Zoo. One.

Yesterday, I wanted to get a little bit more use out of this gigantic long lens that I'd rented from borrowlenses.com, before I had to return it, so after I dropped the kids at school, I headed north, and went to the San Francisco Zoo.

I got there early, and had plenty of time to get FREE street parking. I had intended to renew my membership, which would have given me a one-time free parking pass, but I thought "Hey! Free is better than that", so took the street parking. It was just a short jaunt down the street to the beach, and I was more than a half hour early (the Zoo didn't even open until 10am), so I strolled down to get a look at the waves and surfers.

I got sidetracked, though. There's this GIGANTIC daschound head up on one of the light poles down the middle of Sloat. What is it? Maybe some ad for a 1950's hot dog diner? I was fascinated by it.

And then I got to the beach, and the weather was PERFECT! I was glad that I'd put my sunscreen face cream on. Who knew that it was going to be so clear? I'd driven through DENSE fog to get there!

I checked my watch. Nearly time to go stand in line, so I went back to the zoo.

There was quite the line up at the ticket booth, but I asked one of the security guards, and they said "oh, go inside if you want to renew your membership", so I just bypassed all the line-standers, and went around to the membership office.

They were in a tizzy, though. Apparently, the computer system was broken, and they couldn't access any of the member accounts. When I said that I wanted to renew, the woman just looked at me all forlorn, and said "I wish I could renew you, but the computers are down. Here, let me stamp your hand, and you can just go in. See if the computers are up when you return, and then maybe I can renew you then, ok?"

Woot! It was like a free pass! But of course, my guilty conscience would not LET me not-renew, now!

The zoo stlil wasn't open, but from the little courtyard by the member's office, you could see into the African Savannah exhibit.

A mommy and her baby.

The mommy says "Hey, baby, your mane is all ver-schmutzed! Here, let me fix it for you."

And my kids thought *I* was the one who originated the 'spit in a kleenex and wipe your face' move! It is universal through ALL species.

And then these Oryx came over, and the mommy tried giving them lick-baths, which they objected to strenuously.

They kept poking her with their long horns every time she'd try to lick them. It was hilarious.

Hello, Zebra!

(and may I point out that I have seen all this BEFORE I even entered the zoo? This is from OUTSIDE THE GATE!)

Mr. Giraffe points out that I need to go to a meeting now. But I will be back after lunch to share MORE zoo photos!

"You're late! You're late! Go before I lick your head with my big long blue tongue!"

Mother's Day Walk

For Mother's Day, Toni and Ken had us down to their place. My Ken made desserts and a salad, and Toni's Ken smoked pork shoulders, and made Carolina pulled pork, with a bunch of grilled veggies and fruit.

It was a feast.

To get in a little exercise while the men were putting the finishing touches on supper, Toni and I went for a little walk along the waterfront in their neighbourhood. I was really trying to get a little bit more use out of this massive 200-500mm lens that I'd rented, but the wildlife wasn't being all that cooperative. Usually there are flocks of ducks and geese that follow you around, and a lot of those cute shore birds that are so much fun to watch. But on this walk, for the most part, it was like walking through some post-apocalyptic scene where there are no living things to be found.

But then we stumbled onto a bird that didn't get the memo.

I guess the trick when you're using a zoom like this is to just keep taking photos, and hope that something's in focus, because I had no idea if I was focusing on anything even remotely close to this bird. My vision's not as great as I think, I guess. But one's and zero's are free, so I took a couple dozen photos, and two or three were pretty nice.

And then he flew away, so I was left to take photos of non-birds.

And then, fluttering into view, was a little acrobatic clown. A Black Phoebe.

I thought he must have been doing some little courtship dance, because his flitting to and fro over the water was so acrobatic. But when I got the photos home, I saw this:

It turns out, he's scooping up little bugs that are flying just over the surface of the water. That takes skill!

And then he got 'the big one', and took a rest.

Hey, Phoebe, you can come and eat bugs in my back yard, any time!

And then we walked back to Toni and Ken's, and stuffed ourselves, too. It was a good Mother's Day, even if I did nearly break a rib coughing up my lungs.

Distracted

OK, I had major plans for getting stuff done around the house this morning.

