Thursday, May 27, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 21

365
Hosted by Chris







PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecilyand Mamarazzi


Does anyone remember when this blog had something interesting to say? That seems like a very long time ago...

Day 140


May 21: I used to think that I drank a lot of soda pop, because I do this every night. I fill up a glass with something -- this happens to be root beer (I can hear Emily now: Gross!) -- and I plop down in  front of the television to unwind for a few minutes.

I promptly fall asleep, and wake up around 1:00, and stagger to bed.

In the morning my glass of root beer is right where I left it, and usually just a little more full thanks to the melted ice cubes.

So, while I BUY a lot of soda pop, I'm not necessarily consuming it.

That's good, right?


Day 141


May 22: The Team.

They won some games, and some they lost.

When it was all said and done, they lived and died as a team.

All hands in, one last time.


Day 142


May 23: Our first harvest!

I like radishes. I don't necessarily LOVE radishes -- let's face it, no one sits around eating a bowl of radishes.

But, when they come from your own garden, they are delicious!

This is the first thing we have ever raised to maturity.

There may be hope for our children yet!


Day 143


May 24: The end of an era. 

We've watched 24, on the edge of our seats, from the very first episode back in 2001. 

Now what are we going to do between January and May?

Via con dios, Mr. Bauer. 


Day 144












May 25: Every morning I wake up, and as I walk out of my bedroom, I see my camera bag. Out of habit now, I immediately take mental note of the pictures I took the previous day. 

On Wednesday morning, that file was empty. 

I suppose it was inevitable -- but I made it longer than I did last year. 

That's a victory, right?


Day 145



May 26: I realize that I recently took a picture of my iPod. 

But, you see, that there is an i PAD!

My wife won't allow me to bring it to bed. 

So we cuddle on the couch, before bed time. 

Me and my iPad.


Day 146



May 27: This is not just a fine example of stunt photography -- all you need to know is that I took the picture, I was driving and I did not get pulled over (because I can smell a traffic cop from a mile away -- it's a long story) -- but it's also a fair representation of my Thursday evenings.

Leaving work late, having not taken a picture, driving like a maniac to get home and get the 365 post up, before soccer practice ends, or Pack meeting starts, or some other madness intrudes its way into the one night each week that I try to pay some attention to my blog. 

And my last name isn't even Murphy. 


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 20

365
Hosted by Chris



PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecilyand Mom24


Day 133


May 14: My diminishing view.

This is the view from my back yard each evening. At least it has been.

When we moved into our house, two years ago, there was a large field behind our property, and a view that spanned the whole neighborhood.

But progress marches on and, as you can see, on the right, houses are slowly creeping into the picture. By the end of the Summer, I'll have no view left at all.

I don't begrudge people new homes, and it's prime real estate (and now that the field is gone, maybe the weeds will stop jumping the fence into my back yard...), but I am going to miss the view.


Day 134


May 15: The Stingers have been up and down this season -- and Saturday they were up.

#13 played his best game of the year, and was an INCH away from scoring.

If they had just mowed the grass...


Day 135


May 16: This shot took a LOT longer than I thought it should.


Day 136


May 17: I wanted to get a shot of as many of our tulips as possible. I don't know how long they're going to last, but until they are gone, I'll keep rolling around in the dirt taking pictures of them.


Day 137


May 18: Whoops! I'm lucky to have remembered to shoot anything at all.

Hey! Glee was on!


Day 138


May 19: Here's a duck.

And a duck's reflection.

Man, I'm getting desperate...


Day 139


May 20: These are my safety glasses.

I don't like to wear them, but they seem to work -- I've never had an eye injury.

Until today...

When I poked myself in the eye.

With my safety glasses.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Rage.

This isn't a rant.

It's a full blown rage.

Something happened here in Utah this last week, that has finally sent me over the edge -- and that bothers me.

A lot!

A little four year old boy came out to Utah from Virginia, to spend the summer with his mother, and her soon to be husband. Within a week and a half they had killed him. More precisely he died after days of beatings and burnings and starvation, mostly inflicted by his step father, but his mother knew and did nothing.

