171/365 - Epic Fail

Well, I don't have a picture to post from Sunday. I do have one from Saturday night, which technically is 170, but I didn't bother since I don't have 171. I took not a single picture yesterday. I should have taken my camera to my in-laws for Father's Day, but it just didn't occur to me. And then I went straight to work and didn't have my camera with me. By the time I left work and picked up a few groceries, I didn't even realize until I was getting into bed that I hadn't taken a picture.

I considered fudging it - no one would know. Because I had a couple images from Saturday. I could have used on for 170 and one for 171. And at least kept the project going. And who knows, maybe that's how people get through it. It's not that big of a deal, I suppose. But I can't. I could resume today and call it a "365 -1" project. But that wouldn't negate the truth, which is simply that I failed.

169/365 - Summer Vacation

167/365 - Peek-a-bo0

I was out in my tiny meadow (my preferred term for the overgrown hill) and this little guy was poking out of a little white flower - they look like miniature daisies. He looked as snug as a bug in a rug.

166/365 - Impatient ..

... with this project.

165/365 - Mirror, mirror

Consider this a place filler. It's a photograph. And it was taken on the 165th day of the year.

164/365 - For Nicky

163/365 - Music Box

Uncle Steven's birthday present is every little girl's dream.

162/365 - A Lesson from My Mother

Julia's best friend came over this morning to play. They came up and asked me if they could make medicine for Lipstick, Julia's doll. This involved mixing up a bead-and-glitter-glue soup in a bowl. My instinct screamed no. But just as I was opening my mouth to form the word, I flashed back to two little girls, circa late 1970s. These two little girls were playing scientist in the bathroom - mixing together shampoo, lotion, cold cream, vaseline. Whatever could be found in the bathroom cabinet and the hall closet. And as if that weren't enough, cups of these experiments were then placed in the freezer for an indeterminate period of time (no, they never froze). At the time, neither little girl thought once, much less twice, about the mess. Or the waste.

But my mother was happy to encourage their imaginations. And so I let Julia and her friend have as much fun as I had with my best friend, Katie, 30-plus years ago.

161/365 - Jump Zone

Julia had a preschool get-together at the Jump Zone today - big inflatable bouncy things everywhere. For some reason I thought it would be "good practice" to take pictures of preschoolers running around like lunatics with my 50mm manual focus lens. But not, not so much.

160/365 - OMG ...

... I can't believe I've been doing this for 160 days and that's not even half way done. I didn't feel like taking a single picture today. I did go out into the woods and saw some cool fungus growing on a log. But the shots did nothing for me. And I just don't care. So I screwed around in photoshop - a lot.

159/365 - Wrong Feet

When Julia first learned to put her own shoes on, she put them on the wrong feet once. I said, "Julia, your shoes are on the wrong feet." And Julia, who hates to be wrong, said, "That is how I like them." And ever since, she wears her shoes on the wrong feet the majority of the time. Snow boots, dress shoes, sandals - it doesn't matter. And if you ask her about it, she says that's how she likes them.

Today I was doing a craft project with her - we were building the sparkliest, mermaidiest, pinkist beach you can imagine. And she wanted to glue the flipflops on the sand. So she did - they are on the wrong feet.

158/365 - Up and Down

157/365 - Out for a Sunday Drive ...

... home from work, that is.

156/365 - Two

I took pictures for a friend's daughter's two-year-old birthday party on Saturday. I love this shot - it's like the world as a two-year-old sees it. Or at least in my own imagination. And the pigtails kill me :)

155/365 - Pincushion

154/365 - I Love Presents

153/365 - Courage

He ran towards me right after the flash fired - I swear to God I screamed and ran like a girl.

152/365 - Kaleidescope

151/365 - I Don't Feel So Bad

150/365 - Not Much

149/365 - One Hero of Many

Col. DeWolf Schatzel served proudly in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was the last commander of the Mounted Detachment from 1937-38 in Peking, China. The detachment was disbanded in 1938 before the Japanese invasion of China. He went on to serve for another 20 years, and was among the 4th wave to land at Iwo Jima during World War II. What he saw I never heard him speak of, but being a child and self-centered teen when he was alive, I never thought to ask.

Oh, yes, he was also my grandfather.

148/365 - My #1 Baseball Player

It was a beautiful evening for baseball. Thomas made me proud.

147/365 - Petunia

When all else fails, grab a macro lens, shoot the center of a flower and crop it slightly off-center.

146/365 - Lake Season Opens

It was hot, hot, hot today so Julia and I picked Thomas up from school and went to the lake. First visit of many this summer.

135/365 - Honey Bee

I was exhausted after working hard out in the sun in 90-degree heat for three hours this afternoon and felt like taking a picture about as much as I felt like running a marathon. I went out after dinner at dusk and there were honey bees busy at the rhododendrons - the first honey bees I've seen this year.

I chased them around in the semi-dark with my manual focus macro lens - pretty much the most frustrating thing I could undertake. There's nothing like a grainy, out-of-focus picture of the day. This definitely numbers among the worst of the project, but it's all I've got.

