Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanksgiving Week

Here are some photographic highlights from our wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Baking in the kitchen with Jacob produced some interesting photographic moments.

Foggy morning before Thanksgiving.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' new home...





My mom makes everything special, from the decorations at the front door to the dining room table.




Her pretty china plates.



We always overdo it on dessert!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Monday, November 26, 2012

Project 2012 -- Week 47

Project 2012 -- Week 47
November 18-24


Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time to look back over the past week, 
choose seven favorite images I've taken, and share them here with you.  
If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment 
so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!


Thanksgiving week is a huge photo producer in my world, and this year was even bigger.  Jacob came home from school, we baked and cooked together, our family celebrated Thanksgiving, we went Christmas-tree-hunting with friends, and finally ended the week with a little house decorating.

We started the week with a get-together so that Jacob could spend the afternoon after church with his buddies.  This is how they started their afternoon:

[323] Boys will be boys

Jacob also helped me bake pies all afternoon Tuesday.  I glanced over at one point to see this:

[324] When boys are baking

The day before Thanksgiving looked like this:

[325] Autumn fog

Here's one image I took on Thanksgiving day, at my parents' new home.

[326] Thanksgiving table

Our friends have invited us for three years now to go up to Wisconsin with them to cut down our own Christmas tree.  We have so much fun together!

[327] Christmas tree farm

Tree-cutting was short this year due to the 18-degree temps (with wind chill).  We warmed up in the car, though, on the way to the Mouse House!

[328] Mouse House

I took the below shot through my car window on the way home.  The sun was so pretty shining through the clouds!

[329] Wisconsin landscape

You may recall that my 17-55mm lens went kaput last week.  All of the images I've taken since then have been with my 50mm lens.  Using one fixed lens has been extremely challenging, and sometimes frustrating, but mostly rewarding.  I've really been stretched, but I'm also desperately trying to figure out how to afford a new lens before Christmas--there are so many picture-taking opportunities coming up!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Project 2012 -- Week 46

Project 2012 -- Week 46
November 11-17


Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time to look back over the past week, 
choose seven favorite images I've taken, and share them here with you.  
If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment 
so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!



I realized just now that I never posted last week's seven favorites.  Yikes!  I even had them picked out and everything.  I guess I was pretty busy with Jacob coming home from college, baking and cooking, celebrating Thanksgiving, and Christmas-tree-hunting with friends, and didn't think about posting.  :)

A week late, here they are:

[316] More stuff to move {to grandparents' new home}

[317] Someone's in the truck!

[318] Frosty morning

[319] Autumn frost

[320] The last chocolate from Paris

[321] Train tracks

[322] Jacob's train {home from college for Thanksgiving!!}


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

May you be

reunited with far-flung family,

blessed with love and joy,

and

thankful in all circumstances

on this

Thanksgiving 2012

Our college student is home!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Le jardin du Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower | Paris Travel

Fountains of le jardin du Trocadéro, with le Tour Eiffel in the background.


Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,
where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.
Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels
to this amazing and wonderful city!
Or simply read, and dream...



Our last day.  Our last afternoon.  We pretty much did all that we wanted to do, and saw what we wanted to see.  A friend told us to do what we wanted, and leave with no regrets.  At this point, we could say that we had done that.  Since this was our anniversary trip, we wanted to share a peaceful, unhurried afternoon together, not much walking, no waiting in lines, just enjoying each others' company in Paris.

We had a beautiful morning in place des Vosges and Victor Hugo's home.  This afternoon, Fernando wanted to see the Eiffel Tower--the one structure that most symbolizes Paris--one last time.  I agreed that this would be the ideal afternoon, so off we went on the Métro.  For this trip, however, we would start at le jardin du Trocadéro.

