To live fully is to become multifarious.

Gettin’ Back into Blogging

PhotogNica — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 04:46:21 +0000

I have been in a forced sabbatical from photography and blogging with unexpectedly going on bedrest at week 7.5 of my pregnancy. Since I didn’t previously have a laptop, the fact that I had lots of pictures I still needed to blog, but with no way to edit or post them, was pushed to the back of my mind. I now have a laptop (17″ LED screen Dell Inspiron, thank you hubby!) and I’m hoping to be getting back into blogging and I really hope to get the pictures that are in my backlog edited and gradually posted.

Visit to Grandma’s

PhotogNica — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:13:20 +0000

Two weeks ago, the kids and I hopped in the car and took a (six hour) drive up to my parents’ home. It was a great time visiting with mom, dad, my three brothers and one sister still at home, and my older sister, her husband and their three kids.

Since I was far from in photographer mode, my sister Jo (15) took many of these snapshots. I think by the end of the visit, she was fairly deep in lens-love, since I left my 50mm f/1.4 on my camera for the entire trip.

We enjoyed pinochle, talking, coffee, laughing, swimming, good food (my mom is an astounding cook!), family, baby snuggles (the “babies” were two and two in a half, but my sister is due in August, so baby T will soon be the recipient of all cuddles for aunts who need a baby fix), painting (my 15 year old sister is quite the artist), and reading.

Click to view slideshow.

Visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium

PhotogNica — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:37:06 +0000

Have you ever bought an annual pass somewhere because the cost of the number of individual tickets for one visit is nearly that of the yearly pass? We do that quite frequently, it seems, especially now that both kids are above the general “two year old and under free” admission prices. In 2009, when we were visiting the Aquarium, we found that the ticket line was horrendously long, and above that, the cost of three tickets was rather steep. So, we left the General Admission line and found the Members Entrance, purchased an annual pass (complete with ID cards for all of us), and voila; we had spent about 5% more per person than it would have been for four individual tickets, but we had an unlimited number of visits for the next 12 months (plus we go in the very low traffic Members Entrance, no wait!). When J had a business trip to Salinas in the middle of May, we decided that an overnight stay in Monterey was perfect. We drove down Thursday evening, at on Fisherman’s Wharf, stayed in a very nice hotel, got up, had breakfast at Peet’s Coffee and Trader Joe’s (J and I very much prefer Peet’s to Starbucks), visited the Aquarium, and then drove to Salinas for the afternoon for J’s business meeting. A full weekend, but it was a lot of fun!

Click on an image to enlarge it.

5/16: Sisters

PhotogNica — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:00:55 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I posted any images! I’ve a backlog of daily captures, but thought I would post a few images from my most recent shoot. Monique is one of my neighbors, and I was thrilled when she contacted me about taking pictures of her and her three sisters. It was so much fun, even if the day ended up being a bit warmer than I was expecting.

My neighbor, Monique.

Daily Capture(s) 4/13: Pictures from my Garden

PhotogNica — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:39:38 +0000

I love taking pictures of things in my garden. Today wasn’t probably the best day to do it, it was just breezy enough that I found focusing more difficult than usual. We had quite a bit of rain yesterday, and some last night/showers this morning, so the sky was bright and clear with big, puffy clouds, and the flowers were all cleaned and refreshed. Or so I like to tell myself. I couldn’t cut them ALL and bring them in, there’s only so many places for cut flowers in my house. I definitely need to splurge on a macro lens at some point, that would make these images so much more interesting/easier to take the detail shots of things like the raindrops on rose-leafs.

Begonias are so unique… the bracts look sticky-waxy, but are in reality quite soft.

This color of rose always makes me think of my dear friend in the DC area. Once, years ago, I sent her some roses, and they were orange-russet like this (at least, that’s the color they were supposed to be. I’ll have to ask her if they were or if the florist switched out a different color. LOL).

Big beautiful clouds in a blue sky.

This freesia smells amazing. I have had freesia coming out my ears this spring, just from the five plants (out of eight) I planted last year.

Daily Capture 4/12: Roses from my Garden

PhotogNica — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:01:53 +0000

It is true that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. However, I think that some roses smell much sweeter than others. Take these full blown ‘Mister Lincoln’ roses. I cut them today when I saw that they had gotten a bit overwhelmed by the rain we had, and some were head-down in the dirt. Bringing them in, they smelled fabulous, but after they had warmed up a bit (helped along by the sunshine streaming in my westerly facing windows), they really turned up the scent and filled my house with an almost citrusy fragrance. It wasn’t cloying or overly perfumey, just very subtle and refreshing.

Daily Capture 4/11: Last night’s dinner

PhotogNica — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:08:17 +0000

Cinnamon, celery, carrots, tomatoes, chicken. Yum.

Daily Capture 4/8: Leftover Easter

PhotogNica — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:53:39 +0000

The lamb we had for Easter dinner was marinated overnight in a dry vermouth and olive oil blend with carrots, celery, onion and garlic. I threw it in a skillet on the stovetop to sear it, gave it a nice, caramelized exterior then let it cook covered in the marinade. It was divine. The leftovers are almost as good; the lamb flavor is stronger the older the meat is, but it’s still tasty paired with raw carrots and some Mediterranean flatbread from my local fav-store Trader Joe’s.

Daily Capture 4/7: The Resident Video Gamer

PhotogNica — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:25:57 +0000

B, aged 4.5 years, has become quite the adept video gamer after receiving a secondhand Leapster for Christmas. Unfortunately, that Leapster died, so it was with great delight that he got a new on in his Easter basket from his Great Grandparents P. (My dad’s parents.) This picture is a regular occurrence around our house now; and since the game system is as educational as it is fun, mom has no qualms about a few hours of play per day, since it hasn’t diminished his sun-and-dirt-in-the-backyard obsession at all.

Zoo Trip

PhotogNica — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:56:59 +0000

J and I have a family pass to our local zoo, and I never tire of getting pictures there. The last week of March, a group of moms and kids from our church all met at the zoo for a couple of hours, these are the best or most interesting shots of the day.

The group of kids (minus two) and three of the four strollers.

These boys are all within a year and a half of each other, so much fun!

There are two aviaries, one is the Australian Aviary, which is basically open cages, the other is the Rainforest Aviary which is my favorite and has a waterfall and various species of birds, some reptiles, and has a hothouse attached with tropical creatures such as the poison dart frog (which, incidently, isn’t poisonous unless it eats ants which eat a poisonous plant). The macaw above has the most gorgeous plumage; when he’s not backlit, his green is iridescent.

This Orangutan was finally close enough to the enclosure fence that I could get a decent shot from my 24-70mm f/2.8.
I took the above shot, then she looked at me and I was able to capture the shot below.

Our pastor’s middle son, who was looking at my camera, so I shot from the hip and caught this.

B and our dear friend, Jessica, who had come with us.

I finally got a shot of a red wolf. The last five times I’ve gone to the zoo, the wolves have been in their den.
This time, two were sunning themselves.