Can you guess what it is?
There's nothing like a sunny day to motivate you to move!
As all of you in Portland know, today was an awesome day. I would say it was truly the first day of the year where I actually wanted to be outside. There have been other sunny and warm days, but something about today was different. Heidi and I walked down to the local tennis courts and tried out the rackets we both got for Christmas. We were both a little rusty, but it was fun. When we got home Jupiter was enjoying the sun coming in the front window. Mainly he was enjoying the crows outside who were all enjoying the sun as well. We had a really late lunch/early dinner of BBQ'd salmon burgers. It was the perfect temperature to be out on the patio.
We went out tonight to celebrate our friend Dave's birthday. The evening started with dinner at Mio Sushi! Yummy! You all know how much I love sushi...twice in one week and I'm in heaven. Then we took the MAX downtown to have a drink. We ended up at Kells which was so packed the only table we could find was out front. I almost went into a tirade when I had to go inside to go to the bathroom and they wouldn't let me in without paying the cover. Even though I'd been outside paying for drinks. What's up with that? Sorry, I'm not going to pay $5 to go to the bathroom.
Well, a city block of them at least. We had to make a run into downtown tonight looking for a book for Heidi to use in class in the coming days. We thought it would be fun to bring the camera along and just see what caught our eye. While I was waiting for Heidi to finish looking at travel books this colorful stack of baskets caught my attention. We made it out of there with only what we came for, so I consider it a successful trip.
How does it pile so high when there are only 2 people in the house?
Don't worry, I'm not considering quitting my job to become a professional photographer. Although, today I did get paid to take some pictures. Mike, one of our engineers, is going to a military trade show down in Florida and was needing some literature and posters. Knowing that I was into photography he asked me to bring my gear to work and take some pictures. This is in a field near the airport and is in the flight path the Air National Guard uses. We jokingly hoped that a F-15 might fly over as I was taking picture, unfortunately it didn't happen.
Seriously!
I was fooling around with the macro lens and a quarter, when Heidi walked in and suggested looking at the coins we have from other countries. I was intrigued by this British pound that had writing on its edge, I've never seen coins with writing on the side. Heidi knew it was in Latin, but didn't know its meaning. The literal translation is no one provokes me with impunity. Put more simply, no one attacks me and gets away with it. I like the saying a lot, it's my new favorite Latin saying, not that I had one before.
I was playing around with the new lens tonight. Gabe was getting really tired of staring at the camera for me. The light was drying out his eyes. I wish the reflection of the light wasn't in his eye but that's the best I could do. But I do like that you can see the reflection of my hand in his pupil.
The Oregon Trail Rally is this weekend. Today was held at PIR. The track area provides a neat place to spectate, allowing you to see the rally cars in all types of conditions. This is a picture of Ken Block, founder of DC Shoes and member of the Subaru Rally Team. I spent the bulk of my day telling the cars where to go when they weren't on the track. I had a little time to take pictures, and this is what I ended up with.
What a beautiful day this turned out to be.
Not that we really went anywhere, but Blogger was having problems with photos yesterday. I tried uploading this one and it didn't go, plus some of our other pictures had disappeared. Looks like everything is good to go today though. This is a picture of some of our hostas coming up in the back yard, and is the first picture we've posted taken with our new macro lens. There will be plenty more with it, I'm sure.
I had to snap a quick shot tonight! Gabe got home late because traffic was terrible and I had to go back to school at 6:30 this evening. It's forecasting night. Time for kids to pick those classes for next year already! This is Gabe reaching in to get a snack when he got home. We both had to stand there and stare at the fridge hoping something wonderful, and quick to put together, would jump right out. Left overs it was.
I'm not going to tell you, it's up to your imagination. I will tell you that this was taken while playing Tiger Woods '07. Mike and I were on a team against Bryan and Dave. Much to Bryan's surprise his team was actually having to play well to stay in the match. I will admit they won after 18 holes and a sudden death overtime. Mike and I did win the front 9, which was the game we set out to play, so I'll mark it a win in our column.
Good thing Gabe's an ACHIEVER. We've been doing a bunch more yard work this weekend and when Gabe went to start the lawnmower this afternoon he pulled the pull-start cord right out of it. I thought this picture would be funny given the shirt.
I'm sure you all are getting tired of seeing plant pictures by now. Well, too bad. There had just been a rain storm come through and the sun broke out. I headed out with the camera to see what I could see. We have this akebia vine that we rescued from our old house. It spent it's first year at this house draped over some other bushes until I finally built it a trellis. This spring it's really taken off, which I'm pleased about. This shot is actually of the under side of the leaves with the water drops on top, it's kinda difficult to see. I thought the colors were nice and really like how you could see the veins in the leaves.
I love the smell of lilacs! They just opened up this week and I'm enjoying their sent every time I leave our house and again when I return.
Heidi's friend Peggy came over to visit tonight (she and her husband Paul live in LA). It's always neat to see them together chatting away, knowing they've been friends since they were very young. You can just tell they know each other very well.
Enough said.
OK...I'm feeling a little "gamed" out. Those of you who know me really well know that I like board games, but I can only take so much. Well, I think I've had too much. Games on Friday night, Games tonight. I think I'm done for a while. Not to mention that in all the games I've played...I haven't won a single one.
Today being Easter, candy has to be consumed. One of Heidi's favorite Easter treats is Peeps. I'm not sure why, I think they are the lowliest form of marshmallow. The highest form is, of course, the elusive dark chocolate s'more with a perfectly browned marshmallow made over hot coals. There is some weird cult following with these things too, according to this survey, Britney Spears is the female celebrity in most need of Peeps. Weird. They even make them for all kinds of holidays now too. To top it all off there is even a kit to make your own Peeps. I'm officially afraid of Peeps taking over the world.
We went over to Dave and Carley's house this evening for a Good Friday dinner and some games. We had some great breads and cheeses to start with, followed by some excellent soups for the main course. While snacking we were all out in the backyard enjoying the amazing weather when I noticed that the clouds were really cool looking. Luckily we had brought the camera, hoping to have something to take a picture of to post. I thought the sky would be a neat shot. The evening continued on with more food and some fun games but I didn't manage to get the camera out again. So a picture of the sky it is.
It sure seems like summer. Look at the damage that was done to my strawberries today! Gabe went out to BBQ dinner and when I went out to see if he needed anything, he was watering my thirsty strawberries. I have no idea what the high temp. was today but I swear it was almost 90 in my classroom this afternoon. It's on the west side of the building and the wall of windows lets in a lot of heat. Plus, I had kids staying after school to work on a project today so I felt fried when I left at 5:15.
I've really been loving the new lens we got. The depth of field (or lack of) is just incredible. We've been mainly taking macro shots with it though, so I really think a macro lens is in our future. This is just a shot of the siding on our house, but the color really pops and I like the way the focus fades.
is the Tuesday photo challenge this week.
So maybe there was no need to call fore on this shot by Dave, but a few times when I was at the tee it was needed. We weren't playing "real" golf (too much work), nor was this putt-putt golf (too cheesy), this is the perfect combination of both. This was Par three pitch-and-putt golf at McMenamins Edgefield. There is an opportunity to grab a beer every few holes and you only need to take two clubs with you, in my mind, it's the only way to golf.
Our cat likes people. ALOT! He wants to be where ever we are. If we're in the living room watching TV...he's there. If we're in the kitchen making dinner...he's there. If we're in the shower...he's there. And when we're trying to post our weekend adventures on the blog...he's there. Not helpful Jupiter!
FRIDAY-
SATURDAY-
