And so the couch-surfing begins

Want some more Project 365 updates?  Cool. Then read on, you sexy, picture-lovin’ beast, you….



Day 186 (2012-07-04) ~  On the 4th of July, Scope, Wednesday, and I went up on our rooftop to watch the fireworks going on around us in all directions.  It was AWESOME.  It made me feel like a chimney sweep in Mary Poppins!  Unfortunately, my tripod was falling apart, so most of my pictures have a shaky look to them.  But regardless of the camera shake, I really, REALLY love this shot!  (Oh, and that rickety tripod?  My lovely hubby got me a brand new replacement one for my birthday, so next year’s 4th of July pictures will be even better.  Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)





Day 187 (2012-07-05) ~  Eh.  I had too much on my mind this day to put a lot of effort into my Project 365, so I just shot a quickie of a flower in the community garden at a local elementary school on my way to meet Scope at the train after work.





Day 188 (2012-07-06) ~  It was right around the time I took this picture that I had to start feverishly packing my bags for a five week trip out to Seattle.  Five lonnnnnngggggggg weeks.  It was not a trip that any of us wanted to take, it was one of those complicated court-ordered thingies that we really didn’t have much of a say in, which really sucked.  Scope could only be out in Seattle for ten days out of those five weeks, so most of the summer, the poor fella was stuck home alone in Chicago;  Wednesday had to spend half of that five weeks being somewhere she really didn’t want to be, against her will, and without me and Scope;  and, in a nutshell, the Court-y powers that be sentenced me to spend five weeks sleeping on my mom’s couch, 2000 miles away from home, waiting around to rescue Wednesday if things did not go well for her where she was (more on that later).  But anyway…. the days leading up to Wednesday’s and my departure to Seattle, the three of us were definitely feeling blue, so adding a blue tint to this rainy day flower photo definitely seemed appropriate.  *sniffle*





Day 189 (2012-07-07) ~  This was my very happy baby girl after we signed the paperwork to start her Invisalign Orthodontic treatment.  Straight teeth, here we come!





Day 190 (2012-07-08) ~  Another snapshot of real life.  Remember that five week trip I told you about?  It was looming over us and about to begin in two day's time the day I took this picture, thus there was LOTS of hugging in our house as the three of us tried to give each other pep talks.  "It will go by fast.... It will go by fast.... It had damn well BETTER".





Day 191 (2012-07-09) ~  Workout shorts bokeh.... or utter laziness?  You decide.  (Hey, they can’t ALL be great pictures, okay?!)





Day 192 (2012-07-10) ~  This was the view out our airplane window as Wednesday and I started our flight from Chicago to Seattle on July 10th.  Poor Wednesday spent half the flight begging me, “please, PLEASE, don’t make me go!”  But there was nothing I could do to stop it.  :-(





Day 193 (2012-07-11) ~   This was the start of my five weeks in Seattle.  Wednesday was off staying with other people she didn’t want to be with; Scope was home alone and lonely in Chicago; and I was bumming around on my mom’s couch, feeling exorbitantly resentful towards the whole situation and Seattle in general.  Even all these months later, I still can’t quite get it how the Court-y powers that be could feel justified in forcing an intelligent and perfectly well behaved nearly-sixteen year old straight-A honor student to drop all her summer plans and go spend huge chunks of her vacation living with people she doesn’t feel comfortable being around after she had made it perfectly clear that she did not want to go.  Yeah, yeah, I get it that we are trying to repair a series of extremely broken family ties here, but I just don’t think that FORCING the poor girl into their homes and causing her to have panic attacks, stress, and other misery helps the situation in any way whatsoever.  In fact, I think it brews up even more negative feelings on top of the ones that already exist and drives the wedge even deeper. 


*frustrated sigh*


But what the hell do I know, right?  Who the heck am I?  I’m just the one who is ordered to ignore her feelings, disregard her pleading, and callously shove the kid off into these situations against her will (and mine!), and then abandon my whole life in Chicago to sit around in Seattle for five weeks, on-call, waiting for the moment that the situation, inevitably, goes sour so I can pick up all the pieces and rebuild my shattered kid.


(What?  Bitter?  Does it show?)


It just seemed like an awful lot to demand of Wednesday, Scope, and me, wouldn’t you agree?  I tried not to be resentful, but it wasn’t easy.  I tried to cheer myself up by taking lots of nature walks with my camera.  It was during one of my walks that I realized that Seattle is covered in ferns.  So many, many, many ferns.  Funny, I guess I never really noticed that before.  I don't think I've seen a single solitary fern since moving to Chicago, so naturally it seemed fitting to make a fern one of my Project 365 pictures.





