Fall Pictures by Gannon

I just love Gannon’s view of the world.  He likes to take pictures, like I do, but he also likes to do videos.  He made several episodes of a Lego saga today, and I wish I could share it with you all.  Maybe if you are really nice to me, I will do that later on.  In the meantime, here are some photos by my boy, aged 6 years and 51 weeks.

We have a lot of wires in our neighborhood, don't we?

Yes, I allow my children to play in the street.

More playing in the street. And yeah, she pretty much does run everywhere.

Nate used to love looking at this sign, front and back.

If you’re not in New England right now, don’t you wish you were?

Trip to the Science Museum

First of all, I am not using Photoshop at all on these pictures because if I open up that devilish program I will be here all night.  Not because I find it difficult to use, but because it is so stinking addictive.  So these shots are all SOOC (straight out of the camera) besides cropping the turtle.  That’s not a photography term, “cropping the turtle”, nor is it another way to say “circumcision”.  It is in reference to a picture you will see.  Of a turtle.  See?

We arrived, courtesy of serendipity, just in time for a preschool story and experiment time.  Even though Gan is above preschool, he liked it too.  The kids built boats out of foil and saw how many pennies they could hold.

Here’s Acadia looking at the leafcutter ants.

This is the Air Cannon.  Not to be confused with Air Gannon, which would be something completely different.  Now that I think of it, maybe not so different after all.

Air Acadia?

I left the Montshire’s employ soon after this exhibit was installed.  This noisy, repetitious exhibit.  Installed on the wall directly adjacent to the desk where I sat.  But it had nothing to do with me leaving.  No, really, it didn’t.  That was the fault of that kid there, in the blue shirt.  He wanted to be born, so I let him do it then hung out with him for the rest of his life (so far), leaving behind the monstrously small paycheck I used to get.

This caterpillar was found and picked up (of course!) by Acadia.  Take no notice of the dirty fingernails.

This is an example of wildlife camoflage and bad photography combined.  Can you find the chipmunk?  Of course you can, since it is at the dead center of the frame.  Blurry to boot.  But hey, those babies are fast!

Turtle.  I told you it was coming up.

Fake smiles, which mean to say that these kids want me to quit taking pictures so they can walk the trail, but they know I have to get a smile before I let them budge.  They love me.

I can tell I really need to go to sleep now, because reading over this post made me crack up at my incredibly witty remarks.  Am I a gifted writer or what?  I can even make myself laugh.

Goodnight.

Photos of a Mountain

The light was inviting this afternoon. I set off to see some pretty things. And to buy groceries, but that came later. First, here’s the walk-up shot of Mt. Ascutney, from New Hampshire Route 12-A, looking south. The Windsor-Cornish covered bridge is there too. Until very recently, this was the longest covered bridge in the US. Now there’s some other bridge built just for the purpose of making it longer than “ours”. The nerve of some people. But I digress. Here’s the picture.

It is the picture that the average photo-taking tourist gets, after stopping the car on the side of the road, often into the poison ivy. Artists paint this view. Everyone sees it if they are going south, or if they are going north and manage to turn around in their seats. Which can be dangerous as a driver.

If you drive a little further north, there’s another turnout between some cornfields. (See the corn?) If you wanted to, you could pull off here, get out of your car, and kinda get down low behind some interesting-looking plants and move around till the mountain is in the background. Like this:

If you’re really lucky, no one will see you do this, because it looks really silly. Especially if you are wearing a baseball hat, which I was. But it was worth it. I like the out-of-focus corn. I don’t like the spiderweb. Oh well.

Then, for a change of p.o.v., you could go across the river to Vermont and take a walk in Paradise Park in Windsor. To get this shot, I ducked under some trees and stepped into the bog and stuck my neck way out till I got the perspective I wanted. When I climbed out I was covered in stick-tights. (I don’t actually know if this is their name, but it’s what I call any of those seeds that plants stick to whoever walks by.)

I think it is crooked, but I am not sure. I think my head is crooked. That would explain a lot.

This last one…okay, technically Mt. Ascutney is not in this one. But I liked it and this is MY blog, so here it is.

