The Pig Nose Project

While I was up in New York with the family in July, I brought with me a pig nose that Aly had gotten from some event at Discovery and was in her trash pile.
I rescued it and stuffed it into the one spot in my car not consumed by Aly's stuff when I moved her up to New York (under the drivers seat). So, after depositing her and her things in lower Manhattan, shaking my fist at the f'ed up driving patterns of the city, and fleeing towards Route 87, I made my way to Middletown, empty car, in need of a beer, and happy to be with family... oh, and the new owner of a pig nose.
Well, what does one do with a pig nose but humiliate ones relatives, correct? Hahahaha, not if they're mine.
I started with Aunt Martha, whom hates having her picture made, and we got to giggling.
She made my picture and we started guffawing,
Kurt and Heather saw them and got in line,
Uncle Bill threatened to not take it off and from there is spiraled towards Mandi's wedding, the Pig Nose Project was born.
It started out as a joke to me, just goofing with Aunt Martha, but when I look at the pictures, the smiles people have when the pig nose is obscuring their faces are huge, when they take the pig nose off, the next few frames I made of them are not nearly on the same level of joy.
There's something that feels so good about feeling silly for a moment... and it shows in the images.
It's a social experiment, there's the person, loved one, I see everyday, pretty faces, comfortable faces, and then, when the pig nose is firmly in place, there's the secret part of that person, brimming with love or naughty mirth, the parts of the person that makes them special, peeking out over that pig nose for just a moment, and smiling at me, or barring their teeth, hahaha who can tell the difference sometimes, but all in good humor I'm sure..., and then the pig nose comes off and the public face is there again. It's fascinating that a nose that should make people look silly, makes them shine.
I keep the nose on my dresser. It's going back up to New York with my in December and then down to Miami in January. I'm sure it will go to Thanksgiving, and I'm giving an 'all call' to anyone who wants their picture made with the pig nose, come on up to HF and strap it on...

Cheers!

Reece's first Birthday party

Chris and I went to Reece's first birthday party yesterday, and had a great time.  Jenna and Pete have wonderful friends and I love her parents to death!  Here's an album of images from the afternoon.  I wish I had the time to talk about this properly, but I'm on hold until December (when I actually have some time).  If you click on one of the slideshow images, it will take you to the album if you wanted to see the images in a larger frame.

Cheers!

for Hope and peace

(I borrowed this image from a ChicagoLand TV blog)
I was scanning the news this morning waiting for some images to upload, and I saw this article

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

and I wanted to cry.  Somebody still sees the light.  I've been amazed at how this country, once so moved to want to change and unite, has slowly fallen back into the same drowning dog paddle it was futilely kicking at before the President's changed office.  I was naively hoping that those people that didn't vote for Obama because of their religious morals, or their 'conservative' ideas or their healthcare ideas or whatever else reasons, oh let me not leave out their racism... I really hoped that once he took office they would see that their way of life wasn't going to drastically change, and that instead of fighting to fight because they 'lost' an election, they'd let go some of that hatred and help their neighbors, and look to 'do no harm'.  I wanted so badly to have people want to make a change for the better.  I am not religious, but I try to live by do no harm.  I try to make people happy, it's so much less effort than making people miserable.  And to what gain, maybe nothing to yourself other than having a good day and knowing that others had one too.  How can that be wrong... How can people want so badly to fight against that.  It makes my heart hurt, and I'll never understand it.

So, good for Obama for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and good for the Norwegian Nobel Committee for recognizing the want for others to live better, and to be better humans to one another.  If only so many Americans could see that too.  Politics aside, go out and do no harm today.  It's the least you can do for others.

Cheers!

Laundry can wait...

