High School Reunion!

Last night, for the first time, I attended my high school reunion. All the other years I had some excuse for not going. At 5 years, I was living in Seattle. At 10, I'd just had baby #4, Eric was in law school and life was crazy. At 15 and 20, I'm not sure what happened. I think by that time I might have gone, but wasn't on anyone's list since I handn't been to any of the other ones, and Facebook wasn't around, so I never got word. Anyway, this time, thanks to Facebook and my mad skills at searching the internet, I found out the details and finally made it.  Of course, it was great fun. I talked myself hoarse, recognized lots of people instantly, recognized others after checking their nametag, wished that others who weren't there had been, and was astonished when the evening was gone and it was time to go home. It was so sweet to talk with friends after so long and still find things in common; the conversation flowed quickly and comfortably. I didn't even get to say hi to everyone that I meant to. Considering how hard it is for me to be in crowds and think of things to say, that is significant for me. Sadly, at that time in my life I had such a skewed perspective of myself, and because I'm sometimes too deep a thinker, I often dismiss high school as a somewhat unhappy time.  I think I dwell too much on my mistakes. The better perspective is that I did a lot of good things like music and sports and plays and such,  and I managed to hang onto to some very, very high quality friends. I really liked being among these high school peers and just smiling the whole time.

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Photography Blather

Here is another shot from my trip to NY last month. I really liked the reflections there at this little pond we visited and made a bunch of similar images. It is a good lesson in the difference in power between direct and reflected light. Notice how, in order to get the trees exposed the way I wanted, I had to overexpose the actual sky and blow it out to white, but the reflected sky is exposed perfectly. Photography is so interesting. Often in photos like this in print and magazine work, the upper sky would just be cloned in from the reflected sky. i could have done that but I wanted to show what happened. You can also use various filters to get the sky to show up better. I also could have underexposed the trees to get the bluer sky, then photoshopped to even things out, but then I would have lost some of the detail and color of the foliage. It's all about priorities. Skies are tricky, and it is one of my goals to be able to shoot them predictably.

These next couple may end up on my wall. In this one, I was so happy to capture these goosies in just the right profile with their graphic feather patterns showing up against all the water and leaves. I haven't played with it yet, but I'd like to see if there's enough contrast for an interesting black and white conversion.

Lastly, here is an architectural study. I'm not terribly good at buildings, but I love architecture and geometry. This one turned out a treat for me because of the way the tree in the background echoes the curve of the arch. I like the way the eye is drawn through the arch to the scene beyond. That made me happy. I've had all sort of picnik fun playing with vintage camera effects:

I will probably never be able to decide whether I truly like photographing people or places and things better. Each one offers interest, challenge, frustration and joy in pretty much equal amounts. Luckily, I don't really have to choose. So I won't.

