Charlyn’s Web

Thin straps on a dress.

Known to the rest of us as “spaghetti” straps. But, you know, all those Italian foods sound the same.

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We went to clothes shopping the other day. Mainly because I wanted to figure out what sizes Pixie and The Boy were in. We went to one of our two options in town- whoopie! Aren’t we the shopping metropolis? Makes you want to run right over here and shop with us, doesn’t it?

The Boy has worn holes in all his jeans knees so some jeans were in order for him. I made him try some on- and he actually cooperated and did it! I was so pleased, and relieved. He found a pair that worked. At home, his Papa asked how many pairs we bought. I said “one”. He looked at me a bit funny until I explained that it was almost summer (I use the term “almost” because I am wondering if warm weather will ever come to stay) when he wears shorts all the time and if I bought more than one then he will have out grown them before the fall and probably hardly worn them. So we will revisit jeans this fall.

Pixie doesn’t have much to wear. We don’t have any “hand me downs” for her. I had bought a few items off the sales rack over the winter but not enough. And not any dresses or skirts. Staples in that girl’s wardrobe. I had looked on-line to see what I could find but was having a very hard time deciding what size. She is tall for her age and thin. Very thin. I grabbed a dress that had “pizza straps” and went to the dressing room with her to see what it looked like. I was horrified when she got it on. The arm holes reached down to her waist, the little triangles covered strategic parts of her chest but left a LOT exposed. This just would not do! As she looked in the mirror she declared that she liked it! Of course, she would- it was pink. I was thinking there is no way! when I noticed that the “pizza straps” were adjustable. Whew! It’s also nice because maybe she can wear it for a longer period of time too.

We looked at skirts. Sigh. The ones that fit her around the waist are size 4/5 and are way too short. The 6’s are too big around the waist and practically fall off of her. Either way, she’s flashing people. Although, there are scooters out there that have a short built in under the skirt. But still, having all that leg sticking out from the bottom…. I asked a friend if she would be willing to sew lace or something on the bottom of the 4/5s and she said yes. She said she could also take in an inch on the sides of the 6’s pretty easy too. I wonder how hard that would be with the shorts in there too? I had thought that maybe TG would wear them after Pixie but if they are taken in, I don’t know if she will be able to do that. But, at the moment, TG is rebelling against wearing dresses- there is a ton of dresses hanging in her closet and she refuses to wear them. But she is very happy to wear the tan pants.

When we visited The Grandparents we took many a walk in the drippy woods Rain Forest. We saw many interesting things- like deer tracks, moss, flowers, trees (of course), and birds. One of the birds that Grandpa pointed out was a Pileated Woodpecker.

(Click to enlarge)

Don’t the kids just look enthralled?

Anyway, the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America and is about the size of a crow. It has red on it’s head, which I know because I looked it up- it was too far away to get a good look at it. I didn’t even try to get a photo of it because it would have been a dark blob on the side of a tree and you would have looked about like this:

You would have given me the “sure we see it” and the “I’m bored, can we go?” looks.

The Nature Walks were enjoyable to me, at least.

On the subject of Photography in The Rain Forest- you will notice that in the first photo that Grandpa is really the only one in crisp focus. In the second one I think KJ is the clearest. I am just not sure how I could have done it different. I should have tried full automatic just to see what the camera would have tried. Any thoughts?

What is it with this weather?   This winter we had more snow fall then we’ve had in years- not neccessarily colder temperatures though.  The snow was a good thing- we needed the moisture.  But after that it’s just been pretty cool.  The wind often blows at our place and it’s been a cold, cold wind lately.

March 30th- snow fall of about 3/4 of an inch.

Then mainly highs in the 50’s but still dipping down below freezing at night (not an unusual occurrence ).  It built up to the 60s and  then it  soared to a high of  82.8 on April 13th.  Plants started to really perk up and then we start hitting lows of 24.4 degrees and highs back in the low 50’s.

Then today, the temps are in the low 50s and I glance out the window and think that the cotton from the cottonwoods is starting to fly already when I realize that it wasn’t cotton but a white, snow like substance falling from the sky.  It’s not fluffy, star shaped like snow but it’s not hard enough for hail.  I am sure there is a scientific term for it but I am not sufficiently edukatd to know it.

The plants and my body are very confused.

Grown up.

Usage: “Papa can do what ever he wants because he’s a dolt!”

It’s dark, it’s damp- there is lots of moss.

Looking down through the slats on one of the walk bridges. Moss underneath and growing between the slats. I like the leaf imprint also.

Rain Forests are dark places. There is the thick canopy overhead, cloudy skies and rain falling on your camera. I had to set the ISO and the F-stop. Sounds like I know what I’m doing, doesn’t it? Ha! I laugh.

