warm / bright

solo post - L, Nikon

I woke up Saturday with the great ambition of cleaning my basement. I made some progress but got side-tracked quite a bit. I found things I thought were missing, things that I had forgotten about and things I wondered why I had kept in the first place. It was fun in a lot of ways, but a chore in other ways - something that had to be done. I found photos of friends from my college days, letters written to my parents from college, journal books from a trip to Germany and Prague, sweet drawings from Taylor's childhood, a weaving that I had made some 30 years ago, stuffed animals that Taylor loved for a time, Easter dress I made for her and but there are other toys and clothes that never were really special in the first place. I threw out some stuff and gave some things to Good Will, but more than not I found stuff I just couldn't let go of yet. It's all still too much. Every time I attempt the basement I get rid of more and more stuff, become less and less sentimental it seems - I just hope I never become too practical and get rid of things I'll one day regret. I know that I'm glad my mom held on to the things she did. She still has an old doll I made one day after school. She's made out of pantyhose, stuffed with cotton, buttons for eyes a zipper sewn on for the mouth. Story goes that I was always getting in trouble in the second grade for talking too much and my teacher would tell me to "zip my mouth". (To this day I am considered quite shy). Mom kept a little brown gingham dress she made for me in kindergarten (I can still remember wearing that little dress and feeling pretty in it). ANYway, it's a hard thing to know what to keep and what to toss. But some things are stored in boxes that should really be used and the blanket I wove on my loom was one that I brought upstairs. I could use it to keep my feet warm while reading a book.

On another note: the sunlight was glorious this weekend so I took advantage of it for a few photos. I also joined a fun group on flickr called "sixty-four colors". They choose a Crayola color each week and it is our mission to find it and take a photo of it during that week. I even bought a new set of crayons when I was at Office Depot for inspiration. I just joined so I was behind by a few weeks. I had fun going back through my photos and trying to find the color of the week. Funny I found many of them in the correct week, or close to it anyway. I look forward to playing with this group. It will be sort of like going on a color treasure hunt. This week the color is called Timberwolf - it's a soft warm gray.

mind / mirror

L - Canon / T - Nikon


“Maturity is that time when the mirrors in our mind turn to windows and instead of seeing the reflection of ourselves we see others.”

the way i saw it / the way she saw it

photo by Leslye, Canon / concept by Taylor

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story." -Linda Hogan

Taylor was home this past weekend. One of the reasons she came home for was to have an interview with an art school here in Atlanta called "The Creative Circus". She learned alot about their 2 yr program in hopes of attending there after her graduation from UGA. It sounds like a wonderful place to further her education and she was so excited about it she'd like start right away. Of course I'm encouraging her to get her BA first and then attend.
As long as she was in Atlanta, of course she came home to see me. And of course we went on some photo adventures. She had a project that she was working on for photography class and her concept was to create 'rooms' in the openness of nature. I was lucky enough to get to assist her. The bedroom we built right in our backyard and boy did we get some curious onlookers. The desk photo above was taken down by the river. All of the others (she will have 6 or 8 film images in all) she is creating at different locations in Athens. It was a lot of work but we had fun working on this together. Taylor even tried out the bed in the ivy and said she could have definitely fallen asleep there - the 65º warm day was just right for a nap in the sun.



preliminary photos by Taylor - film camera

i feel like i'm creating my own little "reality" by doing these types of photos. yeah, they're neat when you look at them in person without a camera. but when i look through the viewfinder, the frame closing around my space, it's like i'm the only one who is able to experience what i'm seeing. it becomes a secret place and one that only i might live in- with whoever i choose, of course!

it's just around the corner - really

solo post - L, nikon (March 3, 2009 and March 18, 2009)

I started out tonight with two photos - one on top of a budding tree and one on the bottom of the same tree with snow covering those buds just 2 weeks later. They were photos from one year ago - the first one this same date, February 19 last year , and the snow one 2 weeks later on March 3. That seemed sort of discouraging. So I changed my mind about that approach. I kept looking just a few weeks later to see what I could find and found a different set of photos to use. I found this to be true: just two weeks after the snow photos there were photos on March 18th of Taylor at school having a picnic on green, green grass in a sleeveless dress! and there were photos of daffodils at the market and forsythia in full bloom and redbud trees bursting with purple. So when the temperatures reach 63º Sunday I should try not to get over anxious for spring - packing away the winters clothes, and not get discouraged when the temps dip once more into the 20s, but I should know that in about a month, in all probability, spring will be here in full color. That pop of red that the cardinal brings against the gray background of winter will be replaced with pops of yellows and purples against bright greens of spring and I will be able to shed the sweaters and feel the sun on my bare skin soon enough. Spring really is just around the corner.
I wonder what you find in your photo library in March of last year?

