Has the bar for Palin been set so low that not screwing up is now equated with doing well? There was this sort of collective stunned silence at the end of this debate (figuratively, not literally) as everyone realizes that Palin didn’t make any major gaffes. Is mediocrity the underlying theme of this ticket: McCain/Palin - we won’t screw up as bad!

Look at her answers closely: she rarely left her very narrow comfort zone; she dodged question after question; her speech was filled with repetitive phrases obviously drilled into her by the McCain camp. America has to wake up and realize that this isn’t an episode of America’s Top Model or Dancing with the Stars; this is our countries future. We’ve had 8 years of “Maverick” policies, and I’m scared that McCain is triumphant in the fact that he’s fought both Democrats and his own party. “Not a Team Player”, anyone? Doing your own damn thing and not working with anyone is in no way bipartisan….it’s….like, unpartisan, or something.

I’m very very scared.

Did you know that you turned two on August 26th?  I’m asking because we really didn’t get to celebrate your birthday the way we had intended to and I’m worried that you might not have realized that day was a special day for you.  We had planned to have a little party.  We were going to invite some of your library story time friends like Megan and Hunter and your cousins in Tulsa.  But then, mommy got offered this job.  In fact, on the very afternoon of your birthday she was on the phone with the president of the college that hired her trying to wiggle a little more money out of them (it didn’t work..just so you know as a future lesson, don’t try to negotiate more money from people who simply don’t have any money to negotiate with…it can be very disheartening for both parties involved). So, yeah, I was sort of busy, stressing about work stuff and really didn’t get to celebrate one of the most important days of my life. The day you were born.

You did get a present.  A Little People Construction site thingy that makes noise and is supposed to build problem solving skills (at least that’s what it said on the front of the box).  But we didn’t wrap it.  Momo and Baba’s present was wrapped but Mommy and Daddy’s wasn’t.  You didn’t even get it on your birthday.  You got it the next day when Dad and I just so happened to need something at Wal-Mart and we figured this would be a good time to get your present eventhough  we weren’t entirely sure what we were going to get you.  I don’t know why but I think I feel guilty about this most of all.  That and the fact that I didn’t stick to my rule of always making your birthday cake from scratch all by myself despite my baking handicap but I already messed that one up last year because Grandma Pat made the cake and I only did the icing.  I was going to fix that this year.  I was going to make you a cake all by myself and it wasn’t going to be some boxed thing neither.  I planned something elaborate. Something bonified.  We’re talking Martha Stewart calibre.  Seriously.  I swear, this will never happend again.  And despite how your birthday may or may not be celebrated, don’t ever think that August 26th isn’t considered one of the most amazing days in the history of our lives because it is.  It’s amazing because you were born on that day and you’re.simple.amazing.

So, you’re putting three word sentences together now.  This morning we were at Eggberts with Baba and you said “eat bacon good”.  You really like bacon.  And you really like eating at Eggberts.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard you pick up a phone and order “egg” “bacon” and “cracker”.  You’re always so believable when you’re playing with phones, mimicking us grown-ups to a “T”, pausing at just the right moments, inserting “mmm’s” and “yeah’s” in all the appropriate places.  And I love how you love books.  Not just children’s books.  Now that we’ve been staying at Momo’s and Baba’s you’ve been playing in you’re uncle Mitchy’s room, perusing his selection of Penguin Classics.  You seem to favor Tacitus and Machiavelli’s The Prince (your father is a little concerned about the latter choice).

I also love how you appreciate nature.  When we walk to the park you always point out all the dead worms on the ground. Except you call the “hum”.  Somehow we’ve managed to teach you to have such an appreciation for nature that you blow the dead worms kisses.  You also do this with bugs, especially the ones you find crawling on flowers.  Thankfully you never put your mouth to any of the bugs but just sort of kiss the air in front of them. However, you did kiss and hug a tree next to the playground today.