I had the entire quilt laid out on a flannel sheet in the living room, and thought "Hey, I'll turn on the TV and let Jewel watch the Kratt Brothers on National Geographic, so he'll feel like he's at home." So I turned on the TV, and it was the Ethiopian Wolf episode, and I guess I peeked at the TV a bit too much, because all of a sudden, I was laying out the nearly-done quilt, and realized I'd DONE IT ENTIRELY WRONG!

Argh! I had to pick out a TON of seams.

But now I'm putting the back on the first of the quilts, only an hour or so behind schedule.

I'd probably be a bit more on the ball if I hadn't just dipped into the batch of un-baked shortbread cookie dough in the fridge. I'm still a bit woozy from the Cough That Will Not End, and all that butter and sugar is putting me into a coma.

---

On Saturday, I went out with the family at sunset, and we hit a lovely marshland park, looking for birds.

I'd rented a big long lens for the Special Olympics, and wanted to get my money's worth by shooting some animals.

Alas, all that was really hanging out in the mud was a bunch of seagulls.

But the kids had fun running around.

And then we found a pond...

And there were a few more birds there. Even if they were just seagulls and pigeons.

I think the 200-500mm lens is almost TOO zoomy. I found that I wasn't really using it at the long end, even though I traded in the POS monopod, and replaced it at a real camera store with a nice professional grade one.

I had to switch back to a regular lens when I found a huge number of big snails climbing up into the marsh grasses. I'd never seen anything like it.

I'd love to go back there, but since yesterday, the weather has taken a dive, and I don't have any sort of rain gear for the camera. I'll just stick around inside the house, and try to put the clutter in order.

Special Olympics

Kelly's class has had a great opportunity. They have spent this last year working with the special day class students in our school during their Adaptive PE classes every Wednesday. This has mostly been as 'buddies', where one or two kids from Kelly's class would match up with one of the kids from the special day class, to act as helpers. This has been such a wonderful experience for her and her friends. I tell you, back when I was a kid, you didn't talk about kids that were 'different' than you were, unless you were whispering behind your hand, and being all awkward. But with this constant exposure, her classmates have developed a naturalness around these kids with huge needs and differences that I (and my peers at that age) would have never dreamed of. Someone drools? You get a tissue and help them wipe it up. Someone staggers and falls down? You help them up. Very matter of fact.

And yesterday, I got to see all these kids in action at the Special Olympics Super Sports Day.

My heart swelled with pride as I watched Kelly with her young charge.

We all love a parade!

And I have to hand it to one of Kelly's classmates. The guy drives me nuts sometimes, but he ran along side his buddy for ALL FOUR LAPS while his buddy ran the mile. This kid ran along on the infield, cheering that guy on, and keeping him on task until his race was done.

I'm so used to seeing these kids as 10 and 11 year olds that can't even remember to brush their teeth or pack their own lunch, and to watch them spend their entire day completely responsible for a kid who really needed them? It was so incredibly heartwarming.

And maybe they're ready to go to Middle School, after all?

New Zoom

I think I love this new lens.

It's a monster! Way too heavy to lift casually.

And I made a blunder, but I think I have to live with it. I went to Ritz camera (because I couldn't find a parking space ANYWHERE near my favourite little local mom-and-pop camera store) and bought the only reasonably-priced monopod, and it is a POS! But I desperately need to have support under this lens when I use it for the Whole ENtire Day tomorrow at the Special Olympics Sports Day. But suffice it to say that the Quantaray by Sunpak Monopod is not cut out for DSLR use. Or rather, it SAYS it'll support 3 pounds, but it doesn't include 3 pounds of camera with a feather-weight of my hand stabilizing the lens.

Oh well. Shake it off. I just couldn't justify spending over a hundred bucks on a monopod, when I know a perfectly wonderful one can be had on amazon.com for under $30. Boo. Live and Learn.

I will suck it up and take this trick monopod (the trick? It collapses when you press the shutter! Whee!) with me tomorrow. And then I will whine, and decide if it really is not for me, and if I can screw up the nerve, I will return it.

But what about today?

Look what I saw!

See that? I was ACROSS THE POND from him. I had to shout "Hey Nate! Look over here!"

Same with herself:

And then Skip finished working at his tutoring job, and hiked down to join us.

