in which you ooh & aah

*

i noticed that i take a lot of photos from the car. from the passenger seat, of course. taking photographs whilst driving would be dangerous. also, how would i drive, drink coffee, & snap pictures at the same time? a girl only has two hands. 

none of the about-town-photos would win any awards, but i like them. i'm thinking of doing a series of these; of things & places i see on my regular routes; then having them made into a book. i would love the keepsake of this time in our lives; plus, elfling would enjoy poking through it, & pointing out the familiar sights. 

because, you know, i have ever so much free time on my hands.

the building pictured above is the corner of the los angeles county museum of art, known locally simply as lacma. we drive past it weekly, after dropping thehobbit at his american lit. class.

if you do not mind, i would like to share some of the photos with you, as i take them. that way, i can get your feedback. in which feedback means you ooh & aah at my brilliance with a camera.

have a great one, do!

~peace.

impromptu art day

*

monday we packed a basket with sammiches, grabbed our cameras, put on comfortable shoes, & went on an unplanned outing to lacma. 

usually we avoid a good portion of their exhibits, as we aren't huge fans of modern, contemporary, expressionism, & the like. (fortunately, my dear pom does not often read this blog, or she would be yelling at me for that last.)

this time we did meander into some of them, & whilst we did not like most of what we saw, there were a few things that caught our collective eye. even in the surrealism exhibit!  my intent was to actively search for something in each exhibit that i did like. in some cases it was quite difficult, but i did manage, & am glad for it.

after that we enjoyed a leisurely lunch out of doors, soaking in the sunshine, & snapping photos. just out of the shot (above photo) was thehobbit, taking a photo for his woefully neglected tardis blog.

i could have spent many hours just sitting amongst the streetlamps, & would have, but a school group descended, which was my cue to get out of there, & fast.

next we went to the exhibits that we do love: european sculpture & painting, ancient art, impressionism, & so forth. inspired by all we saw, we decided to get our paint-groove on in the children's gallery. happily there were few people in there, so it was a lovely, quiet way to end our day.

it was interesting to see our different ways of expressing ourselves: i painted a realistic tree, manlyman sketched the chinese dragon that was painted on the wall, elfling clearly was inspired by the jackson pollocks he'd seen, & thehobbit played minecraft on his ipod.

heading back to the car we stopped to get our yayas out. in one of their courtyards is this giant thing. the yellow bits are long rubber strands, that stretch. people are encouraged to play within it. i am sure you can guess which of us had to be pulled away when it was time to go. really? you guessed thetoddler? nope. manlyman.

however, elfling did ignore the thing's request. i just cannot take my menfolk anywhere ;)

~peace.

through the eyes of a hobbit

*

of  late i have been finding photos on my camera that were not of my taking. thehobbit has been sneaking my camera, taking a photo or two, then putting it back - all without my even knowing. even whilst we are out & about!

he thinks he is being ever so funny. i think he's got the makings of a world class pick-pocket.

i know i have said this eleventy billion times, but i love seeing the world around me through his eyes.

it's not the same as when he was small; then it was much more random. & quite a bit lower to the ground. now it is the more practiced eye of a great old man of 14.

i simply adore this one!

not so much this one. this photo gives me the creeps. teens are weird. 

~peace.

bits & bobs, fancyficated

*

bags hanging on my closet's door

with his photo-blog well under way, thehobbit spends a fair amount of time playing with photos. he was just having too much fun, so i decided to play too. having no tardis to feature, & a toddler uninterested in being photographed, i just popped around thebelfry snapping bits & bobs.

lavender in a milk-glass vase

mini-adam accosting the eiffel tower

giggle

a cartoon painted by thehobbit yesterday. whatever could it be...

finally getting illustrations in elfling's playnook. nothing says 'toddler' like ale!

currently on display on our museum wall. the dapper man on the left is my gr-grandfather.

me, with unwashed hair in a ponytail, & no makeup. sorry people, i'm taken.

