Sunday, February 28, 2010

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.

11 comments:

Gayle said...

What great things you found in your basement! I have a bad habit of tossing things and then later wishing I hadn't.

Your images are so wonderfully warm and sunny! That sounds like a fun weekly photo challenge!

S. Etole said...

sounds like an interesting project ... both the basement and the colors

Jewels said...

Ugh, the basement.

That sounds like a fun group!! I'm sure it will give you inspiration :)

ELK said...

you were deep in memories i can tell. i am so happy to see the colors and sunlight side by side

ps it is rare to have basements here. attics...now thats another story!

Char said...

what beautiful happy memories. i loved seeing the treasures.

Woman in a Window said...

Your blanket is beautiful and so too the things your mother kept for you. I've been thinking about this too, trying to anticipate what is special and what can be shed. I'm finding it very difficult to be surrounded by so much stuff but I do have a slight fear of getting rid of too much. Just stuff, I remind myself. The memories hold. (But I've not let loose a box yet.)

xo
erin

georgia b. said...

giggle... i sort of did what you did, and sort of the opposite. i got rid of stuff, but all from the upstairs... a clean sweep of my home. but what did i do after that? i took the many bags i filled with stuff, and put it in the basement. but no worries. it's all to go when spring comes and it is warm enough to have a garage sale. then my basement will be empty, too.

LOVE LOVE LOVE your boots!

Jaime said...

Oh, that sounds like such a fun project! Not the basement cleaning (it's amazing how much time can pass when you are doing an activity like that and get lost in old memories) but the crayola thing! What a wonderful way to explore color through the lens. Have fun!!

Dawning Inspiration said...

Great lighting - love them boots!

d smith kaich jones said...

I admit that the word warm brought me here this morning - it was cold last night and my heater is still not working. Bless you for warming me up with these lovely images. :)

And what a great idea for a group!

xoxo
Debi

Relyn Lawson said...

That group sounds wonderful. I am feeling inspired to check it out. I say don't toss too much, and photograph everything else before you toss it. It's not the same, but sometimes a photograph really is enough.

footnote

The photos on the left are taken by me, Leslye, the mother. The photos on the right are taken by my daughter, Taylor – unless otherwise noted. Comments are always welcome. thanks
If you care to visit, I, Leslye, have another blog - AutumnSun where I ramble around different paths and pleasures of my own.