Project 52: the ones that got away

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in the 52 Project. It’s been inspiring, challenging, frustrating (at times). And now, on the cusp of posting my final submission, I’ve decided I’ll definitely take part again during 2014. I wasn’t sure until this week whether I would or not, only because sometimes it’s good to do something different. But now I have a new camera, mastering that will be a challenge in and of itself. I have SO much to learn about taking decent pictures, and the 52 Project will hopefully continue to spur me on. Jodi is set to launch a new blog, saying goodbye to ‘Che & Fidel’, but continuing the project. I’m really looking forward to seeing what changes she makes to her beautiful slice of blog-land and I’ve no doubt those who choose to join in will provide heaps of inspiration for me.

So before I’m ready to share 52/52, here are some of my favourites which didn’t quite make the grade but that I quite like all the same…

47/52

#1 You love it in the secret woods where we join some of our home ed friends; our new favourite weekly haunt. A campfire, marshmallows on twigs, the river and it’s island. It’s getting far too cold to carrying on with the wading which you love so much, my water baby.
#2 Duplo is your new best friend. For a few days you were building it high. Now you’ve moved onto Tetris-like creations. Your concentration and determination are legendary.

Mwaaaahhhhh, my camera is broken. It can no longer focus. Both of these pictures were taken in its dying moments and it was a struggle. I took a total of four pictures before it ground to a halt. I only have myself to blame. The Man’s verdict, after careful inspection, is a combination of sticky Ribena and cereal bar crumbs. The shame. You see I throw it in my bag along with the rest of my life and, rather like myself, it’s suffered a little bit of damage along the way. I think I’m going to have a tough time convincing him, or anyone for that matter, that I deserve a new one. It can probably be fixed (cleaned), but I was hoping to upgrade before this set back. I would obviously take extra special care of a new one. The same is true of a replacement smartphone for the one I dropped and smashed a few weeks ago. I may well have learnt my lesson (and I’m especially unhappy with submitting crumby photos here).

And don’t both of my boys need a damn good haircut? Putting it off, in denial…la lala la la…

These ones were lovely from last week:

Bluebirds of Happiness
Oyster & Pearl
Lamb Loves Fox
Illustrator & Mama
Baby Space

The 52 Project, hosted by Jodi at Che & Fidel.

46/52

#1 I have to catch you unawares these days otherwise this is the face I get! Ready to ride Little Ted at the stables…
#2 Just like your brother, you’re no stranger to goofy expressions either; milky chops…

Oh my life it’s been hard trying to capture a good shot of you both recently. I don’t know whether its down to the change in weather, the darker, shorter days or just me. To be fair, we are naturally spending more time indoors than out, even though we do play outside everyday at some point. I’m just not good enough (yet) to get the sort of indoor shots I’m happy with. What worked outside beautifully all summer long, (and it was long) doesn’t now we’re spending more time at home. We spent several hours in our new secret spot in the woods yesterday but my camera started misbehaving and I came back with just a few shots. I can’t even fall back on my phone since I dropped it to it’s demise! I really need to invest in a new DSLR that can take me where I want to go with this hobby. Recommendations, please?

Here are some lovelies I picked out to share with you from last week’s submissions, all joining in over at Che & Fidel:

Project Little Smith / Elsie & Joan / A Day In The Life Of Us / Dear Olive / This Brown Wren / This Little Life

45/52

#1 Your first ever sparkler; you loved it which is more than can be said for the big firework display we went to the weekend before where you had to retreat to the safety of the car with Daddy.
#2 A rare moment of sparkler stillness and therefore the only halfway decent photo of you that evening. You just don’t ever stop moving!

This time of year is punctuated with celebration. We have Boy1’s birthday mid October, followed by Halloween. Then it’s bonfire night just a couple of days before Boy2’s birthday. And now all of these are behind us my brain is very slowly shifting into gear for Christmas. The boys enjoyed a wonderful evening of trick or treating, with the last of their candy stash finally being consumed just today. A few days after we took them to a local firework display where Boy1 was in his element but Boy2 was beside himself. And then I remembered just how scared his big brother had been at the same age and felt a bit silly for assuming he would be fine. Funny to think my labour with him started while watching fireworks three years earlier…

We were invited to a bonfire gathering by a lovely new homeschooling friend just a few days later, which really redressed the balance. No scary fireworks, a roaring fire, yummy soup, sparklers and lovely company (it was here that I discovered just how hard it is to take usable photos in the dark!). We’re feeling very blessed right now that seemingly out of nowhere we are now part of a small, very local little home-ed group, right here on our doorstep.

