randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I haven’t had the chance to do a picture of the week in awhile… so I thought I’d post one and try my damndest to get back into the swing of things.  I took this today, it was Gage’s first time ever to the ocean.  My god he loved it, didn’t want to turn from the view.  I knew he would, to be honest.  He loves water and he loves to play in the sand.  If I let him, he would have made a beeline for the water and splashed his way to hypothermia.  Well, maybe not hypothermia… I don’t think the water was quite THAT cold, but cold nonetheless.  I could have stayed down there on the sand all day myself, to be perfectly honest.  The day included going to a little aquarium and Gage winning a stuffed fish at a fishing boardwalk game.  Maybe I’ll be able to take him to the shore when it’s a little warmer, when he can actually go in the water for a bit.

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I decided to do 3 pictures of the week this week. I’m probably a little late, and I’m sorry about that if you’re keeping score. These are Gage and my niece Kalina playing with the dogs. The dogs are Tonka and Shelby — my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mark’s dogs. Tonka is a Lab/Husky mix and Shelby is a Lab/Doberman mix and they are gorgeous. When they came over, Gage and Kalina went wild. They were in hog heaven, running around chasing the dogs and playing with them. Gage laid down with them several times and just cuddled.  I almost got a picture of the two of them trying to “herd” the dogs out of the foyer one night, but just missed it.  Imagine if you will though… These kids aren’t tall.  2 1/2 to 3 feet or so tall and the dogs are pretty damn tall themselves.  It was a funny site.  Kalina is cuddling with Tonka in the one picture, and the dog in the foreground of one of the others is Shelby.

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It’s been awhile, but I’m back in the saddle.  Now that I have batteries for the regular digital camera, and I have more stuff to take pictures of.  Since we decorated the Christmas tree at mom’s yesterday, I was going to just post a picture of the tree.  But then Gage took notice of the tree.  He spent a couple of hours yesterday just sitting in that chair and looking at the tree.  He hasnt’ tried to take anything off of it, or to pull it down or anything.  He’s just fascinated with looking at it.  It does sparkle oh so prettily.  Everytime we move that chair away from the tree, he puts it right back where it was and climbs up and looks.  I’ve never seen him quite so fascinated with the tree, but then, he’s never seen a tree quite like this.  There are all kinds of ornaments, the few glass ornaments we put on it are at the top so small hands can’t pull them off.  There are also a few moving ornaments on the tree (the kind that plug into the light string).  It’s a cute picture though.  I would have liked a little more light, just enough to help the camera focus on Gage but not wash out the lights.  I used the “available light” setting on the camera.  The only problem with that setting is that the camera and the subject must remain perfectly still.

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Ok, I’ve been slacking. I have no batteries for my digital camera at the moment. Gage killed them. And while I can use the video camera to take photos, transferring them can be a pain in the butt. So this week I’m posting an older picture. I don’t believe I’ve used it before for a photo of the week (I hope not, anyway). Anyhoo, this picture was taken before we moved. It was raining one day, about 3 o clock or so. It got really dark and it was POURING. So of course, I went outside to take pictures of the roses. What could be more natural, LOL. I took one with the flash and one without. I liked the one with the flash better — and this is it. Enjoy.

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This week we have a lovely sunset photo of swirly looking clouds and a tree off to the side. You see? Yes. I really liked the way this came out. The colors are really nice and the clouds look like they’re in motion. Interestingly, since the digital camera’s batteries are dead, this was taken with my video camera (which has a photo function on it). A handy device to have as a backup to the regular digital, no?  I also like that there is both light and darkness in this picture.  If the clouds weren’t there, you might be able to see the mountains in the distance.  of course, the clouds kind of look like mountains don’t they?

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i took this about a week ago… i actually managed (for the first time) to get the sunlight streaming through the clouds, not just the backlit clouds. which is nice. i like the brightness and the fact that some of those clouds are a little dark (that’s not a trick of the light). eet ees pretty, no? i think so. this is the kind of picture that i’d love to have made into a 500 piece puzzle for my mom. i think it would be a suitable challenge for her puzzle assembling skills.