Day 194 (2012-07-12) ~  Okay, yes, there were some perks to being in Seattle—it wasn’t all crappy.  Like getting to spend some good quality time with my nieces and nephew!  See the boy who's second closest to the camera there?  The tall, handsome, blond eight year old dude with the bow and arrow?  That's my awesome nephew.  He invited me to his Cub Scout Camp to watch him practice archery on July 12th.  Right after this picture was taken, he shot a bulls-eye with that arrow.  And I am still beaming with pride!  :-)





Day 195 (2012-07-13) ~  On a bug hunt in the backyard with my nieces and nephew, we found an inchworm. Sooooooooo much fun!





Day 196 (2012-07-14) ~  And this is what happens when you let a two year old paint her own toenails!





Day 197 (2012-07-15) ~  Water droplets caught in a spider web.  How cool is that?  If you look closely, the droplets each kind of resemble the earth.  My niece found this in the garden and ran up to me, saying, "Cora! You should take its picture! It's your picture of the day!!!!"  I love how the kids are so excited about this picture of the day business. :-)





Day 198 (2012-07-16) ~  Just a quickie of a pansy in the garden.  (And—*sigh*—I actually took this on the 15th, not the 16th, but whatever, right?)





Day 199 (2012-07-17) ~  The weather seemed to be mirroring my mood on July 17th.  Rainy, gray, and gloomy….





I was knee-deep in stressful court crap that day and I was getting heartbreaking texts from poor Wednesday every thirty seconds or so begging me to come and get her because things had gone very wrong where she was staying.  She completely filled up my phone with her unhappy texts.  TWICE.  Of course, I didn’t have the right to just go get her, I had to wait for the permission to do so, and in the meantime, she was so upset to the point of vomiting (!!!!) over what was going on in the home she was staying in.


*eye twitch*


I probably would have puked from stress too if I had been in her position, staying in a house she didn’t want to be in in the first place, where one of the adults in charge there ended up reading our various court documents out loud to the children like perverse bedtime stories (seriously! WHAT THE F*CK?!), and where someone thought it would be a nifty idea to get all scream-y up in poor Wednesday’s face, and told her she should be ashamed for speaking up for herself in our court case and that now none of her half-siblings will ever get to go to college and it’s ALL.  WEDNESDAY’S.  FAULT.  Oh—AND their dog chewed up half of Wednesday’s possessions and no-one cared or was willing to help her replace any of it.


(Yeah.  Let that all sink in for a minute….)


(Ready to go on?  Okay….)


Needless to say, Wednesday was granted the right to come back to me early…. and—Bonus Picture of the Day—this is what her purse looked like when she was returned.





Yep, those are two grapefruit-sized holes in her purse with her chewed-to-pieces possessions falling right out of it.  (Really?!?!  Is it just me or is that just incredibly thoughtless?  If MY dog had destroyed the stuff of a guest in MY house, I would have replaced the stuff, NOT SEND THE KID HOME WITH A SHREDDED PURSE FULL OF DESTROYED CRAP AND THE DESIRE TO NEVER EVER RETURN!!!!  Wouldn’t you?!  Gah!)  Obviously, the mean words did more destruction than the dog, and the damage to the purse was nothing compared to the damage to the family ties that were supposed to be mended during the visit. 


*sad sigh*


But anyway…. because I want to end this on a happy note….


Day 200 (2012-07-18) ~  The backyard of one of the houses Wednesday and I stayed in during our time in Seattle had this robust fella living in it.  Yeah, a bunny! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!





More pictures and updates are on the way soon….







© Coracabana

Welcome to the jungle

Aaaaaaaand now for another update on this year’s Project 365….


Day 141 (2012-05-20) ~ A shortcake in the making: DONE! Taa-daa! Our first strawberry shortcake of the year from our little garden on our city deck! :-) Okay, okay, the strawberries were so itty bitty that we had to add blueberries just to make it appear less pitiful, but we're still excited. And most importantly: Mm-mm-mmmm, that shortcake was delicious. So, yay!





Day 142 (2012-05-21) ~ Okay, so remember that wall where they painted "The Dynamic Elders" a month or so ago? Well, they repainted it this week and now it's Kaa from The Jungle Book.





