Entries in best.shots.monday (55)

Monday
Dec032007

Best Shot(s) Monday--First Snow of the Season

No complaints from Cadence on the snow

Well, Cadence kept telling me that when all the leaves fell off the branches, that the snow would come. Looks like she was right. We were totally taken off guard when we exited the Seeds of Change marketplace at church on Saturday afternoon.

Snow-licker

It's too bad it only lasted all of three hours when the freezing rain and sleet started coming down and turned everything into slush and ice before it all melted away during the night.

A look of contentment

That's okay, though. Even though we enjoyed it for only a few minutes before we had to get in the car to pick up Ted from work, the looks of total glee and wonderment on Cadence's face were so worth it.

Go visit other folks' best shots on Tracey's Picture This.

Monday
Nov192007

Best Shot(s) Monday--Muted Autumn Colors

Cadence and Pink Bear wave at the passing Metra train

You know what I love about autumn? I really, really adore all the leaves floating down one, two, three at a time, creating piles and piles on the sidewalks and next to the parked cars in the streets. I know that's like a duh given, but I just don't ever get over the leaves. I love how they crunch under my feet as I walk to catch my morning train. I love how they mute all the colors around them to browns and golds and oranges with the occasional blazing crimson.

Running right along

I love autumn because it is the season that gave me my Cadence, and I love that SHE loves watching the leaves fall from the sky, kicking them up into the air with her feet, pointing out that once all the leaves have fallen from the branches (she actually likes using the word 'branches' these days), that it will finally snow. Only a kid, or a kid at heart, or someone from a tropical climate, could get excited at the prospect of snow.

Reaching for the last bit of sunshine

And while autumn means that death and hibernation are just around the corner, and that I will soon need to wear longjohns on my walks to the train--every now and then, you encounter a vestige of life from the summer past, and it is even more strikingly beautiful because it has now become so scarce. I've always enjoyed a little splash of pink next to the browns in my life, because there probably is no better color combination than pink and brown.

Go visit other folks' Best Shots for the week at Tracey's Picture This.

Monday
Nov122007

Best Shot(s) Monday--Too Sick to Show My Face

BabyLegs

Actually, Cadence is doing much better, but I've been sick as a dog this weekend. I've been coughing up so much gook and so often and with such force that I gave myself a migraine this weekend from just coughing. I coughed so hard this morning I threw up. Oh, wait. Was that Too Much Information? Sorry.

BabyLegs and ImseVimse

Seriously, though, it's gotten to the point where I don't go anywhere without a spittoon. Cuz swallowing that stuff back again just prolongs the sickness, ya know? Oh, wait. Was that Too Much Information? Sorry.

Hope I didn't totally gross out your Monday. If you want to recover, go visit other folks' Best Shot Mondays over on Tracey's Picture This.

Monday
Nov052007

Best Shot(s) Monday--On the Mend

On the mend

Slowly but surely, Cadence seems to be recovering from her cold. We went through an entire family sized box of Kleenex, and I think we'll be able to get through this week on maybe just half of one.

Balloon Love

I tried to get a really snotty photo of her for posterity, but for some reason, it's really hard to get one of her where she looks all that bad.

Standing up

Unfortunately, we spent the weekend pretty much indoors except to go out and buy more tissue and homeopathic stuff. Ted caught the bug Saturday, so we were a pretty miserable bunch for most of the weekend. I was a bit more lucky and got to go do a photoshoot of my cousins' daughter Eden Sunday afternoon. It was a really nice day, although it was a bummer to see the sun go down so much earlier with the time change. Oh, and it was a bummer I didn't get to give Eden any hugs from fear of making her sick too.

Leaf on Path

On my way home from the photoshoot, I stopped in at the rose garden near downtown Evanston. I was quite surprised to see so many roses in bloom in November.

Big rose little rose

I guess it's been a pretty warm fall so far. Still, it's pretty amazing to see such lovely and huge blossoms thriving in the middle of autumn, especially since we had some nights in the 30s last week.

Leaves on a bench

There's something extremely nostalgic to me about this time of year. Spring and summer are such hopeful, exciting seasons--so much new life popping up all around, and countless hours spent in the warm sun outdoors. Autumn, on the other hand, is when time slows down, and I start savoring the memories, recent and from long ago.

Alright, let me cut this short before I get all sappy on y'all. Go see other folks' best shots at Tracey's Picture This.

Monday
Oct222007

Best Shot(s) and Other Shots Monday--Smorgasbord

It's been a busy week photo-wise, so I'm going to have to incorporate my Best Shot(s) into a blog post to get caught up. Some of the photos below I would consider part of my best shots for the week, and others just part of the story. You can see other folks' best shots for the week at Tracey's Picture This.

meOW!!!

