Henry

I don’t know a lot of other people named Henry. At times it has been a popular name but there don’t seem to be a lot of people my age with the name. I don’t know if this is enough of a sample to say the name is coming back into fashion, but I photographed two little boys named Henry in as many days. Yesterday there was a couple with two children and the younger of the two was a Henry. Then there is this Henry, who has been coming to our church for a little while (with his parents, of course). This isn’t the best picture I’ve ever taken of him but it’s the best I got today. He’s a wonderfully cute little boy. It helps to win the genetic lottery and have attractive parents.

???, Elizabeth, and Elsie

Elizabeth

After the dreary morning yesterday, I was a little afraid that today would be a washout. Instead I woke to a beautiful day and it only got better as the day went on. I spent much of the day at a craft sale at Rocklands Farm, offering my cards and prints to whoever was interested. I’m sure the gorgeous weather played a part in making it a pretty successful day. Not only that but I got to see friends whom I see far too infrequently. Finally, there were a host of cute kids there and for the most part they were happy to pose for pictures.

In the first picture, I’m not sure of the name of the girl on the left but the other two are Elizabeth and Elsie. I’m fortunate enough to know their parents and I’ve photographed both of them before. The three girls were using some of Janis’ wreath making supplies to make themselves a bit more more festive.

The second picture is another of Elizabeth, modelling a hat. I was impressed with the pot holders that Elizabeth had made for the craft sale. She stood with her wares and happily pocketed the money earned. What an adorable girl she is.

Katie and Ilene

We had our group holiday lunch/party/thing this afternoon and I took a few pictures. It’s a little weird. Some places I go, people are not used to seeing me without my camera. Other places, they are not surprised when they see me taking pictures, although I don’t always have it in front of my face. Work, however, is the other way ’round. I do go outside at lunchtime some days to take pictures and a few people are used to seeing that. On occasion friends and co-workers will have their children at work and I often get to take pictures of them (the children). But it’s pretty rare for me to be snapping pictures of my co-workers themselves. This is the second year the small group I work in has gone to the party with this larger group at work and I only really know a small fraction of them, which adds to the weirdness, I suppose.

That’s a long-winded way of saying, this is a picture of two of my co-workers, taken at our holiday party/lunch/thing — Katie on the left, Ilene on the right.

Hannah

It would have been better if we had a bit more room but this evening Dorothy’s good friend Hannah was doing one-hand cartwheels and I took a few pictures. I think this is the best of them because it looks as though she is standing still on one hand. She’s actually moving from right to left in this picture.

Hannah On Ice

Some Of Hannah’s Fans

Dorothy’s friend, Hannah, has been skating since she was seven years old. Dorothy has seen her skate before but I hadn’t, so when she announced that she’d be performing today, I thought it would be good to come. Dorothy wanted to be there, as well, and we heard that a bunch of other friends from school were planning to be there. The first picture for today is one of quite a few that I took of her on the ice. I don’t have a lot of experience with photographing skating. Also, it’s not all that bright in the indoor rink (and it was dark outside in any case). In order to get a fast enough shutter speed I needed to set my camera’s ISO to 6,400. That let me shoot at f/3.5, so I had a little depth of field and 1/800 second. I got a few pictures that I’m happy with and a bunch that are not very good. Sorry it is so grainy, but that’s life. Hannah, on the other hand, was lovely throughout and all her fans were happy to cheer for her when she was finished.

The second photo is some of those fans. This is actually probably about half the people who came specifically to see her. They are, from left to right, back: Jessie, Libby, Dorothy, Cat, Louie, Hannah, Abagail, Brandon. Front: Tyler, Alex, Kyle, Connor, and Garrett.

Iris, Tsai-Hong, Ralph, Maya, and Stephen

After two days of Thanksgiving, we had a somewhat unexpected extension into a third day when Stephen and Maya invited us to their new apartment for brunch. They have a nice apartment not too far from their work and close to all of us, which is nice. Here’s a picture of them with with the rest of the family.

Thanksgiving, 2012

Although less thankful that we should be, we are nonetheless thankful. It’s true that we should be and indeed are thankful every day of the year, it is right that we set aside one day specifically for the purpose of being thankful. We were fortunate, this year, to have guests with us as we celebrated and gave thanks at Cathy’s mom’s house. On the left are Josh, Diana, and Jake. On the right are Kendra, Dorothy, Marge, and Cathy. Margaret is at the head of the table.

Kendra and Dorothy

Cathy and Dorothy picked up Kendra and I met them at Cathy’s mom’s house after work. They helped cut bread for stuffing, peeled potatoes, and made jello for tomorrow’s meal. When they were done working, Kendra and Dorothy sat at the piano and made up songs. You won’t hear any of them on the radio any time soon but we enjoyed their efforts (for the most part).

Ben and Trish

Two of my favorite people were leading the singing together this morning in church. Do I describe a lot of people as “of my favorite people?” If so, then I guess it just shows how fortunate I am! I don’t know if it is Ben that picked the songs or if they are picked because he’s leading. Either way, I especially like having Ben lead because of the songs we sing when he does. Thanks, guys (and the rest of the team, as well).

Dorothy the Doodler

I often doodled in school and I still occasionally find myself drawing during meetings. Most of my doodles are either random shapes or very poor drawings of people. I would love to be able to sit in a meeting and draw actual people from the room. As it is, I usually hide my doodles and they eventually find their way to the shredder. Once in a while I’ll come up with something worth keeping (and the bar isn’t even all that high).

Dorothy is also a doodler but her doodles are of a much (much) higher caliber than her old papa’s. For a good while now she has carried around a small book that has become her journal. In it are notes and doodles intermixed. This isn’t that book but another that she happened to have with her today. The outside cover is nicely decorated. Yes, she’s making a bit of a face here, but it’s not a bad picture of her, and the notebook is nice.