via

oh good grief

2011-11-08T06:40:00.000-08:00

I'm still here! Trapped in analogue world, with no internets powerful enough to move pictures around, which means I'm basically limited to what my phone can do. So in lieu of trying to think up tons of clever stuff to write about, I've just rolled over and wimped out on the blog. Apologies. But a bunch of fun stuff happened! With pictures I'll someday be showing you! Until then, for the two of you who may not have given up on me altogether, I hope you are having a lovely fall with oodles of wool and fireplaces and warm beverages. I'll get this stuff sorted out eventually...

pssssst

2011-09-07T21:30:00.001-07:00

miss me? i'm over here now, let's not kid each other any more that i can manage the upkeep of two blogs. that's just crazy.

see you in that other dimension!

this cool

2011-06-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

I came home this evening to this amazing 'do. We had to have a quick photoshoot in front of a black '67 Chevy Impala. And more.

Though I mostly turn a rather gimlet eye upon our house, our humble and very homely house, there are some sweet corners. We inhabited those corners this warm summery evening, and our slowly improving garden.

here he is

2011-05-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

one of our first truly warm days. i'm sorry, i don't mean to be so boring around here, it just sort of...happens. but man alive, what a dude, eh?

a new season

2011-04-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Springtime always tickles me. In this city, you can recognize it by the manic way people flood to the outdoors between the violent torrents of rain and hail.

And the carpet of blossoms, torn from the branches by the those same storms, turning the world a delicate pink.

the Rookie

2011-02-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

well now, i'm a bit embarrassed because i thought we had covered this ground months ago. but no, there it was, still uncovered in the neglected recesses of a photo folder, wilting and unkempt. this news that is, the new!

the boy's new rocket, his very first set of wheels. if you've been paying attention you might remember my yammering on about a certain very exciting bike shop...which happens to be full of very exciting bikes (and locally roasted coffee and fresh cookies, and the best rain jackets ever). Fuji launched a limited edition set of push-bikes for the short stacks, which is not a new concept. push-bikes are recommended for little ones because it helps them build confidence and balance while more closely mimicking the grown-up pedaling skill while they run and glide. Fuji's Rookies, though, are made of durable steel instead of wood composite, move beautifully, are adorable as pie, and come standard issue with bell and stickers. which is really what it's all about.

Anatole has proven a zealous adept and coasts in elegant freewheeling sine waves for entire city blocks, carves cookies and rooster tails (well...almost), and sometimes with daddy's help he even flies across busy streets, E.T. style, squealing with delight.

this is his very best roar:

a good bicycle will do that for you, man. this is what we do best in Portland, we love our human-powered vehicles, we do. now let's boogie!

wondering where i am?

2011-02-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry about that, folks. I have to admit, my attention being divided, I do tend to drift over there rather more...

But here, let me make it up to you.

From last Sunday when he came to work with me to help me do all that important barcode scanning and receipt handling. And chatting up of customers.

I'll try to do better, really and truly I will, but man alive there has not been much but fiber and teambuilding happening over here for some serious weeks, and not many conversational photos to be had from the lot of them. But I feel that old itch, as things start moving around underground, reshuffling and pushing and growing and stirring...I feel it, like I said, and I foresee a change in the future. With more camera time, as well.

Ciao!

12 in 2010

2011-01-01T21:45:00.000-08:00

It was fun to go back through our year to find these pictures, I'm glad I did it. We had some fantastic adventures in these past twelve months, makes me excited for the next ones!

1. yarn7, 2. grey, 3. IMG_7483, 4. IMG_7660, 5. bridgetown, 6. IMG_8700, 7. silhouette, 8. IMG_0067, 9. noses, 10. IMG_1623, 11. IMG_1874, 12. color

Happy New Year, all!

the party

2010-12-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

For all that I love taking pictures, I'm very bad at documenting those special events in my life because I'm too busy being IN the moment to stick a camera in my face. But sometimes I do try, like yesterday for Anatole's birthday party!

We made some Sculpey beads (I'd forgotten how hard this stuff is, so mostly the adults made things...oops!)

And balsam & sweetgrass party favors for....smelling nice. And hanging on something. To smell nice.

And there were presents, some really, really sweet presents. Thanks, friends!

Too many other sweet things are captured only in my head, but that just means that we had a good time!

a wildly happy birthday!

2010-12-15T21:55:00.000-08:00

to my very best four (!) year old boy.

what it's all about

2010-11-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

hot cocoa. with whipped cream, mind.

and Thanksgiving feasts! this is actually a picture of our leftovers. i was so full that i didn't make it on to dessert until the next day, but the wait was worth it. pumpkin pie and cranberry apple cobbler....

don't worry, it's all gone now ;-)

audubottom

2010-11-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

some weeks ago Scruffy and i went to the Portland Audubon Society.

we like to visit the rescue birds

(this is Anatole's favorite, Julio the female owl. he could stand outside her pen and chat all day.)

and then we go down into the forest for a little walk. oregon is so very, very green.

