wednesdays: first flowers

dear mother

i give you

my love with each flower

--I Often Go Walking

The first flowers W brought me... aided by his father, I'm sure. But he held them so carefully.

the five minute portrait

this is a less-than-5-minute portrait of my dad. while they were in town this weekend i had thought getting into the studio would be a piece of cake... well, previous to having a 6 week old baby, it might have been, but when exhaustion sets in, there is nothing to be done.

so begins a musing on photographs. this wasn't taken with my nicest camera, or even in the greatest location. its my parking garage. however, it is still *not* a snapshot-- and here is why:

no on-camera flash in use, design elements (rule of thirds, leading lines, etc) are in use, even the color scheme is pleasing, the balance of light and dark is not extreme.

The REASON i bring any of this up is that sometimes you need to just TAKE the picture, right? Even though I'm happily studio-based with large format, that just WASN'T going to happen this weekend. But having something other than a *snapshot* of my father DID need to happen for me.

I fully admit some of the pleasure of this image is because of the sentiment for me.

imbalance

visited the spicy lady. talk about an interesting proprietor. he was great, and we had a wonderful time exploring his fantastic saloon. i like that one of these lights was out.

jamstress

i decided to try making freezer jam this year... basically because it was on this website

and they always explain things like it is the easiest thing in the world. Well, jam IS the easiest thing in the world, and it is WORTH IT to do it at home. For real.

my sophmore year in college my roommate, callie, always had homemade jam. And I begged her for it ALL the time because it was the first time I'd ever HAD homemade jam and it was unbelievable.

Fastforward to last christmas, when my best friend, Megan, gave me homemade jam because she saw that we were actually buying jam over at my house and she was APPALLED. :)

Well, I'm appalled too, because now that I've made it, and we only have 1.5 containers left (eeek!) and its time to make more already. Seriously. Make yourself some today. It is TOO easy to put off. Especially when you can get strawberries for very very little right now!

homemade little books

been making some little books lately as thank-yous for people who helped out during E's birth. they each have a fun, coordinating color on the inside page. i love these because they are perfect for a personal treatise on something the writer feels passionately about.

a new portrait

i have a tradition. every birthday, i take a REAL portrait. T's from this year is on the sidebar on the right. Above is my new picture. i can't look at the camera for these things, I inevitably stick out my tongue or make a punk rock face. so, sideways it is from here to eternity.

bay leaf

Was feeling a little inspired. I'd never cooked with bay leaves before, and something about this leaf, serving its purpose then being discarded, no worse for the wear... having done a bit of work without looking worse for the wear. I don't know, someplace in here is an analogy fit for the last lecture.... guffaw. All the same, it was good to get out my camera, irregardless of the fact that this image will never be used for anything.

some flowers

so, maybe its my birthday today.
and I was given these lovely flowers that i quickly photographed.

a note on the vases-- the rich blue one (very round, yellow flower) was the first small vase I purchased. I got it at the Retro Rose in SLC in case you are interested. The light blue (orange flower) was purchased with two others at the philadelphia art museum. I gave the other two to some good friends of mine. The last one isn't a vase. Its a balsamic vinegar container... but I'm realizing its going to be a vase alllllllllllllllll summer.

wednesdays: the view

this is what W sees in his room during sleepytime.

within walking distance: the landing

haven't walked many places in the last 5 weeks, but this is a constant on my landing... husband's running errands shoes. they're ALWAYS there to greet me.... kinda like that solitary grey hair. you don't really WANT it there, and yet, there it IS, day after day!

wednesdays: climbing "mountains"

maybe recently we watched the sound of music.... and we've been singing the songs. especially "climb every mountain." so look who is telling me he's climbing mountains? I'm looking forward to the summer and hiking and camping.

Wednesdays: the "line 'em up" stage

We've entered no man's land. All cars, trucks, stuffed animals and other childhood paraphenalia must be lined up. Everywhere. W loves it. Even the dinosaur magnets on the fridge take regular lined up parades through the magnet letters.

my window-- myself.

What do you do when you have a spare minute, need to do something creative, but alas, have no model (homo sapien or otherwise)?

apparently I entered the land of the self-portrait as the solution this time. It was fun.

lately

my kitchen makes me undeniably happy... even if that little nook never stays shut.

The window light has been really nice there as spring has been coming around. Yesterday it was photographing my cottage cheese, today it was the chair and more (see other posts to come).

I love these kid friendly yet nice-ish looking place mats (plastic! wipe-able! woopee!) And the calm warm of my table. And the chains hanging from the fan (that is rickety and we never use)... but it looks beautiful to me and is H.O.M.E.

ITROW*: let's talk about cottage cheese

Do MEN eat cottage cheese? Probably only once in the last 10 years have I WANTED cottage cheese, and I can only stomach it with peaches (as photographed above right before I devoured it). And even then, before the bowl is finished, it makes me gag.

What are your thoughts on cottage cheese? Do we just eat it because its "healthy"? Do YOU eat it?

*ITROW stands for: In the realm of women. This is where I photograph the beautiful mundane (and discuss it) that is superfluously minute in women's lives.

ITROW: i'm back

How could I not be with this new friend of E's hanging out at my house?