Today it was a cold overcast day, but we wanted to get out of the house for a bit. We bundled up and headed for Indian Creek. The creek bed was nearly all dry, but had just enough puddles to throw rocks and splash a bit. We also found sticks and pretended to fish in the shallow water.
While we were playing a long train passed by. I've always loved the sound of trains and watching them pass. It added a little magic to the afternoon playtime for us. A few times the sun peeked through, and then it began to snow on us. Afterwards we visited a new consignment shop in Kuna and bought a barbie car. Then headed for lunch at Idaho Pizza.
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It's the most wonderful time of the year It's the hap-happiest season of all... ...And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago Oh yes, Miss Clara, we will always remember the Christmas when you were 2 years old, waiting in a 2 hour line outside, while it was 27 degrees, so you could see "Ho, Ho, Ho." And much to Santa's surprise not only at your hysteria, but when we all busted up laughing, because we're no longer shocked by your outpouring of letting everyone know when things aren't going your way. I've loved to highlight your crying fits and outbursts since birth, but as much fierceness and wildness that you have inside of you, there is as much, if not more, an abundance of love and sweetness. We all have our moments, and dear Clara, you have no reservations about speaking your mind. I hope this becomes an awesome super power in your life, to be a strong, independent woman, but for now at 2 years old, it's quite exhausting, and at times pretty hilarious, too. This photo ( below) with her head down screaming and crying, I would've bought a different image that highlighted her fit quite wonderfully, but the photographer gave us a minute to decide and then deleted the other 3 shots, and I didn't think we'd get a second chance at another sit down with Santa. But then, Santa gave Clara a candy cane, and she decided to sit next to him, still not certain about the situation, but the candy cane was enough to win her over a little, so the photographer gave us one more attempt at a photo with Santa. We ended up paying for both pictures to remember this joyous occasion. It really wasn't terrible standing in line for 2 hours to see the jolly old man. We went to The Village. I stood in line for the first hour alone, because Jack was not thrilled with standing there and having Clara in the cold. Even though plenty of other littles and parents were there waiting. He went inside one of the buildings to keep Clara warm, and in all fairness, she seemed to be coming down with a cold, so he wanted to keep her warm. William went off to get hot chocolate. I stood there in line, watching the water light show and ice skaters, while listening to all the happy Christmas music playing. Finally, when I got near a heater, Jack, William, and Clara came over to stand in line with me for the second hour. It wasn't our planned shot with Santa either. The last few years we've attended the Christmas show at the fairgrounds, and the kids get to sit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, but I messed up the dates this year, and the show was actually the previous weekend. So after fighting the crowds at the mall earlier in the day to get Clara a dress, and William a shirt for their photos, then driving down to the fairgrounds only to find out there was some children's wrestling match going on, we decided to try out The Village. I adore the setting of The Village. A huge beautiful tree, dancing water set to Christmas music, ice skaters, and a whimsical house built by Disney for the kids to go into to sit with Santa. Although the kids get a lot more time to visit with Santa at the Christmas Show, The Village definitely has the right vibe that makes for some fun memories, too. This might become our new tradition for photos with Santa, if I can sweet talk Jack into the idea and get him on board to stand outside again next year... if, hahaha, of course it's what we'll do. He vowed to never do this again, but you know, I'm mom, and it's Santa, and it's a childhood staple to get the shot. 27 degrees outside, 2 hour wait, snotty nosed kids, my calf muscles cramping up, telling my begrudging teen that he has to come along because it's family time, and 1 second to snap a pic of my toddler crying on Santa's lap for $40. Worth it every year! In the name of tradition, creating memories, and character. Next year I'll plan on going in the afternoon though, so I can get some better lit shots, and William can have some time to go ice skating. I'll probably bring some Christmas cookies along and a thermos with homemade hot chocolate. He's begging me to go back over winter break, so he can try ice skating out. He hopefully exclaimed, while waiting in line, that ice skating didn't look hard. This coming from my totally chill, video gaming nerd child, that has always been clumsy and accident prone. All I could do was chuckle, and agree to coming back. This year's Halloween has been so much fun. We've taken gobs of photos, and I went all out like never before to decorate. I've wanted to decorate the house outside for so