Tip of the Hat!

A month or so ago the girls had a very quick trip to the farm for Spring Break. I got to see them for a few hours. I had just gotten my new favorite lens, the Lensbaby 2.0 that week. I got it on e-bay for a only $50 which was a great deal. I really want the Composer but it cost more like $250 so I had to be satisfied with the older model for now.

The lensbaby gives that cool bokah effect with a sharp sweet spot, which is manually set with the lens. You squeeze the lens until you get the sweet spot where you want it. The nice thing about the composer is that you can lock the lens in place instead of holding it there while you shoot. It definitely has a learning curve which is why these relatively good shots I got the first time I shot with it are some of my favorites.

I'm really thinking about changing the name of the blog to Lenox Knits and Pics. I know that the focus has totally changed from my knitting ventures to more photo centric, which is one of the main reasons I had trouble getting myself over my blogger's block. I felt like the blog had no real focus and I was unsure of how to move forward. I'm still unsure but I realize that is not as important as simply going forward. I figure things will come back into focus if I just keep working at it, just like the Lensbaby!
The girls were having fun modeling for me in Nana's old hats. I have a lot more shots with my new lens that I will probably share later this week.

Creative Kate

I just wanted to brag on my niece Kate for just a moment. She received 3rd place for 3rd graders in all of the Fort Worth Catholic schools for her poster above. The theme was "Being disciples of Christ". In her poster there is a little girl carrying a pink box of donations up to a Daycare.

Kate is truly a creative spirit. She takes whatever assignment she has and makes it her own. I particularly love this poster she sent my Mom of the 10 plagues of Egypt. She added some humor and emotional poignancy to this somewhat odd assignment. I like how she put a band aid on the Egyptian with boils. Seriously, who makes a 9 year old draw a picture of the death of all first born, but Kate did it with gusto. She was not happy with how her livestock depiction came out so please don't judge her for that.

I am missing the girls a lot this spring. They will be coming for several weeks over the summer but it's so hard not seeing them for months at a time. I miss Kate's random and over the top impressions and her ability to make me laugh for hours with her stories and voices. Mike calls her a little Amy Sedaris which is kind of true but in a good way.

Favorite Gift Given

I've been pretty out of it lately and not feeling too up for being social either on-line or off. I just wanted to share my favorite gift that I was a part of this holiday. My uncle asked me to take pictures on the farm that spelled out LENOX for my Mom. I think it came out really well. It was funny how my niece Jess knew instantly where each of the letters came from. My Dad who has spent practically his entire life on the farm had to stop and think about a few of them.

I'm going to have one made for myself using the alternate fall color letters below. I will also try to spell out GEORGE here in St. Charles and hang them together. I'm planning on shooting all of the letters when I get back to the farm with plenty of time. It was fun but challenging. The L was actually the most tricky to get right for some reason.

The Many Faces of Kate

I would have to say that my niece Kate is the most expressive and unique kid I've ever been lucky enough to know. These shots were all taking over the Thanksgiving break. Not only is she incredibly intelligent but she also has an immense imagination. Her family calls it Kate's world. Her older sister pointed out that Kate sometimes says something to you forgetting that you aren't involved in the conversation going on in her head.

I sometimes think my sister is in over her head with trying to raise Kate but she really does try to understand her and help her to develop as best she can. Because Kate is exploring music and taking piano lessons this year Angie has asked everyone in the family to make or buy a CD of music that best represents us or that we enjoy for Kate. I thought that this was a great idea and can't wait to share some of my favorites with her.I've been doing a lot of shopping on-line this week and I found a great Toy Store called Hearth Song. Their tagline is "toys you'll feel good about giving." I would totally agree with that statement. They have very creative and interesting toys many of them with a crafty emphasis. They have a well articulated environmental policy and a story that I can really support. They are currently running a $4.99 shipping deal and a $10 reward card if you spend $50 on their site.

I bought my niece Jess a Design your Own Lamp as she has been getting into decorating lately. I got my nephew a kid sized metal detector as he is very into geocaching with his Mom and loves to explore the outdoors. They had kid sized bamboo knitting needles on sale for 69 cents. I'm going to give them to all the girls and see if anything of them choose to take me up on my offer to teach them to knit.
I got Kate a Physics kit from Mike that they can play with together. The two of them have always had such a special bond. I think it's because she recognizes a kindred spirit and considers him her intellectual equal. I took 10 shots of her sitting on his lap and each one of them was totally different. The two of them were hamming it up like crazy in most of them but there was something about this one that I really liked.