(Anatole has this strange fear of slugs, though he bravely faces up to them now. i kinda get it; they're weird.)

what are your local adventures when the weather turns a bit sour?

drumroll...

2010-11-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

Crank! I don't have to remind you how great this is, or how very definitely you should be there if you're in the Portland area. See you at the party! (poster created by my dad, give him a hand, too!)

The Society of Jacks

2010-11-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Jack Frost!

Jack of All Trades!

(that's my brother! being his own fantastic and talented self on the day of the opening of his bike shop, Crank! I just got a tune-up and custom fitting and now I ride like the wiiiind.)

by the way, the little man took both these pictures.

and of course, Jack Dandy himself:

who was a butterfly for Halloween.

there was much adorableness (and some very lame, hasty pictures) on this inaugural trick-or-treat outing. i finally get Halloween, and why it's so much fun as an adult.

by bike

2010-10-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Most days of the week I take the boy to school on the bike -- not because I'm virtuous, mind, but because we are a very busy family with one car. I enjoy the ride, though, especially on beautiful October mornings. We've been lucky with the weather so far, but that luck is not going to hold and I know that I will be cold and soggy on the slog very very soon. Perhaps even tomorrow. But Anatole will be cozy and dry in his little trailer, at least, packed in with mitties and blankets and a rain cover...

I took the camera along the other day, figuring it would be one of the last good days when I could without risking water damage. So here, some snapshots from the roads of southeast Portland:

among the challenges inherent in photographing by bike is the blur factor, but I couldn't resist at least one passing attempt at the foliage.

Belmont and 34th:

Hawthorne with a misty Mt. Tabor in the background:

And the bike thoroughfare that is Clinton:

That was pretty much all I managed on the ride...I feared for my camera and my life to take it out of my coat too much, but I may try again on some fair-weather day in the future. When I got home, though, our kitty was posing most picturesquely in the fallen leaves.

bubbles!

2010-10-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

though the day was dark and stormy, we were not without our whimsy.

cheers!

whoooooey!

2010-10-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

how time does fly! i have much to report, too much, it turns out. first and foremost, my new blog, Spindleshanks (the woolier side of my life) is now going to be up and running -- i promise! it has one measly little post at the moment but i intend to remedy that very soon and that's where anyone can go who cares to check out all of my knitting and spinning ventures and misadventures....

we also recently had a very fun photoshoot with my best partner in crime, Alex, and i will have more pictures from that going up somewhere soon, but here's one that Anatole shot of us together, both wearing hats of her own design (and strangely dressed alike, as well...good taste is just so catching, i guess!):

and you can see why i make her do all my modeling...we all have our roles to play on different sides of the camera. stick one in my face and i'm guaranteed to kind of freak out on you, or just freak out in general.

also we are all back in school (well, one teaching, one learning, and me just kind of doing my thing at work and play) which is why i have to go make breakfast now instead of updating more. soon my pretties, very soon.

home again, home again

2010-09-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

it's autumn, i don't care what the calendar says. thus, the mittens (early in the morning, but my it was brisk!).

and what else? when we came home from Maine i was gripped by a need to make cobbler. and then another. i can see making a habit out of this because oh my goodness, people, it's like i'd never eaten fruit+dough before. crispy on top, buttery light underneath, and full of powerful fruit sweetness on the bottom.

there have also been potfuls (potsful? why not when we say passersby instead of passerbys?) of soup which never get their pictures taken, and even some pictures for pictures' sake. ahem, fair warning, this falls pretty heavily in the artistic pretensions category. the post-process was negligible, which is all i'll say. otherwise, it was great fun.

and spinning, at long last! i'm creating a whole other fiber arts blog (soon!) to finally vent all those adventures somewhere specific for people who care about such things, but i cannot resist showing off this hefty (400 yards!) skein i named 'Pandora's Box', on sale now at Twisted.

there are most certainly games afoot, to be released soon upon the world. all that and with the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival coming up (psst, anyone who hasn't yet found that perfect something for my birthday, look no further) i am drowning in wooly bliss.

friends

2010-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

*sigh* it's always the same with these people. i love them so much i just want to wad them up and stick them in my mouth. perhaps people with children understand that sentiment; how completely you want to keep someone near you.

and the people they love, too.

