Red Sky at Morning...

Ward Christmas Party (With Santa Claus).

Last night was the ward Christmas party. I took pictures. We had a special visitor, and most the kids were thrilled. Here a charming little girl tells Santa she's not only cute, but good, too.

"Hey, weren't you just here?"

"No, that wasn't me, honest!"

This little guy's shirt read "Dear Santa, Define Good..."

This little guy was having none of this Santa Claus business. Give him a scary Jack O'Lantern and trick or treat any day.

This little boy, a twin, tried to bribe Santa with money.

This charming little girl explains to Santa all the things that are on her list.

This little girl thought Santa was pretty entertaining.

This little guy was thrilled to show Santa what was on his list.

There are lots more pictures over at the R T W photoblog. Check it out.

Evening Skies Are Way Cool

That's all I have to say about it.

River Trail Sunset

I live a block or so from the River Trail. These pictures are of the sunset that we had a few nights ago.

Actually, this is what they call an "anti-sunset" because it's the sky on the horizon opposite where the sun was actually setting.

Again, the eastern sky at sunset.

Waxing, not waning crescent moon, from my driveway.

This is just before the lamp turned on.

The same lampost a few mornings later, at sunrise, just before the lamp turned off.

Hattie Mac 'n' Cheese

The other night I spent some time with my son and his family. My granddaughter Hattie was just finishing up her dinner--

She was having the all time classic kid's favorite, mac and cheese.

As you can see, her smile is not the only thing that's "cheesey".

I thought at first she was just waving, but I see now that she was trying to make the sign for "Grandpa", which is the open hand with the thumb toward the forehead, then wave forward in two loops. What a clever little darling.

"Now I'm ready for my bath!"

"or not!"

It's jammie Hattie!

(Note Mommy's expression is nearly as precious as the daughter's).

And Daddy's arms (and heart) are full.

JEFF HEIN, UTAH ARTIST

Last night I was invited to attend the open gallery at Jeff Hein's Salt Lake gallery and studio. He has several new works on display that will be featured in the New York Armory Show.

Here are Susan Petersen, my daughter-in-law, and her friend Jen Hein, Jeff's wife. They live in the same LDS ward in Salt Lake City.

I couldn't get Jen to actually pose with her husband, but I managed to grab this shot of them while they scmoozed with guests. Jen and Jeff first met while they were serving LDS church missions in Utah. They both grew up in New York state, she in Rochester, and he in Windsor, which is just up the Hudson River from NYC. Incidentally, Jen posed as the model for at least two of Jeff's paintings, which you can view at http://www.jeffreyhein.com/ . See if you can find them.

Here Susan and her husband Christian sit to watch a portion of the featured demo video "Painting the First Shade".

Jeff scored the cover of this year's Spring Salon catalogue of the Springville Museum of Art.

Here is one of the featured new works.

These new paintings will be featured later this month at the New York Armory Show.

He has a distictive, instantly recognizable style. Amazingly, he never studied painting until he got into college. Incidentally, he has studied at Ricks College in Idaho (now Brigham Young University Idaho), Salt Lake Community College, and University of Utah.

I asked Jeff what his policy was regarding photography in his gallery, and he seemed puzzled. He admitted he didn't actually have a policy.

I mentioned to Jeff that I have a photoblog, and that I had included a photo of one of his works in my post about the Spring Salon of the Springville Art Museum. He remembered seeing my blog because I had sent him an email with a link to it. (I'm a shameless self promoter).

Jeff's a quick study. He responded, "Well, here's the new policy--as long as you provide a link to my website on your blog, you can shoot all you want". It's a great policy. And as you may have noticed, I have thoroughly complied with the policy.

This lady is one of Jeff's students at his Academy of Art, posing with her works. I regret that I neglected to get her name, but I believe she posed as a subject for one of Jeff's paintings in 2002. If I'm not mistaken, there is an article about Jeff and this lady in one of the publications featured on Jeff's website. Here's a link to the website: http://www.jeffreyhein.com/ .

This is my photograph of Jeff's work "12 Shades" as it was displayed at the Spring Salon of the Springville Museum of Art earlier this year. Here's a link to that post: http://blog648.blogspot.com/2007/05/spring-salon-at-springville-museum-of.html

Be sure to check out Jeff's website. There's a lot of fascinating stuff there.

HALLOWE'EN VISITORS

It was Hallowe'en at 648, and we had visitors.

These are the boys next door.

And these boys are from down the street, I'm not sure exactly where.

More neighborhood kids.

Elmo and a local ninja.

H.P. and Peter Pan.

Princess Rachel from accross the street.

And her little brother Jesse, who must have forgotten his line, because he couldn't remember what he was supposed to say, even though he had practiced all day...

Cute kids.

And, um, well...maybe not so cute.

This little Valley Girl was actually on her cell phone when I opened the door, but when I grabbed the camera to take a picture, she got embarrassed, hung up and put it away.

UPDATE: This is Ashtyn Day, who is in our ward. She was on the phone talking to her mother. Her mom told my wife later that she could hear me teasing her daughter. (I was sure her face was familiar.

Here's a link to the River Trail Ward PHOTOBLOG where she appears in her family picture. See if you can pick her out. (Even though it's labeled, it's not that obvious).