Day 181: Marley

Marley

Day 180: Bark

I walk past this tree in our neighborhood all the time and I love how chunky the bark looks.

Day 179: Spinning

Well, obviously I didn't take this picture, so I'm cheating today.  And I was on such a good stretch!  I allow myself one cheat day per month, and I haven't used it since April.

We had a nice dinner with Dustin and Linda at Zephyr, and this was taken by Dustin in the parking lot afterwards.  Owen loooooves being spun around like this, and when I put him down he gets dizzy and falls over.

Day 178: Daddy's Home!

When Owen and I get home in the afternoon and Jeremy is already there, the two of them meet on the grass out front to greet each other.  It's pretty cute.  Owen gets reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally excited.

Day 177: Solar Energy

I thought they were installing covered parking at the high school and adult school and I thought, What a waste of money!  And then I realized that they're actually for solar panels.  And then I enjoyed the cool and shady parking spot when I went to get my summer school ID badge.

Day 176: Mustang

Anyone who knew me circa 1994 knows that I would have sold a kidney if it meant I could have a Ford Mustang.  Why did I love these cars so much?  Maybe it was the pale yellow '65 Mustang convertible owned by Brandon Walsh on 90210 (which he annoyingly called "The 'Stang").  I asked for one for my sixteenth birthday, and I was given a Hot Wheels version.  Still not funny.

I never got my Mustang.  I did get a Ford, though.  Oh yes, the legendary Ford Escort, which I promptly managed to crash into a telephone pole just four months later.  (Seventeen years later, that phone pole, which had to be replaced since I knocked it out of the ground, is still the best looking one on the block.)

I saw this car in the parking lot at the Dublin Library.  Mission Impossible style, I ducked down discreetly to grab a couple photos of it.  I feel funny taking secret pictures of people's cars, but I thought I could do it quickly enough so no one would notice.  Of course just as I finished, the owner walked out, but I played it cool and drove away before she noticed me.

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Update- August 14, 2012: Look what I found in a box of old stuff...it's the birthday Mustang.

Day 175: Fair

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The last time I went to the Alameda County Fair was literally last century.  Some things have changed (now they do a security check, not unexpected, post-9/11), but in most ways it's the same old fair (lots of "interesting" people, mouth-watering deep-fried smells mingling with icky barnyard smells...)

Negative: I forgot my tripod so the photo fun with lights didn't exactly happen how I wanted;
Positive: they had gelato.

Day 174: Step Up

It's almost as if Owen could read this sign at the zoo because all he wanted to do was climb on this sightseeing viewfinder near the lion exhibit.

Day 173: My Dorky Hobby

A few years back, knitting became kind of a trendy hobby, despite the fact that I think of it as typically an old-lady activity.  So I thought that maybe there would be hope for my hobby.  But alas, cross stitching has never quite caught on and I doubt it ever will.  I am coming out of the closet with my dorky hobby, and if you come to my house at Christmas time you can see the evidence of this hobby in our Christmas stockings.  Right now I'm working on another stocking for my yet-to-be-conceived-future-second-born child, and this picture is my jumbled mess of embroidery floss.  Since I hardly ever work on it, it'll take me years to complete.  I started this one before Owen was born and I've barely done anything on it.

Day 172: Popsicle

It's the first day of summer, it was hot, and I thought it would be a good day to introduce Owen to popsicles (or "popstickles" as he called it).

Day 171: Fence

Now that I am on summer vacation (well, for just a week until summer school starts) one of my goals is to venture out of my normal home-work-home radius for my daily photo.

This project is hard.  I knew finding time would be a challenge, but what I did not anticipate was the difficulty of trying to stay fresh and original with each day.  366 is a big number, and having to think of new ideas every day when, let's face it, my life isn't all that interesting-- that's not a small task.  And on top of that, I'm always trying to improve my skills, too.  Let's hope that summer will bring some new ideas to keep me out of the ruts that I'm constantly finding myself in.

Now back to today's photo...well, technically it's still in my home-work-home radius (I went in to work today to get ready for my summer school class), but I just took a different turn on my way home and found this cool fence on a rural street.  So maybe it's as easy as taking different turn and keeping my eyes open for something new.  After all, I only need to think of 195 new things to photograph.

Day 170: Train

For our "Faux Father's Day" day with Grandpa, we headed over to Tilden Park in Berkeley.  The first stop was the steam train.  Owen was so excited to ride the train; we had been talking about it all morning.  He held our ticket all by himself and handed it to the guy so he could punch it as we got on.  Then he picked out a seat for us and kept saying, "All aboard!"  And then the train started.  He was fine at first, but then the train made a loud "Choo choo!" noise and steam came out, and Owen got a little freaked out.  I spent the rest of the train ride with him in my lap saying, "I don't like the train."  Afterwards he seemed to have forgotten his fear because he kept talking about the train ride, so I hope we can go again a little less fearfully.  And maybe not so close to that noisy engine.

We followed up the train ride with a picnic lunch near the Brazil Room where the highlight for Owen was seeing some robin birds (and where a wedding was being held at 1:30 on a Monday afternoon???)  Then in a race to beat naptime, we squeezed in a quick ride on the carousel.  Owen was asleep in the car before we even got back on the freeway.

Day 169: Father's Day

Jeremy is not that hard to please when it comes to Father's Day.  When I asked him if there was anything special he wanted to do, I didn't get much of a response, so I tried to just make sure he got some special time with Owen.  Here's how the day went down.

