Sometimes teen-aged grandchildren might feel that it isn’t cool to hang out with Grandma.  But, if you’re a cool Grandma, then it will be cool to hang with you.

And, how do I become so cool? you ask.

Simple.  Do bokeh photography with those teenagers.

Bokeh?  Bokeh?  What’s bokeh?

So glad that you asked.

Bokeh is an area of a photo that is out of focus.  (On purpose.  Not like the blury-ness caused by grandma’s shakey hands.)  Bokeh comes from a Japanese term that means “blur” or “haze.”  Hence, the area of the photo that is blurry.

See the cool picture here?  Click on it to see a larger version.  Those are examples of pictures using the bokeh technique. (Thanks to Amanda Bottoms for permission to use her fabulously creative pictures.  You’re wonderful, Amanda!)

Now, I’m not a professional photographer.  Not even close.  Which is why I was out-of-this-world delighted to discover this easy tutorial by Amanda demonstrating how to create some snazzy lookin’ bokeh photos.

(I’m warnin’ you folks right now.  Don’t go pokin’ around on her site.  It’s a dangerous one.  There are pictures of scores of decadent delights.  There are recipes where you’ll gain 30 pounds just reading them.  If you’re so weak that you succumb and make one of her divine recipes and then you gain 50 pounds, don’t come whining to me.  I warned you!)

Got scissors?  Tape?  Paper?  And a decorative punch thingie (that punches out shapes like stars or hearts). Good.  That’s all that you need — in addition to a SLR camera with a 50mm lens.

So if your teen-aged grandchild had a SLR camera, you’re good to go.  Or maybe grandpa has one that he would let you use.  Or, maybe you could ask around to see if a friend would lend one to you for the day for this fun activity.

(Mmmm . . . would this work with a consumer digital camera?  Not sure.  But it would be a great adventure to try it.)

I think I’m going to share this idea with my youngest son and his wife.  They have a digital SLR camera.  Maybe they could take some photos so that I could post them here.  If you take some bokeh photos, feel free to send them my way so that you can share them here!

(If you promise to feed your grandchild supper, that might give your grandchild just the extra amount of incentive necessary to share this activity with you.)

Last week, a wonderful lady contacted me about an app for the iPhone that she has created.

Let’s pause here for a moment.

I took a computer programming class eons and eons ago (well at least a long time ago in technology chronology).  I learned lots.  Like the fact that I didn’t want to spend my life looking for errant semi-colons and brackets in computer programs that I wrote.

However, I thought I was a pretty hot shot beginning programmer when I created a fun little program that was like the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books that my children enjoyed while they were in grade school.  But that programming euphoria dissipated as I realized programming wasn’t for me.

While I don’t know the exact age of the woman who created the application that I’m going to talk about, I do know that I can claim her as a peer.  I am SO impressed that she (at her age) knows how to develop applications for the iPhone.  I’m even MORE impressed to know that she taught herself how to code for the iPhone.  Let’s bow down and worship her — and give her a big round of applause.  (Clap, clap, clap.)

Now.   Back to our regularly scheduled post.

Dawn has created the application ItsAGranddaughter with companion programs for a grandson, son, daughter, niece, nephew, and twins.

The idea is that after you’ve been snapping photos with your iPhone of the new darling little grandchild, you can add one of twelve background designs, all of the birth stats, and then e-mail the photo to all of the folks in your contact list on your phone.  (That’s grandma’s bragging on steroids!)

I don’t have pictures of our new granddaughter, Kaylissa, on my phone (because I had my camera there that took higher quality pictures).  However, I did have a couple of our other granddaughter and used those pictures to try out this application.  They weren’t taken when she was born but that’s okay.  They will still work.

The pictures here are examples of what the program creates.  (The cute pink background is my favorite background!)

This program is exceptionally easy to use.  Maybe I’d better qualify that a little.  If you know how to use your iPhone it is easy.  (I know people who only know how to call out and receive calls on their phones.  Those folks might need someone to provide a wee bit of tech support at first. But just a little bit because the program is so simple to use.)

You can find these wonderful applications at http://www.dawnkempf.com.

There’s only one eensy weensy bug with the program in my humble opinion.  You can’t have a weight that is in even pounds (like six pounds even).  You cannot set the ounces to zero.  While that really isn’t a big deal, it doesn’t let you give the correct birth weight if the baby weighed say an even seven pounds.

Don’t have an iPhone?  (My sympathies go out to you.)  However, do the parents of your grandbaby have an iPhone?  If so, you could give the gift of this application at a baby shower or before the baby was born so that the proud parents can be ready to shout out to the world that their little bundle of joy has arrived.

Now, I just need to get the application ItsAGrandson and then I’ll be set for the arrival of our next grandchild regardless of what flavor it is.  (My phone is ready, are my children ready to give me another grandchild???)

(Note:  I am experiencing technical difficulties. Well, not me personally.  I have other issues that are not technical in nature. . . This post is.  I want to include two YouTube videos here but the videos are not playing nicely together.  I’m not able to figure out what is going on.  I’m seeing them in duplicate. I’ve checked the code.  It’s in there only once.  I’m probably missing a stinking semi-colon.  Errant semi-colons wreck havoc in code, ya know.  Plus, my brain is fuzzy — fuzzier than normal.  I didn’t get much sleep last night . . .  Plus, if you see misspelled words or if sentences are wacko crazy, I’m going to blame that on my sleep-deprived brain.  That’s the excuse — today — and I’m stickin’ with it!)

