New Skills

Christmas baking is underway and this house smells like gingerbread.  This is my first foray into rolled and cut cookies as well as (gulp) attempting to decorate them.  Practice with Royal icing is about to commence.  Thankfully these cookies are destined to be ornaments and not edibles.

It's always good to learn new skills.

Speaking of new skills, my two portfolios; Abitazione and Farms and Barns are going on sale this weekend at the Carmel Visual Arts Center in, well, Carmel.  These portfolios are sets of small to tiny photos contained in the above boxes.  It doesn't matter if they sell or not, I'm enjoying working on expanding the portfolios.  I've fallen intrigued with the small photo collection in a box format and will continue with these cherish-able photo findings.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

No Crystal Ball Available

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings and The Gathering Storm...Prophetic?  Ah, Life...

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Groundless Roots: a melting pot story

I've joined a women's photography group.  The focus is on using photography as an art form. Our first assignment was "Origin".  I thought I'd go with the melting pot theme. Groundless Roots refers to our all having roots, or ancestors, but in a melting pot society many of our cultural roots have washed away. We have no passed down traditions. Sometimes, without them we can feel lost or disconnected.  I had a friend who was Chinese.  One evening she decided to prepare chicken for dinner.  We were young, both just having our first place of our own. She pulled out a neat, compact looking little cleaver and with just a few practiced chops she had that chicken in five pieces.  She ruefully said, "All the women in my family cut up a chicken the same way.  Even the cleaver is Chinese".  It was the first time that I realized my family had no traditions. No one taught anyone else how to do something "the way we've always done it".  It was my first feeling of having no roots, no cultural identity.

My friend felt tradition was a trap, it was stuffy, it somehow lessened her feeling of independence.  I think it is like knowing the rules so you know how to break them.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Still being lazy...

Pulling random shots from the past year starting with my friends' beautiful cats.

We remember Buddy Webster

Schilling

Maya

And favorite walks at the beach

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

What I'm working on...

Besides learning photography I'm also working on a couple of cardigans for myself.  I was going to say "one for winter" but the summers here can be quite chilly and damp. A nice soft wool sweater can feel pretty darned good on a cold, foggy July evening.  But, just in case this weather continues to prove so much warmer than our normal, I have a summer sweater on the needles too.

A perfect moment is when I can combine photography with the knitting.  They've been keeping going along with all my dear, dear friends.

So, a little burst of color amid my favorite black and white images.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 2/3/15

My friends are touring India and sent this picture from Nepal this evening.  Oh so gorgeous!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 1/10/15

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Today 1/3/15

First Gathering without v went very well.  Surprise!

In bocca al lupo. m (no v)

Today 1/2/15

I'm changing from "This Morning" to "Today" since I don't always want to shoot in the morning. I want to shoot whatever strikes me as telling whatever story I need to convey that day without time constraint.  A lot of what I look at is in my home because home is now a new frontier for me.  These photos are a photographic diary of my life after v.  I'm still, after ten months today, trying to find my way around my life.  I am happy and devastated almost every moment of the day.  I miss him with every breath I take but am easily distracted by delights.  I have always been blessed with amazing friendships and a belief in magic.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

This Morning 12/13/14

Well, this morning is last night.  I had the pleasure of, once again, photographing the winter concert for one of the local community college bands.  And he's holding my (this year's) favorite Christmas music.  I look at this shot and think about the fact that just about everywhere, at least in the Western world, there are people coming together for celebrations of one holiday or another.  A very fragile blanket of peace.

In bocca al lupo. m (no v)

This Morning 11/29/14

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

This Morning 11/25/14

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

This Morning 11/20/14

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Mornings 11/18/14

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

My Family and Home Life

I've spent a few days working on the upcoming My Dog Spot Photography web site.  I have such a headache!  I am amazed at all the new things I need to learn and even more amazed that I learn any of it.  What is the best of all that comes out of this is the amount of support I'm getting from my friends and associates.

So much has happened in my life since I decided on the title of this blog, or more to the point, the sub-title of this blog: a home and family life, and not necessarily blood ties.  It's good I added that.  At the time it was because v and I had such a small family: we were the two of us and r, his beautiful daughter, in Portland, Oregon.  Now it is just r and I and that extended family of non-blood ties.  Home life is me and my two cats and the succession of possums that come by in the evening for a small snack in reward for keeping the garden organic and snail free.

Home life is my circle of friends; a friend who would come by a few evenings a week to help break the new and crushing silence that had become so rare in this house since v moved in those years ago. With her help I've eased into the rhythm of my own movement and the sound of my thoughts.  It is my kind and thoughtful neighbor dropping by to see how I am and to share his own small business adventures and woes (please remember Fog's End Distillery's Monterey Rye and California Moonshine!). Another neighbor who has taken the time to attend to my apple trees. It is the daily emails with the reconnected life-long friend now in Georgia, the morning texts from my oldest friend still in Southern California, and the wonderful letters from a dear, dear friend in Pennsylvania who also lost her husband way too early--another gentle, loving, and passionate Italian... lucky us! My weekly connection to the aquarium and my new, but no less dear friends, who have become a part of that non-blood family. Home life is my two cats, one sweet and one crabby (there always has to be a balance).

And now home life is about re-inventing myself and trying to succeed with a new endeavor.  Fingers crossed!

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

World Series (Go Giants!)

It's World Series time and the Giants are in it!  This household has no television but v and I found we preferred to listen to the games on the radio.  That way we were free to do everything else we wanted to do.  When v was here we played a lot of chess during games, or hung out in the garden, or worked in the kitchen.  Baseball is the only sport I follow anymore.

In preparation for launching a web site in, hopefully, the near future, I've just registered my domain name.  I will keep you posted as business progresses and for when I take it "live".  A new venture.  It's very scary.  If all I ever get out of it is the knowlege of how supportive my circle of friends are it will be worth it.

But in the meantime: the series is tied up 1-1 and resuming tomorrow in San Francisco.  My ears will be glued to the radio once again at 5:00 pm PST.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Apple Season

It's apple picking time.  I have three apple trees that I planted when I first bought this little Victorian.  Since they are planted in the front garden they are frequently visited by passers-by who have always been welcome to take an apple or two in passing.  My neighbors have also been invited to enjoy an apple when they'd like, or even enough for a pie if they felt like it.  Our next door neighbors, however, took this to an extreme one year and cleaned the trees nearly bare.  That year v and I ended up with only one ripe apple for ourselves.  I had a little chat with the man who we'd observed retreating from our trees, full 5-gallon bucket and muck rake in tow, more than once that season.  Since then all has been well.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Kitchen Conversations

Just more playing at the table.

I have had two of the most soul-satisfying conversations with old friends this evening. Just talking about love, loss, creativity, and the lives we live.

In bocca al lupo.  m(no v)

Friends

More from the studio...

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

The Conductor

The conductor was standing directly under the lights. I couldn't resist the shadow shot and silhouette of her legs.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)