I took care of Owen in the morning and let Jeremy sleep in until 10:00.  He opened a present from Owen (picked out with Grammy's help) but Owen blew the surprise and made sure to tell him that it was "working tools" (actually barbeque tools) before the present was even unwrapped.  Jeremy also opened Owen's card, but again Owen had spilled the beans when he told Jeremy last week that he got him a card with a doggie on it.  Maybe we need to start teaching the kid about surprises.

Then we went out for breakfast (well, for Owen and me it was lunch by this time) at the Copper Skillet, a place that was very dad-like with their large portions of greasy/delicious traditional American breakfast fare.  After Owen's nap, he and Jeremy watched The Empire Strikes Back together, which I am declaring a Father's Day tradition.  (Last year on Father's Day it was Owen's first exposure to the movie and all the Star Wars characters onscreen; we got this on video-- priceless!)  Then Jeremy grilled chicken outside and I made the two of them do silly faces so I could get a photo of them for Father's Day.  Owen is lucky to have such a great dad :)

Day 168: Hot

Today's high temperature: 106 degrees.  Where was I?  At a birthday party.  Outside.  Luckily it was shady, but holy crap, for a girl who doesn't do so well above 80 this was pretty excruciating.  I came home after the heat had worn me down and didn't have the energy to do anything, so I sat out on the patio while Owen played at his water table.  This was my view of the lovely, green, shady trees that encircle our patio.  The positive (and almost unbelievable) side to today's hot weather is that we didn't need A/C all day today, and it was actually pretty cool inside.  That's the upside to living on the first floor shaded by trees in the summer.  So for all the complaining I do about how there's no good light to photograph inside, at least the shade will pay off on hot summer days.

Okay, I lied.  I turned on the A/C for about 15 minutes at about 7:00 in the evening when I had been home for awhile and I just couldn't cool off.

Day 167: Silly

 

I guess my class must really like Owen, or maybe I just talk about him a lot, but one of my students was thoughtful enough to get Owen an end-of-the-year gift.  I almost bought him bristle blocks for his birthday but I chose something else instead, and now he got some anyway!  He just loves these blocks (see the "castle" he built?), and in the tradition of Owen putting things on his head, he likes the bucket they came in just as much as the blocks.

Day 166: Grandpa's Birthday

You mention the word "birthday" around Owen and immediately his mind goes to two things: 1) the Happy Birthday song, and 2) cake.  Well, no cake for Grandpa's birthday, but an ice cream sandwich was a good enough substitute.  Plus, he got to help open presents.  Thankfully, this is the last family birthday for a very long time, and that's a relief.

And it was the last day of school- woo hoo!

And I only (only- haha!) have 200 more days to go on this photo project!

Day 165: Kisses

Owen and Sydney are slowly growing to be better friends.  Now Owen helps pour Sydney's dog food, brush her, and he insists that she come to his crib at night to say goodnight.  I think Sydney still mostly just tolerates Owen, but maybe there's a little part of her that loves him, too.

Day 164: Straw Hat

I need to start wearing hats.  I said that last summer, and it didn't happen.  But my face is starting to show its age, so it's becoming a necessity.  I'm soooo not a hat person and I feel out of place wearing them, but I bought a few today to try them out.

Day 163: Splash!

I am not a hot weather person.  So when I was already hot at 9:00 this morning, I knew our picnic field trip later on was going to be a scorcher.  Luckily I was able to find the shade the whole time, so besides the hot walk to and from the park, the 93 degree weather wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The kids found ways to keep cool, especially with this bucket brought by a parent.  They did lots of splashing, spraying, and head-dunking, and one mom had the idea to just throw it all over them.  They loved it!  Water and a bucket...so simple, yet so entertaining.

Day 162: "I Feel Better Now!"

Owen "throwed up" four times last night, and he had kind of a lazy day recovering today.  We stayed home and he ate only Kix and graham crackers all day, took a three-and-a-half hour nap, and watched a lot of TV and movies (this is a picture of him watching Peter Pan).  Now when we ask him if he's feeling okay he says, "I feel better!"

Day 161: Spiderweb

I saw this spiderweb by chance on the way home from a walk with Sydney.  The sun was backlighting it so it looked like it was sparkling.  By the time I went inside and got my camera, the moment had passed, the sun had moved mostly behind a tree, and the wind started blowing.  It's a little out of focus and the web isn't as shiny as I remembered.

Day 160: Bulging

I love how this Lily of the Nile looks like it is about to burst, like it's about to give birth or something.  And I'll just leave it at that.

Day 159: Mystery

This looks like it should be in one of those books where you have to guess what ordinary item is in the picture.  Mystery solved: it's a garlic press.  I was desperate.

On a side note, I have discovered how much better things taste with fresh fruit and vegetables.  I received this garlic press as a wedding gift in 2003 and only used it for the first time this year, and I will never go back to using garlic-in-a-jar ever again.

Day 158: Discovery

First he pretended it was a light saber.  Later it became a cuddly piece of fuzz.  Yes, that's right, it's a tampon.  Sometimes it's just so easy to keep Owen busy while I make dinner.

Day 157: Owen

Day 156: Rows

The plants really are that neon green color

Day 155: Xylophone

Oooooh, pretty rainbow colors!

Day 154: Sand

I think there is more sand being thrown on the patio than there is in the actual sand table, but luckily I was smart enough to only put in a small fraction of the 50 pound bag.  At least he is exploring and having fun.

Day 153: Bug

I took a short walk down our bike path trying to feel inspired for my picture-of-the-day, but I only took some unremarkable photos.  Then right outside my door I smelled the jasmine, and when I leaned down with my camera I noticed this little bug.  Looking at this picture side-by-side with yesterday's, they look pretty similar in color and composition, so maybe I'm not feeling that inspired.  But I'm loving my new lens, and I apologize for the current and future overload of plant/flower photos.