Advent

This year we are taking part in Advent Conspiracy - see our other blog for my post about it.

Politics

Tomorrow is election day - I am so glad this craziness will finally be over. I am really tired of how the presidential election in particular can be so divisive and how we Americans can find so many reasons to dislike and ridicule each other. My college friend Amy found this article, and I agree that I wish we could have more of this sentiment displayed around the nation in the next days and weeks.

Photography

When I "retired" from the recognized workforce, I decided it would be a really good thing to have something I could learn that had nothing to do with my now-full-time job of raising our son. So, I decided to start learning about photography. Or really, continue learning about photography, but in a more concentrated and structured way. I've been taking photography classes from the Portland Parks and Recreation Department, which are taught by Peter Schutte. I have really enjoyed them so far (I am in the middle of Photo II, which focuses more on the creative side of photography once you have the technical basics down). There are many things you can learn from books and websites, but I think creativity demands personal contact. I have learned so much about my own creative process through Peter's classes and really enjoy him as a teacher. Right now, I feel like the gears and cogs of my right brain are finally starting to rid themselves of the cobwebs and are slowly beginning to turn, somewhat unwillingly and with lots of creaking. But I am enjoying it! (FYI, the gears photo at the top is from our first photo outing of the class I'm taking right now.)

Last Tuesday we went to a community garden and I found some beautiful dead flowers. I really like them in black and white. It's funny, because I wasn't sure I would like the prints at all while I was photographing the flowers. Suprisingly to me, this process of finding out what I like and don't like is actually a much more difficult, and I am finding, more important, one than figuring out what f-stops and shutter speeds mean and how to use them. Here are a couple photographs from our outing that I ended up really liking.

Family Blog

FYI, I am doing most of my posting on Gavin's blog. But I am going to try to post more often here, too, time permitting, with thoughts and things that don't pertain to Gavin.