photo upload

I really enjoy sitting and watching the pictures flash across the screen as my images upload to iPhoto. It's like a super quick slideshow of the past few weeks of our life, and I often find that I have forgotten all about the thing that I had taken pictures of! So I am trying to remember to look at these images as the gift that they are: a very important supplement to my memory. And I really want to take more seriously the impact these images (and their thoughtful organization and display) can have on my family and their own memories. I have not been doing that very well for a long time, but it feels good to be making baby steps back in that direction. Uploading the camera more regularly is one of those steps!

Here is a selection from the photos that were in the camera this morning when I uploaded the latest shots:

 
the kids and i celebrated the birthday of our favorite person


lyle made a trail to help the dogs find their dish when we moved it temporarily


i took the chance to have a little photoshoot with my gardenia and jasmine flowers before they are gone












then i brought them inside and put them in the kitchen window for everyone to enjoy



lyle showed us an "x" in the sky, after watching an airplane make one of the lines






lyle, stella & jason enjoyed an evening jump on the trampoline



I have found that it feels really good to see the many happy little moments we capture when we keep the camera handy and stay in the habit of taking pictures. And when I stay on top of things enough to share them with the kids and Jason regularly, we can all benefit from the memory solidification and inspiration that looking at snapshots provides.  So there's another step: viewing the pictures together more often. We've been using slideshows in iPhoto and it works great- just set it to cycle through a group of photos while everyone is around to take a look, and it always gets us chatting about the people or places in the photos. Or what we want to go and do next!