LOW LIGHT LAKE

It was about 4PM or so, while I was taking a shower, that I got an idea. Showers are good for thinking, because all my tasks in there are so autopilot that my brain is completely freed up. The day I do a shower think and come out with dry hair and still-soapy butt is the day I am officially Too Old To Multitask.  Anyway, there I was all a-thinkin' and a-soapin' when I looked through the glass block to see a very pretty orange sunset beginning. PING! a brain cell went! HEY! it said, you need to take some photos of the kids for your mom because her birthday is coming up and she'll pay you, like, $100 a pop for 'em. NO! it wouldn't be AT ALL OK to accept money from an elderly doting grandma for that, you terrible person! HEY! I know, I know, just kidding, man. OK! you just watch it, there, lady.

This went on for awhile in my head until I realized that HEY! the sun was kind of going down fast, and since all three kids were in the house, it was NOT RAINING, and I had new camera stuff to play with, BEST HURRY UP. I flung myself out of the shower, quickly dried off and dressed, and yelled to the kids to JUSTLISTENAMINUTEGETDRESSEDWEAREGOINGTOTHELAKERIGHTNOW. They all said HUH? and I repeated that three times. Remarkably, it worked.

We live very close to Lake Washington, which is the long lake that separates Seattle from the Eastside suburbs, and it took no more than a couple minutes to walk to a tiny park and a very steep secret pathway covered in wet slippery fall leaves that led to the water. I carried my new equipment like a 4th baby, hesitant with my steps, while MissEight and Mr12 ran ahead. I think CouchTeen was texting. I am a total fan of available light and almost never use flash. When a good light opportunity presents itself, I want to take advantage. What an odd troupe we must have looked like.

So here are a few of the photos I got. It was significantly darker outside than it appears from the photos -- all hail fast glass! I got in some practice with the new gear, the kids got to throw rocks in the lake, and Grandma will get her photos.

I bothered them for awhile, then released them to Home, with CouchTeen leading his siblings. I stayed for a few minutes longer to look at the sunset and bother some ducks.

By the time I trudged up that hill, it was pretty dark and chilly, and the sounds of squirrels skittering in the trees sounded much more strange. Squirrels are not bears, I said in my head, multitasking.