Missy

45.

My good buddy Ann is a friend to animals, and a strong pack leader. Her place is home to a variety of critters, some who live there permanently, and others who are on their way to finding a "forever home." She's been noticing that the the dogs and cats who are available for adoption through sites like petfinder.com, etc, "move" faster when they have a nice-quality photo to accompany their listing.

So, we got together for a quick shoot... What a sweet pooch! I hope her new headshot does the trick.

Colorful

44.

She's drawn to color, in her art and fashion....

Word

43.
Back to the school routine this week, which somehow meant that I spent less time with my camera today than I would have liked. So this is a last-minute, late-night, desperation shot...

I came home to find school papers strewn across the kitchen table. This is the list of "word wall words", a compilation of words every second-grader should know how to spell. Or they don't get to go to third grade, I assume... Anyway, I asked the next morning if this was something she had to work on...? As in, should she be studying & practicing these words...?
Nope. Know 'em already... came the reply.

Thankfully, she is more on top of her assignments than I am on mine.

Low Key

42.

Meet Todd. He turned up at my portrait class on Monday, as one of our models. We guessed he was an author, and imagined he needed a photo for his new bookjacket...

Turns out, he works as a comedic actor, but was looking for some headshots that portrayed his more serious side. Luckily, "serious" is good fit for the low key lighting set-up that we were learning that evening.

Still. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the book tour circuit...

Riddle Me This...

41.

What is red, purple and blue, has two wheels, three seats, six pedals, 27 speeds and is an integral part of our summer vacation plan?

Give up? Here's a hint.

Lucky 13

40.

I only got to see the last ten minutes, but she had a great game on Saturday. I love it that she she loves to play. And she must be feeling pretty good about her game, too, since she chose to wear number 13 this season...

Crabapple

39.

This is my neighbor's tree, and it sits just outside my kitchen window. It's a lovely sight throughout the year, but especially so right now...

Planning

38.

There's nothing like a "staycation" to inspire some vacation planning. Which is fortunate, because time was running out for planning summer adventures, and we hadn't made much progress in that department yet...

First Surf of the Season

37.

The water temps hover right around fifty degrees this time of year, but as long as you're dressed for it, it's no problem. This is my gang, post-surf.... Guess who was last one out of the water? That little tiny speck in the water behind them is Mr CM.

Fifteen

36.

If you want to get an idea of how quickly fifteen years disappears when you are a parent, try this exercise:

When the singing is over, and he blows out the candles, cut the birthday boy a slice of cake. Serve it with a scoop of ice cream. See how long it takes for him to eat it.

That's how quickly it goes.

Heartbreak Hill 2010

35.

Looks like another post for the Wayback Machine... On Monday, we found ourselves in the same place as last year at this time, at the top of Heartbreak Hill for the Boston Marathon. We saw the winner go by, we saw wheelchair racers, young and old, men and women, barefoot runners, crazy hats, runners dressed as cartoon characters, gorillas and in banana suits. But I don't know who among them are tougher than these guys. Hats off to all who ran.

And congrats to my brother! Our family is arguably better suited to potato peeling than distance running, genetically-speaking... But my brother ran the Marathon for the second time -- and AGAIN raised big bucks for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in doing so. We were very proud to go out & cheer him on. What's more, he shaved 40 minutes off of his time from last year! Wow!!!

That's him & Prince Firstly, getting ready to sprint the last few miles to the finish from the top of Heartbreak Hill...

34.

When I set up my calendar to text me reminders of upcoming events, it seemed like a good idea. When this one came in today, all I could do was sigh & roll my eyes. No school next week. No big plans, either.

Am I up to the staycation challenge ahead....? Stay tuned.

Lady's Mantle, Revisited

33.

As I was getting ready to post this photo, I remembered that I featured this plant, in a similar drippy state, once before. Turns out, it was almost exactly a year ago. Not all that surprsing, really -- no other plant in my yard looks as dramatic when wet. And we've been having a lot of wet lately...