(too cool, dude. Too cool)

There wasn't a lot of wildlife. We did have some duck action.

And then Kelly caught a frog!

Now Laurie, I need you to skip this next paragraph.

No. I mean it. Just scroll down to the next photo.

OK, now that Laurie, the frog-phobe isn't reading, I have to tell you the funniest thing...

While Kelly and the boys were looking at the frog, I crouched down to adjust the camera, so I could take a closer photo, and...

THAT BLOODY FROG JUMPED OUT OF KELLY'S HANDS, AND LANDED ON MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!

I completely screamed like a girl, which is very much unlike me, and then I screamed "Get it off! Get it off!" and "Get it before it LAYS EGGS IN MY PONY TAIL!!!!!"

Yes, because I am all mature like that. I disgust myself. Of course, the kids were laughing like loons, and left it on my neck for a while, just to watch me squirm.

OK, now I have to let Laurie know that it is safe to read again. So I'm going to put a little photo here. And I'm not going to talk about frogs again.

Well, except to say that Kelly let it go, and it hopped out of her hand, and I've got a great photo of that, but I did tell Laurie that the next photo would be like the Safe Word.

So here's a shot of one of the birds on the trail. I can get SO CLOSE!

The kids had a good time. And so did I.

Renting a monster

I have a 2-minute turn-around time at home right now.

Got Nate. Dropped Skip off at his tutoring gig. Got detained by a bus parking in the FAST LANE! (what's up with that?) and am home with Nate so he can get a snack (ice cream - of course, it's a gorgeous day out there), go potty, and I can pick up this:

Um, yeah... I went out this morning and rented it. Tamron 200-500mm zoom lens. What was I thinking?

Tomorrow, Kelly is doing a Special Olympics Sports Day in another city, and I'm driving her up to that. I'll stick around all day, and thought I might enjoy getting a few far-away shots of the athletes. Then after school, there's another Middle School track meet at the local high school, and getting in a bit closer on that might be good, too.

But right now? Now I've gotta get a little bit of practice in. The thing's a monster. And I look like a complete n00b carrying it around on my new (completely inadequate) monopod. So I need to get comfortable with the heft, and with the awkwardness of it, so I won't stick out like a sore thumb over the next couple of days.

So Nate's eating his ice cream, and then I'm gonna swing by school to get Kelly, and the three of us will head down to the pond and look for tadpoles or frog eggs in the pond. And I will try to capture some birds on the pond with that sweet 200-500mm zoom.

Without looking like an idiot.

A night on the couch

This cold/flu/pneumonia/whatever is really kicking my butt.

Last night, I found myself dozing off before 9pm while watching DVR'd shows that I'd been meaning to catch up on. And once my show finished, I just sat there like a zombie. Even Skip was concerned. When he came home from kung fu, he came over to me, and gave me a big hug, which, from a 15 year old stoic, is really something. After he'd had his shower, I told him he could watch his show, but I was going to stay on the couch (I'd put Nate to bed early, while Kelly and Skip were both out at their respective evening activities, and had every intention of going to bed myself, but I am cursed with the "Let me do just this one last thing" virus, and had ended up running the dishwasher, getting laundry going, printed out the lead sheets for Band (Skip is playing with Ken and I on Sunday - I guess it's some Mother's Day thing they're going for. It should be fun), and working on the Bollywood costumes for Nate's 2nd grade class, before I finally crashed onto the couch).

I'm not sure when the droning background sounds of "Mythbusters" faded away, but Skip kept telling me that maybe I should be going up to bed. But I knew that every time I lied down I'd start coughing (oh! The core workout that I am getting with this set of coughing! It is amazing. I am going to have no belly-fat, and 6-pack abs at this rate... either that, or I will (once again) cough myself into incontinence, but let's draw a curtain over that eventuality), so I said "I'm going to probably have to sleep down here tonight. Sitting up. Don't worry about me. You can watch whatever you like..."

I don't know if he watched anything else, but I drifted back to sleep, and had some crazy war-time dreams, only to drift out of sleep and realize that Skip had switched over to playing Modern Warfare with the sound way down. Well, that would explain the dreams.

Ken came home fairly late (he also had an evening meeting - I'm feeling like the left-behind person in the family. Nate and I had nothing going on last night - which probably is a good thing, actually), and chatted with Skip, then got him going up to bed.

