One Dad's Life

Wordless Wednesday - Making Pancakes!

I've posted photos before of my youngest daughter, Rachel (7), cooking stuff.  She loves to cook.  She has been making her own breakfast since she could walk, essentially, and will make any other meal, too, if you don't stop her!  

Lately, it just isn't breakfast to her unless it involves making something hot.  Usually, this means oatmeal, Malt-O-Meal, toast, muffins, etc.  The list grows every week, now that she can read the cooking instructions and recipes! 

Yesterday, she added pancakes to her list.  Here's a shot I took of her as I rushed out the door to work, as she was taking the last pancake off the griddle.

Taken with the ol' Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.7, and the pop-up flash.  I desaturated the result quite a bit to be all arty and stuff.

Trying New Foods - 7 Year Old Style

"I've decided I'm going to start trying new foods", our youngest daughter, Rachel, declared to us at dinner the other night.

"That's great, sweetie!" I replied to her, as I set the table.

While this is something you don't entirely expect to hear from a 7-year old, that's never a bad thing, right?  Of course, Rachel has always been a pretty good eater and often tries new foods.   She's going through a bit of a stage where if something looks different than she expects, she declares that "she doesn't like that", but otherwise, she has a pretty wide range of tastes.

The timing seemed a little odd, too, as I was grilling our weekend sirloin, and had already made baked beans and had some Orieda fries in the oven on a cookie sheet.  Additionally, Rachel has asked me to make hamburgers instead of the sirloin, but Dianne and I wanted the sirloin so bad we declared that we were making steak.  Final answer.

Naturally, once Rachel and I were in Kendrick's picking out the sirloin du jour, I caved in and bought some ground sirloin patties to make her a burger.

I'm basically the world's nicest dad.  As further proof, I'm making the drive all the way out to Six Flags tonight to pick up my teen-age daughter and her lunatic friends when the park closes.  I'm hoping they all fall asleep in the car after playing out there all day.

Back to the food story.  Given that we were having weekend grilled comfort food for dinner, I was curious as to what brought about this "trying new foods" quest.

So I asked Rachel if she had identified any foods that were on her short list of trying.

"Yes, I have two picked out", she replied.

Well, at least there is a plan.

"What foods?" I asked.

"Jalapenos and dill pickles", she replied.

Apparently, the jalapenos idea came from me putting them on hamburgers whenever I can.  And, yes, she was aware that they are hot and spicy.

So, the big moment came, we were sitting at the table, she had her hamburger open and selected a jalapeno slice from the jar of canned jalapenos.

She placed the slice on her hamburger,  put the top slice of bread back on, and took a big bite - right through the jalapeno area.

My wife and I watched her closely for any reaction. 

Rachel chewed.  And chewed.  And chewed.  There was essentially no reaction other than her looking up into her skull, studying the flavors.  Finally, after a good 30 seconds of this, she decided that she was going to rate the jalapenos as a "no", but was open to trying them again next time.   She finished the jalapeno in her mouth, too.

I think she'll be eating them shortly, judging from the minimal negative reaction.

That's my girl!  I love spicy food.

By the way, her taste test of the dill pickle following the jalapeno test resulted in a positive recommendation from her.

Friday Photo - Black-Eyed Susans

Our flower gardens are doing incredible this year.  I suspect it is due to just exactly the right kind of weather.  They aren't even requiring too much maintenance on the watering side of things, which is unusual in St. Louis.   I can only think of twice this year I've had to water the flowers, and the lawn.

So, it's a shame I haven't posted more photos since Spring.  Lately, with my over-the-top schedule, my main time for garden enjoyment is while I cut the grass!  The thing is, it is hard to see the flowers in the dark.

So, yesterday morning, I snapped three quick photos of some Black-Eyed Susans in one of our beds while I was watering the hanging baskets.  The last of the three shots turned out nice and sharp (hard to hand-hold flower shots in low light!).  So, what did I do?  BLURRED it of course! I'm a contrarian photographer.  You can click the photo for a larger version - my gift to you for Friday!

For you photo nerds out there that want to try for this same effect, here's all the technical details.  All editing was done in GIMP, which is a great (and FREE) Photoshop-like piece of software.  Get it.

I took the original, and sharp, photo and made a copy of it in the layer dialog box.  Switching to the copied layer, I applied the Gaussian Blur filter with a very high blur setting - 50 in this case.  All that is left, is combining this extremely blurred layer with the base photo.  Usually, I crank up the brightness of the blurred layer, and merge it using the "multiply" algorithm.  Today, though, I experimented a bit and this time merged the blurred layer to the base using the "lighten only" algorithm.  You can mess around with each layer individually to get the exact effect that you are looking for.  In this case, very little was done, I very slightly lightened the blurred layer to bring out the bright blur areas just a touch.  While you can adjust the percentage of the merge for each layer, this one was at 100%.

