11.30.2009

Photojojo#46 - Heigh Ho Heigh Ho, It's Off to Work We Go


It's Monday after a long, long weekend and back to work it is. On my way out this morning, I snapped another photo of Snow White and her seven little friends, this time with the Diana lens. This is paired with Nancy's Thanksgiving dinner hostess, who appears ready to carve up the Butterball.

11.29.2009

Daylight Diana Photos

I went on a nice hike today at Wunderlich Park. We went about 3.5 miles round trip and up to 1,200 feet. It felt so good to be out in the crisp Fall air and exercising again. I took my camera, with the new Diana lens, on the walk. I had taken some photos last night with it that were not very good. I was anxious to see how it performed in the daytime.

The Diana lens is designed for getting dreamy retro shots. It was a bit ironic that I have this very expensive Canon 40D camera that I've now attached a $60 lens to so that I can get crappy quality photos. But I do like the look of these photos - with smeared and funny colors - and they are the opposite of what this camera can do which is crisp, extremely high res photos with colors that are to die for.


This is just another option, and one that I am loving. Here are some of today's shots take at the park while on the hike.






Photojojo#45 - Short Walk on a Long Pier

Today's Photojojo is a photo of the pier by Nancy, paired with Jenny Kompolt's fatbaby boots. I visited Jenny's booth at the Celebration of Craftswomen/Ft. Mason today. Jenny's assemblage work is amazing and lovely, plus she does a great service out there in the world raising money for causes through her business Kompolt.com.

11.28.2009

Photojojo#44 - Dog Day


Today's Photojojo is going to the dogs. Nancy's shot of Riley at the beach today is paired up with my little baby Georgie. The doggy shot of George is taken with a Diana lens. The Diana lens is supposed to help me get dreamy, retro-looking shots.

I will have to practice more with it tomorrow.

11.27.2009

11.26.2009

Dogs Give Thanks


Here are the happy puppies at Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Heck, George and KiKi. Much fun ensued - George was so happy with the play date, chasing his little friends all around the house.

The Best Photojojos

Photojojo#21
Fall Pine Cone (Laura) and Dia De Los Muertos (Nancy)

created by Nancy and me over the past forty days are now on display at The Print Society. My posts there probably get mixed in with all the others, so here's a perma-link to some of my stuff for now.

Happy Thanksgiving! Today, I give thanks for cameras - large and small, digital and polaroid, old style and newfangled. They help us remember and find the beauty in even the most everyday things.

11.25.2009

Photojojo#41 - Flesh & Bones


Today's photojojo is a photo from the anatomy museum in Basel Switzerland by Nancy, combined with a photo of my hand up close taken with my iPhone.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Photojojo#40 - Still As Fun As Photojojo#1


Today marks Photojojo#40 for Nancy and me. Her photo of the Poplar Beach from the coastal trail makes me miss our morning walks, now that I'm back in "corporate mode." My pine cone snapped of the foliage on my very brief walk to work is still in touch with nature, just that it's too short. Plus nothing really compares with that walk along the headlands. I am so blessed to live near the Pacific Ocean.

Thursday marks four years living in Half Moon Bay, after 40 years in Castro Valley. Thanksgiving eve, 2005 was the first night we spent in the new house even though we didn't officially move until December 9th. We had enough furniture to sleep on and sit on, and it was a weird weekend where it felt like we had a home at the beach, after returning to the Castro Valley suburbs for another two weeks. We didn't cook - instead going out to a local restaurant. The weather this time of year is so spectacular in Half Moon Bay, and tonight, is no exception. It was a beautiful warm and sunny day (as Nancy's photo attests) and tonight I have started the holiday cooking feast with the obligatory pies. The house smells like nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, and the fridge is stocked with the turkey and all the fixin's ready to start some of the cooking tomorrow night (pre-cooking of cran sauce, prepping the mushroom green beans, and readying the onion/celery saute for the stuffing, maybe a cranberry relish jello dish. What would Thanksgiving be without a cranberry jello mold?!).

This year, I plan to go for a walk in the redwoods on Thanksgiving morning with my yoga group. Not to worry though, kids. Because the bird is smaller it will have plenty of time to cook for our 3 pm feast when I return home around 11 am. That's why I get a lot done the day before - so I can cook at my leisure and enjoy the day.

This year, I don't plan on a rerun of the sink getting all stopped up though like last November. A year later, we are composting nearly everything, so the potato peelings will go into the compost bucket rather than the sink. Better for the plumbing, and for the environment. I like the dirty dirt I get from the bottom of the pile for my plants.

11.23.2009

Photojojo#39 - Snow White and the Decorative Wall


Today is time for Photojojo#39 - Snow White and her Little Friend lawn ornaments (Laura) and a decorative wall at the local mall (Nancy).

11.22.2009

Photojojo#38 - Hers and Hers


Nancy's graffiti goes with the mannequin shot I got today at an Old Navy store. Enjoy!

11.21.2009

Photojojo #37 - Bubbly Trees and Airport Ceilings


Nancy snapped a photo of the ceiling in the Frankfurt airport and I got a weird blurry bubbly photo of some trees from inside the shuttle yesterday. It was raining, so the screening material on the windows, which is this black material with small holes in it, had water puddling in the circles. This made for some nice optical distortion when I put the iPhone camera up to the window.


11.20.2009

Today's Pictures - Without My Photojojo Partner

I think Nancy's on a long, long trip in the air back from Basel today, via Germany and Canada, so I haven't gotten any photos from her.

This morning's trip through the woods to work was spectacularly foggy. I got this one of the trees as I was driving out from 92 to 280, and another shot of a glass partition in a local restaurant.

11.18.2009

Photojojo #35 and 36

Here are today's Photojojos #35 and #36. No. 3 5 is the Dirty (Laura) Clown (Nancy):

and No. 36 is the Happy (Laura) Tree (Nancy):

11.16.2009

Three Photojojos - #32, 33 and 34 - Today

Nancy's been busy snapping photos all over Basel over the weekend. I took a few myself. Here they are paired up in the order we each took them.

I like the clown (Nancy) and the reflection of tin foil and plastic on the pan of baklava I made yesterday #34).

I have titled #33 Dangerous Tea. A warning sign by Nancy goes nicely with the teapots at the Hillsdale Mall Teavana Store.

And #32 - a photo of the sculpture that marks the confluence of French, German and Italian influences in Switzerland by Nancy, which goes with a box of Danny Boy pumpkins and squash at the local market on Saturday afternoon.

11.15.2009

Photojojo #31 - Laundry Day


Today's Photojojo is a beautiful felted pot taken by Nancy in Switzerland, and the Ching Lee Laundry sign in San Mateo taken by me.

And yes, I did do my laundry today.

11.14.2009

Photojojo #30 - Take No Prisoners

Hello and happy Saturday afternoon everyone. Today's Photojojo is one part sad gorilla at the zoo in Basel Switzerland (Nancy) and one part police patrol in San Mateo CA (Laura). Again, the synchronicity of this pairing is amazing.

11.13.2009

Photojojo#29 - Girls and Boys


Nancy's fancy girlie dress goes with my stern holiday nutcracker and someone lurking in the background.

11.11.2009

Photojojo #28 - Swiss Smoking


I'm not sure where Nancy took this photo of the lovely little girl in stripes. She's in Basel right now, so perhaps in the airport or a shop near her hotel? Mine is from the American Cancer Society booth at today's Health Fair. Dangers of smoking I suppose.