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ok, so i’ve been a little lax here and there during the moving process. so we begin again. i’m going to shoot for monday or tuesday for posting of the potw. and here’s this weeks picture. i took this a few days ago while gage was playing outside. he kept stepping into his pool then walking around on the concrete and watching his footprints fade. it was cool. i thought it would be cool to get a picture of one of those footprints. and here it is for your viewing pleasure.

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i took this last week just after sunset from the front porch.  pretty, no?  i love the color of the sky, and the stark blackness of the trees against it.  there are a couple of others i took of the same general area around the same time.  less brightnes in the sky in those.  one of them is mostly the tree with a little of the sky in the background.  i like that this one can be looked at as either a picture of the trees with the sky in the background, or a picture of the sky with some trees framing it.

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i took this earlier this week. it’s a close up of a rose from the yard. we’ve got 4 bushes that are red, 1 that’s pink and 1 that’s yellow in the yard. this was the first rose to bloom out of all the bushes. i got this before the bugs got to it. you can even see beads of moisture on it. it rained a little while before i took the picture.  after i took this picture, i cut this rose off the bush and brought it inside along with a bud that was just starting to open.  they were promptely eaten by ziggy — i forgot that he has a thing for eating household plants (which is why we’ve never gotten a poinsettia around xmas).

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this weeks picture was taken… last night. what can i say, i saw the moon and it was just so beautiful i had to get the camera.  i had WANTED to get the shot about 30 seconds before this… the moon was half covered by that cloud.  i wish i had a camera that was really good for getting pictures of the moon.  mine might be… if it is i haven’t figured out the setting for that.  either way, i think this is a great shot.  i’ve got 2 more pictures of the moon that i took yesterday.  one right after this one, and one a couple of hours earlier… when the sun had set, but it wasn’t dark yet.

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ok, i’m a little slack this week. a day late, but hey, i’m posting it now! this weeks picture of the week is of something that gage painted. well, we painted it together. he picked the colors and poured them on the canvas while i tipped and turned it. it swirled in a really cool way.  i’m tempted to get more canvas and paints to see what gage does with the same process… now that it’s dried completely, it’s got a cracked surface and looks really cool.  this picture was taken while it was still a little bit wet.

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two photos this week, essentially of the same thing, and i couldn’t decide which one i wanted to post. so both it is.  they’re essentially taken of the same thing.  one with flash, one without, and a slightly different angle on each.  what can i say, i’ve alwys loved the way the leaves of a rosebush look.  especially when they’ve stil got that reddish tint on them.  they’re still lovely when they go all green, but there’s nothing quite like the way they look with the red.  so pretty, so festive.  the rose bushes have no buds yet, probably because of all the late snow we had… but they will soon i have no doubt.  when they do, perhaps a picture or two of the roses will be used for the photo of the week

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i love this picture. i can’t believe it came out so good. i took this last week, when it was threatening to storm. i love when i look out the window and see this effect. basically it’s a mass of stormclouds making it more than “overcast” with a tiny window thru which the sun is shining. it’s almost like it’s a spotlight on whatever is lit up.  gorgeous, isn’t it?  i’ve seen it a lot since moving to colorado, but before that… not so much.  don’t know why, but i’m not complaining.

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i showed my little guy a ladybug while he was outside playing this weekend. he picked it up and let it crawl on him. he put it on the edge of his pool/sandbox and watched it. when it fell into the water, he pulled it out. it was SO cute.  he was very gentle with it, didn’t crush it or squeeze it at all.  he just held it and watched it.

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it’s not a really great picture… but it’s got a great story behind it. gage brought his pillows into the living room one night and put them in the middle of the couch.  since i was starting to get sick (and he was still a little sick) and i was feeling a lot like crap i put my feet up on the arm of the couch and laid my head on the pillows.  gage got the blanket off the back of the couch and covered me up, then he grabbed a blanket from his room and laid the other way, covering himself up.  since the camera was on the coffee table and in reach, i couldn’t resist getting a picture (albeit a bad picture) of the cuteness.

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