Soda Geyser (240/366)

“Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia”

Alexis Carrel (French surgeon and biologist, 1873–1944)

TIME:  6:23 PM
PLACE:  Grade school playground
SUBJECT:  Mentos and soda
 
We had our first Brownie meeting this evening and started on the Home Scientist badge.  The Soda Geyser didn’t have as big of an eruption as I had planned, but the girls were still impressed.  DramaQueen helped me with the demonstration.
~*~*~
Technically, these photos are craptacular…the soda bottle is not in focus and the light stinks – but it’s all I have today.

Random Spider Thoughts (262/365)

“The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have”

John Locke (English Philosopher who made great contributions in studies of politics, government and psychology. 1632-1704)

TIME:  7:24 PM
PLACE:  School parking lot
SUBJECT:  StellaDella

This is SD standing on the playground while we waited for MonkeyBoy to finish up with his soccer practice.  (I only had my little camera with me and just had it on auto with out a flash so it turned out pretty grainy.) I asked SD why she was looking so serious in this shot.  She said it was because all of a sudden, she was thinking about camel spiders and how they were as big as your head.  Alright then.  My daughter is standing on a playground and having serious, random thoughts about camel spiders.  Only my StellaDella.

09-11-11 (254/365)

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals.“

President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

TIME:  6:32 PM
PLACE:  Grade school
SUBJECT:  WE *heart* USA

There were all sorts of remembrances for today’s 9-11 anniversary.  This is how StellaDella’s grade school remembered.  (It’s odd to think that more than half of the current student body were not even glimmers in their parent’s eyes on that day.)  One thing I do remember about that day is how the nation came together as one.  There were no Democrats or Republications, no liberals or conservatives, no right, no left…we were all just Americans. 
As it should be.

Old Industry, Feeling Guilty & An Encounter With The Law (021/365)

“When we played softball, I'd steal second base, feel guilty and go back.”

Woody Allen (American Actor, Author, Screenwriter and Film Director, b.1935)

TIME:  10:29 PM
PLACE:  Our town
SUBJECT:  Old grain elevator

I decided to try to take some snowy night pictures.  Luckily for me, DQ was spending the night at a friends, HH was home, SD was ready to go to bed and poor MB was in his bed trying to make it through his turn with the stomach virus (I picked him up from school at 1:30pm – he decorated the school sidewalk on the way to the car.)  I borrowed HH’s window mount tripod, picked up a coffee at Quick Trip and off I went.  At first, I felt kind of paranoid, like someone was watching me and thinking that I was up to no good.  I was feeling guilty like I was doing something wrong, but I pressed on.  After a while, I started to feel kind of stealthy and a little bit more confident...until these photos:

This was at a Pre-K school playground in our school district.  I was taking the photos when a vehicle pulled along the passenger side of the Jeep and a bright light shone into my car.  It was the police.  The officer (younger than me too, *grrrr*) asked me if everything was ok and what I was doing.  I told him I was just trying to improve my photo skills by taking some night photos, was I doing anything wrong?  No, he said, but you are parked on the wrong side of the street.  *gulp*  Sorry officer, I was just trying to get closer for the shot and because my window mount was on the driver’s side…I’ll move along.  He had already run my plates apparently because he asked if I still lived on “XXXX St.” and then he asked me if I was trying to take a photo of the house.  House?  I said…ummm, no, no, no…see that ball playground thingy?  That’s what I’m trying to capture.  I asked him if he wanted to see what I had taken photos of this evening and he said yes.  I un-mounted my camera, exited my car and let him see my shots on the screen.  I guess that was satisfactory enough for him; he wished me a good evening and went on his way.  Gah!  My heart was racing!  These shots were going to be my last ones anyway, so I decided now would be a good time to call it a night myself.  I do wish I would have had more time to compose those shots better…I think they really could have been spectacular.  I know the officer was doing his job; he was polite and respectful and I have no complaint with him or the way he handled our encounter, but, ack! I wish that I didn’t feel so guilty about what I was doing.  And I guess I wasn’t as stealthy as I thought, darnnit.

