Author Archives: Peter

Five Years

Wedding Day
Five Years Ago

The Woods
Three Weeks Ago

Five years ago, I had no idea what adventures were in store for us. I didn’t know we’d travel all over the United States, let alone take a trip to Russia. I didn’t know that we’d start living greener, more simpler lives. I didn’t know that we’d have a wonderful girl named Catherine, or that my job would provide for all three of us with extra to spare. I didn’t know that we’d buy a condo in Danvers, or that my ideas of fun would change to include stacking up blocks in a nursery.

All I knew is that I loved you and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Here’s to many more years of discovering what that life will bring!

17 Months

Catherine is 17 months old as of today!

Slide!

She has been quite busy in the learning and growing departments.

The other day we were playing with a little beach ball in her room, and I heard her say the word “ball”. Later on, we were out in the living room, and I asked her if she could go and get her ball. She walked over to her room, picked up the ball, and brought it out to us. Wow!

Her manual dexterity has really taken off – she’s great at taking things apart and putting them back together. She’s got the hang of buckles and clasps, and I’m sure that she’ll figure out how to unbuckle her car seat pretty soon. At church on Sunday she had slipped a crayon out of its wrapper, and then put it back in. The other night, she was playing with an accordion filing folder, and it appears that she has learned how to flip through it: either quickly with her first two fingers, or slowly by just flicking her index finger.

A few nights ago, Catherine took Becky’s cell phone into her room, and (probably slightly by luck) speed-dialed my phone and then babbled to me for a bit. She’s got the cell-phone posture down pat – she’ll hold it in between her shoulder and ear, head cocked to the side.

She can now not only climb up the front of her high chair, but also the side, up and over. She can also easily climb up into our desk chair and operate the computer.

She’s picked up from us the practice of blowing on her food if it’s hot. We all have fun taking turns blowing on our food when we have a hot dish. 🙂

As for saying words, she’s got: mama, mommy, dada, hi, hiya, ball, teeth, up, kitty, “ted” for her teddy bear, and we heard her say “might” quite clearly the other night, but there wasn’t any context behind it, so I’m not sure she’s got the comprehension. 🙂 There are a lot of other words she clearly understands, but doesn’t actually say yet, like nose, banana, and shoes.

Dear Catherine, what will you do next?

Nano, nano

With a little bit o’ the old birthday money, I bought myself an [iPod Nano 3g](http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/). Let me just say that this thing is gorgeous:

iPod Nano 3g

I got the black 8 GB model. My old iPod was a 20 GB 4th gen, so I’ve had to prioritize the stuff I really want to sync to the Nano, but I still find that I have plenty of space for the things I really want to listen to.

The Nano’s implementation of [Cover Flow](http://www.apple.com/itunes/jukebox/coverflow.html) is excellent, and the user interface design is just beautiful. I love the way it grabs snippets of cover art and movies, and floats them around while I’m browsing through menus. It’s also got some fun games, and the screen resolution, brightness, and color are terrific. It’s actually not too bad to watch movies on the screen, and I love being able to have videos and photos of the fam with me in this matchbook-sized device. The size, of course, is one of the best parts – it fits right into the coin pocket of my jeans.

Many other have reviewed the 3rd gen Nano, so I’ll leave the full-fledged reviews to them. “Awesome” sums it up for me.

P.S. I now have a 4th Gen iPod that I’m looking to sell. I thought I’d toss it out to my blog readers before it went up on Craigslist or eBay.

P.P.S. Ditto on the above for a Panasonic DMC-FZ20 12x zoom digital camera. Sorry, this has been taken. Thanks, Beth! 🙂

Driving Photos

Last night we took a trip to [IKEA](http://www.ikea.com/) to buy some cabinets to put in our laundry area. I sat in the back seat with Catherine on the way down, which gave me a rare opportunity to take photos while in the car.

Catherine in her seat

Here are [a few more photos](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/trip_to_ikea/). No actual photos from IKEA or of the cabinets, but maybe we’ll take some pics of the project itself.

