around the house

(halloween happy-making)

list thirty-seven: currently loving

(number 14)

in no particular order:

1. bright-colored yarn tucked into the cracks of parisian sidewalks

2. small white bowls filled with candy corn

3. extraordinary photography projects

4. street artists who work magic with wheat paste and confetti

5. essie nail polish in light turquoise

6. krylon spray paint in neon pink

7. dances performed in the backs of trucks

8. films that beg to be seen

9. work that inspires again and again

10. sour cherry juice that is not really sour at all

11. brown leather wrist cuffs that never die

12. vintage snapshots that seem tender and brave

13. songs that slip in quietly through the back door and deliver the goods

14. 79 cent thrift store mugs that make everything better

in print

I'm a little late with this but it's still worth sharing. because I worked really really hard on it, I did.



it's my piece on polaroid/instant photography in UPPERCASE magazine (issue ten) and a bit of a love letter to edwin land, the impossible project and just about every polaroid camera I've ever owned.

souvenirs

hello monday, hello friends. I'm over at shutter sisters with with a few words about souvenirs-- those little things you pick up in faraway places, those things you hope will always remind you of magic travels.

brown friday

the most pleasing stack of bricks, maybe in all of gjilan.


the most spectacular cup of macchiato, my very first cup of macchiato. and sort of a big deal, since I don't really drink coffee.


the most awesome co-teacher, ian. artist extraordinaire and a bit of a renaissance man, if you ask me. ian, my friend.

okay so I guess kosovo is sort of coming out in bits and pieces. though I predict the dam will break soon because there's a big fat stack of polaroids I can't wait to share. the biggest fattest juiciest stack.

(the last of poppytalk's autumn color week)

grey thursday

should you find yourself in a crowd of teenagers (particularly albanian teenagers), you'd be wise to whip out a polaroid automatic 100. I found this out the first day we visited one of the schools in gjilan. I took one shot and in a matter of seconds, found myself completely surrounded. the requests came at me from every angle and I shot until I ran out of film. or until it was time to go home, whichever came first.

there's magic in the moment you peel that film apart but even more so when you let them peel that film apart. and the way they look at that photograph and then the way they look at you when you tell them they can keep that photograph. that they can take it home and keep it forever.

I don't think I kept even one for myself. I really wanted to but I just couldn't. felt too good to give them all away.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

orange wednesday

dear colored clothes pins and paint palettes of gjilan, I love you.

on an unrelated note, I think maybe I'm finally coming down from that post-trip high. today has been rough.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

yellow tuesday

I could have spent hours at the market in gjilan. hours and hours. the smells, the sounds. the color. my goodness, the color. I could have spent hours.


frizer për meshkuj= hairdressing for men. there were at least a hundred lovable little details around gjilan like this. ordinary everyday things seem to take on magic properties in foreign countries. what is that?


but really, the nightly workshops we held at the ringjallja center were my favorite. packed to full capacity each night and more albanian teenagers squeezing into that attic space than I thought possible. paper flying and scissors scissoring and paint screaming out color. it made me happy to be alive, I tell you.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

red monday

in a village somewhere between prishtina and gjilan.


inside artist filloreta maliqi's studio. filloreta. fee-lah-reh-tah. is there a prettier name?


around the corner from the hotel: dollar store flowers. er, euro store flowers.

(for poppytalk's autumn color week)

autumn color week

hosted by the ever delightful poppytalk and starting today. if you'd like to play along:

monday: red
tuesday: yellow
wednesday: orange
thursday: grey
friday: brown

for the record, I can't ever seem to say no to color week. not that I'd ever want to but you know what I mean. doesn't matter what I have going on, I will pretty much drop everything when it comes to color week. I am a girl who loves a little color. okay, a lot of color.

am thinking I'll pull select photographs from the kosovo trip (witness above). in hopes that words will follow.

glaciers

something new, something I really really love. listener's newest video directed by my brother nate.

p.s. no small feat, freezing a vintage typewriter in an enormous block of ice. harder than you might think. but worth it, I think. absolutely worth it.

mire dita, mire dita

mire dita= albanian for good day.



I am back from gjilan, kosovo but I am fighting jet lag. I am mostly winning, though. hence the trickle of images you see here.



friends, it was a spectacular week.



life changing, actually.



I don't really even know where to start.



I imagine it'll come in fits and starts. little bits here and there or maybe all at once. maybe it will all come rushing out like water from a broken faucet, I don't know. there are polaroids, there are stories. there are more photographs and probably a few lists. I guess it'll come when it comes.

to all who left kind and encouraging words, thank you. to all who supported me (in so many different ways), thank you. to all who lifted me up in prayer, thank you. I could not have done it without you.