144/365 - My Babies

I gave Thomas and Julia haircuts tonight, after having spent the day shearing the bushes, too. Thomas actually graced me with a nice face - a rarity that will probably never be repeated.

143/365 - I Brake for Silly Bands

142/365 - Relief

Thank God for sudafed. And advil. And theraflu. There's nothing like waking up with a head cold that won't quit and a migraine on top of it.

141/365 - Unhappy Birthday

Julia had cupcakes on Friday for her birthday, which is after school gets out. So the teacher calls it a happy un-birthday (from Alice in Wonderland, I believe). But Julia got is mixed up and insists it is her unhappy birthday. She fails to see the humor in that.

140/365 - Let there be light

I just liked the shape of the light bulb.

139/365 - Columbine

I remember where I was, what I was doing and what I was wearing when I first heard about the Columbine shootings. The flower always makes me think about it.

138/365 - Fairy Lights

I went outside tonight to photograph raindrops. Last time I played around with lighting. Tonight was natural.

137/365 - For 10 Years ...

... I've stood outside the paper and stared at the clock gears and thought "there's a picture here somewhere." Last night at work, I actually tried it. And I know there's still a picture there somewhere - I just have to find it.

136/365 - Hike with Thomas

Today was the mother-son hike. It was a beautiful day and we hiked up to Hublein Tower on Talcott Mountain. The company was great, especially Thomas'.

135/365 - Not My Exit ...

... but close. Yes, on my way home again on a Saturday night after work.

134/365 - La Fee Verte

133/365 -Mother Nature's Quite a Lady

I thought dewdrops in the morning were appropriate after rain drops at night.

132/365 - Night Drops

It was a beautiful wet spring night out tonight. I little chilly, but very still and plenty of crickets.

131/365 - Moving On

I gave soap bubbles one more try and am satisfied that I can produce them on demand. So, this is the last soap bubble planet, I promise.

130/365 - Prom

I couldn't bear to take another shot in the car, so on my way home I drove by a bridal shop that I've always wanted to photograph. The light insid were out, so it didn't turn into what I expected.

129/365 - Paradise by the Dashboard Light

Except that I was having trouble with my camera on m drive home from work - I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't fire. I finally figured out it was because I had it set on shutter priority which won't work with my manual-focus lens. By that time, I didn't care what the picture looked like.

I should not be allowed to play with technology.

128/365 - Ablaze

Went to work today figuring I'd shoot something on my drive home. But at about 9 p.m., a vacant building around the block from the paper caught on fire. I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs and shot what I could - not the best vantage point. The building was engulfed and smoke was billowing across the windy sky. Firefighters had it under control quickly.

127/365 - Giving In

I swore I wasn't going to photograph a dandelion outside. Only because everywhere you turn, dandelion pictures abound. And that makes me dig in my heels and say, "I'm not going to do what everyone else is doing." But, I went outside yesterday and they were everywhere. And they were friendly and fuzzy and puffy looking.

I thought about how photography, at least nature photography, is dependent on the seasons. It's like eating locally - everyone eats strawberries in June because that's strawberry season. And that's okay. Now, if you're going to manufacture your nature, then I suppose you could shoot it any time you wanted. But that holds no appeal for me. So instead I will shoot a dandelion, even though everyone else is, too.

(And just a little side note - I didn't skip a day, I simply adjusted the number so it is accurate. Somewhere along the way I misnumbered something. And this is in fact Friday's photo. I just felt too sick last night to write anything.)

125/365 - Relics

Found at the newspaper, piled high and forgotten. And I think my number count on the days may be off, but I'm not sure.

124/365 -Keeping the Dream Alive

Barely.

123/365 - Unprocessed

Really. The only thing I did to this was sharpen it.

122/365 - Shimmer

I went out several times today to photograph water drops. It would rain and then the sun would come out and I was chasing good light but wasn't really thrilled with anything I shot. I like the drops in this on, but I didn't like them on the green leaf. So I inverted the image in photoshop and came up with this.

121/365 - Iko Iko

This one was fun. I knew what I wanted to do, but how to get the king red? I don't have any gels for my flash so I rubber-banded saran wrap to the flash and smeared the saran wrap with vaseline I had colored with red food dye. I couldn't get the light as red as I wanted, plus the chess piece was natural-wood colored, not white. I tried holding my red filter over the flash, too and that helped a little.

I probably could have achieved that same if not better effect if I had simply used photoshop. But I wanted to shot out of the camera to be as close to what I envisioned as possible.

120/365 - At Work

I had a crappy night at work and had no time during the day or night to take a picture. So I grabbed my camera while I was sitting at my desk.

119/365 - Running to Stand Still

Unfortunately you can't walk into a store and buy hypodermic needles. So I had to make do with what I had. And I got off my purist soapbox long enough to substitute glycerin for liquid heroin. Acceptable in this instance, I think.