sunday night

and the house is quiet. (five words I have come to love)

the doing

"but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. this is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. there is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. and I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

anna quindlen

for the record

I'd like to have this much baker's twine at my disposal. at all times.

serious joy

excited to announce I'll be teaching at the oregon coast this spring at the joy retreat-- alongside the amazing mati rose mcdonough and tracy benjamin. painting! polaroids! cooking! all oceanside. pretty much my dream retreat.

in my workshop, we'll be playing with polaroid-- experimenting with a variety of cameras and film. from the classic SX-70 to the beautiful beast that is the automatic 100, from sweet integral film to the joys of peel apart-- we'll be playing with color and light. and we'll be looking at what it means to really slow down and compose with intention. mati's workshop is all about paint and collage, about color, play and spontaneity-- with good music and breaks for strawberries and dark chocolate. tracy's workshop is all about finding joy in cooking-- with hands-on demonstrations, an actual herb and spice lab, quick lessons in food photography and the collaborative preparation of a final feast. I'm telling you, every time I read their workshop descriptions, I die.

registration is open, peoples! march 30th? it can't come too soon.

hello tuesday

the word over at words to shoot by is 'polaroid'. and you know how I feel about polaroid.

that's all, folks

it's the end of another awesome 'roid week.

p.s. checkit, a few of my favorites from the week are over at poppytalk.

p.p.s. for the record, becky-- the word 'roid still makes me laugh every time I read or write it too.

still more

let me tell you a little something about wonder bread-- their product may be crap but their logo is ace. I grew up on wonder bread and I guess I turned out okay. though I suppose that is debatable. my sicilian grandfather used to take bright white slices of wonder bread into his toffee-colored hands and ball them up until there was nothing left but small starchy globs. dough! he'd bark. nothing but dough! and he was right, of course. my grandma baked fresh loaves each week so when it came to bread, my grandpa knew what time it was. he was on to the wonder bread scam. grandma's bread was the real stuff, the good stuff-- bread substantial enough to hold a whole mess of grape jelly or fat slabs of lunch meat without completely falling apart, yet soft enough to melt in the mouth. it was the kind of bread ideals are built on. the scent alone had the power to alter moods, therefore, the course of any given day. in my family, we still talk about this bread. we dream about it. we probably always will.



I drive by the wonder bread outlet and often think of this. I think about how much I love the sign, how I much want to take photographs of it. I circle around the block but am usually too lazy to stop and get out of the car. the other day, I stopped and got out of the car. and then there's this photograph of ava-- taken over the summer at my mother-in-law's neighborhood swimming pool and I think about the moment right after I took it. after counting the recommended 90 (or 100 or whatever) seconds while the picture developed, I slowly peeled back the paper to reveal the image. and I was filled with wonder.

more

I'd like to clone: giant ice cream cones and people like joy madison.

('roid week continues)

it's so on

'roid week, it's on. day two's offerings included a little 82nd avenue something plus some clouds that totally upstaged the del rancho. and that is not an easy thing to do.



more from day two: my friend, the incomparable jon madison.

also in full swish: nablopomo. only three days in but still. I consider that a personal triumph.

polaroid week!

folks, there's a lot to say about san francisco-- about the show, the workshop and how completely terrific it all was. the truth is that I'm still processing the whole thing. I think maybe I still can't believe it all really happened. because I'm telling you, it was that good.



in the mean time, there's fall 'roid week. I'll be contributing to that daily and then will probably yammer on and on about it. and it's november, which can only mean one thing-- nablopomo. each november I try to post every single day. I'm not usually successful but I try. ever year, I try. fortunately, there's a lot to talk about-- san francisco, the list, my new (old) camera, future workshops, an amazing quilt, an extra special necklace, motherhood, and the end of my thirties. plus maybe seventeen other things.

actually, I don't want to talk about the end of my thirties. but I probably will anyway.

list twenty-nine: halloween costumes I have worn

here's what I remember:

1. gypsy, age six (vague but extremely pleasant recollection of large gold clip-on hoop earrings)

2. wonder woman, age seven (boxed costume from the drug store complete with classic plastic mask)

2. chorus line girl, age eight (only girl in the elementary school halloween parade wearing black patent stillettos)

3. ballet dancer, age thirteen (thinly veiled excuse to wear pointe shoes out in public)

4. belly dancer, age seventeen (first rented costume and I'll not lie-- it was spectacular)

5. hippy flower child, age eighteen (a costume built around the most awesome thrifted red and white striped bell bottoms)

6. cat in the hat, age twenty-one (with ward as a very literal interpretation of green eggs and ham)

7. crazy mary, age twenty-three (one wrinkled vintage dress plus one cheap ratty blonde wig worn a tad askew plus bright red lipstick smeared around the mouth and you've got yourself one crazy mary)

7. fifi the french girl, age twenty-six (my apologies to the french for the stereotype)

8. sunflower, age twenty-eight (face paint, so much face paint)

9. really lame butterfly creature, age thirty-four (omg, so lame)

10. pink floyd, age thirty-seven (pink wig plus pink clothes plus a name tag that read 'hello, my name is floyd')

11. boom boom corrona, roller derby queen, age thirty-eight (I do not recommend wearing official roller derby skates to a party-- or any roller skates to any party, for that matter)

12. cotton candy, age thirty-nine (fifteen yards of pink tulle netting, one pink wig, one large paper cone hat and voila: itchiest costume ever)

oh san francisco

looking at last december's polaroids of san francisco and I am giddy.

photobooth friday

so last december, I took a little trip to san francisco to see what I could see and visit the people I love. one of the things that happened while I was there is that leslie and I finally got our photobooth strip. after two years and several failed attempts, we finally got our photobooth strip. at a vintage shop on haight street (no less) and not before we tripped the power circuit two, maybe three times and shut down the power on our side of the store. I'd like to think it happened because we were just so stunning and electric that the photobooth freaked out and shut down. though I'm pretty sure it was because said photobooth was old and the wiring in the store was wack. but whatever, I'm going with option A. a little fantasy never hurt anyone.

anyway, I'm excited for next week-- for the show, the workshop, for san francisco. and I'm excited to see the people I love. the countdown is so on.

list twenty-eight: things to do this fall

1. paint nails burgundy.

2. photograph spiderwebs.

3. make self sick on candy corn.

4. ride bike down tree-lined streets.

5. make butternut squash soup.

6. purchase cayenne-colored scarf.

7. fill buckets with apples and pears.

8. hit the big tree swing.

9. build the season's first fire.

10. resurrect vintage brown clogs.

11. score big at school carnival cake walk.

12. hit rasmussen's farm.

13. dig into sufjan's new one.

14. make things with leaves.

15. carve pumpkins.

16. mull cider.

17. bring out the pink wig.

18. watch halloween with that guy I like..

19. bake banana bread.

20. bake more banana bread.

21. plan imaginary overnight train trips.

22. cut the last of the cosmos.

10.10.10

on the tenth day of the tenth month of 2010, we found ourselves in the hospital. everyone is okay-- namely ezra, who was having great difficulty breathing saturday night. I do believe the whole ordeal shaved a year or two off my life. I'd planned to take a photograph on this most auspicious day and while I never saw the whole emergency room thing coming, that's how the day went down.

10.10.10: sunday afternoon after the worst of it was over. kids playing on the hospital bed, the cot I slept in, ward's crossed legs. thank goodness for big purses where cameras are thrown in and forgotten about until you really need them. thank goodness for terrific doctors and nurses and thank goodness ezra is okay.