(the hidden one is Joe...who sadly had to leave for rehearsal and so that is the sole photo i have of him)

oh, and the ones i love, always!

thanks, all, for the bestest of all possible worlds. but instead of goodbye, let's have some more New England light goodness from their abode.

and a field full of family (from earlier in the day)!

off to the beach we go! i don't know if we will have the interwebs during our stay, so perhaps i'll see you all when i return.

when in Rome

2010-08-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

well, you know how this goes. but there is something so pleasing about a group of adults basting themselves with brine and butter up to their elbows, ripping through cherry-red shells to get at a mere toothful of meat and roll their eyes in bliss. we are really quite simple creatures.

some (myself included) are a bit more transfixed by the spectacle than any real desire to dive right in...

though don't worry, i definitely ate my share. you don't want to get these people riled up about their lobster, not at a moment like this.

most magnificent

2010-08-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

this house.

this is the kind of place that i fantasize about. this place belongs to a lovely couple named Dinsmore, and it was here that Ethan and his family stayed many many years ago when they were looking for a place to live en route between one exotic location and another. there are many lovely vacation homes like this that sit vacant most of the time...it just takes the right attitude and no small share of courage, apparently, to coax some of them into handing over the keys. someday, my house will look like this.

all those windows. all that wood. angles and light and old, quiet spaces. trees and gazebos.

the sweetest guest cottage.

there are too many photos to load you up with here. i may get around to doing another post, until then head over to my flicker to see them all...

{peek!}

2010-08-24T13:01:00.001-07:00

snowbird, as much as you get until i get home and can get a very good friend to do a proper photoshoot...but we've been enjoying each other, this sweater and i!

more water

2010-08-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

anatole took some pretty awesome photos the other day.

...and more! hm, i wonder when it's time to buy him his own camera...

and there was a lot more water. different pond this time, similar results.

(artsies)

since i refuse to take my camera out of its series of waterproof bags while i'm actually in a kayak or canoe you get no pictures of the giant loon and her baby who were our pretty constant companions, of ethan swimming from one island of rock to another, nor of the many islands themselves. i have to leave something to the imagination, after all. cheers, mates!

hi. (from Maine)

2010-08-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

it's all about the water

i mean, ALL about the water.

and maybe some of this...

it got bright, we got really really wet, and we all went to bed tired and happy. vacation is the best!

queen anne and the sunset

2010-08-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

at my mom's place some time ago. hello, internet.

{barn}

2010-07-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

subtitle: my new lens.

my mom bought me a VERY early birthday present (pressing need and whatnot), my new 50mm f1.8 lens. ahhhhhh. everything that i ever wanted, all in one sleek and compact little cylinder. now all those photos that i've been wanting to take are just there, in the lens, waiting for me to press the shutter. shallow depth of field for portraiture, aperture for days for all those low-light conditions i'm throwing myself into. so when we went for an evening at my mom's barn, the camera got to come with. oh, joy.

and goodness gracious me, i love barns.

himself

2010-07-23T20:50:00.001-07:00

keeping things Twisted

2010-07-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

i spend a lot of time here (um, because it's where i work, for the one person who may be out there who does not know), but i never offered a proper introduction here in this space. they let me play with the windows, which is often one of my favorite parts.

ahaha. i kill me.

inside, there is a great skylight...

and a ton of really lovely yarn.

and some other stuff.

i didn't get a good picture of our giant chalkboard/tea menu (that i also painstakingly created) because my camera lens really cannot handle low light. another time, perhaps, or just come see for yourself!

oxbow

2010-07-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

belated 4th

2010-07-11T09:28:00.001-07:00

it did happen, right before the heat wave, the 4th of July. it's a rule in the willamette valley (an oft-quoted one) that summer doesn't start until the 5th. true to form, we were still in scarves and hats on the fourth, and melting in front of window fans the next day. but we had some sun, and a driveway feast!

(notice the boy's soccer clothes. he is very proud of them)

(anatole took this one...can you tell? he also took the next one, i liked the lens flare)

our cottonwood tree continues to spew magic snowflakes

(more orange and grey)

as long as we're here, let me introduce you to our wildflowers

and the boy's workbench

photos with a vengeance, over here! i'll be back soon. until then, good luck today to Spain, we'll be watching!

** Spain won! double overtime, only goal scored! Viva España!

{meat cheese bread}

2010-07-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

i've been pretty lackadaisical about this whole blogging thing. for this, i apologize. but now it's sweltering outside so i'm up far later than is prudent, waiting for my body temperature to drop enough to sleep. what else to do but work through some of the backlog?

haha, it's pretty hilarious that last night when i went to try to post photos i was so thwarted...call it heat poisoning + fatigue, shall we? and i'm such technowimp. fortunately, under the clear light of day, all changes flickr made were instantly obvious, so without further ado, here are some shots from our new favorite sandwich shop (see title of post). any establishing shots i took were inferior so those must wait for another day, and food shots are not in attendance either. this is why i'm no photojournalist. really, you'd never know we were in a single location...oh well, that's why i tell you about it. i'll take my camera back soon, i promise.