So I ended up on the couch, once I'd downed a cocktail of decongestants, cough suppressants, and fever reducers.

And I didn't notice another thing until 6:45am, when Skip came down to the kitchen to sneak around having his breakfast and making his lunch.

We'll see how well I do today. I really need to get over this thing by tomorrow. Kelly is working at a Special Olympics Sports Day tomorrow, and I'm driving her and 4 friends up to the event. I'd also like to get my act together and go rent a really long telephoto lens, so I can get some of those "Sporting Event" types of photos while she's working, and her charges are competing.

But for now, I just need to get through today. And that involves making ten more Bollywood sashes before I leave for school.

So I'd better get going.

Today's photo:

Have any of you experienced the wonder that is Sprinkles Cupcakes?

Well, Nate's class got to experience that joy on Tuesday, when, as a reward for the entire class eating ONLY healthy snacks all the previous week, the teacher went and bought a Sprinkles Cupcake for each of them. (oh, and I may have had one myself, but there's no photographic evidence. Neener, neener) Each child got to pick their own flavour. Nate got a Cinnamon Sugar. It was like the most heavenly moist and delicious French Breakfast Puff on the planet. I may never make puffs again, because this cupcake was SO FREAKIN' DELICIOUS.

The beginning of the quilts

I went in to the school this morning at recess. I hoped that Kelly had been able to spread the word to the classes to come into the library and sign their squares of flannel. I would have hated all my work at 6am this morning to have gone to waste. (why yes, I did get up at 6, and find that I actually had a bit of energy, so I got all the squares cut for the signature blocks)

I laid everything out on one of the library tables, and crossed my fingers.

Oh, that table does look lonely, doesn't it?

But not for long! No sooner had the bell run than the doors nearly burst down with the onslaught of 5th graders.

It was like grand central station for ten minutes.

And then they vanished.

But they left behind two nice piles of signed 5-inch squares of white flannel in their wake.

After school (and a wee nap), Kelly and I got down to work.

Here are the browns we'll be using for the borders and the back:

And here was the first lay-out that I tried.

But it wasn't particularly cohesive, so I started moving things around.

But what should go in that top left corner?

Oh right... there is one more body in the classroom....

The Quilts

We are coming to the end of elementary school for Kelly and her friends. This is a big transition. And for the most part, they're handling it well.

I was at Open House last week, and the class mom from Kelly's room approached me. She's just an amazing woman. She's a doctor, and has four kids, and basically runs her house with grace and peacefulness in a way that I really admire. I don't know how she keeps everything going as smoothly as she does. Anyways, she came up to me and started talking about the 'end of year' gift to the teachers from the class. She had ideas, and several things were well under way. And then she said "But I wonder if we shouldn't do something more baby-focused, seeing as both fifth grade teachers are having babies this year..."

WHAT?

I am SO out of the loop.

OK, so it's sort of not surprising that I wouldn't know that Kelly's teacher, a man, would be expecting.

But how did I miss that the willowy female teacher who teaches the other half of 5th grade was sporting a baby bump?

So the Class Mom was going on about perhaps getting a diaper bag and having the kids sign it, when I found myself blurting out "Oh, wouldn't baby quilts be more fun?"

And before I knew it, I was blabbering on about what a great project it would be, so easy, I had all the supplies, so it would be nearly free! I was designing quilts in my head, and talking about fabric, and what the kids could do to be involved, and how we could do it on the sly so that the teachers wouldn't know, and WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE STOP ME????

To her credit, Christine (the class mom) said "I would NEVER suggest that you do somehting on such a big scale!" and I poo-poohed her, saying "You do so much! Certainly I could do this to help you out!"

And before she could change her mind, I was off and running.

I found all the solid flannel fabric in my stand-beside closet. I knew I'd bought it on sale a few years ago. So that's basically free. And then the next afternoon, I took Kelly and her friend Alice out to Joann's, and had them help me out with picking a few more fabrics that are a bit more hip and up-to-date.

I got these great brown flannels. I know it sounds dull and gross... but they're hip! One is a faded brown with turquoise designs, and the other is the same faded soft flannel brown with pink, green, and blue pin dots. I love them!