The ISO has to do with the speed of the “film” but because I have a digital SLR there is no film. But from what I understand (and with limited brain power, I could be wrong) the lower the number the more light it needs but it has better color saturation. ISO 200 would have better color but needs a brighter day. The higher the setting the more grainy the photo can be too. I experimented with different ISOs and settled on about 400 or 800 depending on where I was in the woods Rain Forest.

The F stop determines how wide the shutter opens (called aperture) which determines how much light hits the “film”. The wider it opens the shorter the depth of focus. If I have it set to 8 the aperture doesn’t open as wide, letting in less light, but it will provide a wider focus area. If someone was standing in front of an impressive sight, I would want to have a deeper focus to include not only the person but the background so I would set it at about 8. If the person was standing in front of something not so impressive or I wanted the person to be the main focus of the photo, I would set it at a lower number- say 5.6. If you go too low then the person’s nose might be in focus but the rest would be blurry.

In this situation, trying to take photos in the dark, when I didn’t want to use a flash- I wanted the aperture to open wide to let in as much light as possible. It seems to have worked for the forest shots but the people shots were a bit off. Maybe one person in focus and the others a tad blurry. Here’s an example:

(Somebody has complained about the amount of time my Blog takes to load. I certainly wouldn’t want to inconvenience my vast (snort) readership or hog up more than my share of Internet ethereal space. So these shots are in thumbnail because I haven’t figured out how to put part of it on another page. Click on the thumbnail to get a larger photo.)

TG is mainly in focus but her moving boots are very blurry. Grandpa and KJ are slightly fuzzy. This was at ISO 400 and F-stop 5.6.  I’m not sure what would have been better because if I went with a smaller aperture then there may not have been enough light and the shutter would stay open longer also making a blurry shot.

I’ll probably be posting more photos in the next few days. I’ve been a tad bit grumpy lately ( yes, just a Tad, you have issue with that?!?!?!) The Col. is leading worship at revival services in the evenings so he isn’t around- which may be for the best. When he is gone and the kids are in bed, I don’t have to share the chocolate.

The kids and I took a quick trip to visit The Grandparents this week. They live in the Rain Forest. Not really, but it sure seems that way. At the house, Dad has recorded monthly rain falls equal to what we get here in a YEAR! And it doesn’t just come down and then be over with- it drips, dribbles and mists all the time. This makes driving very busy and something like this:

Look at rain drops on the windshield.

Decide there isn’t enough speed to blow the drops off and turn wipers on intermittent.

Intermittent is too fast. Turn off wipers.

Look at rain drops.

Turn wipers on intermittent.

Turn wipers on first regular setting.

Turn wipers off.

Put on sunglasses.

Turn wipers on intermittent.

Take off sunglasses.

Turn off wipers.

Look at rain drops.

Sigh loudly. Do it all again.

“I don’t have anything to wear!”

This is getting to be familiar lament, and not in a good way.

The other pants are in the wash- don’t you have any thing else?

She was wearing a dress but I had told her she could not wear tights outside again because they get dirty and holey.

How about leggings under your dress?

Oh horrors! Not that!

What about those tan pants on your shelf?

Gack!

I bought her a pair of tan slacks and her Gramma bought her a pair of tan pants- kind of jean like. Has she worn them? Of course not. I doubt she ever will. They are not pink. They have no flash to them like her jeans that are embedded with rhinestones (well, not rhinestones but plastic clear and pink flashy things. Is anyone else looping “Rhinestone Cowboy“? Showing my age again.) She wore the tan pants out in the snow ONCE, calling them snow pants because what else are they good for?

In this case, she put on another skirt (can’t wait until she does her own laundry) and went out bare legged- in 47 degree, windy weather. To her credit, she didn’t complain.

So if you are out shopping and you see a pair of tan pants, or any other tan colored clothing item, and you think maybe she will like them, just keep walking and save your money.

When she is 50 and I am ancient beyond all belief and she comes to visit me in the nursing home wearing TAN pants, I will shuffle about with my walker, pointing my bony finger at her, and saying loudly:

“SEE HER!?!?!? She is wearing TAN! TAN I tell you! When she was FIVE she refused to wear TAN! TAN was not PINK! Look at HER!”

She’ll be embarrassed at the fuss and annoyed at me and I will be laughing, laughing I tell you!

TG has progressed in her prayer life. She used to pray at meals like this:

“Jesus. Amen.”

As one person we know said, it includes many theological aspects and really is a complete prayer. But, we felt there needed to be some branching out in that area. She has now progressed to:

“Jesus, thank you for food on table in front of us, um, um, actually bless it. Help Mama’s hands feel better. Amen.”

I think, when she was referring to my hands that she meant some thing along the lines of “bless Mama’s hands” but she started saying that about the time a while back when I wasn’t feeling well. It sorta got mixed up.

This morning she progressed to:

“Jesus, thank you for food on table in front of us. Keep Papa on road as he go to hoffice.  Amen.”