Primary Colors

I don't like to write in black or blue when I use a pen. Instead I use pink, green or red and somehow this always makes me feel better. I also print out my bi-monthly meeting agendas with my boss in rainbow colors. I took a photo of my desk, just for fun, so you could see where I spend 40 hrs a week. Anyways, I obviously had my camera at work and thought I would snap a few pictures during lunch...yeah that's right...during lunch.

Goofy Nephew

Joe thought he was lookin pretty darned cool on Sunday. I asked him to smile and he responded with his best red carpet hands-on-hips-too-cool-for-school pose. Now if I could just get him to push his ball cap forward...

Droplets

I wanted to see if I could get close enough with my camera to photograph water droplets, so I stood outside my parent's house with a water bottle and a bunch of leaves to see what I could get. I like the look and will be trying more with this later. Thanks for all the well wishes, by the way, for the baby. I visited this evening and everyone is doing well. Elena (that sounds so weird to call her that!) was awake today and it was funny seeing her move her eyes around and occasionally go cross eyed. I'm thinking she's going to have brown eyes. I really hope that she does!

It's A Girl!!

Mara isn't actually holding the baby by herself, much to her annoyance.

World, please meet Elena Lucia Grasso! We are THRILLED!!

8 lbs, 3 oz and 21 inches

(Aili is doing great!)

For Katie

http://bethlehemfarm.net/index.html

My friend Katie is leaving on Saturday for a three month sabbaticle to learn about what really matters. I pray that you find peace while you are there and that God keeps you close. I hope we get to hear from you on the farm and can't wait to find out how everything goes. BON VOYAGE!

Darcy the Bug Slayer

One of the many joys of having a feline companion is the almost preternatural ability they have to suss out nasty critters. Janae recently posted on a spider that's at large in her home and it reminded me of the many times my cat has come to the rescue and killed the unsuspecting cockroach or two. This is a portrait I took a couple of days ago with the "tungsten" color filter on my camera. He is very patient with me.

For Leanne

I have an amazing little sister, Leanne. She has an insatiable curiosity for the natural world around her and she tries to share her enthusiasm with the people around her. This little bug was one of her finds while we were in Branson. My life is a better one because she is in it. I love you Lee-Bug!!

Trinkets

Christmas ornaments at a Victoriana shop in Branson. Yep, I'm still using Branson photos! p.s. I saw Batman and it was awesome.

Passing the Time

I'm not sure why (especially because of how "noisy" (i.e., very grainy) it is), but I think this is my favorite picture so far. Maybe it's because I'm a naturally cluttered person and therefore enjoy a cluttered picture. Who knows? This was taken in Branson after an afternoon of shopping downtown. I'm surprised this dude didn't see me, as I rolled the car window down, asked my dad to slow down and leaned out of the window to take the photo! I have to say that I've been enjoying carrying my camera everywhere and snapping random photos. Some look good and most look silly, but it's been very fun so far. So, a big "Thank You" shout-out to my friend Janae!! I can't wait to see the pictures you're going to take of Logan!

Summer Pink

This little flower was taken today at my parent's house. I really like the color contrast.

Home Lights

My sister and her husband lived in St. Louis Hills for the first 3 years of their marriage back in 2001. When we would come to visit, I would always linger for a few moments looking at the apartment building just next door. I loved the corner window and imagined living there. Now, I actually do. I enjoy walking up to my little apartment at night and seeing the warm light comming out of the windows. I decided a couple of days ago to try and see if I could photograph the building at night and capture that warmth. The bottom photo is taken with flash (I hate flash lighting) and you can see how that light cancels everything out. The top photo I took without flash, but increasing the aperture to soak up the avaliable light (at least I think that's what it does) and it makes such a difference!

Side Track

I don't typically post any blogs during work, but I thought that some of you would enjoy these photos. His name is Norbert Maier. I think he lives in Germany and he takes fantastic pictures. My first blog post was about one of his pictures that I particularly enjoyed. Anyways, here's the link to his photographs on Panoramio:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/8060&comments_page=1&photos_page=2

I wonder if this would have killed me if I had eaten it?

A little mushroom outside our cabin in Branson. In other news (if that's what you can call it), I'm heading out tomorrow evening to go see Batman. Can't wait!

Candy, Candy

I took these photos in Branson at a little old time-y candy shop. Sour gummy bears are still awesome.

Sunny flowers on a cloudy day...

Okay, so here's the first of my "close up" pictures that I learned how to take over the weekend. I like how everything is blurry in the background - I was worried I couldn't take these on my camera. Amazing what sitting down with an instruction manual for 30 minutes will do!

Hot child in the city...

