Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve was a wonderful night with family, food and great presents for all. Prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds and four berry pie with whipped cream for dessert. The boys had fun playing, rough housing, opening presents while the grownups got tired just watching them. Lots of pictures were taken and you can see the first ones here.




I started to process the pictures on Christmas day and now on the 28th I think I may have them all up for you to see. All are available on my Smug Mug Photo Site. Feel free to save and print any that you like.

Framing

I'm just trying out a new framing program to enhance my photography and artwork. If you would like to see a larger view just click on the picture. What do you think?

Friend Feed

Here is your opportunity to follow my postings to this blog, Little "G", Flickr Photos and You Tube. Along with quick posts that I find or you might find interesting.

Christmas Tree

Here is a different first look at our 2008 Christmas Tree. Today Eivor, Grant and I picked out and decorated the tree and I thought you might like to see it in a different artistic light. If you click on the picture you will be able to see it in all its glorious colors and textures.

Desktop Art

I've added some artwork done by Grant and myself to my SmugMug account and if you see anything that interests you please go here and download as many as you like. Here is a preview of what is available.

Donuts

It's the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house not a creature was.... Oh yea that's the wrong holiday. Today we had to go and pick up our Thanksgiving pies and we had our most able assistant Grant along with us. We just couldn't complete this errand without him.
Now Grant has been to the donut shop before and knows just what to do when we get there. We get out of the car and tell the dogs we will be back real soon. Then Grant takes Farmors hand and we proceed into the donut shop. His eyes light up as sees all the goodies, pies, cookies, cupcakes and his favorite the donuts.
I tell him he can pick out one and he studies them closely through the glass being sure to leave his finger prints on every inch he can. The women behind the counter must love it when the little ones come in. After going up and down several times he finds just the right one with white frosting and multiple colored sprinkles on top.
We go to the table with his donut and mine and he sits down just like a grown up and immediately pulls both donuts in front of him. You see he likes the chocolate old fashion donut that I also love and begins to devour both donuts. He takes several bites then goes for his ice water just like a pro hardly spilling a drop.
The ladies at the next table can not take their eyes off of him and tell me how cute and well behaved he is. I suppose you can fool some of the people all of the time. Anyway Grant had a great time and really did behave himself. Here is a short video highlighting this adventure.

Home Coming

Mike and Jennie's twins have come home. On November 21, 2008 Elsa and Saga made the ride home with two very proud and happy parents. Mom and dad report that they survived the first night and the girls are putting on weight. If you haven't seen all their pictures here is a slide show highlighting their arrival.

Trip to Town

I just had to share this short story and pictures with you. Today Eivor, Grant and I had some errands to run. We packed up the car and loaded the dogs and headed off to town. Our first stop was at Pilgrim Pie's where we ordered our Thanksgiving pie and of course had to sample some of their other goodies.
Grant had a cupcake, Eivor some cheese cake and I had a donut. Grant tried his cup cake and just loved it but as soon as he saw Eivor bring me my chocolate old fashion donut he just had to have that too. He really liked the donut eating it like a real pro, breaking off bite size pieces and gobbling them down. He washed this down with real ice water with real ice cubes in it and did a really good job of it. Hardly any water on him and he chewed all the ice cubes up.
Then we were off to our next stop at the pet store to get some dog food. Well that was like taking him to the toy store all these neat toys to test and kittens to visit with. Check out the pictures of him and the fire hydrant.
Well our errands were done so we came home and Grant just had to drive the Lexus so in he went. Starting the car turning on the radio and adjusting all the knobs. I hope you enjoy these photo's as much as Grant did living them.

Grandson Brushes His Teeth

This is the long version DVD quality of Brush This! first shown on Little "G"s blog. It has one more location filmed on another day. I enjoy these pictures as Grant discovers it can be fun to brush ones teeth. You may notice that I capture some interesting views by getting his reflection in the mirror.


If you would like to see this in a larger format or to see other HD content click here.

If you have the time

I've posted two videos on Grants blog featuring his adventures at Oma's house this past week. Due to its longer length I'm posting this video of "G" and Ricki playing on the tennis court here on my blog. The video is made from still pictures so you won't be able to hear the sounds that they are both making what a shame. You miss lots of play barking, laughing and screams of joy.

