155/365 Negative Space

"The Daily Grind"

Weber's dad was an attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  This pencil sharpener, which is probably nearly as old as I am,  sat on his desk at work.  It now sits on ours at home.  This is a great pencil sharpener!  It's sturdy and its little knob on the handle is real wood!  There is no plastic or parts to burn out  on this.  And, its opening is big enough for Weber's "My First Ticonderoga" pencil -  big pencils for big hands???  Perhaps he likes this pencil because his handwriting has not evolved much beyond what it was when he first encountered one of these chubby pencils in the first grade:-)

154/365 Dandelion

"A is for Apricot"

 . . . and D is for dandelion as well as for my success with today's prompt.  There were no dandelions anywhere in our neighborhood today.  I remembered that I had taken a picture of a dandelion awhile back on a day when the prompt had something to do with flowers in the garden or something like that.  I looked back through my archives to find that picture.  It was taken on February 17th!  It doesn't seem like that much time has passed - nearly four months, a third of the year.

Though I had no dandelions to photograph, we do have lots of apricots.  Erin brought us twenty pounds of them.  Brooke has made apricot butter and apricot jam and I think there are plans for an apricot crisp . . .and we will probably still have apricots left.

Though I have clearly earned a "D" for my inability to follow the prompt today, can I at least have an "A" for effort?  At least I posted something relevant to my day.

153/365 Converted

"Let Me Entertain You"

All the kids were here for dinner tonight.  I didn't have to cook a thing!  I did, however, have to clean the kitchen, but I would have had to do that if I had cooked so it worked out well.

In the process of the evening's discussion, Offspring No. 2, who works in childcare, was ranting about how kids these days can't entertain themselves for more than thirty seconds at a time.  The girls were remembering how they could keep themselves busy reading, drawing and doing puzzles for extended periods of time.  I was feeling good about at least a few of my parenting skills.  Then I noticed my youngest child entertaining herself by building structures with the asparagus remnants that she had just cut.  She was quite happy for a good fifteen minutes.  I'm not sure I want to take credit for a twenty year old who is happily entertained by using vegetable discards as building blocks.

You might be wondering what this photo has to do with converted.  The answer? A resounding, "nothing."  The idea was to take a photo that could be converted to black and white and that it would retain its integrity.  Somehow the asparagus here lost some of their appeal in black and white.

152/365 Signs of Summer

"Do Pass and Go Directly to Summer Vacation!"

This week is Weber's last week of school.  They have finals all week long.  The kids are done on Thursday and the teachers on Friday.  Lucky them!  I have been off for two weeks but because I am teaching Summer I, I go back to school on Wednesday.  That is kind of a downer thought right t the moment.

151/365 Sunglasses

 "TGIF!"

It's Friday, the last day of the work week and the day of the month of May.  It is also my last week off before starting summer school next week.  I could have done without that realization!  Oh well, it is only five weeks.  It will go quickly.

We had a fun evening with friends tonight - pizza, fireworks and ice cream.  Good, clean, adult fun.  

Carrollton, the city adjacent to us is turning 100.  To celebrate they had a fireworks display tonight.  We sat in the park and watched the ten minute display.  It wasn't the fourth of July, but it was fun to see.  It was really humid tonight so the smoke was hanging in the air.  That did not make for an ideal photography situation, but I got a dew respectable shots.  They will certainly serve to document our evening with friends.

Welcome, June!

150/365 A Butterfly

"Not A Butterfly"

. . . but pretty nonetheless.  

I noticed today that first of our day lilies has bloomed.  These are my favorite!  I love the shape and I especially love their color.

149/365 A Smile

"A Family That Smiles Together . . . ."

Today was a great day to capture smiles at our house.  Brooke is home with us to stay.  Yah!  We spent her first day back shopping and eating.  What better way to celebrate a homecoming?  Before Erin and Edgar headed off to work this evening, all three of the kids agreed to help me out with today's prompt.  It was even fairly easy to get Brooke in front of the camera.  

As usual, Erin, Miss Photogenic, was in charge of posing.  I like the above picture because, although everyone is not looking at the camera, they all have a genuine smile.  It took us a few shots to get there.  And, Erin had to employ some antics to get cooperation from her sister.

"Come on you guys, smile and look happy!"

"If you don't smile, I'll pinch your rear."

"Next time you'll take me seriously."

"So how's this for serious?"

In a few short minutes, we had a lot of fun.  Though the kids are all sporting big smiles, probably the biggest one is not seen here in any of the photos - mine.  I'm so lucky that they all get a long, enjoy being with each other and will even humor their mom with silly photos.  

In spite of all the silliness, I did manage to get a few decent shots of each of them.

"Offspring No. 1"

"Offspring No. 2"

"Edgar, the good sport who spent his day shopping with a bunch of girls."

And before all was said and done, I got a good picture of all three of them looking pretty darn good!

Thank you!  I love you guys!