{Lukas Wenger Photography}

The summer season has begun. The season of longer days, fresh veggies from the garden, and for us... Art Shows. This means prints are ordered, mats are cut, new photos are framed. And this year we even added a new product - fine art photography cards.

The first year we did a show it was all about pulling all-nighters right before. Queen of procrastination, I hadn't done up the panel covers till then. And at the morning of set up we had the express "joy" of trying to slip them over the grid walls. Well, this year my pre-show project was making cards. Quite a bit less brain power required and I didn't put everything off till the night before.

In Santa Cruz, the day before the show, we finished up framing and cleaning all the art. It's amazing how much better the pictures look all printed up than when you're just looking at them on the computer. The details pop more, the colors grab you and they're just more impressive.

With one year under our belts we weren't as rushed {well some what} and set up the day of the show went much more smoothly. This year, in addition to the cards, we added another large print rack. We also added wooden boxes for the smaller matted prints. Lookin' good I think!

All this to say...

If you're local to the Santa Cruz area why don't you head over to Capitola for a day in the sun at the beach this Sunday - July 31. We'll be there {in this fancy little booth} from 11am-6pm. Stop by, say hi, check out the photography. We'd love to see you!

my garden

Well after loosing one watermelon, one cucumber and two garlic plants to causes unknown I decided to give the garden a second try. And things seem to be growing this time. The peas - my saving grace - have completely taken over their little corner of the garden. The other night we had our first little harvest of them for dinner. Yummy fresh peas with almonds and garlic.

I also planted more peas and those are just trying to catch up with their older counter parts. Hopefully this will extend our pea eating season. The summer heat has been kind to the tomato plant and it actually has many tiny little tomatoes on it. My hope with planting a cherry tomato variety was that it wouldn't need as much heat to get the tomatoes ripe. Fingers still crossed about that one.

I've got rows of lettuce sprouts that just need to get a little bigger. Then salads and such here we come. My basil plants seem to be growing by the day too. These are destined to be pesto. Really it's the best thing to do with basil.

Here's the garden in all it's jungle-y goodness. Happy summer!

the rest...

On Sunday we woke up early again, but the fog had already lifted by the time we made it up to Redwood National Park. So we turned around and headed back to my folks house. Instead, we spent the day playing and relaxing with my parents.

We got in a rousing game of croquette. From the opening swings I took an early {and very very short lived} lead. Quickly my dad took off with Lukas in close pursuit. All the while my mom and I remind neck and neck for last place. We just couldn't seem to get away from each other. For awhile my dad looked like he might run away from the whole thing. He was way out in front, but lost his focus and kept missing wickets towards the end. Still he was slowly progressing and Lukas just barely caught him. With one lucky strike Lukas knocked my dad's ball and drove it far away. It was enough for Lukas to steal the lead and my mom and I ended up battling it out for second from last.

The next activity of the day was fresh squeezed lemonade made by my dad. We enjoyed it under the shade of the over hanging lilac bush. The large plant had grown over a corner of the deck making a perfect shady, fort of a sitting area. Perfect for enjoying lemonade on a sunny summer day.

In the lilac fort we played a game of gin rummy. Lukas won that too and we all decided we were done playing games with Lukas for the day.

In the late afternoon we all headed down to the school. The dogs played, Lukas and I swung and my dad showed off his balance skills by walking up the long handrail from the lower field. The railing is slopped up and over 25 yards long. With arms outstretched my dad worked his way slowly up the railing. He paused when needed to regain his balance, but moved steadily on. At a caterpillar walking on the bar he had to adjust his steps to avoid the critter, but my dad just kept on going. All the while I was video taping him. {now I just need to figure out how to work with what ever the file format these videos are in}

We introduced my parents to Modern Family. We believe that Phil Dunphy is directly based off my dad. The similarities between the two are quite striking. Both named Phil, both married to a pretty blond woman, both have 3 kids - 1 boy, 2 girls, both are real estate agents, both like to do magic, both are enamored by Apple products and technology... See strikingly similar.

And except for one last morning trip up north the next day, that was the end of our holiday weekend.

{jacoby creek}

After we got home from our morning hike my dad said, "I think I've got a place you guys would like. A hike, waterfalls..." Sounded like it was right up our alley. My dad took us out to the end of Jacoby Creek Road. Past the street with the covered bridge {where we took bridal photos a year ago - gosh I never posted those did I?}. The road narrows and you think you're lost, and then you're there.

The hike took us back into the woods and kept us walking along Jacoby Creek. A little ways in my dad pointed out a little side trail down to the water. We all clamber down there - it's beautiful. The water cascades over rocks. The ferns are lush and green.