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Happenings

• I'm getting real live prescription glasses because my eyes are just bad enough to need them but, get this, the drugstore readers are TOO strong for the time being (not for long the dr. said). That's why they weren't working. I asked the doctor if I am just a wimp and she said no, she sees this all the time at the beginning stages of age-related vision failure. (!?) Yeah, that was the phrase she tossed off with casual abandon. Apparently the only way to go from here is downhill. Plus I am both near and farsighted so yep, I'm getting bifocals. Yay 43!
• The new iMac is on the way. The shipping announcement came yesterday. I'm pretty excited, but not nearly as excited as a certain blonde-headed kid that I know. He has taken it upon himself to track the package and remind me to put out the pre-signing authorization each day in case I'm not home when it comes.
• Soccer and Cross-Country are done but wrestling starts tomorrow. Sam is so excited, which makes me happy. I decided to talk to him about letting me help him get his weight down. I am going to supervise him going on the Slim Fast diet so I can monitor his carbs, vitamins and minerals and try to keep him losing weight without going into ketosis. I don't know why I didn't think of this 4 years ago because he was actually happy for the help and relieved that it wasn't going to be a big fight and cause of stress this year. What a doh! moment! Instead of him cutting weight and coping with it by himself and me constantly worrying about it and nagging him as well, now we're working together to get where he wants to be to wrestle his best. How's that for a different way of looking at things? So much time wasted that I could have been helping him and making him feel supported and that I was actually his ally instead of his enemy. Sometimes parenting is just plain hard and I'm just stupid about it, but I'm glad that we always get the chance to try again.
• First quarter of school is over and everyone survived. Sara is still not completely convinced that the current meds are helping her ADD, but I have noticed some very positive changes. Some of those changes have been in my own self, but overall, her loveliness is just dazzling right now. She's really doing well. She took an online photography class during the beginning of the school year since she ended up not playing volleyball, and I just loved the images she got; and those just for practice. She has a marvelous eye-fearless and creative. Sam is deep into college apps, focusing mainly on two schools, one a Service Academy. He's got his Congressional Nomination Applications done and submitted, so now we wait to hear on those. He'll apply for early decision at his second choice school by December 1st. Evan is relieved to find out that a science project he's been working on for a year is no longer required for a grade in his GT program, so now he can relax and do the experiment just for curiosity and fun. Ironically, he has suddenly become much more enthusiastic about it.
• Eric is super-busy this week with both work and church. He's had clients in town from Korea (his firm does huge amounts of work for LG) and has been in meetings a lot. For church, our congregational boundaries are being changed this Sunday, and he as Bishop has to begin assessing how our congregation will change. It is always a good thing when this happens because it means that there is growth in the church, which hopefully means that more people are living in the light of Christ and feeling the peace that comes therefrom. On the other hand, because church is a social as well as a spiritual community, many people are anxious about the changes due to the fact that interaction with dear friends will decrease if they are moved to another congregation. We attend church according to geographical boundary and by assignment, not by choice. As an act of faith, the members will accept these changes and move on to the new situation, by and large without public complaint or attempt to appeal the decision. It is actually a beautiful thing to see. I have seen congregations of other faiths ripped apart and even destroyed by a change of pastor or by merging with another congregation. I have never seen anything like that among members of my church.This will be a mostly peaceful, orderly change, with nearly everyone pitching in to do their part while things settle down. I know that I'll keep in touch with friends, and this way, the circle of friendship grows ever larger, rather than staying all comfy cozy and never including anyone new. There is a consistency and simplicity to the way we are organized that to me is an evidence that what I believe comes from God and not Man.
• My older boys both continue to thrive in their respective situations. Down in Chile, Johnathan has moved inland from the coast and is seeing both a different side of the country and exploring new horizons of his own abilities. He is now a senior companion to an elder who has only been out for 2 months and is overseeing the opening up an area that has been closed to missionary work for a while. This is actually a huge responsibility, which means that the President trusts him. That makes me happy. He is past his year mark, so we are now counting down months till he comes home next September or so. He's so happy though, so I hesitate to even think that way lest I rob him of a single moment of his own glorious experience. Jeff is out in beautiful downtown Provo, working hard and playing hard and looking so very forward to ski season. I asked him if he wanted to go see any of my many relatives that live in the West during the Thanksgiving break and he sort of sheepishly said that really, he'd rather stay in town for the opening weekend at the resorts. Yay Jeff! He'll find a friendly table somewhere to eat a little turkey if he wants. Or he'll stop for burgers to and from his first exhilarating day on the mountain. I think for him, it's a win-win situation. That seems to be his modus operandi, which means that instead of worrying about him, I can just smile and enjoy his excited report about the weekend.

So, that's what's going on here in my little corner. Look for me in my new glasses. I haven't made my final choice yet, but since this is a one-shot deal, not changeable eye jewelry like the cute readers, I'm keeping more on the classic side of things. I did try on the Harry Potter circles, but am not sure I can pull it off. Some nice, clean Ray-Ban black blocky ones are the ones I keep coming back to. I do really like the red or tortoiseshell Wayfarers, but man, that is a bold statement to have on my face all the time. Since contacts aren't an option and she wants me to wear them all the time, it's sort of a big decision. Let's hope that I, like Indiana Jones, choose wisely.

