11-23-07

Blog #169

David

Happy Thanksgiving!

   Joan and Harriette prepared a perfect traditional Thanksgiving dinner today.  We haven't taken a family portrait in a long time, so this seemed like a good occasion.  The photography arrangement was inspired by Norman Rockwell's well known Thanksgiving painting.  Nana agreed to don an apron and Papa put on a coat and tie.  Our setting, lighting and the number and ages of people in our family are not very similar to the Rockwell painting, but I figured that a similar arrangement would look good and capture a bit of the feel and look.

The Rockwell painting is more candid with the people looking at each other and the turkey; like this one.  I applied an oil painting effect to this image.

Silliness Squared.

Brigitta Blows Up.

   If you haven't seen Brigitta Blows Up yet, be sure and do so.    Brigitta Blows Up and Bubbles Plays With a Lighter are probably the most fun movies I've made yet.  In less than a week each movie has consumed over two gigabytes of bandwidth.  I also put Brigitta Blows Up on another website where it received 1,400 views in only a few days.

Snow

   There is perhaps a half and inch of snow outside right now; this is the first white stuff to stick this winter.

11-17-07

Blog #168

David

Cats

   I've determined that I prefer the Broadway variety to the real thing.  Joan and Papa managed to capture the other two cats and they have been spayed and neutered and released.  We still have Hershey; she spent a full day roaming the garage with her mother before we decided to re-catch her and let her mother go.  Hershey's brother, Speckles, is a real wild one.  The clinic called us after his surgery and told us that we needed to immediately come and get him, take him home and release him because he was basically going ape.  They actually called us at their closing time and said that they would be willing to wait for us to come and get him.  We haven't seen Jane or Speckles since we let them go.

Bubbles

   Brigitta got Bubbles this weekend, and she is very excited.  Actually, all three girls are very excited.  Bubbles is her Kindergarten class bear.  Each week one child is chosen to take Bubbles home for the weekend.  They are supposed to do special things with Bubbles and their parents write about their experiences in a journal.  The next weeks she gets to be the class VIP, show pictures of her family and bring in treats for the class.  I borrowed Bubbles today to make an important safety video that shows why children should never play with lighters.  I'll show it to her class on Monday during computer class.

Where's Dave?

   The IHM Photography Club project that I had my students work on this month was "Photoshopping" themselves into existing photos taken off of the Internet.  I pasted all of the sample pictures that Joan and I made into a new page on our website:  Where's Dave?  Here's my pasteable PNG picture as well as my favorite sample:

11-11-07

Blog #167

David & Joan

Downtown Library

   On Saturday went to see a production of "Bunnicula" at the new Akron Main Library.  The kids enjoyed the show and so did Joan and I.  I was surprised that there were plenty of seats available; especially considering that the play was free.

Akron Main Library

The Hall girls downtown.

Svea and Brigitta, not quite as tall as one of the tallest buildings in Akron.

Annika was playing at the computer the other day.  After awhile I noticed that it wasn't making any noise and went to check on her and found this.

Annika snuggles with Papa on a cold fall morning.

Facts About Hershey:

Hershey is a girl.

Hershey managed to get caught in our groundhog live-catch trap.

Hershey is now spayed.

Hershey is recovering in a cage in our garage.

Hershey does not like sudden movement or noise.

Hershey is pretty nervous about nearly everything.

Hershey is kind of cute.

Hershey doesn't know it yet, but we hope to sort of tame her.

flickr Geo-tag

   Saturday morning I played around with Geo-tagging feature on flickr.  This is a neat tool that allows you to drag your flickr account photos onto a satellite image world map.  Likewise you can view other people's pictures by zooming in to a specific area until links come into view.  Google Earth has similar features and a much better, more detailed map, but the flickr system is as simple as can be.  Feel free to check it out.

11-3-07

Blog #166

David & Joan

Mogadore Fall Hike

   It was a gorgeous, albeit slightly chilly Friday, David and the girls had the day off of school, so we decided to take a lovely walk in the woods.  The trail along Mogadore Reservoir is beautiful, but with blue skies and fall leaves, it is a stunning photo opportunity.

The path was covered with leaves.  The girls enjoyed seeing who could kick up the most while we walked.

An example of the simple beauty of leaves, water and sunshine.

Nothing beats a kiss from the little one. 

Another example of a fall beauty.

Hey, look, another example of a fall beauty.

Stop it really, no more beauties... I can't stand it.  Are these children this beautiful all the time?

Ahhh, the answer to the above question! 

Mogadore Reservoir in full fall color.

Not too many on the lake today - don't know why?

Another requirement of Autumn - raking leaves in the backyard (actually as far as the girls are concerned it is only riding on the leaf tarp).