Best Shot(s) Monday--Muted Autumn Colors

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.

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.

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.

Best Shot(s) Monday--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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

BusyBusyBusy

Woah, is it really Wednesday already?! Holy schmoles. I've been super busy for several reasons. First of all, Ted and I spent every free moment (e.g., while Cadence was napping/sleeping) this weekend watching episodes from the 1st Season of Heroes. 2nd of all, Cadence seems to be fighting a bug. She's had a fever since the middle of Monday night, and I think some cold/ear infection symptoms are manifesting today. 3rd, I'm super super busy at work. That's why I skipped my usual Best Shot(s) Monday post. I'll try to make it up today, but I have to admit my brain is a bit preoccupied by homeopathic remedies for all the possible things that may be ailing Cadence. She seldom gets sick (go breastmilk!), so when she DOES feel a bit under the weather, all that mommy anxiety and stress I've been saving up come out in full force.

Was Saturday as beautiful in your neck of the woods as it was in ours? I hope so. Totally perfect autumn weather. Crisp, clear and sunny. Too warm for a coat but warm enough to get by with a sweater. We took advantage of the day and visited Garfield Park Conservatory w/ my cousin Kris. My other cousin Ben and his wife Rachel and daughter Eden and their friend Seth joined us later.

It was the last weekend of Niki in the Garden, a special exhibit of Niki de Saint Phalle's oversized and colorful sculptures. It's the perfect exhibit for families, as many of the sculptures are interactive and even climbable.

Cadence made the most of the afternoon sun and even found a little hill to run up and down. She loved that the grass was covered with small golden leaves.

It eventually got chilly as the sun got lower and lower on the horizon. I had left Cadence's jacket in the car, so I put my hoodie on her. I have to say, she looks like the cutest grim reaper I've ever seen.

Okay, I'm really starting to bore myself with this post, so just enjoy the photos. I SO totally need a nap...

This is what I call signature Cadence Cheese. Snapped right before we got kicked out, as the park was closing.

At church Sunday. A totally BFF moment.

And by Sunday afternoon, it was cold enough to dig out the winter coat and hat. Here we are on our way to Metropolis for some really yummy hot chocolates.

It was so cold that the park was abandoned, and we could do goofy things with abandon.

Like kicking our feet up and using the slide as a sofa.

Or taking ridiculously sentimental and cheesy timer self-portraits.

Alright. Enough with the cheesiness. Hopefully, all that homeopathic stuff will work and Cadence will be feeling better soon. Still, I'm sure we won't be going anywhere on Halloween night this year. Good thing I already took photos of her in her costume:

Happy Halloween, y'all!

Because TWO Photo Posts in One Week Ain't Enough

My bro-in-law Dave left a comment on this photo on Flickr wanting to know who authorized a haircut for Cadence, "especially in such a style." Ha ha! Truth is, it's a fake haircut. Her hair got stuck inside her turtleneck when I was getting her dressed, and I noticed it looked like she got a haircut, so I snapped a few shots. As IF. It's taken me FOREVER (okay, 3 years, not really forever) to get her hair long enough for pigtails and barrettes, so there's no way I'm letting a pair of scissors come near her head.

Yesterday was a truly blustery day. I had a migraine almost the whole day. Luckily, it was my day to telecommute, but still. Working with a migraine, even from the comfort of my sofa, kinda sucks bigtime. I was feeling well enough by around 5pm, so I took Cadence outside to play. Holy schmoles! I was NOT expecting it to be THAT cold. The sad thing is, it probably wasn't all that cold. Maybe in the high 40's with the wind chill, but compared to what we normally get in winter round these parts, not that cold in the grand scheme of things. I'm just not ready to let go of summer just yet...

So, I realize I take a lot of photos of Cadence (that would be the understatement of the year). And yet, I have to admit that sometimes I get these shots that just take my breath away. Like this one above here.

Or this one. She can be so cheesy sometimes, but it's really her serious, deep looks that pierce me in that maternal place in my heart.

So while we're on the topic of photos, it looks like a few of you have discovered that I'm working on a new photo gallery. I didn't mean it to get out there in public, as I'm still futzing around with it, but I've discovered a great little tool called Pictobrowser that lets you create a snazzy looking slideshow gallery of your Flickr photos based on a specific tag, group or set. I'm still playing around with it, but if you like, you can go take a looksy at my new photo gallery page over here.

Or just look at the example below:

What I like about Pictobrowser is its sleek design and no nonsense font and the fact that you can see the title of the photo if you hover over a thumbnail with your mouse, as well as give you a link to the actual Flickr page where the photo resides. The downside is that I can't figure out how to get more than 21 pages of photos to show up. Of course, it's kinda crazy to have 21 pages of photos of any category, but I take a lot of photos, ya know. Oh well. I guess I have to be more critical of the photos I put in these here galleries. Currently, I just have the one of some of my favorite photos taken after I switched to dSLR. I'm working on one for all of Cadence. And the one posted in this blog is of my nature shots. I'll probably do one of Chicago, or street photography, or something. I dunno...The possibilities are endless with Pictobrowser.

Tags: Pictobrowser, Photography

Wordless Wednesday--For G.