I am of course still buying handmade for some gifts this year but I have found that you have to supplement the handmade with other gifts that will help them to explore their own creativity. Kate is also into drawing and cartooning right now so I have bought her a bunch of supplies and how to books on Amazon including a Beginners' Sketching/Drawing Artist Kit. I do so love shopping and shopping for my nieces is the most fun of all.

My new Hat Listings

I had an absolutely delightful Thanksgiving holiday. I had some relaxing and enjoyable days with my immediate family and the chaos of Thanksgiving day with the whole Lenox clan. I'll share pictures from the week later but I just wanted to share my new hat listings today. I got my niece Jess to do some modeling for me. She's turning into a real beauty and growing up so fast. She had fun being a super model for a few hours and did a great job I think.

These are the three hats that I have just listed in my Etsy shop. I've decided to build up my shop again as I had 2 sales the past few weeks without even trying including my most expensive scarf/hat set. Perhaps things are starting to turn around for online sales after all.The top hat is called Naturally Pink and was knit with an organic wool with environmentally friendly dyes. I used a chevron ribbed stitch which shows off the colors nicely and has lots of give. The black striped beanie is is called Silk Mountain and is from my favorite yarn brand, Noro. It is a wool, silk, mohair blend and is super soft and warm. And finally the Perfectly Purple Hat was knit with a wool handspun in lovely shades of purple, blue, and green.

She also modeled some scarves too but I haven't had time to edit or list any of them yet. I'll share when I can. It's too bad she doesn't live closer as it would be nice to have such a willing model close by.

Happy Birthday Ani!

I finally feel as though I'm returning to the land of the living today. I have been on antibiotics for 4 days now but it was a seriously nasty infection in my ears and the start of bronchitis in my chest.

November is the month of birthdays around here with Ani's getting the highest priority. We had her friend birthday party on Saturday at the Painted Zebra. It's a paint your own pottery place so they could get creative and messy without the cleanup. I think the girls had a good time painting their trinket boxes. Ani painted an ice cream cone box and made it look like the ice cream was melting down the cone which I thought was very creative.

She's now 10 going on 21 which is troubling at times. Sometimes I catch myself talking to her like she's an adult. I can't remember what I had said but she actually told me one time, "Aunt Paige, sometimes I think that you forget that I'm only 9 years old." She is definitely becoming her own person now which is exciting to watch. She has her own dramatic flair just like her Aunt and I hope that she won't lose that spark as she grows.

This last shot if from her family party a few weeks ago with her Dad.

My Veteran's Day Thoughts

Saying Happy Veteran's Day sounds a bit silly to me but I thought I would share my two family veteran's day pictures. The top shot is my grandfather on my mother's side, Jay Parscale, who fought in WWII. I don't know a lot about his story but I think he was also an Army cook. He is gone now but definitely not forgotten. This handsome young man is my Dad. He was an information specialist in the Marines in the very early days of the Vietnam War. He was sent out on his own for weeks at a time and sent back information via Morse code. He was also there for the buildup during the Cuban missile crisis. He often tells the story of how he was sent across the island during a hurricane to deliver a message and he had to crawl on his hands and knees holding on for dear life. I also know that there are lots of stories that he doesn't tell and wishes that he could forget.

As you may know I am the peace loving type and I dearly wish that there was no need for any young man or woman to go through what my Dad and Papaw had to experience. But until that day comes I'm very grateful that there are people willing to put themselves at great risk for our freedoms.

Wedding Weekend Over...

Today was the day of rest after 3 full days of wedding activities with our close friends Chris and Tif. I've talked about them often here as they are really more like family to Mike and I. Mike was the best man and I was the de-facto coordinator. I've had my hand in a lot of the planning of their beach themed wedding from the beginning so it was most appropriate. I can honestly say that I've never worked so hard at a wedding before including my own but when Tif gave me a hug at the end of the day and told me I was her rock it was totally worth it.

My main job was to make sure that Tif was calm and enjoyed the day and I think I accomplished that quite well. They had a photographer with them for 12 hours of the day so I didn't have to worry about capturing every moment. Because I was dealing with the vendors, following Tif's perfectly laid out agenda, cleaning up, and making sure that people were happy I really didn't have time to worry too much about my camera.