if you want to fancyficate (real word) your photos too, download picasa. it's does not have a lot of options, but definitely enough for the average jane & her teenage joe. i cannot recall what was done to each, but i'll do my best: 

1 - soft focus

2 - cinemascope

3 - beats me

4 - have not a clue

5 - comic book

6 - 1960s

7 - saturation

8 - black & white / polaroid

hey! i remembered more than i thought i would. the photo of lavender is my favorite of the above. i love how it looks like a still from an old movie, & how the milk-glass vase nearly disappears against the white wall.

your turn to go off an play - enjoy!

~peace.

pretty in vintage

*

photo :: property of vera vague

i came across this photo whilst searching for vintage dresses doing homeschool research on pinterest. is this not the prettiest gown you have seen lately? of course, it sold many months ago, but she has many more pretties for sale in her etsy shop.

the photograph as a whole gets me swoony, i must say. i do not like the bright white, boring photos that you see all over etsy. i mean no offense to those who go that route, they just do not make me swoon like the above photo does. of course, it does not hurt that the gown & model are ever so lovely.

what is your favorite vintage pretty in her shop?

~peace.

in which she looks at the bright side

*

photo :: property of thehobbit

it  seems that every few years i am walking away from toxic friends. i don't know if my tolerance for it lessens with each passing year, if i am becoming more aware of it, or what; but there you have it. removing toxic people from one's life is a good thing, but it is also a hard thing to do. they were friends, after all. still...

i saw the above saying on a poster last week, & fell in love with it; quotes have always helped me focus. i thought a wee magnet for the fridge was in order, so i added the saying to one of thehobbit's beautiful photos. i, being the lazy kat that i am, have yet to put it on a magnet, but that is an entirely different story.

what about you? how do you remind yourself to look on the bright side of life?

~peace.

we built this city...

*

our first outing in washington was, of course, to the famous pike place. we did not brave the absurdly long queue at the original starbucks, but i can now say that i have at least been there.

when next we ventured into town we took the underground tour of seattle. i definitely recommend this. warning: no strollers. i snapped many photos, but it was quite dim below ground.

where it was not dim:

downtown seattle has some pretty buildings.

this photo i took upon arriving home. we detoured through hollywood, so i could play tourist with my camera. this building is the highland towers apartments, smack in the middle of hollywood. little bit of belfrytrivia: in our pre-parents days we nearly lived there. just before signing, we opted for a cute little duplex elsewhere instead.

~peace.

les fleurs

*

we had a wonderful time seeing new places, & old loved ones. between manlyman, thehobbit, & myself we took about eleventy billion photos. in looking back through my photos i see that i was drawn (loved ones aside) to flowers & buildings. here is a sampling of les fleurs:

1-6 were taken in seattle & snohomish, washington. (yes, i know one of those is a salmonberry, not a flower. shhh.)

7-12 were taken in eugene, oregon. (i was happy to see that my mother's pink roses were being cared for.)

13 was taken somewhere in central california.

i miss the people & places already, but it is wonderful to be back at home.

~peace.

of photos, cars, & rules

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photo :: property of thehobbit

it used to be that i could rely on thehobbit for blog photos. not only does he have a good eye (here), he is rarely without his camera (unlike his mama). in fact, now that he has an itouch he is never without a camera. 

so if he is never without his camera; & has not yet had his good eye poked out in a duel with zorro; why am i saying that he can no longer be relied upon for blog photos? do you not see the above photo? does it look katish to you? it does not. in fact, i imagine you thought you'd landed on the wrong blog when you saw it.

the fact of the matter is this: my sweet hobbity one is now only interested in photographing cars. sure, he'll  get a wild hair, & snap a few photos of some fabulous random thing, or his freakycute little brother. mostly though? cars. this one was taken for his his orange-loving uncle.