More Photoshopping

This is my friend and nephew, Silas. Clicking the image will bring up a larger-sized one. Aren’t computers fun?

Photoshop Phun

Pictures On Demand

I’ve been told that I have slowed down on my photo posting. I have also been told by my husband that this is a bad thing. Because I am an Excellent Wife, here I am posting more photos.

This is what Acadia looked like this morning when she went looking for an open window in Noah’s house so she could yell to him to come outside. She’s got her PINK duffel bag slung over her shoulder. It is full of things that are PINK. She is carrying her PINK box of hair things, most of which are PINK. Her shoes, dress: PINK. Sense a trend?

I love this boy. And his freckles. Yes, I know they are signs of sun damage to the skin, but they are so darn cute!

One of them was having a good time. One of them was not. Decidedly so. This was at the 4th of July celebration we attended. We were waiting in line to ride a pony.

Give a Kid a Camera…

And look what you get. My apologies to those of you on a slow connection. My blog is image-heavy these days because it hurts to type. And because I like images.

Anthills in the driveway. Important and interesting stuff if you’re a kid. Or me.

Enchiladas. We all need to remember this meal, so we took this picture. Yeah.

The view under Gannon’s bed. Those are his swim trunks. That he couldn’t find. Not sure what the other stuff is. Let’s not think about it.

Breakfast.

Bling.

Here’s Daddy, from an Acadia’s Eye View.

Not to be left out, here’s Mommy. And James, Jared, and Brian. But you really have to look hard to see them.

Metal waiting for the trash guy’s metal day. Glad we have this moment preserved.

We have a sword on the garage roof. What? Don’t you?

This is a radish we are growing. Gannon needed a photo.

Here’s the neighbor kid, Noah. This is usually the first view of him we see each day, when someone from our house bangs on his door, or vice versa. “Can you come out and play?”

I do not know this man. He appears at periodic intervals to mow a neighbor’s lawn. He cheesed for Gannon’s camera. We digitally captured his photons.

And my favorite so far, taken by one or both of the kids, is this picture. They love each other.

I’m Gone.

You know you’re a little obsessed with your camera when you see a photo like this and your first thought is, “Pretty bokeh.”

Only afterward did I notice the subject. Not that it really matters. But it’s just a symptom of my mania.

Things Are Looking Mighty Nice.

Some pictures showing the evidence of growth around here:

My first attempt at a perennial garden starts with these blooms.

Impatiens sit in the barrel in the front in the middle of the hostas.

I moved part of the hostas to a spot under the maple tree. I have no idea how it will fare.

Plants. The front yard.

The neighbors’ lilacs are beautiful.

This will be open before we know it. Isn’t it a cute little bud?

Hanging geraniums are awesome. And, see that greeny-shimmery pattern in the background? I learned that it’s called bokeh (boe-kay). I had fun today with the camera, looking for cool bokeh.

This picture: no bokeh, but the promise of green things to come. Even though the green sprig in question is only a weed, sucking the nutrients away from our herbs.

I took all these photos in and around the yard right before the downpour started this afternoon.

Taking Out the Color

This isn’t going to turn into a photography blog, I promise.  I’m just relatively obsessed right now because of my new camera.

Here are some photos I like better when they’re not in full color.

The dress that the girl is wearing is more modern than I liked for the picture, so I changed the photo to sepia.  I used Picasa to do this and to crop out a lot of the extra stuff, like the car in the background.

I think the scene has a more timeless feel  without the color of the dress and necklace.  The antique furniture and well-loved doll make it feel common to every family, like it is both less personal and more personal.  Hmm, does that make sense?

Here’s my little Dale Evans.  Using Picasa again, I cropped, changed to sepia, and added a fuzzy feel around the edges to take out the plastic-y looking adirondack chair.

This one is just fun.  Using Picasa again (I told you it was easy enough for a busy mom to figure out!) I straightened the photo and highlighted the butterfly on her cheek with the focal black and white option.  For some reason she was in a bad mood, and I took advantage of it.  What else are moms for?
Moms with cameras, anyway.