Category Archives: Photography

Freckles and mops of curls

During the prep for our cooking class, Bronagh and Ashling (Traci’s girls) wandered in and out either as themselves, princesses, or as a dog and cat.

Those freckles! Ah! They kill me.

Bronagh is in a delightful and hilarious stage–if she realizes you’re taking her picture and consciously smiles, this is the result:

As you may remember, when I was a wee one my smile used to resemble a grimace, so Bronagh is already two steps ahead of me.

I love this completely candid noble look that graced her face when she thought no one was looking.

And then there’s Ashling. She looks just like a little elf, and her explosion of curls just pierces my heart.

One of her most frequent expression is this dubious, semi-suspicious look.

Eyebrows slightly turned up, forhead delicately wrinkled.

You’ll go far in life with that ‘question everything, trust no one’ attitude, kid. I can already tell.

I asked Traci about her girls, and she confirmed what I already suspected: they are like dolls come to life. The’re in a loving, cuddly, trusting stage, which was evidenced by the fact that as soon as Traci sat down, Bronagh climbed onto her lap.

As soon as Ashling saw that Bronagh was getting snuggles, she clambered up as well.

What a precious sight–a mom and her girls.

It makes baby-making seem imperative. And time-sensitive. A matter of utmost urgency.

Must have small adorable kiddos asap.

And they must look exactly like Bronagh and Ashling.

Tomorrow (finally) a report on the cooking class itself–but I couldn’t proceed without first dwelling on these two little souls.

I went to Iceland

I may not have mentioned this, but I just returned from a journey to Iceland, where I hiked mountains and set at least two world records.

Our friends Julie and Zane were also there–their hiking expertise came in handy as we faced dangerous icy climbs to the pinnacles of mountain ranges. There’s Zane with his camera in hand, angling to get the best shot.

What an eery, beautiful landscape it was! The textures of the snow were gorgeous . . .

I never knew there was so much to snow and ice.

I almost got buried in a snow drift a few times– and Julie definitely did.

You can climb out, Julie! I know you can!

Oh, you noticed the buildings in the background?  . . . yeah, you probably guessed that wasn’t really the wild mountain ranges of Iceland. (And does Iceland even have mountain ranges, while we’re at it?) It was just our friendly Lake Michigan beach here in old Chicago. Last week it snowed–a lot–and these are the pictures I promised to share.

This was the view from our apartment’s front door as we emerged for the first time after the storm had calmed down.

At first it didn’t seem like that much snow. But soon our views changed.

Our fellow Edgewater residents were coming out in droves, armed with snow-blowers and shovels.

The lines of cars were absolutely buried.

I was more grateful than ever that we do not have a car here in the city. This poor vehicle had been abandoned in the middle of the street. I hope you don’t mind that I did a weird Photoshop effect, to bring out the details of the white blanket of snow.

It makes the buildings look so brightly colored! I could almost feel like I’m back in Guadalajara . . . except a Guadalajara that was transported into snowy northern climates by an evil genie.

We met Julie and Zane at the lovely Zanzibar cafe, where a hot chocolate sent happiness coursing through me.

So good. In fact, here’s my sweetie-bar-pie drinking that very hot chocolate:

From the coffee shop, we hiked towards Lake Shore Drive.

Hi Mr. Policeman! Thanks for keeping Lake Shore Drive an exclusively pedestrian party.

And up we go!

Shot #1: a friendly couple.

Shot #2: A scarily masked man with dubious intentions has suddenly appeared by Julie’s side.

Then again, maybe his intentions were simply to stay unfrozen.

No traffic in sight. We rule the road!

Plus, the plows had already done a great job at clearing the way for us.

Taking photographs in the middle of Lake Shore Drive without becoming roadkill was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I love that my husband loves Chicago so much. It makes me love Chicago, too.

From Lake Shore, it was time to head down to the actual lake shore, where we took those shots I opened with. The ones I tell myself are from my whirlwind trip to Iceland.

Iceland is a lovely place, lemme tell you.

Their only problem is keeping down the rodent population:

Yep. Yeppity yep yep.

We went from photo op to photo op without a care in the world.

However, soon the sun started going down . . .

. . . the wind started to pick up again, and it was getting too cold for the word ‘fun’ to keep holding its meaning.

So we turned around and headed back the way we came. Talk was made about how much this solitary walk on a normally busy thoroughfare resembled those apopcalyptic movies where everyone is dead except for Will Smith.

So on that note, this shot should totally be the poster for the new winter blockbuster “Snowpocalypse,” in which my husband, Julie, and Zane, are part of a small remnant of humans who have survived the storm. Our three heroes are now making their way into random condo buildings to forage whatever food they can before the snow zombies come out to feed.

Then, it’s each man for himself.