Grandpa Al Checking Out The Monkeys At The Toy Store

Nope, I didn't buy one for little Gabriella. I couldn't find one cute and cuddly enough. Nothing at all like my Monkey from my own childhood. Nothing like Monkette that Todd Frederick bought as a companion for Monkey when he flew out to San Francisco for a photo shoot and came back sporting an earing.

Now for the next few days I won't have much time to look because my son Jonathan, along with his wife Deborah and little Gabriella, are here in North Miami visiting. Todd did make up a couple of cute prints of Monkey and Monkette which I framed to hang in Gabriella's room back in Massachusettes. I still remember the pictures of Donald Duck and Goofy that I had in my room as a baby. I have no idea of what ever became of them. Hopefully I'll find the right monkey and mail it to her.

I've been going around shooting lots of pictures since they got here, both black & white and color. Some with the 15mm on theBessa L and some with the 40 Summicron-C on my Leica CL. Thursday we're planning a trip to the nearby Enchanted Forest park to get some more formal shots of the family. By next year Gabriella will be big enough to break the law and feed the ducks swimming in Arch Creek which runs through the park. As a kid I loved feeding pieces of bread to the ducks in Buttonwood Park in New Bedford.