Day 143 (2012-05-22) ~ Looky what I found in the parking lot! A carnival was coming to town for Memorial Day weekend. They were busy setting up for about a week. Personally, I like this little fella who was waiting his turn to be assembled. Cute!





Day 144 (2012-05-23) ~ The carnival was still setting up. Somehow the Ferris wheel just looks so sad without anyone on it, doesn't it?





Day 145 (2012-05-24) ~ Check out this suit my hubby found at Target. Wow. Excuse me while I go bleach my eyes now. (Sorry. I cheated. This pic was taken on the 23rd, not the 24th. But it was just too good not to use!)





Day 146 (2012-05-25) ~ Scope and I took the kiddo and one of her friends to the carnival this particular evening. And a fun time was had by all. :-)





Day 147 (2012-05-26) ~ We spent the weekend in Kewanee, IL visiting my in-laws. In the backyard we all saw this cute baby blue jay learning how to fly. He wasn't too skilled at flying yet, but he sure had some impressive brick wall-climbing skills down pat!





Day 148 (2012-05-27) ~ Our Sunday in Kewanee, we visited and toured the "Woodland Palace". The house was really quite amazing. It was built by one incredibly creative man, Fred Francis, in 1889. (For more info: http://voices.yahoo.com/francis-park-woodland-palace-worth-stop-anywhere-4126859.html) Fred built a solarium in the house for his sick wife so she would have fresh air and sunlight. This is what the solarium roof looks like from below, like a giant eye in the sky.





Day 149 (2012-05-28) ~ A cemetery road which I thought was really pretty.





Day 150 (2012-05-29) ~ The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades. Ha! I couldn't resist. ;-)





Day 151 (2012-05-30) ~ Very, very busy with eBay listings this day, so a shot of some old stamps felt fitting.





Day 152 (2012-05-31) ~ What the street outside my condo looks like in bokeh. (Yeah, yeah. I was out of ideas for the day.)





Day 153 (2012-06-01) ~ I took a whack at the "camera toss" experiment out on my deck at night. Basically, I just kinda flung my camera through the air during the exposure, not knowing what kind of image I would end up with. I really like how this one turned out as it captured the street lights through the deck railing! Pretty cool. (Btw, it was my ratty, old camera, and it was tied to my wrist the whole time and was never in danger of falling three stories down or anything, swearsies.)





So, now we are 30-something% of the way through this project. Woot! More to come soon…. like probably tomorrow, when we will hopefully finally be all caught up.





© Coracabana

A picture a day keeps the doctor away. (I wish!)

Aaaaaaaand now for another update on this year’s Project 365. Because of recent events, I am WAAAAYYYYYYYY behind schedule on posting these. I’m going to try to catch up today, so hold on. Here we go!


Day 74 (2012-03-14) ~ It’s not easy being…. well…. you know….




Day 75 (2012-03-15) ~ It was St Patrick’s Day this week, so I painted a shamrock (well, kinda!) with a flashlight in the dark.




Day 76 (2012-03-16) ~ Hey, I like crude humor too, alright? But not enough to go writing it on a door! Some graffiti just baffles me. ????




Day 77 (2012-03-17) ~ We went downtown to watch the Chicago River dyed green in honor of St Patrick's Day. It's a big, BIG deal around here and thousands upon thousands of green clad people line the river banks watching the dye being poured into the water and then mixed in by a speed boat zooming through it. It was an unusually warm day with bright, blinding sunshine and temperatures at about 80 degrees. Unlike last year when everyone was bundled up in their winter coats, this year everyone was in shorts, tank tops and flip-flops! AWESOME!!!! As the river was in the process of being colored, I was busy snapping pictures of the boat zipping by when I noticed how cool and swirly the water looked in the glare of the summery sun and I quickly shot a picture of it.




Day 78 (2012-03-18) ~ The bangles.




Day 79 (2012-03-19) ~ *sigh* I would love to tell you the story behind this picture, but the censors (as I told you about yesterday) won’t let me. You’ll just have to invent your own description of this one. Sorry.




Day 80 (2012-03-20) ~ My poor, poor kiddo came down with the flu. We spent the morning at the doctor's office and then I spent all the rest of the day hovering over her on the couch, trying to bring her fever down. *sad sigh*




Day 81 (2012-03-21) ~ All of a sudden--*BOOM!*--Spring has sprung. There are blossoms everywhere and the air is fragrant, sweet and delicious. *le sigh*




Day 82 (2012-03-22) ~ A shortcake in the making. We have had temps in the 80's and suddenly my strawberry plants started to come back to life. Yay!




