Category Archives: P365

Project 365

Don’t Call it Fall

After living here for eight years, I still refuse to use the word “Fall” to describe this season. It just doesn’t seem like an important enough word for the beautiful soft light that bathes the city and the the amazing colors dripping from the trees.

If I sound a little too upbeat about this season that precedes the impending doom of Winter, it’s because the sun is shining today. It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do to lift the spirits and almost make us forget that we have three months of overcast skies in our immediate future.

Of course I’d much rather be outdoors taking photographs than working, but I’ll have to make do with sharing a few quick photos that I managed to capture on a late afternoon autumn day a couple of weeks ago – before the time changed and we were plunged into darkness at 4:30pm. (It’s not all roses here).

Still, Autumn in Portland is beautiful. I’m going to try and enjoy it while it lasts.

Wordless Wednesday: Clouds Over Portland

Approximately 5pm. The drive home from work was a lot more pleasant while looking at a beautiful sky (and with my eyes on the road, of course).

Just Your Average Mild Mannered Reporter

I was cleaning up my desk at work yesterday and came across some toy glasses that had been purchased for an employee prank a while ago (long story). And of course when you come across a pair of black spectacles and you have a child who’s currently obsessed with Superman, you immediately consider how perfect they would be for the “Clark Kent” portion of his costume.

So I took them home and then spent the rest of the evening helping my three year old get in and out of his disguise. The Superman costume was underneath and, in the absence of a suit and tie, he wore the Fireman Sam costume over the top. Glasses can only be worn when the superman costume is hidden. It’s important to maintain the secret identity.

After his bath, he asked me to make a little curl out of his hair in the middle of his forehead. It lasted about 30 seconds before it dried.

He also went to school dressed as Superman for the second day in a row.

One of the fun details of our life right now.

Going Dark

I haven’t had much to say around here lately. Actually, I supposed I HAVE had stuff to say, just not the time to say it.

I still don’t have time to put together anything deep and meaning so, instead, I will share  my stream of consciousness on a Monday morning. You’re welcome.

  1. I joined the gym. Week #1 went very well (4 visits!) and I’m looking forward to quickly becoming addicted to exercise (hah!).
  2. Autumn is definitely here – the leaves are falling from the trees and I’ve dusted off my winter coat. Our Summer was so short that it’s hard to get used to the fact that Winter is just around the corner.
  3. Although I am still firmly in denial, the end of daylight saving over the weekend threatens to pull me kicking and screaming into the new season.
  4. Sunset is at 4:50pm today. A moment of silence please.
  5. Samuel woke up in a great mood today – maybe the end of daylight saving is not such a bad thing after all.
  6. He went to school as Superman.
  7. It hurts to laugh thanks to my Yoga class on Saturday. It’s a good hurt.
  8. I ordered our takeout Turkey yesterday. Bring on Thanksgiving…
  9. …but not before I get on top of a couple of Xmas gift projects. Suddenly feeling very far behind.
  10. Thomas spent a good part of yesterday practicing his writing and drawing on the iPad. Moved a request for one of my own up to the top of my Christmas list.
  11. Catching up on Damages on Netflix. Fantastic new favourite show that I can watch while running on the treadmill – for about 10 minutes anyway (I’m easing myself in…).
  12. I hate ending a list on an odd number.

So I leave you on this Monday morning with a photo that is completely unrelated to the rest of post. Seems appropriate.

The theme for this week’s I Heart Faces challenge is “Black“. Because I had already exhausted my small Halloween photo collection,  I had to go back a couple of months to find this photo that I took on the day we visited the Zoo right before Karin and Mayumi went back to Japan. I love how the sea lion looks like he has his own space in our family picture.

Happy Monday – here’s to being a couple of hours closer to Friday!

Early Pumpkin Picking

We did the pumpkin patch early this year for a few reasons:

  1. I was trying to avoid going after the Portland rain has set in and the pumpkin patches become on massive mud patch, trampled by thousands of people.
  2. The weatherman promised we would have a sunny day… and then said it likely would not last. When you live in Portland, you make the most of the sunny days, especially in October.
  3. I wanted to get the Pumpkin Patch thing out of the way. It’s one of those American traditions that I have embraced (and enjoy) but, if I leave it too late, I feel as though it’s infringing on my ramp up to Christmas. I realize that Thanksgiving is in the middle there as well, but I can’t wait until December to begin thinking about gifts and Xmas music. And, thanks to my annual takeout Turkey dinner, Thanksgiving is one of the easiest holidays.

