Alone With Me

Today was just the day I needed!  It was gray and rainy.  Not cold, but that's okay.  And, I got to stay at home all day!  For most of the day I could hear the falling rain, its rhythm somewhat irregular but comforting nonetheless.  I was up early, made breakfast for Weber, wrote my morning pages, shared a few texts with friends, and then went back to bed for an hour.  The weather encouraged it.  My calendar allowed it.  And, I needed it.  It is not very often that I give myself permission to do this so today was a real gift to myself.

Brooke and I were both home today.  It seems like some days we just pass in the hall, never really having a chance to talk with each other.  As I was baking this afternoon, we had a chance to catch up and also solve many of the world's problems-if only anyone actually listened to us.  We also took care of a few other mundane tasks like thumbing through magazines and discussing the recipes that will make the cut and be included on our Thanksgiving menu.  These are important decisions!  Smoked turkey, roasted root vegetables, dressing, mashed potatoes, bacon sweet potatoes, sweet potato biscuits, and pie...lots of pie!

Once the decisions about food were made, we had a conversation about time and happiness.  We both enjoy being at home reading, or cooking, or writing.  To us, that is the "good life."  Those things are what make us happy.  That is not to say that we don't enjoy going out and having a good time, every now and then; we do,  but we also agreed that a life based solely in the need to be entertained by the external world is not for us.  Each of is content spending time alone.  I am amazed by the number of people who are made terribly uncomfortable by being in their own company.  If you don't want to spend time with you, why would anyone else?

In my solitude I listen to myself.   I talk to myself.  I assess where I am and where I want to be.  I think. I dream.  I worry.  I cry.  I laugh.  I wonder why.  I deconstruct.  I imagine.  I create.  I fill my heart with thoughts of others.  I pray.  And sometimes I just am.  My time alone equips me to be with others.  Without my alone time to to refocus and recharge, I am not a very pleasant person.  It is time to make my mind and heart right within so that I can be with others and be right with them as well.  It is time I desperately need and need and cherish.

Tomorrow is predicted to be another gray and rainy day.  And I am looking forward to it!

99/365-3 Layers

"Twirly Skirt"

I grabbed my daughter this afternoon hoping to get a few practice shots for the portraits class. She said, "Don't you want to take pictures of me in my twirly skirt?" For a brief moment I was transported back to when she was three rather than twenty five. It was a fun few minutes that we shared. The photos aren't technically very good, because neither one of us was being too serious about the whole thing, but we had fun. When we looked at the pictures I decided they worked as well as anything for layers. Now I have been shocked back into reality as my girls are leaving tomorrow for a trip to Las Vegas together. No more feeling like they are three!!!

21/365-2 Play or Meal?

Geodesic Gnome Dome

Food photography is not my forte.  And, I am a firm believer that bad food photography is the worst kind of bad photography.  Every time a prompt surfaces that involves food, I tend to think, think, rethink, and overthink...as was the case today.  To make matters worse, today's prompt implied that the food shot should be a clever...oh great.

I thought about it for awhile.  The picture below is my response.  It is a take on something I think I saw in an online article a year or so ago.  As far as my contribution, it is fairly uninspired, but it fit the bill.

I remembered after I took this that the girls wanted me to photograph the gingerbread house that they built over the weekend.  (We were out of town and our kitchen was overtaken.)  Brooke and Erin have made a tradition of building a gingerbread house together over the Christmas holidays.  However, now that they both have "grown-up" jobs, time did not allow for that during the real holiday season, so it was put off until now.  As I was photographing their gingerbread dome, I thought, "Well duh; this is a much better image of playing with food than was my silly fruit and shredded wheat."  And, it's more meaningful.  I am glad to have documented the yearly house building.

I think Mr. Gingerbread Man is a little concerned about the style, or lack thereof, of his new neighbor.  We'll see what the geodesic gnome dome does to the property values in their neighborhood.