many years. My dad used to decorate a lot when I was a kid,and I always thought I'd have my own place someday when I grew up that I would decorate for my kids. Finally, this year, even though I've owned my own house since I was 26, I finally splurged a bit on decorations and did it! Totally worth it, too. My kids and every family that came to the door to trick or treat was happy about the house. It's awesome to bring some magic to a holiday like this. Next year I hope to add a bit more. This was also the first time throwing a Halloween party. So all the family came over, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins. There was lots of food, including chilli and cornbread that I make every year on Halloween. And as for firsts, it was also the first time we tried to get Clara to trick or treat, but she wasn't having anything to do with it. She still has quite a lot of stranger danger fears going on, so she cried at the first attempt. She'd rather just have brother give her the big bowl of candy that we were passing out to the neighborhood kids. So here's to a bunch of photos and some stories in between..... CostumesThis year we dressed up as clowns. Clara's gorgeous romper is from a small shop called Little Willow Tree, and I'm totally obsessed with Jada's creativeness. When I saw her 'Ella' romper I waited for it to drop, and swooped in like a hawk to buy one before they sold out, and they sold out in like under 5 minutes! I really wish William would have participated in the family photos this year, but he was having a particularly bad day when we shot these, and also was too cool to participate. Then, of course later on, he wished he would've. I did get some pics of him as the reaper in the above series on Halloween. He helped pass out candy, and then decided, once he saw some friends trick or treating that he wanted to trick or treat one last time this year. So he took off and I took over candy duty. It's always a challenge to get images of Clara, I mean she's 2, so I never hold expectations, just try to do my best and use lots of positive reinforcement and fun when doing her photos. Towards the end, she was annoyed by my hat and wanted me to take it off, so I did, and then she used the horn to hit Jack across the nose, which gave hima bloody nose. After we got him cleaned up, and tried again she honked the horn in his ear, which you see in our photo below. We laughed knowing she was being an onry toddler, and called it a night. She really loved the horn and balloons though, so that did help to get the photos I have here. And I got one quick snap of my brother being himself, haha, psycho killer bunny. Wednesday Addams and Halloween Fashion Clara has been brand repping for a shop called Rugrats Ragz on Etsy. I picked up a dress called the Neverland dress, and had the gal that makes the clothes make it black with a white collar so I could do some Wednesday Addams inspired pics. Now, let me tell you, these images were tricky. We tried for weeks to get photos of her in the dress. We drove an hour away on the freeway to a small, old town, to a big, old house (Chase house) built by a railroad tycoon, located across the street from where the old brothel was. She hated being on the grounds. She cried and clung to us. No children ever lived in the house either. I attempted to calm her down by nursing her on the steps, also hoping it would ease her into sitting on the steps for a photo. She did calm a bit, but what was spooky, out of nowhere, it was quiet, and it was just her and I, she started busting up laughing. Something caught her eye, and I looked, but there was nothing, and she was just staring, laughing. Perhaps a silly ghost? ;) Still, she wouldn't let me put her down,and she clung to me or daddy. She wanted to be off the grounds, away from the house. None of the usual reinforcers I use, like treats or cartoons worked. She just wanted to leave. So we did. Now I'll say, I don't place expectations on her for photos. I get what I get and that's ok. It takes effort, every time we do images, but I never want it to be stressful for her or for me. I want her to have fun. With that said, I was so bummed, because I first saw this house in 2014 when we worked on an Idaho William documentary video about Payette. I knew I'd go back for a photoshoot at this house. Fast forward here we are, and what I had in mind didn't pan out. But that doesn't mean I won't try again at some point again. Not anytime soon though. I have to say the neighbor that was sweeping outside her apartment was super nice, and she told us some history about the house, and introduced me to the groundskeeper. The groundskeeper was really friendly, too, but both of her legs were broken. She explained that she sometimes takes people through the house. Her son, at least I think he was her son, was very skeptical about me being on the ground or taking photos. I gave him a card, assured him we'd be respectful, and that I wanted to make sure I had 100% permission to be on the grounds. So I asked if they could call the owners, and the lady said she would. She really was sweet. The owners gave the go ahead and were fine with it. But her son, kept a watchful eye, and grunted a couple times about me taking photos, and