Last summer I wrote about creating a summer journal or a photo journal with your grandchildren.  I thought that I would embellish that idea.  My original idea said to just get a notebook for these journals.  My idea today is to cover that notebook so that it has a delightful cover.

First, I want you to watch a short video on how to create a book cover out of a brown paper sack.  This will show you the basic how-to-do-it.

(Can you see me throwing my hands into the air and saying four-letter words — like rats, drat, blah, jumpin’ Jehovastat?  Wait that wasn’t four letters now was it?  My bleary brain can’t find problematic code nor can it count.  Sigh.)

I give up.  I surrender.  I admit that PHP code reigneth supreme and I am lowly scum in the coding realm.  I admit defeat. So, instead of embedding the video, I’m merely linking to it. (By the way, if you’re on a Windows machine using Firefox as your browser, the YouTube videos won’t have controls to start the video. You’ll have to use a different browser . . . like the evil Internet Explorer . . .)

You can take that brown sack book cover and turn it into a colorful one by making a tie dyed cover.  (After you make your brown paper sack cover, you’ll start on step 8 of these directions.)

A brown paper bag book cover is, well, rather boring, isn’t it?  I’d say!  So, make one out of duct tape.

Since all of you are down-right creative, I’m sure you could figure out how to make book covers out of wrapping paper, gift bags past their prime, or scrapbook paper.

For all of you sewers out there, here are directions for sewing a book cover.  Or, how about making a felt book cover?

Now to shift gears somewhat.  (My kids call this getting sidetracked.  Whatever.)  I came across this fun, fun, fun video on making a weekly planner. (I’ve been trying to get organized lately.  The operative word here is ‘trying’ . . .)  Because of all of the delightful headache producing time’s today (Well, lookee here! A wrong use of an apostrophe.  What’s my brain gonna do next?) I’m having with these videos, I’m linking to this video, too. I’m tired of bashing my head against the proverbial wall.

If you are interested, here is the link to the template for the pages of this nifty little weekly planner booklet.

So the idea here is to gather your grand-chickabiddies around you and spend time making book covers or little booklets.  They are easy and fast — or as complicated as you and your grandchildren want to make them.

If you make some with your grandchildren, send me a picture so that I can share your creative endeavors here . . . if my brain’s working by then . . .

I have discovered a fun, fun activity — playing bocce (pronounced bah-chee) which is a form of lawn bowling.  You , Dear Reader, may be very familiar with this game but it was something new to us.

My husband found an inexpensive set online at Target and ordered it because it had free shipping.  (This was a big deal because those buggers are really heavy!!)  It came with a carrying case (similar to the one pictured here).  However, because the balls weigh so much and because the case isn’t very sturdy, I don’t think the case will last very long.

We took this game with us when went camping with friends in southern Utah over the Memorial Day weekend.  It was a hit.  In fact, I’ll have to tell you a little story about it in a moment.

Bocce is easy-peasy to play — or at least the way we played it.

It can be played with two people or two teams with two to four players per team.  First, determine the bounds of your ‘court’ which should be roughly 10 feet wide by 75 feet long.  You should keep the balls within this area.

Select one person/team to throw the small bocce ball.  Standing behind a predetermined foul line, that person throws the small ball onto the court.  One player from the same team will throw one bocce ball trying to get it as close as possible to the small ball.   One player from the other team throws one ball.  Play continues alternating between teams until all of the balls have been thrown.

The scoring team receives one point for each of their balls that is closer to the small ball than the closest ball of the other team.  If one of your ball is touching the small ball, it is ‘kissing’ and you get two points.  The ’round’ ends after all balls have been thrown and points have been awarded.  Continue playing more rounds until one team gets 15 points and wins the game.

Rules come with the set but they are rather complicated. Wikipedia has some simple directions how to play. You can also read these simplified directions on wikiHow.

Now the story I promised you.

We went camping with long-time friends.  Some of their children came camping with them. We played bocce on Friday afternoon and also a little bit before supper.  On Saturday as we talked about playing when we came back from hiking in a red sandstone slot canyon, one of the sons said, “I want Nina on my team.”  I guess he thought that my grandma-flabby arm was pretty good at accurately hefting those balls.

When we got back from our hike and were preparing to play, the son said, “I’ve got to go get ready for my hot date.”

Hot date?  Me, his hot date?  What a cute thing to say.

We played the game and our team won (thanks to my highly skilled playing).  Jokingly, I thanked the young man for a delightful date — and said that I felt relieved that I hadn’t felt any pressure to hold his hand or to worry about getting kissed as he walked me to my door.  We all laughed.

Then, it hit me.  This young man is not allowed to date until he is 16 years old.  He turns 16 in two week so this meant that I was his ‘first’ date!  I told him that this was a great story to tell his friends — and his children — that his first date was with a 56 year-old grandmother of 4.

Anyway, you might want to consider getting a set of bocce balls to play with your grandchildren.  This is an especially fun activity for older grandchildren with their advanced skill level and ability to strategize.

Go, bocce!