50,000!

It's the end of November and Joanie and Madeleine have each reached their goal of writing 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, the J-Lo way of saying National Novel Writing Month. They've been locked away in their little rooms pounding away at the keys for the past 30 days. I'm amazed they accomplished it and am really happy for them ... and here's hoping they won't be so antisocial next month.

If you see two pale figures with dark circles under their eyes emerging from our house, blinking in the daylight, don't worry, it's not Bella and Edward — it's just the novelists.

Party On, Dude

His 13th birthday "family party" successfully behind him, Malcolm had some friends overnight this weekend for his "friend party." Friday night into Saturday it was 18 hours of pizza, root beer, and cake-fueled, Nerf dart gun fights, sword fights, running around inside and outside, huddling around YouTube, Legos, Monopoly, a couple hours of sleep, then pancakes with more sugar on top before a kickball game outside. At the end they tore down the decorations and upped their voices an octave sucking helium from the balloons. The house was a disaster. But it will long be remembered in the annals of birthday-dom.

Our Town Sucks

As fall winds down each year the town comes through with a giant vacuum cleaner and sucks up the leaves everybody rakes to their curbs. It's a big, noisy production and fun to watch with the little kids on the front porch.

It's always a game of chicken with the weather. Suck up leaves too early and not all the trees have dropped them yet; hit it too late (like last year) and your giant piles of leaves spend the winter under the snow turning into slop to deal with in the spring.

The Teenagers Have Us Surrounded

Today is Malcolm's 13th birthday! Bringing the total number of teenagers in this house to two. Is it a balance of terror? Nah, Malcolm's pretty mild-mannered, like Clark Kent.

I think he had a pretty great day today — he came home from school to a long weekend, got his favorite dinner of pot roast, had his favorite homemade chocolate cake (I baked, Joanie made the frosting), got some pretty nice presents, and before it got dark we got to spend some time outside tossing around a football.

Malcolm is so much cooler than I was as at 13; it gives me hope for the future. He's going to go far.

Making Lemonade

In May Malcolm and I went to a father and son campout at Camp Boyhaven, 20 miles from home. As we pulled into our driveway arriving home, he remembered he left his favorite sweatshirt in the field where we played Frisbee that morning. Ugh!

So I dropped him off and went all the way back to get it. But not without first grabbing the camera and stopping off a couple times on the roadside to make some nice rural scenics.

These kind of pictures don't happen when you're dragging kids around, so the lost sweatshirt trip was a mixed blessing.

Two Locks

Ancient hardware on a barn near Rock City Falls, New York.

Sunrise

Camping at Sanders Nature Preserve a couple weekends ago.

Lush

Detail of a really green tree in Phoenix. Winter approaches in Upstate New York and compared to this it's starting to look stark outside.

Rainy Saturday

Last Saturday we had a rainy day and Carter and Claire played together. Carter was especially cute, because he said he was "taking care" of her.

Alphaghetti

Our kids are picky eaters. No, wait — they're the pickiest.

Claire's been eating Spaghetti-os for a while, but Carter would never partake. If it's not bland and white or yellow, he won't try it (think crackers, cottage cheese, milk, bread, mac & cheese).

Joanie brought home a can of Spaghetti-os shaped like the alphabet, and they passed the novelty test: Carter tried a new food.

On Corner Gas they call this stuff Alphaghetti. However it's marketed, we must celebrate.

Freedom Of Choice

I got my first record album when I was 8, but it wasn't until my freshman year of high school that I discovered the first music I really, really, really liked. A friend at school lent me his Devo New Traditionalists album and I must have borrowed it for several months. It had synths and electronic bongos and lyrics with words like "aliens" and "mutants." It got me through my first two years of high school plus moving to a new state.

Monday night in DC I got to see the band play live — first time ever — and they can still rock. They played their 1980 Freedom Of Choice album in its entirety, front to back, then came back on for two encores.

This has probably been my favorite concert so far, put on by a bunch of 50 year old guys wearing hazmat suits and flower pots as hats. Man, they were great!

Quiet Neighbors

Really old graveyard attached to a church in Burnt Hills, NY.

Three Out of Four

One pane missing, along Scotch Bush Road.

