The Epitome of Calvin

Picture taking is just my hobby, I don't profess to be a professional. I have no formal training, I just like taking pictures. You learn quite a lot about yourself when you engage in any sort of activity. I've learned that I'm not that good with people; taking their picture, I should say. I prefer a sweeping landscape or lush garden or inanimate objects. So I've pushed myself outside my comfort zone whenever I take pictures of the kids or people. Like school picture time, when they come home with the sheet of thumbnail pictures and I don't like any of them. I say to myself, "I could do better!" And then myself replies, "Yeah, but you didn't! Will you?" I have to tell myself, "Yes, yes I will." And the whole task of getting their Fall school pictures done before Spring is upon me. So I usually fold and go with the school pics. But this is just one example in a whole string of instances. The point is, I am pushing myself to do new things and improve upon what can do.


I really can't complain when it comes to the kid department. My kids are so tolerant of my picture hobby; they can cheese it up when the need arises. I've also learned a lot from them. You can't force a smile or pose, they have to want to do it. So I encourage the face wiggles and even have spontaneous non-serious "picture time". Here is what I have to work with. The other day when we were out, I told Grant to sit down and let me take a few pictures. He took the whole "face wiggling" exercise to a whole new level. I've erased more pictures of him than I keep. Oh well, at least be grateful for the ones I get.

No Drive

I finally found the picture hard drive. That's a big deal. In such a digital & nomadic lifestyle we lead, backing up our pictures is a must! Also, between the laptop & desktop PCs, pictures & music can get scattered easily. Music purchased on one computer, pictures put here, etc. I try to round things up at least every three months. During "picture heavy" months (i.e. holidays, birthdays, vacation), I'll do it once a month.

Well, when we got back at the end of June, we had all three drives. After Mairyn's birthday, I could only find the music & document drives. The picture one was nowhere to be found! That little drive has *everything* on it. Everything since June 2003, which was when we got our first digital camera. I searched high and low. Nothing. I knew it had to be somewhere, but it was always nagging me at the back of my mind, "Where is that drive?" Finally, three nights ago, I found it! And in quite an accessible place. It was with the other LARGE external hard drives. It is small, the size of a passport. Not that I hadn't checked that place a dozen times already. Oh well. All is right in the world, my pictures are safe & sound.

I have spent the last two days updating the drive. Transferring files from different computers to the central photo loading zone and freeing up literally GIGS of memory. It's just always so stressful when I'm deleting duplicate files that the computer found and it asks me "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" Yes? Didn't you just tell me it's a duplicate?? Anyway, I've been stumbling down memory lane, looking at everything! I also discovered a file of scanned pictures that I forgot I had! See, our children straddle the digital & film world. For Eliza & Mairyn; the best camera we had was a WalMart disposable box camera. And then before Spencer left for Jordan (May 2003), his parents gave him a digital camera. So our digital picture files begin with June 2003.

But the downside to all this is that I don't have hardly any physical pictures of the two younger kids. I was *very good* about putting pictures in albums. Not scrapbooks, just picture sleeves in an album. That, for me, is organized. The kids love flipping through them! But those hard copy pictures end when Mairyn is about 1 year old. So I'm going to make some albums that include the rest of our children. You know, actual proof that we have 4 children, instead of a 3 1/2 year old and 1 year old, as our albums would lead you to believe!

Here's a gee-whiz collage I whipped up for myself. I wanted to compare the babes and I actually had pictures of all 4 at about the same age, 2-3 days. (eliza & mairyn's I scanned in)

top L-R: Mairyn (3 days); Grant (2 days);

bottom L-R: Eliza (2 days); Jacqueline (2 days)

All together now: Awwwwww!

Let the mourning begin

I *would* like to post pictures of the WW2 monument we went to in D.C.

I *would* like to show you pictures of a chance meeting we had while in D.C. We went to the WW2 monument on a whim and happened to run into friends from Cairo that we hadn't seen in 2 years!

I *would* like to show you pictures of my unbearably cute and very pregnant sister-in-law.

But I can't.

My camera is gone.

I don't know where I lost track of it. I may be scatterbrained about a lot of things, but I'm not all loosey-goosey about my camera. It's not a huge, professional contraption. But it's the best I've got & I know it. It's not new. I don't like to accuse, but the only plausible explanation is that it was either stolen out of the car (yes, they chose the camera over the gps?) or our hotel room (chosen over two laptops & assorted electronics). I am as baffled as all get out. But I guess I was in denial because the reality of being camera-less hit me right after I passed security in Baltimore. I was shoving my shoes on and hefting my bag over my shoulder when this random thought bubble popped into my cerebral cortex, "Yeah, you really have lost your camera."

Bright side? I get a new camera.

Slightly less bright side? Not as soon as I'd like.

The dullest side? The pictures I lost.

But the best side? At least I didn't lose the laptops or the pictures on them. It's just one weekend of pictures. Some pretty great pictures, but just a weekend.

If . . .

. . . you give a girl your iPhone.

