Buon Compleano Bravo

My boy, Bravo....the only creature under our roof that is a not female besides me.....had his first birthday party today. Actually, his actual birthday was this past Thursday but, since I was traveling, we celebrated it today. I think my daughters enjoy the dog parties more than they do their own. And since the dog events involve packaged cakes and no party streamers and no rented clowns and no bratty kids, I think that I prefer the dog parties too.

Bravo has more personality and spunk than I ever thought possible and he has crawled into the core of my heart. His ability to love and to connect is a lesson for me each and every day.

I spent the day with Gabriella and Isabella as Bonnie was entrenched in work. We visited the aquarium and then the amusement park and finally a mall so that they could buy a few cheesy T-Shirts....with my money. When I got home, Bonnie had the gall to accuse me of spoiling them and said that I went a bit overboard. I did not argue one bit. And I cannot wait for the next chance to be out and about with them again.

I found a stash of photos taken by my father from when I was young. I realize now from whom I got my camera bug. His monochrome images have stunned me. There was no auto focus or variable ISO and auto-bracketing did not exist. There was no Aperture or Light Room and the only chance to edit was largely in a wash pan. Many of the iamges were gritty and grainy but they had an authentic and earthly feel to them that connected with my eyes. I tried to replicate the feel here, but, this image does not hold a candel to the images that my dad left behind.

I had hoped for some blip time to catch up today but I thankfully spent the entire day out and about with my daughters. Tomorrow I shall try to catch up with you all.