"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 135 ~ Field of Gold.

Despite the fact that it's hot, Halloween IS coming.  October IS half over.  Time for the pumpkin patch (I can only muster this activity some years...others, wearing flip flips and a tank top to the pumpkin patch just doesn't feel right).  This was one of the years I rallied.  We went to Agua Linda farm in Amado, AZ complete with a corn maze, hay maze, petting zoo, pumpkin patch, hay rides, etc... A friend (also from the East coast) went to Agua Linda Saturday night and said she had to break out her puffy vest (pumpkin patches at sunset = feels like fall!).  Duly noted.

However, this is the corn maze in all the glorious (90 degree) sunshine!

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 88 ~ Loom!!

Ah, peaceful rainbow loom.  My kids are choosing this over..gasp..television lately.  They sit, they loom, they make up silly songs.  I LOVE it!!!

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 84 ~ Mesquite Reflections

This morning, I saw a puddle.  And the trees above were reflected in it.

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 78 ~ Twinkle Lights

Leaving a lively (and HOT) 17-person family shoot last night I saw this...love the twinkle lights this family leaves up and on all year round in their mesquite grove.

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 72 ~ Light Pillars and a plane!

This was a bright spot in the evening hopeful monsoon action.  It was thundering, and overcast, and the wind was blowing...and then, nothing.  nada.  nichevo.  But this was a cool moment nonetheless.

(Like Richard Scary's goldbug...can YOU find the plane?)

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 71 ~ Morning Ride

If you follow me on Facebook, personally, then you have seen the minor abrasions suffered this a.m. on the trail (not to mention the rattlesnake!) but this picture was taken at 6:15 a.m. before heading out.  Morning is the best part of these Tucson (no-chance-of-a-monsoon) days, for sure...

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 68 ~ Transplants.

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 60 ~ An Anniversary (and Sunset Clouds)

Today is my parent's 47th wedding anniversary.  They had their kids and grandkids in attendance-- with a toast and some cards in the mix.

 Plus, prior to dinner, there was this to admire....

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 54 ~ A Stiff Breeze.

On my list for this photography project (a list I created in case I am bereft of ideas one of these days-- suggestions welcome!!!) was a picture of air conditioning blowing the bejezus out of someone (my daughter's long hair, my dogs' cute ears....).  Today I had the perfect opportunity.  We have a food cart that comes to the office building and they set up a portable evaporative cooler and voila!  Thank you, Luke.  Those locks are appreciated for this picture only.  Time for a haircut???

And babies make FIVE!

This rocking mama was 30 weeks along at the time of our "maternity" photo shoot.  I didn't look that good at 30 weeks with one baby and Emma is having twins!  God bless 'em.  The "maternity" shoot turned into the 3 year old's show-- her expressions and her HUGE blue eyes were fabulous.   I couldn't pick just one...

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 50 ~ Agua Caliente

I went to scout out Agua Caliente Park for a photo shoot later today.  Usually Agua Caliente is a sure thing (and I will run into at least one other photographer).  The client and I had both heard water levels were down in the main lake so we were unsure of its suitability for a setting.  Gah, it was depressing...the grass is green but the water is sooooo loooooow.  The article (linked above) said that it is a spring fed pond and the spring stopped running last summer.  No help in sight for this Tucson landmark.

(DISCLAIMER: Commercial photography at this park requires a permit.  This blog brings me absolutely no $$ so I think I am good :) )

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 34 ~ Nightly visitors

Happy 34th day of the photo project (or to the rest of you, Happy 4th of July!)

When it heats up, we start getting nightly gecko visitors on our kitchen window screen.  It started with just one and then word must have spread because now we can have up to five.  I just thought "aw, the geckos like hanging out with us."  Then I watched a bug come flying up to the screen and like that, boom, gecko got his dinner.  Ohhhhhh, so that's why they hang out on on our window screen.

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 24~ Dust Devils

"100 Degrees Until Halloween" Day 23~ Decreasing Elevation=Increasing Temperature

Graduation

Remember the night before high school graduation?  The weeks before?  The freedom and the feeling of nostalgia, yet impatience?  Here's some more from that pre-graduation Friend photo shoot-- they are just lovely and fun and full of...LIFE.

What's in YOUR way???

Perhaps it's my impending 40th birthday...perhaps it was seeing such a new life (see newborn photo session below) and realizing how far away that all seemed to me...or, prior to all this, witnessing recent events where life can change instantly and with no warning, I wonder to all my friends and fans-- what's stopping you from capturing your family, your friends, your kids in a permanent, professional, and priceless way?

In my home office I have a wall covered with the yearly photos I take of my kids every Christmas.    Starting from the top left, there's 6-month old Alexandra...followed (very quickly, I might add) the next year,  a 2-month old Nathan with his "big" sister...and so on. This is far from all the pictures of my kids I have hanging up, but I love the continuity this wall shows.

Life isn't slowing down, we're not getting younger (although that's not to say we aren't getting better!)  I hope this post motivates you to just book the appointment-- set the date-- and know that you will be so thankful you did.

(P.S.  I could also attribute this post to Netflix and incessant "How I Met Your Mother" watching...but I think it's really all the mushy stuff heretofore mentioned)

Sweet baby Sam

It has been a LONG time since I have held a newborn.  I didn't realize how long until I saw that sweet baby boy in his mom's arms.  Sam was so alert and yet, mellow. I do NOT remember my kids being that way as babies, at all.  Perhaps it's just my addled memory but I was happy to capture a bit of this newborn's early existence. Congratulations!