Camera Shy

Isn't it interesting how as we get older we get less and less accommodating when someone tries to take our picture?  It seams like for the most part we all start out oblivious to the camera, and then once we learn what it means when that gadget is whipped out, we either love it or hate it.  As time goes on we get goofier and sillier and as kids and we find it amusing to do do weird things for a photo.  Later on our ridiculous behavior either gets worse as teenagers.  Or instead, in embarrassment we tend to hide or to blend in with the furniture, like chameleons.  Finally as adults we either give up and ignore the camera completely, accept our lot and suffer through, or good-naturedly smile and strike a pose.  What triggers this continual love/hate relationship through life with being seen on film (or rather at this point in time digitally).

Mirna's favorite toy to play with me, whenever I am over, is either my phone or my camera (though the latter is more so probably because it meows when it turns on).  She loves to look at the photos on my phone and she loves to have her photo taken.  If I try to take a photo of someone or something else she always says, "No, Mirna."

I wonder what direction this little girl's love of seeing herself captured digitally will evolve into.   For now,  I think I'll just have fun while it lasts!

~Fraise

PS. Sorry about posting twice in one day, the post before this one was some thing I started a few days ago, but have been down with a cold and only got it posted today.

Let there be light!

Tuesday we decided to go down and look at the lights at Temple Square, since Marina had never seen them before.  Fortunately for us it wasn't too cold and we were able to get down there at about 1730, before the crowds swarmed in.

It has definitely changed over the years to encompass the part of Main Street between the Salt Lake Temple and the Joseph Smith Memorial building, as well as the grounds around the Church Office Building and the Conference Center. 

I love to see the temple lit upon a sea of Christmas lights.

I wish that we would have been able to show Marina, Malik and Sergio more but the girls started getting antsy and we decided it was best to get them home.  Who knows maybe with girls being older next year we'll be able to see more.

~Fraise

(Again I ended up having to take the photos with my phone).

Winter Wonderland

It's amazing how winter paints things in frosty and subdued colors.  The light makes it feel as if there is as an ethereal white haze over everything.  I decided to take a walk in the back yard to see what winter had wrought while I was gone and this is what I found!

 

Why do you think that the rose hips change color when it's cold?  Do you think that like their fruit bearing neighbors, they think to attract animals in search of food, or is it Natures way of being festive....your guess is as good as mine.

I think that our plants are going to have a very confusing winter this year.  It snowed pretty hard around Thanksgiving and now this morning it was raining, which hastened the already melting snow.  I hope that it doesn't end up hurting the leaf buds on the trees.

It seems that the moisture and abnormal temperature changes, are also encouraging lichen and moss growth.  I would laugh if we ended up with greenery on our soil and cement like they had in France and Croatia, even during the winter.

Well, sorry for the lack of profound thought today, I was just mesmerized by nature's pallet and tableau.

Hope that you are enjoying the winter scenery where ever you may happen to be.

~Fraise

Making Adjustments

Well it was an adventure.  Sorry to leave you high and dry for three days, but I felt that I should give myself a little bit of time to recuperate and reajust to my life here in the States again. Needless to say that after flight delays, missing flights, sick kids and 24 hours without sleep, it was a necessary respite. 

I am excited to start December, it has always been a special month for me.  It reminds me of years past attending the Nutcracker with my mom, cardboard sledding with my younger brother, and decorating for Christmas.

 

It's a time that most associate with good will and commercialism, but I like to think of it as a time to use my talents to bring a smile to those around me.  It has always been fun to sleuth out what each family member might like or need and come up with a creative way to give it to them.  Be it a scarf for my mom. or a painting for my dad, I always like to put a lot of thought into Christmas gifts each year.

Most of all I think the things that make me smile the most are the almost magical transformations of the winter season.  All that might have been dirty, or confused, is covered in a pristine blanket of white.  It adds a mystical quality to the same neighborhood I see every day.  As if the events of the past are made clean in preparation for the coming new year.

I wish you a happy beginning of December, and hope that you are warm and cozy tonight!

~Fraise