02/11/11 - Amy

"Morning Commute"
There are so many photos from this Friday morning that I could have uploaded, but I chose this one, because I was pleased with the capture of the man walking across the street. It reminded me of this Henri Cartier-Bresson photo that I have loved since I first discovered it in an undergraduate course on photography at BU: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Photo_cartierbresson_europe.jpg

On this particular Friday morning in the city, I went to the Today Show, mainly because I wanted to get on TV with my University of Aberdeen banner. I stood outside in the freezing cold for one hour, waiting for the half-hourly moments when the camera crew came outside to film those short crowd segments. After an hour, I gave up, I was so cold (I did make onto the TV, though!). Then I walked around a bit, and found a place where they were doing road works, and there was a typical New York scene of smoke billowing out of a manhole. So, I started snapping. You can see the rest of my NY adventures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=269301&id=529082182&l=c69dffb8fb

02/15/11 - Dennis

"Mac at Night"

02/14/11 - Dennis

Middle Earth?

02/14/11 - Lori

This is the only photo I took today, a quick one before work - I had grand ideas of taking more pictures suitable for Valentine's Day, but oh well ~ we don't do much with V-day in our house, so why should I expect to do so on PAD? Anyway, in hindsight, this could have a lot better if not for f/3.5 and with a lower ISO - however it's the only shot I took, so it's the only one to choose from!

02/13/11 - Paul

Fleur de Tissu

02/12/11 - Paul

A good bottle.

02/13/11 - Lori

Moving Forward

It was a weekend of milestones for our girl. Although Cassie's had the crawl position down for a while, she never really went anywhere with it. Until Friday night that is. I walked away for a second, looked back, and there she was on my heels, following me out of the room! Suddenly she can go anywhere and get to anything. My next goal is to have her crawl through this table.

She also started eating "non-baby" food this weekend - pancakes, eggs, peas, carrots - this is a big milestone for Mama, because I never did get to buy the "Feeding Babies for Dummies" book I was convinced I needed in order to feed her something other than a jar or a bottle. Don't ask - I have issues!

02/12/11 - Lori

New York, Meet France

This photo captures my memories of mixing French & American during our trip to NYC. The best part of my day was walking around the city at night, taking pictures and laughing with Amy & Julien. What a fun blend of culture, personality, and ego :)

02/11/11 - Paul

Jack and helo.

02/10/11 - Paul

More light and fabric.

02/11/10 - Lori

New Old Bag

Thank you, Consignment Store, for having the perfect bag for me to bring to NYC!

02/10/11 - Lori

Dixie's Turn

02/10/11 - Dennis

02/09/11 - Dennis

02/10/11 - Amy

"Hello from NYC!"
I would be lying if I said that I took this picture on purpose. I did have the idea to hold my camera parallel to the ground and shoot up to get the buildings towering over. One of the shots caught my face in the frame, and I like the effect. So, here it is! Hello!

02/09/11 - Paul

GRUMPYPANTS

02/09/11 - Lori

Macro Texture

If not for PAD, I would not have taken photos today. It was a cranky, stay outta my way, just get through it kind of day. At 9:30pm I said, "oh shit, I've gotta PAD". I was already in bed with the laptop and did not feel like figuring out what to take a photo of. I had my P&S nearby and started snaping shots of my fingernails, remote control, comforter, anything that I did not have to move to shoot - then I switched it to macro mode (which I had not used on this camera yet) and took the same photos again; here you have a picture of my bedside lampshade.

I will give a half-hearted thank you to PAD tonight for getting me to try the macro mode on my new P&S.

(This was a first for me - I did not even load my photos to my computer, I am so tired. I uploaded to PAD right from the camera. )

02/09/11 - Amy

"My Favourite"
Lori will be pleased to know that this was purchased in New Jersey, not in one of the non-existent Dunkin Donuts in the City! This is my absolute favourite cuppa, and I look forward to it every time I come back to the US.

As I was taking this photo, a man walked by and said to me "I've never seen anyone do that before." I've heard that once before, when I was taking a photo of a bridge in Paris, from an unusual angle. Every time I hear it, it leads me to believe that I'm doing something right :)

02/08/11 - Amy

Amy in the City
Just like Sarah Jessica Parker...well, almost...

02/08/11 - Paul

Embrace pervasive change as a necessity.

02/08/11 - Dennis

"Deep in Thought"

This little guy (aka, Hamilton) was given to Cassandra years ago. I just love the texture and cracks throughout the figure...so much character in such a little guy!

02/08/11 - Lori

Defective Yankees Lamp

Julie's small office provides many PAD possibilities; tonight I used her lamp as my subject. There may be more PADs from her office in the future.

She told me that she was shopping for a lamp at Bob's and asked the salesperson if they had any Red Sox ones. He looked in the back, returned to her, and said the only ones they had left were "defective Yankee lamps". She could not understand why someone would suggest a Yankees lamp to a Red Sox fan ~ until he showed her this lamp and repeated that it is a "defective Yankees lamp".

02/07/11 - Amy

"Good Times with My Girl"
(Lori, I know you use 'my girl' for Cassie, but I use it here in the Sex and the City sense...the girls sometimes called each other 'my girl.')

When Lori and I reconnected a few years ago, one of the things that we connected on was photography. Lori showed me her blog, and I was so impressed! It was Lori who inspired me to pick up a camera again (I had kind of played around with a Pentax K1000 in high school), so it's her that I have to thank for being here (on PAD)! Whenever we hang out, one of the things I enjoy most is taking pictures with her. We spent an entire day in New York a few years ago taking photos, and I love the fact that we both 'get' the whole 'walking around and having to stop to take a photo' thing, which usually just annoys other people. On Sunday, we had a blast taking pictures at breakfast, and last night, the icing on the cake of our hanging out together was a few minutes of 'looking for our PAD' picture and shooting together.