Everybody always remarks on your smile and how happy you always seem to be.  I think it’s contagious because even in my darkest moments I can’t be sad when I’m around you.  It’s just not possible.  Although there is one exception and that’s when you’re sad.  Like the other day when I was rocking you in the rocking chair, singing you a lullaby and all of a sudden you just looked at me with tears in your eyes and put your head on my shoulder.  You cried but you didn’t make any noise. So I started crying and we both just sat there in the rocking chair crying until you sat up, smiled and used your sleeve to wipe my eyes.  I kid you not, you really did that.  You turned two and acquired an awareness for life kiddo.  You know something big and sad is going on.  Something big and sad is going on.  We’re moving away from the only home you’ve ever known.  I haven’t taken you back to the house since we moved all our belongings out because I’m afraid it will be too traumatic for you.  I thought about taking you back to the park up the road from our house just for old times sake, one last time before we leave, but I think that would just be cruel and confusing for you.  I’m not sure there’s anyway we can explain to you what’s going on, despite you’re three word sentence structure and the solid critical thinking skills (ok, I know I’m you’re mom and all mom’s say this about their kids but really, you’re way smart).  I do know, however, that where ever you are you’re always going to be surrounded by people who love you.  Moving is an awkward transition.  But just stick close to the people you know first. Get a feel for those people you don’t.  Then just get yourself out there and give everyone that confident “hi” you’ve perfected so well.  Nobody can resist a friendly face, especially one like yours.

The truth is, I think you’re going to love New York.  In fact, we’re moving up there at the most perfect time of the year.  Fall.  Apple picking (which means Nain’s homemade applesauce).  Pumpkin picking.  Fall colors on the trees. I for one have always wanted to live on the east coast during Fall.  It’s going to be awesome.  And just think of all the cousins you’re going to get to know.  Trust me.  I’ve been married to your father for six years and I still don’t know all the names of his aunts, uncles and cousins.  I would feel bad about this but even your Dad has trouble remembering them sometimes.

So, basically, I know things are kinda rough right now but it’s only temporary.  Just think of it as one of many learning experiences you will have in life.  This is going to teach you how well you can adapt to new things when you have to.  And just remember that you’re not the only one learning this in the family right now.  You’re Dad and I are learning it too.  For your sake, we’re going to try to pretend really hard that we actually know what we’re doing but the truth is, we don’t have a clue and we’re bound to goof at some point, in fact, we may have already and just don’t know it yet.  So, let’s just stick together and ride this thing through like an earthquake.

And Serendipity. We’re moving, as you are all aware of by now, and so selling the house has been a big worry for the both of us. Especially me. I’ve put a lot of work into that house, but being an amateur and perfectionist at the same time, I see all the mistakes I’ve made (which are glaringly obvious to me) and it turns my stomach just thinking about people walking through the house, seeing all my mistakes and just leaving in disgust. Well, I was loading up one of the PODS yesterday when a lady came walking down the street, she noticed the PODS (how could you not, the things are monstrosities). She approached me and asked if I was selling the house, to which I answered affirmatively. She then told me that she lived just down the road and about her mother who is looking to move to Bartlesville to be closer to her grandchildren. I told her the price we were asking which ended up being within her mothers’ price range. A beaming smile on my face at this point, I invited her inside for a tour. She was impressed. And I could not have been happier. So her mother is coming next Friday to look at the house herself, so me and Carleen are making a mad dash effort to get the house prettified before she shows up.

I could not have received better news. I haven’t slept well in a week thinking about selling this house. I got a terrific nights sleep last night.

Subject: Pathological need for boxes

Hi everybody! So yeah, we’re moving in a few weeks and I have a couple PODS units coming to the house that we’re going to load up. Thing is, I NEED boxes like a boxer needs dope and cheap hookers. Should you have any kind of boxes laying around I would be greatly indebted should you bring them over to the house. Also should you find yourselves, between Monday the 8th and Friday the 12th, desperately needing to pack someone else’s belongings into boxes, you’ll find that we’ve got just the thing to cure what ails you.

Thanks everyone!

Seriously, we do need boxes so…if you’ve got some to spare we’d appreciate it. :-p

I’m getting some nice tonal range here but now my only beef is my clarity, these shots are all just a bit blurry - even though I was shooting at a fairly high shutter speed. I’m shooting for either a 50mm (cheap) or 85mm (bit more expensive). My other complaint with my current lens is the lowest f/stop is 4.5 - I’m missing about 3 stops or range and it’s killing me. Both the 50mm and 85mm go down to about 1.8 which would be great - I’m finding myself wanting to stop down more and more to blur the background to separate my subject, but I’m very limited in that regard. Tack that onto my current shopping list of equipment.

I’ve noticed all my photos are pretty weak on contrast, I can get my shadows where I like them, but my highlights are either washed out or muddy any photoshop tips/hints in that direction? It could be a setting on my camera as well, I’ll have to check that out. Anyway, here they are:

This is a hat that’s been sitting in a chair in our sunroom for weeks. Yup. It’s a hat.

This is the base of a lamp post in downtown near the Philips Petroleum building. It’s a nice area that I had never really walked through, I’d like to revisit it at night sometime (once I get a tripod).

