Tag: photos

a little batty

A couple months back, Phoebe and I discussed what she wanted to be for Halloween this year. I was determined that we’d get things worked out well in advance, and that I wouldn’t turn into a costume-crazed working on things last-minute. (Not that anything like that would ever happen. Nope.)

Anyhow, Phoebe said she wanted to be a bat, a plan both John and I heartily endorsed. She also wanted to make her costume, and I figured we could swing it.

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a fabric store to get some black cloth. The store also had a selection of costumes, including, as it turned out, a bat costume: a black cape with a zig-zag bottom, and a hood with ears. It beckoned. (It was, after all, a finished costume. Also 60% off, as it was getting close to Halloween.) I was so very tempted. (Last year, Phoebe wanted to design her own witch costume. But when I found a finished witch costume in the second hand store, complete with sparkly, fluffy embellishments, Phoebe was more than happy to give up her own design plans.)

I eyed that finished bat costume, hanging there in all its $5.99-sale-price polyester glory.

And I moved on.

After all, making such a thing from fleece would be a snap. Possibly a stitch or two needed here and there, but no major sewing or engineering.

Come last week, we still hadn’t found a chance to work on it. Our schedule is rather packed what with school, work and after-school activities. But there was a Halloween party coming up on Friday, and a Halloween-themed birthday party on Saturday, so on Thursday night, it was well time to tackle the bat.

I got out the fabric, held it up to Phoebe, and described what I imagined: wings draping down from her arms, much like a cape. Phoebe was not happy. This wasn’t what she imagined. After various rounds of her trying to explain what she wanted, and even a trial version of making a mini bat costume for a doll with some stapled rags, I finally got Phoebe to draw for me how she envisioned the wings. Here’s what she drew:

Not draped. She wanted her arm to go through some straps on a wing shape, which would extend up above the arm.

There was much back and forth that followed, with me saying we couldn’t do it with fleece, at least not without something stiff to hold the shape. She wanted to make something much more complicated than I felt was necessary. (I have no idea where she gets this. No idea.)

Happily, I remembered that I had some bits of upholstery foam left from when I made a spider costume back before Phoebe was born. More remarkably, I was able to find them.

The result was that I managed to make something that was in between our two original visions, with the wings extending up over her arms, and then with the fleece draping down behind.


Wings down.


Wings extended.


The ears are just cat ears, but they worked well enough for a bat. The rest of the costume is just various articles of black clothing she had.


Here is Phoebe swinging at her friend’s party on Saturday. (I don’t know how I managed to get photos with just Phoebe, as it seemed like the swingset was swarming with costumed first-graders.) The foam and fleece combination was flexible enough that she could still easily play in her costume.


This photo shows a bit of the foam peaking through. I had it sandwiched between layers of fleece. If I’d had more time, I probably would have fixed this. But it only showed when her arms were in certain positions.

You can’t see the costume especially well here, but Phoebe is so dang cute. This was during the parade at her school gym Halloween morning. Wow, that was only yestereday. It’s been a crazy stretch.

So, there it is. The bat costume that was going to be simple, but ended up more complicated than expected. (Yes, I should have expected that.)

our pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

As I’ve said before, I love Halloween. It is quite possibly my favorite holiday. I wish I’d had time to post more Halloween-themed things, but so be it. But here, at least, are a few photos featuring our pumpkins. (Carving pumpkins early in the evening on Halloween seems to have become a household tradition. )

Theo drawing a the face for his jack-o-lantern.


Phoebe at work.


Two finished pumpkins.


4 finished pumpkins.

In other news, we came through the storm almost entirely unscathed. (Sorry if I left anyone worried or wondering. Parts of New England were indeed hit hard by Sandy, but we live quite far inland, so we got off easy.)

In other other news, I have once more committed to daily blogging for the month of November. So you will be hearing more from me soon.

sky (friday foto finder)

This week’s theme for friday foto finder is “sky.”

These photos are from 2004, taken during a visit to see my mother back when she lived in Colorado. I took these from the highway that runs from Pueblo to Beulah. (Don’t worry, I wasn’t the one driving!)

Montana may be the state nicknamed “big sky country,” but Colorado has pretty big skies, too. Out on the plains, especially, where there are no tall buildings and few buildings or trees of any size, the sky seems somehow more immense than in other parts of the world I’ve seen.

When summer storms come, the sky can look particularly dramatic.


A particularly ominous mass of clouds.


Look up!


I love the way rain in the distance can look like a bit like clouds hanging down in curtains. (Or like the sky is falling.)