I'm off to school right now to have the kids sign white flannel squares with fabric markers, and then I'm going to bang out these quilts in the next few days.

I don't feel put-upon at all, doing this. I almost feel energized, which is a good thing, seeing as I slept 14 hours last night.

And I still need to finish off where the cliff-hanger left you.

---

I kind of feel like I need to put a photo in the entry, but I don't have any fabric photos.

Here's a shot inside the "Bee Tree" that I walk by on the way to the pond. To get this, I was holding my camera above my head, at arm's length, and hoping somehting was in focus. And that 105mm macro lens that I was borrowing was HEAVY! The lens weighs over a pound and a half! I got my work out, that's for sure.

826 Valencia

Today, I was driving a field trip for Nate's class.

I went to bed last night so stiff, I thought I wouldn't be able to walk in the morning.

Or turn my head. Yeah, that'd be fun for the driving around in the city. Boo-yeah.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought "Tough it out. You've gotta do this one. There are NEVER enough drivers, and you have no idea if anyone else at school got sick over the weekend, and was therefore incapacitated."

(And sure enough, whatever sick it was that was running rampant in the school last week managed to smite a family in Nate's class, complete with a Field Trip Driver.)

But I got up this morning feeling a whole lot better than last night. Yeah, it felt like I was swallowing knives and sand, and merely standing up or sitting down made me feel like I was ascending into the heavens in an aircraft (hello, popping eardrums!), but that's nothing a little medication can't kick to the curb, right?

We had to do a bit of re-organization, once we realized that we were down a driver, but in the end, we were still ahead of schedule when we arrived at the venue in the city.

Truly, it was a great field trip. Or at least, I think it was...

Now, tell me, what's worse than having a kid get sick on a field trip?

Anyone...?

Anyone...?

Buehler...?

Well, I've gotta say that this morning was not one of my finer moments. We had barely gotten into the space, when I discovered a lovely pillow-covered couch that was just calling my name. I think I probably slept for about 3/4 of an hour. Just long enough for my car to use up all the time on the meter (yes, 1-hour maximum parking).

I scurried out of the place to re-load the meter (shhh, I couldn't find any other parking spaces, so I just made sure my tires weren't marked. I was sick! Sue me!) and run to the corner store for a giant can of iced tea. Hello caffeine and sugar, my old friends.

The kids seemed to love the event. They all got into the writing of the story.

(I know, they might look bored, but the VERY NEXT photo has them ALL with their hands up in the air. But of course, I was trying not to fall over from dizziness, so I missed the focus, and it's just a big blur)

Having an illustrator right there to draw pictures for the book was pretty sweet, too!

Then, once they'd written the story right to the cliff-hanger...

(aha! Now, in a real cliff-hanger, I'd stop writing here, so you would WANT to find out what happened! And that's a good idea, because I'm tired, and I need to lay down. Like Right. Now)

Day 2

I cannot be getting sick. I cannot be getting sick. I cannot be getting sick.

There. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

Nate's class is going on a great field trip tomorrow, and I am one of the drivers. I'm looking forward to this. It's a creative-writing seminar up in The City, and I intend on paying close attention so I can see if I can use any of the ideas to spark interest in Skip, the boy who has been told for the last 4 years that he is Not Creative, and can Not Write. Argh.

Speaking of?

Earlier last week, he said "Oh, and I need to get to school early on Wednesday:"

Oh? I said.

"Yeah. The Advanced Placement Test for English is before school, and I'm going to take it. It's optional."

WHoa! My son is taking an OPTIONAL test in ENGLISH????

Seems that this is the gateway to getting into the AP stream in English and History. As a freshman, you have to be recommended for the Advanced stream, but once you're in high school, you can say "I want to be in Advanced Placement" and they have to let you in. I did let him know that just because they have to let him in doesn't mean that they have to give him a good mark, but the thing about AP is that good students rise to the challenge, and I honestly think that Skip really just needs to be challenged.

He also reminded me that I said I would look into signing him up for college courses in the fall.

Yikes!

---

Also in the "Who are you, and what did you do with my son?" department:

A few weeks ago, just after supper, Skip came up to me and said "Would it be OK if I had a shower tonight?"

Yes!

I know!

STOP THE PRESSES!

I did a complete double take. I thought I'd heard things wrong. Did my son just ASK to have a shower?