Then I flattened the image (merging all the layers) and created the jpg you see above.  I tweaked the black level just a bit to bring it back to the level of the original photo and it was done!

Image taken with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens.  Other settings were ISO 200, f11, and 1/20 S exposure.  The shot was hand-held, with available light only.

Unexpected Combination

It seems like everything you get these days is multi-function in some way. No longer are we satisfied with any device doing just one thing.

This is particularly true with electronics.  For example, there is the "All-in-one" card reader for memory cards, there is the printer/scanner/copier/? device,  and it is completely impossible to buy a phone that isn't also a camera, and email device, and a calendar!   On top of this, I think that everyphone, and maybe EVERY electronic device can now synchronize your Outlook email from work and allow you to play a game while you wait.

However, non of this prepared me for what I saw sitting on my brother's patio this morning.  Apparently, multi-function has now extended to plumbing...and in ways no one could POSSIBLY have anticipated.

I give you Exhibit A:

That's right, it is a Jacuzzi AND a toilet!  Now, I've heard rumors of people "going" in swimming pools or even their showers (shudder), but never in my wildest dreams did I think anyone would OFFICIALLY combine the warm, water-jet fun of a Jacuzzi and the functionality of a toilet.  AND AT LEAST ONE PERSON HAS BOUGHT INTO THIS.  Sadly, he's related to me.   I had very little to do with his upbringing though, just so you know.

Of course, this is a parenting blog (sort-of) so let's look at this genius piece of marketing from a parents perspective for just one moment.  This could actually be a great potty-training tool.  While we are way past that potty-training stage with a 7 year old and a 13 year old, to this day, when we visit my wife's family, the kids are DYING to take a bath in their water-jet tubs, or sit in the Jacuzzi and play.  At no other time are they so eager to take a step that means bedtime is right around the corner.

What if...humor me... you could apply the same thing to potty-training?  Would it be easier to get your kid to sit on the toilet after eating (or whenever you decide to try potty-training) if they new that warm jets of Jacuzzi fun also awaited them?  I think probably "yes!" 

What a fantastic world we live in!

Wordless Wednesday - Fireworks!

Pictures taken on the 3rd of July, at the Jefferson Barracks fireworks display.  This is a smaller, but nice display, that is very well attended.  We went with my parents, my brother, sister (along with husband and kids), and my uncle.  The biggest problem for a photographer is that most of the fireworks were exploding in the same place, making multiple burst photos impractical.

Taken with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-56 kit lens.  Camera mounted on a tripod, manually focused, at f11, with shutter held open on "bulb" mode with the Nikon wireless remote. Exposure times typically several seconds.  And yes, that is a black and white fireworks picture tucked in there!

I love how you can see the trees around the river on the last two shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of those "You'll Never Forget Where You Were" Moments

Today, our nation celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the first moon landing.  If you were alive way back then, chances are this was one of those "You'll Never Forget Where You Were" moments.

However, I have forgotten quite a bit about the first moon landing, and I also think that I've probably swirled a whole lot of the Apollo trips together.  Yesterday morning, my mom asked me if I remembered where I was and what I was doing at the time of the landing.  I thought I did, but I got it wrong, or at least confused.  Hopefully, this has more to do with the fact that I was three and a half at the first landing, and not any indication of any advancing senility!

I assumed I was watching it all on television, at night.  But, according to my mom's report, I was actually at a play at the "Spanish Pavilion."  They interrupted the play to announce the moon landing.  At three and a half, I apparently cheered loudly.  This would place the importance of the moon landing for me pretty close to the time one of the dwarfs fell off the bench he was sleeping on into the fireplace during a Muny performance of "Snow White."  I loved that.

This event began my fascination with space, space travel, and related topics that continues to this day.  An enumeration of key examples of my fascination:

• An early visit to Washington D.C. I was greatly disappointed that the Air and Space museum was essentially closed while they built the new exhibit space.  All you could really see were a few key artifacts in a small building.
• Starting building and flying model rockets in the 6th or 7th grade and continued through college.
• Finally got to the new Air and Space museum after it reopened.  I believe I read every single word that was written on any sign or exhibit in the entire museum.  There was no "browsing" for me. I had to go back for a second day to finish, while my family continued on with something a little more interesting for them!
• Purchased a Newtonian telescope with a 10" mirror to gaze into space from our backyard.  The major trigger for this was an incredibly close approach of Mars a couple of years back.  I did end up getting an incredible view, on an unusually calm and clear night.

So if some of my recollections were a bit hazy, what exactly DO I remember from those moon landings?

