Bloom

89/365
1:58pm

The books say to shoot flowers from a low spot, one that is not often observed. I'm such a rule breaker.

Prelude

88/365
9:13am


The bridal shower originated in Holland after a Dutch girl fell in love with a poor, yet generous miller. Her father was outraged, refused to give the dowry, the entire town discovered this and subsequently "showered" the couple with household necessities. Nowadays you get a family & friend designed toilet paper wedding dress, Bridal Bingo, variations of The Price Is Right using household cleaners like laundry detergent and Windex, apparently assuming the bride-to-be hasn't been to Target. Ever. I think there was plenty of celebration & happiness without adorning Megan with tacky baubles or quizzing her knowledge of current domestic products. We stuck to good stories & conversations, a lot of laughter, food, drink, and gifts. I believe we all had a fabulous time--even sans games.

Waiting For A Kir

87/365
6:38pm

The night before Megan's bridal shower I shot these champagne glasses on a quirky angle--just because. The look so clear, clean. The following morning I dropped a sugar cube in the bottom, filled it with a raspberry-brandy kir (affectionately named Raspberry Moonshine because I created it in my basement), and then topped with a dry champagne. Warmth. To the toes.

Feng Shui

86/365
2:12pm

Nine bamboo stalks=general good fortune. I'm hoping pretty much everything can fall under this umbrella: health, happiness, love, growth & wealth. I'll take it. I suppose we could all use a little positive Chi these days. True, it may be just a titch generic, but it's certainly better than four stalks: death.

Borrowed

85/365
11:03am

Could you not just eat her up? F-stop: 5.6, ISO: 400, Time Value: too freaking slow. Even with the Image Stabilization on, I should have known better. Bummer.

3 minutes+Scotch Tape+Access to Markers=

84/365
9:52am

THIS. Seriously. I was standing in the kitchen at the sink....not more than 12 feet away. We were in Oh So Chatty contact every single nanosecond of said elapsed time. You worry when they're quiet, not when they're talking about drawing cats with whiskers, tails, and meows (on paper, I knew there was paper). Apparently, Charlie is a stealth multi-tasker with the ability to stick a marker in his eye, up his nose, outline his upper lip and not give pause to his verbal feline oration.

Until Tomorrow

83/365
10:14pm

We have so many toys and costumes that are often haphazardly put away. It's not that we don't have countless containers and book shelves and baskets and labels. It's just every now and then, I made another concerted, exasperated effort to Organize. However, it just feels wrong to let the blue satin J cape find itself in a crumpled, disastrously wrinkled heap; it could seriously jeopardize tomorrow's ability to fight crime.

Salute

82/365
2:43pm

Twenty-four (scratch that, 23, Charlie ate one) at your creative service.

Connection

81/365
12:54pm

Before spending an enchanting afternoon in the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center, the boys took a Laugh Hysterically For Reasons We Can Only Understand break.

To the Moon

80/365
6:46pm

I'm still working out the kinks on the new external flash. Ok, I haven't actually read the directions yet, which is so very unlike me. But I was anxious to give it a whirl. Unfortunately/fortunately, it was on the same night we re-introduced bath crayons. Because they were laboriously creating, they ultimately refused to glance my direction....or even face me. So serious.

Equinox

79/365
4:47pm

I thought about taking this straight on, but I like to see the arc from which the flower emerged. The bell gracefully bowing to earth in gratitude, the few saturated green blades overpowering the breathless grass of yesteryear, and a fleeting moment of sun: all welcoming the first day of spring.

Kid, Candy Store & All That

78/365
11:56am

You know how you get to test-drive a new car before you buy it? Same with lenses. You don't buy one merely based on research & recommendations--how foolish. [Insert dramatic, know-it-all, and totally fake eye roll at self.] You must drive the car. Better yet, test one you have no intention on buying just to see how the other half live. This was taken on an Ultra Wide Tamron at a focal length of 10mm. In camera speak, it's really not that expensive, but for those living the hobby life, and hobby portrait life no less, it's out of the question. Still, fun. I did end up cashing in all my gift cards and gift "payments" that I had been scrupulously squirreling away for a lens affectionately named the Fantastic Plastic and an external flash. This will be the first time I actually own two lenses at the same time; I've always sold one lens to buy another. So what if one is made of plastic, right? We gotta start somewhere.

Unbubblelievable

77/365
1:50pm

Could that wand be any smaller? I haven't stocked up on our outside summer pack of sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and sand toys this season, and we found this old one hiding in the cabinet. Tiny wand, tiny bubbles, and a whole lot more skill to be tweaked when you haven't tried it in six months. Turns out that we're actually two days early for the beginning of National Bubble Week, which coincides with the first day of spring. Consider this our practice day.