As Lori would say: Bliss.

02/07/11 - Lori

I wish all Mondays could end like this :)

02/07/11 - Paul

After-school snack (farm cereal).

02/06/11 - Paul

What's a Super Bowl spread without a little help?

02/07/11 - Dennis

Giant sized antique Planter's Pennant Peanuts glass jar.

02/06/11 - Lori

Amy's PAD In The Making!

Eh, the DOF could have been ... and the Lighting could have been ... and the Focus could have been .... but you know what? The FUN we had was PERFECT!!!

02/06/2011 - Amy

One woman's junior prom date is another woman's senior prom date...
Awesome morning with Friends at Central Perk (OK, Perk on Main...) - so much fun that the waitresses were envious!
And yes, I did take this picture! :)

02/05/2011 - Amy

"Recharging my Batteries"

02/05/11 - Dennis

My fiance returned from her week long Alaska trip yesterday. I decided to pick up some roses to give her when I met her at the airport...

02/05//11 - Paul

Shelley spent all day making Jack this Batman quilt. It seems as though he likes it since he keeps walking around, wearing it like a cape, and calling himself a king.

02/05/11 - Lori

Mmmm

Appropriate that this donut is on my thigh ~ 'cause that's where it's going to end up permanently ;)

02/04/11-Lori

Morning

02/04/11 - Paul

Forced Fun

02/04/11 - Amy

"Waiting at the Gate"

The picture says it all!

02/03/11 - Amy

"For Lori"

I wish I had had time to post this on the day that I took it. I was packing, looked down, saw this, and remembered who I am coming home to see! :)

(Lori gave be this travel jewellery bag for Christmas!)

02/02/11 - Amy

"Blue Berry"

I had an incredibly busy day, and snapped this picture just as I was heading out of work...not a posed picture; this single blueberry was left on my desk after lunch.

02/04/11 - Dennis

Addicted.

02/03/11 - Paul

Guess who doesn't have school tomorrow.

02/03/11 - Dennis

Mystery Man

I good friend of mine asked that I take a picture of him today - and specifically requested that it not end up on PAD. Well, seeing that these pictures were the only ones I shot today, I didn't have a choice. ;-)

So, with respect to my friend's anonymity, here it is - with a *little* post editing to protect his true identity.

Paul, care to comment on this picture?

02/03/11 - Lori

Hanging Around

02/02/11 - Dennis

Fire in the Sky

I saw this beautiful creation in the sky on the way home from work tonight. One of those times that I was so grateful to have my camera with me in the car. But, I'm frustrated with how the picture turned out....the original looked SO much more vibrant and colorful on my MacBook. Once I uploaded the picture, it seems to have lost some of its life - but hopefully, you still get the idea.

02/02/11 - Lori

For Carmen

I'm a Sharpie-Person. Love them. I could go into a psycho-self-analysis, but will refrain. Carmen got me this rainbow set of Sharpies for Christmas. I typically choose one color to work with each day. One of my employees, when I am explaining something new to her, now says, "Can you just put it in a Sharpie for me?" ~ so I write the process down with a colorful Sharpie message and she posts it to her wall.

02/02/11 - Paul

Sioux Buffalo Hunt

02/01/11 - Paul

A bad day for my photography. I abhor this photo but love the subject. It's perhaps my favorite lens.

When it's mounted on my F5 I fall in love with shooting all over again. I suspect if I ever get a job and enough cash together (hopefully before I have to shoot Dennis' wedding) it will be that way with a full frame DSLR too.

02/01/11 - Dennis

02/01/11 - Lori

Ugly Feet

If the Barenaked Ladies put out an album titled, "Ugly Feet", this could be the album cover. Jim and Cassie in the tub (I feel compelled to share he wears a bathing suit) and two ugly feet. Yes, I called my child's foot ugly. If the shoe fits .. ;)

Couldn't you just hear BNL singing about these ugly feet??

01/31/11 - Lori

Belated Birthday

Is is quite appropriate that I am posting this pic, taken on 1/31, a day late. Since we started this blog, I had planned my picture for January 30th. My mother would have been 62 on that date. I habitually forgot or did not celebrate my mother's birthday in the best way ~ terrible, I know. (but I usually knocked Mother's Day out of the park). Of course, I did not take this picture on her birthday! I took it the day after - completely not on purpose. Perhaps it was meant to be. Anyway, this is Mom (a piece of her at least) sitting on the windowsill at the top of my stairs where she now lives.

One year, I think it was her last birthday alive actually (1/30/08), I did not remember until the next day that it was her birthday. I lived in AZ at the time and was out shopping on the 31st while talking to her on the phone. She mentioned how the nurses at the nursing home had done something for her and I said, "OH SHIT!" .. you'd have to know our relationship but it was kind of ok. I think. Probably not. Let's just assume it was.

I was near a Hallmark store, so I found a belated birthday card and mailed it to her. When she received the card, she sincerely told me it was worth my missing her birthday because the card was so funny. It went something like this:

(on the outside)
I was going to apologize for forgetting your birthday when I realized, what if something happened to me? What if the reason I did not call you was because I was hurt, in an accident, or even in the hospital? Did you call me to find out what had happened to me?

(on the inside)
I've decided to forgive you for not calling me on your birthday.

When I picked up her things at the nursing home after she passed away, the card was there - she had hung it on the wall. I still have it somewhere with her things. So - Happy Belated Birthday, Mom -- I took the picture a day late and posted it a day later. I would not want to monkey with tradition.

02/01/11 - Amy

Today was a day for daydreaming...this is the view from my office window. It was hard not to stare out past my computer screen on this gorgeous sunny day...