I was able to catch a few candid moments and I've been playing with the images in photoshop today. Tif was a beautiful, statuesque bride. To be honest I felt and probably looked a bit like a troll standing next to her. Mike said that everyone looked like a troll compared to her yesterday which is as it should be. All I did to the top shot was add some waves to the water with a filter and I obviously cut out a heart in the kiss shot. I added a watercolor filter to this last one and made it black and white. I'll share some more shots from the big day tomorrow and some stories. It was the most intimate and special wedding I've ever been to, as a guest that is.

Handmade Back to School

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It's that time of year again. Our classes start next week but most of the public schools in the area are starting this week. I put together a treasury of handmade back to school items which you can see in its entirety here. I particularly like the "Great Rules of Writing" by Quotes and Notes. You should click on it to read it in it's entirety especially if you are a grammar nerd.

Kai actually started last Wednesday. He starts High School this year which seriously blows my mind. His Mom let him get his eyebrow pierced when he turned 14 so with his mohawk he looks like a real trouble maker. When you get past all of that bravado he is the sweetest kid I know whose family is the most important thing to him. He actually enjoys hanging out with his uncles playing Dungeons and Dragons every Sunday night in our basement and isn't too cool to be seen with his Aunt at the mall. He already has his college picked out and I'm really hoping that the momentum he had last year will continue into high school.

He is with my other nephew Graham in the shot above. Graham is starting kindergarten this year which also is mind boggling. It seems like just yesterday that my sister in law told me they were going to start trying to get pregnant. She got pregnant the first month. We started trying around a year later so that the cousins would be close in age. The best laid plans...

I've been thinking a lot about our decision not to pursue fertility treatments and to just accept whatever happens. As I get closer to the big 40 it seems more and more like a final decision. Having such special nieces and nephews like Graham and Kai help to fill whatever void might be there but I still feel it now and again.

Old Farmer's Advice

At my photography class last night I showed the shots from yesterday's post from Dad's barn as well as the one above. I said that they were all from my Dad's front yard and that got everyone's attention. I think one guy was ready to take a field trip until he found out it was a few hours away.

One person asked if I had a picture of my Dad which got me thinking. Next time I'm home I'm going to have him wake me up when he gets up at the crack of dawn to go check the cattle and photograph him doing what he loves. He has such a distinct look and character which should make some damn good pictures especially in the early morning light.

My Mom sent me the following forward this week which I thought had some very good advice from an old farmer's perspective. I particularly love the last one.

"Life is simpler when you plow around the stump."

"A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor."

"Words that soak into your ears are whispered.....not yelled."

"Meanness don't just happen overnight."

"Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads."

"Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you."

"It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge."

"You cannot unsay a cruel word."

"Every path has a few puddles."

"When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty."

"The best sermons are lived, not preached."

"Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway."

"Don 't judge folks by their relatives.

"Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer."

"Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time."

"Don 't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none."

"Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance."

"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'."

"Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

"The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'."

"Always drink upstream from the herd."

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment."

"Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in."

"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."

"Live simply, love generously, care deeply,
speak kindly, and leave the rest to God."

"Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."

And........................................

Quick trip home

So we had a birthday party on Saturday night that was about halfway to my parent's farm so we went ahead and drove down there that night. Mike went floating on the river the next day with a few friends and I spent the day with dear old Mom.

The pictures above are a few I'm bringing to my class this week of patterns that I captured in Dad's barn. I love the colors of the rusted out truck with the tangled barbed wire. I thought the dirty gas cans lined up in primary colors really popped too.

Mom and I went shopping at a few antique malls and ate lunch at Sybill's Restaurant in St. James. It's actually a very upscale place for brunch that a school mate of my sister's opened right in the middle of a hick town.

I was shopping for a few things for my craft show booth at the Strange Folk Festival coming up in a month and we found one thing I was looking for and one I didn't even know I needed. Those are the best kinds of finds in my opinion. I've been thinking about my display a lot and I'll be talking about it once things slow down a bit more.

A real Gem!

I know it has been forever since I last posted. July and the beginning of August are the absolute busiest times of year for our office. Somehow we always survive and manage to get everyone registered but I am seriously looking forward to the Fall right now.