I am partial to this photo for the way it captured a very s-like shape in the side road. But the sky looks pretty cool, too.

These photos were from June, which, up in that part of Colorado, is Spring. The bright green grasses you can see in these photos are mostly brown by July.

To see what the sky looks like in other people’s worlds, drop by the friday foto finder blog.

rock (friday foto finder)

Once again, Archie has kindly hit on a theme that is very well represented in my photo library. This week calls for “rock.” Continuing down my path-filled path of the last few weeks, I felt this was a good opportunity to show another path. This was a section of a path I went on during my wonderful hike with YTSL of Webs of Significance–now shockingly over a year ago!

Most of the trails we went on during our hike were not paved, but there were a few stretches that were. The rocks¹ in the path below were quite interesting. Many looked like they had patterns, which looked to me a lot like the fossils of ferns. However, I’m not convinced they are. In the 3rd photo you can see very linear cracks in the rocks with the dark fern-like patterns appearing to be growing out from the lines. I’m intrigued, and would love to learn more about what might have caused this. Anyone more versed in geology² than I am?

A stretch of path paved with flat stones somewhere on the Sai Kung Peninsula of Hong Kong.


Don’t these patterns look like ferns?


But look at the very straight-lined cracks, and how the dark fern-like patterns seem to grow from them.

¹Really, I’d be more inclined to call them stones, but you know. Theme.
² Geology rocks. It had to be said.³
³ Actually, I do really like learning about rocks. We collect lots of rocks in this house.

tracks (friday foto finder)

Back in March, I attended a conference in New York City. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and I managed to fit in visits with several dear friends in addition to the time spent at the conference.

I had a poster to present the evening of the first day of the conference, and after a morning of watching talks, I realized that my brain would be completely full if I sat through talks through the whole day. I decided that even if I missed out on some good material in the afternoon, I’d be better off if I had sufficient brain function remaining to allow me the power of speech by the time I was to present my poster.

In other words, I opted to play hooky. For totally legitimate and not at all irresponsible reasons that had nothing to do with the beautiful spring weather.

I started by meeting up with Magpie for a lovely bit of lunch and conversation. I told her that I didn’t have plans to rush back to the conference, but she still had to get back to work. She suggested that I check out the High Line. Actually, upon hearing that I’d never been there, she told me in no uncertain terms that I was required to visit the High Line. And that she expected to see photo documentation.

The High Line, in case you haven’t heard of it (and I hadn’t) is a stretch of elevated railway, a former freight line, that has been converted into a park on Manhattan’s West Side. It stretches for many blocks, with the former tracks converted to a combination of path and landscaping. There are many interesting sights to see along the way, provided by views of the river and skyline, interesting buildings and architectural details and the occasional sculptural installation.

As is my way, I have been slow to share photos. But take photos I did. It was a perfect day for a walk, and I enjoyed the scene and the scenery immensely. There were lots of people out enjoying the surprisingly sunny and warm March day, and the views from the elevated path were intriguing. I took many, many photos. Below are a handful of them.

It was also a great way to spend the day refreshing myself, with fresh air and a bit of exercise, before presenting my poster.

So, Magpie, I don’t remember whether I ever thanked you for your most excellent suggestion. So, thank you!

Lots of people out for a stroll, enjoying a nice long walk above the traffic. (It was so great to be able to walk for blocks in Manhattan without having to go through a single intersection!)

Bits of the old tracks were left here and there as part of the landscaping.

It was very early spring when I visited (technically not actually even spring yet), but there were already some signs of fresh growth among the well tended plantings. (Of course, this was the winter that wasn’t.) I’d love to go back at other times of year to see how things look.

This meandering post was inspired by this week’s friday foto finder theme of “tracks.” It seemed a fine follow-up to my previous paths, too.

path (friday foto finder)

This week’s friday foto finder theme is “path.” Archie has been hitting on a string of themes that work really well with my photo collection. Once again, I had dozens of photos with paths to choose from. (And they were easy to find as “paths & roads” is one of my tags I use in iPhoto.) I settled on this pair, and was amused to find that they were taken 6 years ago to the day. (And further, this day happens to be John’s birthday.) These were taken at Storm King Art Center, a large sculpture park near my in-laws’.

To see what paths others have wandered, please pay a visit to the friday foto finder blog.

street (friday foto finder)

This week’s friday foto finder theme is “street.” This is a tough one for me in that I have taken many, many photos of streets over the years. After selecting a half-dozen or so of my various favorites that I had taken over the year, I instead chose this set of three photos that I had forgotten about. These were from our 2007 trip to Paris. Here is a scene that caught my attention while wondering some of the older streets of Paris, on the Ile de la Cité:

It just didn’t look like this car could possibly fit into this narrow street.

