he did it

It is disappointing when you think you have taken a bunch of great photos on your mobile phone (mentioned two posts ago) only to realise you haven't many weeks or months later. Granted, having a camera would be the most desirable option for capturing special moments of your children's life, but that would require a functioning memory to put the camera in my bag. Mostly I figure I am doing pretty well if I have remembered to clothe and feed them before taking them out and generally I mentally give myself a congratulatory pat on the back that I have even managed to take three kids somewhere and actually returned from said somewhere with the same three kids I started with, particularly if they are all in the same state of health on return. I always wish I had remembered the camera to record these moments for the kids, but alas it is often to the mobile phone camera I resort. Actually 'resort' is probably the wrong word, I am pretty much giving myself another self congratulatory pat on the back for being so organised that I even have the phone with me. Finally, I just go the third self adulation, the truly wonderful mother who takes them out on educational and interesting activities and even gets photographic evidence of it!

That is until he finally gets a moment to download the photos and I start to see a lot of this...

That's when reality sets in and I have to acknowledge that my awesome photos were infact not awesome at all, they were not even recognisable, and maybe, just maybe, that self congratulatory pat on the back number 3 was infact a little premature. Those little telephone screens, and no I don't mean on a lovely and desirable i-phone, I mean on an everyday ordinary mobile phone, tend to delude you that you may just have taken a reasonable photo, a reliable memory of the moment. Certainly one worth keeping, and definitely good enough to make it not worth forcing children to stand still to take another. I shrugged off any concerns I might have had about clarity to the scratched and dirty telephone screen ruining my perfect photo that lay beneath, when infact it was a moving child indoors without a flash, or my inability to keep my hand still, or even more likely my absolute lack of photographic talent. Probably also a really dirty lens, I mean it has just been free riding it in my handbag full of crumbs from biscuit packets, semi-eaten lollie pops being kept safe for future licking, keys, park sand and on it goes. Hardly the fresh pristine lens for photo ops. What was I thinking! Oh that's right, I was thinking I am so totally awesome for doing this, forgetting entirely to actually be awesome in the execution of it.

Anyway, not to be too hard on myself there are a couple of photos that you can make out the subject matter:

Cite des Enfants, E in construction zone.

Another day, another inspiring activity - making bread dough

checking out things on a farm

things - that would be baby goats

this is O at the movies

oh, and this is actually months ago, but it was the really only very clear photo on the phone, and must have been before the lens got really dirty.

Thanks go to him for doing his thing and finally getting these photos from phone to computer. One day I will thank you properly by making it worthwhile spending an hour of your very rare personal time to download 75 unusable photos.