sharing

solo post - L

I have no photos of my own today. So today I'm sharing a photo I received from my brother this morning. He said there was a robin convention going on at his house. He had photos of them eating the berries off of his holly bush, birds in flight, birds with berries in their beak, etc. It was like I was there and could hear the bird song. I've heard people talking about seeing a lot of robins in their yard . I suppose many of us are more than anxious for spring to arrive and that the birds are giving us that hopeful sign.
Taylor called me this morning and told me about a new photo assignment she has. It sounds interesting and as always I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I love that she shares it with me and bounces her ideas off of me. And how I love the iphone now that it can receive photo text messages. She sent me this photo via text message to share the great location she found for her photo shoot. It looks like a great spot to me.

lovely

solo post - L

I hope your day was filled with many sweet and wonderful things - all things that made you feel special and loved. You are special to me.

snowgirl / snowangel

L - Nikon / T - Nikon

This is what fun in the snow in the south in February looks like - from atlanta to athens.

20 years of joy

solo post - L

Someone on FB wished me a happy day today, as well as Taylor. And I appreciate that. I think this is as much my day for celebrating as it is hers. My daughter has brought me more joy than I could have ever imagined possible. So I celebrate this day she came into my life 20 years ago.

When they told me I had a baby girl I wasn't really surprised but when they said, "and she has beautiful red hair!" I couldn't believe it. I always imagined I would have a quiet little girl with soft brown curls. Never in a million years did I imagine I would have a red head. I thought, "are you sure she's mine?" Yes, she's my daughter. And she isn't quiet like me (but for this I am glad). She has some of my traits (hope the good ones), and some from her dad, and I guess from someone generations back who had red hair. In her 20 years she has grown from guidance and support from both sets of grandparents, gained knowledge from many, many teachers, matured through friendships and heartbreaks - learned to stand on her own two feet in more ways than one and has developed into a beautiful young woman inside and out.

Taylor you are uniquely wonderful and strong, a most loving daughter, and I thank God for you every single day.

received / given

photos by L

Today I received a cute little valentine "flower" (one of the guys here made them for everyone). It reminded me of Valentine's day growing up. I always loved Valentine's day as a child - the giving and receiving of homemade cards and candy gathered in "mail" boxes decorated with hearts of all sizes. I remember in first grade I had a little boyfriend who delivered a heart-shaped box of chocolates to my house. It made me feel so special. Through the years there was rarely that special someone to share Valentine's day with but it didn't really matter, I truly did enjoy the making and giving of gifts more. It's still true today. So in the spirit of younger years, this year I made my co-workers a little special valentine ball filled with candy and placed it on their desks. I hope it will make them smile and remember their childhood days of getting that cute little card with the bumble bee on it saying, "Honey Bee Mine"./

every year at my middle school we would make little mailboxes for valentines that other people in the class would give out- conduits for candy if you will. i remember one year that i made an awesome box that looked like fluffy white couch and on top of it i put two valentine bears that my nana had given me. i always had the most "artsy" box in the class because my mom and oma would always help me out. i think i still have the box somewhere. but it's funny how what i remember from that valentine's day celebration, and almost every one in grade school, is making the box with my mom, not any of the little gifts i might have received or words that were exchanged.

read / re-read

L - Canon / T - film sp

I do like to read but I don't always pick out books that keep my attention. Lucky for me I have a nice library right in my office complex and can check out the latest releases and just swap them out if they don't pull me right in - some books just don't. Both of these books sounded interesting - I had just read an excerpt from them on npr.org so I checked them out today and will see if one grabs me.

I don't re-read books very often but I have a few that I enjoyed enough to re-read. Taylor on the other hand re-reads often. In fact she told me she had recently re-read "The Road" and is now re-reading "The Bell Jar". What about you? Is there a book you enjoy over and over again? / i'm re-reading the bell jar by slyvia plath.

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet." – chapter seven

where i've been

solo post - L, Nikon

I drank in the blue sky, then closed my eyes... Stretch, float, fly.

More to come on autumnsun08.blogspot.com - hopefully sooner than later.

spring or winter

solo post - L, Nikon 50mm

Early spring? More winter? I'm fine with more winter.

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. ~George Santayana

porky / pig

solo post - L, Canon Powershot

I took a little road trip on Saturday looking for snow. Silly me - soon found out it was a wild goose chase. But it wasn't all a waste. I stopped for the best BBQ around. This place is a little piece of roadside Americana - seriously it's internationally recognized. Poole's Bar-B-Q , in Ellijay, GA, is a must stop if you happen to be in the area. Tasty BBQ and the Pig Hill of Fame.