And in fact, here is about when the cars tires got jammed between the curbs, complete with much noise of squeaking rubber and revving engine.

Amazingly (to me, at least), the car did make it around that corner and down and out the street.

If you look closely, you can see from the street signs that this was Rue des Ursins. If you find it on Google maps and zoom in on the satellite view, this particular part of the street is too narrow to be seen between the buildings.

I have to say, looking at my street photos gave me some pleasant trips down memory lane. Mostly involving trips. Also, I found myself getting a medley of songs with streets in them stuck in my head. (I feel a list coming on.)

To see what other streets have been wandered for this theme, go check out Archie‘s friday foto finder blog.

true colors

I went to a conference last week in Portland, and while there is plenty to say about that trip, for now I will just share this moment from the start of my trip.

I flew out last Sunday evening, and I arrived at the airport a good 2 hours before my 7 p.m. flight. Boston Logan is, as major city airports go, a fairly moderate and manageable size. Airport security typically goes pretty fast (at least compared to some airports (Denver, I’m looking at you)), and I expected to have a good chunk of time before boarding. For whatever reason, though, things went really slowly in security that evening. I watched my cushion of extra time dwindle away such that it looked like I’d be getting to my gate only a few minutes before boarding. Having finally passed through security and reassembled myself and my luggage, I wasted no time heading to the gate, which naturally was as far from security as possible in that terminal wing.

With my gate just in view, I looked out the window. It had been raining earlier, and the clouds had parted a bit to provide a spectacular sunset.

What’s more, there was a rainbow.

Rainbows are big in our household. Phoebe and Theo both love color, and rainbows are a frequent subject of artwork. For that matter, rainbows are a frequent subject of conversation.

I confess that this love of rainbows in my children has been encouraged by me. I loved rainbows as a kid. I mean I *loved* rainbows as a kid. I had what might be considered a “rainbow phase.” And for someone who mostly wears gray and black, I still love color. I love that my children love color.

So imagine my excitement at seeing a rainbow. At an airport. (Because I also love airports.) My inner child was giddy.

My flight was scheduled to board in about 5 minutes, but I didn’t hesitate to stop to walk over to the window. I had my iPhone handy, and snapped a few shots. But they absolutely didn’t do it justice. I parked myself at some conveniently open seats at the gate closest to me (a gate which happily didn’t have a flight scheduled imminently). I unloaded my backpack, and dug out my camera with my telephoto lens.

What I found sort of hard to understand was that the vast majority of the people waiting around in the airport seemed to be completely indifferent to the stunning view. I say “vast majority” because I did overhear one guy on his phone nearby saying something about the rainbow and pretty sunset, but that may well have been in reaction to seeing me whip out my camera. (I think I made him look.) Nobody else appeared to be looking. I wanted to just stand at the window and stare.

But I also wanted to share, especially with my rainbow-loving children. I headed over to my gate, and found a seat. They hadn’t started the boarding process yet, so I figured I had time. I got out my laptop, and loaded the photos from my camera onto it. I sent an email to John with a photo, and posted it to Facebook as well. I may well have posted it here on my blog as well, but my row was called for boarding, so I had to pack up my laptop in a hurry.

I realized that if I hadn’t gotten stuck in security, I would likely have missed the rainbow. (I’d likely have settled down at my gate and buried my head in my electronics until called to board.) I wouldn’t have heard a peep about the rainbow from anyone around me.

Are most adults really so blasé about rainbows?


A photo taken with my iPhone. You can find the rainbow only if you know where to look. (It’s near the white rectangular structure near the horizon, about a third of the way from the left.)


Taken with the telephoto.


Rainbow and plane.


The scenery was beautiful even without the rainbow. This scene is to the left of the rainbow. The views of the sunset from the windows near my gate were also striking, but the crowds were too thick for me to get close enough to take pictures.


One last zoom of the windmills and big tanks just beyond the runways.

—
These were the photos I was considering for the friday foto finder theme of “right.” To see a rainbow, conditions have to be just right. You have to be at the right place at the right time, with the weather conditions and the lighting just right such that the water droplets are in the right direction from the sun.

evocative (friday foto finder)

This week’s friday foto finder theme is “evocative.” I took this photo at the deCordova sculpture garden, a beautiful place full of intriguing and thought-provoking works of art.