Little Legs

One advantage in Bahrain? There is always enough hot water. At least in the summertime. I was just entranced by Jacqui's little feet & legs sticking out from under the shower curtain. In my head, a picture of her feet facing me would have been perfect.
Turns out, I like the back view of her legs even more.

Pictures at sunset

Yesterday, I happened to look out the window and saw some perfect light! I grabbed my camera and ran outside to capture some pics of my garden. Though I forgot that here, in Manama, I have to wait at least 5 minutes to give my camera time to de-fog. Here's what it looks like, through my camera lens, as soon as I step outside. (It does the same thing to my sunglasses)


I fortunately have a special lens cloth to wipe it clean of the condensation while it's "warming up". Here's that same bush beside my steps after things have cleared up.


I am *loving* the front of my house. I love love love arches. And most of the doorways in my house are arched or oval-ish.


And here's a couple okay-ish garden pictures. But I'm not bothered, I have plenty of time to take many, many more pictures!

Family Photos

Now that there is a pseudo-lull in our life, I'm coming through on that family photo allusion. When we took our family vacation, we went through UT and caught up with a golden friend. (you know the poem; 'make new friends, but keep the old. one is silver & the other gold) Leslie is an amazing photographer. She has more talent in that little trigger finger of hers than could ever be quantified. Along with her sister Emily assisting (trust me, we needed it!) we had an amazing time. Who can say that about family pictures? And sorry for the post being so long, a collage in Picasa would be an injustice to the pictures!

Stones

Why would I take a picture of boxes full of rocks?

Because of what they say. Grants Pass, Oregon is a stones throw (pardon the pun) from where my family is from, where my parents, myself & a sister were born. It's home.

They were just sitting on the outskirts of the new business park where the kid's dentist office is. I actually noticed them last October. But I didn't have my camera and missed the window of opportunity before they were buried in snow for the duration of the winter. When I took the kids back this spring, I wasn't actually thinking about the bill or their little pearly whites. I was worried that they had cleaned up the boxes or that they had disintegrated over the the winter. But joy of joys, they were intact and still waiting for me. The stones that came in these boxes were used for the lower facade of the buildings. Seriously? They couldn't find enough rock around these parts they had to import Oregonian rock? Though, a very good choice, I have no objections. And darn it, I didn't take a picture of the buildings with rock on them. Oh well, another photo op!

Who knew that taking the kids to the dentist could be so great?

Broken Promises

I know, I know. I promised to blog more. I even gave you hope by outlining future topics. See, that's usually the best way to set a goal. Tell someone else about it. Then it usually gets accomplished. Usually. But I'm not sending out any false hope today. It's just that nothing interesting has happened this last week.

I had hoped to post some pictures. I fear that little fingers have fiddled with my camera settings and the pictures taken this last week are sadly inconsistent. (boring camera specs.: size, exposure, etc.) I'm in the process of figuring that out. Along with a little 3 year old that is coming down with a bad cough and runny nose, I'll probably end up blogging more this week than I did last week? Why? Um, I think I'm an 'avoider'. If there is something unpleasant to do, I'll be here in my office; avoiding it. So that's me, I'll be 'fiddling around' with my camera and probably sitting right here holding a miserable three year old. Here is one picture that turned out. The cupcakes I made for Eliza's birthday. She wanted chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting. Oh, and decorated like flowers, please. Ok, I'll try my best!

The view from my gym

Even after four years in Egypt, I still found some things "cool". Let me explain. In the summer, we take our 6 week R&R to the States. It's bound to come up where we live.

Random Person: "OH WOW! Egypt! That is so exciting and exotic! How do you like living there?"

Now, here's my dilemma. How truthful do you want me to be? I'm an honest, to-the-point person. I'm a person that doesn't put on a front. I can also be kind of snarky. How honest should I be? You know all they want to hear is how wonderful & amazing it is to live abroad. Should I unload the un-romantic side, or just smile and nod? I do a little of both. Here was my standard answer.

"It's really the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to explore amazing sights whenever I want. But you know, I also never thought it would feel so normal. Get up, get kids ready, go grocery shopping, etc."

They think of my life as being on vacation and why in the world would I want to waste any time back in the States. That's usually where our conversations would end. Any further and I'd be forced to shove ice picks in my ears.

A normal life. Where grocery shopping for dinner can take all afternoon. Why would Seodi's carry that particular pasta today when I've seen it there every other time? Or trying to find a needle in the city that might as well be one huge haystack. Or the power and water is out for the umpteenth time this week and "Insha'allah bukra" it will be fixed tomorrow.

I still got up, took kids to school, paid the bills and even went to the gym. (that was a habit begun in the last year there) They have a Gold's Gym in Egypt. I found that cool. I don't like the gym, I hate the gym, honestly. Why would I go to the gym? Because I had a great gym buddy (thanks Sar) and a goal. To meet that goal, I had to meet the gym. So one day, after a grueling work out, Sara & I went out on the balcony of the gym. It was on the 9th and 10th floor of an office building that included a bank, children's clothing stores, the X-Ray office, a pharmacy and a vacant Dunkin Donuts shop. I think a sandstorm or something had just blown through because the view was extra clear. We scanned the horizon and there we could see both the North and South Saqqara pyramid complex. Fortunately, I always carried my camera with me. (you never know) And so was born a paradoxical picture. A snapshot of my every day life; a view from the gym. Looking straight at the oldest structure on earth. Yeah. For a little while, I was cool like that.