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The Week of Watching

For those of you who kindly and supportively followed the story of the demise of my computer on facebook, thanks and feel free to skip this post.

This week, I watched computer screens a lot. I watched as they didn't turn on, or as they turned the wrong color. I watched as nothing at all happened and felt my stomach fall into my feet. I've known that my Old One, a pre-iSight iMac circa 2005, was going to start living on borrowed time pretty soon. It is 4 years old, which in computer years is approximately 1,488 human years, give or take, but no matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, watching it suddenly happen is just plain upsetting. Then when reality set in and I knew it was gone, I watched as little boxes told me that byte by byte, the vast amounts of data stored in the Old One's brain were getting saved in a new place. It turns out that the hard drive on the old machine is actually fine. Nothing else is working however, so we had to move it. We still don't know what is wrong, but Eric will try to figure it out and see if we can salvage it as the kids' computer, as theirs is also reaching the age in computers years of slow, painful death.

Anyway, I have to say that I was pretty stressed and so now I'm pretty relieved. 98% was already backed up somewhere else, but losing that two percent from the last little while was giving me fits to think about. It was also giving me fits to think about how upsetting a simple computer crash was. It definitely brought up the thoughts I occasionally have of moving off the grid for a while and readjusting my whole paradigm. Off to the woods and mountains with me! To Walden we go!

Not really. My modern, suburban life is what it is, and I like it most of the time. I live off the grid every so often and remind myself that I can do it. Plus, my compost pile keeps me firmly connected to the earth and frankly I like that I can come in from my compost pile, wash my muddy hands and research all sorts of ways to make better compost on my super-cool computer! There, I feel better. I'm actually a model of balanced modern living. (HA HA) Thankfully, we're able to get another machine, and it will better serve for the things I use a computer for-photos at the semi-pro level, music and designing knitwear. I had in many ways, already outgrown the Old One. So, the saga of the computer lasted only about a week and had a happy ending. Naturally, it was a happy ending that was not in the plan for right now, so we are fans of 6 month/no interest financing, thank you very much. I was saving to buy a new computer in about 6 months anyway, so it all works out.

Now the whole family is watching for that box to come in the mail.

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Overheard

I'm still working on getting more beautiful Autumn foliage photos posted from my trip. Three words: My Computer? Dead. In the meantime, posting from the family PC, here is a transcription of a conversation between all of us at our weekly family council where we calendar and discuss family matters. It starts out a little dry, but gets better, I promise.

Me: I need some cooperation in my quest to not have the front room look like a walk-in closet. I understand that you need a place to dump your stuff, but can we come up with a better solution than it just being all over the front room? Can we put all your stuff in the armoire if I make room? How about if each of you have your own basket by the window?

Sam: Why does it stress you out so much?

Sara: Yes, what is the big deal? It's just so much easier to have everything just stay there, then I can grab it on my way out the door.

Eric: Because that is our front room (we have no entryway-front door dumps right into the living room) and it is nice for that area to be neat and tidy when people come to the door.

Sam: I know, let's just blindfold people as they come in the door. We can make it a ritual, like the Japanese remove their shoes and put on slippers.

(Universal laughter)

Eric : I know, let's blindfold MOM instead, then she won't know what the room looks like. Problem solved!

(Yes, that was my HUSBAND, who made a show of being on MY side. This got a unanimous response as being by far the best solution and the discussion dissolved into laughter. Naturally, no real solutions were found.)

The good news is that all my housekeeping problems have been solved. I'll just pretend they don't exist. Blindfolds all around, friends! Maybe this won't be so bad.

Here's another taste of the Autumn Foliage visual feast I experienced in NY and Connecticut:

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