Weyerhauser House

The Witt-Blue-Bachmans completed our annual winter cross country ski extravaganza. This year was very special because there was no snow and we didn't ski at all. Luckily we decided to get an airbnb in Weyerhauser, WI based on it's cool modern look. The weather topped out at 60 degrees so we spent a lot of time eating, playing trains and walking on the lake. And also not wearing much winter clothes. So weird and so fun.

Here are some photos I snapped of the house. It really was just as cool and beautiful as airbnb promised. The location seemed very private and with no motors allowed on the lake (and the fact that there weren't many others staying on the lake) it was very quiet. I hope we can go back in the summer because the little point (that Bowie accurately named "Deer Poop Island") that led to the water seemed like a great spot for a picnic and I would love to utilize the porch and the fire pit.

Here we are pulling Bowie around in a sled on the ice:

The home had some cool features like a ping pong table (which is a sport the Witt's take almost as seriously as cross country skiing) and an old typewriter.

We did manager to get into the closest small town of Chetek. We considered moving there because it had a super cool old time vibe with diners and antique stores and a bakery with, I kid you not, the best donuts I'd had it my entire life. Get the buttermilk donuts if you're ever in Chetek on a Saturday. There was also a creepy artist studio where a woman made paintings of cats and circus freaks. In addition, she had a sculpture of an alien head in a box. I don't have pictures of this so you just need to go there and check it out for yourself.

Here's a link to the home on airbnb. Our only complaint was there was no toaster. If you happen to go please bring us back the top to our martini shaker.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10833543

Getting back together with Diana.

It's been a few years since I properly used my Diana. I mainly stopped using it because the photo quality started worsening. It became disappointing to spend a lot of money on the lomo film and end up with very few good photos. I decided the poor quality was due to light leaks and I guess I just thought the cheap camera was toast.

In anticipation of Japan I decided to give Lomography another try; mainly because I can't think of a better place than Japan to take lomos. An additional factor that made my Diana seem more attractive is that lately I've been feeling super overwhelmed by technology. The ease of using the Diana and knowing that you sort of just get what you get with it, rather than taking retakes until a photo is perfect or adding a bunch of filters to it really appealed to my mood lately.

Rather than buy a new Diana I thought I'd tape up my old one and see if it would help with the light leaks. To my (stupid) surprise I noticed that my camera had been set so that the shutter was on manual. Duh. This is definitely why so many photos turned out too bright. That made me hopeful.

Here are some of the better photos from my first roll of Dianas. I'm pleased to see that many turned out. They're not great but I learned a lot from this roll. 1)Don't set the camera to keep the shutter open 2)I need to center my image and then bring the camera up just a titch so as not to cut off the top of the image and 3)Using the flash is really the best way to go no matter what. I'm so excited to practice with a couple more rolls before I bring this baby to Japan. I think I like the quality of the photos even more after they're run through my scanner. Welcome back Diana. I forgot how much I loved you.

I took a ton of photos at the MN Zoo, which was a great opportunity to toy with light. This is the only one that even remotely turned out and I love it because it's creepy flamingos.

Josh and I took a date night to some Japanese restaurants to truly try out the Japanese Diana vibe.

Easily my favorite photo of a crabby Bowie.

Last (but not least) a perfect example of a side by side. I don't know why this turned out like this. As usual my little Diana always has a surprise in store.