Category: photos

Vroom!

Something that you may not have known about me is that I have a bit of a soft spot for British cars.

I fell in love with the Austin Mini when I was 9 years old, living in France. Over the years, others caught my eye, like the little MG and Triumph convertibles I’d see from time to time in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I was 16, I became enamoured of the Lotus driven by Mrs. Peel, my idol. And what fan of the Prisoner could forget 6’s Lotus 7?

So when John told me he’d heard of a British car show coming up nearby, I put it on the calendar. We went this past Sunday.


The car show was held on the lawn of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA, which is in an incredible park.

3
We picked a shady spot to picnic near this sweet purple MG.


Phoebe and Theo enjoyed the sunny day at the park.

3
John and I enjoyed taking pictures of the pretty cars, most of which were polished up to a high shine, like this Triumph GT6+.

little green berkeley
This little Berkeley, though, appeared to have its original paint.

spider paint crack
The paint showed some really cool cracking patterns, like this spider-like one.


There was quite a variety of unusual sports cars. Here’s an Allard and a Jaguar. Note the leather straps fastening the bonnet of the Allard (left), and the third headlight on the Jaguar (right).

3 3
I didn’t see any wicker seats, but there were a few wicker baskets, like the one strapped to the boot of this classic MG (left). There were lots of two-seaters at the show, and at least one single-seater, like this Lotus (right).

row of triumphs
Here’s a row of Triumphs.

3
I wanted to get a closer look at this (more humble-looking) Triumph, but it drove off as we were walking towards it. (Yes, it started!)

3
This new Mini was parked next to a hand-built reproduction of a Lotus 7.

3
This was the only classic Mini we saw. I wanted to take it home with me.

dam

We have some foam letters that Phoebe plays with at bath time. We’ll often talk about and name letters, and sometimes spell a few words on the tub walls.

A couple of nights ago, Phoebe picked up a D.

“What words start with a D,” John asked.

“Dog,” says Phoebe, quite quickly. We are impressed, and feel quite pleased with our parenting.

“Right! What else?”

Phoebe thought a bit. “Um…”

“Door,” I suggest.

“Dandelion,” says John.

“Daddy,” I say.

“Damn!” Phoebe suggests. John and I pause. Crap, we do swear too much in front of her.

“Oh…dam! Right! Like the dam where we go for walks sometimes!” I say, gladly remembering the dam where we go for walks sometimes.

“And dammit!” Phoebe says proudly.

Phoebe on the dam where we go for walks sometimes.
Phoebe on the dam where we go for walks sometimes.

Photo by John.

turn signal

turn_signal-500px
Turn Signal, March 2009 (click on the photo for a larger image)

I’ve decided to throw my hat in to the Greeblepix photo contest this month. Actually, I thought throwing in a photo would be more effective than a hat. And seeing as I didn’t have any photos of hats that I wanted to throw in, I picked this one. I like it, in spite of its general hatlessness. It’s from our recent trip to Houston, taken from the passenger seat of our rental car. (The windshield wipers were going, but the rain was coming down hard and fast.)

greeblepixentrybadge-783548

pictures of purple produce (PhotoHunt)

A selection of eggplants, along with some zucchini and bok choi.
A selection of eggplants, along with some zucchini and bok choi.

A couple of summers ago I participated in a CSA: I paid money to a local farm and each week I got a big selection of marvelously fresh and tasty vegetables grown there on the farm. In addition to scoring the satisfying feeling of supporting a small farmer in her efforts to grow sustainably, I got some pretty amazing produce. Many, many greens. But there were some purples, too. I don’t have any photos of the kohlrabi I got, though it was quite strikingly purple. (Also freaky looking.) Nor did manage to get any striking photos of deep purple beets. (Not even the ones that sprouted fur and came to life in my refrigerator.)

seahorse_eggplant seahorseHowever, I did get some photos of some colorful eggplants, such as the one above, which came in a striking array of colors and shapes. In addition to the dark purple (which I’ve been known to call eggplant purple), there were some lighter, brighter purples, too. (Mind you, those round orange things in the photo above are actually a variety of eggplant call Turkish eggplants.) I was quite amused to select some especially odd-shaped eggplants, including one that looked like a coiled purple serpant, and another that looked strikingly like a seahorse.