i suppose it is time for me to literally dust off my camera, & take my own photos. i feel like an edwardian countess whose staff has just been greatly depleted by the onset of ww1. what? i must put on my own shoes? pour my own tea? take my own digital photos? why cannot things just stay the same?!

i am with you, imaginary edwardian lady, i am with you. 

in theory, i am thrilled that thehobbit has discovered a passion - in reality, not so much. i want him to be forever my dragon-loving, faery-hunting, hogwarty boy. cars are just not my thing. he broke the rules. he was supposed to never get angsty, never to stop loving the things that i love, & never to become interested in things that bore me. broken, broken, & broken. dreadful boy.

to recap: 

cars are boring

i have to take my own photos

ww1 was inconvenient

puberty changes things

hobbits are rule-breakers

awesome.

~peace. 

through the eyes of a hobbit

*

photo :: property of thehobbit

it has been some time since my last installment of through the eyes of a hobbit. it was not for a lack of photos from which to choose, that is for sure. since getting his itouch in december, thehobbit has been a photo-taking machine. i have just been busy & overwhelmed. are you tired of that old song & dance yet?

scrolling through the photos he took on a recent trip to lacma i came across the above. there are so many things i love about it: the lines, the lamps themselves, the angle, the sunlight peeking through, the shadow - this photo simply rocks. if i had to say what my favorite thing was? well, it was taken by my very own son.

i think it's time to get him a real camera, & see what he can do.

~peace.

if you are interested in the story behind the lamp posts, read this.

it's all right

*

there is such magic in the early morning sunlight. my sewing nook faces eastward, so is filled with this magic at the start of each day. i love how it makes me feel.

things are especially messy at the moment, what with the recent flurry of sewing goodies for theshop. i prefer sewing in the morning, to soak in some of that magic, but my children prefer otherwise :)

today i got as far as poking through my bin of vintage bits & bobs, before i was thwarted. i had hoped on finishing the latest fancy pouch whilst they ate, but a certain elfling insisted he needed an audience for banana-eating, & that his brother would simply not do.

that seen to, i did try to get some sewing done, but the sunlight was quickly settling behind dark clouds. without the sunlight, it just feels cold & normal in there - not nearly as enjoyable as with.

i snapped a few photos before calling it a day.

here comes the sun, & i say

it's all right.

~peace.

of pumpkins, brooms, & black cats

*

funny isn't it- how you only see things in photos when looking at them later? i had the camera in the yard with me this morning, in case elfling did something adorable. thehobbit was with us as well, but he is a teenager. teens are not known for being adorable. angsty, yes. adorable, not so much.

anyway, i remembered that a friend had asked to see the scarf i was working on, so snapped a photo of that. then the neighbor's kitten, ivy, came to visit, so i snapped a few of her antics. & so on.

when i transferred the photographs to the computer, i noticed the timely goings-on: the pumpkin colored ball of yarn, the tattered broom, & the black cat. & none of it planned! i don't normally have brooms on my lawn, by the way; elfling had been sweeping up the dirt clods he'd tossed onto the patio.

don't you love serendipity?

when witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near halloween.
~author unknown

~peace.

in which a pumpkin patch...

*

...isn't. we have not had time to get to an actual pumpkin patch this year. thehobbit could care less, being a great old man of 13, but elfling is just coming into his awareness of special events & times of year. bad mama.

i did not want to miss out on an opportunity for adorable pumpkiny photos, so found an alternative to the pumpkin patch - trader joe's! the store we frequent has a fun display out front, with crates of pumpkins, & even some of those cut-out photo stand things. sorry, am completely blanking on what those are called.

how i got adorable pumpkiny photos without an actual pumpkin patch: thehobbit moved some of the pumpkins in one of the crates, in went elfling, & out came my camera. poof! instant pumpkin patch.

apparently my idea was brilliant, because another mama had been watching, & asked us to leave the pumpkins like that, so that she could do the same. if only i could bottle my brilliant mind ;)

have a lovely day, do!
~peace.