Cousin Cate

Grace has been the center of attention of our family circle for the past 8 days.  She flutters her little hand, and we all coo.  She squinches up her face and three cameras come out.
But she is not the only petite grand-baby.

Catherine has pudged up a bit, and is all cute dimples and big blue eyes. She loves kicking her legs about, probably strengthening them for crawling in a couple of months.

A few days ago, Sarah and Catherine came over for a visit, and we got to compare the two babes up close.  Catherine seems so tiny, but compared to Grace, she really is bigger.  It's fun to see the similarities and differences.

These kids crack me up.  I'm sure they'll be friends...eventually. : )

Baby Love in the Afternoon

I must admit, I love having a baby within ridiculously easy reach of my camera.  It makes capturing all the details of her deliciously possible, on a practically daily basis.
It means I can wait for the right light to come through the window and pick up the tiny hairs that dust her skin and make her luxuriously soft.

She basically naps, poops, is coaxed into eating, naps, naps, makes languid hand gestures with her long little fingers, and naps some more. And keeps her parents up nights, all while barely opening her eyes.
She has the world on a string and doesn't even know it.

I know babies can't smile yet, but it makes it all the more wonderful to me that I caught that expression on her face.

Happy Sunday,
Joanna

PS. I took the picture of her ear because Rachel is especially in love with her tiny ears.

Grace Under Pressure

I have a darling, diminutive new niece.  At 6 lbs, 3 oz, she manages to have beaten Catherine's birth weight by 5 ounces.  However, Communio, currently tipping the scales at over 20 lbs, weighs more than both his baby cousins combined.

Her name is Grace Calixta Bond.
Unfortunately, I have totally missed my chance to greet my sister saying "Hail Rachel, full of Grace!"  However, I have a new favorite corny joke.  It goes like this:

Q. What do you call Rachel in labor?
A. Grace under Pressure.

I crack myself up.
enough chatter.  I know you just clicked on the link to ogle pictures of Grace in all her tiny beauty.  Let the ogling begin.

dusk blooms

I almost invariably photograph flowers right before I lose the daylight.
It may be because that's when I water my bits of the garden. I'm too lazy to get up early and water my flowers before the hot sun can interfere with moisture absorption.  So I rush out to water the garden after dinner, while there's still enough time that the flowers can dry off a bit before the sun goes down.

The drought has cowed almost the entire garden.  The begonias are soldiering on, and the sedum is unfazed, but everything else is dry and despairing.  Except for my zinnias.  They are sunshiny, cheerful, abundant, and resilient. They are such a joy.

They are the only flower blooming in enough of a quantity to cut for arrangements.  Here, in no particular order is the highlights from recent arrangements.

See more beauty after the jump.

The Sweetest Thing...

It is a sweet thing, friendship, a dear balm,

A happy and auspicious bird of calm,

Which rides o'er life's ever tumultuous Ocean;

A God that broods o'er chaos in commotion;

A flower which fresh as Lapland roses are,

Lifts its bold head into the world's frore air,

And blooms most radiantly when others die,

Health, hope, and youth, and brief prosperity;

And with the light and odour of its bloom,

Shining within the dun eon and the tomb;

Whose coming is as light and music are 'Mid dissonance and gloom—a star

Which moves not 'mid the moving heavens alone— A smile

among dark frowns—a gentle tone

Among rude voices, a beloved light,

A solitude, a refuge, a delight.

                          -Percy Byshe Shelley

photo critique 2: graffiti

Dear Friends,

My excellent friend and I continue to exchange photos once a month, so that we can give each other feed back and encourage each other to improve.  We aim to exchange photos at the beginning of each month, but then, well, life happens. 

This month, I was very good, and sent off my email promptly on the 1st off August...and forgot to attach the photos.  So my friend still hasn't seen them to comment on them. C'est la vie.

I also couldn't for the life of me pair the series down to just 10 pictures.  I was lucky to get it under 15.  There were too many that intrigued me for too many reasons.

This month, I chose to explore some local graffiti.  It's very interesting to me, because it breaks so many social taboos, and discusses and or subverts ideas of ownership, propriety, beauty, and artistic cannons.  It can be at the same moment joyful and angry, and how it both harmonizes and clashes with its environment.  It also is very, very site specific.
I was surprised to realize how much the surrounding plants and weather change it physically, or obscure it.

 

So, what do you think?

I'd love, love, love your feedback!

vacation photography: family

It's a little silly, but most of my pictures from family vacation include one niece or the other, or sometimes both.



I thought about it afterwards, and here's my theory: It takes very little for children and babies to look cute.  Adults tend to want a little more prep time before they let you take their portrait.  And who wants to go through all that fuss and bother? It's vacation after all. Time to wear your most comfortable clothes, not worry about make-up, and generally let your hair down.

Hence, lots of pictures of neices, very few pictures of siblings.