then suggested he'd keep my card if I became a millionaire or famous off the photos. Bwhahahahaha! Right, man, right! I tried a couple times visiting a graveyard for photos, but same thing, crying, hysteria, clinging to us. She was only calm if daddy would hold her. Who knows perhaps she's sensitive to thin veil between the worlds at this time of year, maybe ghosts were spooking her? We could let our imaginations go, but odds are, she was just being my stinker of a 2yo toddler, and only doing things on her terms, as the norm goes. ;) So I did studio shots and she had fun. Anyways, I hope you get all the Halloween, spooky, Wednesday Addams vibes from these shots. Her other outfits aren't rep shots, but just some fun outfits I picked out for her. I've been toying around with the idea of opening a clothing shop, so I have been digging around some wholesale places. I don't know that I'll do it, but I sure love scoring a great price on clothes for her when I'm not working with small, mom-owned handmade type shops. Chase HouseGraveyardFave Halloween BooksI put aside seasonal books each year that I bring out only at the time of the holiday. So for the month of October these are our Halloween books, The collections doesn't include our favorite fall theme books, which I'll include in another blog. Clara's fave book this year has been by far, Bone Soup. We picked it up at a used bookstore about a month ago,and she has been obsessed with it. We read it multiple times a day. Of course, we have our favorite Halloween movies we watch every year, too. Addams Family, Casper, Hocus Pocus, are always a hit. The Hotel Transylvania series has become an instant classic for us as well. Then I like to squeeze in other fave flicks when I can, like Practical Magic, and as many of the spooky, scary classics that aren't g rated, but those are more challenging to get around to these days with a 2 yo running around. American Horror Story this season has been awesome, so we watch that when we can. Now, there's still gobs of images to sort through from visiting pumpkin patches this fall season, too, and pumpkin carving pics, so I'll have to load those up to blog about soon. But this sums up our Halloween spirit for 2018. It was a fun success! The rest of the year will be a whirlwind from here on out. Peace be with you all, because the holiday season is among us now. Clara is modeling this dress from the shop Lil Rugratz. We had fun setting up different shoots. We traveled almost two hours to the old house, to the Kuna cemetery, and did some studio shots. She didn't like being in the cemetery, so it didn't work as planned, but that's alright.
Halloween 2018 photos here. August 28 I took Clara to one of our favorite spots along the Boise River that's easy to get to. It's a perfect little spot to escape right in the middle of it all. Although hotels and busy roads surround this spot, once your down on the beach, among the trees, and flowing water, barefoot, connecting to earth, it all melts away. It's also a great spot during late summer to be able to get in the river and play. The water is slow in quite a few places, and in some areas you can just walk for quite awhile through the water. It feels instantly good, which is why I took her. We both were feeling under the weather; runny noses, lethargic, achy, but kinda stir crazy in the house. She was fussy and wanted to be outside, so I loaded her up in the car and headed for Eagle. We watched honey bees buzz around purple flowering bushes. I love to watch honey bees, it's really meditative, and such good energy to be around. We watched ducks, threw rocks and sticks, and splashed around. We spent about an hour and half there, and when we left, we both felt better, in a sense of being more relaxed, and ready to go home and rest. This girl loves rocks. Everywhere we go, she seems to find rocks, and on a rock beach, well then it's all about finding "the one." She was standing in this bush, just standing in it, calm, looking around, touching the long grass, and then her attention shifted. She spotted a rock she had to pick up. At this point, my brother had called me while he was on his way home from work, which the road he takes happens to go by where we were. So he stopped to visit for a bit. He asked her if he could see the rock, and she was adamant about not sharing her rock with him. The look she gave him was priceless. "But sweetie, it's just water, it'll dry, this is what happens when you splash in the water." She had fun splashing, but wasn't happy to get her pretty dress wet. She's so cute. She's been here before in her swimsuit, and regular tank tops, but it bothered her when her dress got wet. She understands the difference between her "nice" clothes and"play" clothes, even though it's not something I really say or instruct her on. It's just something that's part of who she is. She doesn't like to get things like her dresses dirty, but put her in a tank top and shorts, and she's good to go to get dirty. it cracks me up, such a girlie girl, and I love it. I assured her it was okay that her dress got wet, and then she was back to playing. She cried to uncle that her dress was wet, not being able to talk yet, she held out her dress, distressed, and