Mr. Gnome is glad to meet his new neighbors.

A Gnome With a View...

I'm glad that my girls keep me entertained...the Legos were more contribution to their project.

13/365-3 A Pop of Color

"Brooke's Tea Cup"

A struggled with this particular prompt.  A wandered around all day looking for something white with a pop of color.  After several uninspired attempts at just photographing "something" that resulted in epic fails, I was about to give up when I turned around and spotted Brooke's dirty tea cup on the kitchen counter.  Most of the time the fact that how the dishwasher works seems to elude my 25 year old daughter, tonight it worked to my advantage.  Every time I look at this photo I will be reminded of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of times I have asked her to please put her dirty dishes in the dishwasher.  Perhaps it will tens of thousands of times of asking before I wear her down and she finally gives in and opens the beast known as the dishwasher.

7/365-3 Solitude

"Circles of Quiet"

I am an only child.  Only children, at least those few that I have known, are content with solitude for the most part.  When I was little, I remember spending countless hours creating with my Spirograph, often when there were no neighborhood kids around with whom to play.  Its possibilities were endless, always a new design.  In all those hours, I bet I never even came close to creating the same design twice.  It was like magic as the beautiful geometric forms emerged just from moving a plastic circle round and round and round inside another circle.  I don't know what happened to my original Spirograph. We parted ways sometime along the way.

This year for Christmas, Weber got me a new Spirograph.  It is a little different from the 1970 version, but it still has its magic.  No longer do you a need a piece of cardboard to stick pins to anchor the big circle guide so that it doesn't move.  The Spirograph now comes with that sticky tack stiff like you use to hold posters on the wall.  You can stick the plastic piece right to the paper.  This small set also only comes with two colored pens, red and blue.  The big set from my childhood had a black and green pen as well.  That doesn't matter so much.  I have a plethora of pens in way more than four colors!  And the sticky tack stuff is also a nice improvement.  Everything else is as I remember it, the clear plastic wheels and rectangles just waiting to combine and make beautiful shapes.  And all of this in a cool little tin box making it more portable than my original version.

This morning after I finished writing my morning pages, the brightly colored tin box with my new Spirograph caught my attention from its perch on the corner of the dining room table. I pulled out random pieces, stuck the wheel to my paper and off I went, making magic.  As I circled that wheel round and round moving my pens from one hole to the next, I was struck with how calming, how peaceful, how meditative this whole process was.  I now know that what I was creating forty-five years ago with my first Spirograph and what I made this morning are mandalas - sacred circles.  This morning I was overcome with calm and peace in my moments of quiet and solitude.  I suspect that the quiet circles of the Spirograph had the same calming effect on me all those years ago, I just didn't realize it. 

I wonder what children would be like today if they spent more time playing with Spirograph and less time playing video games.

1/365-3 Good Morning 2015!

"Thanks and Possibilities"

Welcome 2015!  What better way to start a new year than with a warm cup of coffee in a mug given to me for my birthday by an awesome friend.; the wisdom on the mug is a perfect mantra to take into the new year.  And, by looking back at all that 2014 gave to me.  For Christmas, Erin collected my photos from the year and had them printed in a book.  On the cover is my photo from January 1, 2014.  So this morning I am looking back and giving thanks for the joys and sorrows of the past year and opening myself to the possibilities of 2015!

I wish each of you happiness, love, and joy in this new year!

356/365-2 Ready

"Naughty? Maybe. 25? Definitely."

These two are ready to party.  The "naughty" one celebrated her 25th birthday today.  She and her "nice" sister spent the day shopping and eating (and maybe drinking a little, too.)  All that was followed by a family dinner and sharing of gifts tonight.

Neither one of them was really dressed for a portrait.  The naughty one had on ridiculously high heels making her way taller than her sister and thus making it impossible, in terrible light, for me to focus on both of them.  The nice one's hat was casting a weird shadow on her face.  Oh well, this is what they looked like today.

