Lara relaxes with a drink
Grandperes
Mom with the new godparents
Two Brothers (isn't that the name of a restaurant?)
An odd shot: looking at Lara through the mesh of her tent
Ella looks comfortable
Thank goodness SOMEONE is working around here
Commiseration
Ella looks improbably small
A bit sleepy
Neighbors from across the street
Grandpa looks content
Two flags flying
At let us not forget ... the clan of kids
Grandmeres
Clearly Christian has been drinking
Who is interrupting who?
Kathi and Julie
The alternative party: the kids downstairs.
Looking at photo albums from years ago, from college days
Here I am! The one in the longhorns sweatshirt!
Old photo albums are fascinating. Remember Nora Ephron's words: when you see yourself from ten years ago, you're always amazed how good you looked back then, compared to what you thought you looked like. So remember this: in ten years you'll think the same thing! Not sure if this is a thought to cheer us up or depress us.
Autumn leaves frame the birds perched on the sofa
Lara helps out with the opening of the gifts
Ella's attention is elsewhere
I wish ...
"Careful ...", Dad tells himself
Holding Ella is serious business
Linda imparts instruction to her new ward
Now I'm wide awake again!
Even babies get that far-away reflective look
The family at rest - but competing to talk
Solemnity
The baby who likes having her diaper changed
A)Evidence of chubby legs B) Blackmail photograph for later years
Sunday, October 15
At the sumptuous brunch at the country club the next day: Lara takes up reading to Ella
Ella plays along
Before we all started digging in - the tables of food stretched seemingly for miles
Video display to distract Lara
Back home, Lara reads to herself, but is a bit annoyed to be focused on
She frowns at me, hoping that'll make me turn the camera's eye elsewhere
Can't you leave me alone?!
Monday, October 16 Albany, NY
The gilded corridors and majestic staircases of the New York capitol building
Ella cares less for politics and its trappings
The flying saucer that landed on the capitol
An attempt to capture a picture of the art rotating in the wind (plus two extraterrestrials, perhaps descended from The Egg)
The Mothership
We stopped for coffee and linzertort at a charming cafe in downtown Troy, which is worth an hour-long stroll
War memorial
Troy in autumn
Lara survives her falls and cuts with the help of many-themed bandages