Family & Life

,

Happy Birthday

,

... to me!  32 today... yikes.  I still feel 23 though.  You might get older on paper, and your bills might get 'more adult', but as long as you don't feel old, who cares!  ​

(​Cake donations are now being accepted.)​

​I decided to snap a picture today... a self-portrait I guess... while Christine opted for a couch nap in the middle of the day.  I figured it was a good day to get a shot, seeing as I now has this wonderful winter beard which I will be cutting off soon to allow my face to enjoy summer as well.  All I have are cell phone pictures of us (me and Beardo), so a proper picture was in order.

There were some out-takes, of course.  Poses that were meant to emphasize the full meaning of beard ownership...​

So, I've had my fun for today.  Tomorow I may treat myself to some camera gear as a
"birthday business expense", and in preparation for the summer shooting season.​

Stay tuned!  Stay frosty!

Fall Things

Who knows what pile lurks in the yards of men.  In this case... the neighbors know. This gigantic pile represents about 4 hrs of ranking and leaf-blowering.  As you can see, there are still leaves on the trees, and while I would have been quite content to wait for them ALL to come down, leaf pickup is this week coming, so I wanted to be ready.

1 broken rake, 2 hrs to collect into 1 massive pile, and then 2 hrs to divide in 57 barbage cans full and shake out over the fence.  The picture doesn't quite do it justice.  I could easily fit inside this pile standing up.  Its probably 7' tall, and 10' across at the base.  An epic pile for sure.  I look forward to doing this again in 2 weeks when the rest of the leaves have come down, and Mississauga is no longer sending the truck around to suck them all up.

FRAMES_leaves1.jpg

After snapping a few pics of my handiwork outside, I went inside and happened to catch the sunbeam through the door illuminating our decorative sticks, and a scarecrow guy who I dont remember seeing before.  Either he's one of those creepy come-to-life dolls and is waiting.... waiting.... or Christine put him there from the basement.  I'm guessing the latter is more accurate, but less dramatic.

hallway.jpg

And after I was finished with the sunbeam, the dog wanted in on the action, so last be not least.... dog (yes, thats his normal face)...

FRAMES_dog1.jpg

My trip to Italy

I got back from a 2 week trip to Italy last week.  We spent a week in Rome, then took a train to Florence for another week.  I left the standard picture taking to my wife and focused myself on street photography, and some more interesting building and architecture shots.  Most of the street shots of people were taken blind, as in I did NOT put the camera up to my eye.  I set the settings and would hope for the best as far as framing, focus, and exposure.  Most turned out.  Some didn't.  The first picture below (of the old man) was 1 of the ones that didn't.  The exposure was completely off and the image was black.  I cranked the exposure in the computer and was surprised the image was still there, but very very grainy.  I liked how it looked so I decided to include it.

Here are my fav's.​...