Butters enjoys spring

When Butters first came home with us from the breeder, we were reluctant to give him too much free-reign of the backyard.  With all of the rain (instead of snow) that winter brought to Western NY, the yard turned into a giant mud pit.  Daily baths for a puppy got old really quickly!  He also felt the need to help us clean up all of the rabbit droppings that once covered the area.  Our yard used to be the only safe haven in the neighborhood for wild rabbits.  Luckily, Butters has made sure that no rabbit will ever step foot in our yard again!

Now that the yard has dried up a bit (and the droppings seemed to have disappeared), Butters has discovered that he really LOVES the backyard.  When I am trying to find him, there usually is a good chance that he will be watching for birds through the sliding door.

I love to watch him when he first heads out.  As soon as I open the door, he runs into the backyard like a wild-man!  

Recently, he has seemed to taken an interest in eating dandelions.  I swear, this dog really would eat anything!

And, of course, he sulks a little when he has to come back in...

... at least until he gets his treat :)

March in a few moments Part 2

Here are some continued highlights from our month off:

(1) Tony and I returned to Letchworth State Park, the place where we were married.  It felt surreal at first, as this was our first time back since the wedding.  The park was so pretty even this early in the season, with spring flowers popping up and the waterfalls raging from the spring thaw (although there wasn’t too much to thaw from this winter).  It was unseasonably warm for March, and felt more like summer than early spring.  In our excitement to get to the park early, we of course forgot to pack a lunch.  Being in a pretty secluded area, there were not very many food options.  However, we were very lucky that in the neighboring down, Castile, there is this great little sub shop.  We ordered our huge subs and brought them back to the park, enjoying an unexpected little picnic early in the season.  Of course, Butters had a blast exploring.  He loved looking over the ledges at the gorges and waterfalls, but immediately would get nervous when we would lift him up for a better view.

(2) We visited with my parents and my sister, Kit, in Ithaca, enjoying a couple days of rest while our house was being shown.  Tony and I went back to Aladdins, a cute Mediterranean restaurant we used to go to for special occasions during our time at Cornell.  We got our regulars: I ordered the shishkebab pita and he ordered the sundried tomato pesto tortellini washed down with some of their house merlot.  Their desserts are to die for, so we ordered a caramel chocolate explosion pie and another regular for us, the baklava.  It reminded us of walking down from our collegetown dorms, first Cascadilla and later Sheldon, and enjoying an intimate evening together. As we had almost no money at the time, our times at Aladdins were very special.  We would imagine how someday we would have other opportunities for date nights more than a couple times a year.  Returning to Aladdins also reminded us that it has, in fact, been 4 years since we graduated college.  Surrounding conversations consisted of how many beers one guy held down last weekend to the best way to make a fake ID.  Oh yes, the joys that once were college!

With the early spring also reaching Ithaca, I enjoyed going on some walks with my Mom and taking some more photos around the Cornell/Ithaca area.  

Photography Walkabout

My Dad and I both share a love for photography.  We enjoy exchanging photos with each other, and it is fun to talk about different lenses, techniques, and processing.  We especially enjoy when we have opportunities to take photos together.  Something we discovered over the last year is the "Photo Walkabout."  We first tried this out last spring with a morning walk with the doggies.

With the walkabouts, we take photos of the same location from different angles.  We walk together but ignore what each other captures.  At the end, we put our photos together and compare what we each saw.   It is cool to see what we both noticed, and the aspects of the shooting spot that we saw completely differently.

This weekend, Dad and I tried this out again in a local cemetery in Ithaca, NY.  This very old cemetery has fallen into some disrepair, but the uneven tombstones and shadows from the ancient trees created some very interesting shots.  Here are the results:

On our way walking to and from the cemetery, we also tried out photographing the colorful fire hydrants from different angles.  The end collage was pretty neat: