Fireworks

I was going to title this July 4th celebrations but being that the fireworks were done on the third I figured that it could be a little misleading....

We remembered the fireworks next door in Wayne NJ around 8:30 tonight and everyone wanted to go. I, of course, grabbed the camera, tripod and actually knew where my cable release was. We got to the HS at 9:05 but then parked in the mall parking lot about half a mile away. We walked to the high school and sat in the parking lot just after the first shot went off.

The girls loved the show and I got some good photos.

1)
2) I like this one because it fills the screen even though it is off center - I keep going back to it.

3)I am not sure where the palm tree came from but it showed up in the middle of the show

4)Then we went into the red zone...

It's 12:52am....

It's 12:52am, not quite 3am yet and I am finally writing another blog post. It has been almost a year which is way too long in my book but I got overwhelmed by so many tings and trying to post everyday was just too much for me that it was easier to let it lapse. My new goal is to try for once a week although with the sports season on break more or less I hope to do better than that.

Sleep Envy!

There's a reason this blog has its title. I am by no means a prolific sleeper. Quite the opposite - I usually get very little sleep. Today, for instance, I needed to be up a few minutes after 8 on a Sunday since I had to pick up the uniforms for my daughter's soccer team. No problem, I went to bed around 1 or 1:30 - a good 6 1/2 to 7 hours of sleep. I try and plan one night a week to catch up and this seemed like it. What happens at about 6 am? The power goes out. You might not think that this is much of an issue but since most of the equipment in the house is hooked up to various UPS (Uninteerupible power supplies) they started beeping. Needless to say that was the end of my sleeping.

My father, on the other hand, seems to be able to take a nap anywhere, which I envy. It's sort of like a Dr Seuss rhyme.

I will take a nap on a bed, or on a a couch,

I can sleep anywhere I don't go ouch.

On a park bench,

or a lawn,

morning, afternoon

or even dawn.

Silly Faces part 4

We met with the third of the 3 siblings yesterday. (My father, uncle and aunt) Aunt Elaine is the more mature of the 3 but that didn't stop her from contributing to the growing archive of silly faces.

Unc's Silly Faces

A lot of the reason we spend at least a day in Northport every summer is so that we can spend time with my Aunt and Uncle and, of course, the girls like to go out on the boat with them.

Unc usually spends as much time behind the camera as I do but he seems to have ceded those duties over to me. It doesn't stop him though from making silly faces when the camera is pointing his way.

D300, 18-200mm VR, 82mm, f/8.0, 1/320s, ISO 200

Not to much creativity here - so only a score of a 6.5 (An extra .5 for driving the boat at the same time)




D300, 18-200mm VR, 42mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 200


The baby look - a pout for for a 7.0 (or else he bit a lemon) D300, 18-200mm VR, 42mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 200


Utter surprise (faked of course) - a solid 8.5 due to the fact that you can see the tonsils.

Self Portrait

I was asked where I took my self portrait so I thought I would show the original photo along with my crop. When we went to Northport this past Sunday we spent part of the day out on the Long Island Sound on the boat with my Unc (you have to - its his boat!). I took a lot of pictures but I always wanted to try one in a pair of sunglasses - lucky for me my gorgeous wife was sitting across from me and I shot the photo in her glasses - its a good photo of her too except that her head and chin are cut off....

Self Portrait on glass!

D300, 18 - 200mm VR, 200mm, f/8.0, 1/500s, ISO 200

Bear - a handsome Mutt!

After we met Roxie and had some ice cream in Downtown Northport on Sunday we walked over to the park. My aunt wanted some quality time with the kids on the tire swing.

This was fine since it led to my meeting Bear. Bear is a very handsome and yet quiet mutt, although it is easy to see how they came up with his name. He is a bigggggg dog. According to his dad - he is part Chow and part Pyrnese mountain dog. Personally I think he might have a little German Shepherd in him too - he has the look in the face.

He is about 10 years old (if my memory serves me correctly) and has a relatively new human brother - about a year and a half old whom he loves.

Bear posed with a quiet dignity for me and let me get 2 good portraits of him.

D300, 18-200mm VR, 42mm, f/4.5, 1/320s, ISO 400
Click on photo for a larger view

Roxie – Bernese Mountain Dog

The whole family went to Northport NY on Sunday to see my Aunt and Uncle. In the afternoon we went for ice cream downtown. Northport has quite a few places to buy the food of the gods and as we were walking through downtown we passed the Northport Tasting Room & Wine Cellar and that's where we ran into Roxie.

Roxie is an absolutely gorgeous dog who was lazing by the window. I always thought Bernese mountain dogs were almost as large as St Bernards so I figured Roxie was a puppy. Of course I was wrong. She is a beautiful 3 year old although a little on the small side. Doogie came in with me to meet Roxie and they both behaved very well.

Roxie has her bed right by the window of the Tasting Room and she seems happy to meet all the customers. She was extremely friendly and I even got a kiss from her. Roxie, although very photogenic, had no desire to sit still - to busy being friendly but I did manage to get a few good photos of her.

If you happen to be in Northport and need a bottle of wine or just want to pop into to say hi to Roxie or Matthew the owner of the Northport Tasting Room & Wine Cellar I am sure they would be happy to meet you.

D300, 18-200mm, 34mm, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 200, Flash
Click on photo for a larger view