Today marks the anniversary of our marriage. It also marks the fact that we’ve been with each other for half of our lives…18 years ago in a muggy SoCal fall, John and I met and started this journey together.
John woke me up this morning with breakfast in bed: a thick slice of homemade bread (love the breadmaker with a timer so the bread is piping hot when we wake up!) slathered with fresh butter and a latte just the way I like it.
Joy!
One of the very bestest things about my new home: the windowsill above the kitchen sink. I’ve got an assortment of colorful vases in the sill, putting fresh garden flowers in them each day. The window looks out on to my back porch, which is starting to look a bit less cluttered with boxes and dead plants. It is the perfect place to sit in the evening and meditate by candelight.
Can I just say that I’ve started singing when I wash the dishes? Such joy!
A fellow blogger, Jonathan, photoshopped one of my flower pics and sent it over so I could see what a bit of digital massage could do to brighten up my pics.
I love what he did with this picture (compare it to the original).
For me right now, however, I’m eschewing photoshop for my daily flowers. Why? Among the reasons: I don’t have a lot of time for ‘photoshopping’, I like the challenge of taking pics ‘just as they are’ (I don’t even crop them), and I’m sharing with you just what I saw (although I will admit that the colors are a bit less vibrant then they are in ‘real life.’)
When I was in SLC I met many people who enjoy my photos. Several asked me about my camera, lenses, etc. When I pulled out my teeny little Canon, more than one laughed a bit. Because it’s “not a real camera.” I even borrowed a ‘real camera’ from a friend for a few minutes to try my hand at some ‘real photography’ (thinking that someone beautiful would result). And it was so hard to use–too many bells and whistles and just too heavy to do what I do with mine.
I guess I’m trying to justify the fact that I am lowtech and lowbrow when it comes to photography. Or maybe I just like the instant gratification that comes from using a simple tool (my Canon) in my own simple way. I will probably never be a pro photographer. And I have little aspiration to become such. Because as soon as I become too preoccupied with my ‘technique,’ I lose the intimacy of my garden experience.
So for now it’s just me and my little Canon. Doing what we enjoy most as we spend time in our garden. 🙂
Hey, but ya’ll are always welcome to improve upon my humble efforts!
My big sis owns the home where my father grew up. It’s a thrill to wander around the backyard and to flashback to when grandma and grandpa lived there. The far rear of the back is especially memory-full. There is where grandpa kept his pigeon coop. And there are the remains of an old gate and a hodgepodge of fencing. I suspect it was originally a vegetable garden and was fenced to keep out the family dog. But who knows for sure?
This wee morning glories were climbing on the remnants of the old garden gate. I’m not much a fan of morning glory in my own garden, but seeing it in grandmas reminds me of sitting in the back porch late into the evening, eating watermelon with aunts & uncles & cousins, swinging on the clothesline, and playing lawn darts (always worried that one of the younger kids would get hit).
While I was traveling in SLC, I often arose early in the morning to get to the Sunstone Symposium. I got my batteries charged by snapping photos before driving downtown. This was a pretty flower in my sister’s yard, shown here in the morning light.
Any moment now I will be downloading the gazillions of images off of my camera. But until then, here’s a little lechery for you [note: will be especially appreciated by those who share my hot-Asian-guy fetish].
After a week of family togtherness (aka my family reunion), I’ll be on my own (sans John or the kiddoes) until Friday night. Not sure what sorts of adventures I will have, but I’m sure they will be good ones. [Note: I’ll be spending much of my time at the Sunstone Symposium, so it’s not like I’ll be _totally_ on my own…]
Today I ate cookies for breakfast. How’s that for a nice segue into some solotime??
What page are you on?
Note: click on the photo above to see more photos from the party!
UPDATE: I’m done (10:39 pm)! Whew!
So I am going to start posting a few self-portraits here. To indulge my narcissism. Or, perhaps, to help me to experiment with taking a few pictures of something besides flowers.
I snapped this one in the bathroom mirror just after I returned home from my morning swim. You can see my left ear–the one that had the pre-cancerous birthmark that was removed and regular skin grafted on in its place. I think the doctor did a pretty good job with the surgery, as you can hardly see which parts are grafted and which aren’t. I had this surgery nearly 25 years ago and it’s still quite weird to me that I can’t ‘feel’ my ear at all because of the graft. Just this morning my earring came out as I was towel-drying my hair at poolside and it took awhile for me to get it back in because I couldn’t feel my earlobe at all.
