Sunday...

Sunday...

I am behind again...somewhere I am getting comfy being. The beginning of my week was spent in Baltimore...the roads were clear, the parking lots were piled with snow taller than I...and I know for those who know me you are probably not impressed with the description of height!...all the same, it was amazing to this California Girl...the end of the week was occupied with my MIL having a heart attack, several hours of alone time with Giovanni, and my daughter sharing time with my Father and her son...

Today, I tried to reconstruct the photos that I lost when my G10 went missing in Baltimore. My "system" was off...and I think that the rain and mud in the Logan Steakhouse parking lot claimed my G. I had been shooting down in Hood and Clarksburg on the previous rainy Sunday, and in my haste to pack and set the house, I neglected to download...a mistake I will not make again.

I am now the owner of the G11...by default. I did not realize how much I loved my G10, until I was trying to set the settings on the G11...another one of many electronics that is smarter than I am.

These are my 2 favorites from today...the ladybugs I did not shoot last week, the barn I had. It was interesting to repeat a previous journey...it seemed shorter today...I knew where the exciting views were...and did miss the rhythm of last weeks rain...

New and Old

New and Old

I feel closer to finding my way than perhaps I have ever been. The last days have brought a sense of peace, which I may be disrupting tomorrow...sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

This is a picture I shot on the way home from the beach on Wednesday. Again, I have traveled past this barn many times...and this week I was lucky enough to stop and shoot. I love the combination of the new and the old...and wonder if the next time I pass this way if the new door will be painted to match the old red...

Visiting the Past

Visiting the Past

I took a drive this morning ... curious to see some portions of my past. When Laur was in her early teens we owned a horse. We sold him when she required a spinal fusion to stablize her spine. The 5 years in between were some of the best moments of my life, and I spent hours busing girls back and forth to the barn, watching them groom, wash, ride, tack, clean stalls and just hang out.

Elvis had several homes during the time he was ours...he loved to be outside, and so an indoor-outdoor stall was our preference. As I wandered along country back roads today, I stopped at one of his former boarding Facilities...now empty, gates barely hanging on fences, brushes and buckets scattered in the barn aisle and the back door of the owners home open and swaying in the rain and breeze. The property was completly abandoned, and felt empty and sad.

This is one angle of the barn that I shot this morning...if I listened carefully, I could still here the girls laughing and talking...and the memories made me smile...

Today's Insight

Today's Insight

It seems like everyday brings a new adventure, and new insight. There are days that I appreciate this, and days I do not.

This afternoon I met an internet friend from my Pug Group...she is from Healdsburg and is staying in Sacramento while her pug is undergoing testing/procedures at UC Davis. We spent this afternoon and evening getting to know each other...she is a writer, and photographer...as well as someone who is married to someone she obviously loves very much, is in a happy relationship with, she glows in her own skin...something I dare to hope in quiet moments could be in my future...and something I have taken special care to screw up...up to this point...withdrawing and flight have become my self protective strategy, and now that I have figured this out, I am charting a new route.

One thing I have struggled with is how someone I loved had what appeared to be many "rules" around "things"...this afternoon it gobsmacked me that the very behavior I found difficult was mirrored by me...though my "rules" centered around how a "relationship" was to be conducted...perhaps a toll of a previous experience that was unpleasant and difficult. It feels great to have finally figured this out...and hopeful that I can do better next time...

This is a picture I took Sunday afternoon, as I drove alone looking for that one shot that would make it better...this barn did that to a point...though not a complete "cigar"...

The future is a mystical thing...and it is said it can be whatever you make it. Next on the agenda...what DO I want...and am I brave enough to make it happen...