1492
In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.
He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.
A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.
Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.
Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.
Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.
October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!
“Indians! Indians!” Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.
But “India” the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.
The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.
Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he’d been told.
He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.
The first American? No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright.
(this kinda lame poem was not written by me…….but that is my kid with his head in a barrel on the Pinta.)
Filed under NaBloPoMo, Photography, Poetry | Comment (1)Filler. Cute filler, but filler none the less.
I am working guys! I have so many pictures to edit, this is what I was afraid of when I did NaBloPoMo this year. So….here have another cute picture! I have approximately eleventy hundred pictures of this kid to work on. This one is SOOC, so here is my official post for the day. Good thing he is cute or this could get tedious quick.
If I were a dog I would just pee on everyone and the matter would be solved.
Have I told you about MOPS (Mother’s of PreSchoolers)? I love MOPS, this is my second year to be on the steering team and it is probably one of the most amazing groups of which I have ever been a part. Most of my close friends are now from MOPS, and a huge chunk of my photography clients are from MOPS.
In October I announced I was going to have a sale! 20% off, just for MOPS moms, in the month of November. I booked several new customers. Great news! The very next week, a mom who is new to our group announced she is a photographer too! And, will have a day where she does FREE family portraits in a local park!
And, I feel….unhappy about this. Now, I have looked at her website and she is okay, but I think I am better. I know that seems vain, but it is pretty obvious. I know I must be getting more work than her because I would NEVER have time to do free portraits in the month everyone is getting their Christmas cards done. I have had one family cancel, and I have no reason to think Photographer B is the cause. But, it still makes me feel icky.
Is 20% too little a discount for women whom I love? I am still dang affordable. Should I have MADE time to do free portraits? (I have three sessions booked for the day she is doing free shots.) Is this going to hurt my business?
It also makes me feel suspicious because she is doing them midday! Outdoor portraits in the middle of the day? Um. No. Never.
Is there anything I can do? Anything I should do? Grow up and welcome healthy competition?
Filed under NaBloPoMo, Photography, lexapro lexplains it | Comments (2)Stupid groundhog.
I am ready for spring. Yes, I realize I still have the grouchies, but this has been a long winter, right? I want to buy hanging pots and put out my ceramic toad (it’s a regional thing).
So, I declare it SPRING. (Remember that episode of The Office where Michael Scott walks into the room and yells, “I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY!“) My yard may still be a dead and brown mud pit, my jacket may still be in regular rotation, but on my blog it will be warm and bright. Have some flowers. These were all taken at Keukenhof gardens, near Amsterdam, in April of 2007–pre-Nikon, mostly by me, but one may have been taken by the hubs.
Sigh. Maybe we need to take up a collection to get me back to Holland.
p.s. Grouchies are getting better–gonna step down again tonight. The finish line is in sight!
Filed under Photography | Comments (5)Dreaming of grass
I think most of the country has been sleeping under a blanket of snow for the past few weeks; my sweet little southern hometown included. The snow had just melted from the last round when we got seven inches of fluffy, wet snow on Monday. That is what we have been doing here at the Huckablog World Headquarters instead of blogging–playing in snow and layering clothing.
The backyard looks so lonely. Soon it will be a mud pit, and then we will be cursing how fast our grass grows. But, for now, I just miss hanging out barefoot in the grass.
The birds all disappeared. For days there was no tweeting on our porch. Then, yesterday, the sun finally peeked through and the birds popped out too, hungry for whatever they could find.
We threw snowballs, we made more snowcream, and, of course, we made snowmen. Excuse me. Snow PEOPLE. Here is our snowlady. She was ready to catch a ride to Destin, where the sand is as white as she is. Poor thing’s head fell off because of faulty craftsmanship. This earned her the name Antoinette, but it has since been repaired.
