Holga Roll 5

Here are some photos from my fifth roll of film taken on my Holga:

Frames 3 and 1 - Holga Light Leaks on Whidbey Island

Frames 9 and 7 - Welcome to Snow Country, Mazama, WA

Frames 8 and 13 - Snow Play

Frames 11 and 12 - Sledding Fun

Frames 14 and 16 - Back Yard Back Country

Frame 15 - Double Exposure

My Holga is a great travel companion.  It's light.  I don't have to worry about losing it or breaking or having it stolen.  There are only a couple of controls with which to fuss (read: just frame and shoot).  And the process of going through a roll (and then waiting to have it developed) is a bit of adventure.  I'll definitely be bringing Ms. Holga along on future trips (near and far). 

PS: Roll 6 coming soon . . .  

Home from the Holidays!

December got the best of me.  There was a weekend at a cabin, tree decorating, work, holiday parties, cleaning, packing, gift wrapping, a whole lot of driving (Santa Cruz to Seattle to Whidbey to Winthrop to Seattle and back to Santa Cruz again), meals with family, hilly runs, dogs in sweaters, more gift wrapping, gift giving, cuddling up on couches, board game playing,  night sledding, puzzles, nordic skiing, ice skating, dinners with friends and toasts to the new year.  In all honesty, even with all of the holiday craze, I could have squeezed in a blog post (or three).  At some point though, I just decided to give myself a total holiday from my endless list of "To Do's" and in my downtime, I relaxed.

We got home middle of last week and the craze has continued.  There's been unpacking to do, groceries to buy, decorations to put away, sleep to catch up on and errands to run . . . But I'm finally back!  I got a lot done this weekend.  I feel well rested.  And I've got lots to share.

To start with, here are a few photos that C and I took for the holidays:

Buckwheat wears many hats.

Christmas Card Model is one of them.

Here's B and C getting ready for a family photo!

We didn't really end up with many photos where we're all looking at the camera . . .

. . . But I like them anyway!

Happy (Belated) Holidays from This Little Egge (and the rest of Nelson Family).  I promise to be back with more blog posts very, very soon!

xo.

Ally 

On Rain

The last week has been wet.  As a Seattle native I don't mind the rain all that much.  In fact, there's a lot that I love about the rain. I love the sound it makes as it taps steady on rooftops.  I love how it turns streets into canvases that can be painted neon by store signs or splashed with alternating coats of red, green and yellow by traffic lights.  I love the slick sound of tires through puddles.  I love raindrops across windows and windshields and how each drop picks up and reflects the surrounding world in miniature.  I love the smell of the first rain after a dry spell.  At times rain is perfect.  When you have absolutely nowhere to go, the rain can be a nice excuse to curl up inside with a good book or a movie you've been meaning to watch and just relax.

Rain can also be a nuisance, though (like when you have to walk home and you're wearing ballet flats and an effectively useless jacket and it just starts to absolutely pour).  However, since we moved into our condo and pretty much walk everywhere that's walkable, I decided to prepare myself for the inevitable winter rain.  I bought new rain boots and started keeping a small umbrella in my over-sized tote and I wear my rain jacket if the skies display even the slightest hint of breaking out in any one of rain's many incarnations (be it the possibility of a steady drizzle, quick sun shower, light mist or torrential downpour).  And I'm happy to report so far, so good. On the days it's been raining, I bundle up in my rain gear, coax Buckwheat out the door and marvel at the way things look after a healthy dose of sopping, wet rain (while I stay warm and dry)!

Below are some recent rainy day iPhone photos:

This is what Buckwheat looks like when it's raining

This is my rain appropriate gear

On Friday afternoon the water was rising and the skies were misty

It was a little muddy (but I didn't mind)

Here's a view of Holy Cross Church and the waterlogged levee

I swear the levee went from a dried up brown to a lush green overnight!

View from the footbridge over the San Lorenzo

Rising water levels under the 1

Rainy day discoveries

Berries and Vines

Wet grass, dry feet.

My fall foliage obsession continues . . .

A dog's gotta walk, rain or shine!

Okay, we're getting a little wet -- time to get back inside!

And this is what a pool looks like after a couple days of rain

 On Sunday, the skies cleared (after a morning of heavy rain and flash flood warnings) and the San Lorenzo River levee looked like this:

High waters under blue skies

Clouds in the river path

Okay, I might also be obsessed with puddles . . .

Yep, it's official.

Water levels on Sunday

The footbridge over the San Lorenzo

The river from the west side.

The San Lorenzo displays a rare current

But let's get back to the puddles!

More crrents and puddles . . .

And here's one more puddle photo from today:

Branches in puddles (puddled branches?)

I love living somewhere where it's sunny for most of the year and I know that if it rains for too many days in a row, I'm going to miss that sunshine (and all the possibilities that a sunny day entails) but, at least for now, the rain feels like a nice change.