Birthday Present

My parents and grandparents still send me money for my birthday. My friend Kell said that he feels weird that his mom still sends him money on his birthday as an adult. I don't feel weird at all. I LOVE it. So this year I took my money and bought an underwater housing for my point and shoot camera. On the fourth, I headed over to the community pool with Sam to meet up with the Simons. Unfortunately, I was not able to go as wild as I would have liked. Sam was being a cranky bugger and would only let ME hold him. And it's hard to take underwater photos and hold a baby above the water at the same time. Even I have my limits. Edited to add: Tara asked about the equipment so here is that info: My point and shoot is a Canon PowerShot SD870 IS and here is the underwater housing.

The Artists

On the same day in California I had lunch with my photographer friends and dinner with my design friends. It was a wonderful day. I wrote all about it here. But I never included photos. So here they are. Finally.Amy Mary and the adorable Skylar. Ali Brooke Stephanie Leslie

The Combat Crawl

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Sam is now crawling. Well, I should say that he is covering ground. What he is doing looks more like, as his teacher Zoe says, a soldier crawl. You know the one. Where the soldiers try to crawl under really low barriers and keep their heads down. Needless to say Sam is not particularly quiet, but he is surprisingly fast. It is so hard to get used to his mobility. Ben never crawled. He just walked and not until he was about 17 months old. And that worked for us. We would put him down and then leave the room. And then when we finally came back (sometimes hours later--kidding, I'm KIDDING) and he would be in exactly the same place. Not so with Sam. He can cover twenty feet in no time. And he's only ten months old. Doesn't he know how things work around here? We do not encourage mobility in these parts. In fact, when Ben started walking we would periodically stick out our feet in his path. Just to slow him down a little. Again, I'm KIDDING. Sam is going to need a serious attitude adjustment in order to be a member of this family. We are a truly lazy bunch here. Upstarts and energetics need not apply.

Growing Boys

This session with my friends Camille and Jason and their two boys was SO fun. I am having the hardest time editing the photos because I want them all in. Here are a few that are very sentimental to me:Jason and Theo as a baby and then as a toddler: We tried to get Zach to play too, but he wasn't having it: He wanted to start his own photographic tradition: And this is one of my all time favorite photos from a couple of years ago: I think this will be the updated version:

Bambinos

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I once again found myself with my camera at the Discovery School and took some more snaps of these little angels. I just can't help myself.

Weekend

This weekend was a bit of a blur. I second shot a wedding in Elgin on Saturday and so was pretty wiped out yesterday. But thanks to the Simons' we rallied in the evening and went to Central Market for some beer, food and duck watching. We also took the boys to the park Saturday morning and Sam had his first official swing session. And my trusty point and shoot came along for the ride.Two of my favorites moments this weekend were: 1. When I was driving on 290 East to the wedding, I passed a billboard that said "Will the road you are on take you to my place?" And the quote attribution read "God" and then there was a URL because God, of course, has a website. 2. Ben and I were heading back to the car last night (where Josh and Sam were waiting for us) when he said (what I thought was) "Will you hold my hand?" But it turns out that he wanted me to hold his hand AND dance with him since the band was still playing. So I, of course, danced with my little man and we had such fun.

Aquatic Park

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We spent one of our mornings in Berkeley at one of our favorite parks called Aquatic Park with Stacy, Zora and baby Romare (who has the coolest name around). You may recognize them from the photo session we had done earlier in the week. We had a lovely time, as we always do with them. When it was time to leave Zora wanted to hug Ben goodbye, but he didn't want to. She really had her feelings hurt. Broke my heart. Then Josh said "Would you give me a hug Zora?" She brightened up a bit at that. I told Josh "Well, you're no Ben, but you'll do".

Oh Baby!

Almost the entire time that I was at the house photographing him, Alex was asleep. After two hours and many shots later, I had zipped up all my gear and was heading out, so of course he decided it was time to wake up. So I snapped a few more with his eyes open. Sleep or no, he is a little angel and I had such a good time photographing him and his big brother Austin. And of course I had to get the dogs in a few.

Keep The Old

And even more California photos. These are from a wonderful visit we had with my oldest friends. I have known Lisa (she was one of the friend who went to Mexico with me) since high school and her husband Erik, Jim, James and Claudia for about 15 years. And all these kids. Well, let's just say that I saw them all in diapers. And then there's Jojo who has the craziest set of teeth I have ever seen.

The Photographers

There is a group of local photographers between Austin and San Antonio that get together every month or so. I feel really lucky to be amongst them. Not only are they talented, but smart and funny as all get out. We convened last night at Sarah and Jenn's spanking new studio in East Austin and it was fabulous. I had serious studio envy. We drank some beer, ate some pizza and had a lot of laughs. And of course we had to take our photograph. Especially since I am renting that fab fisheye. Thanks Jenn and Sarah for hosting!Shown below, in the front row, from L to R: Shannon, Lisa and Jefferson. Back row, L to R: Sherry, Sarah, me, Jenn, and Tali Also in attendance (but not in the photo) were Stacy and Stan, Brian and Mary Kate, Tyler, and Courtney

Fisheye Frenzy

Every once in awhile I get lens itch. But my bank account can't handle another new lens (and Josh would KILL me). So I rented one from rentglass.com. This time I rented a 15mm fisheye. So I sicked it on the family yesterday and then couldn't help but bring it to Ben and Sam's school this morning for some wide angle fun.