he assured it was ok, too. After playing in the water, we explored a little cozy nook with lots of bushes, bugs, and tall trees. She is always so amazed at the size of the trees. I hope by next year we can take her to the Redwoods. I just know it'll be so magical for her. After standing in awe of the tree, she started talking to it, and even went to hug it. It was precious, and I missed getting a shot of her hugging, because I was just sitting there in the dirt, washed over in so much love for her when I saw her do that. Such a gentle soul, and I get to be her mommy. I feel so blessed. She babbled to the tree for a few moments. My brother and I both laughed quietly as we watched her standing there, her hands behind her back, chatting away to a big tree. I unfortunately was quite sore, and sat there enjoying the moment, rather than moving to capture it better. I move much slower these days, and she is quite quick. Sometimes not everything gets caught by camera, but that's okay. It's part of why I like to blog too, so I can share the whole stories that take place. When her conversation with the tree ended she wanted to go explore into this nook more. I encouraged her to go on. She was uncertain at first. I was happy to just let my stiff, sore body sit on the ground, and allow her space to be herself in nature. She ran back to me to kiss me, grab her bunny, and then she went looking around. My brave, sweet, wild child, I adore you so. Our 3rd wedding anniversary was August 11, and we decided the best way to celebrate was to take our little girl to a dinosaur exhibit. Clara LOVES dinos. We love to see her happy and smile. I was a little concerned that they might be too realistic and scary looking, but she's got her mommy's DNA, and loves dinosaurs just like I did. When we got there the building was dark. The only light coming into the Nampa, Idaho Ford Center was from the daylight outside the open doors, and as we made our way in, it was lit by dark colored lights. She could barely contain herself when she spotted the first dinosaur. And within a few seconds she saw the T-Rex. She went running right for it and squared off with it! She squawked at it and roared. It was hilarious and so brave. She ran all over, so excited and wanting to see every dinosaur as fast as she could. Waving her hands for us to follow her, pointing up at each dino. To say she loved the Jurassic Tour is an understatement. We stayed for hours, just walking around, back and forth to each dinosaur on display. We stayed until she could barely keep her eyes open. It was so much fun for her, which made it fun for us. There was a triceratops ride, but she only wanted to pet it, not ride it The man working the rides area was really kind. She was too intimidated to ride and we had bought tickets for her. So instead of her riding, he let her come back as often as she liked to pet the Triceratops. We gifted two tickets to a family entering the building when we left. A "dino band" played near the sand boxes for excavating bones, and a bounce runway. Once she saw the dino band there was no going anywhere for a long time. She kept her face through the fence to watch them play, and danced around. This girl loves music and dancing. If she hears music it'll stop her in her tracks and she will break out dancing. We took her to buy something from the gift area. She picked out a Triceratops push toy, and walked her new baby around to see all the dinosaurs. She spent a lot of time showing her baby triceratops to the big triceratops on display. It was darling. We'll probably take her again next year. As long as the magic is there for her, we will encourage it, because that's one of the best parts of being a kid and a parent is to take moments to appreciate imagination, play, and magic. A link to our dino garden with macro shots: https://www.allisonattitude.com/blog/how-to-build-a-dinosaur-garden-during-naptime With my back to the dining room, cooking burgers in the kitchen, I hear her struggling. She is getting frustrated, so I turn to see her wanting to open the sliding door to go outside. I decide to go with her, while Jack watches over the burgers. With the sliding door barely open, both her and the dog bolt outside as fast as they can. She shrieks with joy, seeing the dog running through the grass, but she wants to swing. I steady the swing so she can get up and sit down. I sit beside her. She tugs my shirt down and signs "more" for milk. She wants to nurse again, and I let her. It's nice outside as I rock us back and forth on the slightly faded red porch swing. There's still a lot of smoke in the air from the fires, and I always feel guilty when I bring her outside in the smoky air, but I can't keep a toddler or a dog for that matter, cooped up all day. At least it's not as bad as the day before when we went to the fair, I notice a cloud, and appreciate that we can actually see the sky. I tell Clara to look up, over to the left and she points her finger at the cloud. It's getting darker out, The sun had set, and the sky was a bit overcast looking. Still, there was plenty of light to play in the yard while dinner cooked. I looked down at her, brushed her hair from her eyes, and she pushed my hand away, then pulled away