Day 8: A Day at the Ballpark

After a long day and late night, we slept in a bit on Friday. We headed out about 10:45 am, hoping to catch the 11:00 tour of Fenway.  (Our hotel was a block and a half from the park.) Of course, the 11:00 and 12:00 were sold out. We got tickets to the 1:00 and walked up to Kenmore Square to shop and have lunch.

After spending way too much time in the Boston University Bookstore, perusing Boston Terrier merchandise, we walked across the street to Eastern Standard for lunch.  The bartender at our hotel had recommended it, so we just had a seat...didn't even look at the menu. That was a mistake, but the kids took it in stride.  They even tried the fried shrimp.  Kyle got a cheeseburger, Kyra got a grilled cheese (both fancy schmancy versions) and we survived a menu filled with unpronounceable food items. This is the server's station, for crying out loud.

The tour at Fenway was worth it.  The history is great as is the fact that they've maintained the stadium.  I didn't realize it was slated to be torn down recently. The blue seats are original from 1934.

It's a nice view of Boston, but I don't think it compares to the view at PNC or Busch Stadium (it pains me to say that.)

Fascinating little tidbit: in the original stadium design, the bleachers were actually a separate building.  Fans had separate tickets and were not actually in Fenway Park.

The other bit of history that I found especially interesting was the single red seat out in right field.  It is there to commemorate the longest home run hit at Fenway, a 502-ft shot by Ted Williams back in 1946, and it hit the guy who was sitting there right to on the head. It's just a normal seat; anyone can sit there.  It was left empty for the remainder of the season after Williams died, in honor of him.  It's stories like that that make me love baseball.  

At the end of the tour, we had the chance to wander through a museum, which among all sorts of Red Sox stuff, houses a collection of baseballs, signed by each World Series Champion team from 1920 through the present.  Can you guess which year this is?

After our Fenway Tour, we decided to just go sit back at the hotel and relax for once. Plus we had to do the dreaded packing up because we needed to leave early on Saturday to make it to Pittsburgh in time for batting practice at PNC.  

We got to Fenway as they were opening the gates. The crowds were crazy.  The streets we filled with people and the random person who was crazy enough to try to drive through there.  It was really a fun atmosphere. We sat out in center field, right next to the Green Monster.  The people around us were friendly and fun. Jason managed to snag a home run ball during batting practice, which made my night. 

Yes, beer is expensive at Fenway ($9 for a 12-oz Bud Lite, or surprise IPA when the concessions lady gets annoyed with the guys in front of you who are trying to buy more beer than they are allowed.). But a helmet of popcorn is $8 with free refills all night, and the souvenir soda also has free refills all night.  And it was good popcorn.   

The Red Sox won it in 11 with a dramatic play at the plate.  It was a good thing too, because it was late.    We walked back to the hotel and I was so glad that we hadn't driven.  It was a zoo.  

We had a great experience at Fenway.  I'm so glad that we can check that one off of the list!

Photo Recipe: Salvaging a crummy shot

Last Saturday I got up bright and early (for me) to cheer on a friend who was completing her first triathlon.  We drove out along some back country roads and parked and waited for her to come by on her bike.  We nearly missed her the first time and then had some time to kill before she came back by on the return trip.  The girls were a little bored, so they hopped in the back of another parent's truck to wait.  I looked at them sitting there and thought it would make a great photo of rural America.  I tried to snap a couple before they saw me (I prefer natural photos to those with typical tween girls poses) but I failed.

In fact, when I got home and looked at the photo, I pretty much hated it.

But I wanted to love it.  I really really wanted it to look like I had it in my head.  But it was kind of awful.  Rather than just deleting it, I decided to play around.

After looking at it a little more, and realizing that it would have been 1000 times better if all four girls had been looking off into the distance, I decided to treat it like an old-fashioned photo.  You know those ones where no one is really looking at the camera, someone is grouchy, but it was all people had back in the day because film was expensive and photos were rare?

So, I converted it to black and white using a layer.  I played around with the different options and chose "High Contrast Red."  And then I decided I wanted a hint of color, so I set that layer at 75% opacity.

I liked the way it no longer looked like a bunch of girls squinting in the early morning sunlight, but I wanted to make it look grainy and old and well-worn, so I chose Calais from Love That Shot's Old World Collection.  I added it at 75% opacity in overlay mode.

And because I am never satisfied and like big changes, I added one more layer for more oldness (is that a word?) and drama.  I chose Sicily and added it at 45% opacity in linear burn mode.

It's not perfect, but I like how the sky looks moody, just like my daughter's face.  If I edited it again, I might go ahead and remove all color from the photo.  But that's the fun of digital photography, isn't it?  You can just play and play.

If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

~Shannon

True Story

My daughter is amazingly creative.  She draws. She makes all sorts of things out of duct tape.  She made herself a skirt and even made a jacket for her American Girl doll. WITHOUT A PATTERN. Granted, the lack of stretch meant that it took 45 minutes to get the jacket on the doll, but it fit. And it was cute.  She makes duct tape flowers and duct tape wallets and purses and messenger bags. 
She has made all sorts of Minecraft paraphernalia out of those melty plastic beads: diamond swords and iron swords and bows and even a heart.
Her current obsession is the Rainbow Loom.  If there is a YouTube Video, she can follow the steps and create it.  Hexafish? Nailed it.  Tuxedo?  Nailed it.  Turtle?  Nailed it.  Starburst something-or-other?  Nailed it.
So imagine the head scratching when I pulled this project out of her school papers.  It's a simple, follow-the-directions stitching project.  She cross stitches.  She can follow directions.  She should be able to handle this.  You can see what it is supposed to look like.  Nailed it?  Ummm, no.  Not at all. 



I was seriously shocked.  I just stared at it, trying to figure out what in the world she had done.  I mean those stitches look NOTHING like the project is supposed to.
I shook my head and flipped it over to look at the next paper and then I discovered this:

I had been looking at the back of the project...
Sigh.

Blowing bubbles in Winter

I've had several people share this article with me about gorgeous frozen bubbles and suggest that I give it a try. Since I live in the Land of Lincoln, the land of weather extremes, I knew it was just a matter of time before a nice cold day would come around. 

Enter Winter Storm Ion.  I sent KJ out the the garage last night to bring the bubble mix inside. It was frozen solid. I was really excited by the prospect of super-cool science and photography all mixed together!  Geeked out!

We went out this morning, with the dog.  Winter is fun! Snowstorms are exciting. The dog loved it for five seconds!  Woo hoo!  Snow! Wind! Doggie winter coat! (She secretly hates us.)

After we put the dog back inside, we got the bubbles out and couldn't wait to create gorgeous bubble art (in15°, 20mph wind weather.)  Yay! Frozen bubbles.

More like, "Yay! Frozen bubble solution." Within 5 minutes, I had bubble slushie.

Sure, I was able to blow bubbles, but the 20 mph winds took them away faster than my frozen fingers could get the camera out.  And even if I had been able to get the camera out, there's no way I could have actually found the bubbles in the viewfinder.  Between the gray sky, snow-covered background and swirling snow, I could barely find them with the naked eye before the wind demolished them. Boo.  Stupid Winter Storm Ion.

There was one that froze and then started to pop and drifted about in the the sky like a deflated balloon.  I consider that my victory.  It was awesome.  Can't you just imagine it?

So, those lovely, frosty bubbles, the ones that look like broken glass that the mom in the article managed to capture with such beauty?  Not so much.  Here's my Central Illinois version of gorgeous, frozen, broken-glass bubbles.

See them there, on the stick?

Nailed it.