Toilets

I am always looking for fun and unique picture opportunities. I really enjoy taking time to appreciate things that we overlook every day. So, to say I was excited when my friend, Henry, told me about a big pile of old toilets walking distance from my house is an understatement.

There is a group that takes out older, water-wasting toilets and puts in low flow toilets. At least some of the removed toilets are all out in front of their office near my house. Laura and I went over to take pictures and had a great time.

This one was Laura's favorite because it had butterflies on it:



My little photographer:



I noticed they have different toilets out there now and I am going to go back and take some more pictures soon.

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Two

Mae turned two at the end of August. (Yikes, am I really only to the end of August when it is nearly Thanksgiving??) I just could not decide where to have her party. Last year we did it at a park and that was fun. I thought about places we could rent to do her party but she is not quite old enough to care so why spend the money? I kept avoiding the idea of doing it at home. We did a couple of parties at home with Autumn and learned they are a huge headache. You clean up all day so you can have everyone come over and mess it all up again. In the end, we decided to give a party at home one more try. We brought out all the yard toys, the kiddie pools, and then did our best to keep it all outside. I am happy to say it worked!

Here are some pictures of the day, most taken by my friend, Elena, since I was too busy being hostess to be the photographer.


(I did the post-processing on this one.)

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Cupcakes

I had the idea that it would be fun to get together with a group of friends and their kids and take some pictures of them eating brightly colored cupcakes. I was hoping between all of us with our cameras we would get a cute shot of the all the kids that we could submit to our TMN site's 2009 calendar photo contest. As it turned out, that was really hard to do and no one got a really great shot of all the kids together but there were so many cute shots of them individually or in small groups. Here are some of the ones I took:









Yes, the frosting really was that saturated with color, those images are not enhanced. Go industrial strength food coloring!

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My poor blog, feeling so ignored

If I thought life was busy before, it is even moreso now! I can't believe it has been a month since I posted. As of last Friday I was 3 1/2 months behind in pictures!

I can't really complain too much, I have been having lots of fun. In September, I was asked to join the board of directors for The Mommies Network, a non-profit which provides support and social networking sites for moms. I've been involved with my local site since its inception nearly 3 years ago. Now I am overseeing all technical issues and development for all 109 sites. It is really exciting and a great opportunity for me to work with some technologies I have not had the chance to use in my day job.

Enough about me, what about the pictures? For the long Veteran's Day weekend we went to stay at my husband's childhood home with no internet service (because no one lives there regularly anymore). It was nice to get disconnected for a few days and in the evenings I had a chance to catch up on pictures. I am now only 1 1/2 months behind. :)

Catch-up time... Kings Canyon, Part 2 - July 2008

Enjoying wildflowers





Once, this was a Sequoia Grove...





Dragonflies near Hume Lake





Sunset





Lots more coming!!

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Sunset at Montana De Oro

I am two months behind in pictures... again. Sigh. At this point it is the rule rather than the exception.

Last weekend we spent the evening at the beach watching the sunset. Here are a few pictures of Mae.

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Pretty things right in camp

After almost a week in Cedar Grove, we moved back "up top" to Grant Grove. The first morning we were up there, I enjoyed taking pictures of the meadow right next to our camp site.

Groundsel past its prime:



A bumble bee out collecting pollen:



Corn Lily flowers in the sun:



We joked that this squirrel was being paid to sit there and look photogenic. He was so cute. My telephoto didn't really zoom close enough to really get a good closeup.



My dad got a great shot with his lens, however, did an amazing job. Look at this!

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Cedar Grove, Part 1

Every year we go camping in Kings Canyon. I have been going since I was a baby. It doesn't matter how many times I have been there, I am still in awe of how beautiful it is. I can see why Ansel Adams spent so much of his career in Yosemite. I think I could photograph Kings Canyon for decades and never be bored.

The first half of our camping trip was spent down in the canyon in Cedar Grove. I got up early one morning to take pictures in Zumwalt Meadow.





I love this flower. It is called a Sneezeweed... what a name.



I wanted to stay longer but about 1,000 mosquitoes mistook me for breakfast so I decided to go. We also got a chance to go on a hike to the site of an old camp and mine that is near the road's end. There is not a lot left of the camp but there is a historic trash pile.



There is also the remains of the cabin the last owner of the camp lived in. I think I'd prefer a tent.



The view of the canyon from the mine was impressive.

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Early July

It seems like we were all over in July. When we weren't away from home, we had family visiting us. Opportunities for photographs were non-stop. Here are several from early July.

Getty Villa in Malibu:





Sweet Spring Nature Preserve:







Montaña De Oro:

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Gardens & Art



The week of July 4th we stayed in LA. As we always seem to do when we're down there, we visited a beautiful garden and saw some amazing art & architecture. I think something about them just calls to our cameras and we can't stay away. This time it was the LA Arboretum and the Getty Villa.

I had not been to the Arboretum in years... probably since High School. Mae was fascinated by the peacocks & geese. They weren't shy either, a peacock got about 18 inches from my face and gave me a look like "who are you?".





Check out that super lens!! I'll be dreaming about getting one myself for a *long* time. My cheap little Tamron telephoto did ok at capturing a dragonfly.



The Getty Villa in Malibu is someplace I want to go back to when I have a chance to actually stand still for a bit. Laura is finally old enough to "do" museums but Mae has gotten to the age where she won't sit still in a carrier or stroller that long. I made the best of it and got a few pictures of the Villa and a few of the girls.

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