My brother Ham is currently in a hospital in San Diego waiting to have his gall bladder removed. We are still waiting to find out if they can do it laproscopically or if they will have to open him up. For everyone's sake I'm praying that they don't have to do it the old fashioned way but he is pretty bad off. I am so thankful that his girlfriend Angelica made it there last night. She has taken charge and knowing that she is there has been a huge relief to my Mom.

My brother is definitely a serial monogamist and we tease him that growing up with 3 sisters has left him incapable of living without a woman in his life. He had a string of disastrous relationships that usually escalated into major drama. Angelica is the first grown up girlfriend he's ever really had who has a real head on her shoulders, a solid career of her own, and who actually really seems to care about Ham. She posted on Facebook that Ham was her first priority and that she would be there for the duration. We all met her for the first time in July when she came for the fourth of July. She fits really nicely into the craziness of the house and jumped right into the teasing and back and forth that always ensues when we are all together. My mother told me this morning that if we didn't know it already that she is an absolute gem.

I am still struggling to understand what she is doing with Ham to be honest with you. In my opinion she is way out of his league but obviously he makes her happy. He was just in San Diego for business but she has taken care of the hotel and everything else. Hopefully they will be able to make it back to Miami next week but if they have to make an incision he might not be able to fly that soon.

Carnival Duty

Something you probably didn't know about me is that for 4 days every year since I was born I've been a carny worker. My dad is a Lion's Club member. This year was the 75th annual Rolla Lion's Club Carnival. It's one of the old timey carnivals where the whole town comes out and plays games and rides the same rides every year. Every year we wonder what rock some of the people crawl out from under because you never see them any other time of year, but they have plenty of cash to spend on worthless prizes.

The two most important holidays in our family are therefore July 4th and Thanksgiving (this is when the entire Lenox clan comes together). You can miss Christmas and Easter but don't even think about missing Carnival Duty. This is the only time that my Mike proves his worth to my father. He works a good 15 hours each year in our current stand the steak sandwich booth. He cut onions, made sandwiches and handed out sodas like a pro. He may not be able to work cattle but he can make a damn fine steak sandwich.

The girls enjoy working my uncle's nice safe stand. Unlikely the cat doll stand that we worked from the time we could walk to when we were pimped out to the old drunk players who would keep handing us their hundreds when we were in our teens. I went to see the new cat doll stand and I think I totally insulted the worker's manhood. I told them how when I was 3 years old they would have us out there picking up the real baseballs, dodging the men throwing them at us at 50 mph. They have little nerf balls now and sticks to pick them up with so they don't even have to bend over. Total wussies.
The top shot is me with my sisters, none of whom worked as many hours as I did this year. I made change without a calculator or cash register for several hours straight every night. It was the only job I could do sitting down but I didn't complain. This is my Mom. I can't remember ever showing a picture of her. She was the keeper of the stuffed animals. I don't think she put many hours in this year but she has definitely served her time through the years.

Another fun weekend

The three Amigos were together again this weekend. We met up with the girls yesterday afternoon and enjoyed a fun filled summer weekend. Mike and I got to share our love of roller derby (ARRG) with Kate and Jess. They really seemed to get a kick out of it. Kate was a bit relieved when she realized that she wouldn't have to be roller skating with them. She had never heard of roller skating as a spectator sport and was concerned about her stamina.

The above shot is from last weekend. I made a conscious decision to not take any pictures this weekend and to just enjoy my time with them. I don't want to become the crazy Aunt behind the camera.

Jess and Ani both developed a huge girl crush on Downtown Dallas, the sassy jammer for the Smashinistas. I took the shot above with her on the left at the last match we saw her play. She was on the cover of the program and they had to have her autograph it for them on her picture. Kate, however, had no interest in her as she was on the team her Uncle Mike was rooting against. She is absolutely loyal to whatever her Uncle Mike tells her to be.

They had a sleep over in my living room. All the junk I had let them eat came back to bite me in the butt as I was woken up at 3 a.m. by Kate who had managed to throw up all the way down the hall to the bathroom and wall to wall, including a bit that actually made it into the toilet. Angie said that you have to watch her as she doesn't know when to stop, kind of like her Aunt. Mike said that she should come with a warning label, "Will consume food to the point of vomiting."

