Tag: photo hunt

cuddly (PhotoHunt)

Just a few months ago, thanks to the wonders of digital networking, I re-established contact with a friend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other for about 20 years. We had both been living in France back then, so I was surprised to learn that she was now living in Canada. (We’re practically neighbors!)

My friend asked for our snail mail address so that she could send us a card at Christmas. In mid-December, the card arrived in a fat box guarded by some cute companions: a backpack with some unidentifiable creature, and a cuddly plush of some other unidentifiable creature. These mysterious cute companions were none other than two of the mascots of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the city which my friend now calls home. The creature on the backpack turns out to be Quatchi, a sasquatch. The plush was Miga, a “sea bear,” some sort of bear/orca hybrid.¹

Phoebe and Theo were quite taken with them. As the older child, we let Phoebe pick which of the two gifts would be hers. She picked the backpack, as she loves packing things for trips, and said that Theo, who still has comparatively few toys of his own, could have the plush. Judging from her expression in the photos, she may have had some regrets about this state of affairs.

So it goes that when I tried to get photos of my children happily enjoying their gifts, thinking to send them to my friend by way of thanks, I ended up with a series of photos that would make Poster Children for Poster Children proud. Happy they may not be, but I defy you to tell me that they are not cuddly.²

¹ Merci, chère amie, pour les cadeaux fabuleux!
² This week’s Photo Hunt theme is “cuddly.”

speeding by

This week’s PhotoHunt theme is “fast.”

These are a few photos I took in the fall. I can’t believe how fast the months have passed this year. There is still part of me that is waiting for summer. (Did we even have June this year?)

For more people’s interpretations of “fast,” hurry over to tnchick’s place.

curved (PhotoHunt)

This week’s PhotoHunt theme is “curved.” Curves are amply represented in my photo library, but what came to mind in particular were some sights we saw on our recent trip to Barcelona. Namely, works by Antoni Gaudí, an architect known for (among other things) an avoidance of using straight lines.

On our last full day in Barcelona, prompted by strong recommendations from azahar and Sally, we paid a visit to Casa Battló, a house full of plenty of curved lines. Windows, doors and even walls showed plenty of curves. This was my favorite photo I took there.

I’ll hopefully get around to posting more photos from that visit soon, as well as others from our trip to Spain. (I know, I know, I keep saying that.)

For other people throwing us some curves, stop by tnchick.

a few recording tech relics (photohunt)

This week’s PhotoHunt theme is “technology.” After my recent rush of bread–related posts, some of you might be expecting me to post a bread machine. (Clearly, the thought did cross my mind.) Instead, I’ll take the opportunity to post a few photos of some fairly old-school recording equipment.

I work in a phonetics lab, and these days, most of our recording is done using a laptop, a microphone, and a fairly compact pre-amplifier. However, it wasn’t so long ago that people used a more elaborate (and bulky) set-up to make high-quality recordings. For a variety of reasons, part of the lab was dismantled last month, including a recording room that had been in use for decades. While I still had the chance, I felt compelled to bring in my camera and get a few photos of the fairly vintage equipment. (I think many of these pieces are a good 30 or more years old.)

For more people’s photographic interpretations of the theme, pop over to tnchick.

two birds with one post

It’s Saturday, and for me that often means I post an entry to PhotoHunt. This week, the theme is “birds.”

Meanwhile, Becky of Welcome to My Life has informed me that she has posted the interview that she did with me as part of The Great Interview Experiment. So, I thought I should put up a post about that as well.

I had a lot of fun answering Becky’s questions, and I love the way she posted my answers along with some additional dialog. Go have a look:

If you’re having dinner with zombies, be sure to wear your nylon lamé pants, and use the good china. My Great Interview Experience.

I do rather have the feeling that she found me to be a bit of an odd bird. (But I suppose I am.)

Speaking of birds, here are a couple of photos I took of some birds in San Francisco last June. As they were flying towards me, I thought they were seagulls. But as they got close and flew overhead, I saw that they were pelicans. (Or at least I believe them to be pelicans.) What’s more, I was pretty impressed with how clearly I managed to get a shot of two of them, considering I was just using my little point-and-shoot.

For more people shooting birds, go pay a visit to the other PhotoHunt entries at tnchick.

For more people shooting the breeze with The Great Interview Experiment, go pay a visit to Neil at Citizen of the Month. (And please check out my own interview with Voix de Michèle.)


Two birds, coming over the horizon.


Two pelicans fly overhead.


Pretty cool, don’t you think? (This is a crop of the one above, by the way.)

musical scales (PhotoHunt)

The theme for this week’s PhotoHunt is “music.”

These are photos I took of a dragon at the folk music festival in Lowell, Massachusetts.
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In case you’re wondering why the dragon is “musical” (aside from being at a music festival), take a closer look at the dragon’s scales.
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For more people’s interpretative dances to this week’s PhotoHunt music, stop by tnchick.

utensils (PhotoHunt)

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This week’s PhotoHunt theme is untensils. With my history of utensil-themed posts¹, how could I resist sticking my fork into this one?²

For more people’s interpretations of the theme, go visit tnchick.com.

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¹ My utensil drawer includes photos of spoons, a list of forks and spoons, a list of knives, a utensil quiz (along with photos of giant utensil sculptures). Plus you can find “runs with spoons” and “It’s a Wonderful Knife.”

² Or in this case, my measuring spoons and potato masher.

space (PhotoHunt)

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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.

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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.