I hope I’ll get back to doing the CSA deal again. Maybe next year, when more of the family will have teeth with which to chew vegetables. But for this year, I’m still going to make efforts to buy local produce and support small farms. I hope to be hitting up the farm stands and farmers markets frequently in the coming months. I’m also looking forward to family excursions to local farms and orchards to pick fruit. (Mmmm, blueberries…)

—
This week’s PhotoHunt theme is “purple.” For more pictures of purpleness, go pay a visit to tnchick.

file under d for distraction

Yes, I admit it. This post is an attempt to distract you from the recent utter lack of content here. But look! A baby!

theo_file_cabinets
File under c for cute. Or would that be b for baby?

I brought Theo into work for a meeting. Here we are in the little library of the lab where I work.

theo_and_mommy
Theo, Mommy, and lots of old issues of JASA.

As you can see, having a baby along with me can sometimes be a distraction from work.

In related news, I’ve made some progress towards starting Theo in daycare. He starts Tuesday. I’m still trying to process that information. (And maybe file it. Under p for progress? Or maybe p for pants. Just because.)

space (PhotoHunt)

dorsay_arch
A dramatic space in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

photohunter7iq The PhotoHunt theme of the week is “space.” Which has caused the Star Trek intro to run relentlessly through my head for the past day or so. (Space: The final frontier…) But zipping through my photo collection at rocket speeds revealed no spacy space photos.

I did, however, find this shot I liked of a very spacious space in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. (Yes, it’s another one from my August 2007 trip.)

For more examples of people spacing out on the theme, go visit tnchick.

—

In other news, the Just Posts are coming up fast. There’s still a bit of time to send your links, so please join us at our monthly roundtable of Social Justice posts. Yes, you. And you in the back, too. Bring your friends, too.

snowed

After a brief teaser from spring, who popped by for a couple of days with her sunny disposition and temperatures warm enough to show a bit of bare ground, prudish winter came back in a rush to cover the ground once more in a thick blanket of snow.¹

The silver lining to those snow-dumping clouds is that I finally got to put Theo in that red snowsuit.

Aside from that, I have lately realized that I’m really behind in my work.

Yes, I know that I’ve known before, but this time the realization has hit me hard. Like a snowball. A packed, icy snowball, that hits me in the face, and knocks me down into a snowbank where I flail awkwardly trying to get myself up, as snow-laden tree branches drop their load on top of me with a whump, getting snow in under my jacket collar.

I’m feeling, as it were, snowed under. Until I manage to dig myself out, I should be spending less time, you know, blogging.

So, once again, I apologize for the general absence of comments, and responses to comments. I’m still reading, but have such limited time with the ability to type.²

And once more, to distract you, I offer you gratuitous baby photos.

img_9504

img_9487

img_9509

img_9514

—-
¹ Our driveway this year has been variously covered in blankets of snow and sheets of ice. I think at some point there may also have been a mattress pad of slush, topped by an eiderdown of freezing rain.

² Because my hands are numb from playing in the snow without gloves. Or something like that.

thankful (PhotoHunt)

hugging_raggedy_ann
Phoebe is thankful for the dolly sent to her by her Grammy.

I really struggle with the more abstract themes for PhotoHunt. This week’s is “thankful.”

It’s not that there’s not much that I’m thankful for. If anything, there is too much.

I am thankful for my family and friends, of course. My health, my job, and my many comforts. I am thankful for the little daily pleasures, like watching my daughter learn and grow and play with her toys.

But there’s a much bigger list, too.

I am thankful that I have a home, and can afford to keep it warm.
I am thankful that I have access to good healthcare for myself and my family.
I am thankful that I’ve had a good education, and will be able to ensure the same for my children.
I am thankful that I can afford nutritious food and that I have ready access clean drinking water.

I am also humbled to know that all of these things put me in a privileged minority in the world, and that far too many people go without. Even in this and other wealthy countries.

All of this is a not-so-subtle opening for me to mention that the Just Posts are coming up again. If you have come across, or yourself written, posts in the month of February that address issues of social justice, please submit them for the monthly roundtable. To have posts included in the March 10th edition, which will be here and over at Holly’s, please send your posts by Friday, March 7th. (For more details, check out the Just Posts info page.)

For more (and probably generally less sanctimonious) entries for the theme PhotoHunt of “thankful,” pay a visit to tnchick.