"There's little spots like this all along the creek for then next, maybe, quarter mile or so," my dad said. Sweet! Lukas shot to his hearts content at each little spot a long the creek. We walked, stopped and shot - welcome to the world of hiking with a photographer, Dad. We may not move fast, but we see a lot.

Along the way we munched on salmon berries. I didn't think we'd see any ripe ones when the first ones we saw weren't ready to eat yet. But, just a little bit further down the trail the bright orange and sometimes almost red berries caught our eye. Small clusters of them stood out against the greenery and we stopped to gobble them up.

Now here's where I say my photography skills have a long way to go. Even though I got a fancy little camera that can take really nice pictures it's the photographer and not the camera that makes the shot. There are so many things to think of when taking pictures. First there's getting the exposure right - which for some of these shots I missed. Then there's creatively using your depth of field while keeping things that should be in focus in focus. Very tricky! And then even if you get all that right you could have a boring picture if you don't have an interesting composition. So much to think about that something usually gives. But lucky me I live with a photographer who's willing to provide me with feed back. And really, the only way to get better is to practice taking pictures and I'm loving doing that.

Four hours later we arrived back home. My mom was back from work {she was on-call over the weekend} and had been wondering where we were for quite some time. We hadn't thought we'd be gone so long and were excited to see both my mom and dinner waiting for us when we got back.

Just one full day of the long weekend down and we'd already packed a lot in.

{rhododendron and lady bird johnson}

As many times as we've trekked up to Arcata we'd only been up towards Redwood National Park a handful of times. So when the 4th of July holiday rolled around we drove north. Plus we figured of the places to travel during the holiday this would be one of the lesser crowded ones - we're all about avoiding the crowds. And special bonus - getting to see my folks.

The alarm went off at 6am - doesn't everyone get up in the wee morning hours when they're on vacation? Out the door by 6:15, we took 101 north past the lagoons and the elk into Prairie Creek State Park. We watched the mile markers to locate Rhododendron Trail. Lukas had hopes the rhododendrons were still blooming and the trees would be bathed in eerie fog.

We kept our eyes peeled, but here the fog was higher and the rhododendrons were past their peak. Still hiking through the lush green forrest was a treat. While Lukas captured the forrest on a grander scale I looked for the little bits I could get with my little camera. Like the reddish-brown snails that littered the path {more than one went by way of accidental boot stomp}.

I started learning about the manual focus on my camera. In MF mode, turning the focus ring causes the image preview to zoom in so that you can really see that you're getting all the details. It's a cool advantage of live view {but given that my camera lacks a view-finder it is always 'live view'}.

On the way home we stopped at Lady Bird Johnson Grove. Here the gentle one mile loop through the tall trees lends itself to the causal stroll. There were more people here than our first stop of the day. But the walk was beautiful. Up here the fog was still among the trees and we found a few blooming rhododendrons.

The walk through the trees took us about as long as the first hike. We fell into our normal hike/photograph rhythm - 5 yards, stop for 10min to take pictures and then repeat.

The morning turning into mid day and we headed back south down the 101. With four miles of walking under our belt for the day already we rested a bit, then joined my dad to explore the woods a little bit closer to home...

home for Shabbat

There's something about being at my parents' for Shabbat. The challa just seems to taste better. The songs are more fun to sing. It just feels like home - maybe because it is. It's comforting to fall into the same routines. The summer time light gets longer, the table is set, my dad plays a niggun as we gather around the table. We light the candles, sing Shabbat Shalom, bless the wine, wash our hands, and marvel at the yummy home-made challa before saying that blessing too and digging in. Being home for Shabbat is special.

I had fun on this visit up to my parents' house playing with my new camera. Above my mom, sporting the apron I made her, shows off her home-made challa. What you can't tell from this picture is how moments before, when I asked her to hold it up she almost dumped both loaves straight onto the floor. But with quick reflexes she kept them from sliding off completely. *Phew!*

A hand washing tradition that started off as a couple innocent flicks of water has now turned into a full swipe of a wet hand down the back of the neck. My mom gives me a look because she knows it's coming. Can't you see how much she appreciates this little tradition?

My parents have a beautiful garden this year. I remember it last year from just about this time. This year it's even more beautiful. The lavender bush is lush and fragrant. And the lilac is huge - creating a fort perfect for card games and fresh lemonade. My dad has a lettuce patch with huge heads of lettuce and radishes too. All enjoyed in the beautiful summer weather we had last weekend.