South Saqqara

North Saqqara; the step pyramid

Same view, only zoomed out. They're really there, I swear. Look along the horizon, ignore the smog. (this was a clear day, people.) You know how things look differently in a picture. I have awesome zoom on my camera. Just like Typ0

And the view looking North. If those buildings weren't in the way, the Great Pyramids of Giza would be visible. Darn civilization.

What is it?

What is this? Yes, I'm being coy. I'm also in the middle of chronicling the last week. It has been a doozy. Between getting ready for Spencer, him arriving, our fiasco of a weekend, how we mended it and so forth; it has been one for the books. I'm writing. Just be patient. It'll be worth the wait. In the mean time, what is this??

My Montana Visit

"One misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather . . . ." Traditional nursery rhyme

That very well described my Monday morning. My Mom & I were also getting ready to drive up to Montana to a) drop her off at my sister's and b) see her in the full bloom of pregnancy. (due date today) We still left, it's just that we were met with this in the morning.


I broke out my brand-new snow brush & scraper combo and went to work. Kids made it to school safely and we were on our way out of town in no time. There wasn't a scrap of snow by the time we reached Salmon. I had a lovely little mini-vacation and made it back through dry roads this afternoon. Just in time to run Jacqui to gymnastics, unload the car, pick kids up from school, run Grant to gymnastics, get the van lubed, make dinner and . . . . whew, I think I need another break!! Don't worry, I'll get another treat next week. My honey will be picked up from the airport next Wednesday night! And we get a whole 3 weeks together!!

My camera is awesome!

No, I don't have a fancy-schmancy (meaning expensive) camera. But wow, I am impressed. No, it's not new. I've had it for two years now. Three? My memory is escaping me. Maybe three. Either way, I can definitely recommend it. Look at this picture.


I was outside, rolling the garbage bin to the curb. As I turned around toward the house, I spied a sliver of the moon over yonder apartments. I ran back inside for my camera. It took some creative balancing of the camera, too. See, my camera is great. But at dusk or low light times, it just sucks. There are enough toots & whistles on this thing that I could probably solve that, but I can't figure out how. I have messed with a couple things, but not liked the results and, thankfully, been able to change it back to the original settings. So at times like this, I have to either pull out my tripod or get creative. I propped the camera up on the utilities meter on the side of my house, snagged a couple shards of bark from my neighbor's landscaping and set the timer. Voila! Non-blurry so-clear-you-can-see-craters-of-the-moon picture. I only wish I could have zoomed further. That's the other beauty of my camera; it has 12x optical zoom. What is that, you ask? There is optical zoom and digital zoom. Optical is the one you want and it's the highest zoom factor in a non-DSLR camera. (as far as I know. It was 3 years ago when I bought it.) Enough technical stuff, I really don't know what I'm talking about! Oh, my camera? Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 Got it on NewEgg.com, great deal. Geez, I sound like a commercial? I need to get paid to do this!

Gardens

I didn't have much opportunity this last month for any creative release. Finishing a basement & moving in really suck up the time. We did manage to escape to the Ricks Gardens. Yes, they are the lush and wonderful gardens on BYU-I campus, but they are named The Thomas E. Ricks Memorial Gardens. Plenty of area for the kids to run and for me to stop and smell the flowers. Of course I took plenty of pictures, but only came out with a few decent ones. Which is how it usually goes.

Everyone's an individual

When we visit a place like Mt. Rushmore, or Niagara Falls, or the cool Dairy Queen down the street, I try to get an individual picture of each person. Something they don't have to share with anyone. It usually takes a while, but I like that they can pick out a picture from our family trip and go, "There's me at Mt. Rushmore." And only them.

*That last pic, btw, was taken by Mairyn.

Treasure Trove

Since I'm in Nebraska, the first logical thing to do would be to get together with my sister Maggie and her fiance, Josh. Maggie has recently had some computer woes and lost a bunch of pictures. So while we were swapping pixels, she mentions that she has a disc of family pictures! Joy of joys! Over 300 pictures dating from the earliest of times to just last year.

My dad's parents and my parents circa 1978. Wanna know how I know? I'm psychic. No, see that little bump in my mom's shirt. Yep, that's me!


Who are these studs? My granddads.


One last picture

The little girl in front is my great-grandma Geri. The woman behind her? My great-great grandma Ruhama

Why?

That's the only thing I can say to this. Why? Were you going for the "I-got-interrupted-mid-bathroom-break" look? It defies the laws of gravity. He didn't walk very easily, either. I turned to Spence and motioned in butt-boy's direction.

"Why? Huh?"

"It's the style. He probably likes it." he answered.

I have serious doubts about that.

Maid of the Mist

Right under the Falls

Approaching the Horseshoe Falls

The American Falls

After the boat ride

Then the sun came out, after we were through with the tour.