin and James made an excursion to The Washington DC Mall for a few more pictures. I think there were also donuts involved. I heard rumors of Christmas sprinkles with chocolate frosting.

It was a chilly day and there weren't a lot of people around.

Their new area has built in photo opportunities.

I mean, just wander around the corner and there's Abraham Lincoln posing so nicely for you. I guess I'm going to have to haul the big camera out there when I go to visit.

It's Time For Your Close Up

Eric's family wanted me to take some family pictures a few weeks ago. It's taken me this long to winnow them and decide which ones to post.

Since Ephraim was still napping, I decided to start with the kids. Figuring I'd work my way down the line, I started with Gwen. Hard to believe how fast she's growing.

Then came Caroline. Caroline is definitely her own little person.  

She has a very exuberant personality.

Let me stress that I am NOT a professional, so if I get really good pictures, it's more by luck than skill.

Moving down the line in chronological order, next came Emmett. After a series of looking-everywhere-but-the-camera shots I said, "Emmett, look right into Gramma's camera..."

Ask and ye shall receive.

I tried a few of all 3 together, and most of them were not terribly successful.

Here are my 2 granddaughters together. 2 girls in the sea of testosterone that is my grandchildren. This picture almost perfectly represents the difference in their personalities.

I actually really like this one.

Still waiting for Ephraim to wake up, I snagged Eric and Elisa.

Awwwwww.....

When Ephraim did wake up he was one happy, happy guy.

My boy with one of his boys.

Then it was time to try everyone together.  Getting everyone looking at the camera at the same time is a minor miracle. Or maybe a major one.

But look! One where everyone is looking at the camera. This is when I promised Caroline that if she didn't make any more funny faces....

I'd take some where she could make all the funny faces she wanted.

That worked pretty well. That brings us to my two favorites, and true to my own form...

.....they're taken from behind.

Cheating.

I've had a few questions about the backgrounds on which I'm taking pictures of my projects.

My son, Collin, wanted to know where this was in my house or yard. Apparently, he didn't recognize where it was readily.

And my daughter-in-law wanted to know where this was. Well, the truth is that neither of these places exist in my world. I cheat.

I use a product called a photo board, which is basically a piece of foam core with someone's stock photo of some kind of artsy background on it. As an aside....those vacuum lines in the carpet just make me happy. :) Anyway, I have a few of these in my desire to take better pictures of my projects. Mine came from a British company and come in various sizes and backgrounds. So there you go....total transparency about the fact that I do not have multiple gorgeous places in or around my house for project pictures. 

Ready For Your Close Up?

My daughter and her husband came to see us after the new year. She had done the flowers for a friend's wedding on the 30th, and the bride was headed out of town right away and gave the bouquet back to her. She took it apart and made this flower arrangement that lived on my counter while they were here. Those big flowers are so unusual, and they feel really velvet-y when you touch them. Because I had to ask, and I figure you might not have the name of those big flowers on the tip of your tongue, she told me they're called Protea. 

I took this picture the first day.

That was before I got this baby. I was due for an upgrade on my phone plan and this is what I got. The case is a Christmas present from my daughter and her husband. Get it? Bees....Gramma Honey.... :)

I'd heard these newer phones have a Portrait mode on them that gives the blurred background effect that happens with big DSLR cameras, so we gave it a try. 

Yep, pretty cool.

I thought I would struggle with the bigger size, but I'm adjusting.