Happy New Year!

Success!

365 consecutive days...a photo taken and posted each and every day!

(Yesterday was the one exception, but I will count it as good, since the photo was ready to go. It's not like I forgot to post! Sometimes computers can just be troublemakers.)

I hope you've enjoyed kosmatka365 as much as I've enjoyed doing it. I plan to continue the blog, but I will probably not post every day. In fact, I'll probably post tomorrow, since I have a new lens I'd like to take out. Hope you all have a very Happy 2010!

And....we're in!

Every night is game night at the cabin. Here we are playing Quirkle...one of the new Christmas games the boys received. It's bound to be a hit!

**looks like the computer snafu is solved! Thanks to f-i-l Larry!!!

Day 364

Houston. We have a problem.
We are at the cabin. The process for uploading to this blog at the cabin can be a bit complicated, but so far, we've managed to do it.
Until today.
The photos are taken off the camera and loaded onto our laptop. We drive to the in-laws place to wirelessly upload the photo to the blog. But the laptop is not being "recognized" by the computer base station at the in-laws place. Which means, I'm blogging from their computer, without my photo of the day! I can't believe I made it this far without missing a day. We'll try and get this resolved by morning. We can't end the year like this, now, can we?
Wish me luck!

Badger Bowl Game

We considered a quick trip to Orlando for this game. Instead, we're watching from home.

Maybe next year?

On Dasher, On Dancer, On Bessie?

I bought this carved wooden Santa riding a cow the year we moved to Duluth. I think I was missing the state of Wisconsin. Today I used it to practice shots featuring bokeh. Christmas lights are a natural in these kinds of shots. The about dot com definition of bokeh is as follows, "Bokeh simply means fuzzy or out of focus. It is used to refer to the effect of shallow depth of field that creates a pleasing blur of color behind the subject. The type of lens and the depth of field play a large part in determining how out of focus the area is and whether or not it creates a pleasing effect in the image."

Fair Weather Skiing

It reached 28 degrees in Duluth today, so Mason and I hit the slopes. I had been putting off the skiing because of the colder temperatures, and all the holiday prep, but Mason's racing team practices begin tomorrow, so I figured he needed to get out at least once before that. He really needed to get his ski legs back since he just learned how to ski last year. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! After about an hour on the bunny hill, I decided Mason might be better off with an instructor, so that's Waylon with him (above).
Waylon spent an hour and a half with Mason, and said he was doing just great, skis nearly parallel on his turns by the end of the lesson. Yeah! Though he doesn't look happy here, Mason was very happy, and wanted to stay and ski longer. Unfortunately, mom's bad boots prevented her from going out with him for a few more runs. (We will be heading to fix THAT problem this week!)
Until the boots killed me, I had a great time skiing out on my own. The shot above is a self-portrait, taken on one of my solo chairlift rides. Oh, yeah. The blizzard seemed to have a huge effect on the turnout at Spirit Mountain. I never waited more than about 40 seconds for the lift. Unfortunate for Spirit, but great for the skiers!

Pizza for Dinner

*photo taken with Mason's new camera

We headed out to the Thirsty Pagan for a pizza feast tonight. The pizza you see was one of TWO pizzas ordered. We also had an order of pesto lasagna and a pretzel. We had plenty of food remaining for leftovers. Again, a fun time had by all!

Christmas Day

Here's a quick wrap-up of the days events. This was the scene after we all opened presents. Calvin was instructed not to get out of bed until at least 6:30 am. (he's always the early riser on Christmas morning). Unfortunately, he was right on time. The rest of us followed, with Mason being the last out of bed at 7:30.
Calvin methodically went through all of his presents, using each for several minutes before moving on to the next one. This is his new ukulele, which he is already able to play.
This show doesn't completely show Mason's day, but it's my favorite shot of the day. He's wearing his new hat (like the one singer Jason Mraz wears) along with his new shirt. I think his #1 gift was his new camera. Should he start a blog of his own?
Finally, an evening of great conversation, food & drink, with family and friends. Our neighbors came by for our 2nd annual Christmas dinner. This is starting to become a tradition!

For those who are interested in the weather here, it's still snowing. At 10 this morning we had 19 inches on the ground from this storm. I'm sure we've added a few more today. Oh. And the snowblower broke. The end.