musings of a melancholic: photographs

Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts

I've returned from my week of self-indulgent rejuvenation provided for me by Mrs. UmberDove. Truth be told, I was originally headed down to be with her as she started chemotherapy, but since our healthcare system is determined to make things as difficult as it can, that has since been postponed. It was a conflicting thing...for I did want to be there as support and distraction during treatment, but it was also so nice for us both that she got to be herself...well, thriving, funny, energetic, inspired...for a week spent with me.

It was interesting, our conversations could be summed up in two buzz words that kept creeping up:

:: INTENTIONALITY ::

:: EASE ::

:: NOTICING ::

JOURNAL ENTRIES
_______

"cloudy. loving it. matches my desire to crawl under the blanket of my life and peak ever so gingerly, vulnerably. Read, Write, Create. Be. Take Photographs."

______

"I wander through the house, taking in the intentionality of each vignette. I find reassurance in them, quiet in them. In her. She, and her things, have always put me at EASE. Stuff. The intentional stuff. This is a definition of home to me."

_______

"The earth is so marvelous. So worthy of staring, gawking, of marvel. We know this as kids, how to we unlearn it? Teenagers. The worst thing a human soul must endure, teenage years. We learn then to marvel at ourselves, our insides, our emotions, our relationships. If we don't come full circle, we're fucked."

_______

"Stumbled into this Finnish Spa...outdoor hot tubs with a cafe inside. Magically, a live folk band plays. A gentleman sitting close...smells of patchouli and unbathed skin, but also smoke and something else intoxicating. The band plays this beautiful exotic Swedish folk song and I feel completely transported."

"I can nap, I can talk or not talk, I can refresh myself as I would alone. Interesting to observe myself letting go and having anxiety about truly relaxing, flashing moments of the fear of boredom when boredom is the bitch I came to pursue."
_______

"Today I skim the surface of the soul. I crave a mindless exercise...a movie perhaps. My many thoughts threaten to delve me into depths of analysis and emotion of which I am simply not capable. I love how we can be separate together as we wander through bookstores and sit in silent reverie."
_______

"Just returned from a five mile picture walk. Have underestimated how I missed her so. I suppose feeling so good about her, in turn, helps me feel good about myself again. If I admire her, then I admire what she admires, so I can therefore borrow her perspective and see myself in a loving way. This is not unlike my saint. This reconnection with her brings me to the version of myself I most love."

_______

"Something the yoga teacher said this morning keeps repeating in my head. Though striving towards betterment is innate to the human soul, we must remember that we are just as we should be right here and now. The product of our striving is not the way towards satisfaction, but being at ease in the moment."

And there you have it folks...a truly sacred week of rest for me.
I ate well, slept well, exercised well, wrote well, and loved well.

It was a very, very long drive home.
But somewhere between the Northern California seaside and the great open fields of Central Oregon,
I put the year to rest
and decided to forgive it
for being so relentlessly wretched.
And thereby forgiving myself for feeling similarly.

To the pursuit of ease,

Mme. visits Umber

If you are more curious than was sated by the above superfluity of photographs, please click your on the above photo album for even more nonsense.

Goodness me! Is it really already Friday afternoon? What a blur of a week. As you may have noticed, I've been concentrating most of my bloggular energies over at mine and Kelly's baby, Pretty, Please...trying to get that off the ground and into the already inundated world of design/professional blogs. There's nothing like hoping, right?! ;) (Feel free to add us to your following list anytime!)

I've also had the immense pleasure of helping Umber with her show this week in promotion as well as the ever-important task of holding little paintings while she hammers in nails. From my perspective, it looked something like this:

And in between these delightful responsibilities, I still had my own life to keep up with...which includes breakfast with Brad and Kelly, lunch with Devon, phone calls with Niki, Jackie, and my sister, drinks with the Gomes, Brian, and Scott, emails with my favorite Plume and favorite Raven, IMing Julie, stroking the belly of my sis Jenn, INCLUDING all of my household chores! PHEW. I am one busy socialite.

It's a damn good life is what it is.

Let there be no mistake about that.

Today, I've spent the majority of this sunny weather outside in my wood shed. Unfortunately for my out-of-shape arms, I was not chopping wood. I was instead staging a photo shoot assigned to me by my brother-in-law (who is DAYS away from meeting his new little girl! we are all on edge waiting for the call!!). I am so happy with some of these sassy pictures and can't wait to share them.

BUT ON TO THE REAL BUSINESS AT HAND!

Joel and I have a new friend and we've been hanging out quite a bit the last few months. He's also our neighbor, so we often have him over for dinner and he shares his tasty scotch with us! Well, I had mentioned that Joel was NOT a U2 fan, and how I was so bummed because they are coming to Seattle this summer, and I've not as yet had the pridvlege of seeing them live.

