lint is a shell's best friend

watching my nieces play "house" with fuzzy worms tied to fishing lines all weekend makes me love this video even more.

oh, and the fact that i have an incredibly high, squeaky voice...

and that i'm pretty sure i get a sunburn every time i look at a diamond...

love,
y

rule of life: must take pictures in photobooth EVERY time you see one.

making everybody look like ants

Official Guidelines to Solidifying Yourself as Best Aunt Ever Ever

1. Move far away so nieces (or nephews) may take an airplane ALL BY THEMSELVES to see you. It is only when you fly by yourself that you get many things "free," such as chocolate and caramel apples.

2. Arm said nieces with their own cameras. A short film lesson may be in order (you have to look through that little hole to see the picture. no, you can't see the picture you just took on a little screen. yes, you have to wind before you take EVERY picture.).

3. Make a lot of rules, only so you can break them. Things are way more fun to do if you are breaking rules doing them.

4. Always have makeovers. More than two is preferable.



5. Go out for pizza in heels.  Heels should be at least 3 sizes too big.  And expensive.

6. Eat skittles with skittle fingers

7. Pick your very own pumpkin, even if you have to get Uncle Tyla to lift it into the wagon for you.

8. Must ensure that everyone gets the exact same amount of everything (popcorn, rootbeer in the rootbeer floats, marshmallows in hot chocolate, etc...) or points towards best aunt ever award will be deducted.  The only way to remedy this horrendous mistake is to make sure that everyone gets double (or triple, in extreme cases) the next time.

9. Get very dirty. It is ALWAYS worth it.  Especially when you HAVE to make arrows to show the birds where to find their nests (obviously).

10. Lick your fingers.  Especially after making cinnamon knots.

11. Do not let the wind blow you off the tallest building in the world, although it is sure fun to let it try.

12. If you are afraid of heights, lie down.

13. Make your own princess slippers. Use any thing available that can be glued, taped, cut or twisted.

14. Eat dinner in the middle of a rain storm.  Preferrably in a rainforest.

15. Get lost. Corn fields are the best places to do so.  Bring Uncle Tyla and his sense of direction.  Use him ONLY if you are so lost that you may actually be lost forever and will never see mom or dad or siblings or best friends or food ever again.

16. You are movie stars if you are on, see from a distance, or sneak close enough to a real live movie set.

17. Hold both hands extra tight and give lots and lots and lots of kisses when niece has been waiting 2 days and FINALLY gets her ears pierced. And only go to ear piercing facilities that give lollipops to ear piercee AND ear piercee's moral support.

18. Find trees on fire, swan princesses, and grass taller than you. It is all magical.  Every. Last. Single. Tinsy. Weensy. Thing.  Must never forget this.  And take a bazillion pictures.  You do not want to forget one millionth of a second.

19. Have a theme song.



21. Cry lots and lots when you have to wave goodbye to them at the airport.

I love you, girly girls. Come back soon.

Love,
Auntie Holly/Best Aunt Ever



olympic gold medal rowing

"Faintly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time." -- Thomas Moore

coxswain, scull, shell, gunnel, catch point, sweep, gimp seat, regatta, dragon boat, backstay...these are all common words to rowers, but to me, it was just a bunch of men in spandex and long, skinny boats.

until i watched them race. i've never seen anything like it. they all move at exactly the same time, like a beating heart, flying through the water. and a tiny girl in front screaming at them to keep time and work harder.

i'm in love.
and i could totally do that (the sitting and screaming part).
and tyler looks good in spandex, too.

he is on the university of toronto team, and they placed six out of ten eight-man-boat novice university teams. and they had never been in a boat together before today. i can seriously smell that olympic gold medal...

good form, ty. all these five am mornings are paying off.
love,
me

his rowing mates.

his boat.

his team.

"shoulders, ready, down!" she shouts for the boys to put the boat in the water.

they're right under the "4" sign.

tyler is "seat seven". but second from the cox (the title for the screaming girl facing the wrong direction...). and he apparently sets the pace for the right side (or starboard side...).

one thousand and one words...

tyler and i love to take pictures with film cameras. although our relationship with said film cameras can be trying (like, when you have taken a whole roll of film and realize it wasn't loaded correctly and you actually haven't taken a single shot...or when the battery on the light meter is low and most of your pictures of new york city are underexposed...or when old cameras get a bit, well, old and only one picture turns out from an entire roll...), the times when we see a picture we took and it takes our breath away, or we can't stop looking at it, make it all worth it.

we thought we would share with you our cameras:

my grampa's ikoflex. we fell in love with film using this camera. thank you grampa j.

our polaroids. we love them. even if film is too expensive to actually use them.

my birthday present: a 1933 kodak brownie. we sat in the dark for half an hour blindly playing with film to try and re-roll 120mm film onto a 620mm roll (they don't make 620 anymore...). we think we may have got it, but we have yet to develop our film. if it didn't work out, it is still excellent to take pictures of...

a camera i've had for years, but has only been used as a decoration/conversation piece.  now that we (hopefully) know how to re-roll 120 film, we will be playing with this soon...

we found these in the spring at a garage sale for $10.  we had no idea what we got ourselves into, and they changed our lives forever. they might be enjoying retirement at the moment, but we bring them out to play on occasion.

this is the camera we take most of our pictures with now: a canon a-1. and we love it. a lot.

and finally, my other birthday present: a 16mm movement camera. i love it. i love holding it. i love playing with it. and i can't wait until i have the time and money to film with it. film for it is just too darn expensive to buy and process. but one day, something glorious will be filmed with it that will blow all other home videos to smithereens.

that is all. for now.

love,

r&y

photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. what you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. - aaron siskind