IMAGE A DAY : DAY ONE /  by Micaela

Roan is at day camp 5 days a week for the next 4 weeks! Which means emancipation for me.  And because I can't possibly use that time to sit in a hammock in the back yard like a sensible person would, I have given myself a hefty laundry list of to-dos to fill all that time. 

One is to blog regularly.  The past few months have been filled with activity, mostly repetitive and Roan related.  All very good but not very blog inducing.  I think, in fact, that I may have had the most uneventful and happiest year of my life.  I basically spent the entire year shuttling Roan from one activity to the next:  Mondays - bus or bike to Occupational Therapy, then Pho (Vietnamese noodles) then swimming at the YMCA, then groceries at Trader Joes, then home to play/make dinner/clean/do laundry.  Tuesdays - playdate with Suraiya then gymnastics, and so on and so on. 

What used to sound like the oppressive housewifely regime that trapped my grandmothers has turned out to be a great source of peace and fulfillment for me - who knew??

I think perhaps the difference is that a) it was in some ways my choice to go this route (although the choice to slog away in a thankless job in a dying industry to hardly cover the costs of childcare and insurance was the other option)  and b)  I continue to take pictures every day.  Even if they are mostly of Roan I am still using the same part of my brain to think creatively as I would photographing anything else.  

That's really the thing, isn't it?  Pitting working moms vs stay-at-home moms is a bit like pitting doctors vs lawyers.  They are both needed and anyone can hate one and love the other as a job depending on what fulfills you as a human being.

OK enough of my ramblings,  The point of this all is that I am going to try to post one single new image per day from my recent work.  I am still editing a couple of new series for my website and these are some of the images I am playing around with.  If you have any thoughts (love it! hate it!)  add them to the comments!

Roan at Lake Raponda, Wilmington, VT 2014



FATHERS DAY /  by Micaela

True to form,  Sam worked on Father Day.  We were in Vermont for all of last week, including Roan and Lula's birthday (currently editing 1200 photos I took there - Thank God for digital), so he had to play catch up on Sunday.

Yes, it rained a bit. And I have to say I was surprised at how much kvetching came from the menfolk about this eventuality (we've been very lucky with the weather in past years).  Photos and details forthcoming.

Moving on,  I posted this photo on Facebook on Father's Day and am now taking bets (figuratively, not monetarily) as to whom you all think the photo is of, Sam or Roan.  Put your answers in the comments!




PARTY TIME /  by Micaela

I would put Roan's social calendar up against that of any Upper East Side socialite's. To wit: Roan had back-to-back birthday parties on Sunday.

First we had Nico's at Underwood Park complete with homemade capes.

Caped creatures

Are you happy and you know it?  Good!  Stomp your feet goddammit!




Ahhhh Summer!

Coop School kids and parents

It was super fun and the cupcakes were first-rate, btw. Because Brooklyn.

On to Marlo's birthday party which was in a yoga studio (also:Brooklyn).  Clearly there was a continuing theme between the 2 parties, aesthetically. 

James Lucy and Anna

This is Anna,  one of Roan's partners in crime at school.  She is pretty rad.


Don't you wish you could find a moment of pure joy like this in your day?

Unfortunately, Anna got a little carried away and briefly lost her hand into a complete tangle of ribbons!

There was a piñata. I think my mom gave me a birthday card once that read "Piñata: a device used to teach children the value of violence". They are sort of a funny concept. But it's great to watch 4 year old get all of their aggression out on a fancy cardboard box.

Birthday girl Marlo has a go

I have no idea why Roan is screaming in this photo!  I think he might have been psyching himself up like a Samauri

He was very intense about it

Eventually, the payoff

We walked home with Eitan, Clay and Nomi - a ballooned scooter gang.











Eitan

Roan and Eitan

Sunsetting balloons

FIERCELY FRAMED PRINTS /  by Micaela

Often one of the irksome things about buying a print, no matter how much you love it, is that your job has only just begun.  I myself have a huge box of prints- beloved artworks, photographs, and illustrations - that remain squirreled away until I can get it together and have them archivally mounted and framed.  It has been years that I have been swearing to get to work on this.

