Photoblog 2.0

Nicky and the Chocolate Sandwich, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

For a treat, when he’s been really good, I sometimes make Nicky a chocolate sandwich. In this photo, he ate the center of the sandwich and is peering through the crust-as-frame. By the way, Nicky’s big brother Julian prefers ice cream sandwiches (my style, not store style), perhaps I’ll provide that recipe as well at some point! (Here are Julian and Nicky, my two older kids, together.)

Chocolate Sandwich Recipe

Lightly toast white bread (remove from the toaster before the first discoloration). An oven-style toaster works best, leave it running. Slather the toast with butter. Return to toaster and toast until very lightly golden. Remove from toaster and place on a large paper plate. Cover each piece of toast as evenly as possible with chocolate drops. Replace in toaster, toast until chocolate starts to melt. Remove. Place two slices of bread together, chocolate in the middle. Cut sandwich in half (note: handle with care, chocolate sandwich is hot and gooey). Place chocolate sandwich in freezer, and cool to taste.

Ingredients:

Two slices “white bread style” white bread
Small stick of soft butter
Generous handful of chocolate drops

Time: about five minutes, great entertainment value in the process.

Generations, photo by Harold Davis.

Three generations went hiking together over Labor Day weekend. Shown on the Estoro Trail on Point Reyes from left to right: Harold (me!), Julian (my son), Virginia (my mom), and Peter (my nephew).

Mathew Waking Up, photo by Harold Davis.

Mathew was not pleased when I woke him after an hour’s nap by snapping this photo. We’ve been trying to curtail his daytime napping so that we can get more sleep at night.

As I’ve noted before, Mathew is a force of nature!

Blowing out the candles, photo by Harold Davis.

We had a nice little birthday party for Julian, who celebrated his ninth birthday. Everyone was happy, and nobody cried. Which is one of our key birthday party metrics of success.

It’s hard to believe that nine years ago Julian was a two-and-a-half pound preemie in the NICU. The time has flown by like no time at all, and we are certainly blessed that he has done so well.

Of course, I took a few photos of showing Julian blowing out his candles with my flash—and they show Julian in focus. But I rather prefer this impressionistic handheld using ambient light to show color and motion. It fits Julian, who is constantly in motion. Check out this photo of Julian chasing wild geese.

Julian Herds Geese, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

Julian and I were walking in the park at Port Oakland. He loves to chase the wild geese, but he can never (of course) catch them. In this capture, the geese are caught in mid air, with the skyline of downtown San Francisco in the background.

Hard-Working Feet at Rest, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

Nicky goes full stop until he stops. I couldn’t resist this chance to photograph the boy-usually-in-motion at rest using a tripod, long exposure, and high depth-of-field. These feet work hard!

Nicky Kiss, photo by Harold Davis.

As a four-year-old, Nicky—my middle son—is full of life, imagination, empathy, and affection. As you can see from these lips on his cheek.

Julian and Nicky, photo by Harold Davis.

They’re brothers, but they are so different! I like the comment on Flickr: “Watch out for Nicky, he looks so cheeky!”

Nicky would understand cheeky, but he’s nothing compared to Mathew his youngest sibling: a real force of nature.

Force of Nature, photo by Harold Davis. View this photo larger.

Mathew, our youngest, looks like he’s an angel. Particularly when he’s asleep. It’s hard to reconcile this with the fact that he is the most self-willed of our kids, has an incredibly loud screaming voice, and will temper-tantrum heaven and earth to get what he wants. Who’d know?

Mathew in a Tunnel, photo by Harold Davis.

We got out the Ikea play tent for Mathew, and he and I spent some time crawling through the tunnel. Great fun!

This photo is with my digital fisheye lens. I like the way the seam inside the tunnel makes an apparent spiral around Mathew.

Here’s a photo of Mathew newborn, one of Mathew in a playhouse, and a fisheye of his biggest brother Julian:

Newborn Mathew, photo by Harold Davis.

I took this photograph of Mathew the day he was born, about eighteen months ago. Is there anything more precious than a newborn baby?

I think the photo shows him resting after the hard work of being born!

Here’s Mathew more recently (in one of my favorite photos of him):

Mathew in the Kitchen Sink, photo by Harold Davis.

Mathew in the kitchen sink,
Nicky playing hide and seek,
Julian having photo fun:
Look out! Sand croc in the playground sun!

I take so many pictures of my boys, from time to time as a proud papa I have to work them into my photo blog!

This sand croc was basking up at Step One. I think his missing front teeth neatly balance Mathew’s teeth coming in (see the photo at the beginning of this story).

Kids and Kupkakes, photo by Harold Davis.

The kids were mostly happy yesterday as they ate their cupcakes at the San Francisco Botannical Garden. If you look at Mathew in this photo (the baby on the right), he doesn’t seem so sure.

After taking this photo, I got involved in macro flower photography. But whenever I wasn’t sure where Phyllis and the kids were, all I had to do was listen, or ask a passing stranger: “Oh, you mean the very blond boys with cameras. They’re at the duck pond.” “Now they’re at the fountain.”

It seemed the whole garden was tracking them.

Playing in the Rain - Mathew, photo by Harold Davis.

The rain is fun, and I like splashing in puddles, but I get cold and a bit tired and out of sorts (but I am so cute).

My big brother likes to ride his trike in the rain:

And my biggest brother likes to climb all over rocks and take pictures with Dad:

Mathew Exploring, photo by Harold Davis.

In the austerely beautiful and sparsely populated country between Barstow, California and the retirement megalopolis of Phoenix there isn’t much in the way of stops safe for young children. True, there is the Mojave National Preserve. And there are range after range with names like Vulture Mountains and Hieroglyphic Mountains. Also there are plenty of saguaros, Joshua trees, and cacti.

None of this scenic grandeur does much good for parents who want to exercise their kar-bound kids and keep them safe. We did some nice desert stops in the Mojave.

For the record, at a playground in Kingman, Arizona other parents were friendly and informative. At another playground stop in Wickenburg, Arizona kids were belligerent and their care-takers hostile.

As you can see from the pictures, Mathew and Nicky are pretty much happy anywhere so long as they aren’t tired or hungry.

Julian is a touch more complex (not really!): he needs a rock he can think about taking home (this one was obviously too big) or something like a saguaro to photograph:

As for Phyllis, she is happy as long as the kids are:

Oh, and a word to the wise. This is a matter of good parenting. If you stop to play on the train tracks (like we did here), make sure to get the kids off before the Santa Fe engine comes rushing down the tracks:

You can’t see it in the photo, but the engineer waved at us. Good thing we had vacated the tracks a couple of minutes earlier: