San Diego Photographer in Progress: September 2011

Comfort

Countless programs were being televised about 9/11 on this the tenth anniversary of the loss of 2,977 souls. With so much sorrow being remembered, it was nice to have had PapaBear cook some menudo and I make some tacos de tripas - Mexican comfort food.

We ate and watched the 9/11 programs, sharing the memories of the event with Dakota who was only 4 years old at the time it happened. It was good to show him what had happened and to see him understand the enormity of the loss.

San Diego Blackout

Where were you when the lights went out in San Diego at 3:40 PM on Thursday, September 8th? Alia was at work, and Brian, Dakota and I were at home getting ready to leave to take Dakota to practice. Didn't think much of it at the time.

When we returned from the cancellation of water polo practice, we took out our disaster preparedness backpacks and looked for the battery operated radio. We soon learned that all of San Diego was down and we were in for a long night without power. We text messaged Ana and Jessica, and learned they were safe and with friends. Alia helped close her store early and safely made her way home driving the back roads avoiding traffic. We gathered our candles, checked in on our neighbors and cooked hamburgers on the grill. As a family, we ate dinner by candlelight.

With no computers and video games, Alia and Dakota took a bedspread outside to gaze at the stars.

Having opened all the windows and doors, the house had cooled down sufficiently to have the kids sleep in the living room with Tank watching over them. SDG&E worked hard and restored our power by 12:26AM.

All San Diego schools, colleges and universities had decided to suspend classes for Friday which gave all students an unexpected day off treat. Alia's work had opened without a hitch and she would be able to work her shift as scheduled. Life in San Diego had now resumed to normal.

Big Man in the Pool

Fall season of water polo has now commenced with the first practice of the season. There are 8 returning players and all of them 8th graders.

It looks like we will have 18 field players and 2 goalies which sets it up perfectly to create 2 teams. There is a definite distinction between the older returning players and the new additions. The 2 team set-up will give the younger and less experienced players more of an opportunity to play and gain the experience they need.

With league games and tournaments, both teams will gain growth and experience as individual players and as teams.

Indoor Photo Practice with an Off-Camera Flash

This day's photography practice occurred indoors since it was so hot and humid outside. Took advantage of working with small and large apertures and adding light with an off-camera flash.

Two Years Until the Half Century Mark

Yup! I am now two years away from the half century mark of my life. Funny thing is that I don't feel like it. So take that universe! And to celebrate, I asked my girls to come with me to Balboa Park at sunrise for some photo time.

Taking Alia with me, we picked Ana up at 5:30 am, then picked up Jessica, and together, we hit Peet's up for some caffeine. Being that two of my girls are Peet's baristas, I always get a really good peppermint mocha.

My peppermint mocha made with love.

My favorite part of the day at Balboa Park is sunrise. There are hardly any people there at the time which makes for perfect picture taking conditions. Now if I could only get the girls to cooperate at the same time.

A little cooperation would be nice.

Three hours and hundreds of shots later, we headed home for some breakfast made by the boys, PapaBear and Dakota. Eggs, bacon, tater tots and orange juice!

After breakfast, it was time to watch the Michigan versus Western Michigan game with PapaBear while the girls took naps. The neighbors across the street could have heard me yelling as Michigan beat Western Michigan with a score of 34-10!!! During the game, a delivery man came and brought me a beautiful fruit basket from my Mami'!