from my breast, and in an instant was off running after the dog. Something in the grass caught my eye. It was her dollar store, plastic, pink slinky. Surprised to see it still in one piece, I walk over to pick it up. An idea struck, and off I was, back in the house to grab my camera. Jack's voice trailing behind me from the kitchen as I head for the stairs, " burgers are almost done." Back outside, I pick the slinky up and place it against the glass of my 35mm lens. She runs over to see what I'm doing and laughs when she sees me with the slinky against my camera. I try to snap a photo, and off she runs. Hoping I'll chase after her. And I do. The only thing to stop her in her tracks is spotting a dandelion in the yard. As I try to photograph her, Jack's voice, behind me again, " Oh, she loves to blow on the dandelions. Burgers are done." She hears his voice and sees him coming towards us, and off she goes, running across the yard again, shrieking and laughing, wanting us both to chase her now. Jack plucks the dandelion, and she comes over to take it from him. Finally a few seconds that she might be still enough for me to get a photo of her through the pink slinky. It turns out looking pretty cool, so I start snapping, aperture wide open, knowing I'm not going to get perfect focus and will have lots of motion blur, but I love the way it's looking so I don't mind a bit. Besides it was getting darker, so I needed every bit of light coming in to my camera. We talked, she played, and I took pictures. The burgers were cold by the time we all went back inside about 20 minutes later. We ate together at the table, but I couldn't wait to go load up the images in Photoshop;. We cleaned up the dinner mess, and Clara was content with her toys in the living room, so I told Jack I'd be about 15 minutes. I just wanted to go see the shots on the computer. Before I knew it an hour had gone by, and I was calling Jack upstairs to come tell me what he thinks, and that we really ought to be getting Clara ready for bed. They were watching cartoons, and Clara wasn't thrilled that it was time to turn off the TV. I huffed and puffed a bit as I made my way halfway down the stairs peeking down at them, telling Jack that he lets her watch too many cartoons, and he had that irritated look on his face when I nag him about the TV. They followed me back upstairs. Clara saw the photos and was excited to see herself, and kept saying "wow!" as she was pointing to the pink around the images. Jack loved the way the images looked right out of camera, but I didn't want to edit the color shots. I was drawn to the images being black and white. I had played with editing with a vintage Lith setting at first. I loved how dreamy the images were looking, but I still tend to lean towards more dramatic, dark, and moody. The Lith settings I used were pretty for these shots though. Jack preferred the Lith edits over the grainier, darker black and whites I chose to go with. We're pretty opposite on most things, and the way I edit my images is always one of the conversations we tend to differ on often. However, it was tough to choose, and we were both coming in about 50/50 on liking the Lith and BW. When we finished looking them over he suggested I stick with the lighter, softer Lith edits, He said it made her look more angelic, and not like an angry child, or a like one of the starving children you see on TV commercials. I laughed at his comment, and replied, "Really, seriously, that's what you think, when you see these images of her in black and white?! I don't understand that thought process, but sure the lighter Lith isn't so moody looking, and I get why you're saying angelic, but she certainly doesn't look like a starving, sad child. I think your response is quite more dramatic than my editing." He shrugged his shoulders, and said, " I don't know, I just like lighter images, and lots of bright, happy colors, and lots of smiles." I chuckled a bit and said, " aw, that's sweet, but I guess I'm just moody, because I don't gravitate towards the 'smile and say cheese' type shots. When smiles happen naturally in the moment sure, or when she's being silly, definitely, but my tendency is always to be drawn towards the melodrama in images." He likes spring colors and I like fall colors. He likes sweet Southern Comfort, Sangria, and Miller's High Life. I like Jameson, Cabernet, and the darkest, muddiest beer I can find. He likes Toni Basil's, "Hey Mickey" from the 80s, and I can't stand that song, but I love Tori Amos, and he can't stand her music. At least we agree on loving every Stevie Nicks' songs with Fleetwood Mac. Anyways, point made. We're different. So I saved the color images for him, and made the BW for me. It happens that way sometimes, and it's totally okay. And,... the images in color. Yes, I still like the color shots that I got in camera, too. The pink is pretty neat to see around her. I think I'm going to play around, do this again, probably with another color, and a real metal Slinky. It was fun to do. I was upstairs editing photos for a client, when I decided to take a break and go downstairs. To my surprise, not only was Jack cleaning up the dinner dishes, but Clara was helping, and it was just so sweet, so