I love chipping paint photos, but again, I wish the white could have been a bit whiter.

This weeks batch was actually very difficult. First I had to weed out all the Liam pics, which proved to be my best stuff of that batch. Then I had to filter out three from the rest. I was really digging a lot of the ones I took this week, making it difficult to choose three.

This one was tough, since Liam was right there with me, so I was trying to spin the (what do you call those things?) thing around without whacking him in the face. I would have liked to have gotten another shot at this pic, but it was a no go.

Edward Weston in the house! This one is very evocative of the work of Edward Weston - my all-time favorite photographer. Of course, he was using a Large Format camera (Quick Aside: the Large Format class I took in school ruined photography for me. I LOVED L/F so much that once out of that class, I really couldn’t go back to 35mm. The amount of control and clarity you get with L/F is astounding.) so he really has the advantage on me.

Why is this interesting to me? I don’t know. Some workers are gutting the elementary school’s heating and a/c units and this was a shot of some kind of….part.

Well what do you think?

But still, I’m stuck. I need some suggestions. My only request is that it doesn’t require the consumption of bugs (if I’m stranded in the desert…ok, fine, roast up that beetle) but stick with the crafty, creative, sporty and adventurous endeavors (except, I did mention the bugs, right?).

Tomorrow’s Friday. I swear, this week seemed endless. But, if I’m remembering right, this also means that Mike will be posting his photo of the week soon. We went to the park the other day and he took some really great shots using the blue tinted filter again. I’m using one of the pictures he took of Liam for our banner. It really is nice to see Mike using a camera for artistic purposes again. He never lost his touch, that’s for sure.

This weekend was Sun Fest. It’s like a craft/music/family entertainment festival they have in Bartlesville every summer. I’ve gone every year I’ve lived here (minus the few years I was in college). It’s grown a lot since I was in high school. The vendors used to be mainly country crafters but now there are potters, candle makers, horticulturists and artists of all kinds who attend trying to sell their stuff. I buy something every year, usually from my friend Jennifer and her mom. Jennifer makes delicious natural bath scrubs and soaps (I say delicious because some of them do contain coco) and her mom paints lovely flowers on pretty much anything she can get her hands on, mirrors, chests, tables. One year I bought an old vintage suitcase that I now use to store material. Hopefully one day I’ll use that material to make something extraordinary (must master that sewing machine).

They also had a dog show. Like, the cool type of dog show. They were all rescued dogs that had been trained to catch frisbee’s and do crazy stunts. Really made me want to go home and try some tricks with Chani and Turbo. They’ll sit and shake hands for a treat, and Chani used to be able to “find” treats when I hid them but it’s been awhile. I feel bad sometimes, I don’t feel like I spend enough time with my dogs. I look at Chani and remember what things were like when it was just me and her during the day (Mike would be asleep since he was working the night shift). Those were lazy days. Walk, play, watch a little t.v., play, read, walk again, dinner and then back to the couch again.

The weather’s getting hotter. There’s so much that needs to be done in our yard but the mosquito’s are awful right now. It looks like Liam has my sweet blood because they pick on him too. We try to spend as much time as we can with him outside, going early in the morning or later in the evening when it’s a little cooler. He’s discovered the monkey bars at the park now. He grabs a hold of the shortest bar and swings, then laughs, I guess at the tickly feeling it creates in his tummy.

So, my birthday is coming up next month. My birthday present is going to be a night to myself in a cabin in Osage Hills, and possible a kleen kanteen. We were going to get me a bike but it’s too expensive right now so we’re saving up, twenty-five dollars each pay check, until we have enough for two bikes and one of those canvas tents for Liam that attaches on to the side. I’m having serious hip problems and was recently told that I have to quit running. I’m having a really had time with this since running has been my “escape” exercise for some years now. I was never a very good runner. I could go a good distance but I don’t think I had very good form which is probably why I ended up with hip/back problems. One of my longterm goals was to run in a race but I never got around to it. I guess I’ll have to find a bike race to participate in now.

The weekend before my birthday we’re taking a trip upstate to see Mike’s parents and take part in a family reunion. I’m excited about this, Liam will have a chance to meet more family and that’s always a good thing. The sad part is that I have to come home on the following Monday (not enough vacation days) and Mike and Liam are going to remain in New York for about a week. This will be the first time I’ll be away from Liam for that length of time. It’s over a month away and I’m already dreading it but I’m excited too because it gives Mike more time to be back in his hometown and visit with his family and friends.