Danvers Open House

This Thursday, the [Town of Danvers](http://danvers.govoffice.com/) hosted an “Open House.” They opened up the town’s departments to the public, and hosted tours and events to give the people of Danvers a peek inside their town’s inner workings. The [Salem Trolley](http://www.salemtrolley.com/) had been commissioned to take visitors from one place to another. There were also refreshments in each location. So Becky, Catherine and I drove downtown and took a ride around town to see what exactly our tax dollars are paying for! 🙂

We first stopped at Town Hall to have some cheese and crackers, and to view some displays set up from various town offices. Next, we headed over to the Police Headquarters where we got a tour of the building and got to see the jail cells (thankfully empty!), as well as a presentation on various law enforcement gear and confiscated drug paraphernalia. The Police department was also giving out hot dogs, chips, and juice, and McGruff the Crime Dog made an appearance! After the P.D., we went to the Fire Department, where they had some fire trucks out for kids to explore, as well as a demonstration of the Jaws of Life on an old car out in front. The Fire Department also served up some pizza for everyone. Finally, we headed over to the Electric Department to see … well, not much, actually, since it’s basically just a garage and storage area for their equipment. But they did have a diorama of an electrical system set up, as well as some spooky Halloween displays and a lady dressed up as “Volta”, the compact fluorescent bulb. They were also giving kids rides up in a bucket truck.

All in all, it was a fun evening. I think Catherine enjoyed getting to see all of the different things, but I think she’d enjoy it much more if she was just a bit older. There were definitely a ton of elementary school aged kids there, and there were plenty of activities and presentations set up and geared towards them. Kudos for the Town of Danvers for opening up and putting on the evening!

You can see all of our [pics from the Danvers Open House](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/danvers_open_house/).

Birthday

On Saturday, I celebrated my twenty-ninth birthday.

Me and Catherine
Dad and Daughter

Becky made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. She also got me a gift subscription to [GOOD Magazine](http://www.goodmagazine.com/), a magazine we had heard about in [Heifer](http://www.heifer.org/)’s [World Ark](http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201480/) magazine. I’m looking forward to reading it! Here are [some more photos from breakfast](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2007/birthday_breakfast/).

After breakfast, we headed out for a hike to [Agassiz Rock](http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/4_agassiz_rock.cfm) in Manchester. The park features a short trail which loops around to some awesome glacial rocks, Big and Little Agassiz. Little Aggasiz is balanced on its side on a much smaller rock. Very cool. Here are some more pictures from the [hike](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/agassiz_rock/). Our hike was, of course, part of [Hiketober](http://prwdot.org/2007/10/07/hiketober/).

Dad and Daughter
It was a hit

My birthday and the hike were definitely a hit!

Becca’s Wedding

Several months ago, my college friend Becca asked me if I’d play cello for her wedding. I gladly agreed, even though the last time I had played for a crowd was at [Jeremy and Angela](http://www.thebiggspicture.org/)’s wedding several years earlier. It gave me the opportunity to dig out the cello, bring my skills back up to snuff, and reacquaint myself with the joys of playing music.


Tools of the trade

Last weekend we traveled up to [Bennington, Vermont](http://www.bennington.com/) to attend her wedding. We left early on Friday, drove up through central Mass and southern Vermont, and arrived to check in at the [Knotty Pine Motel](http://www.knottypinemotel.com/). The Knotty Pine was small and comfortable, and even had a nice play area for Catherine to take advantage of. Friday evening was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, where we got a lesson in [English Country Dance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_country_dance) (to be featured at the wedding reception). We made some new friends at dinner, and had a chance to catch up with our friend Amanda who was one of the bridesmaids.

Catherine and Tom
Catherine and her new friend Tom

On Saturday, we did some exploring of the Bennington area, including the [Bennington Battle Monument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennington_Battle_Monument). Did you know that the Bennington Battle Monument is the tallest structure in Vermont, and the tallest War Memorial in the world?


Bennington Battle Monument

Becca’s wedding was in the afternoon. The prelude and processionals, which I played with Becca’s friend Lindsey on piano, went extremely well. The ceremony itself was beautiful – Becca sang a solo for Eric during the ceremony, and they recessed to “Sweet Caroline”, a tribute to their Red Sox fanaticism.