{on the way there. really, this is just about my favorite color combination}

{anatole took this one! heehee!}

you get a peek of one of the walls behind her in that last one, i just loved the way she was sitting, talking to her friends. i think she totally didn't notice that i took her picture, either, which made me feel like a ninja. so there we are, squares and cryptic shots! more to follow, and you can hold me to that.

cheers!

elegance

2010-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

this is my favorite music video of all time. enjoy, and have a happy 4th!

a quick week

2010-06-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

more like four days, but good long ones, at the coast.

Cannon Beach has all these adorable and plentiful feral (in the lightest sense) domestic rabbits. they are very unafraid.

we even went to the skate park, and didn't damage ourselves too badly. i, with much encouragement, totally skated over that mild-mannered lump in the middle. whatever, it's scarier than it looks.

anatole, true to form, enchanted a whole family of charming kids. he's like the pied piper, i swear, he has this ability to make all kinds of older and 'cooler' kids -- who by all rights would ignore and derride the little guy -- follow him to the ends of the earth. when we left, this trio was thanking us for the privilege of playing with him. it's inspiring, i'll tell you.

to see the whole set, as always, click the little flickr widget over there on the right. i haven't played with any of them really, so they are without the frills of explanations or chatter, but they're all in a group and there is lots of sunshine, water and sand. lovely.

shucks

2010-06-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

happy summer vacation! i have an incredibly cumbersome backlog of images that has been intimidating me, but it's high time i start dealing with them (it's not that hard, vivian) and make some more activity happen here...this is just from Monday, a walk to the sandwich shop.

{pictorial}

2010-06-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

i have been a very poor blog tender lately, and i apologize. i could say i've been busy, but we already knew that and it's only half an excuse anyway. how about a dose of random to cheer up this page, no people this time:

in descending order: seattle waterfront; the Steel, Broadway, and Fremont bridges in Portland (taken from the Burnside bridge); netarts beach and bay; and amazing sea vegetable.

developments

2010-05-06T17:39:00.000-07:00

i haven't been able to get a proper (i.e. up to snuff) photo of it yet, but this is the biggest change around these parts:

instructions

2010-05-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

i have oodles of posts i could have made, piles of virtual pictures dumped into flickr without even a cursory inspection or processing, many plans and adventures carried out. but i am a fickle blogger, and so all i want to actually share right now is this; the rest will keep.

we are doing

2010-04-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

apparently March wore me out, all that posting. but here we are, still doing our thing.

we made eggs, and then ate them. we purchased an exciting new tool for the latter.

it's a funny and wonderful thing, anatole gets very attached to kitchenware. in Seattle he made friends with a green silicone whisk that we had to bring home with us (duh) and he seriously slept a couple nights with it clutched in his arms.

we went to the park the other day to celebrate the first-ever skirt that i made all by myself (ahem).

a whole new direction for me, craftily and sartorially speaking, i don't think i've ever owned polka dots. but it cheers me inexplicably, and i'm so proud. now, none of you seamstresses out there (Laurel, Heidi, Jane, i'm talking to you) look too closely. perfectionism is a whimsy with me, and lately it goes more often than it comes.

and anatole got to use the camera for the very first time. some of my favorites:

as you can see, i wasn't hovering or helping at all, these are straight from his little artistic mind. there are more, too, but this post is stretching out...to finish off, some photos of the artist himself:

happy springtime, friends!

aquarium

2010-03-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

some of my favorite shots from the Seattle Aquarium:

these are salmon fingerlings in an overhead(!) tank

lucky shot.

again, see the whole set here, or go there yourself! it's a good trip.

Seattle!

2010-03-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

radio silence was observed while we scooted off to Seattle for a couple of days.

there will probably be many photos trickling in from that trip; if you're too impatient for that, go here.

until then, a smattering from the beach at Lincoln Park, the monorail, Pike Place Market and the waterfront:

silhouette love

2010-03-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

this picture makes me undefinably happy. which is good. i just did my taxes. if anything makes me want to saw off one of my own limbs, it's doing taxes. the rest of my day will be indelibly tainted as i try to dislodge the horrid blackness that has overwhelmed my person. cookies may help. and this picture.

driveway

2010-03-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

from the new redundantly named 'TandemDuo' complex going in up the street. i keep trying to make friends with the wider angle on my lens. i keep trying.

paperwhites

2010-03-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

my internet was dead yesterday, so you get two today. these are much-wilted paperwhites from a bulb anatole planted at his school to bring home. i've kept them around in such a state, clearly, not because i'm lazy or slovenly (*cough*) but because i'm artistic. hm. i do love dead flowers, though. this first photo is by far my favorite, not least because it does a better job of hiding how dirty my windows apparently are (see above comments re: artistic temperament).

there is just not enough clone stamping in the world for all that. and happy St. Patty's Day! I am roughly one quarter Irish, and proudly so. they probably have artistic windows, too.

window shells

2010-03-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

i should clarify that these last few window photos were taken in Maine last spring; posting every day is easier when you recycle. And my own windows are nowhere near so attractive.

panpipes

2010-03-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

i'm into windows.

innkeeper's corner

2010-03-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

this exercise serves mostly to show, once again, where i wish i had pointed the camera. but corners with windows are so quiet and peaceful, all the same.

tiny balloon

2010-03-12T12:35:00.001-08:00

magnolia

2010-03-11T22:01:00.001-08:00

from outside the boy's school.

sleepface

2010-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

oh, man.

monochrome?