Family Ties

One of the things that was hardest for me about leaving California was leaving my grandparents behind. About fifteen years ago I promised myself that I would stay nearby until my grandparents had passed. They were in their late seventies at the time, so I assumed they were not long for this world. Boy did they prove me wrong. They are both 92 now and going strong. It was so great to spend time with them when we went back West. These photos are from Mother's Day and most of them are of Sam but there are a few of la famiglia. I particularly like the last one of Sam on the couch with my grandad asleep in the background.

Next to Godliness

This post is probably a really bad idea. I have gone back and forth on publishing it and I decided to go for it. I have never been one to do the prudent thing. And this is a subject that has been on my mind a great deal since forever, but particularly since moving to Texas.I was raised by parents who were not religious. My mother had been raised in a very strict Southern Baptist home in Kentucky (she wasn't even allowed to go to the local bowling alley as a kid because they served beer) and my dad's family was methodist or something, but I never saw any member of his family go to church. My parents raised me to believe that I could pick whatever religion I wanted and if I indeed wanted any. Sometimes I wished they had picked for me. I think what I desired more than sense of spirituality was a sense of belonging to something bigger than myself. Of being part of a community. And so my search began. I tried almost everything. I went to synagogue so often I could speak some Hebrew. I went to a Catholic high school and attended Mass more times that I could count. After falling in love with Chaim Potok's books I asked if I could convert to Judaism. Mom thought it would be best to wait until I was eighteen. I was twelve at the time. I was also raised to believe that there were four things you never discussed in company and those were money, sex, politics and religion. This was easy in California. I knew almost no one as an adult who went to any kind of organized religious service. People I knew never talked about God. I had friends who were Jewish, Catholic, Christian. But they never actually talked about it. So I come to Texas and everything changes. Suddenly God is everywhere and talked about ceaselessly. People even blog about their religious preferences. You could see a tumbleweed coming down the road on Sunday mornings because everyone is in church. They even have local police helping control traffic at the local church on Sundays. For two ex-Californians, this is madness. I am an atheist. There. I said it. After many years of contemplating the existence of God I have abstained. Do I have a bone to pick with organized religion? Yes. Do I have one to pick with people who are religious? Of course not. My belief is that whatever makes you live life more deeply, care more strongly, love much better, is good (as long as it does not hurt anyone else). Do I think that my family and I are going to burn in hell? No. I judge people by who they are and what they do. I don't care if you are a Muslim, a Jew, or a Catholic. As long as you don't try to convert me and as long as you also respect my right to believe as I wish. So the mention of Jesus or the Lord as if he lived next door and had just come by for a beer is a big adjustment for me. In time it will seem less foreign. But I worry about the boys. With an atheist mother and a non-practicing Jewish father, will they be able to find their way amongst all this God talk? Will they truly be able to come to terms with it all without us to lead them? Maybe I will have to force Josh's hand and make him follow through with the promise he made before we had Sam's bris (of course this was a promise made under extreme duress while I cried like a baby ten minutes before 'Max the Mohel' arrived and told him I did not want to mutilate my son). I told him we would only go ahead and do it if he sent them to Hebrew school and they had their bar mitzvah. Otherwise, it would be torture for me with no payoff. This way, even if they choose not to believe in God, they will at least speak another language. And they will get some really good bling.

La Californie

Maybe by December I will have blogged all of my photos from our California trip. Here are some more from our escapades in the golden state. After our visit with Will and Phoebe we headed over to Camille and Jason's (also seen here). The first two are out of sequence (oh my!). They are from Theo's birthday party. He turned three while we were there. Such a little man. Oh how I miss the Redwoods: and here is one of Zacharie being inducted into the family act:

Lessons

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Already my boys have taught me so much. Just yesterday as I was watching Sammy crawl forward for the first time, I started on a road that I hope will teach me a big one. Sam did not just crawl with no beginning. He had been trying and trying and very slowly, over many weeks, he finally made one step forward. I am trying to learn this. That baby steps are the way to go. That life is not all or nothing, good or bad, black or white. I am often told the quote "A journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step". But that never did much for me. Frankly you had me at "10,000 miles". I already wanted to take a nap (like Sam did as soon as he made some progress—as shown below). But maybe I can do baby steps. Maybe I can make choices that will turn a bad day around. Maybe it DOES all add up. Maybe I can learn from Sam. Maybe there is hope for me yet. and some more I took:

I'll Cry If I Want To

Yep. It's my birthday. And I am old. So I did what all middle-aged people do when it's their birthday. I had some friends over, we drank margaritas and let the kids run wild and naked in the backyard. Thanks to Tanya for making me celebrate rather than do what I had originally planned, which was to sit around and eat ice cream and complain that no one loves me. I spent most of the evening with a drink in one hand, a camera in the other, surrounded by people who love me. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

One of the hard things about working on your own is that often there is no one I can solicit for feedback. Do you like this one? How about this one? That's only one of the nice things about working with someone else on a project. Here is a photo that I never processed until after I saw it on Lisa's blog and realized it deserved a second look. So here it is. My second look.