Becca and Eric

Becca and Eric Fiveland

At the reception, we did more English Country Dancing, talked with our friends Kate and Dave, and enjoyed some great food. We danced the night away and headed back to the Knotty Pine for some rest.

We had a great weekend up in Vermont. It’s a truly lovely place with some very friendly people. We wish Becca and Eric well in their new life together in upstate New York!

You can see all of the photos from our weekend [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2007/vermont_weekend/).

One down, three to go

So I’m back from Katybeth’s wedding in Pennsylvania. I had a very good time at the wedding and reception, and Aunt Chris and Uncle John were hospitable as always.

The wedding itself was quite different from my usual wedding experience. Though I’ve taken photos at weddings before, this was the first time I’ve been “the” photographer at a wedding (well, for everything except the formal photos). It was definitely a challenge, especially since it was a family member’s wedding and I tended to gravitate toward photos of my family members. It was also somewhat bittersweet since, although I was present throughout the whole wedding and reception, it was my job to focus on the photography. If I stopped to listen to someone speaking or watch someone walk down the aisle, I’d probably end up missing a great shot. All in all, though, I’m glad I did it. I think everyone will be happy with the results.

I’d already deleted a lot of the photos I took before I got home, but I still have quite a few to process: touch-ups, removing red-eye, cropping, etc. I’ve done 125 and there are 351 to go (most of which are from the reception). I have a lot more thoughts on the experience of wedding photography, so hopefully I’ll be able to get those up here at some point.

In the meantime, I’ve got more work ahead of me; [Becca’s wedding](http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=7734082101622115) is this weekend, and I’ve only got a few more days to practice my cello music for their prelude and processionals! Phew! At least this time I’ll get to sit back down after that’s done and enjoy the rest of the wedding. 🙂

Wedding Mania!

In the span of 15 days, Rebecca, Catherine and I will be attending four weddings!

This weekend, I’m heading down to Pennsylvania for my cousin Katybeth’s wedding, which is on Saturday. I’ll actually be doing some of the photography at her wedding, which should be fun as well as a learning experience. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Catherine, along with Dianne, are on a road trip out to Springfield, Ohio for her friend Heather’s wedding, which happens to be on the same day and at the same time as Katybeth’s wedding! We’ll all be reunited on Monday when the ladies get back from their road trip.

Then, the next weekend, we’ll be trekking up to Bennington, Vermont for my friend Becca’s wedding. I’ll be helping out at her wedding, too, except there I’ll be lending my musical talents as I play the cello part in some cello-piano duets for the prelude and processionals. The last time I played for a crowd was at [Jeremy and Angela](http://thebiggspicture.org/)’s wedding, so I’ve been practicing up a storm to get ready.

Finally, the weekend after that, we’ll be at Rebecca’s cousin Matthew’s wedding. No duties that I’m aware of for this wedding, just to be there and enjoy! Of course, I’m sure I’ll take a photo or two. 🙂

Anyone else got a wedding we should know about? 🙂 We’ll do our best to get photos and reports up on the blog for all of the wedding madness!

D80

I’ve had my [Panasonic DMC-FZ20](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/) for a little over two and a half years, and after gaining more confidence and experience with photographic technique, I decided to take my equipment to the next level. I purchased a [Nikon D80](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/) digital SLR camera a few weeks ago, and I’ve been having a blast learning how to use it and taking photos with it. The FZ20 was a great camera, but the D80 is just… excellent. It’s certainly not the highest end digital SLR, but it blows away every other camera I’ve used in terms of speed, image quality, depth of field, flexibility, and customization. There’s a [great review of it at DPreview.com](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond80/). I was initially thinking about going with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, but while reading the [review of the XTi’s](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/), the D80 was mentioned in a favorable light, and after reading the D80 review, and trying one out in person, I was convinced! The only things I’m losing compared to my FZ20 are optical image stabilization (which is somewhat compensated for by the ability to shoot at high ISO with very low noise) and light weight (the D80 is pretty heavy, but I’m getting used to it).

Hopefully I’ll be able to put together a little showcase of some of the photos I’ve taken with the D80, but for now, here’s a self-portrait I shot in our bathroom, handheld, room lighting only.

A photo of the old camera from the new camera, and vice versa, can be found [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/geekiness/d80/).