Category: Photography
Recovering
I’d love to tell you all about the Blogher 10 conference I attended, but I am EXHAUSTED.
I went to bed at 3am the first night and 2am the second night. I am obviously too old for that.
So, until I recover, I will leave you with this picture I took of Willa and her Daddy in Central Park yesterday:
Still Life
My kitchen windowsill this morning. Taken with my iphone.
The cuteness, it hurts
Taken with the IPhone.
Embracing The Pink
When Willa was a baby I had control over what she was wearing, so she was usually covered in blue.
There are two reasons for this 1) It’s my favorite color and 2) I never wanted to “force” gender specific things on her. I cringe when I see tiny baby girls with bows stuck to their heads.
I’m not saying I never put her in a dress, or anything pink, but I gravitated towards overalls, and blues and brown.
This combined with her lack of hair caused her to be mistaken for a boy until she was about two and her hair started coming in.
This also happened to be about the time that Willa started to really show an interest in “girly” things- necklaces, skirts, hats, party shoes, etc.
I still had some control though, until recently.
Now, Willa only wants to wear skirts, dresses, and party shoes when I would rather her wear jeans and sneakers. She wants everything to be pink and purple. At first I fought her sometimes, but then I remembered my parenting mantra- pick your battles. Why do I care so much if she is covered in pink? It makes her happy. It’s how she expresses herself. That’s all that matters. It’s one of the many situations where my kid is different from me, and that’s ok. I need to let go, and let her be her own person.
So, I’ve started buying some more pink and purple clothes. And when she outgrew her green rain boots, I let Willa pick out pink polka-dot ones to replace them.
I’m embracing the pink, and making my kid happy in the process.
Bubbles
Willa and I were in the backyard one day playing with bubbles, and I took some pictures. It was really hard to blow the bubbles, and then get the camera in position before the bubbles popped or blew away, but I managed to get a couple of cool shots.
A Horse is a Horse
I may still be struggling to fit in where we live (a Vegan Liberal in the land of steaks and Republicans), but one thing’s for sure- the area we live in is great for kids.
One of example of this- the Farmer’s Market we go to is actually at a farm. The farm is free to the public. So, almost every Sunday we load up on fruits and veggies at the market, and then say hi to the animals. My favorite animal on the farm is a HUGE beautiful black horse. He’s very friendly, and a great model.
He’s also very silly.
Life List #5 and #28 DONE.
A couple of weeks ago we finally went to The Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. They were having a Jamboree, so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to pay them a visit. I don’t really know how to talk about it without sounding dramatic or cheesy- it was an amazing, life-changing experience.
To see all of these animals, who were rescued from being killed, was so touching. I felt so at peace there. I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.
To see my child interacting with the animals, and playing with other veggie children brought me such joy.
And to be surrounded by other people who shared the same morals as me, when I usually feel so lost and alone- well, I had a really hard time leaving.
We snuggled with a 450 pound pig, we watched as a cow came happily running across a field when his name was called, and we learned that turkeys are really friendly and social, they have very warm soft heads, and they like music.
Towards the end of our visit my husband turned to me and said “I want to be vegan” and I said “So do I”, and that was that. We are now vegan. Is it easy? Not always- I can’t just grab a slice of pound cake or a cookie when I’m in a hurry. We were already mostly vegan at home, so it’s just more of a challenge when we’re eating out or traveling. It’s forcing me to eat healthier, which I love. Most of the time, doing the right thing also means doing the hardest thing, but we’re really happy with our decision.
To see the rest of my Life List click here.
Summer
Is there anything that says Summer more than playing in a sprinkler?
Pie
It’s my favorite time of year- Farmer’s Market Season!
I love Farmer’s Markets- supporting local businesses- getting food fresh from the ground/tree/vine- trying new recipes based on what’s in season.
A few weeks ago it was unseasonably cold. We went to the Farmer’s Market and they had some amazing rhubarb. My husband LOVES rhubarb, so Willa and I decided to make him a mixed berry and rhubarb crumb pie.
I wish I could give you a recipe for this pie, but being a former pastry chef, I sometimes just throw things together.
I filled a whole wheat crust (that I bought from the frozen section of Whole Foods) with a mixture of frozen and fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and the rhubarb. I (or should I say “we”?) stirred in some cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar. Then I made a crumb topping from whole wheat flour, oats, sugar, pecans, butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
The husband approved.
Droplets
At our new house, there are a ton of Hosta plants. There is one right outside our front door, that on a regular basis, has either dew drops or rain drops on it. I love photographing it, and experimenting with different light.
