Take the leap then sit with me a spell.
_____________________________

Happy Photobooth Friday! Happy Leap Day!

Why not do something lovely and unexpected for yourself today?

to see this larger click here.

It has been way too long since I have updated you on this lovely young man. Riley (aka PickleBoy, PB, boyo, etc.) has been very busy. Busy growing, changing, becoming, laughing, huffing, puffing and blowing the house down. Since we last discussed he has started eighth grade, turned thirteen, run for the office of school DJ, WON! which entails spinning the tunes every Friday at lunch, joined a rock band as the singer, performed in the school variety show as one of the emcees all while maintaining his grades, his sense of humor and, yes, being a typical teenage pain in the ass at times - hello - he IS human after all :)

No longer a boy, not yet a man.
My dearest and best.
Through thick and thin.
Infuriating one moment.
Genuinely endearing the next.

I try not to think how little time is left until he spreads his wings to fly away to the phase of his life that I am no longer his daily companion. I have all the faith in the Universe that he will make a most excellent adult.

Just not yet, ok?

I cannot decide which I enjoy more.
The warm salty busy happy summer beach or
the cold clean crisp solitary bundled up beach you see here.
As a matter of fact, I don't think I will choose.
I do love them both so very much.
They speak to different, yet equally valid, parts of my soul.
One more about laughter the other a quiet smile.
I am certain that on one of those warm boisterous salty days that I dream of right now
my mind will wander forward to the lovely solitude of another day just like this one.
Best to be content and happy with the now.
I will take that quiet smile for today and cherish it.

____________
last of the blue here.

by Patty Griffin.

"And though darkness may come our way
We won't be afraid to be alive anymore
And we'll grow kindness in our hearts
For all the strangers among us
'Til there are no strangers anymore."

There is absolutely no mystery why she is my all time favorite artist and one of my greatest inspirations. Now go have a happy Monday and say hello to a stranger while you are at it.

sometimes I am not so sure but today a few sound steps towards hope seems like an excellent way to go.

(link via superhero)

When I saw Andrea's latest Superhero Photo Challenge at Shutter Sisters to try shooting directly into the sun I immediately remembered this set of photos taken exactly one year ago this week that I never shared. I love how in the challenge she encourages you to break the traditional rules of photography to see what you will get because I feel EXACTLY the same way. I have actually gotten some of my best stuff by doing just that.

This series was taken with my old camera (the D50) while at the beach for a week last Winter and I really have no idea how most of them ended up with the crazy stripe of sun blasted out across like this...

I toyed with the idea of photoshopping the crazy sun stripe out but decided instead to leave them just as they came out of the camera. Kinda otherworldly/star trekky huh?

(No children were harmed in the making of these images...instead this is a perfectly captured moment of our friend Dennis playing 'Kung Fu Ninja' with one daughter Annie while his other daughter Maggie jogs by.)

bird one: Happy Valentine's Day! Around here we shun H*llmark for heart shaped pancakes. Remember to spread the love not just today but every single day :)

bird two: Happy Love Thursday! I am so enjoying the lovely Shutter Sisters.

bird three: Love Is Everywhere! Really and truly. Just look closely and you will see.

bird four: Happy Photobooth Friday! My girl has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged us to incorporate text in our photobooth adventures this month.

Et Voilà! My sweets.

...make My Banana Bread!

1/3 cup melted butter
2 or 3 large overripe bananas
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350° and butter an 8" loaf pan.
Melt butter.
Mash bananas into the butter until "bumpy smooth".
Add the remaining ingredients in order shown above mixing each ingredient until just incorporated.
Pop in the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Be sure to do the toothpick check for doneness.
EAT!
I can never decide if I like this best straight from the oven or the next morning toasted with butter.
Good problem to have.

I thought long and hard about if it was a very good idea to put this video up. These lyrics and illustrations cut extremely close to my bones as of late. I don't usually show my vulnerabilities on the blog. But then I thought about how, well,
1. I really have lived out loud for my whole life and
2. about how sometimes I can over think things.
Although those two things about me do not always work well together, I felt it best to go for it. Besides, I really do want you all to hear this absolutely brilliant song made even more poignant with this absolutely brilliant video.
So there it is.
And after all,
song: It's Only Love
band: The Maccabees
animation: Barry Pilling

The acrid smell of burnt plastic marked the death of my scanner one year ago. I mourned it’s loss and then promptly stuck my head in the sand. Let it sit forgotten and collecting dust.

Then two weeks ago on my daily bounce around the net I saw this post on Summer’s blog. She mentioned her new scanner that “has a nifty and exciting feature where you can scan slides and negatives.” Wha…huh?! This was possible? I immediately pulled my head out of the sand and ordered one.

Oh my. I have been on a personal excavation ever since. The big box marked ‘PHOTOS’ came off the shelf and I have been flooded. With memories, with different versions of myself, my places and my people.



I shot these images eighteen years ago. Film. T-Max 400 black & white . Iso pushed the all the way to 3200 for noise. I was twenty two and headed north through New Mexico. Adobes, some abandoned and left to return to the earth. I thought these images long gone but found the negatives in the box. I also found some of myself along with them.

A photographer all along.

The set is here.

it is a responsibility.

------------------------

and on an entirely different note...
please watch this
so funny it hurts.
(via dooce)

Last Friday.
So much rain.
Deep cast to the midday light.
Vintage overalls.
Me.
A study in blue.



other interpretations of 'blue' here.