Happy birthday, Brooke!

328/365-2 Thanks for Enough to Share

"Tea For As Many As There Are Cups"

We are beginning the overwhelming task of figuring out what to keep and what to find new homes for  at my dad's house.  Actually, it was my grandparents house and much of what is here belonged to them rather than my parents.

My girls want these tea cups that belonged to their great grandmother.  There are enough of them to share and both girls still have plenty.  The cups have a few different patterns, all of them pretty and colorful.  As I was photographing the cups and thinking about my girls having them, having "enough to share" is not really about the cups themselves, but the fact that they represent hospitality.  My hope is that my girls will always be willing to open their hearts and homes to others, to share the literal and figurative cup of tea with as many people as their are cups.

I chose to process this without color to take some of the focus off of the beauty of the cups themselves.  Perhaps I am being a little too introspective with my photos right now.

324/365-2 Give Thanks for Companionship

"Purrfect Pals"

There is no shortage of furry companions around our house.  There was, however, a shortage of those furry companions willing to be photographed today.  I managed this candid shot of Brooke and Frankie.  The cat loves it in the evening when everyone settles down and she can find a cozy spot next to someone where there is the real possibility of a little attention...but not too much.  Frankie did not want to sit on Brooke's lap, or even share the chair with her.  The feline preference was for her own chair, but her own chair that was in reach of her sissy's hand so that continuous head rubbing could happen.  This worked for Brooke as well in that she had a quiet companion while she read.  A win-win situation...the best kind!

270/365-2 Friendly Faces

"Margaritaville"

These two friendly faces happen to be sharing a margarita.  It makes me happy that they get along so well!

259/365-2 The Eyes Have It

'Eyes on the Internet"

256/365-2 Grip

"September Pole?"

In my continuing effort to make sure that a get a photo of both of the girls each month, I had to take advantage of erin's visit today for her September picture.  She agreed to "grip" the pole so that we at least gave a nod to today's prompt.

She is always so easy and a lot of fun to photograph!

I'm sure she is thinking about how much she love her mama!

248/365-2 From Scratch

"Scads of Scones from Scratch"

Brooke spent all day , and night, Friday making cones and teacakes for 120 people for an event being held at the library.  This look has more to do with me shoving the camera in her face than it does having to make 240 scones.

242/365-2 A Different Perspective

"Flower Mandala"

For over six years I have used the practice of drawing mandalas as a form of meditation.  This discipline helped me to keep my head and my heart in the right place during what was a pretty rough period in my life.  When I look back at my drawings from those years, I am transported right back to the time and place in which they were drawn.  When I began drawing mandalas I had no idea that doing so could be or would become such a powerful tool for me.

I still draw mandalas every now and then, but not nearly as regularly as I once did.  Photography has taken their place as my creative discipline.  In the past few weeks, however, I have discovered that there is a way for me to meld photography and mandalas.  The above image is a mandala made from a photo that I took of some flowers on our patio.  I love the image itself, but even more so, I love that it becomes a jumping off point for meditation.  What is this image saying to me?  How is the Creator speaking through it to me?  I am looking forward to continuing my experimentation with turning my photographs into mandalas.

While playing tonight, or is that praying?  Whatever I was doing, I also created this image.  To me it looks like an illuminated "E" and makes me think of my baby, E3 :-)

235/365-2 August Portrait

"Double Header"

For the first time since 1992, no one our house needs back to school clothes.  (Weber and I consider it back to work clothes.)  And now, both of the girls are working.  That didn't keep us from shopping, though.  The girls and I had a nice afternoon at the mall.  We managed to find some pretty good deals!  They honored me with a very quick photo shoot when we got back to the house.

"Erin in August"

"Brooke in August"

Can you tell which one was the more willing participant.

I also had the opportunity to take some photos of one of my favorite people, a student who has also become a very good friend.    

"Sara and Max"

Max, a sheltie rescue, has just joined their family.