of course I had to grab my camera for some quick snaps. This is her first time helping with the dishes. It's so great to see her feeling better. The last week and weekend were horrible for her. She was scary sick. She had and ER visit, and two doctor visits before we were able to find out that she has a UTI and bladder infection (and the poor girl had to go through 4 catheter attempts during the second dr visit.). Her fevers ran for days at 104.5, she was pale, shaky, blue lips, icy hands and feet, and projectile vomiting. She cried and screamed at times, and it was just heartbreaking. Luckily the antibiotics are helping her feel better, and she's almost halfway through taking the medicine. My heart just adores her. Her messy face from dinner, her messy hair, because she won't keep her hair in a ponytail, standing here helping her daddy wash dishes. I just turn to mush. I feel so lucky to be her mom. She's a fighter, she's tough, full of sass, but so very sweet, and so full of love. First AttemptI saw this stunning yellow plaid jumper and knew it was a must have for Clara. She looks like a gorgeous baby doll in this outfit. It will always be a favorite of mine. The cold shoulder, poofy sleeves, the way the cut and the bow are placed on the back, the wide leg pants, it just makes me swoon when I see her wearing this outfit. It's an outfit that deserved being photographed outside, and although we live in the southwest desert of Idaho, there are still little gems like this spot, along Indian Creek. When the sun is setting is looks cinematic and magical in the late Spring, early Summer, and once more at the beginning of fall when leaves turn colors. I knew this would be the perfect spot to take her. Now, getting a busy body 22 month old to not run off every half second is the real trick. One thing about photographing babies and toddlers is that there's a special quality in not posing them. Well, you can try all day long to pose a toddler, but good luck with that. It's much better to just let them do their thing and be as quick as you can with the push of your shutter and timing. Some shots are soft, even a tad blurry, but I still love them. I love the grain/noise that comes with a higher ISO setting after the peak sunset time. I love watching her explore and run around outdoors. Her interest in every stick, leaf, rock, and flower met with my enthusiasm and adoration over her and her treasures. The first attempt to photograph her outside in this outfit was almost a bust. There were blooms on flowers I knew wouldn't last long. We had been having lots of wind, rain, and thunderstorms. As the saying goes around here at Springtime, in like a lion, out like a lamb. But late one evening, the clouds passed enough and the wind calmed, so we headed to the creek to explore. She ran all over the place as I moved with her, squatting, sometimes kneeling down, or even laying down on the wet grass to get a variety of angles. At some moments the sun coming through the trees was so gorgeous and would cloud and blow out my images, which created some heavenly lighting effects to my shots of her. We came across some yellow daffodils at one point, but it was getting really late by that point. She was getting a bit cranky, and didn't want to play much anymore. Dad tried to help her stay in the playful mood by swinging her around, but she just wasn't going to have any of it once he set her back down. So most of the shots of her near the flowers are of running away looking grouchy or sad. So we called it a night and thought we would come back the next evening to try again with the flowers. However, like most families, life happens, and it was some time before we went back to make our second attempt. The Second Attempt A month and a few days had passed from the first attempt out at the creek photographing her in this outfit. I still wanted more photos of her in it near the yellow daffodils. I wasn't excited about how the images turned out with her by the flowers during the first attempt.. I crossed my fingers, hoping the flowers would still be in bloom, but once we arrived, we saw they were no more. So we played anyways. Maybe next Spring I can try again to get some epic shots by the yellow daffodils. Catch a FrogWhile playing around during our second attempt near the daffodils, we spotted a few tiny frogs. Clara was the first to see one. It immediately intrigued her to see a real frog. I was trying to get her to look up towards me for a photo, but something had her eye. When I asked her a few times what she was looking at she became really excited, and came running. Jack went over to see what she was so happy about. He saw the tiny frog on a leaf and picked it up so she could get a better look at it. Then he put it back down in the grass and she squatted down to watch it for a long, few, quiet moments. When it hopped off she was a little sad to see her new frog friend leave. But it was also our cue to call it an evening. The sun had set and it was quickly getting dark out. Last CallThe last shots I tried to squeeze out of every drop of light left before we headed home. I thought it looked pretty neat to see the dappled evening light on her face.
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