2010-03-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

well, so much for Monochrome March (which I just now this minute made up, by the way, but as I started posting b&w shots I thought, hey, I can make a theme of this!), but this almost qualifies, with all its blues and greys. this winsome lass is my friend Alex, modeling one of her new designs for her upcoming ebook! I've seen all the patterns (this being, after all, a photoshoot for said collection) and let me tell you, friends, they are pretty amazing. in the meantime, I will still try to be posting (almost) every day for at least this month, with special dispensations for those crazy-busy days like Saturday.

cathedral park

2010-03-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

hi ho!

2010-03-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

crinkles

2010-03-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

little lamps

2010-03-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

sliver::silver

2010-03-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

door & mirror

2010-03-02T18:48:00.001-08:00

spider

2010-03-01T09:47:00.001-08:00

Oh, nothing is so beautiful as spring --

2010-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush

The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush

With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

There is nothing so beautiful as Spring.
~ Gerard Manley Hopkins (oft quoted, still true)

hair!

2010-02-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

i forgot all about this in the excitement: the boy's very first haircut! no, it's not exactly short, but still, what a benchmark. and there's no way we could say goodbye to those curls (and i fear his daddy would do something drastic if i ever had the temerity...!).

pile o' random {plantings}

2010-02-07T22:36:00.000-08:00

today we picked flowers

planted harmonicas

caught rhinos

(pardon my lack of expression, it's hard to balance a thorn on your nose and take your own picture, the boy was uncharacteristically camera-shy, even though he totally started the game)

and visited old and amazing headstones, like this one from the very beginning of the 20th century (boy howdy, that was a long time ago now). there were a few of these 'trees' for the woodsmen of the world, and i so wonder who they were.

i wish i had better pictures of them, perhaps another day. i always come home and see the picture that i wish i'd taken -- the trick now is seeing it in the moment. every one of these, in a way, represents that very challenge.

pile o' random {colors}

2010-02-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

we walked in the sun today and the colors were all over, and off, the charts. for those of you in the frozen parts of this world.

that last one because i couldn't resist. don't you feel so much warmer now?

baluchon

2010-02-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

photographing thoroughbreds is a lot like photographing small children with their fidgeting and liberal adherence to requests. so it is that the only pictures that i like of our photoshoot with my mom's horse have him cut off at the knee (poor guy) so you don't get to really admire how impossibly long his legs are. but there you are, at least he's finally made it onto this site, and what a dapper guy he is.

he is an Irish Thoroughbred, direct descendent of Man O' War and War Admiral (for those who haven't spent their lives obsessed with these things, those guys are legendary), and in color he's a lovely chestnut. he's carried many riders (most notably me mum) to many blue ribbons by flying over very tall fences and dancing fluidly about a dressage ring, and he's a perfect lap pony as well to hear my mom tell it. his withers (that bump where his neck meets his back) stands at a regal 17 hands high -- which in human terms puts that bony protrusion just over the top of my 5' 7.75" head. and when you're riding him, well. it's a ways down there to the ground.

but he's a perfect gentleman for all his size, and a very hale old man, still jumping at 23 years of age. his registered name is Baluchon (which means 'bundle' in French), but everyone calls him Sean, which harkens back much more strongly to his Irish roots.

January 31, 2010

2010-01-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

today we did this (and more, but it's late, my friends, and you'll have to wait):

these are some of my most recent handspun yarns, all finished and ready for the shop. from left to right: "juniper jubilee" (targhee wool); "rumpelstiltskin" (wool and silk); "io" (wool, alpaca,silk); and "bremen town" (wool....cormo? and yes Alex, that is what your new yarn is named). raspberry bushes in the background, daffodils and strawberries at his feet. it is seriously that warm here, folks, there are buds blooming in Laurelhurst Park. i hope that February doesn't turn all cruel on the little dears.

then we took the train out to my mom's house!

and i'll leave you with her splendid view of Mt. Hood. i also took some pictures of her amazingly tall thoroughbred, but he's such a handsome fellow and i'm pretty ambivalent about the pictures so i'm going to sit with them for a few days...

blues

2010-01-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

so much for posting more regularly. but we had a sunset after a rainstorm, and it was enough to drag my camera out of the bag, though of course all i really wanted to take pictures of was the boy.

