Pam's Week 15: Hair? Toenails? Stinky Feet?

When I read this week's assignment, "Below the Knees", my hairy legs, my toenails desperate for a pedicure after too many months of socks and winter boots, and stinky feet were the first thoughts that came to mind, none of them particularly photogenic.  My size 10 clunkers aren't particularly photo-worthy at the best of times, even in shoes that were super cute on the shelf in a size 6 or 7.

Not to be discouraged, I envisioned the feet of little children in different sporting and athletic pursuits.  How gorgeous would a picture of a little ballerina in pointe shoes be?  Or perhaps a little hockey play sitting on the bench lacing up his skates?  My dilemma - my kids are neither of these.  I have a friend whose daughter is a ballerina but she lives in Traverse City and I do not.  And although I have friends with hockey playing children, I am so over winter that the idea of stepping into a rink to take said photo might cause me to go right off the deep end.  The other day, I was sitting in the parking lot at a school reading my book, waiting for Duncan to be finished Cubs, when I saw the perfect photo opportunity - a girl in bright teal Chuck Taylor's (those would be the old-fashioned Converse sneakers from our childhoods) on a skateboard.  The problem - how do I ask a stranger, a child stranger at that, to pose for a picture without looking like a lunatic?  Just snapping it would not have worked as there would have ended up being car parts and such in the picture, besides the fact that I didn't have my camera at the ready when I saw her. I did consider cropping one of the photos I took last week of my kids in the puddle with their rainboots but that somehow seemed like cheating.

No need to fret, my loyal readers, although not my best photos, I managed to reproduce some of the ideas bouncing around in my brain.  We should thank Mother Nature for assisting me in my endeavours by melting the snow and shining the sun all week!


I know that my colleague is taking dance lessons so although she didn't have pointe shoes, she did agree to bring her ballet shoes into work one day and pose for me.  Unfortunately the light in our office is not spectacular and I felt silly lying on the hospital floor for an extended period of time....
My friend offered to bring her daughter over in her ballet gear but the timing was not working out.

It was a little colder this morning and her cleats from last year were apparently too small, but I was able to convince Danica to pose with her rather flat soccer ball for a couple of minutes.  Of course, she agreed to only one photo, "even if it's blurry", so I had to bribe her with the promise of baking chocolate chip cookies this afternoon...

The kids were so excited to get their bikes out the other day!  This picture didn't turn out like I wanted it to, but it is a picture of Danica "below the knees".

Duncan loves to pose for pictures so was quite excited when I asked him to jump on his pogo stick for a few snaps.  He also tried jumping on the trampoline for a couple but I didn't like how they came out.

Duncan also decided that a picture of his feet as he swung on the swing hanging from a branch in our large tree in the front yard would be photo-worthy.

I am embarrassed to display a photo of the current state of my toenails, but I did warn you that I was desperate for a pedicure!

I also decided that although they don't quite fit in with my interpretation of this week's theme, the crocus growing in our backyard is "below the knee" so I snapped a quick photo of it too.  It was a little chilly this morning so closed itself up for protection though, much to Duncan's dismay.  He's very concerned about how bees will pollinate flowers if they close up overnight due to cold.

I see this week's assignment is "blurry" - that I should be able to capture without too much effort!  Of course, whether or not they are remotely artistic will be the challenge...