I've been mulling over the possibility of redecorating my bedroom, starting with the bedspread. In an attempt to save money, my friend Pauline offerred to sew a duvet cover for me. We met up a few days ago at Joann Fabrics to check out the possibilities. Sadly, there were few (that wouldn't cost just as much as a new set from Bed Bath and Beyond) and as we were leaving the parking lot, I saw these ladies enjoying a DQ treat. Pauline, was kind enough to slow down as we were driving by for me to get a good shot. I like all of the red.

Kountry

Okay, so I just got back from my first visit to Branson, Mo with my family. We had a great time and especially enjoyed the cabin in which we were staying. I spent an afternoon fiddling with my camera and reading the manual - so I was able to start taking some photos that I found interesting that I will be posting over the next few days. Today, however, I am going to post pictures of some of the tacky things I saw in Branson. It's a fun place, I think, that embraces its "Kitsch". So, in the spirit of fun and not derision....

This Last one is my favorite. Ole!

Misc...

I've been a bit busy over the past couple of days and haven't had time to take any good pictures. I've been experimenting with my camera, but I doubt the dozens of test pictures would be at all interesting. So, here's a picture of a New Orleans allyway. It seems that the French Quarter is filled with lovely hideaway courtyards, and I think that is really neat. I would like to have a courtyard of some sort like the one pictured above.

In other news, I will be out of town for the rest of the week on a family vacation to Table Rock Lake. We will be staying in a cabin (sadly not on the lake) and probably taking in some of Branson's best evening entertainment. Dixie Stampede watch out! I'm crossing my fingers that we'll get to see Andy Williams. I can't believe that this guy is alive, much less performing. I plan on taking a great number of photos, so hopefully that will make up for missing the next 4 days. Yes, that's 4 days where you don't have to check this blog or leave an obligatory comment to make me feel better. Ha!

July 4th

Our friend Katie was able to make it out to the Lucas homestead afterall, and we had a great time swimming with Emma and playing with Ethan. This is a photo I took after we had gotten out of the pool and Emma was waiting to dry off enough to get her dinner. She decided to use her time wisely and let her barbie doll take a dip. She remarked earlier in the day that she should have brought her Ariel. So true.

Pauline's dog, Stella, is truly singular looking. I thought I would try and take a "portrait" of her since most of her photos consist of her turning her head away. Luckily it worked! Pauline, here is a picture of your baby - I'm glad I was able to get her tongue sticking out, I find this totally endearing.

Okay, here's me trying to find out how close I can get to a flower without the focus getting all fuzzy. Apparently, I can't get that close. I'm thinking there are settings for the camera to fix this, so hopefully I'll be able to post some nice close-ups sometime soon.

I love this picture. This is my sister Caroline enjoying the first sparkler of the evening.

I tried and tried all evening to get some great "exploding" firecracker shots - to no avail. Janae, I tried fiddling with the shutter speed settings, isn't that supposed to take the picture faster and make the action shots more clear?

This is all of us (that were able to stay until evening) lighting up the last of the sparklers. This photo was taken seconds before Hannah's 8 sparklers went up in flames and seriously almost exploded. That's what happens when we get cocky with sparklers...yeah, we all went back to two at a time after that.

I hope everyone had a great July 4th!!

I lied...

So, I got my new camera! I'm still trying to figure out how it works, but here's a test picture I took of my cat, Darcy, from accross the room. I was trying to see how much I could zoom in - apparently quite a bit. I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend! I'll be in Columbia helping Hannah finish decorating her house and meeting up with Jan and Brian. Hopefully I'll take some good pictures.

Meta Photography

This post is going to count for July 4th - since I will not be near any computers, and instead enjoying the pool at the Lucas homestead out in Pacific. Another post from my trip to New York last year: I took this photo of a guy taking a photo and those are totally real painted/cracked eggs on that piece of furniture. Marcel Broodthaers. (Belgian, 1924-1976). White Cabinet and White Table. 1965.

Greyskull...

Nope this is not a tribute to He-man. I took this picture just a few days ago at the Botanical Gardens Jazz Fest. It's interesting having a picnic next to a multicolored skull face. La Cabeza by Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002).

Out of my element...

So, this is a picture of the New York skyline bordering central park - as taken from the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was getting close to evening, I had spent the entire afternoon trying to look at everything and was famished. I saw a sign that said that the museum had a "rooftop cafe" that was still open. That sounded good to me, so I took and elevator up and walked right in to what looked like a Vanity Fair photo shoot with beautiful people all around sipping martinis and cocktails - not actually looking at me, mind you, but their eyes kind of sliding over me as if I weren't there. Obviously, this place was not my scene. I wasn't going to leave before snapping a few pictures of the view, though. It really was lovely.