April Showers

32.

The recent warm-up caused everything to bloom in the last week or so. But today's drop in temps and chilly rain prompted the tulips to button up against the elements.

Fine Arts Night

31.

The high school cafeteria became an art gallery tonight, a showcase that runs the gamut from primitive clay pieces molded by six-year old hands to elaborate paintings on canvas by soon-to-be-art majors.

Tacozanga!

30.

I dug into my pile and found this recipe, which turned out to be a crowd-pleaser. Which, given that we have some recovering picky eaters in the crowd, is no small feat. (I'll tell you a secret: there's zucchini in there, and nobody was the wiser!) I'm keeping this one filed away under "Tacky but Tasty" until next time...

Multiple Steps

29.

Step up. Step down. Step to it. Step lively. Step by step. Step off. Step on it. Step out. Step aside. Step along. Step back. Step forward. Step in. Step around. Step right up.

Baby steps. First step. Next steps. Steppin' out. Footstep. Dance step. Lock step. Twelve-step. False step. High-stepping. Stepping stone. Stepping on toes. Stepped up. In step. Out of step.

One small step for man... Fools step in where angels fear to tread... Stepping on your grave... Step up to the plate... A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Wendy

28.

Headshots were the lesson of the day... think serious, think corporate, think yearbook... And then Wendy sits down in front of the camera & all that goes out the window. In a good way. Thanks, Wendy!

Last Skate

27.

I guess I spoke too soon the other day, when I said hockey season was over. Apparently, there was one more game to go. Now it's over.

Howie's Truck

26.

"Howie the Plumber" has a cool truck, and a sense of humor. Consider his motto, printed on his t-shirt: "Quality rates, reasonable work."

"North to Pick Up...

25.

...south to drop off, Moron!"

Occasionally, I have to collect the girls from school, instead of having them take the bus home. Every time, the carefully choreographed process reminds me of that scene from Mr. Mom, where newly-at-home-Dad Michael Keaton drives through the drop-off lane in the wrong direction and gets verbally assaulted by other parents for his mistake...

Another Meet

24.

When coach says: "Jump!", he says: "How far?"

ps: Notice what the coach is wearing... heavy sweatshirt, hat, gloves. The temp dropped forty degrees from the day before! Ahhh, spring in New England!

A Whole New Season

23.

Since hockey ended a couple of days ago, and temperatures reached 90 degrees today, it made perfect sense to jump right into soccer season...

Back to Track

22.

So... this is only my second track meet. Ever. I'm still trying to figure out where to stand to get my shots. Plus, his event, the 110m hurdles, is over really fast. If he did a longer distance -- say, the mile, -- I'd have more opportunities to try different shots. But, he's pretty committed to the hurdles, so I'm going to have to work it out. For starters, I could probably stand back a little bit...

Ready for my Close-up, Mr. DeMille...

21.

Or not...

Back to class again on this Monday night. We all have to spend some time under the lights as subjects, and it was my turn. Not my favorite place to be, but I'm really enjoying the class and learning about working with a studio set-up.

Prince Charming

20.

This little guy is growing up so fast, and he's a real charmer, too. I don't know if I've ever met a baby that loves to have his picture taken like he does. He smiles when he sees the camera!

Giddyup!

19.

My girls made a new friend, thanks to my old friend, Laura. Prince is her horse, and she invited the girls to visit and ride on this beautiful Saturday.

Little girls and horses are a classic match, and they had a ball. I sense a "Can we get a horse?" campaign coming on...

...to which I say: "Go ask Auntie Laura..."

:) Thanks, Laura!

Egg-stravaganza

18.
Nine cousins. Six dozen eggs. Two Paas egg coloring kits. One disposable tablecloth.
Happy Easter!

What's for Dinner?

17.
Clipped from the newspaper, printed off the web, ripped from magazines... Here are the contents of the over-stuffed file folder full of fabulous recipes I have collected over the years. Most of which I have yet to actually cook...