Day 83 (2012-03-23) ~ I forgot to eat before we got to the movie theater.... so my stomach was growling all through The Hunger Games! :-( The kiddo had only just started recovering from the flu and was feeling very shaky, but she tolerated my taking her picture anyway. Because she’s AWESOME!!




Day 84 (2012-03-24) ~ A mini storm was a-brewin’ while I was up on my rooftop trying to get a picture of the sunset.




Day 85 (2012-03-25) ~ One way or another, I’m gonna find ya, I’m gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha…. I dunno, it just kind of sums up the week in a way, right?




Day 86 (2012-03-26) ~ Twiggy!




Day 87 (2012-03-27) ~ She’s a brick…. house! Only had time for a quickie picture this day. I shot it while waiting for my kiddo by a wall.




Day 88 (2012-03-28) ~ Tulip Sniper!! The tulips are out in full force now.

And, there! Now we’re caught up. *whew!* I’m about 24% of the way through the project so far. More on the way soon!




© Coracabana

The limelight

Aaaaaaaand now for another update on this year’s Project 365….


Day 46 (2012-02-15) ~ So, I decided to try doing a re-shoot today of a photo I did in a black and white photography class I took about 18 years ago. Back in those old pre-digital days (let's call 'em the Darkroom Ages) (ba da dum tish) editing my pictures was a lot different than it is now, obviously. Back then I had an image in my head of a lime under a light which I was going to call "The Limelight". I wanted the photo to be all black and white except for the lime which I wanted to be neon green. However, creating the picture back then was not easy. I shot it on black and white film and tried coloring, painting, dying, and even putting food coloring on the lime on the print to make it bright green, but I could never get it right. Grr. Thanks to the digital camera and Picnik, creating the picture this time was SO MUCH EASIER. Is it the way I pictured it originally? Not yet.... but it's closer. I think the light was a bit too harsh, but otherwise I'm happy. I think this is a shot I will be revisiting again in the near future with a softer light source. I'll get it right one day. Yep! :-)

Day 47 (2012-02-16) ~ Not a lot of time for picture taking this day--*sniffle*--so I just snapped a quickie of a heavily graffitied wall that I pass by roughly three times a day. Usually, I'm not a fan of graffiti, but somehow I really like this wall. The colors are so vivid that they just seem to pop right off the bricks and practically poke you in the eye!




Day 48 (2012-02-17) ~ We saw the play "Grease" at Wednesday's school. At the end of it, she turned to us and said, "So, what the heck is the moral of this play anyway?!" "If you dress trashy, you get the guy," said Scope, jokingly. "I thought so," she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head in disgust. God, I LOVE having a bookworm for a daughter!!!!

Day 49 (2012-02-18) ~ The stairwells in our condo building have these windows which always remind me of ice cubes in stacks. When the light hits them just right, they're really quite beautiful. Because of the windows, I actually enjoy climbing up all those flights of stairs each day and I rarely take the elevator anymore.




Day 50 (2012-02-19) ~ Bokeh and clover, over and over! This was my first attempt at creating custom shaped bokeh. I read some how-to guides and then figured, whattheheck, I would just wing it and see what happened. It’s not really what I wanted, but for a first try, I think it turned out pretty well. Next time I take a whack at it, I think I would do better to use a shaped hole punch with smooth edges to make the shape in the lens cover instead of trying to cut my own (which resulted in more raggedy-looking clovers than I was hoping for.) I'm also suspecting that I might have cut the shape too big and perhaps that's why a lot of the clovers ended up only partially visible in the image.... or maybe the clover just wasn’t centered, I’m not sure. (????) If any of you awesome creative souls out there have played around with shaped bokeh before and have any suggestions for the next time I try this experiment, your tips and advice are absolutely welcome! :-)

Day 51 (2012-02-20) ~ A ticket to ride…. Remember back when Disneyland had tickets for all the rides? I have a small stack of them and they are kind of fun to look at every now and then. I still remember being small with ribbons in my hair and flipping through the little ticket books with my dad to see which ride we might go on next. I'll probably end up using these in a craft or scrapbook at some point. But until then, I think they make a pretty nice picture. :-)




Day 52 (2012-02-21) ~ It was a rainy day at the park. All the squirrels were hiding up in their trees and no-one was out walking their dogs, but I was there with my camera and I thought it was kind of pretty with the trees all glistening with beads of water.




Okidoki! We are 14% done already! Sweet! :-)

© Coracabana