Lovely Day for a Guinness

76/365
5:46pm

How often do the following collide: 70 degrees, Wisconsin, Saint Patrick's Day? It's not quite celebrated like it was a decade ago, but that's okay because the day after is easy breezy now.

Category: WTH

75/365
10:34am

How in the world did that awesomely twisted, hunkuva log end up there? I get that the water molecules remain frozen and the limb hasn't found it's new home on the bottom of murky Lake Wingra yet. But how did it get there, and, more importantly, why do I care?

Greetings

74/365
5:38pm

Well, here it is: the first weed of the year. Oh yeah, it's a freaking weed, but it's freaking green and that means something around here. There comes a point, usually sometime in late February after you've had some glorious teaser days that didn't stick, when you start to think this Isn't Going to Happen this year. That this is the year it's going to be winter for an additional twelve months. That we'll go from our upper 30s right back to the teens and precipitation measured in feet. That Target will cycle out Christmas stuff before we blink. But the weed breaks through, giving us hope. Even if it's the cockroach of the botanical world. We'll take it. Graciously.

Rite

73/365
6:54am

Big day: Manchester United vs Liverpool. Nah, we don't watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. Nope, soccer on the Internet. John has riled up the Under 5 set so they look fabulously forward to sharing breakfast, the newspaper, and the English Premier League. We tried sharing the coffee, but that didn't really work out.

Glint

72/365
4:19pm

Charlie was playing with his whisk (why, yes, he has his own), and the sun's reflection of it flickered on the ceiling.

Quiescent

71/365
4:50pm

It's amazing what good light a cloudy day provides. When I saw him sitting there reading (operative word: sitting), I flew downstairs to get the camera. Ironically, the book is called Things That Go Zoom, compliments of the Piecuchs. I got in two shots before he was no longer interested in being a subject, and I kept this because of the colors. The white balance helped tremendously (shot on cloudy setting, not custom), and I thought his green shirt, blue socks, the pop in the quilt, and book were a nice, bright contrast to the muted colors of the chair.

Carefree

70/365
12:06pm

The boys now sit opposite of each other most meals, instead of side-by-side. During lunch today, they invented a Brothers Only Classic. Although I couldn't tell you the rules or even the object of what they had going on, they were howling in sheer amusement. I do know it involved spying each other under the table. Seeing the soft, diffused light coming in the dining room window, I shot this sitting on the floor. Sure, Charlie's towel bib is obscuring his elephantine grin, but it's also concealing an impossibly large hunk of sweet potato.

Dean

69/365
9:05am

Although this may appear to be posed on my part, I assure you it is not. These are Jack's favorite jeans, despite (or because of) the big rips, and he announced that a white undershirt and his ripped jeans looked "cool" this morning. We have no idea where he gets his definition or model for coolness. As Charlie and I were getting ready to leave, he was standing on the steps and absentmindedly staring out at the rain. At this moment, he had just turned his head toward me.

I was hand-holding the camera and because I didn't have any space to step backward in the foyer, I tilted the camera to get his feet in the frame. I have no problem lopping off extremities, but I hate to do it at the joints. By the time I loaded the few I took, I could see that the angle from the stairs and the tilt of the shot didn't mesh well. I straightened the photo, and in doing so, I lost his feet. I'd also like to get rid of the register on the bottom left, but I'd have to cut off more of his legs or lose the window. I happen to like both of those features.

Go

68/365
9:12am
I audibly gasped as we entered the Arboretum this morning. I was planning on it being beautiful because even the garbage cans and street gutters were all sparkly, glistening, pristine. But I didn't expect to be awestruck at every hook and gentle slope of the road.

I wish I had a wide angle lens for this. If you're familiar with the Arboretum, you know that the woods here stretch on both sides of the road, making poetry as far as you can see.

For sure this time, click on the image.

Dome, Redux

67/365
4:40pm

This was harder than I thought it would be when John suggested I try this. I struggled with light, reflection, focus, angle, contrast, and beyond. I tried a good ten different shots, probably more. Some things are just better in person because this picture is only worth about six words.

Dome

66/365
9:07pm

After we had another amazing dinner at The Old Fashioned , we stepped out into this balmy, rolling fog atmosphere. The clouds eclipsed the moon for a moment, then revealed, the eclipsed, over and over again.

I didn't have the big Canon with us, so Elph to the rescue again. It was taken without flash and fill light in post-production--only to bring out the tree silhouettes.

Spin

65/365
2:46pm

It was a gorgeous day, and I can't explain why this is the best I was able to deliver. There's really not a whole lot to discuss. It's a poorly painted garage window sash with an abandoned spider web and absolutely filthy windows. But I seem particularly fond of the quarter-arc bike wheel in the dimly lit garage.