Only sleeping

Little baby Arthur lived a very short life over 100 years ago – just a little over three months.  In a blink of an eye, he was here and gone.   

One day, during my Christmas break from work, I drove up to the cemetery to take some photos.  It was a frigid day so I didn’t spend much time up there, but while I was there noticed that there were an awful lot of tombstones for infants that dated back to the early 1900’s.  It must have been such a difficult time, back in the day.  The area was just being settled.  I’m sure doctors were scarce and medicine (and knowledge) lacking. 

Sometimes I wonder how much has really changed, at least in the knowledge department.  A young family in town recently lost their young daughter, who was a little older than Arthur, to SIDS.   Despite years of research, its cause remains unpredictable.  There are risk factors of which one needs to be aware — two of them were in play in this situation.  Incidence of SIDS increases in cold weather, strikes boys more often than girls, affects African-Americans and Native Americans at a higher rate of two and three times respectively than caucasian infants.  Other risk factors include:

smoking, drinking, or drug use during pregnancy

poor prenatal care

prematurity or low birth-weight

mothers younger than 20

tobacco smoke exposure following birth

overheating from excessive sleepwear and bedding

stomach sleeping 

 

Education is key.  If you have a young infant or know someone who does or who is expecting, make sure they are aware of the SIDS risk factors.  Simple changes can make a world of difference.  To read more, click here.

Sale Pending!

I’m sad.  My favorite house in this population 3,190 town has been for sale for a little while now and I noticed this weekend that it has “sale pending” on the “for sale” sign out front.  Some lucky duck is going to live in this beautiful home and it isn’t me.  My coworkers and I are going to start going in on a mega-millions ticket once a week.  Maybe if we get lucky and win, I can offer the new owners DOUBLE what they paid and they’d sell it to me.  Well, one can dream…

Snow Fence

When I stepped out on the deck the other morning to play catch with my B-boys, I noticed the snow that was stuck to the fence.  After playing catch (can’t put Buster off for more than a minute), I went back inside and grabbed my camera before the snow melted off.  I took some images with my regular lens then switched to the Lensbaby.  I love the feeling that the Lensbaby gives this image – the feeling of movement, even when there wasn’t any.   Otherwise it’s just a fence with some snow stuck on it.

Whoops, there it is!

I prepared this post last night and it wasn’t even all that late when I did it.  I had it scheduled for posting at 6:00 am PST and this morning when I came to view the post found that I completely forgot to title it or even write anything about it.  That’s a first.

Now that I’ve said all that, I don’t think I have anything to say about the photo anyway!

Baby, it’s cold outside

I woke up yesterday to fresh snow.  Yay!  I don’t know why I’m so excited for snow this year, usually I dread it.  Maybe it is because of my camera and new lens.  Maybe it’s because of my new coat…nah, not the coat, must be the camera and lens.  This is one of my favorite perspectives – up the trunk of the tree into the branches.  I love the cold blues of this shot, too.  I’ll have a series of these, so expect more over the next few days.