he's turning into such a little dude, it cracks me up. more from our walk here. in other news, this is the new building that's gone up down the street. i call it the Hive (make it sound sinister), and it pretty much epitomizes where i never want to live.

and a bonus shot taken by my friend Spencer, who is still busy crossing the globe, making the world a better place one plant (or turtle) at a time. this little guy was stuck in a net, and he set it free. true story.

apples

2009-12-21T00:27:00.000-08:00

from our snack today. i'm trying to get back in the habit of just taking pictures, wherever i can.

about time

2009-12-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

it happens, it does, and rapidly at that. non-sequitur: the best thing about December is all the birthdays. continuing in the theme from my previous post two (!) months ago, we have birthdays.

this radiant boy turned three this week.

and we even managed to document the day, a rarity anymore around here.

and today my very best friend and most constant companion since birth, my big brother, turns another year older. wow. big brothers never cease to always be so much bigger.

so far no current documentation of the day exists, but i like this view better anyway since it expresses his self so much more neatly. we snuck out of the house at a truly insensible hour this morning for a secret birthday treat, then came home and made pancakes. thank you, Chris, for being you.

and these are but the ones that i live with...so many more friends and family have jumped up the calendar in the past couple of weeks, busy times indeed. i hope all your celebrations, past and imminent, are as jolly!

it's my party

2009-10-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to me.

(and time to get that monkey off my back...hehe)

pacific city

2009-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

this is my favorite beach.

there's this dune, which in itself is worth the extra drive. and somehow, this beach is always more transformative, it turns us all into little kids, and the little kids among us...well, they go positively feral. in the greatest way.

plus tidepools and amazing rocks

but of the really amazing part -- the cape -- i have no pictures this time. next time, perhaps. i like to think we'll go back sooner than later.

the last day

2009-09-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

we made it back to the beach one more time before school starts. and we remembered the cameras this time.

there are even some of me. by the way, i cut my hair.

i'll try to do a more in-depth post later (200 photos!) or you can wade through them all here

here's to a lovely autumn!

the face of the earth

2009-09-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

i have dropped off it, climbing back hand over little hand. but there is still this. and this:

and more, but you don't get pictures since the camera and i are having serious words lately. words you don't want to hear. perhaps soon, though...

morning

2009-08-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

it's nice when morning starts so gently.

i hope yours goes superbly!

my three (er, two)

2009-08-13T21:21:00.001-07:00

now that's more like it. there is a larger version on flickr. i'd hyperlink, but it's seriously just as easy to click the picture. i dare you...

we three

2009-08-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

easy to see where anatole comes by his good looks and charm. ahem. ethan insisted i make it a triptych of all three of us, so. there.

humidity

2009-08-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

...is good for one thing only. it has been fierce here, but the end of the heat storm has arrived!

eep

2009-08-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

sorry it's been so long, all five of you out there. i've just been clinging so hard to the fans for dear life (HOT) i haven't had spare limbs to upload any pictures. but they are there, oh yes. see you soon!

Star

2009-07-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

anatole and i stopped by the shop today and had some fun with my dear co-worker and friend, Star

she is a knitwear designer of increasing fame and knitterly clout, and has taught me everything i know about spinning. beyond that, well, she's just a delightful human being.

and Scruffy thinks she's swell, which tells you everything you need to know.

play!

2009-07-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

a couple weeks ago we all (e, a, bro, mom, me) went to the Oregon Coast and had the kind of fun you only have at the beach. get a snack, there are a lot of pictures (why i put them in a slideshow). hit the 'play' button, then in the lower right-hand corner of the picture there is a button that has four arrows pointing out -- click that, and it will give you the full screen experience. once you are in full screen, there will be some options in the upper right-hand corner -- if you hit 'options' you can choose the speed...i recommend 'fast' for the best (most interesting) viewing experience.

at the end, we were tired.

enjoy! i hope the technology works...

island's end

2009-06-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

sigh. finally, the final few. all these i took the day before i left North Haven while talking on the phone. they are mostly quirky things that i wanted to remember: the new boards on an old roof, water, light, no idling, all those lovely textures. as i've said, i adore everything to do with water.

peeps

2009-06-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

as promised, i captured some people. it's a tricky business, especially with some...