Be sure to check out the other 52 Project submissions at Che & Fidel. I’ve not had a chance in the last week to do so myself but will make sure that I do, just as soon as I can x

44/52

#1 It was pouring and you wanted out, returning again and again to the water butt for a refill. I took your picture through the glass, preferring to stay dry.
#2 We went for a blustery walk with friends in the woods. With all the recent rain the puddles were deep and muddy. This is the face of pure puddle-jumping joy!

If only I were able to let go a little and soak up the unadulterated exuberance that my boys have for life? Look at their faces. There really is very little stopping me except, of course, myself. Somewhere along the way I appear to have lost sight of that most basic of human needs; the ability to just have fun and gain pleasure from the simple and everyday. I think at times I’m so bogged down with worry that I forget to live in the moment. And laugh. I definitely do not do enough of that anymore, either. There are now less than six (short) months until I turn 40. Holy crap. Time to (finally) sort out my sh*t? Yes.

Inspirational captures from last week include: Chloe from Lebo with Love/Eleanor and Felix at Megpie/little cowgirl Lamb at Lamb Loves Fox/fashion icon Zoe at Hello Sisilia/Tortilla-maker Eve at Little Wolff; love her…

All joining in over at the wonderful Che & Fidel blog.

42/52

#1 You just turned seven and times are tough, for some reason. Your moods are changing at the drop of a hat. You are both infuriating beyond belief, and completely awesome all within the space of a few hours. Happy birthday handsome x
#2 You’re a little easier to work out, at the moment, than your brother. Demanding, yes, but in a different way entirely. You are ever so slightly in love with watching Peppa Pig, bargaining for ‘just one more, mummy?’ on the iPad.

Oh I’ve been meaning to write something about the challenges of ‘the stroppy 7s’, and the highs and lows of homeschooling (there aren’t many lows as it happens) but I’ve just been too damned lazy. Now there’s honesty for you. Perhaps I’ll get the urge to offload sometime later this week. In the meantime, you can always rely on my Project 52 submission…that’ll be the OCD kicking in…even that has it uses, after all!

Here are the ones that warmed the cockles of my heart from last week:
Gazing into puddles over at Tiger Lilly Quinn; I love the light, composition, and the quintessentially British street/Riley and her sidewalk chalk; such a sweet, soft light/Little one flying in Daddy’s strong arms; I love love love this shot. The series is about the husband, rather than the baby but this one is precious of them both.

We’re all joining in with Jodi on this project. See even more over at Che & Fidel. (…and I’m completely over the moon that Jodi chose mine amongst her favourites last week. Big grins!)

41/52

#1 Another evening at the beach. You and your little friend from next door managed to cake yourselves in mud at low tide. Despite your expression here, it looked like a lot of fun.

#2 Marching with purpose, you didn’t wade right in like the others. Wet, yes, muddy, no.

What a difference a week makes. This was, most definitely, our final opportunity to string out the summer. What followed were several days of high winds and lashing rain and it’s not really cheered up since. Having been spoilt rotten we’re all feeling the heavy drag of the season’s change. Armed with our first runny noses and tickly throats of Autumn, we’ve been a bit sluggish. I’m trying to be grateful for all the opportunities we’ve had to be outside in good weather for what feels like an eternity, rather than grumpy that its over. I’m not doing particularly well with that, funnily enough.

#3 Playing a pirate game where the sun sparkling across the sea was your treasure.
Whenever I take a picture into the sun like this I get, to a greater or lesser degree, a strange ghostly green shimmer on the image. I’m assuming that, rather than being an issue with my camera or lens, it just means I need to use a particular setting or filter or something to prevent it? On this picture I quite like it though; its as if Boy1 is catching something unreal in his outstretched hand…

These pictures from last week made me smile:
Doing what little ones do best; Sage and her mud pie pit/Daniela’s ‘M’ showing off her tattoos/Melinda’s Canadian explorer; the colours and feel are just beautiful/Rasmus, Birdie & Alfie; such gorgeous boys and each capture different from the last/Serious but sweet tiny Spanish dancer; such a romantic, nostalgic image.

All these and more joining in with Jodi over at Che & Fidel…

40/52

#1 The homeschool group activity was kite making but you found your own fun discovering that black crepe paper, water, and glue can make a rather potent indigo dye.

#2 Examining your kite, wondering why yours just wouldn’t fly when the others did.

At the start of the week we spent a lovely few hours with the home ed group making kites down on the beach. The weather was amazing with summer hanging on, reluctant to let Autumn have its turn. Our kite was only happy to spin in circles, rather than fly. That would be entirely down to the fact that I just don’t do instructions, especially when the instructions are vaguely maths like. The measurements were supposed to be specific and accurate and, well I’m just not like that! It twizzled. It was good enough.

