Merry Christmas!

It's Almost Christmas

UnWrapped

This is what it's come to. My family isn't large. But.  At Christmas I have 6 nieces and nephews, 2 siblings, 2 in-laws and a parent to wrap for.  Plus.  4 December birthdays.  But I ran out of tape just before I got through the Christmas presents  And I couldn't find the birthday paper I know is here somewhere.

I used painter's tape to finish the Christmas presents.  And when I got the the boys' birthday presents, I decided to make the masking tape intentional.

Necessity is the mother of clutch plays.

Foggy Night

Latkes & Dreidels

Tonight I spent with friends celebrating the second night of Hanukkah...there were 3 of us for whom this was a new experience.  It's always wonderful to be with friends and it is especially wonderful to get to share their traditions.

Eye contact

A Little Something Different

At the link below, you can get in on a 20 year tradition of seasonal songs but with a little something different.  This year is jazz flavored.  http://christmas.soundopinions.org/

http://christmas.soundopinions.org/

Wreath

                  From the neighborhood...

Sights

I loved this vintage Santa when I saw him last night...we had a small one just like him when I was growing up.  

And this is just a glimpse of the lobby of my building...I love all the lights and reflections. I'm going to have to try this again tomorrow.

Holiday Wreath

I thought of something to do with the catalogs I've been receiving since October 31.  It's not too late to make it my holiday card - what do you think?

Roses in December

Can you believe it?

unfocused

There isn't anything in focus here...and that's because I saw this in my viewfinder and flinched.  But it's kind of funny, don't you think?

Morning Commute

Decorations

My neighbor hangs ornaments in the tree in her front yard and they were so beautiful in the morning light today.

NYC and Thanksgiving

I took a trip to NYC the week before Thanksgiving for a photography workshop. You know how something works out so much better than you ever imagined?  That happened here - the combination of the photographer who led the workshop and his team, the combination of people who attended, the mind set I had going in...they all made for a very special time.  

Returning home I thought a short week of work would be fairly easy but that was not to be - it turned out to be fairly hectic.

Thanksgiving was at my house this year with my mother, sister's and brother's families.  It is always a wonderful time, and this year the star of the show was the chocolate cake my sister in law brought.  Oh my, that cake was amazing! And Gus didn't steal anything - last year he helped himself to coconut cake which we now know is not life threatening to dogs, though it is a bit, ahem, rich.

Much to think about over the balance of the holiday weekend.

I hope you had a memorable Thanksgiving.

Live From New York

Mantel

I love this little vase, and I love the yellow gold leaves that fall from the trees on the either side of the back of my house.

The brown 'roses' fell from some sort of conifer and I picked them up during a dog walk.

Under the Same Moon

I see the moon and the moon sees me. 

God bless the moon and God bless me.

I see the moon and the moon sees thee.

God bless the moon and God bless thee.

A Discovery

I love reading.


I love reading blogs.  There's wondrous variety out there in the interwebs.


Today I clicked a link that took me to Cold Antler Farm.  After you read the passage she wrote below, I bet you'll click the link and take the trip too.

Everyone out there enjoying this Wolf Moon? That's what the Almanac calls it. The November moon is a big bright beam out there, and the last few nights it has been so bright It cast shadows inside the farm house at night. Deer walking around the yard stand out like make believe things in the blue light. Folklore says the night right after the full moon is a time to prayer to remove things from your life that are negative, bad thoughts, fear, guilt, all of it. As the moon wains into dark it's supposed to carry those prayers home. I don't think it can hurt. Wolves after all, are very fast dogs. 


from Cold Antler Farm

A Discovery

I love reading.


I love reading blogs.  There's wondrous variety out there in the interwebs.


Today I clicked a link that took me to Cold Antler Farm.  After you read the passage she wrote below, I bet you'll click the link and take the trip too.

Everyone out there enjoying this Wolf Moon? That's what the Almanac calls it. The November moon is a big bright beam out there, and the last few nights it has been so bright It cast shadows inside the farm house at night. Deer walking around the yard stand out like make believe things in the blue light. Folklore says the night right after the full moon is a time to prayer to remove things from your life that are negative, bad thoughts, fear, guilt, all of it. As the moon wains into dark it's supposed to carry those prayers home. I don't think it can hurt. Wolves after all, are very fast dogs. 


from Cold Antler Farm

The Cherry Trees are Shedding

Saturday Spirit

On Saturday, two of my nieces participated in a Cheerleading competition.

 Getting ready includes glitter eyeshadow...

coordinating bows on the 'high and tight' ponytails,

and a run through in the other gym...

Here's an atmosphere shot.  Below the balloon arch was a smoke machine that activated when the first cheerleader led their group onto the mat.

My younger niece's team on the floor.

For family readers - she is in the back left position in the rest of these.  Forgive the quality, I used my 50mm lens because it is easy to carry and blew up the images.

We've got spirit

Yes we do

We've got spirit

How about you?

Gold

This tree drags its feet each year when it's time to change colors...but when it finally does it's almost an overnight transformation.

Do You See What I See?

The caps are like a basket weave, or a complex woven chair seat and doesn't it look like bark?  The pattern on the acorn itself forecasts the woodgrain of a future tree.

I love the Fall.

Found

I am a collector.  

Pottery, ceramic chickens, magazines...and lately, things I find when I walk the dogs.  

Like what?  

Well, acorns.  And these lovely pineconey things that look like flowers.  Nuts from my back yard that the resident squirrel eats round the clock. I filled up a glass vase with those for some free fall decor.

 And, after some high wind on Friday, mistletoe.

Have you looked at a acorn?  Go get two or three from different trees.  They come in all shapes and sizes...and the acorns themselves have different patterns on them.  And the caps.  All that lovely texture on the outside, and more pattern on the inside.

Here's some mistletoe.  I loveLOVElove the color.  The texture, too.

Go walk your dog and see what you find.

Graphic Saturday

Yesterday I got this graphic image in my head of my house and the neighbor's house as I was bringing home dog 1.  (I've started walking them separately because then I get more exercise and they each behave better on a leash but more importantly we have some one on one time) Then when I came home with dog 2, I went and got my camera.

After a while, I noticed there were some graphic things to see inside too.

That is all.

Carry on.

Golden

Before the Rain

Abandoned Hotel

For Creatives...from Ira Glass

He's talking about stories, but this seems true about any creative endeavor...for me, it's photography.




Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Lunch break

Singing

Magical

Part of becoming a good photographer is developing an eye.  One of the ways to do that is look at other's art - including other photographer's art.  Most of what I like to look at is from the 30s-40s-50s BUT there is a current photographer I love: Rodney Smith.  I read recently he only watches movies made before 1947.

I think his work has a magical quality - and some whimsy.