114: Medicine Cabinet

 

Do you look in other people's medicine cabinets?

113: Four Seasons Mosaic

My family and I visited the installed mosaic series on this very hot, very humid morning. This is the summer panel. For more shots of the completed and installed panels, check out our Facebook page.

I felt a bit shocked to see the small size of the bolts used to attach the panels to the brick wall, one in each corner of each mosaic. My husband assures me the ones used are long enough and strong enough to do the job.

The entire series, followed by a few images from the courtyard garden and water feature. All ceramic objects were created and glazed by kindergarten through fifth grade students.

My husband, the metalsmith and manager of our business, Phoenix Handcraft, designed and built this beautiful bridge with some assistance from fifth grade students at the school. You can see the mosaic series and garden in the background. For more shots of this bridge, see our Facebook album.

112: Everything but the...

111: Death Rides on a Rodent

Discovered at work today. I don't know and I didn't ask.

110: Fountain of Rebellion

Hit the pedestrian mall fountain for the first time of the season today. Discovered that I still have that ol' rebellious streak, at least as far as mall cops are concerned. They busted me twice. Soon after we arrived, a yellow-shirted man on a Segway rolled up to me and asked me to put my shoes back on. Later, another yellow shirt told me I wasn't allowed to photograph the stores. "They get really upset when you do that." I'm not sure which was more refreshing, the water or seeing that I can still ruffle some feathers.

109: Mundane

I think I will work with this theme of "mundane" for a while, at least on and off. It provides an interesting challenge, and on those days we don't leave the house, this type of subject matter is all I generally have to work with anyway!

108: Vintage

I'm becoming a bit more comfortable with the editing tools I have available. 

107: Preschool Project

106: Phone Home

105: Weekend on Water

104: Playing Games

103: Necklace

Some of the beads on the birth necklace made for me by some of my closest friends before the birth of my daughter. The picture frames in the background contain pictures from the first year of my children's lives.

Another view. I really like how this turned out and wish I had spent a little more time working on this angle.

102: Second and Spring

Intersection of Second Street and Spring Street, that is. 

I was surprised to stumble upon this soccer game in this particular location.

Wish I had my telephoto lens to get closer to the EMT and better capture his bright yellow shirt. 

101: Urban Living

Can you believe this barn is tucked away in a neighborhood just around the corner from downtown RVA?

100: Lifestyles

 

99: Spin

98: Self-Protection

97: Holding Court

Took the kids to a nearby basketball court for some quality bike riding time this morning.

My daughter and husband after several laps of pushing her on a riding toy. 

96: Fun with Focus

95: Gas Station and Car Wash

94: Public Art

Another scene on one of our regular routes. This fence and paintings are set back from the road a bit, and I've often wondered what those bits of blue were. I finally decided to stop today, and I couldn't help but wonder, is this message personal?

I checked out this website, but I can't say it shed any light on this particular project.

Not sure if this last one is related in any way. A surprising piece to find by the side of the road either way.

93: Found Objects

I may not have had time to work on my own mosaics in the last few months, but I sure have amassed an interesting collection of found objects to use once I get back to it.

92: Monday's Monsters

Too many photos yesterday, and I have yet to finish going through them. So for today, my son's finger puppets.

91: Mother's Day

It all started with measuring the donuts from Country Style Donuts. My son took his measuring tape with him to the store and measured while he was there, but decided to double check at home.

After "breakfast dessert," we worked in the garden for a few hours. Sorry to say there is no photographic evidence of our efforts today.

After lunch, we headed down to the River District in the hopes of catching a ride on a Canal Cruise. The 2 p.m. tour was packed full, so we decided to explore the area in the hopes that we could kill an hour without losing the attention of our little ones.

I drive by this bank of electrical meters almost every day and have long wanted to photograph them. This isn't quite the angle I had in mind, but I was limited by the privacy fence around them. I'm calling the LED light around the two smart meters in the foreground blue.

We stopped at Shockoe Espresso for a treat: cookie or "cooko", depending on how you pronounce it, for the kids and, of course, cold coffee for their perpetually tired parents. As we walked over the threshold, my son made my day when he yelled out, "They have a mosaic sign!" 

We managed to fill the 60 minutes in relative peace and happiness, and boarded the next boat at 3 p.m. If you haven't been on the cruise, considered yourself warned: quarters are tight on these tours! 

Another shot to check off my to-do list. We can see this marina where the tour boats are housed on our regular drive, and I often wish for the time to stop and take a few photos. I got a lot closer today than I would on foot from the Virginia Capital Trail along Dock Street.

Of course I couldn't resist taking a shot of this window display at a Japanese restaurant on the walk back to the car. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mamas out there! I hope your days were filled with love and joy and above all, appreciation for all your efforts.