After Five

Malcolm's elementary "moving up" ceremony and DARE graduation took place today. My favorite part? The photos, of course. Not any I took, but the slideshow they put together showing the kids growing up over the years at school.

Iceblocking

Okay, never did this until tonight with Madeleine. You buy a block of ice, about the size and shape of a cinder block, put a bath towel on top, and ride it down a grassy hill. Sort of like sledding in reverse. Except snow's a lot more slippery than grass and anthills.

Peonies 2008

Again, with no intervention by us — except for placing a metal cage around the bunch to keep them upright — the peonies are back. They open up as big, beautiful puffs and smell fantastic. Why can't all gardening be this easy?

Father's Day

Our family — Madeleine (13), Malcolm (11), Joanie, Claire (1-3/4), Jeff, Carter (3) — the best Father's Day present ever.

Napster

Carter's transitioning out of his afternoon naps. Most of the time he now has "quiet time" and plays in his room after lunch until 3:00. But sometimes he still falls asleep. This morning was the Primary children's activity at church, with lots of outdoor games and a water balloon fight. He didn't make it through the afternoon.

Yee-haw!

Claire loves Jessie, the rootinest tootinest cowgirl from Toy Story 2 and has her own call sign for her. When she watches Toy Story or plays with her Jessie toy, she says "Yee-haw!"
I was listening to my new Sarah McLachlan album during dishes the other day and "When She Loved Me" came on. Claire came in and recognized the song from the movie. So she said "Yee-haw!"

Walking on Water

Tonight was manicotti in Baltimore's Little Italy neighborhood, with a trip afterward around the corner to an Italian pastry shop for cannoli. I'll still be tasting the garlic from dinner tomorrow. It's been a nice week walking along the water here.

Constellation

This is the sloop-of-war USS Constellation, launched in 1854 and used in the Civil War to raid ships carrying slaves. It was decommissioned in 1955 and is now moored in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Inner Harbor

These are long exposures of 20 or 30 seconds to make the reflections look nice and shiny. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so here's a two-for-one special. If you want to cast a vote for which one you like best: the top picture's called Hot Lips and the bottom one is named Potbelly.

Nuts & Bolts

I've been wanting to capture lightning on camera for a while now, and I finally got it! Maybe it's not the best idea to stand outside with a big metal tripod when the skies are doing this, but the flashes were pretty far away. It's not the most scenic shot — this was taken standing in front of a big hotel construction site in Baltimore — mainly I wanted to see if I could do it.

This Is Birdland

Tonight I'm in Baltimore's Inner Harbor staying in a beautiful hotel near the water. I took a walk to photograph docked sailboats at sunset, just like on the cover of the travel guide in my room, but was thwarted by construction fences around a new hotel going up. More attempts in the coming evenings.
Usually I ride mass transit into DC, but got to rent a car to take into the home office today. I had this dream of getting to work only an hour after my plane landed, but it doesn't work like that here. Cramming me and my luggage into the bus headed for the offsite rental car facility, waiting in line for a car, and battling other drivers to get into downtown DC (without getting lost) took the same five hours it always does.
With the Ravens and Orioles stadiums close by, there are signs up around saying "This Is Birdland." Anyway, I think that's what it means. I like it.

The Graduate

Carter graduated from his mini preschool he's been attending over the last several weeks. He was one of 10 little kids who got to be part of a high school class project, and he really loved it. He was distinguished among his classmates as being "always moving." That's Carter all right — he's up every day at 6:00 and sometimes earlier because playing is more important than sleep.

Ordinary Miracle

Last night was Malcolm's best choir/chimes concert ever. The fifth graders at the top of their game in the elementary school choir performance bracket. About a month ago I got the new Sarah McLachlan album, and here they were singing the leadoff song on the record, "Ordinary Miracle," with neighbor Justin (not Timberlake) singing a solo on the first verse. I was impressed!
Another favorite was the band playing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm." Carter looked at me excitedly when he recognized it, so we had to sing along. After the band finished a little girl in the back was still belting out E-I-E-I-O.

Hurdler

Today Malcolm took third place in the fifth grade boys hurdles for the school district. Could he have perfected his technique through years of practice trying to walk through his messy room? He ended up with some sweet bronze hardware to take home.