The next thing you know, he'll be bringing his gym strip home without being asked! Then the sun will stand still! Dogs and cats, living together! You get the likelihood.

So the boy had a shower. WIthout being told! And then he spent EXTRA TIME in the bathroom... FIXING HIS HAIR!

I just need to write this down somewhere.

Apparently (after the fact, I find this out), there MIGHT be a girl in his PE class. And she MIGHT have mentioned that she likes his hair...

But that's just a rumour at this point.

---

In other news.

Jewel loves Nate.

New Month resolution

I have fallen off the face of the earth.

My mother even called to see if I was still alive.

I hate it when I come on here to write, and the only thing I can say for three paragraphs is how boo-hoo sorry I am that I haven't written for so long, and all the things that have happened, and bla bla bla.

Water under the bridge.

My resolution for May: Write one entry EVERY DAY.

Here's a brief catch-up.

I have rented three different macro lenses over the last 3 weeks. I want to win a lottery and buy one of them. But if I won a lottery, I would have to bail out our school district first, because we are up to our chins in a poo-storm thanks to the Lehman Brothers (yeah, us and about a hundred million other people who are feeling the sting of that bankruptcy)

First, I rented the Tamron 90mm macro. It was really nice, but I didn't realize how slow those lenses are in 'auto-focus' mode. I missed a few shots because of it slowly buzzing through its various focal lengths.

The next week, I rented a Nikon 85mm. It was the lens I used to grab those great shots of the vulture on our family nature hike.

This past week, I've rented (and just returned in the last hour) a Nikon 105mm micro lens. This puppy is NICE! It's heavy as lead, and my arms got great work-outs holding that lens up. Just one shot from this lens in this entry: Last night, I took it out one last time, and went to the local lake, looking for frogs and toads. Well, you can hear hundreds, but they are sneaky little ninja toads, because you can't SEE them at all. I nearly gave up, until I followed the sound of someone in the lake, and realized that I was walking towards the water at the same pace as another little creature following the 'call of the wild' too.

Hello little Sierra Tree Frog.

This little one is about an inch and a half from nose to butt. I nearly fell into the pond in my excitement to actually FINALLY see a frog! And that would have been a tragedy, because I think the lens that I was renting would have been nearly a thousand dollars to replace.

I texted Ken from the pond: "I have found and photographed a frog. My work here is done!"

Hah.

---

In other news...

One of Kelly's friends showed up at school on Wednesday with short hair. And she wasn't all that happy about it. Her dad had cut her hair for her, and hadn't done a particularly even job. I was talking to the mom, who said "And now I'm trying to figure out how to find some time to get her to a salon to have them fix the cut" and I caught myself saying "Why pay for a fix? I can trim it up for free."

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Fortunately, this girl is the most easy-going girl on the planet, because she came over for a play-date the next day, and let me mess with her hair, and spent the whole time saying "This is JUST LIKE a make-over!" and "Finally, a professional is fixing my hair... no offense to my dad, of course" (and the funny thing is that her dad is a surgeon, and is probably WAY better at professionally cutting things than I'll ever be)

She loved her flippy-dippy hairdo when it was done (I barely took a half inch off of the bits that needed to be evened-up.) and the next thing, Kelly was saying "Hey! Can you cut mine, too? And we can donate it!"

Um... ok.

So she sat right down, and while they all finished watching Alvin and the Chipmunks (classy high-brow TV, I tell you!), I took twelve inches off her hair, and then cut layers into it to make it all flippy and pouffy, too.

I predict that by the time this month is over, there may be as many as a dozen girls in Kelly's grade sporting new hairdos. Yesterday at school, everyone wanted to 'fluff' her hair. She's having so much fun with the new do.

Today, Kelly's BFF is over, and has been making "Maybe you could cut my hair, too" noises. But I know that her mom has already made an apointment for her with an ACTUAL hair-cutter type parent at the school (who is probably looking at Kelly and Kara's hairdos and rolling her eyes thinking "Those kids LET THAT WOMAN MASSACRE THEIR HAIR!")

Well, enough 'catching up' for one day. I still need to call my mother back and let her know I am still alive. And we've got folks coming over tonight for games, so I should clean bird poop off the floor, and put out some snacks.