• Looking through the red plastic that used to be wrapped around banana stems, to make our B&W TV image into a color image.
• The explanations (probably by Walter Cronkite) of exactly how the rockets worked, and how the the lunar lander would emerge, land, and then re-launch.
• Our B&W TV going on the fritz, so we'd rush across the street to watch on our neighbors set.
• Looking up at the moon in the night sky, straining to see the astronauts. I was probably, at some point, convinced that I found them.

In the great scheme of things, odd stuff to remember, but stand-out memories for a three year old that have lasted all of these years.  Of course, I "remember" all the video and pictures of the astronauts bouncing across the moon.   I'm just not so certain whether I remember it that well from the actual events, or from the repetition over the years!

We now live in a world where travel to space is probably not so magical for most kids and doesn't even figure prominently in the news.  However, I'm still excited about every manned launch and every probe that is launched, but I'm really looking forward to the United States returning to the moon and heading out to Mars!

There is so much to see and explore out there!  If you'd like to restore your own wonder, I'd recommend making "The Astronomy Picture of the Day" your homepage.  One fantastic photo every day, along with great information and links!  As this post is published, today's picture is naturally the first moon landing.

What are your moon landing memories?

One Dad's Life Announcement

"One Dad's Life" will be back on Monday, July 17th.  It's not going anywhere!  While you patiently wait, why not read some archives?

Edit: It has been pointed out that it would be QUITE the wait for a Monday, July 17th.  The correct date is naturally, July 20th, 2009!

Influenced by Her Big Sister

My oldest daughter, Rebecca, is a talented artist (click here for a published example) and is always drawing.  She throws away drawings that I think should be framed!

Well naturally, Rachel, the 2nd grader has followed suite and now ALSO draws all the time.  We go through a ton of drawing paper pads, colored pencils, and all other art supplies.  It's funny, I used to think that I drew a lot, but I still have some of my original packs of pencils and pads!  Clearly, my daughters are working on a whole different level.

Last night, my wife brought me the following drawing which when quizzed, Rebecca told us RACHEL had done all by herself.  There is obvious portions of Rebecca's style in the drawing, but not too bad for someone entering 2nd grade!  I can't wait to see what kind of style Rachel develops as she continues to draw.

Wordless Wednesday - I Can Still Make Her Laugh...

...on very rare occasions!

Photo info:

Subject: My daughter Rebecca after my niece's birthday party.  I kept taking pictures of her and making snide remarks on her expression!  Actually, ALL of her pictures turn out great. She's very photogenic.

Camera: Nikon D60, SB600 flash bounced off the ceiling and probably turned down a stop or so.  18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens.

Critique: Should have used a flash softbox instead of the bounce. I was too close and it resulted in shadows under her face! Learn from my mistakes!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

This past weekend we, and apparently the whole country, celebrated the 5th birthday of my niece, Emily.  You probably saw the fireworks.  On Sunday, she had not one, but TWO birthday parties back-to-back.  The first was with her friends, and then the second was with the family.

While my daughter, Rachel, attended both festivals, the rest of my clan just attended the second.

Let me tell you, I have NEVER seen a pile of gifts like the gifts that were showered on this kid in my life.  It was quite amazing.  Emily, however, took all of this in with an unusual sense of calmness and peace about her.  NOT.  There were nearly hysterical outbursts of delight for EACH AND EVERY GIFT.  

Did I mention there were a lot of gifts?  There were a lot of outbursts.

In reality, instead of taking photos, someone should have been taking video of the event. Emily is quite the character and had us all in stitches.

 

Here she is giving her big sister Hannah the "thumbs up" signal on Hannah's gift to her.  Success!

 

This shot captures the tail end of one of her squeals of delight.  "Squeal" is definitely the correct word to use in this situation.

 

This, in many ways, was the grand finale gift.  This doll house was a collaboration between my dad, who cut out and assembled the house (from scrap lumber, amazingly), my wife, who did the painting, decorating and most of the furniture building, and my youngest daughter Rachel, who did all the furniture and decorating on the third floor, plus made a front porch.  

The interesting thing about this dollhouse is that it is scaled to match Emily's treasured Poly Pocket collection!  That meant that everything had to be custom made, as Poly Pockets do NOT match one of the standard dollhouse scales.

I was totally expecting huge, ear-splitting screams when she pulled the wrapping off the house, judging from the reaction to the rest of her gifts and the fact that about 2 weeks ago she mentioned to her mom how she'd REALLY REALLY like a dollhouse.

Instead, there was silence.  I think it might have been STUNNED silence, but their was silence non-the-less.  In short order, though, she made the trip upstairs to fetch those Poly Pockets and returned to play with the house.

 

Here's Emily feeding her very realistic baby doll, that responds to your touch.  You'll notice that in the background, full-grown adults are now playing with the dollhouse!

Happy Birthday, Emily!  I hope it was a great one!