helter skelter in a summer swelter

it's one of those gray days here where it looks as though it could rain any moment but it just leaves the air heavy and thick.  much like you were trying to breathe slightly thinned peanut butter (organic of course).  i thought maybe we would be blessed with a full rainy day where i could day dream romantic type day dreams as i sit working quietly, but...no.  and the construction across the street seems a bit louder than usual, which might be good as it drowns out the ticking of my wall clock. 

i've been thinking some of the next class theme, which is 'swelter' - a good topic for summer in the south i tell you.  it seems that summer in alabama is the very definition of swelter, which you think of it as meaning 'suffering due to extreme heat'...that is until you try to shoot it.  the shots from last week went over well - it's always interesting seeing what everyone else brings to the mix. 

this shot today is a very old shot - i love the bright blues of the boards covering this old building and the fading paint.  i wish companies still painted logos on sides of buildings.  so many things lost to the tracks of times.  i do wonder what we will miss in 20 or 30 years from now...i don't miss sweater dresses that covered me from head-to-toe or stirrup pants.  i don't miss frizzy perms or my braces.  i'm not even sure that miss rubik cube or members only jackets.  i don't miss high-top reeboks as much as i love my high-top chucks.  i did love the madras plaid shorts but not how big my bottom looked in them.  i never looked right in sweaters tied around my shoulders and a side pony a la chrissy snow never worked for me.  i didn't rock the leotard or leg warmers, but i loved me a torn 'flashdance' sweatshirt and skinny jeans. 

so in 20 to 30 years we will probably miss paperbooks and film...tacile things we can hold in our hands.  will we have the flying cars or holograms that seem real? who knows technology changes within a blink of an eye.  let's hope we won't miss war or poverty, violence or abuse.  and rude people...can we also get rid of rude people?  i'll vote for that.

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today on the ipod - shelter from the storm (bob dylan), king of wishful thinking (go west), beast of burden (rolling stones), sea breeze (tyrone wells), i wonder (chris isaak), interstate love song (stone temple pilots).  how random is that list?  (and probably one of the reasons why i was thinking about old ways)

on my desk - three notebooks:  one for planning, one for notes, one for keeping up with my workgroups.  papers to be filed.  a stapler, a ruler, and post-its.  antique sheet music that i wanted to share with a co-worker that makes cards and a coupon for bed, bath and beyond.

gratitude - rain for the lawn, paydays and a quiet no meeting day.