Softball Season...

If you can't find me working away on photo edits, taking pictures in my studio, or cleaning my house... this is where I am. My daughters are both playing softball & my oldest is on a school team & little league. We have been known to watch up to 3 games a night & enjoy tons of fast food in the meantime. Since we are there A LOT, I might as well get some practice with my camera while I am there. This field is awesome to shoot at. No fences!!! That is great, but once in awhile a foul ball might come towards me... notice one picture above where at the last minute I moved my pride & joy out of harms way. I would rather get hit on the head then have the softball touch my camera of lens. Until Mid-June... PLAY BALL!

Commercial Work...

Here is a client that I have been doing a bit of work for over the past 2 years. Getting everyone to stick around for more then a few minutes was a job & a half itself, but we were able to get a few photos of his staff & the grounds. It wasn't as personal as I usually work & the language barrier maked it even harder, but the guys figured out where we were going with it. Now if I could afford the landscaping for my studio... hmmmm, maybe I can trade photos for planters?? If you are looking for beautiful walls, pavers, landscaping, etc., etc., etc. give them a call, they do the best work around!!!

My Great "Great" Aunt Rhoda...

Aunt Rhoda is an amazing women. She has lived on the same road I grew up on, so through the years we had lots of fun with her. She is a feisty women with a great sense of humor. Aunt Rhoda had a zip line in her front yard for years, so there were plenty of hours we spent with her grandchildren & even sung songs to her about an Aunt Rhoda & a goose. (Don't ask me the name of it, my memory isn't as good as hers, that is for sure!) My older cousins have stories about her driving their school bus & the trouble they would get into, but she never said a word about it to get them into trouble. Thanks for being so cool!!! She also is the family pie maker & they are the best pies you will EVER eat!!!! My favorite is her Strawberry Rhubarb, not a lot of people like it, so my dad, hubby & I get extra. She makes Blueberry, Peach, Lemon Meringue, Apple, Raspberry, etc. etc. etc. She could sell them to us & we would pay, but she is so nice that she thinks of all of us a few times a year & delivers them to us out of the blue. (Always very exciting to have a warm pie for dessert!!) If you are lucky enough to help her with something, you get one right away. I even pick up pie plates at yard sales to ensure getting a pie. (Smart Thinkin' on my part.) She says that when she gets low on her pie plates, all of a sudden, tons are left back on her porch. No one ever wants her to run out of pie plates, that is for sure.

Here is her school story...

Those 2 pictures with windows in them, don't mean much to me or you. They were a bathroom & bedroom added to the building in the 70's. We tore down the walls since these pictures were taken & will replace the bathroom again once the floor is fixed. The picture of my hubby is the backside of the building where these windows are. The funny thing is when she walked into the building she went right over to one window & said, "This is the window we shut on the teacher." Now we heard this story before, but she remembered it as soon as she walked in. Now some of her siblings argued what window it was, but she was certain it was the one in the bedroom. So Ms. Teacher opened the window to get something or yell at someone & my sweet Aunts, Uncles & Grandfather got the great idea to slam the window down on her. You need to realize that the windows are 8' tall, so it must have been heavy on her mid-section!! So there she was STUCK, Stuck like Winnie-the-Pooh in the honey tree...stuck!!! My Uncle Dick mentions arms & legs flailing. I don't know how the teacher got out or what kind of trouble they got into from it, but I thought it was pretty funny they did it. For all of my family kin with perfect children, remember these stories, so when your child gets in trouble at school, this is who they take after. Don't blame it on yourself, it's in their genes! HEHE.

So here's to Aunt Rhoda, her pies, stories & great personality! We all love her to pieces!!! CHEERS!

My first Senior Rep for 2010....

Meet Kelly.

School: Pine Bush High School Activities: Dance & Tennis

What a great girl she is. She works at a restaurant,dances, teaches little ones to dance, dances all day on Saturdays getting ready for her recital and gets homework done at some point. I met her years ago at dance & she was super sweet to my daughters. If you see her on the dance floor, your eyes can't stop watching her. She is the one that brings so much attitude to her hip hop, tons of grace to her pointe, emotion to her lyrical and power to her jazz. The first time I noticed her, she was leading a group of Hip Hoppers through their routine. Her smile was overwelming and I was smiling just watching her. Were their 20 other girls on stage with her... maybe, but my eyes were drawn to her. Since that night I have watch her grow up on that dance floor & become an awesome person inside & out. I am proud to introduce her to all of you. I will be taking outdoor pictures of her soon. We have a great plan of her in her dancing slippers & a grungy alley, look out!

March of Dimes...

I was honored to be asked to walk with the "Ray of Hope" team for the March of Dimes. My daughters have been going to dance, since they were both 3 years old & over the last 10 years I have formed a special relationship with their Dance Instructor. Unfortunately she had called for me to do a Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Session for her daughter born at 23 weeks in December. I struggled through the session & prayed that I had taken enough pictures to help this grieving family start to heal. Just a few months later she raised over $3500.00 in her daughters name for the March Of Dimes. We walked for a mile or 2 & remembered how special her daughter is to all of us & we took time out of our hectic days to honor her. To keep things light, we all had some laughs & spent time with friends and family. Of course it could have been on a cooler day. April 26th... must have broken a record for the heat wave we were having. It must have been over 90 degrees before we finished our walk around the Woodbury Commons parking lot & stores. I was proud to see we all made it for our final picture at the finish line & left feeling that maybe some day, every baby would be born healthy. Thanks JA! Until next year...same time, same place, cooler temps...maybe.

2009 Senior...

I was so impressed with my latest Senior... she is taking college courses to become a nurse, plays sports, 2 instruments & volunteers at the local hospital. She must find time to study in between, WOW! Her mom & sister came with her & everyone was so nice. Here is their sneak peek... the rest will be up shortly! ENJOY! Thanks for making the trip!

My Great Uncle Dick....

I started with Uncle Dick, not because he is the oldest or because he is the last of the boys left, but because he told me the best stories about the school house & the teacher. This story is kinda gross, but this is how he got the teacher to release the kids early. Since it is a cold building, the teacher would have a wood stove going to keep the kids a bit warmer. On the days he didn't want to be there, he would pee, yes pee on the wood stove, the stench of it was unbearable & the teacher would send them all home. This happened quite a few times & I am sure all the boys knew the trick. I should ask him if she ever caught these naughty boys & what kind of trouble they would be in.

Here was our first bad news when looking over the church... some of the main supports have rotted... in fact they would crumble into your hand when you touched them. This was a man that has lived in our town forever & understands how to fix problems in old buildings. 1 problem now solve. Yeah!!!