photo shop

The best kind of nights

when my sister Mary and family

come to visit and

the "kids" stay with us...

for at least a night.

Their bellies were filled

with whole foods recipe: Tasty Rice and Beans.

I swear I thought I was dining on

Chipotle!

Dinner dishes loaded in the washer...

I went about attempting

some artsy-fartsy pictures.

My attention was quickly drawn to

the family room

where the group was multi-tasking...

TV... Monopoly...

and laughter.

I just love it when a board game

(a classic to boot!)

beats out

video carnage games.

I started taking pictures

of the proud moment...

saying things like

"just pretend I'm not here...

act natural...

I'm not going to blog this!"

--oops

The wheeling and dealing...

the theorizing

of monopoly...

as we all know if you own the railroads

and Park Place and Boardwalk...

well come on...

you are going to win!

Sam let me know that the

photo shoot

was over!

No more pictures...

I promise...

;)

Congratulations, James...On your first

official win of the game!

Let me guess...

you owned the R&R's...

am I right?!

Not a fast game...

from the wee hours of the night...

 resuming play the next morning.

When I got to present

yet another

whole foods recipe:

Oat and Banana Pancakes...

of course, I just called them pancakes.

They went over BIG

with the gang.

 Sam discovered he liked

real maple syrup over

the fake stuff...

such a smart young man.

Process pictures would have been

great here...

unfortunately...

 I didn't think of that

until after Joey

decided to prepare his cakes

to this photo worthy

state.

I do that all the time

darn it!

Wish I would have taken pictures...

thinking later...

oh, that would have been a great post.

Instead...

I'm just living life.

How dare me!

But always wanting tips...

for instance,

when Mary showed me some of

her recent pics of Mom's garden

and how she was able to achieve a clear

foreground and a fuzzy

background...

I put her to work teaching me.

Beautiful pink tulips...

but the background is clearer than

I hoped for.

A complete miss here...

but how pretty and vivid

is that!?

I think I nailed it

with this one...

still playing with the new setting...

and Mary's tip:

stand back and zoom in!

By jove!

I think I've got it!

Thanks, Mary Rose...

I think you should stay for

a whole week

next visit and we can really

have us some fun.

Shopping...Game Playing...Talking...Eating...

Lots of Laughing.

Darn it!

I should have taken more pictures.

(tips welcome!)