It was the weekend. A lot of people came into our lives and a lot of people left. More of our family than usual took pictures including some artistic work. We recorded much of it. Despite the appearances reflected in this web page, we did spend a fair amount of the weekend out of the house. We just recorded very little of that activity.
To set the context, it was the beginning of fall break, so Sarah was
quite happy to be home for a few days and David was happy to have
his responsibilities reduced, though he should really have been writing
that grant proposal rather than playing with the camera.
It all started on Saturday when this
was Benjamin's reaction to the rain and to the thought of going to
the football game with Harvard, though we did manage to
catch the second quarter and to show the Tigers how to score a
touchdown, though our lesson didn't seem to take.
After dinner, the gang assembled
to do some cookie decoration which only worked because more
cookies
were being rolled out onto cookie sheets
and put into the oven
even as the ingredients accumulated
for further making cookies
that would later fill our bellies.
Chris appeared
to Suzanne's amusement
to pick up Kaylen
as Jane made her tongue face
her eyes closed face
and her frog face
to show her displeasure that even though there were
more cookies to be decorated,
Michael was here
and Lucy would have to leave.
Sarah's gang from high school days gathered
and came together
for a few group pictures
before Jane and Lucy took their biblical tract picture
and left them to gather partly together
for a few more pictures. Benjamin
pretended to get ready for bed as the girls
looked at prior pictures and the cookies
and pizza leftover from dinner
kept the cookies
company in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Jane
was chatting as Suzanne
and Benjamin
watched the World Series.
The night ended with a picture of the cameras
used to take pictures of the girls that might or might not appear
here at some future date after they have been processed
by conventional means and turned into digital form.
The next day, Andy posed
and then there were the brother and sister pictures
before we revisited the cookies
and decorations
from the night before. This enabled us to tune in on the Steelers game
where they had a hefty lead.
This freed Sarah to take
her artistic black and white shots of the world
as she was seeing it. She began with shots of Benjamin
then me
then Benjamin again
then Jane
then Benjamin and me
the coat on the carpet
back to me,
brother
and sister
on parallel phones though they were not talking to each other
at the time and then the flower
and witch pictures
which were to be revisited.
Meanwhile, Benjamin and Sebastian were hard at work in the
yard
and the ants in color
and black and white
were guarding our entryway.
Thanks to the incompetence of US Air out of Trenton, Andy
had the opportunity to spend an hour with this gentleman
en route to Philadelphia airport. This inspired Jane to do a combined
frog and tongue picture
maybe because she knew that the antifreeze was coming next?
I went off to explore the basketball hoop and find the
place
where the antifreeze
was to be added. After taking off the top,
I found the seal
which I punctured
and added to the water mixture to prevent freezing. Meanwhile, Benjamin
and Sebastian were gathering flora
to fill their bucket
even as Suzanne
read the Odyssey
to help Jane achieving a deeper understanding.
Sarah and I headed into town. We met a photographer and so
recorded the colors
and trees
he was seeing even from the angle
he was shooting though we never expect to get his pictures for
comparison purposes. We took a picture of Sarah
on the campus as requested by Jan and Jan
who happened by.
Back at home, Suzanne was still reading
and Jane was buried in her work
as Benjamin thought about cleaning the floor
and Sarah gathered together the vegetables
and extra peppers
and still more cookies
that seemed to cause her to sprout weird Halloween ears
as Jane downloaded an episode of the Simpsons
for her English project.
The table was set
the pillows were out
as Jane got back to work
and Benjamin took a few pictures of me
before finishing off
the cleaning of the floor.
The table was ready
as Sarah prepared more
and even cooked a few things
though the cuisineart
seemed unhappy and the pot
boiled when not being watched.
The appetizers were placed out
as Benjamin recorded the books
and the witch
and Sarah cooked
and the appetizers started to disappear
even as the Patriots tried to stay in the game
against Denver.
By now the guests had arrived. Amy told her tale
to the amusement of Bolko and Edwin
and the witch,
no doubt. At the well prepared table,
my plate
was full and then
it was empty
even though a little pasta
and salad
remained. The guests
wondered why I kept taking their pictures but they saved room for
ice cream
and cookies
and more cookies
and even more
as Benjamin read his book report
and then said good night
to the assembled masses so that we could end the
weekend and prepare for the new week.