She was fine this morning and we went to a local coffee house which the girls thought was quite amazing since there was a living room in the restaurant. It really is up to me to get these girls some culture and diversity in their lives. I then took them to my alma mater, Lindenwood University, which is just a few blocks away from where I live. There was lots of shade for them to run around and play tag.

We drove around the campus and they oohed and aahed all the pretty buildings and I told them all the ghost stories. At least 2 of them said this is where I want to go to college. It's all part of my plan to entice them into choosing Lindenwood when the time comes so they will be close. Chances aren't good that this plan will come to fruition as they are very independent girls but you never know.

Capturing the Action!

Oh to have Jessica's ankles even though they are blurred out above. Look how high she is flying. These are from a quick trip to the farm last weekend to visit the girls. We spent the majority of the time down by the lake were they enjoyed the cool water and I did my photography assignment for the week, which was playing with shutter speeds.

The top shot was my best panning shot and my teacher told me that I should enter it into the upcoming Photography Society of America's competition on movement. This is like the highest compliment she can give and since she is often a judge of their competitions I am seriously considering doing it. Panning is when you set a slow shutter speed like 1/30 of a second and move the camera with the action. The person/thing moving doesn't have to be crystal clear which is what was bothering me about some of my attempts but just needs to be relatively clear, like Jess is. The background should be blurred and show the movement.The second shot is also with a slow shutter speed which shows the water as one silky entity rather than the individual droplets that you see with a normal shutter speed. It helps to have a tripod for sure when using slow shutter speeds but when dealing with moving kids you have to just hold the camera as steady as you possibly can.

I had an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon the other day to check things out before we go on vacation. As I mentioned I've felt like I've regressed the past 3 weeks and have been having lots of weird pains and tenderness. My suspicions were unfortunately correct. There are actually two things going on in my ankle. For one thing I have a screw loose. I've gotten a kick out of using that line but I guess it's not a laughing matter. I can feel it moving around down there but it's not where the pain is coming from so they are going to leave it alone for the time being. If it starts causing problems or if some of its pals also start leaving the plate they will have to go in and take them out.

But the real problem is something that occasionally happens when there is trauma in the bones. My ligaments in between the two fractured bones are turning into bone which is called ossification. The x-rays from 6 weeks don't show anything but the one from this week has all kinds of white bone growth were there shouldn't be any. There isn't really anything they can do to stop it. If it gets worse they will have to do surgery to remove it. It obviously can be painful and he said to use Ibuprofen and call him if it gets more painful.

Mike said that he never should have told me that there was something actually wrong. I have a tendency to make excuses when I'm feeling lazy He said he can hear me now saying, "Can you get me a soda, my ossification is bothering me." The one good thing is that there is nothing to stop me from going and enjoying my vacation. My doctor said to just bring an ice pack and end the day with some Ibuprofen and a glass of wine. I think I can follow those doctor's orders!

Bloolights Special

The boys played out last night for the first time in almost a year. Lots of people turned out for it and a nice evening was had by all. It was at the St. Charles Coffee House which has a fun atmosphere. Hopefully we will be invited back in the future.

I got to hang out with some good friends and afterwards one of Mike's old friends took us out for drinks and reflections.
A group of Mike's recently graduated seniors came out with posters they had made celebrating him. There was also a table of his former students from over 7 years ago. I think that says a lot about him as a teacher. He really makes such an impact on his kids. They both adore and respect him which comes through in many ways. It's always weird for me to meet his students for the first time. They usually have some preconceived idea of me that he conveys in stories he tells or embellishes. It's kind of like being the wife of a rock star at times with the adoration that he receives.

Kai's girlfriend stood him up with a family emergency so I got to hang with him as well. It's nice to know that he isn't too cool to hang out with us on a Friday night yet. He starts high school next year and has a very sweet new girlfriend. She has even friended us on Facebook which I hope means they will last at least through the summer. He actually took one of my favorite shots from the night. The black and white one, although it's not in focus you can see Mike's eyes clearly and almost the sweat on his brow. Kai really has such a good eye for composition.

They sold a few CD's which Mike had slaved over all week. It's of their original songs which they have recorded in our basement. It's named after his grandmother who was not the most supportive of people to put it mildly. But in her death she left them the money which payed for all of his equipment and his brother's drum set. I'm sure she is rolling over in her grave knowing what her tightly guarded dollars went towards.

You can hear a few of their originals on the bloolights website, not updated in quite a while mind you.