The Girls Have Names

Mike and Jennie have named their twin girls Elsa and Saga. I have added the newest pictures to the slide show. Here is the latest E-Mail from Mike and Jennie.
"Hi all sending a couple more pictures. Babies are doing great, very stable and healthy. They are soo sweet we can hardly stay away. We spend most of our time with them in NICU. They will be in the incubator for a while, they are too small to stay warm by themselves. I am doing fine, much better than I thought I would after having surgery. I am walking around a little today. We have named the girls Elsa and Saga. Hope you all are well."

To see the larger size pictures of the girls go to my gallery by clicking here!

New Arrivals

Yesterday was a very exciting day for Mike and Jennie their twin girls (no names yet) arrived. Here is what Mike said in his e-mail and I have attached a slide show with the first pictures.
"These are the new babies that arrived at aprox 8:45 am Nov 5th. One is 4.3 pounds the other 5.4. They are both currently in the NICU to put on weight but are doing very well. Mom is also doing well after the C section I will follow this with other E-mails later."
To see the pictures of the girls go to my gallery by clicking here!

Photo Blog

For those of you haven't experienced my photo-blog I put together this short video as a teaser.

Preview

Well for those of you that can't wait for highlights of Saxon's first birthday bash here is a short preview of things to come.



I will be posting episodes on Little "G"s blog starting Monday

Handsome Boy

A very nice head shot of Ricki our 7 year old German Shepherd Dog. We have lots of folks telling us how nice looking our dogs are well I have to agree. The photo was taken in our backyard as he watched our grandson playing on his trampoline.
* Hint if you would like to see a larger version of the picture just click on the image.

One Year Later

Last year in May I added a video of Grant playing with and kissing a large porcelain cheetah to his You Tube account. I'm pleased to tell you that it has been enjoyed in excess of 10,450 times on the internet. That sounds amazing to me but every time I check the stats it seems to be watched more and more each day. The video is watched more now then when I first published it there are about 100 to 200 new views each day.
I recently updated the video and you can see that Grant has grown a little in that time period here is the updated video for those of you who haven't seen it.

Big Orange Tractor

Today I'm going to treat you to a short video of my grandson Grant enjoying a spin on a tractor. Of course the tractor is not actually running but he still enjoyed pretending to drive it and checking out all of those interesting levers and knobs.
He was feeling a little blue and this turned out to be the highlight of his day. It's amazing what a little sun and fresh air does for ones outlook on their world. It seems to be true for toddlers too. Enjoy the video you can only see it here.

A week with "G"

People sometimes ask what is it like to spend a week with "G"? Well here is a partial answer in the form of a 4 minute video.


One Week With "G" from Ted Goth on Vimeo.

First Rain

Saturday October 4, 2008 and in came the first rain of the season. The skies were gray and the rain was produced from a warm storm up to the north of us. I took a few pictures in the rain as I walked the dogs on the trails of Portola Valley and Woodside. Today I'm sharing them with you in two formats. Original as they came from the camera and modified to give them a little different and I hope artistic look. Enjoy the show.

Two Guys

No not two guys from Italy but two guys at Farmors house. This video highlights "G" and Mr. Saxon showing their skills and just how happy these two boys are. I'm testing another video service so I hope the video quality is as good as I expect it to be.


Two Guys from Ted Goth on Vimeo.

If you want to see the video in all its high definition view it or down load it at my Smugmug location.

Fire Truck

Today I will be sharing a short one minute video of "G" demonstrating his new Fire Truck and jumping in the backyard. The truck has a fireman, power ladder system, siren and voice controls. This all adds up to hours of playtime joy for "G".
Jumping is his newest creative outlet and he does it every place we go and on everything he can find, get up on or get in. He is even mastering the word three which is a little hard to pronounce for a toddler. Enjoy and check back weekly for updates.

New Driver

I know that Grant is a little young but he just wants to drive. Here is a 3 minute video of Grant with Ricki and Nika preparing the Bucket for a drive.