(andrew, i'm looking at you)

and emily

and chris, who brought the greatest board game with him...

this is the only kind of group picture i enjoy, where all i do is catch the moment as it happens.

we had many mini-adventures, but they were too wily a crew to photograph until the very end, before they boarded their ferry. i also caught a couple brief glimpses of some other family members (of the Frederick clan, not mine), Etta:

and gabe:

after they left, jane, gideon and i went to a little rocky beach for a bit, and they were much more obliging subjects.

it's back to the mainland for me on the evening ferry, but of course i have more pictures, so we can all pretend i'm still here tomorrow...

good morning

2009-06-18T04:58:00.000-07:00

this morning i was one of the very first people to watch the sun rise in our country. at a whopping 4:30 in the morning. good thing i'm on vacation...i went out to the east end of the island with dear andrew and a couple of his friends

and it was lovely.

with shells.

and a bonus shot of my host's commode:

north haven

2009-06-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

i am in the land of the lupines.

where my dear friends live and keep an inn (i.e. are 'innkeepers', not owners). it is lovely here, and i have taken a lot of pictures. first, a few establishing shots:

this is Nebo Lodge, the inn they keep, from the front.

here is the side view, and you can see the cute little house they (and i) are staying in off to the left.

and the rest will go largely without explantation because there are a boatload of them. first will be a few i took of jane making pizza dough (always an arresting experience), then mainly interior shots of lodge i took this afternoon. they are not, by and large, exciting photos (save for a few of her son, Gideon), but pictures i couldn't resist because i can't resist new england houses with nice big windows and wood everywhere. enjoy!

whew. see you all tomorrow, and i'll try to include some more island and people pictures...

some gold

2009-06-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

i recalibrated my monitor so that now all my pictures look like dog business (as my coworker so tactfully puts things), which is probably how they have been turning up on your screen all this time. why did nobody tell me? seriously, i rely on you people! so while i'm huddled under my blankie trying to find any kind of faith in my artistic pretensions, here is a little gold from last summer's trip to new mexico.

feh, and even this looks like oatmeal mixed with mud now. perhaps i am a wee bit overtired...

randomness

2009-06-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

a lot of things happening, hard to cohere...but we shall try: today was anatole's last day of school. we shall be very sad, but summer vacation is as exciting as ever. his teacher is expecting her first mid-july, so i made her a present:

and did you catch that? those are fishbowl buttons!

i did a photoshoot at the school last week, but i don't want to be putting other peoples' kids all over the internet without their permission, so for now those remain in the private collection. it was a very sweet morning, a montessori classroom is still one of my favorite places to be.

also, last week we had our rose festival dragonboat races!

(neither of those is us since i was taking the picture, but you get the idea at least.) and WE WON! we had five heats in all over the course of the weekend, so amazing, so thrilling, so exhausting, with the drizzly skies and the adrenaline and the medals and trophy and everything. you need to just imagine it all since the only other shoddy picture i have for you is this one of the finish flags and geese:

storm drain

2009-06-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

we are so blessed with trees that with every storm our corner drain clogs with debris. raking it out is a very satisfying endeavor for all.

UPDATE: it was late last night when i posted, so i forgot the best part. the text that went along with this last picture goes like this: So, I have some big piles someday. Have some big piles, and some little ones. With sausages in them. And I step in them with-a feet! It feels pretty good. Yeah, have some big piles. (after he was raking piles of mud.)

memorial day

2009-05-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

did you barbecue? we did. a last minute affair up at my dad's house (sans dad, actually, who has been in australia giving seminars - my brother was there caring for his plants), which made it feel like a real holiday, with the backyard and open pit grilling and larger kitchen. (no, my child is not standing in the fire.)

i even remembered to take out my camera for a few minutes, though i didn't wind up with any photos i liked all that well. even so, i bare my soul to share with you a bit of the evening, and my dad's hillside garden-in-progress.

if there were a way to include 'before' shots, you would be well impressed with the transformation. as is, appreciate the tons and tons of rock, and now picture them all with that lovely moss coating they will have in a few years.... and of course, the boy, who would never stand still, and is therefore somewhat soft around the edges in almost every frame i took of him. i'm very glad, in a non-photographic way.

perhaps i hear you say that i like overmuch the black and white. guilty as charged.

to buy a fat pig

2009-05-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

the blogosphere is awash in posts stuffed to the hilt with vibrant rows of plump vegetables and value-added products. we too went to the farmer's market, and produce abounded. i took pictures of none of that; rather, we ate our Pine State biscuits and danced

Anatole made an instant friend

who drew him after her in a mesmerizing chase until he popped out of the bubble of my control altogether.

there were instantly too many people, and he was so much faster, and out of sight.

we found each other again, but not before he was in tears (fortunately, because his siren became an instant and solid locus point for his searching mama) and i was gripped by endless possibilities. and then we bought strawberries. but still tonight in poring through the pictures of the day i felt a petit frisson of that same fear and relief, so this market post is full of his vibrant self, not a veggie in sight.

moses supposes...

