Continuing with our brief tour of photo-shoot outtakes featuring volunteer models wearing CAA-logo apparel, today we have CAA rain ponchos.

We all decided that it’s really rather difficult to pose convincingly in a rain poncho on a bright, sunny day.

First, we tried having Mindy and Todd stand under a roof, looking out. Is it raining out there? Of course, one of them looks sad about the “rain,” and the other looks happy …

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Then, toward the end of that segment of our photo shoot, I couldn’t stop laughing, and they couldn’t stop laughing …

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… and we had to move on to something else. (I’ll share the final installment from our photo shoot tomorrow.)

I’ve gone through the “finalists” from the photo shoot we had a couple of weeks ago for the CAA’s holiday catalog, and have selected the ones that will be featured in the catalog. Here, then, for the next couple of days, I’ll be posting a few that didn’t make the cut, a behind-the-scenes photo, and a couple of silly shots.

I actually really like this one, but decided not to use it in the final layout of the catalog …

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And I also like this one (although the sun’s a bit too bright on Mindy’s and Todd’s faces), but decided not to use it, either …

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And this one just makes me chuckle because they’re both, but Todd especially, trying so hard to, you know, pose …

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I’m busily working on the CAA’s annual (printed) book & gift catalog, which needs to go to the printer soon so that it can get to members’ mailboxes by about the middle of November.

This year, for something different, we took a pile of CAA gift items to a member’s nearby farm (thanks, Misdee Miller!), enlisted the help of several volunteer models (thanks, Mindy and Todd!), and had a proper photo shoot.

In addition to the “serious” catalog photos, we also — of course — got a few silly ones. Here’s one of those (I’ll share more tomorrow) …

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Here (finally!), as promised, are some detailed photos of the elaborately (and really rather magnificently) carved and painted Sicilian cart that went through last weekend’s carriage auction. I had hoped to post these yesterday but was having some computer issues and didn’t get anything at all posted. To reward you for your patience, I’m sharing a whopping ten photos here, which you can study at your leisure today and over the weekend. Enjoy!

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I know I promised more (better) close-up photos of the Sicilian cart than those I was able to take with my phone camera … but I haven’t had a chance to download them yet.

So in the interim, here are a few views of another item at last weekend’s auction that I found fascinating. This model is, in fact, a salesman’s sample showing a variety of hitch options for a plow. The wooden box the sample comes in also has instructions on putting together the various options.

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