Happy Birthday Johno

Turkey Time

We had a great Thanksgiving in Whistler, BC, with a great group of friends. The kids had fun, the parents had fun. We did a little skiing (it was pretty icy), playing in the house, and swimming at the Rec Center.

Gordy the gobbler kept watch over us on the drive

I'm kind of a big deal

Last year my friend Natalee had a crazy idea to make felt costumes for chickens. I did some photography for her, and she started an Etsy shop. Then, we made a calendar. She was recently featured in Chickens Magazine (again I took pictures). 

And now, well, it's kind of a big thing.

The 2015 calendar has just come back from the printer. And may soon be available on the Reddit marketplace.

  Its been a interesting way to keep up on my photography skills, and so much fun. All proceeds from the calendar (and costume sales) go to local animal charities. 

If you are curious, here is the Etsy Link.

Happy Halloween!

Odin had a field trip on Friday morning. I am not sure if it was a strategic plan by his teacher, knowing that the students would be rowdy due to Halloween being only hours away.  I chaperoned the field trip to the farmers market (in the rain). The kids were supposed to fill out a worksheet with items for sale and different offerings, but it was a free for all where the band was playing, and it ended up in a spontaneous 60 kid conga line.

We met up with friends later for the "main event". This was the 2nd year that we went to the same neighborhood (a friends grandparents live there). It is like sit-com Halloween. I was so taken aback by the volume of people on the street that I had to take a picture. 

This is a residential street!

Odin was Star Lord (from Guardians of the Galaxy) 

 

  Saturday night we all went to a Halloween Party. Odin came too, but it seems we have no pictures of him there. We take the RV every year, because it is about 80 miles away. Sunday morning, John put in a new alternator in to the Chev Chalet, that we bought on the way up.

John was unable to find the right pants. So I made him home (form a hideous dress) the morning before the party.

The Gang

Some time with the ladies

Last week, I met up with some college friends for a vacation in coastal Oregon. It was refreshing to not have any responsibilities for a few days. I didn't even carry the key to the house we rented.

Autumn

I brought home a scarecrow (it is Odin's old clothes)

Eclipse

Did you get up and watch the eclipse last night? I didn't. I set my alarm, and got up at 2:17 this morning, only to see a sky full of fog. I was more than a little disappointed. Every celestial event, that has been visible to our latitude, has been somehow compromised, since we moved to Washington. Sometimes it's cloudy, sometimes the moon is full, and sometimes its fog. With any luck we will be able to see the next one.

I was going to take pictures and everything!

The moon before I went to bed. The clouds were patchy but I was still optimistic.

The moon with detail

This morning. I was too mad to take pictures of the fog at 2:17.

The spider webs all looked lovely in the fog this morning.

The slugs are happy

Here in the PNW, we have turned the corner from summertime to autumn. The rains have not started in earnest yet, but the dampness has set in again. You can feel it the most at the edges of the day. It starts as a foggy morning. Then slowly, the fog burns off, and the low angle sunlight filters through the leaves on the trees. Shortly after dinner, the dampness is there again. 

I took Freki on a walk this morning after dropping Odin off at school. It is a trail we have walked many times, an old railroad grade, turned multi-use trail. This morning in the fog there was the unmistakable sounds of rain. Only, there was no rain. It was the sound of fog condensing on leaves, then dropping to the ground, played out hundreds of times a minute. I kept thinking we would get wet when we emerged from the canopy, but the rain never came. Just an invasive dampness that made me feel chilled and made my hair stick up all crazy like. 

(maybe that's just how my hair always looks)

Pictures in no real order

I'm not sure where he is going with this one.

Light painting a unicorn (with a penlight)

Another go at it, with a sparkler

During our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Slyter. Auntie Jamie was playing around with her new camera.

Hey Buddy.

Jumpoline

Pictures

The theme to my days lately is photography. I am still editing pictures from Hans and Julie's wedding. Today I did a shoot for another friend.We were by the river and I couldn't resist taking one for myself.

One of the images I worked on today.

Good people, fun times

We did a lot of living last weekend; Beth came for a visit, we went to a wedding (I was the photographer), woke up early on Sunday to go rafting and hardly stopped smiling the whole time.

The dress code for the wedding rehearsal was "over the top"

DSLR self portrait.

A rogue horse kept on photobombing

 We met up with our rafting club on Sunday morning at the Tieton River. It is a fast run, not many eddies and somewhat narrow. We left Odin with friends for the day and got to just play. Beth brought her wetsuit for the trip, I am sure it took up at least 2/3 of her suitcase. Scott (John's coworker) also joined us. We pulled the oar frame off the boat and ran it with John as paddle captain. It was his first time in that role, and he did a great job.

The same rogue horse followed us to the river

I'm not sure what Freki thought of this trip