Whipped Cream Cup Cakes

Today I'm sharing a short photo video of "G" enjoying his whipped cream cup cakes and modeling his new sunglasses.

Brothers

Here is a short video of Saxon playing with his big brother Grant. Saxon now is a mobile little guy and his big brother enjoys keeping him on the go.

August Walk

I'm sharing a recent walk that we went on in Portola Valley it is photo images presented in a video format. It will give you an idea of the different animals and places we come in contact with and the joy of our grandson discovering the world around him,

More Video Watcher

Grant watching his favorite videos.

Video Watcher

What do you think? Grant loves to watch himself starring in his home movies. Is it healthy that he would rather watch himself rather than commercial programing?
Here is what I think. Commercial offerings often have violence or programing in them that start children on the road to becoming power consumers.

Home videos on the other hand have no violence or commercial overtones, but the content may not be as educational or mind expanding.
Does watching ones self a lot at this age make children more into themselves than is healthy? Or does it build their self esteem and feelings of self worth? Does one out way the other?
My thought is that he will out grow the need to watch himself as he matures. He already is opening his interests up to include others. It may be watching his dogs on video or the construction vehicles and equipment he finds so interesting on our walks.
Please feel free to add your comments on this subject.

Pebble Beach

Tuesday July 29,2008 we took a day trip to Pebble Beach California. It was a beautiful day the temperature ranged from the 60's to the middle 70's with a minimum of cloudiness and fog. We indulged ourselves and had a wonderful lunch at the Lodge at Pebble Beach Golf Club. Eivor had the crab cakes and I had the fish and chips which came with garlic fries. The food was great and the views from our table unbelievable.
On the ride home we came back along highway 1 the coast route and stopped to watch some windsurfers and kite boarders. They where performing all sorts of stunts along a windy beach in Northern Santa Cruz County. It was amazing to see how many people had stopped to watch them. For those of you wondering about the dogs well they had to stay home but we took them for a hour walk before we left on our day trip. Here is a video of some of the pictures I took that day.

December 1985

I was cleaning out some old documents when I came a cross and The Country Almanac and saw a article about the Woodside Striders Track Club. Here is a photo I scanned in from the article of Michael and some of his teammates. If you are interested in the article I have it posted on my website.

Saxon Live

Here is a short Photo-Video of Saxon at our house playing with Grants toys. Photographs taken on July 14, 2008.

Sunday Treat

Here is a photo-video of Grant trying on his grandmothers reading glasses. You may note his very studious look in some of the photos. The story behind these pictures is posted on Little "G"s blog.

Shower Pictures

I'm sitting here working on by photographs and listening to Leo Laporte on his live Stickam broadcast on the new Apple I-Phone. Its interesting to hear and see what the techies are doing and what the new phone can do. Anyway I just up loaded a new gallery of photo's of Grant in the shower. These pictures are of high enough quality to make nice prints if you want to.

New Photo Video Gallery

I'm pleased to announce that as of today you will be able to watch my Animoto High Resolution Photo Videos on my Smugmug Photo Site. I have uploaded the first four videos and you will be amazed at the quality.
I call them photo videos because they are individual photographs that are rendered into a entertaining video format. Just click on the above link and it will take you to the gallery. You will need Quick Time Video Player installed on your computer to view these videos. Most of you all ready have this player installed on your computer for those of you that don't you can download it here. Its a free down load and a great video player.

Updated Video

It's Sunday and here is a update on the last video featured on this blog. If you enjoyed seeing Grant and Nika playing I have added a few new pictures of the days events to a updated video. You can see it on my website now.

July Fourth

Happy 4th of July and here is a special video of Grant and Nika. In the video you will see just how close these two are.


The pictures where taken on July 3, 2008 as they played in the backyard. No there is nothing unusual on how well they play together. Enjoy Independence Day and have a nice weekend. If you would like to see the larger still pictures go here.

Hidden Valley

I'm sharing a short of video taken earlier this week of Grant running, jumping and riding on my shoulders. Normally we walk over to the Hidden Valley area of Woodside once a week. This is one of Grants favorite areas to explore and play.

