Run Lori Run!

Not Feeling It

Every October we lug the orange plastic bin out of the basement and dutifully string up the pumpkin lights and hang the goulish decorations around the house. Usually, I'm all over it on October 1st. But this year...meh. I'm just not into it.

Eating half of our halloween candy didn't get me in the mood so...

We made severed finger cookies.

They look quite a bit more disgusting than I expected but they taste really good! And they were gleefully received by the Bean who took them to her school's Halloween party: middle schoolers + blood & gore = jumping for joy right? I thought Mom would have scored some points...but, alas, they were too gross and no one ate them.

You Rock

As always, my blogging peeps have prevailed: thanks for your parenting wisdom-- I feel (mostly) better...

I tell my daughter all the time-- and it's true-- that I can't figure out how I got so lucky. She is a perfect little Bean: funny & sarcastic, kind & empathetic, smart & curious-- all rolled into one perfect kiddo. I hope, hope, hope our road isn't too extremely bumpy ahead...

And on that note, here is a picture of a strip club. (Irony anyone?)

Only to demonstrate that I'm getting a little more comfortable with my camera. I took a walk downtown awhile back with my friend Debbie and we fiddled some more with my camera settings.  I tell you, there are buttons on this thing that I have no idea what they do yet.

And, in case you were not aware: Photoshop has to be the most frustrating thing on the planet.  

Hopefully I will have it figured out soon because I'm going to Italy in December- woo hoo! And I want to take some interesting, creative shots.

Photo Credit

I Need A Psychic

Dear Blogging Friends,

I need a psychic.

I know many of you may not be paid, professional psychics but... you have children. Tweens. Teenagers. Young adults.  You have been down this parenting road, climbed the mountain, navigated the jungle, scaled the... you know what I mean.

So tell me my future. I have a daughter who is twelve. Middle School. Right now is great- we still talk. She still tells me stuff. I'm still sort of cool despite my apparent need to appear on What Not To Wear.

So...

When does it happen?  When does her head start spinning around and fire start shooting out of her eyes?

Signed,

Your Panic-Stricken Friend

Adventures In Aperture

When did I get this camera again? December? And I hate to admit it but I have been stuck on the AUTO mode since then.  I have many informative photography books and many informative photography websites bookmarked but then... I get all panicky... I can't keep all the lingo straight: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance... I go all deer-in-the-headlights and flip it back to AUTO. Until today.

Lesson number one for me today is aperture. I shot these photos on Aperture Priority Mode so I could control the depth of field and let the camera choose the shutter speed for me. Happily. This photo the aperture is set at f/1.8, ISO 160, shutter speed 1/640 sec. I like the nice blurred background. Still need to work on focus though.

Now the aperture is bumped to f/3.2. More of the photo is in focus, less blur in the back...

And then the aperture is f/14. Crappy photo but it illustrates how most of the photo is in focus.

I walked all over my house trying to find ways to experiment with depth of field, trying to create some bokeh. (Bokeh: the blur or the aesthetic quality of the blur, or the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field.)  

Dead Flower Bokeh.

Creepy Spider Bokeh.

 Typewriter Bokeh.

Day of the Dead Bokeh.

Well, there you have it: day 1 of my photography experiment. 

Occupy Portland

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

-Margaret Mead

I Grew A Cantaloupe!

I grew a cantaloupe!

I only got one melon off the entire plant, it is about the size of a softball and some critter bore a hole in it about an inch but other than that it is absolutely perfect. Otherwise, the garden is winding down. And since it is fall I seem to have remembered my affinity for comfort food and lounging on the sofa.

Photographs

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence."  -Ansel Adams