We skipped the Pumpkin Patch last year. Having just returned from a couple of weeks in Japan, it was just a little too much. This year we decided the more the merrier and invited our friends Amelia and Alison (and their Mum Suzi). Our destination? Plumper Pumpkins Patch.

I promise Samuel was there – he just started the day a little camera shy.

And a little tractor shy. He and I walked behind the very-slow-moving vehicle.

The best thing about plumper, besides their good selection of carve-worthy pumpkins, is the number of kid-friendly activities they have available. We spent at least a couple of hours exploring corn mazes, sliding down hay bales and saying hi to some farm animals. I tried not to think to much about the fate about to befall the dozen or so turkeys.

Oh, and before you peruse the rest of the photos, I want to point out one small thing… Neither of my children are wearing sweat pants – the first time this has happened in…well…ever! Sure, it was mainly because I was yet to do the laundry and I refused to allow them to wear pants with holes in the knees, but I consider this a HUGE accomplishment. They’re both very attached to their “soft pants.”

Bonus point to Samuel for managing to dress himself in pumpkin colors. The perfect choice for blending into corn mazes.

Hay ride.

Obstacle Course and string maze (harder than it looks).

Races down the hay bale slide (faster than it looks).

Farm animals (smellier than they look).

And the duck races.

Finally, after a run through the kid-size hay maze, we were ready to pick out our pumpkins.

Not those ones, of course, they’re just pretty to photograph.

Then it was off to lunch where the impatience of a long wait for food was eased a little thanks a little invention from Steve Jobs that we like to call the “sanity saver”.

A fun day with friends. Now to find a little time to carve my pumpkin. I think I might carve a ghost design this year.

Five Things Friday: Things I Love

Quick FTF post today. See what I did there? With the abbreviation? 🙂

1. School pictures that are actually worth paying for.

2. Photos that perfectly portray the personality of a three year old who loves to jump (complete with the tongue sticking out for concentration).

3. Photographing fun charity events.

4. That an Aussie won said charity event.

5. The weekend is only hours away.

Plans for this weekend include a little apple tasting at the Portland Nursery (something we planned to do last weekend), more organizing and running errands and, I hope, a whole lot of relaxing with my boys.

How About Those Pumpkins?!

I’m currently in a photo editing frenzy – for my day job and my hobby job and my full-time-mummy job. Back soon with more…uhhh…pumpkins.

Newport, Oregon Day 5: Samuel Spots a Seal (or five)

Day 5 was our last full day in Newport, although I’m sure it feels as though we were there a lot longer thanks to the speed at which I’ve been posting these recaps. Still, posting like this helps drag out the vacation, and the summer, just a little longer.

I began the day with another walk around Nye Beach to soak up a little of that beachside atmosphere.

Then we enjoyed a little Zen time at the beach thanks to Kei’s rock creation.

Then it was time to head back in the direction of the lighthouse to visit the rock pools. A ticket to the lighthouse is valid for three days which worked out perfectly. Visiting the Lighthouse and rock pools on the same day would have been too much for the younger members of our crew.

We walked down the hill toward the rock pools thinking it was just a regular beach, when Samuel spotted the main attraction just meters away.

We were pretty impressed that Samuel was the one who saw them first (and he was incredibly proud of himself) so I asked him to recreate the moment.

Then, braving the cold wind, I walked around and took a few quick photos before we decided to make a beeline back to the warm van.

For dinner, we drove to a great Japanese restaurant in the old town section of Newport. It gave us a chance to walk around the historic port and check out these very loud and aggressive creatures.

We weren’t the only ones. Apparently they’re quite the attraction.

After dinner we took a walk down to the dock. Well, some of us walked…

The sun was setting and the colors were beautiful.

Finally, I decided that my nerves could no longer take the sight of my children running on such narrow boardwalks. As we walked back, Mayumi requested I take a few photos of things you might not see very often in Japan.

And other things that reminded her of home.

After a quick stop for ice cream, we headed back for our last night at the beach house.