Day 8 - Days like this are good for two things . . .

Today when I arrived home from work, rain was pittering and clouds darkened the sky and my mood. So my day 8 photo reflects a common saying around my house. Days like this are really only good for two things . . .

I hope your evening has been filled with warmth! Blessings!

Day 7 - Pile O' Punkins

So yesterday was my one week mark. I did it! One week down and 51 to go. I can honestly say I have been enjoying this photograph everyday. It's been exciting and freeing to take a bunch of photographs just because I want to. I don't have to make sure every one's eyes are open or that her hair isn't in his face or any of that other stuff that happens during a portrait session. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE all that. Portrait photography is like a natural high to me. People typically start out smiling because the camera is watching, but then they loosen up, and I have the unique privilege of capturing a personality. An essence. Something like that makes you feel like you really get it. This is what binds us together - not the fact that we're all made of the same stuff, but the essence. That quality or feeling or whatever it is that pushes a person to let down their guard and for a brief moment, let the lens see a true smile. A pure laugh. Real family love.
So, as I was leaving Springfield's Washington Park riding such a high after a photo shoot yesterday, I saw this amazing pile of discarded jack-o-lanterns, and - well, I don't know. It was just too awesome for words. I mean really, how often do you see this many used pumpkins?!?!

I know. They are kind of gross. The have flies on them. They probably smell pungent. But they are what they are - roasting in the warm sun on a cool Autumn day - being what they are. We wilt and we fade but we're still what we started out as - essences don't often change.

Stay tuned friends. Today's photo is coming after dinner!

Days 5 and 6 - Weird and Weirder

I didn't manage to post anything yesterday because I was putting together the contemporary service that is happening at my church tomorrow. But rest assured I did take my photograph -

Yesterday's theme was really "just make it to the weekend." Yes! (insert elbow-to-knee move here.) I did reach the weekend so literally, the sky is the limit! Click on this photo so you can see it bigger - there is actually detail in the moon and it is quite beautiful even if I do say so myself.

Today was a little harder. If I thought yesterday strained the edges of credulity (as in "I can't believe this is my life") then today did so even more. It started out pretty great. Waking up without an alarm blaring, cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast, photo session with a friend from work that went really well, gorgeous weather . . . what more could an autumn-loving wannabe photographer want? Well, not lethargy after lunch, I can tell you that. I don't know what it is about me that feels such a need to freeze when I have so much to do. I think really, I had a couple big projects I really wanted to tackle today and felt I had neither the time nor the resources to accomplish them. So I was a couch potato for a while then I worked on some computer stuff and then had a really nice dinner with my dad and Kelly, but it was still a strange and kind of disappointing day. But, on the plus side, here is what I have to make it better -

Behold my day 6 photo. That's Josh. He makes my life better. I don't know how he puts up with me. but he does. (My apologies to Scot - I didn't use your photo today, but I surely will at some point. I'm sorry for making you pose for me needlessly!)

Blessings on your weekend friends! May your travels be safe and your resting restful!

Day 4 - Of Death and Life

Cemeteries have the best trees - have you ever noticed? The branches always seem to stretch gnarly hands across the skies and block out just the perfect amount of light so the shadows playing across the grave stones are properly solemn . . . I did something new today. Since this project is about more than just taking photographs, I decided to branch out and walk over to Carlinville's Calgary Cemetery. Though I have lived here all my life, I had never been to this particular cemetery, and I thought it was about time. I found nothing remarkable there. I had no great epiphanies. We all think about death. I am no different. But as I wondered around all those crumbling monuments to our mortality, I did feel a little peaceful and fairly free. Here is what I made of it --

A Blessed Thursday friends!

Day 3 - Overload

Today has been overwhelming to say to least. Remnants of yesterday's headache mingles with the sinus pressure of changing weather and there I lay - on the war field of my own body's aches and pains. The Need-to's and Have-to's loom above me while the Want-to's cower in the corner and whimper when I change a glance their way.  Ok it probably isn't as bad as all that, but what is an artist if not a tortured soul? Here is my day 3 photo -

A mountain of books to represent the ever-growing treatise of will do and have to do and need to do that has inundated my brain of late. Overwhelming, isn't it? Also, I dropped this pile of books on my shoulder and it really hurt.

Happy Wednesday my friends and a restful night!

Day 2 - So Much Harder than Day 1!

So today was surprisingly more difficult than yesterday on several levels. On the immediate level, it was a little harder to come up with a photo idea today. On other levels, it was harder to get out of bed this morning, I've had a headache most of the day, code yellow on the work-stress-level-threat meter, etc. But on the way home I started thinking about what today was actually about. Josh is having some of his famed "Josh Time" tonight so I it finally hit me that today (and mostly this evening) is about me. So here I am --

 Yep - that's me - green eyes, dork glasses and all. Hi!  So, all about me . . . well, we have all year for that! But I'll give you one fun Ezzy-fact for the day. If I try, I can sing like a sponge monkey. Oh yes. It is as glorious as you are imagining in your head right now.

Enjoy your evenings friends! Love to you all!

Day 1 - October 11

A new adventure. Yes. That's what I will call it. Welcome to day 1 of my project 365! As some of you may know, I chose today to begin this project because it is my wedding anniversary. Only two years ago today, my wonderful hubby Josh and I took the plunge into wedded bliss. And I am so glad we did. Josh is my rock. He takes care of me and puts up with me and, best of all, he really gets me. I am somewhat of a quirky individual and sometimes, quite frankly - I annoy myself. But Josh knows me. He knows what to say when I'm down and how to make me laugh. I have been thinking about him a lot today so in honor of that, I submit Photo Number 1 of 365 -

year ii

year ii

fire by fire

stone by stone

 my world collapses in a heap

of weeping rubble. 

sleep slips past

silently

and insomnia stays my eyelids.

vapid music and unrealistic expectations haunt my

scant and fitful rest as

family and

allies and

friends alike

fade slowly.

all that remains is my 

smoldering circle.

and then like a mirage

 – tremulous and translucent –

you appear.

shaking off the shimmer your arms wrap

tightly around me.

lips as cool as a

mother’s soft hand on a

feverish child’s forehead

press a kiss to my lips and you whisper “it is ok.”

it.

is.

ok.

stones always fall.  

the world is constantly burning.

but when I see you standing there

 and feel your lips

  and arms

   and hands

    and face

     and heart,

nothing else matters.

the world can fade far into the abyss and all is fine

while you are my rock.

Yep. Those are our wedding rings. And the cork is from a bottle of wine we tried to have with dinner. (I say tried to have because we didn't like it. It was Eiswine and it was a beautiful wine, but it tasted like rotten grapes - not fermented grapes and we couldn't drink it. But that's ok.)  And the poem is the poem I wrote for Josh as an anniversary gift. It's all about Josh and I today . . . are you getting that?

Well, ok friends. I will bid you adieu for the evening. Rest well and have a blessed tomorrow!