Category Archives for Photography

Project 365 – #1of365 – Icy Branch

I can’t believe I used to find the time and inclination to post most weekdays on this blog. I guess I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment. My work blog is getting really popular so I’ve been devoting quite a bit of time to it.  The company’s still not sure what to do with it, or whether blogging is a worthwhile activity for a corporation, but they’ll see the light eventually.  I’m getting 4,000-5,000 visits per month, with an average of 4 minutes spent per visit.  People in the hardware industry are using it as a resource, and I’ve also gotten emails from architects and code officials who like it.

Today I posted my 365th post on my work blog, which seemed like a milestone.  You know, 365 days in a year and all that.  So, call me crazy, but I decided to start a Project 365 to celebrate.  Project 365 is where you post a photo each day for a year, which signifies what you were doing, thinking, seeing, or feeling that day.  I thought that I could use the project to help the readers get to know me better, get them coming back more often, and give me something fun to do besides write about doors.

Since it’s been tough for me to find time to focus on this blog, I’m going to do a Project 365 here too.  Sometimes it will be the same photo from my work blog, and sometimes it will be different.  You probably won’t want to see photos of door closers, and I don’t really want the readers of my other blog to see photos of Scorpion Bowls.  I’m also hoping to practice and improve my photography skills in the process.  I work better with a goal and a deadline.

So here’s today’s photo:

We got 20 inches of snow this week, and I’m smack-dab in the middle of an unplanned 6-day school vacation, created by 2 snow days followed by a teachers’ professional development day, the weekend, and MLK day.  I feel a little guilty saying this, but I’ve noticed that the kids have suddenly become less dependent upon me for their entertainment.  It shouldn’t make me happy that they’ve turned to electronic devices to keep them busy, but I can’t help but feel a little relieved.  I do have to work, and it’s much easier to do that when the kids aren’t expecting me to rock their world every moment.

Shutterfly

As many of you know, I make an annual photo book using the online service, Shutterfly.  The book is usually around 100 pages, and I buy copies for the grandparents so it’s a substantial investment, but I think it’s worth it.  The kids love to look at the books and it’s fun to look back over the years.  If I didn’t buy the books, the photos would likely stay on my hard drive until I worked up the energy to make a photo video, which hasn’t happened in a while.

Anyway, I really like Shutterfly’s system, and I’ve been happy with the quality of their photo books.  But just before Christmas the kids were looking at last year’s book and I noticed that some of the pages were falling out.  The kids can be pretty hard on stuff, so occasionally a page gets ripped, but there were several pages that were completely separated from the book.

I emailed Shutterfly, and they immediately credited my account for the full price of a replacement book.  This book was a whole year old, and it was pretty pricey – around $150!!  All I had to do was go into my saved projects on their site, reorder the book, and they shipped it.  I didn’t have to return the other book, and they even paid for the shipping on the replacement.  I’m really impressed, and I would highly recommend Shutterfly.

And since I’ve been lagging behind on the blog and have missed some of this year’s photo-ops, here’s our 2010 photo book for your viewing pleasure:

OSV Again

I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve been to Old Sturbridge Village this summer, but they always have different activities going on so we stopped by yesterday for a few hours.  Adlani stayed home with Ben so it’s a girls’ weekend at camp.

The Salem Towne House and barn have reopened, so Aliya tried her hand at milking the fake cow:

As soon as Norah worked up the courage to try milking, a random dad walked into the barn and moo’ed really loud.  I don’t think Norah will be milking again any time soon:

The kids got to make marbled paper:

Stagecoach and boat rides are free for a couple more weeks:

It was really windy for flower photography, but I tried anyway:

Herry the Heron

This is a great blue heron that lives near our camp in Holland.  We don’t see a lot of wildlife in Holland, although there has been an unconfirmed sighting of a “big cat” nearby.  I saw a photo allegedly taken on the Holland/CT border at Holland Market, and I checked with the local blogger to get the scoop.  He said that they weren’t sure what animal was in the photo or where it was taken, but that there had been a black bear in Holland a while back.  Not surprising considering that surrounding the congestion of lake homes there’s a whole lot of nothing (see below).  Here’s a link to the bear photos.

We were watching this wildlife on our porch at home until a visitor tore down the nest and killed the spider.  The kids forced the visitor to oversee a burial.