Fi & Astrid Sledding

Fi & Astrid

Watch/Listen: In the Bleak Midwinter

Santa Claus Bokeh

One More Sleep Until Christmas Day

Josiah

Published

One of the great things about a photo challenge is that it can lead you to create photos you otherwise would not. In October I added one of my "Orange" themed photos to the Photo News Flickr Gallery (my blog post about the photo here). Today I received in the mail the print version of their Winter 2012 issue. I opened it up, and there on pages 14 and 15 was the orange photo.

How cool is that?! How encouraging!



You can download the online version of the magazine here.

Watch & Listen: The Power of Quiet

Why my spouse and I make a good team (she the extrovert, I the introvert):



via Brain Pickings

Pumpkins

Green

"Papa, I need to go pee!"

"Then go."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"The water in the toilet is blue."

"Ohh-kaay."

Upstairs I went to find the younger Sprout doing a pee dance in the hallway. I hurried into the washroom where the water in the toilet was definitely blue. My spouse had used a blue coloured cleaner in the toilet and left it so that the cleaning agents could do their work. I found the toilet brush and quickly scrubbed the toilet.

"Don't flush the blue water!" Josiah exclaimed, still dancing.

"Why not?"

"I want to try a science experiment."

"Ohh-kaay. What experiment?"

"I want to see if it turns green."

(I'll let you figure that out on your own.)

Orange

Nikon D7000, 1/320, f/8.0, 105 mm, ISO 400

To get this shot I needed:

1 Small glass aquarium
1 Sliced orange
1 Handle from a flyswatter
1 Green piece of paper
1 Clothespin
2 Bottles of carbonated water
1 Camera with macro lens on a tripod
Available light (shot outside on a cloudy day)
Post processing in Lightroom 4
Lots and lots of patience

Watch: "100"

This video post is for my dad, the Sprouts' Opa (Dutch for grandpa), who reads this blog faithfully.

More about the video here.

via The Kid Should See This

Watch & Listen, Dance & Sing: "What I Am"

Some musical encouragement for the kids (and those who are kids at heart) in my life:

Emily

Josiah by Candlelight

Just after Jo and I enjoyed the snowy outdoors there was a power outage, no doubt the snowstorm the cause. No power for eight hours! Thankfully it came on in time for bedtime stories. The house is slowly warming up, Jo tucked warmly into bed, and now I can catch up on some chores that did not get accomplished today.

Josiah graciously posed by candlelight just after supper.

Snow Covered World

Hyperbole starts off our morning.

"Whoa! The whole world is covered in snow, Papa!" Josiah exclaimed, standing on a chair peering out the kitchen window at the early arrival of Old Man Winter.

"Let's go outside!"

And so we did. Snow shovels cleared the driveway ("You shovel the big piles, I'll shovel the little ones."). Sleds were pulled ("Run, Papa, run!"). Snowball fights ensued ("I got you!"). Lots of laughter from both father and son. A couple of hours later, wet, tired and cold, we tromped inside our warm home, drank hot chocolate, and continued to enjoy each other's company.

The snowy morning almost encouraged me play Christmas music. Almost.

First Snow

...Then Jumps

Josiah Poses...

Dragonfly

Summer Vacation: South Baymouth

Sprout Two

Umbrella

Emily

Nikon D7000, ISO 200, 50mm, f/1.4, 1/640 sec.

Goggles

Nikon D7000, ISO 200, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/2500

Five on Friday

Photo Challenge: Water

I finally finished downloading loads of vacation photos from memory cards into Lightroom 4.  I quickly scanned through them this morning to find photos that directly or indirectly fit July's photo challenge "Water".  View them below, or head on over to the set on my Flickr stream.

X Marks the Spot

Home

After thirty eight days of travel it is good to be home. The mountain of laundry is becoming a hummock, the car is cleaned and vaccuumed (well, it was until Sprout 2 was sick in the backseat on the way to town this morning), the trailer is airing out and the family settling into a "normal" routine. It's a pleasure to be able to cook in our own kitchen and eat as a family at our own table. And after being in close quarters for a significant part of the trip (especially the trailer and the car), all the family members are enjoying the space of our home, being able to find quiet places to read, play and sleep. In the next few days and weeks expect anecdotes (and photos, too) from the trip. Now, back to my book!

Fireworks

There are a lot of "how to" resources online for taking photos of fireworks which I have bookmarked for reference. For example:

Tips & Tricks for Photographing Fireworks (from Weekly Photography Tips)

and

How to Shoot Fireworks (from Scott Kelby's Blog)

The family vacation to visit family and friends in southwestern Ontario started early enough so that we could take in the Canada Day celebrations in Sarnia. I was able to shoot the fireworks at night, though it was hit and miss, mostly because I was located downwind. The wind was fairly high that night, so the fireworks blew around, and with long exposures, this was quite noticeable. The other thing I should have taken into account was the smoke from the fireworks. The smoke is evident in the photos I took and also reflected the light from the fireworks, making for some odd abstracts. Below are several of the better photos from the fireworks display.

Happy Belated Canada Day

Birthday Boy

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of vacation preparations and packing we quietly celebrated Jo's fifth birthday today.  All week he counted not only the sleeps to today, his birthday, but tomorrow, our departure date for travelling, visiting family and friends, sightseeing, train riding, swimming, exploring and camping.

"It was a good day today!", Jo stated at supper.

Yes, it was, little man.  A great start to the summer holiday season.

Wordless Wednesday

Watch: Hard to Say

Jo's Class Trip

Jo bubbles over with excitement.

"Sit with me, Papa!", he shouts out the window, before I am even on the bus.

I sit down beside him. He and his classmates chat animatedly about the day over the tops of the seats, conversations interspersed with silly jokes and laughter.

A trip to the fire station, lunch at a park, glow in the dark bowling and McDonald's. What kindergarterner would not be excited? I am glad I can share the day with my son, wearing my parent hat and leaving my teacher hat back on my desk at the school.

Jo checks out fire trucks from the second floor of the fire station.



Jo poses with a "fireman". Not really a fireman, as it's me all decked out in fire gear. It's very warm wearing this gear (and heavy!). I can't imagine wearing it while fighting fires.



Jo gets his chance to wear some gear, too.


After lunch, bowling. It's Jo's first bowling experience. He likes the bowling part and glowing in the dark ("Teacher said wear something with white!"), but he's most fascinated with the bowling ball return system.


After bowling, a stop at McDonald's to enjoy a Happy Meal.



As we sit on the bus to come home, Jo asks, "Do you think Mama would like to visit the firestation tomorrow? And go bowling? And..."

An exhausted boy curls up with his Papa on the bus ride home (an hour and a half ride).