The word Trocadéro is taken from a fort near Cadiz, successfully captured by the French in 1823.    It is here at le Trocadéro that you will find le palais de Chaillot, a large building with two long, curved wings.  Le palais, built in 1937, houses le musée de l'Homme (Museum of Mankind) and le musée de la Marine (Naval Museum).  You'll see le palais in some of the pictures further below, once we walked around the fountains.


The palais is to our backs in the above photo, and its curved wings are to our right and left.  We are standing in the central terrace, which opens onto a panoramic viewing stage.  I know you don't need me to tell you what you'll be viewing!





In front of the panoramic viewing stage is a large pool of water with various fountains that shoot out water at various times.  We spent a long time on this main viewing stage, taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower--by itself, tilted angle, with the fountains...  You get my drift.  :)




The main pool below is the Fountain of Warsaw.  It is a long basin, or water mirror, and in the below image, the side fountains are spouting out their water.  So pretty!


Then, a little fun with my camera.  I had already taken some images of the Eiffel Tower with the upper fountains in the foreground.  This time, I wanted a softer, more flowing look for the fountains' water.  So I set the camera for a slower shutter speed (see the settings below) and got this shot to my liking.

You may not notice too much of a difference, but if you have a good eye, you'll be able to tell the difference--in the fountain images above, you can see the individual water droplets.  In this one below, the water is smoother and softer, due to the slow shutter speed.  (Hey, I know this is a "travel guide" for Paris, but it is a photography blog, after all!  All you non-photographers can skip over this part and simply enjoy all the images I took.)

17-85mm lens at 17mm, ISO 100, f/22, 1/40 second

We walked down the steps and around to the ground level walkway for a nice shot of the Eiffel Tower.


Then we walked around to the right to enjoy the carousel.  You may be able to see just the tippy-top of the carousel in the above image, in the lower-right portion of the image.  That's where we walked.

The carousel in le jardin du Trocadéro.


Isn't it the prettiest carousel you've ever seen?  It is for me.

We retraced our steps a bit to enjoy the cannon fountains, which were now shooting out water in the Fountain of Warsaw.  Again, for you photography buffs, camera setting are listed below the images so you can see how I achieved the different looks.

17-85mm lens at 47mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/1000 second

17-85mm lens at 41 mm, ISO 100, f/29, 1/30 second

These water cannons are able to eject jets of water about 164 feet (50 meters)!

17-85mm lens at 33mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/320 second

We walked around so that we were facing le palais de Chaillot (below), and the main pool, the Fountain of Warsaw.  All the fountains were off at this point, and you can see the water cascading over the edges of the upper pool into the lower pool in the foreground of the image.


Then, we crossed the bridge, pont d'Iena, and wandered toward the Eiffel Tower.  For a Saturday, the lines weren't that long.  We cut through the line, took a shot of the tower almost at its base, and continued on into le parc du Champ de Mars.


In le parc, we found a spot to sit.  Too bad we didn't bring a blanket!  But, the ground was dry, and we rested there for a long time, just sitting, chatting, enjoying each others' company and the spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower right there in front of us.


Alas, the minutes ticked on, and we knew we'd better get back to our appartement for dinner and packing and an early bedtime to catch our super-early-morning flight.  On our walk through Champ de Mars, I spotted this tree--it just begged to have its picture taken.  Look how perfectly it fits into my camera's frame!


Of course we stopped at the edge of the parc, to look back and admire le tour Eiffel one last time.  It was a beautifully perfect day for lounging on the lawn, as so many people did.


*sigh*  Then it was time to go.


Hand in hand, we walked down the path.  We had finally gotten our honeymoon, 25 years in the waiting.  What an amazing, special trip we shared together!

If you're dreaming of Paris, keep on dreaming!  If you plan it right, and do it smart, it can be a dream within reach.  We have a glass jug into which we put coins whenever we get change (I use cash for groceries).  That was our Pennies for Paris jug, and started us on our way.  Today, just over a month past our special trip, the bottom of that jug is again covered with coins--because of course we're going back someday soon.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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