222/365-2 On the Brink

"Teetering Troll"

August 10, 2014

It has been a long time since these trolls have been out in public.  Over the weekend we cleaned out the garage, etc. at the house in Denton.  I brought home with me all of the girls' toys that I saved.  I am not one of those mothers that saved every single thing, only those that have weathered the test of time.  When I got these out for the day's photograph Brooke remembered playing with them and we had a little stroll together down memory lane.

I will admit that I had fun playing with this guys as I tried to figure out how best to capture the idea of "on the brink."  It is hard to beat the entertainment created by balancing tessellating trolls atop one another!  

Perhaps I need a real life!

I also photographed the super moon Sunday night.

208/365-2 The Right Tool

"Fingers"

Sometimes your fingers are the best tools around.

Brooke made blueberry and nectarine muffins tonight.  The muffins were much better than my photo!

We are trying to get ready for another trip to Delaware so I didn't have much time ti give to this tonight.

179/365-2 Traditional Attire; June Portrait

"A Natural Bond"

Today's prompt was supposed to be all about portraiture, more specifically, portraiture  focusing on the "tradition; attire" of the subject.   I knew that the structure of today did not allow itself to a dedicated portrait session with anyone and I had no hopes of any interesting traditional attire.

I am still committed to taking at least one shot of each of the girls every month.  It is nearly the end of June and I had not taken photos of either of them yet.  Because we were out of town, I have not seen Erin much during June and Brooke's work schedule makes it a little difficult to get "nice" photos of her.

This morning, we all went out for breakfast followed by a trip to one of the local farmers' markets.  Being amidst all of the fresh fruits and vegetables may not constitute "traditional attire", but it is natural surroundings since we all love our fruits and veggies.  Though I did not take portraits of the girls, I did a few good "street" shots of both of them.

However, rather than play favorites with regard to today's "official" picture of the day, I decided to go with option #3 and use the photo of the sweet little boy, and his goat.  In his jeans and t-shirt and with his long curly hair glistening in the sunlight, I figure this is probably his traditional attire.  I love the bond between him and the little goat.

Erin used to wear hats all the time.  At one point, she had quite the collection.  I'm glad to see them making a comeback.  She can pull off just about any hat you put on her head!

144/365-2 A Vision of Finished

"Moving On Up"

Though she turned twenty-one in December and legally became an adult then, today Erin really "finished" her childhood.  She moved into her first apartment where she signed the lease and is responsible for all of her own bills.  The move is because she has a "real" job with a real salary as a spatial analyst.  

We went over for dinner tonight.  It was funny to see all of the things that she has taken for granted while living at home - a shower curtain, kitchen sponges, spices for the hamburgers.  She, Edgar and Leo are living on the third floor.  This made moving in fun:-)  Leo thinks it is pretty exciting to get to go up and down the stairs to go outside, but his mom and dad didn't like hauling all of the grocery sacks up three flights of stairs.

"Booking It"

Brooke is also about to start a new full-time job.  She has been working part-time at the public library and has just been offered a full-time job with benefits!  She seems to enjoy what she is doing even though it involves interacting with the public all day long.

I am happy that both girls are settling in to new and exciting adventures!

131/365-2 Motherly Love

"Silent Love"

After our big graduation celebration yesterday, we all needed a quiet day today.  

This morning in church the pastor called all of the mothers forward and gave us each a rose.  He offered a prayer for all of us, but did not stop there.  Prayers were then offered for those who have lost their mothers, for those who want to be mothers, and for those who have or had a broken relationship with their mothers.  By the time he was done there were very few dry eyes in the congregation.

Though we had no big family deal today, Brooke did make me a delicious dinner - peach and raspberry stuffed french toast and baked eggs with spinach.  It was perfect!

Truthfully, I don't really need a special "mother's day" celebration because my girls are pretty good to me every day!

I am proud and happy to be the mother to these two!