Little man’s home made dye was entirely more successful. He is really into two very specific things when playing at the moment. The first is doing just what he did here; painting his hands. The other is covering things up; teddies with scarves, dolls with blankets, lego with wet wipes, toy cars with socks. I suspect there’s some learning through play schema that would explain why he likes to do these things. Anything so long as he’s happy suits me.

Happy. There’s not been an abundance of that around these parts over the past week. When we came home from the beach after twizzling our kites, we noticed Maow-Maow (our pet cat Zoe) didn’t greet us by the car as always. Her food was untouched. We didn’t recall seeing her at breakfast time. Life carried on with a vague question mark in the air as I set about cooking the boy’s their dinner. And then my phone rang. It was the vet telling me that a kind neighbour had found Zoe that morning, dead on the road by our house. In the past I’ve been reasonably matter of fact about pets dying. It’s sad but, you know, we had so many different animals growing up that you develop a practical mindset. But this was different because this was Boy 1’s cat. His. Telling him what and how was just about the hardest thing I’ve had to say to anyone before. A week around he’s bearing up but he was used to her sleeping right next to him every night, used to her greeting us whenever we pulled up in the car, used to her following us to the park up the road. It is really, very painfully, obvious that something is now missing. So sad.

Anyway…

There were heaps of cracking submissions to the 52 Project last week; too many to list them all. These were my absolute favourites…

M and T so dreamy/Alice and Vincente, two little troublemakers/Wee Baby J in his pixie bonnet/Renate’s babies playing peekaboo/Jane Mabel’s breathtakingly beautiful shots; sigh.

We’re all linking up over at Che & Fidel. Jodi’s currently on holiday in Bali with her family and these shots of her’s from wk39 are both incredibly striking.

39/52

#1 You were watching your brother going into the sea at sundown, wondering whether it was a good idea or not. Shortly afterwards you took your very first paddle, without any encouragement from anyone other than yourself.
#2 You must have been a fish in a previous life, drawn as you are to the water. It wasn’t long before you were in up to your neck, larking about like some crazy loon!

We got an extra bonus few hours at the beach in Whitstable, following a late afternoon dental appointment. The Man came too and, after a tea of obligatory fish and chips, the boys headed down to the shore. Boy1 typically stripped off and wasted no time in getting in and mucking about. Boy2, usually nervous when right at the water’s edge, decided he’d do some wave jumping too for the very first time and without a hand to grip. I was too busy enjoying watching his moment to bother with a photo. Sometimes it’s good to remember to just join in. We stayed until the sun went down, blessed with the fact that no school in the morning meant no pressure to be home and in bed by a certain time.

Here are a few favourites from wk38, all sharing their photos over at Che & Fidel:

Gus and his flowers for the kitchen; this little man is just too cute for words/These quirky, beautiful shots of 3 boys/Matteo posing with his big boys bed; cute expression and wonderful pops of colour.

38/52

#1 You got to have a hands-on morning in the Anthropology & Conservation department at the University of Kent. What an opportunity. You were drawn to this moonscape wall at the end of the corridor and stood for quite a while, mesmerised.
#2 Oh look, it’s your frowny face! Not your prettiest expression but one we see quite a bit of. You were cross and I was torn (and therefore not giving you undivided attention). Torn between your brother, who was at the shoreline, the homeschool group all busy with a craft activity on the beach, and you. You just love the beach huts but not without company so in the end I had to follow.

I’m guessing more and more of my weekly photos will be related to one homeschooling activity or another as we settle into our new groove. I thought it might mean I’d have many more photos to choose from but, for this week at least, there were very few. I’m also struggling with my camera a little, too. I’ve not been happy with far too many shots recently. When I first took the DSLR off of the automatic setting and switched to manual I was quite exited by the improvements I saw, however subtle. But now the opposite is true. I think there may be an issue with the light sensor. And there is definitely a flaw with my preferred lens which leaves a red line down each shot, more noticeable in some pictures than others. The Man pointed out that a bad workman always blames his tools (and that at the very least I should read the instruction manual). He’s probably right but you know, I think perhaps I should start looking at upgrading anyway!

Here are my favourites from last week’s submissions to Jodi’s 52 Project:

Just look at little Fox in his specs. Awesome/Rich, earthy tones and total cuteness over at Airstream Family/Theo dipping his fingers in The Stour; I must take my boys on the river soon/Milk Please Mum, you’ve stolen my heart again, especially little Eliot/Oh Wilf, you are just wonderful. This picture is so full of joy.