2009-05-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

(by the way, i automatically love you if you get the title)

having a very under-motivated day here. i have a theory about solar-powered mojo (in the parlance of our times), and it's overcast today. but here are these, from our weekend and a boy who likes to wear 'just feet' and 'just head' in our newly-minted warm weather.

more mycelium, & dandies

2009-05-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

the same mushroom group, a few days later...

and the very best dandelion in the yard (of thousands):

of fevers and fungi

2009-05-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

the boy has had a fever and some sniffles. on thursday we stayed home together and sat on the couch, except for when we had to go outside to see what was growing.

one of the best

2009-05-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

this lovely is one half of the dynamic duo that is Twisted. i'm not exaggerating when i say that i work for the best people, ever.

behind her you can see our incredible 'sock wall' -- these ladies love them some socks!

this boy is in sweaters

2009-05-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

this one, by The Grandmother, just arrived. we love it. another one, by Omi, is awaiting another button before its official photoshoot. we love it, too. a third (!) is in the works, right now, by yours truly. just in time for the sun, three lovely handknit sweaters...fortunately, springtime is holding onto its cool for a while so they're getting a little wear, but it gives us something to look forward to at the end of the summer.

as long as were talking about post-processing, you can tell that i did a pretty quick-and-dirty job with these, they are all different and you can pretty well tell what i did. i'm okay with that, because they're not art shots. however, there used to be a bright blue recycling container in one of these photos that i just couldn't stand....creepy, the things you can do nowadays, non?

before/after

2009-04-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

i am perhaps blessed to be surrounded by non-photographers in my life who look at my snapshots and marvel at my 'camera skill'. i try to be honest (most of the time) and tell them that most of what makes my pictures look as good as they do (a subjective and debatable point) is the sometimes rather rugged post-processing i put them through. Photoshop is my friend, and lets me turn out a product that is much more kin to the idea i had in my head when i pressed the shutter in the first place. because the camera and me, we don't always see eye-to-eye. when i see a moment my brain intelligently zooms in on the most spectacular features -- the light just so, these beautiful colors, this subject i adore. the camera, though, can be rather heartless, and it sees everything else that's there, too -- the strange bit of business in the background, the flat shape of the frame. and what's more, that lovely light, the color, it turns out it's not quite so strong in real life, especially once the life has been leeched out of it through its conversion to jpeg, heaven help us if we want to put it on the internet, which magically robs it of even more life, contrast, and color. (if there are any other photographers out there, is this something that you all experience, too? tell me yes, otherwise i'm so completely flummoxed!) so i tweak things, deepen shadows, brighten highlights, pump up colors. like so (and this is a very extreme example, where i went beyond even the truth of my experience of the moment and into a particular effect i wanted to come across strongly, in this case -- green):

or sometimes just to draw your attention to the thing that i intend:

but occasionally i do surgery, when environmental extras just interfere to an excessive level, and must be offed:

there are photographers out there who are just that good, it seems, who point their lens and create magic inside the camera. but truly, every professional photographer that i can think of views post-processing to be as much a part of their artistry and craft as the ability to see a compelling thing and capture it. and the wonder of the digital age is that we no longer have to spend countless hours (and reams of photo paper) trying to do all of that in a darkroom (which i do miss all the same, just as i miss the satisfying ratcheting of the film advance lever after a shot).

and thank you to the shutter sisters, for the constant inspiration as well as a very fun 'assignment'.

heavens

2009-04-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

as in: heavens, i take a lot of pictures of my child; or, heavens, i love this boy; or, searching the heavens. along any of those lines. he has the most beatific smile at times, it is the rarest thing. there will probably be more pictures from this warm photoshoot, because he discovered the most remarkable thing: you can put raspberries on your fingers! and then eat them! the results were too adorable to ignore, or keep from you. stay tuned.

a bit old-timey

2009-04-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

sometimes i like the noise and grit from a darker, older processing.

raspberry on

2009-04-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

boy and street

2009-04-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

skating at Greek Easter

2009-04-20T22:32:00.002-07:00

first of all, my most abject and humble apologies that those of you hopeful enough to keep checking this blog have been so terribly neglected, and your patience and dedication has been dubiously rewarded with that most lame of salt jar pictures. i honestly don't know what possessed me to post that, but for my humility and posterity's sake, i will let it remain. yech.

here, now: this boy loves skateboards more than anything, and at a Greek Easter party this last Sunday he also discovered how great they are for posing. i did not manipulate him in any way, honest to goodness, i generally avoid that with my subjects. he was just taking a moment to survey his surroundings behind the instantly cool shield of a very worn skateboard. that he played with the entire time. and cried when we made him leave it behind. that, ladies and gents, is passion.

skating feet

2009-04-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

laurelhurst, take II

2009-03-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

on our last day all together we inevitably made it up to the park

with camera, slings, hats, mitts, umbrella, and babes in tow

and played.

both jane and i took these, many are imperfect, i'm really loving them anyway.

it was warmer

2009-03-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

a little bit of last summer, i think we're all well over the grey and ready for some warmth.