My friends Yvonne and Justin and I get together on a regular basis to talk photos and take photos. We call ourselves the Photopeeps. Last Wednesday, we did a little photoshoot at our place with Yvonne's dog Barko and Cadence dressed up in costumes. Cadence barely fit into her catsuit, as this would be the 3rd year of her wearing it, but she was really into pretending to be a kitty. More like a little lion, perhaps...

meOW!!!

I have to say, though, she makes a pretty cute kitty.

Cracking up

She's starting to look like such a KID. I mean, just look at that hair. She actually has enough for it to be blowing in the wind. She was such a bald baby for so long, I didn't think this day would come.

The interior of Lush

Saturday evening, Ted, Dave, Cadence and I headed to University Village for a Half Acre Beer tasting at Lush Wine and Spirits.

[For those of you who haven't heard, Ted is now a resident small batch brewer for Half Acre, which is a new Chicago beer company that just put out a lager over the summer. It's available in a bunch of places in Chicago right now—some liquor stores, a few Jewels, a couple 7-Elevens, some Whole Foods and other specialty grocers, especially in the Bucktown/Wicker Park area. If you like interesting lagers, you should check them out. Andrew Huff, the editor of Gapers Block has given it his seal of approval. Go to Half Acre's website, and you'll see a plug for Ted's brew blog in the right hand column.]

Keom

Dave's best friend (and Ted's former roommate) Keom met up with us at Lush. We went to Pompei for dinner, which is an old favorite haunt of Ted's from back when he lived at 800 South (the apartment where he and ALL his brothers lived at one point or another, as well as some close friends).

A small portion of Keom's music collection

Keom's one of my favorite people. For one thing, we share a love of some of the same bands and we always talk music together. He's also fun to banter with on just about anything.

She really needs a cat of her own

After dinner, we stopped in at Keom's new apartment in Pilsen. Cadence was delighted to find that a kitty lived there too, although I don't think the kitty was too happy about Cadence. Poor kitty…

Rest in peace, Sniper…

Speaking of poor kitty, we (including Dave) went to Ted's parents' house in the burbs on Sunday, partly to deliver some framed photos of Sniper, the family cat, who died two weeks ago today. Sniper lived a long (16 years?) and happy life, free to roam and hunt in the woods on the property. Cadence was quite fond of Sniper, and I'm not sure she understands what's happened. She knows that he's not at Grandma and Grandpa's any more, but she did ask for him when we visited.

Look, Pa! No hands!

Another reason for our visit yesterday was to attend a bike race in Carpentersville that our friend Dave Norton was competing in. Since it was unseasonably warm out yesterday, Dad and (Uncle) Dave took a ride to the race in his Cobra. Dad took the long winding scenic route, and it was just lovely. I happened to catch this shot of Dave with his arms in the air. With the pretty fall foliage all around, it was quite a pretty drive indeed.

waiting to start the race

The race was just about to start when we got to the park, and all the riders were bunched together just waiting for the signal to start. This race is part of the 2007 Chicago Cyclocross Cup which will culminate in the final race in December at Montrose Harbor in Chicago.

Dave Norton

We located our friend Dave amongst the crowd of cyclists. He looked pretty calm to me while waiting for the race to begin.

those durn obstackles

Cyclocross racing looks really challenging, as it requires not just cycling, but a variety of terrain AND dismounting and carrying your bike over obstacles at certain points. I think doing this for one lap would be more than enough for me. I don't know how these folks do it lap after lap.

Dave closing in

We cheered for Dave whenever he passed us. Unfortunately, we were too far from the finish line at the end of the race so we didn't actually see him finish. In fact, HE didn't even know the race was over and thought he had another lap.

Watching the racers go round and round

Cadence wore her cycle shirt for the occasion. Maybe watching the race will inspire her to be a cyclist someday. Her name would fit right into the sport, as 'cadence' is a cycling terminology.

Soaring

Cadence fell asleep soon after we drove away from the bike race, and since Dundee has two microbreweries around the corner from each other, Ted and Dave decided to stop for a pint, while I stayed by the car so Cadence could keep napping. We parked facing the Fox River, and I took some photos of the seagulls soaring over my head. The sky was so blue, and the white birds literally glowed in the late afternoon sunlight as they would catch the wind in their wings and soar higher and higher [yikes, that sentence sounded way too much like a Bette Midler song!]. Watching them, I had to conclude that flying probably never gets old, even for a bird.

Slowing down with some limeade

We went back to Ted's parents' house to have a little afternoon tea and cake (or limeade for Cadence) before we hit the road back into the city.

With Grandma

Cadence of course wanted to see the neighbor's horses, so we had to stop on our way out by the little pasture. Unfortunately, the horses were in the stable, and we could only see the baby horse's hindquarters.

Oh, the photo above? Cadence's finger was in her nose just moments before it was taken. For Grandma's sake, though, I waited until she took her finger out before I pressed the shutter.

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