He died on Mother's Day.

There's more.

They left him locked in his room, while they went to the courthouse to get married. Fearful of what they had done, after his death, they desecrated his body and buried it in the mountains, hoping it would be unidentifiable.

What the Hell is happening to us? We're hearing more of these stories all the time now. Why?! Why is life so cheap? Why are we so selfish? How have we reached the point where killing a child is not the worst thing you can do? Why is it now necessary to torture the child before you kill him?

Are we so sick that we need to see the light leave their eyes before the soul leaves their body?

How can we treat our children as cast off refuse, an inconvenience that we can just throw aside?

What threat is a four year old little boy to ANYONE?!

I'm bothered by my own reaction to these horrible stories. It bothers me that when I hear a report on the radio that a four year old boy is missing, my first thought -- FIRST THOUGHT! -- is that I'll bet his parents killed him! I feel like I'm being twisted into something so jaded and cynical, that sometimes I really don't like what plays across the stage of my mind. Normally, I can remove myself far enough from the situation to allow that justice needs to take it's proper course. But with this most recent case, I've reached the saturation point. I can't hear this anymore! I cannot honestly tell you what I would do, if the man that took that boy's life fell into my hands.

I WANT to inflict pain upon another human being. That's new and it's not the person I want to be!

To all of you mothers out there: love your children. Your calling as a mother is so sacred. I cannot imagine a higher honor than participating with God in the creation of life. If you choose not to have children, that's perfectly fine. But, if you bring a new life into this world, cherish it, nourish it and love it.

To you men: Grow up. Man up. Understand that no one really cares about your car or your stereo or your guns or your sports teams. Understand that no one will ever love you or respect you as unconditionally as your children. Understand that your need to prove your manhood has gone far beyond rational limits. Understand that if the only way to prove what a big man you are is to viciously and mindlessly beat a helpless child, then you are no longer a man.

You are subhuman.

You are a mad dog who needs to be put down.

 Save us all the effort, and go find a cliff to jump from. I have a few in mind, if you need suggestions.

I can't take this anymore.

Ok...breathe...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Photostory Friday: Week 19

365
Hosted by Chris



PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli



Okay, so this posting every day in the month of May isn't working out exactly as planned....


Day 126


May 7: I know I've said it before, but I love to photograph children from behind. I think it's the most natural pose for kids. After you become a parent, you spend the rest of your life watching your children go before you, into the unknown country and the land of adventure. The great promise of parenthood is that your children will go farther, and do more than you have done.

These are a couple of kids from a family that I photographed on Friday night. They're just as cute from the front, but having not asked permission, I didn't feel at liberty to send their faces out to the entire world (or at least my little corner of it).


Day 127


May 8: $5400

This is NOT what my wife got for Mother's Day.

A friend of a friend is selling her wedding ring, and needed pictures (sometimes I don't ask questions), but that's about the quickest I ever got around to taking pictures -- I did NOT want to keep that ring in my possession overnight.


Day 128


May 9: Guess who's ball was black.

It wasn't mine. Mine was green.

Notice there is no green ball in the picture.


Day 129


May 10: I just love my tulips, but I thought we needed a new perspective.

I take my flower pictures right after work, while I'm still dirty. That way I can roll around on the ground, and not feel too guilty about it.

Feeling conspicuous...well, that's a different story.


Day 130


May 11: Yep, I took a picture of my iPod.

It's come to that.

Do you ever come across a movie that just touches the right spot in your heart?

That's what Leap Year did to me. (A big part of that is Amy Adams -- I just love her. It's okay, my wife knows).

I am, and always have been, hopelessly and unashamedly romantic.

And, once in a while, you find a soundtrack that speaks to your soul as much as the movie itself.


Day 131


May 12: This was the best picture I took Wednesday.

I took pictures of my kids, and the sky, and some crayons,  and my hairy legs, and the fence, and some bicycles.

And the fire hydrant that I nearly run over every day.