As you can see in the video there is wildlife, lovely trails and interesting things to captivate inquisitive minds. Lots of new pictures on my Flickr photo-site

Backyard "G"

Backyard "G" watch Grant at play in his Farmors backyard. Pictures were taken on June 24, 2008.


This is what a typical early morning looks like for Grant the dogs and us. It makes you tired just watching. I know it does me.

Birthday Celebration

Its Saturday and after yesterdays celebration along with the high heat I'm pooped. Oma hosted the party with help from her friend Wil. Michael, Kristi and the boys arrived at almost the exact same time as Eivor and I. Saxon was napping in the car and Grant well Grant was Grant supercharged. He loves Oma's house and loves to run all over the grounds playing hide and seek and you can't catch me.
We no sooner got into the house and the wine began to flow BV of course for us red wine drinkers and the snacks they were wonderful. Everyone had to sit on the couch so that I could take a family picture. But like I said Saxon was napping so we will just have to get him next time. Then everyone headed outside as the weather was warm and the evening was beautiful.
Grant had a surprise waiting for him Oma had got him a swimming frog for the swimming pool and with Wil over looking the spa Grant went to work launching the frog into the pool. He got a real kick out of how well the frog swam around and around.
Dinner was great Wil barbecued some steaks and vegetables and Grant had a hotdog and of course there was more wine. After dinner we went back out to the pool and I went into the pool with both Saxon and Grant. This was Saxons first encounter with the open water and he just loved all the splashing around.
Of course Grant had his own special entrance as he went in head first for the first time and it startled him for a moment then he was ready to go. He is becoming a real waterbug. I made one small miss calculation when I went in and that was I forgot that I had a wallet and keyes in my shorts. The wallet and contents had to be dried out at home, no harm no foul.
We had the home made cake and it was yummy thanks again Mom it was wonderful as was the company. I got a lot of neat presents that I won't mention here so you don't get jealous.
Enough from me here is a video of the higlights enjoy........



If you would like to see the individual pictures click here.

Smart Car

I'm back with a new video for all your enjoyment, "G"s Smart Car the Video. I thought that followers of my blog might like to see my grandson Grant driving his smart car. In these days of high gas prices its nice to see that there are some real alternatives out there.

Did you notice that Grant has his own key to his car? I put the key on the chain for easier location after a hard day of playing and driving. He keeps it with the rest of our vehicle keys and knows exactly were to look for it the next time he has somewhere to drive.
For those of you that don't know about his predilection for cars, well he just loves them. Anytime we go someplace he has to open the car get in put the keys in the ignition and test all the knobs, levers and steering wheel to make sure that they are in working order. He will then go back to his seat climb in and wait to be buckled in.
We go through the same routine when we get to our destination. He can't leave the car before safety testing it one more time. I hope you enjoyed the video, stayed tuned for more adventures of little "G".
Would you like to see this video in a new larger format? You can at my Viddler Site plus other unseen videos. You can (please do) leave a comment by clicking on comments and thanks for making this a interactive blog.

Intersting Picture

I promised you some different things in this blog and today you see one of my photos taken on Hillbrook Trail in Portola Valley, California. I enhanced the picture with a few Photo Shop filters and here it is.
Feel free to click on the image to see it full size and then save it to be used as desktop wallpaper. I'm currently using it as my wallpaper and it looks great.
I'm also expermenting with using pictures and presenting them in video format. Todays example is of my grandson enjoying ice cream and his videos.

Boy & his Dog

If you have come over from Little "G"s blog welcome come back often to see what suprises I may have in store for you. More videos of "G" in action that will be unavailable elsewhere. More insight into the life of "G" and whats going on in our lives. Thanks for coming.... Ted
I just thought that I would give you a peak into the bonding that has occurred between Ricki my male German Shepherd Dog and my grandson Grant. In this short video you will see them playing on the tennis court. Grant pushing a tennis ball roller and Ricki chasing it. You will notice that Ricki is being very vocal in his pursuit of the roller. This is his higher pitched play bark and not his I mean business bark.
You may notice that Grant is not concerned in the least about the noises that Ricki is making. There is never any growling, pushing, grabbing or mouthing by Ricki. The dog is excited but knows how to play with little people.
If you are considering raising children with large dogs temperament and discipline are of the utmost importance. I don't necessarily mean discipline like in competition but discipline in who is the pack leader and knowing the rules of interaction between the dog and his people. Enough of my opinions on dogs here is the video.