But you, good people, are in luck!  Fiercely Curious has a couple of my prints remaining from their Pop Up Show that are hand framed and ready to go straight on the wall. They will even send you a nail if need be.

SUMMER DAY IN THE SUN /  by Micaela

Sunday was a glorious day in New York; perfect temperature, light breeze, late enough in the year that the sun doesn't set until 8:00pm, but early enough that there are no mosquitoes.  We get about a week like this around Memorial Day, and again around mid September.  The rest of the year is anyone's guess.

We decamped to Prospect Park with a bunch of friends and about 50,000 other Brooklynites.  To just sit on a blanket and do very little - what a luxury! 

Gorgeous, gorgeous day
We picked our turf
It takes a village!

A wedding took place outside of the Picnic House.  Surrounded by BBQs and ogling strangers, it was actually really lovely.  In true Brooklyn style the bride wore a pink rose covered dress and a beehive hairdo.  The guests wore pink yarmulkes and- perhaps in a nod to same sex marriage? - the groomsmen wore a rainbow of yarmulkes.  The whole park cheered when the bride and groom kissed.


Anyhow,  back to us...

Bo and Max (Max, saving it for later)
Morgan devoured grapes
Everyone was so happy!
And maybe a bit hungry
As usual, Dave provided the tunes
Damien and Benjamin tried to teach everyone to play baseball but Roan and Charlie kept forgetting to run to the bases after hitting the ball


Then there was this puddle.  It was, we thought, a safe distance from us, but apparently it was a perilously close temptation for the boys.  We tried to keep their attention elsewhere but they were powerless to the lure of the mud.  Things got messy real quick.

Roan and Charlie



Charlie absolutely relished in the dirtiness
Charles, not so much
He got into the swing of it quickly enough, though
They were all so in their element

Charlie went full on Lord of the flies

Roan was a little less sure of the muddiness

Journey back to the car, pantsless



STREET THEATRE /  by Micaela

We happened upon this scene yesterday in Greenpoint and Roan jumped right in.  Yes,  I'm a little obsessed with the slo-mo option on my phone.




MAY SOIRÉE /  by Micaela

Extreme Kids, which serves disabled kids and their families through sensory play spaces,  art and music programs, and resources to support their growth and acceptance in the greater world, is having their 2nd Annual MAY SOIRÉE!!  

This is our biggest fundraiser of the year.  Our goal is to raise funds to give 25 kids the Extreme Kids experience in one of our amazing programs.  At $1000 per kid that's $25,000 and we are half way there!  ALL of the money we raise from this fundraiser will go directly to programming so the more we raise the more kids can attend.

We want everyone to donate as much as they can manage, but since every contribution counts EVERYONE who donates will be invited to our May Soiree!

I am co-chair of the gala committee and let me just say - you will want to be there. We have been busting our butts to make this FUN.

There will be fire.  There will be food on a stick.  There may even be recitations from inside a straight jacket! Rosanne Cash will be there!  Miss Ida Blue will be performing!  And if all of this isn't enough to entice you I have two more words that may put you over the edge: Juggling Unicyclist.
   
Donate here and you will be sent an evite to the May Soiree!


Even if you can't make it to the soirée please consider making a donation nonetheless!  
It does your karma good!

Chuck /  by Micaela

In what I can only describe as a devious trap, the bathrooms at the Atlantic Center are located right next to a Chuck E. Cheese. And so, of course, what was meant to be a 2 minute trip to the loo turned into Roan's first mall entertainment experience.

I haven't been to a Chuck E. Cheese since I was a kid. It is the sort of place that only a kid can possibly enjoy, a monument to overstimulation and fried food.  But today was rainy and it's spring break so I thought to myself, "why not join every other parent in Brooklyn who can't muster the imagination to salvage the day?" In we went to the vortex of seizure inducing flashing lights and robotic musical mice.

I was thrilled to see that his favorite game, by far, was not the one that involved using an Uzi to destroy tank sized tarantulas, but Skee Ball. 

After about Roan's third or fourth game a dad walked up to me and said, "get this kid a contract!" Do they have college scholarships for Skee Ball?