Ezra Jack Keats

C settles in to read. It's Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day, which is similar to the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle in that they're both drawn with paper cutouts. So far, the Caterpillar book holds his interest - the stubby pages in the middle of the book! the holes in the pages! - and the Keats book is good for a quick look and that's all.

I shall have a look for more activity-oriented books, I think. I-Spy and/or die-cut books. At least, until his imagination really kicks in and the pictures in the books start to represent ideas rather than shapes.

Nana blankets

A post about the kiddo, who is 14 months and counting. He learned to walk a couple of weeks ago. Today, he circled the interior of the house a couple of times without falling down. Good stuff!

Yesterday he got up on the couch, pulled 2 blankets up around himself, and sat. (This kid doesn't do much sitting still.) I gave him the comics to read. The blanket on the left is a quilt that Brian's grandmother made. The afghan is a quilt that my nana made.

Later, he pulled the blanket over next to me, snuggled up (snuggled! This is a kid committed to movement!), and we read a book together. He pointed out the dinosaurs' trucks, blocks, and 4 balls. Oh my, I could get used to this.

Later, he chased me around the house. I stopped and held the camera behind me as he was walking up. I love the way the stripes on his shirt blur.

And thanks to Emily, who entertained C. in the water, and then fed him some yogurt at home. He was entranced. Especially with Emily's very imitatable face.

Basketball at Night

There's a park at the end of the street where the guys play basketball at night. I drive by on my way home and wonder how it is. Tonight, a woman was silhouetted against the night courts. Bugs were flicking around. Motorcycles roared by.

And after I'd finished taking the picture, I learned that the woman's name is Sooj. Later tonight, I'll text her the photo.

Baby James

Bekah was pregnant when she and Jimmy came into the studio last time. (A few of those portraits made it into the "small person giant presence" exhibit.)

I met baby James this weekend, who had some excellent expressions. We were in one of the stairwells at Western Ave. The south-facing windows were nice and dirty, letting in a soft light. And there's an east-facing window too, bringing in light from behind them.

Yum!

A truck. A canal. Lowell.

Yesterday at First Saturday at Western Ave., word came down the hallways. Scuba divers in the canal! The canal is a straight 5 stories down from my studio windows. Several of us gathered at a window to watch.


Then - they found something! A car! How did the car get there? Was it pushed? Dumped? Punked?


No. This is what I heard. It was a pickup truck that was brought in to the garage for repair. It popped out of park and rolled slowly down the embankment and into the canal.

A tow-truck - slash - crane was carefully braced, and the divers attached the underwater truck to the crane, which then pulled that truck out of the water.


Oooh! Aaah! That was good entertainment. I wonder if there were artists hanging out of most of the canal-side windows to watch!

Bugs, Harmless Bugs!

After the fierce downpour last night, the air this morning is clear and a little bit golden. Here's a drowned-looking bumble bee - still alive! And a daddy long-legs - kinda creepy but completely harmless. And an itty-bitty spider clinging to a ripe blueberry. I picked the rest of the ripe ones and left that one for her.


And here's the kid looking out the window, wondering what mom's up to in the wet, wet garden.


I'll be at Western Ave. today for First Saturday Open Studios, 12-5. And then the Loading Dock Gallery member meeting. And then to Rex's art opening at the Ayer Lofts Gallery, 6-9. Brian will be home spending time with C. and working on his comic book story. I'm excited about today!

Sidebar Slideshow

The slideshow on the sidebar (which will hopefully still be there as you're reading this) is a feed from one of the galleries on my megpix.smugmug.com site. The gallery is full of viewer-chosen photos.

How do the photos get in the gallery? When you're looking at any photo in any gallery at megpix.smugmug.com, you can give the photo a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. The thumbs-up photos go to the viewers' choice gallery. The more thumbs-up a photo receives, the higher it rises in the rankings.

The block of photos you see when you visit the megpix.smugmug.com page is the set of 30 top-ranked photos. When you click on any of the photos in that block, you can see the rest of the favorites.

Thank you to all who have marked their favorite photos! It's very gratifying!

Lowell Sun slideshow

A thank-you to Kathleen Pierce at the Lowell Sun, who has engineered production of a slide show of Gov. Patrick's visits around Lowell today.

Here's the link to the online article, plus the slide show at the bottom.
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_12889818

Ashlee at the Loading Dock

While we were waiting for the Governor to arrive, Ashlee was also waiting for her students to arrive for the free summer arts program. One of the loading dock doors was open, and on a cloudy day the sky acts like a giant softbox, casting soft shadows.

I also liked the bright yellow on the door and the old-school metal-cage fan behind her, all identifying the type of place she was in, if not the actual location. Did you recognize it before I gave the location away?

Gov Deval Patrick at Western Ave Studios Lowell

The studios at Western Ave. have seen their share of local political dignitaries, and even Niki Tsongas held a party here pre-election. Today, Governor Deval Patrick visited, along with his dog Toby, who is 9 weeks old and is already a media darling.

Oh, my connection with the event is that I photographed it. More pix here: http://megpix.smugmug.com/Commercial%20&%20Editorial/838724