Work is great, and I love that I'm actively shooting again instead of only editing. The commute blows. I take the train in 3 or 4 times a week and sometimes stay with friends in the city. The train takes an hour and a half (one way) and then I hop onto the metro which takes another 15-20 minutes. By the time I walk the 3 blocks to the museum's offices, my round trip commute is 2 hours (again, EACH WAY). I wake up at 5:30am and the early train gets me home around 7:15, the next train gets me home at 9pm. What they hell, luckily and sadly, the job is only until December. I can't wait to start sleeping in again, but damn, I'm going to be job hunting again...
Oh well, now for the weekend. Chris asked me what I wanted to do this weekend and I told him the laundry list of chores I had planned. I did a bunch of them, and then Saturday afternoon we went to Atti's 4th birthday party, YAY! I got to see the boys again! I had a great time and Chris left early to go hunting... hahaha! And every boy above the legal drinking age was jealous... oh boys...
Anyhoo, today I woke up with the rest of my list to do and a bunch of people to call and I felt like crying. Chris suggested we go for a ride and poof, the whole beautiful day is now gone, and I had a great time. The country was just what I needed.
I've got to go to bed, 5:30 is an ugly hour...
Here are some pictures of this weekend.
I'll try to be better about posting, but I'm just overwhelmingly busy, and did I mention the commute... balls, friends... sucks balls... (but at least I'm not sitting in my car stuck in morning traffic, I'm not knocking the train, just the distance)
ok, the pics...
the birthday boy double fisting
I asked Atti to give me his birthday face (love it!)
that's cake coma right there...
somewhere west of Cacapon overlooking the Cacapon river. Chris absolutely delights in saying Kak upon, example: I'm going to take my kak out of my trousers and put it upon you if you don't finish washing the dishes. *sigh*, it's pronounced caCApon, almost sound like 'the capon' river when said quickly... (hhhhahahaha, who am i kidding, I like saying cacapon too...)
Hank loved the ride, but refused to leave the car, and just hung out in the front seat when we went down to the river. I left my keys in the ignition, windows rolled down, no fear... who's going to steal a car armed with a pit bull (even if he is wearing a sweater and too agoraphobic to leave the vehicle)
the walk down to the Cacapon river, Oh my June is the best little puppy ever!! She makes us laugh so hard! This is my favorite picture of the day!! hahaha, Oh Junie, June, June.
Check out the motherload of shale we found. Ugh, I love this blue shale! I made a shit ton of pictures of it, and every single one had beautiful shapes. This stuff is magical, and we were standing on a quarter arce of land that looked exactly like this image. it was beautiful!
Cane and June checking out the crayfish that Chris found in the water. Sadly it's shell was crushed which is why no ones nose got honked.
Chris took this one and I love it!
HA! Everything working in perfect timing. I got the shot in focus, Cane ran though the perfect light, and his funny ear stood right up. TA-DA!
Chris made this one of June with a slow shutter, and I think it's lovely! Check out her fur and her ears!!
June is getting bigger by the day and is able to play faster and harder, and Cane is laying it on a bit heavier... hahaha
oh June, I think Cane might have rung her bell on that tumble... 5 seconds later, they were back at it.
It was a really great day. Weather started off in the 60's and crept up to 80, then back down to 74 by the time we got back home again. The dogs were with us, and not one stitch of laundry got laundered... Cheers!

Amber and Kevin's wedding

I'm running on empty and exhausted, but I wanted to get these on here and I'll just have to talk about them later. I have a back log of stuff to talk about and now all I need is time.

Amber, one of my 4 closest girlfriends (Amber, Patti, jenna and Aly) got married this weekend to Kevin, the nicest man in the whole land. It was a beautiful wedding, and in true Amber fashion, she was a half an hour late.

hahaha...

love you tunaface!

here are some pics.
Amber getting ready. She's got this great sun room and although it was hotter than hell, she sat there patiently baking in the sun about an hour before the wedding...
I shot with Jenna and Kevin's best friend's wife is a wedding photographer, and we both sighed a huge sigh of relief... ew left it to her to get all the money shots during the wedding, and we just stared off into space making pictures of cool things... it was awesome, three photographers to cover a wedding of 40 people... hahaha!!
I love this picture, she's getting fake eyelashes... hahaha!! really, the onl time our social circle wears fake eyelashes is when we're going to a gay bar and want to impress the queens... (sigh, oh, the good old days)... they looked fabulous on her!
running a half an hour late, can't get the door to lock...
Amber and Patti arriving
this was pretty much the final look she gave Patti before taking her father's arm and walking down the aisle... Patti, smile plastered onto her face, check, scared look in her eyes... , check, ready to start drinking, check check check... I love this picture!!
hehe, Amber sneaking off for a drink while her new husband (left) and brother in law (right) waited for their portrait
wedding was done, family pictures were made, time to go eat and party... I didn't see a smile like this the whole time she was getting ready... hahaha... oh brides!
You're a lucky man Kevin, and we love you for loving her so much!
Cheers

