I've been quite busy helping my folks with some cleanup projects lately, but wanted to do at least a quick post from the Conflagration of Cousins week, which has now finally ended, as all but Anthony have returned to their various far-away corners of the world.

We attempted a group shot of the six kids, a short but stressful event that was doomed to failure from the start due to lack of planning on the part of the photographer (me).

First I'll recount what actually happened, then, based upon what I learned, what we should have done differently.

I told [...]

When I got my Nikon D700 last year, I also picked up the new Nikkor 14-24 zoom. On the D700's full-frame sensor, the 14mm is about as wide angle as you can get without being a fish-eye lens. I haven't used it much, mostly because it's big and heavy specialty lens that I have to switch to for the one moment in an event where I think it might be useful, then switch back, and I often don't think it'll be worth the bother.

I have used it around the house a bit, having posted photos with it here and [...]

Two years ago during our summer visit to my folks', Anthony and I shot off a rocket, his first, to his great enjoyment. I still had the rocket, and with his three-year-old cousin Josh in town, I thought to fire it off again, giving Josh his first experience. (I had intended to do this last week while Anthony's four-year-old cousin Grace was here as well, but missed the chance.)

My intention was to let Anthony fire off the rocket once, then let Josh do it, and then alternate back and forth until I was out of motors or they got [...]

Pushing each other was a popular pastime among the older kids during the gathering of cousins last week. Here are pictures from two such occasions, featuring Anthony's cousins Grace and Josh...

(This is where the lead photo should go, but it's more funny at the front without context.)

The theme of this summer's family get-together is "Grandma and Grandpa Friedl's grandchildren", though I've tended to frame it from Anthony's point of reference with posts like "Conflagration of Cousins" and "More Cousins 'n Such". Six of the grandchildren have been featured in posts during the last two weeks, but one remains, Grandchild #6½, due at the end of November. He or she will Anthony's sixth cousin, and will be Uncle Mikey and Aunt Chickee's #3, after four-year-old Grace and two-year-old Luke.

I wanted the as-yet-unnamed cousin to be represented in my posts, so I asked Chickee to pose for [...]