We used the bottom half of last week’s snowman to make the middle of this one. It had melted significantly, but still existed! This is our rocker snowman–although what decade he rocked in I am unsure, he had eye make-up from the seventies, hair, gloves, and a guitar from the eighties, a shirt from the nineties, and piercings from the 00’s…..and strangely enough a Weiderkehr sangria bottle from a hardrocking party bookclub the night before.
A close up of his face shows an eye that reads less KISS and more country kitch, and an overly large tongue piercing.
The rumor is we have more snow coming tonight, tomorrow and again on Sunday. I kinda hope not, because I think I am done with winter for this year–but just in case feel free to submit ideas for the next Huckablog family snow masterpiece.
Filed under Photography | Comments (5)Snow Days
It SNOWED! I admit to having flashbacks of this time last year, but we kept power the whole time, had plenty of food, and nothing but fun. We all played for hours in the snow, snuffles be damned.
First snow angel!
I think he was still in shock this was happening in our southern town.
“Mama, the snow won’t go on my tongue!”
There is nothing like snow days to have an impromptu play date! W is getting huge already.
And this kid is way too cute for his own good.
I have a feeling we are going to have our hands very full!
This is O, three, one of our neighbors on the other side.
Her brother L, is five and such a ham!
On the second day we decided to drive the two miles to my parent’s house to have fun in their “un-played in” snow! They also had the ingredients for snowcream, and the grocery stores here had BARE shelves.
First up, a snow man! The whole family helped, even the reclusive JHJ.
I can not believe I posted a picture of myself with no makeup.
You know that my dad is a car junkie right? We decorated our snowman exclusively with things from his garage. His name is Greasey.
That beard really needs to go!
See that sled my baby is on? It was my Grandpa’s when he was a little boy. That is fourth generation tushie sitting on that sled.
Little punk hit me with a snowball! So I tackled him and covered him with cold kisses.
The Snowcream was delish and no one was injured during the snowball fight. (no pics of that, too dangerous for my camera!)
It was a good weekend, but not good enough to move north of the Mason Dixon.
Some of the photo credits from day two go to JHJ and The HUbs, but I have no idea who took what, so good job guys!
There will be a post with more words than pictures and this month’s postcard soon, I promise.
Filed under Family-blame the DNA, Photography | Comments (3)Choices.
The Son has the snuffles. That is news worthy right? I didn’t think so either. A certain somebody watched The Son for a couple of hours this morning so I could go to MOPS. This certain somebody also said that I needed to post some pictures of my kiddo. I said, “But MOM! You are who told me I needed to concentrate on cleaning my house! I cleaned. See? Clean.” I only have so much non-parenting time. Choices must be made. My house was a hole. I neglected my blog, and facebook, and my IRL friends for a week and now the pope can come over.
This makes me happy. Good choice.
Exactly a year ago my hubby made the choice to buy me a very nice camera because he had faith in me.
That made me ecstatic. A VERY good choice.
I offered to take a zillion and a half pictures of people’s kids. For free. I spent HOURS processing them, and agonizing over tiny details instead of sleeping.
This made me tired. Poor choice.
A few people told me I did not suck, that I needed to be charging, that I could do it. This made me feel encouraged so I chose to throw up a website.
This made me feel intimidated and scared, so I have yet to make it live. Probably not a great choice.
I am not happy with how my pictures turn out when printed if you must know the truth. No matter what I do, they seem dark when professionally printed, and I can’t sell something printed at Wal-Mart. The Husband says I need a professional grade monitor. I hate to spend MORE money on a hobby that has yet to even pay for a lens, much less the rest of my equipment.
That choice has yet to be made.
I enjoy taking pictures. I love seeing people thrilled with what I have done. I know this is a good creative outlet, and that it is good for my soul to be creative.
I choose to have fun doing something I never expected to be good at. Correct choice.
Should I scrap the photography website/business, and just take pictures of people’s kids for free and have fun, and not spend more money, and not feel bad if the pictures are not as good as I know they could be? Should I do what it takes to be better than good, to make a little money, to be more than just a hobbyist?
I need help with this choice.