Marshmallow Farm

Last cutting, Scotch Bush Road outside of Burnt Hills, NY.

Sometimes you see these big rolls of hay wrapped in shiny white plastic to protect them over the winter. When Madeleine and Malcolm were little, whenever we would drive by one of these fields with the wrapped rolls I would tell them they were growing marshmallows.

Suspend

Wiry arch apex; 3rd Street, Phoenix.

Overhang

Facade of the Phoenix Convention Center. Out of focus in the foreground is a grate, which adds a grid pattern over the whole photo. I'm into shooting things through other things.

Tiny Leaves

Looking through a tree in Phoenix. The foliage there is so different from what's in my backyard.

It's black and white week at the Grandon Fan Club.

Sanders Preserve

Friday night I went with 12 Scouts overnight to Sanders Preserve, a nature area in our town. Overnight it got down to 24°F, a bit brisk for sleeping outdoors, but Malcolm and I brought lots of layers for wearing and sleeping.

The place where we camp is about a mile from the parking, and the walk can get pretty muddy and squishy in spots. I've been there twice now, each time relying on the Scouts to lead the way into and out of camp. On the four hikes I've made through those woods, we've been lost four times.

We eat together as patrols, and I volunteered to cook Friday night for the adults. I've been looking forward all week to foil dinners cooked over the campfire, my favorite. That made the hike worth it. This time I also tried making foil-wrapped apples, cored and stuffed with raisins, craisins, pecans, brown sugar and butter — I tossed them in the fire and they also turned out great. I made an extra apple for Malcolm and his patrol to share so they could see what they were missing — they planned ramen for dinner.

Pointy

I believe this is a type of agave on the grounds of the Heard Museum in Phoenix. It made me think of Depeche Mode's Exciter album cover.

We just had two blue photos in a row most recently on the Grandon Fan Club, so time to move to a different dominant color. Yes, I think about these things.

Is it odd to point to my blog on my blog? Many readers only see these posts syndicated on my Facebook page, never realize the source of their joy is on Blogger. Now you have some pointy text to go with the pointy picture.

Twisty

Total amnesia on this one. I was someplace in Phoenix when I made this picture, but I don't remember where I was, or even remember taking it, which is unusual. It's a true "grab shot" — I was on my way someplace, preoccupied with something else, saw something interesting, grabbed it, and went on my way. I love the blue tone, the blurry edges; it has an antique look like film. It also feels wintry, like it was 20° out — not 107°. It's a happy accident all around.

I'll be adding more abstracts like this over the next several days.

Spiky

I'm walking around downtown Phoenix, lots of tall, square office buildings around, and all of a sudden there's a cactus. Not something I'm used to seeing in that setting.

Camelback

From the air approach to Phoenix. I thought this rock formation in the middle of everything was fantastic. It just sticks up from out of nowhere. I'm still not sure if this is Camelback Mountain, or if that's the name of those hills in the distance. Need some help from the audience out there.

Seen At Heard

I'm pretty behind on photos, and must have a week's worth left to post from my Phoenix trip alone. So in honor of rolling the clock back for Daylight Savings, we roll back to August 2009.

One day after work was over I went with some friends to the Heard Museum dedicated to Native American art. One hint from Heloise here is that many museums let you in free the last hour they're open. So as we got there 1:10 before closing, about to plunk down $50 to get us all in, I asked if they had that policy. They did! So we checked out the gift shop for a few minutes, then did the speedwalk through. It's worth the money to spend more time there, I certainly didn't see it all. I found the Inuit (igloos and cold stuff) exhibit just as they were closing and would have liked to see more of that.

Camera-shy readers can check out here. I find it a fun challenge to pack light with just one lens and see if I choose the right one. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. This time it did. I took my inexpensive but versatile fixed 50mm f/1.8. You have to zoom with your feet, but it excelled in the low museum lighting. I took a lot of photos I shouldn't have been able to because it opens so wide to let in so much light. Seems like a bunch of people I know just got new DSLRs in the last month and are asking me what the next lens should be. This is it.

Paved With Gold

The view out our bedroom window. It's like another planet where everything's the wrong color.