Long Weekend

It was a nice Memorial Day weekend here in the valley. The weather was cool and comfortable. The weather certainly helped the firefighters out. They where fighting the Summit Fire a large fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Fires this early in the session are rare especially because the Santa Cruz Mountains get lots of morning fog and ocean breezes.
Unfortunately there has been some tragedy involved with this fire. Many people have lost there homes. Pets have been lost to the fire and one animal rescue site was burned to the ground. To read this story and help the animals go to http://www.towncats.org/ .
The picture is of two bucks we saw on our Saturday walk. The deer just stood there watching us for a while then they just turned and walked off. I was lucky to get the picture as even thou we often see deer when they see our dogs they leave quickly.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and remembered to take a moment to remember all the sacrifices of the men and women in our armed forces.

Ice Cream

The weather has been real hot here in the valley with temperatures reaching near 100 degrees. We have several ways to cool, off jumping into the pool, running in the sprinklers, playing with the garden hose and cool treats to eat.
One of the things we cool off with is ice cream and of course we have to share with our pets. You can see from the picture that Dolly our 9 year old African Gray Parrot enjoys her ice cream cones.
(Remember that to see a larger version of the photo just click anywhere on the picture.)
My grandson Grant who is two years old loves to share treats with the bird and our dogs Nika and Ricki. You can see them in the video playing with Grant as they all cool off.


You may have a few questions after watching the video. Like don't those big dogs ever miss the water and nip Grant. The answer is no. Grant has been been playing this game with the dogs since he could walk. He is always feeding them treats which he will hide in his hands and they have to carefully extract them. They are great friends and play together four days a week.
If you are interested in seeing more videos of Grant and the dogs visit my video site. You will find several videos documenting their interaction. This is especially interesting if you are contemplating raising a German Shepherd Dog with children.

Kiss the Cat

Today I'm posting Kiss the Cat Revisited a video of my grandson which I took last year. The original is still posted on YouTube and has had over 4000 views and lots of nice comments. I took a look at the original clip and thought that I could make it look a little better in the latest version of iMovie. I will let you be the judge here it is:

Twitter Info

If you are unfamiliar with Twitter it is a service that gives you short entries on what is going on in my world. You may see entries that have web links in them. To follow those links just go to the bottom of the entry and click on the blue link and you will go to the Twitter link click on that link and see what I'm talking about. Twitter appears in the sidebar on the right side of this page.... Ted

New Photo Site

I have left Picture Trail and have started a new photo site at Smugmug (Ted's Photo Site). All my latest pictures will be posted there. I will continue to use flickr for quick daily posts on Little "G" life after one. A blog about the adventures of my young grandson.
Artistic photos will be posted on my photo-blog with many interesting manipulations by way of Photo Shop.
You may also have noticed that I have included a feed to my Twitter account for info on what I'm doing now.
Use the subscribe to posts at the bottom of this page to be updated automatically of changes to this blog........ Ted

A Work in Progress

I have just started to design the look and to consider the content of this blog site. So far you can see some of my other projects.
Photo Blog with many pictures that have been manipulated with software or of above average quality. All of the pictures in this site have been taken with lower end cameras. I have found that ease of use and the ability to carry a small lightweight, waterproof camera (Pentax Optio 6.0) has many advantages. To see some thumbnail click here or go to my photo blog site.
Video Gallery of some of the videos I have produced of my grandson and my dogs. You can view these through the sidebar viewer on the right side of this blog. If you want to see more or to subscribe to my video feeds go here for YouTube or for Vpod click here.
Daily pictures can be seen in the Flickr sidebar or by going to my Flickr Photo Page. I'm currently working with Smugmug and you can see a example of one of my galleries. What I like about the gallery is you see all of the gallery photos in a very nice slide show format. Take a look and let me know what you think.
If you have any request or suggestions on what I should blog about please let me know..... T.G.