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Anthony's Cousin Luke
a week before he turns two, about to nod off for a nap

The other day's post about all of Anthony's cousins getting together for the first time started with a photo titled “Luke's Toes”. I really like it, but it's Luke's eyes that are most amazing. Like most toddlers, his eyes gaze around to whatever his mind is paying attention to at the moment (which is not, to a parent's consternation, generally what the parent wants him to pay attention to). But when Luke decides to fix his gaze on you, wow, what eyes. Arresting!

Today is Luke's birthday. Happy Birthday, little buddy!

The picture above is a fairly tight crop from a photo I took while he was in a small swing, being pushed by Grandma, coming back and forth toward and away from me. I snapped a bunch of pictures trying to get him in focus, and I succeeded in a couple, but it turns out that the first of the bunch was the best.

Here's the full frame:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Luke's Eyes, Full Frame

Frankly, I don't know what's more miraculous, that I was able to get his eyes almost perfectly in focus as he swung, or that I could get a toddler's attention for the full 1/100th-second duration of the shot. 🙂

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony, Grandma, and Luke

Lots of baby's have piercing eyes like this – Anthony's cousins Titi (4 months) and Jena (10 months) do as well – but it doesn't seem often that this quality lasts into the toddler stage.

It's sort of different, but I'm reminded of the arresting gaze of a friend's nine-year-old boy Nao, that I posted about a couple of years ago. In his case it's less about the eyes alone and more about.... something else, some “it” factor that includes the eyes. I don't know.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to revisit Luke and his eyes in the years to come to see (excuse the pun) how his gaze develops.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/9, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Freaky Water “Shadows”

While filling the kiddy pool mentioned in the previous post, two blades of grass got into the water and made interesting “shadows” on the floor of the pool a foot below.

Here are some close-ups...

Sometimes you see these in larger pools or fountains created by invisible eddies on the surface. They're always pretty and somewhat mysterious because they seem to be shadows of nothing, or at least much larger than the thing that seems to be creating them.

Of course, they aren't shadows at all. I'm sure someone's done all kind of research about them (and I'm sure the phenomenon must have a name), but just putting a bit of thought into it makes you realize that the very slight indentation in the surface of the water due to the weight of the blade of grass acts like a lens, refracting the light off to one side or other. The dark “shadows” have bright edges, because that's where the bulk of the refacted light has been diverted.

I wonder whether Richard Feynman ever contemplated them. He could probably do the math in his head. Just thinking about someone thinking about the math makes my brain melt. I'll stick with “hey, look, pretty!”

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More from the Summer of Cousins as Anthony and I spend a month in Ohio at my folks' place....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Riding a Dolphin
( reminds me of a song by The Lonely Island that I would never admit to knowing )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Josh Loved the Sprinklers

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Frankly, Though, Less than Exciting for a Big Kid

My folks bought a kiddy pool in preparation for their six grandchildren all visiting for the first time, and after I blew it up and put water in, Anthony was less than impressed. Frankly, I was too, until I found out that this one was intended for the two sub-year-old grandchildren, and that a bigger pool awaited in a box nearby.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blowing Up the Bigger Pool

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm — ¹/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Constructing a Sun Shade
while a garden hose fills the pool

Canon PowerShot SD870 IS — ¹/80 sec, f/8, ISO 80 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo by Phyllis Friedl

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
not so
Heavy Construction
with the pool filling in the background

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tentative First Dips
Anthony's posture says it all: it's cold!

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 175 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Luke Takes the Plunge
24-month-old Luke (his birthday is tomorrow) stumbled, and got an introduction to “sudden fully-body cold”

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
He Didn't Care for It

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Josh as a Plumber's Apprentice

Four-year-old Grace enjoyed it right away....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 160 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Installing the Accoutrements
Anthony brings the blow-up slide

The blow-up slide was intended to be installed with its base under a foot of water, which means that it would displace almost four cubic feet of water, which means that it would displace about 250lbs of water, which means that even if I put all my weight on it, I wouldn't be able to get it fully submerged. The instructions were – and I quote in full – “Assemble the pool”, which doesn't indicate what I later figured out on my own: I should have tied down the slide before adding water. Still, I wonder whether the blow-up slide would have been able to withstand the pressure of a foot of water.

In any case, the blow-up slide couldn't withstand much at all because it had a manufacturing defect that left it with a leaky valve. But Grace was inventive and turned it upside down and rode it like a car, at least until it got too floppy.

Josh, then, considered the archway of sprinklers as a car wash...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Car Wash Open for Business

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
putting the floppy upside-down slide
To Good Use

Canon PowerShot SX100 IS — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Grace Snuggly Dry
Photo by her mommy, Melissa Friedl

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Squirrels nibbling on a wire out in the street left my folks without Internet for the last 24 hours... now I know what it must have felt like to live in the stone age. At first I figured that it must be a general outage, so we didn't call the service provider, Time-Warner Roadrunner, for a long time, but when we finally did, they came out fairly quickly and replaced the whole set of wires, and now everything is running nicely.

Now that I can connect again, I see that I have 149 new email messages, so I'm Well and Truly back to the Modern Age. Hmmm, I'm not exactly sure it's for the better, but at least I can continue posting..

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
God's Country
my folks' backyard, looking back at the house

Since the tractor ride the other day, Anthony has gotten to steer the small riding lawn mower while he sits on the seat in front of me and I work the foot pedals. As you might imagine of a six year old, he can't get enough of it.

As we were riding the mower around the lake this afternoon, I was struck, as I often am, by the beauty of the view, so I stopped the tractor. Anthony protested “I want to drive more”, but I asked him to appreciate the view. Kids take every good thing that comes their way for granted, but I hope he's old enough now at six to start to appreciate how lucky he is.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Appreciating the View

I explained that where we live in Kyoto is beautiful and wonderful in so many respects, but that Grandma and Grandpa's place is beautiful and wonderful for so many completely different reasons — fields he can run around in, a tractor he can ride, a lake for throwing rocks and boat rides, fuzzy seed things floating by in the breeze that grant you a wish if you catch them, birds eating out of his hand and lots of wild life, lots of nature and farms and pretty countryside — that he should be thankful that he can have these experiences. Most of his classmates in Japan will probably never have them.

He also has a Mommy and Daddy that love him very much, and who support him having these experiences, and a Grandma and Grandpa who love him very much and support these experiences.... a wonderful life in Kyoto and a wonderful life in America.... I just hope, I told him, that he might appreciate just how lucky a kid he is.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/11, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos

We sat there on the lawn mower, him half on my lap in front of me, enjoying the splendid view, watching the wind on the lake and the occasional fuzzy “Santa Clause” seed thing float by, listening to the birds and the rustling of the trees.

For long minutes he sat there motionless and in silence, and I let him be. After a long time — perhaps ten minutes of silence — he silently folded his hands over the steering wheel and bent over and buried his head on his hands. This whole time I had no idea what he was thinking, so I suddenly got worried that he was ill or crying or something, and asked him whether he was okay.

“I'm saying Thank You to God.”

(Later, we continued driving, grabbed the camera at the house, and returned to the same spot for these pictures by which we could remember the experience.)