Closed Gate (009/365)

“Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.”

Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931)

TIME:  6:53 AM
PLACE:  Main Street
SUBJECT:  School playground gate

The HandsomeHusband has a habit of getting up early on weekend mornings and taking pictures.  I invited myself along asked him if he would mind if I accompanied him this morning.  We stopped by Quik Trip for coffee (it was freezing this morning!) and drove around town looking for interesting things.  He even let me use his window mounted tripod I bought him for Christmas.  There was some frustration on his part as I wasn’t familiar with the tripod and had some blonde moments trying to adjust things, but overall I think his what-the-hell-was-I-thinking/urge-to-kill-me level remained on the low side.  It was neat seeing what the camera could do with longer shutter speeds.  I took this photo just a few minutes after dawn and I love the color of the sky.

Monkey Joe (363/365)

“I love to go to the playground and watch the children jumping up and down. They don't know I'm firing blanks.”

Emo Philips (American entertainer and comedian, b1956)

TIME:  8:03 PM
PLACE:  Monkey Joe’s
SUBJECT:  Monkey Joe inflatable

My niece, Shayne turned 5 today.  My sister called last night to see if the kids wanted to meet up at Monkey Joe’s – an inflatable play center - this evening to help celebrate (her big family party is scheduled for this coming Sunday).  My brother-in-law even offered to watch the kids so my sister and I (and DramaQueen) could go shopping for a couple of hours.  Did I mention that he is my favorite brother-in-law?  OK, he’s my ONLY brother-in-law, but does that really matter?  In any case, we left the children with D-- around 6pm and made it to Target (which didn’t have anymore peppermint Oreos dammit!), the mall and Borders bookstore before heading back around 8pm to relieve him of his duties.  There were no broken bones or other casualties while we were gone…a successful outing!

A View From The Top (152/365)

 
"I can't forget
How she stood at the top of that long marble stair
Amazed, and then with a sleepy pirouette
Went dancing slowly down to the fountain-quieted square;"

Richard Wilbur (b. 1921), U.S. poet. Piazza di Spagna, Early Morning (l. 1-4). . . Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds.
Oxford University Press.

TIME:  5:56 PM
PLACE: Hesse Park
SUBJECT:  My feet and a slide

School's out for summer.  I "twittered" earlier today that Monkeyboy lasted about 2 hours before the phrase "I'm bored" spewed forth from his mouth.  Sigh.  He had an away baseball game tonight.  We arrived about 35 minutes early, so I took StellaDella to the playground at the park.  She watched another girl play a "follow the leader" game with her mother and then decided that we needed to do that as well.  Her idea of "follow the leader" was dictating directing me in various exercises around the structure.  Here I am at the top of the tallest slide on the playground (don't look too close at my toes, I need a pedicure very badly!).  If I was rating the slide speed, I would give it an 8.5/10 - it was pretty fast.  I was extremely happy that my fat ass lovely derriere didn't hinder my decent by scraping the sides as I glided to the bottom!

Here I Come Mom! (139/365)

 
“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)

TIME:  1:31 PM
PLACE:  Tri-Township Park
SUBJECT: StellaDella

My sister, Cathy, babysat StellaDella today while I went to a doctor's appointment.  Afterwards, we picked up the dreaded McDonald's and went to a park near her house.  SD and my nephew and niece played on the play structure for about an hour.  Cathy and I attempted to sit on our butts and chat, but the children and their incessant demands to watch them as they went down the slide and to push them on the swings prevented us from expanding our bottoms.

"Watch me Mom!"
"Mooooom! Are you watching me?"
"Watch me go down the slide."
"Are you watching me now?"
"Here I go....."
"Did you see me?"
"Aunt Suzy, now you watch me!" 

Good gravy, how pesky is that?