Mae and my nephew, Danny, will be a year old in August. They are two weeks apart in age (Danny is the older one). We've been asked more than once if they are twins, including at Old Navy last weekend.

We thought it would be fun to have a birthday party for them while we had the whole family together. It was fun and the babies loved it.

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I got a 50mm portrait lens on Friday. It is the first time I have ever used anything but the kit lens on my camera. I love it!! I have been at my parents house in Los Angeles since Thursday. Both of my sisters are here with their kids so I have had so many photo opportunities. Here are some of my favorites with my new lens.

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The local Ren Faire was last weekend. Some days I am so torn between leaving my camera at home and taking it with me. I really enjoy Faire and want to go and just experience it but then I want to take pictures too. I did end up taking my camera since I was going as a turkey anyway. It is just too annoying to try to nurse in a faire costume (mostly because I do not want to be hanging out for all to see). We did dress Autumn and Laura up and they were so cute.

My other problem is trying to take all the pictures I want to take while going anyplace with Tom and Mae. Tom just does not seem to get my enjoyment of photography at all. He has no interest in going slow or stopping in one place for 10-15 minutes while I wait for just the right moment to take a picture. Mae is tricky too because she is happy in the Ergo (baby carrier) as long as we are moving most of the time but she gets upset if I stop and there is nothing for her to do. At least Autumn and Laura get it and will be patient. When I can I have them bring cameras too so they can take pictures with me. What I really need is an implant in my eyes that lets me take pictures of things I see, as I see them. Someday...

We had yummy lime shave ice.



It gave Laura a green tongue.



Laura got to meet the Queen, she was so happy.



A neat lantern hung at Anderson's Crossing. Notice the woman dressed like a pirate in the background. There are an increasing number of sea dogs, pirates, etc at faire lately. I wonder how much is the influence of the Pirates movies.









I am not sure this guy's cow print hat is period.



Ahem... it wouldn't be faire without guys discussing the size and beauty of their staff. (not so tongue and cheek and you think)





And, of course, the beer wench.

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I love taking pictures of old and/or broken things. On flickr, two of my favorite groups are Urban Decay and Rural Decay. I just find something about man-made objects being reclaimed by nature a comforting thought. One of the best images I ever saw was a picture of a temple someplace in Asia (Thailand I think) where trees had long ago started growing on top of it and the root were slowly swallowing the temple into oblivion. I do not have any pictures which come close to making such a powerful statement but I have a couple I do like. Enjoy.

This falling down house is right on Avila Beach Drive right across from Avila Barn.



I saw this just a few blocks from my house. There used to be a house on this lot and then one day we walked by and all that was left was the cement foundation (with linoleum still glued to it where the kitchen and bathrooms used to be) and this old car.

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I took some really cute pictures of the girls when we were camping. Autumn tried her best to hide from the camera. She's reached that age where she is super-critical of every picture of herself. I still got some cute pictures of her. Laura and Mae are easy because they still love the camera. With Laura, the biggest trick is getting her out of the picture when I do not want to take one of her.

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Kings Canyon National Park is full of big things. Two-thounsand year old Sequoia trees silently watch over the park. The canyon walls tower some places nearly 8,000 ft high. Mountain peaks reach over 10,000 ft. Cedar and fir trees stand as tall as skyscrapers. The Kings River roars through canyon.

This trip I tried to take time to pay attention to the small thing which make Kings Canyon my favorite place in the world.

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June 25th we spent a couple of hours at the Marina in Morro Bay State Park. It was a bit windy but we had fun all the same.





I am always amazed at how many beautiful things there are that we never notice or pay attention to in places we go all the time.

Of course there are the boats:







The views are amazing:





The flowers outside of Bayside Cafe:



I loved how neatly this rope was coiled on the dock:



There was this rope that reminded me of a tree snake resting over a branch:



I could have spent another couple of hours there taking pictures but the kids were hungry so we went home. Another day...

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