found

this is why photos are amazing.

it’s not just because one of my family members so aptly captured this little cutie — a darn adorable toddler ME!, if i do say so myself — but because my mom found these two photos in a stack of photos that ended up at my aunt’s after my great aunt died several years ago, and my mom had never seen these photos of me before. “it’s weird to come across photos of your child that you’ve never seen before,” she said. and so frickin’ cool, i thought, when she handed them over to me.

it’s like a little forgotten bit of my beautiful life — remembered!

cloudy skies

hi.

here’s a shot from the cloud-covered bathroom at the house where we stayed at dillon beach. i rather liked it in there. there was a skylight too. of course, there was.

it’s cloudy skies around here today too. but more the expansive gray kind that drizzles.

in case you missed it, there’s a *new* this joy+ride, issue #53, featuring gorgeous photos + words from tara o’brady of seven spoons.

dreaming of camp shutter sisters … i want to go!


more practice

oh 2011, the year i contemplate, obsess over, and seek focus for my creativity. again.

don’t get me wrong. i’ve found and been a part of many small creative projects that excite me over the last year. however, creativity is like a hungry little monster. it always wants to be fed. and it’s one insatiable little bastard.

and the difference between that creativity and everything else in my life? if i don’t feed it, it doesn’t cry, it doesn’t whack its brother or act out at preschool, it doesn’t fire me, it doesn’t turn off my electricity, it doesn’t email or call, it doesn’t stand before me. instead, emptiness happens. inside. a hole inside. a nothingness. and how badly can nothingness hurt really? oh, let me count the ways…

so all i know today is i’m going to try to rededicate myself to blogging again (you know, now that blogging is so passé). i just need a place i can come to and place and spin my creative thoughts and ideas and stories and inspirations. and maybe most of all, i need a place that beckons me, calls me back, and reminds me when i’m down and out about the types of things that can bring me back around. yoohoo, remember me, your lonely ol’ blog?

yes, i’m hoping for magic. and i don’t even care if that’s crazy.

i don’t know where i’m going or how long it will last or how long it will take for me to find my way (to ira glass), but i need to do something here and now. before i spontaneously combust.

in 2011, more writing for myself here (to separate the gallons of writing i do for my day job), more birdplace, more photos, more music, a little learning, and more slow morning jogs even if i never run farther than 1.3 miles at one time…

ed gave me an instax mini 25 camera for christmas, but as you can see above, i need lots more practice. (dang thing won’t let you shut off flash either — and always wants to flash).

anyway, hope you’ll stop by occasionally while i try to keep my monster fed and get some much-needed creative practice in. please share your creative secrets and your magic tricks too.

blue dress

blue dress

on this day, i was wearing a blue dress.

before that and since then, the days have sort of melded together. life is just ticking past, and i’m afraid i’m not living in the moment very often. always running — in my mind or around in my life.

i need to practice slowing down. sitting still. dreaming again.  or i’m afraid i’ll wake up one morning and not recognize myself.

i miss writing here. so much.

brimming

CameraBag_Photo_1043

all i know right now this minute is i want to write.

i want to write and write and write. i have so much to say and and explore and report and share. i hope march and springtime bring me back to writing here. i hope, i hope.

feeling really really grateful today. life is good.