TOTAL SIDE NOTE HERE:

All music taste aside...I'm in the habit of honoring the nostalgic loves of my musical history, and U2 can still make me cry with songs like "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," and "All I want is you," (and about six million other songs), and though I don't listen to them very much anymore, I will always love them deeply. Therefore, they are on my LIFE GOAL list of live performances to attend...

along with Madonna and Radiohead.

Judge me.

It's really okay.

I can handle it.

MJ was on that list too.

Moment of silence.

There. Thanks for hopping down that rabbit trail with me!

ANYWAY...I was moaning about not being able to go because the saint CANNOT STOMACH Bono...and do you know what my new friend Scott did? He upped and purchased us KICK ASS SEATS for their June concert...which is right around my 32nd bday! I am rather elated!!!! He JUST told me last night at the art show, and I've been giddy ever since. Positively light as air.

Speaking of the art show!

And even more

HERE!

I am so proud of this gal...as if you couldn't tell.

There is such liberty in being one of her cheerleaders (the real kind, not the pretend to be kind),

such deeply rooted admiration...

because there is something in it that means if she can do it...maybe I can too.

Be an artist, that is.

And live like it.

Happiest of weekends, darlings. I'm cooking up a yummy dinner tonight and also headed out to the city tomorrow night for drinks with the gang. I hope this weekend, be it busy or quiet, is exactly what the doctor ordered for you.

~CRM

Happiest of evenings to you, fellow survivors of the yule-log cheer:

I write to you fireside this quiet eventide. The saint and I both recline with hot tea and our feet sharing a stool, laptopping to our heart's gluttonous content. I feel a snack inclination and I imagine we'll head into the media room to continue 30-Rocking here soon, but I wanted to share my greetings. I truly must have the most blessed life, for my advent seasons are not very stressful (I'm gathering it's because we are very much still the children in our family and don't do a whole lot of work to pull of Christmas). Joel and I always do our own thing on some random day, and it's full of tradition all our own. I feel proud to have our family firmly established in these joys before we actually procreate.

By the way, there is no procreating on the agenda for 2010, I must regret to inform all of those nosy enough to ask and all those polite enough not to.

Ah, I digress.

Let's move on, shall we?

So, January is just around the corner, and after my post-champagne coma to come, I would like to propose January's 12-month challenge, which is to say, I will be hosting another photo community gathering on Flickr! So get ready.

For the entire month of January, I would like to invite you to participate with me as I take photographs and share them. The theme will be "Daily Bread"...that which brings us nourishment...be it bread, beer, or bologna...I want you to take a picture of any meal or food or drink or snack with the intention of honoring that which nourishes your physical body throughout the day. This group shall be silly and serious, meaningful and light-hearted, professional and casual.

Please go HERE if you would like to join...

Rules for "DAILY BREAD"

YOU MAKE YOUR OWN RULES (but if you need external rules (like MEeeeeE), here are a few suggestions:)
Take 1 photograph per day - No need to set up photo shoots, the goal here is to get a glimpse into our everyday lives, our everyday souls, even if it's plain grilled cheese every single day.
Upload it to your Flickr account.
Add the photo to the group pool here.
Comment on the other pictures as you see fit.

And that's pretty much it!
So, WHOSE IN?

Also, in case you are curious, the blog community I follow

has been doing these photo gatherings for quite some time...

you can see them HERE, HERE, and HERE.

JOIN ME!
crm

I am a snail of a lady...often fighting off lethargy and physical apathy.
I am an owl of a lady...often in the shadows, quietly observant, aloof and wise.
I am a willow...a rooted beauty swaying in the breeze.

I live life slowly.
I know this about myself. I have only just accepted my pace without the shame of this American life. I have bitten back when the bug of productivity tries to prostitute my worth. But this last summer, oh my...it has been a busy one. Truly, one of the best summers was never had, but it has been SO packed with lots of social gatherings with lots of people.

I don't do groups very well.
Correction: I don't enjoy groups very well.
The bubbling cauldron of everyone's issues mucking and mixing together burns my soul to the core.

That being said, I can do groups if I've managed to have approximately 1.5 tons of solitude. I am a solitude whore; an alone-time glutton. Though I have been able to fill my solitude tank to the brim, I noticed that since early July it has been rapidly depleting. It totally, fully caught up with me.

So this last week and weekend, I decided no groups. It was a good decision and by no means an antisocial one. I was able to see almost all of my friends on a one on one intimate basis. And this weekend? The first weekend with no big event. Oh so nice.

We went to Mom and Dad's house both days this weekend and stopped at yard sales, picked berries off the wild branches, took naps on a bright yellow blanket, ate too much pasta even WITH the smell of blackberry cobbler cooking, clipped dahlias, cuddled with Abbey, squeezed fresh limes, smelled tomato plants, and just rested, rested, rested.