Hangin' Out with the Grandmunchkins

Earlier today, my husband Jack and I rounded up two of our four grandkids -- that's Jackie on the right and her brother Jarrett on the left -- for an outing at the park. Here, we all agreed, we'd hand them each one of our less-expensive cameras and encourage them to better their photography skills. We've done this before on several occasions, with limited success; their attention spans and focus, so to speak, don't last long. And, at the ages of 11 and 7, respectively, their taste in photo subjects runs more toward their own fingers and noses (and, amid lots of giggles, grandma's backside) than anything of real value.

But you never know. Last year, for instance, in between all the trash each of them ended up with a few (I emphasize, a few) nice photos, and, with their permission, we entered one by each of them in the park's annual amateur photography contest. And wonder of wonders, both were rewarded for their efforts: Jackie with a third place ribbon and Jarrett with an Honorable Mention, both in the Youth division.

So it was that we set out today. We started in the rose garden in Fellows Riverside Gardens near the park's visitor center. Each summer, the garden is awash with brilliant color as hundreds of roses -- reds, yellows, oranges, whites, pinks and everything in between -- are everywhere you look. Jackie was using my Sony Cybershot while Jarrett had Jack's tiny Casio. I, meanwhile, opted to use both my Canon EOS Digital Rebel with a heavy-duty macro lens, enhancing filter and monopod and my small Canon PowerShot Elph, which has a fantastic macro mode.

Everything went just fine for a while, even though it was a gloomy, muggy day -- we happily snapped away at the multitudes of coneflowers and daylilies in the parking lot and bordering the visitor center. Then, since there was a flower show inside, we wandered through that, cameras at the ready, before heading out to the rose garden.

Then to our great dismay -- just as we were ready to enter the garden -- the heavens decided to rain on our parade. "Don't let the rain come down," I hummed to myself as we all scurried back inside the building to keep our precious equipment from getting soaked. When it eased up a bit, we made another attempt at shooting outdoors, but that, too, proved fruitless. Not only did it start to rain again, when I got to the rose garden I discovered that hardly anything was in bloom. Most of the crop was in disarray, weatherbeaten and chomped over by beetles. Perhaps, I thought, the rain was trying to tell us something!

We drove on to the lily pond, but here, too, it was sprinkling and much too dark to get decent photos. So, we came home (by way of a Long John Silver's, where we had lunch) and downloaded what few photos we'd been able to take. Not surprisingly, neither of us had much to show for the outing. But not so Jackie and Jarrett! Oh sure, there was the smattering of stupid photos plus flowers and landscapes blurred almost beyond recognition. But there, in the midst of all that junk, were some real gems. In fact, they managed to get at least two apiece that not only are good enough to enter in the contest, but they're better than either of us managed to get.

Hmmm. That's not supposed to happen. Pretty soon, we'll be getting lessons from them!