I think today's kids are really missing out my not having 70's style polaroids with their moms so I made one for him.

Today I finally got to go visit my friend Sarah and meet her brand new baby Will at the hospital. We was born on March 20th, 9 weeks early, and weighs 3.6lbs. But, he is healthy and doing great!

This wasn't really a dark day or anything, I just saw the cool loading dock and thought "I haven't taken any cool photos of J in a while." He is always such a good sport.

At lunch, we toasted to my Dad who would have loved that we went to Poulsbo on his birthday.

Today would have been my Dad's 74th birthday. Anticipating an emotional day, I asked J to take the day off from work and spend the day with me doing something fun. We went on a little day trip to the nearby town of Poulsbo, WA and chilled out. We went to Poulsbo once a long time ago for a wedding and since it's a little Norwegian fishing town my Dad always remembered it fondly and talked about it.

Well, the seeds are growing, that's the good news I guess. The heating pad did make the peppers pop up immediately so thanks for the suggestion! I have no idea why the two plants in the bottom right (one tomato, one arugula) are growing so much faster and better than the others. I have rotated the box around under the light occasionally and moved all the cans around to try to give them equal access to the light. Also, my lettuce has issues. It is all spindly and falling over like the little stems aren't stron enough (see top right). Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions?

Took the old country back roads home tonight and stopped, late at night, at the Catlett RR Crossing.

The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5-6, 1864, during the Civil War. It was the beginning of the bloodiest campaign in American history and the turning point in the war in the Eastern Theatre.

I forgot to mention that I am shooting only film on my Lomo this week. I wanted to travel light and also see what the Lomo felt like in my hands again.

This photograph was taken in Saunders Field. The Lomo took better images today but I loved the painterly feel of this one.

This is pretty much how I felt today; realizing where my own life contains seemingly insurmountable brick walls at the moment.



Shot on film, with the Lomo

The Lomo does its best work with sun, sky, warmth, heat, beach, vacation sort of photographs. Today it's just clouds.

Thanks to these old cassette tapes, I got to hear my Dad's voice again today for the first time in a little over 6 months. He recorded these in 1981 when I was not-quite 3 years old. I know he made them so that he could hear my voice, unchanged, as a little girl no matter how quickly I grew up and changed. Now, 28 years later...I can hear his voice, unchanged, as my Dad even though he's gone. I was afraid I'd cry...but mostly, I laughed! I got to hear his "I love you" and "Is that right?" and my name and his laughter all over again and I felt calm and peace. Thanks, Dad.

When Fergus jumped into this box today, I just had to shoot him because it reminded me so much of a photo from 11 months and 2 days ago (warning: cute kitten link). I assure you, this was a much, much, bigger box than last time!

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Test shot for ebay photos. No, I am not ebaying Fergus...but he jumped into the studio and got his picture taken amongst the crystal bowls, old purses, etc. that I am ebaying as part of my big purge. Inspired by my sister's home with it's clean flat surfaces and zero clutter...I have become a massive (probably year long) purge of all the crap in our home we don't use or need. There's tons of it! Why!?! I am reading a bunch of great books on clutter and changing your life by getting rid of it so I am sure I will be sharing some of those tid bits with you here. In the meantime, if anyone needs a fur stole...

Still have the studio set up so I thought I'd take advantage of it and very carefully photograph my orchid. This is the third time this year this orchid has bloomed, which makes me very happy. The first time, Fergus broke the stem and I wasn't able to force it to bloom. The second time, Fergus broke the stem but it later bloomed in a vase of water. The third time, *fingers crossed*.

Although there are a million blog posts of Mushroom (and even more from before tags were invented), he hasn't really had a "formal" portrait done like his brother Fergus. I guess today was his big day!

Still no sign of the peppers but the arugula, lettuce, and tomatoes are doing good. This year is such an experiment - I have no idea how big all these plants will be, what their yields will look like, etc. I am ill prepared! We may have enough for one tiny little token salad, we may be begging friends to take free veggies - no clue! I will keep posting updates as the plants grow.

J has the man-flu so, aside from working and doing all the household chores today, I was taking care of him. It's about the first time he's been sick enough to need care in the 9 years I've known him though so I guess that's not too bad.

Mrs. Dragonfire gave me this card today for my birthday. On the inside it simply says "You heard me." She gets me.


Last Year

More shoes for the collection of photographs. You can't tell how freezing cold it is in this photo but for a brief moment my new red shoes (with free self-portrait!) on bright green grass in a spot of sunshine looked like spring.

Cafe in downtown Olympia. Went to visit a fellow photographer and see her studio. Olympia is a cute little town that reminds me a lot of Missoula.

Arugula is sprouting! Even though I know I planted these seeds a few days ago, I am still pleasantly surprised to see them sprouting! So far it's just the arugula and lettuce. No sign of tomatoes and peppers yet. Does anyone know, do they take longer? I still can't believe when I look at this that we may actually get a whole plant out of this tiny sprout, let alone be able to eat it.