I'm not sure why I took this picture -- sometimes shapes and colors just catch my eye.

I'm not saying it's a good picture, I'm just saying it's the best one I took on Wednesday.


Day 132


May 13: It's hard to tell which one is the bigger goof, but we're certainly cut from the same cloth.

I've accepted that now.

(How about that double chin?!)

Saturday, May 8, 2010

That kind of day

What kind of day has it been you ask?

Friday, May 7, 2010

Things I did once: #11

Have you ever done something you really shouldn't have done?

Did you know it was stupid when you did it, but you did it anyway?

Did warning bells go off in your head as you began?


DANGER! DANGER!


Were you in church at the time?

Me too.

Here's the story:

You may recall that, when left to my own devices, I tend to get a little curious and fidgety. This occasionally results in humor, and almost always results in pain.

So, we were sitting in church, and it's not that I don't pay attention, it's just that my son had just removed his little clip on tie, and I was holding it. And maybe I was playing with it a little -- clamping it on the ends of my fingers. And maybe I wondered what would happen if I clipped it on to my bottom lip.



Maybe I wondered just enough to try it...

In church.

You know, where people are quiet.

As it turns out, not only is clamping something on to your lip immediately and excruciatingly painful, but your lip is VERY flexible, and therefore only continues to stretch as you yank on the demon that has just attached itself to your face.



The tie would not come off.

Did I mention I was in church -- where people worship reverently?

Frankly, I have no idea how many people saw me (other than my family, who always have a front row seat to these episodes of idiocy), because I became very single minded, very quickly -- in all the universe there was just me and the rabid tie.

Actually, I do know that, aside from the initial yelp, I had the presence of mind not to scream, but the break dancing show in our pew must have given a new definition to the term "Holy Roller."



That's my story.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 18

365
Hosted by Chris



PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecilyand Debi


Day 119


April 30: To blow or not to blow.

What do you think she did?


Day 120


May 1: Bridals at Memory Grove.

This was a portion of the park that I hadn't been to before. Hidden back up in the woods, is this long stone stairway, with what looks like a sacrificial altar at the top, framed by trees.

The scene just begged me to drop a bride into it.

Bridals are some of my favorite pictures to take -- I love the radiance of the white dress against the more earthy background colors, and the contrast of the elegance and the rugged.


Day 121


May 2: On the one hand, this cracks me up.

On the other, it makes me a little misty.

This is what compromise looks like.

(Incidentally, Matt and Emma are wearing MY inline skates -- men's size 10 -- which is why it comes up to Emma's knee)


Day 122


May 3: Obligatory weekly flower shot.

The tulips are beginning to bloom! We have pinks, purples, whites and oranges, with dark blues coming soon.


Day 123


May 4: Obligatory late night shot.

Have you tried Izze? It's carbonated fruit juice. I love the grapefruit, clementine and blackberry drinks.

I wasn't sure I could drink this new Blueberry flavor.

It turns out I did just fine.


Day 124


May 5: I use a lot of lotion.

A LOT OF LOTION.

Consequently, I have to buy lotion quite regularly. Today I saw something I've never seen before.

Man Lotion.

Since I am a man (in case you were wondering -- as, evidently, some of you do...), I thought it was my "Y" Chromosomal Duty to try man lotion.

So I did.

Once.

Who decided that a man wants to smell like this?

It's so musky! And it's SO strong, and abiding. I only put a small amount on my hands, and I could smell it for hours. It curled my eyebrows. It was so potent, my wife made me go buy some "normal" lotion, or she wouldn't let me back in the house, after I took the lotion out for a rugged, manly photo shoot, amongst the dirt and rocks.

So, I've got a giant bottle of man lotion going cheap.

Any takers?


Day 125


May 6: Running late, and need to get this post up.

Here's a shot of four of my favorite kids.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Bridals

So, I decided to post every day in the month of May, and what better way to do that, than to forget the first four days?

To make up for it, here's a plethora of images from Kim's bridal shoot on Saturday.

That's right, I said plethora.