A Quick June moment

I have a ton of backlogged stuff to talk about, so here's a quick June moment and I'll try to get to everything else this week.
Cheers!
Cane is enjoying Chris' new truck, a lot...
it was almost 90 degrees today and so down to the river we went. Here's sweet June stomping in
She loves swimming to people when they're in the water. She swam right up to Chris (whom she adrores anyway) and butted his face with her nose. hahaha!!
This face just melts me!! Haha! She's got water freckles on her muzzle!
Cane teaching June the finer points of playing stick
hahaha, June ignoring the finer points and Cane really trying to get her attention... He would stop and say woo woo woo wooo wooooooooooooo!!! which would make Chris and I pay attention, but June is her own little girl... *sigh*
hahaha, oops, she made a bigger jump than I expected! She's growing so quickly!!
YAY for summers! (and fuzzy caterpillars, which I safetly put down and then June promptly squashed as she ran past me... *sigh* nature is tough)

June Bug Water Dog

Scotty came by this afternoon and we immediately quit cleaning the house, grabbed the hounds and ran to the river. The temp hit 95 degrees today and is forcasted to be 100 degrees tomorrow... and we don't have air conditioning...
Anyhoo, we packed some PB&J's, a couple, few beers, grabbed Cane and June and went to the same place as yesterday (the Maryland side of the Potomac River). I didn't even try to get Hank to come with us... water and heat... no way...
We had a wonderful time together. June is a water bug and although she's only 4 months old, she did her best to keep up with Cane. We were all amazed by her endurance until, as we were crossing the bridge back home, she yacked up this mammoth size (like half her body) glorp of puke, right on the bridge. I was walking her, and Chris suddenly said, "Holy Crap" and I stopped and looked down and there it was. She yacked just like a dainty lady, no nasty sound, no dry heaving and slogging around in a sad circle, nope, she was just walking along, tail wagging, and oops, out came a gigantic splatter of vomit. HHHHHahahahahaha!!!! As Chris and I looked at the pile in absolute wonder, June started ahead to catch up to Scotty, and not knowing what else to do with puke in the middle of the bridge, I bent down and repeatedly scooped it up in my hand and threw it over the bridge fence into the river for fish food. Hahahahahaha!!! GROSS!!!
So, with that lovely image of our new girl in your head, here are some pictures of our afternoon.
June and Cane play really well together. Cane, for the most part is very gentle with her, and he's a great teacher. She follows him out to go to the bathroom, and stays close to us without having to keep her on lead or continuously call her back from wandering.
June adores him and for the most part, he seems to like her... I'm sure that he tires of her stealing all the raw hide and hiding them around the house, but other than that, she seems like a pretty good little sister
hahaha, granted every once and a while we'll look over and he'll be eating her face... *sigh* you gotta learn somehow...
watching the two of them together in the water makes me sad that Hank doesn't participate, and also that Hank just hasn't been the same since Roark has passed... I really wish I could force him into having some fun... poor Hank...
oh man, look at them together...
and synchronized shakes... hahaha!!! Good times...
every once and a while June would take a time out and catch her breath
and watch everyone in the river... it was a perfect day to be submerged.
hahaha, here's Cane playing rough and June not quite holding her own.
Oh thank goodness, a normal shake picture... after yesterday, I was afraid that she was going to look like a cute dumbass in every image I made of her...
She's becoming more agile everyday... by the time she's done growing, I bet she'll be bigger than Hank and Cane (but not combined)
Super Puppy!
Super silly puppy!!
Chris took this one. I was in the water and darn it if she didn't strike a pose! Grr! We need a waterproof case for our camera, bad!!!
isn't she just lovely... I'm smitten!! I think that this is what she's going to look like when she's full grown.
HA! and this look is partially why... ugh, June... you are just perfect!
Cheers