pockets

this shot - taken with my iphone is at the navy pier in chicago.   

a lot of things have been on my mind lately - kindness, little irritations, if a ladybug is always a lady or does she get a little wild on the weekends, magnolias and gardenias getting ready to burst forth, the love of a family..........you know, this and that.

i've decided that i can be kinder, slow my pace, listen better and probably even eat better.  i can rid myself of negative thoughts better and be braver.  i can work to notice miracles and good things and not be so critical of others.  i could be more forgiving and patient...maybe even smile a bit more.  dispense hugs more often. 

i don't do all of these things often enough and today i want to remind myself that all of these things are possible...maybe i need to keep a card in my pocket.

what would you keep in your pocket?

today on my ipod:  tell me true (sarah jarosz), that's where it's at (sam cooke), empire state of mind (alicia keys), if i die young (the band perry), i and love and you (the avett brothers), happy (sister hazel), hard to please (the weepies), constant craving (k.d. lang), doctor my eyes (jackson brown), dreams (brandi carlisle)

when good film ....

gets hacked up by a photographer that doesn't know her camera.....and then she takes it to a walgreen where it gets hacked even more.... this was shot on a pentax full manual, obviously overexposed and then apparently there were all sorts of light leaks.  this is black & white film made to be processed on a color processing system so i'm not sure where the blues and pinks come in except that perhaps the processor was not calibrated or the whatnot.  the more i stare at them, the more some of them appeal to me.  not in the hey, look what i shot way but in the weird, bad photography sort of way. 

digging ditches

chicago is tall, fast, windy and fun.  it is full of good food, taxi cabs, el trains and people who laugh at my accent.  there are rivers and buildings - tall, both old and new.  and i had a good time.  well, except for that sit inside while it's beautiful outside kinda thing.  and that whole cheerleader thing they do when we states get together.  trying to force ditchdiggers into superhero mode.  since when did it get to be a bad thing to do something well?  my daddy said, even if you're a ditchdigger you have to do a good job or the whole system collapses.  right?  on the boat tour wednesday, the guide told a good story about it.  it seems a while back, there was a company in charge of replacing pilings in the river system, they drove one set of pilings too deep and it pierced the tunnel system.  then, they didn't get around to fixing the hole (cost = $10,000) and let it go until the hole grew and burst into the tunnels, causing $1 billion in damage. 

see, proper ditch digging is important.  and admitting to your mistakes.

we were asked to come up with a theme song during the meeting....somehow the powers that be didn't like my suggestion of "jump in line"....but i'm rather fond of mr. belefonte. 

places visited:  the theater district, the navy pier, architecture boat tour, shaws crab house, monk's pub

items left in hotel:  pentax camera, shoes and 1 book (they are shipping the camera and shoes, i said they should keep the book)

books read on trip:  three (the gurnsey literary and potato peel pie society, staying at daisy's and the three weissmanns of westport)

today on my ipod:  grind me in the gears (edwin mccain), smoke gets in your eyes (the platters), dream a little dream of me (the mamas & the papas), stuck in a moment (u2), all in all (my friend steve), rebecca (pat mcgee band), broken (peter searcy), wanted it to be (sister hazel), all apologies (nirvana)

catching up

hello friends.  it's early monday and i'm packing to fly to chicago.  yesterday it was 87 here and i read that the high today in chicago will be in the 50s. brrrrr.

as usual, i will be stuck inside a hotel - this time with about 200 people as we struggle to understand how the new rules will effect the state and what we will have to do to make it happen.  oh, that exciting life of health IT.  how did a banker girl get wrapped up in all this glamor?  *laugh* 

these shots are from the last week or so - i think a combination of dashing out at sunset one day and going to the park another sunday.  there is just something dreamy to me about the pink cherry blossoms - they look like tiny cotton candy roses and i was tempted to snack on them...sorta.  the weekend was quiet....mostly.  friday night i had dinner under the lemon slice smile of the moon while listening to acoustic guitar players and chatting with friends.  saturday was spent cleaning and sunday was spent in errands and getting things done to being out of town.  excuse, but perhaps those in charge could squeeze out an extra day in the weekends? 

i'm still obsessed with reading - though none of this week's books were just superduper.  i've started a book page on my blog for those interested in seeing what i've been reading lately.  oh.....and i got these gorgeous felted roses from my friend suzan....i can't wait to make a beautiful pillow with them!  this shot doesn't do them justice but i wanted to leave them wrapped until i can do my work with them. you should check out her shop as she has beautiful things!!!

i hope you're having a beautiful spring! 

for some reason, this reminds me of the snake in jungle book.....what was it's name??  

atrophy

life is getting in the way of blogging and photographing.  more to the point, work is getting in the way.  there are days that i envy people at home that can take time out during the day to write, to photograph, to visit.... but i know my responsibilities and what i need to do.  and being a bit envious of it all...well that serves no purpose.  so... just know i wish i was there with you exploring.

then the weekend comes and it seems that i work a lot on weekends too.  now i could fuss and kick and pout about that...but, believing in doing the very best - i can't leave what needs to be done...undone.  last week was testing - this weekend was doing root cause analysis about why our system didn't go live as it was expected.  *sigh*

tomorrow is taking care of contingencies and explaining to the powers that be why it happened.  in the mean time - i got to visit my girls for about an hour - they're getting over colds just like me.  i can't believe she's not a baby anymore.  she's not even a toddler.  she got her first official haircut.  i have determined i cannot blink anymore - i'm sure to miss something like a wedding or a graduation.

i hope my shutter finger hasn't atrophied.  hope you had a beautiful weekend.