The Switch

The house was haunted and this broken, bulb-less light fixture and switch told the story.  

What's More to Say?

So I'm thinking about journals and thinking, let it go, just drop it, no more notebooks.

For me, a notebook junkie since the age of 18, this is a radical rattle running through my brain.

But yesterday something happened. I was searching for a motivating quote, which means checking the opening inside pages of my journals where I store those little gems of wisdom and wit.

I needed a quote for a group meeting centered on decisions about big changes. The one I found comes from Richard Serra, an epic sculptor who makes his work in navy shipyards.

 Make bold moves and powerful forces will come to your aid.


Later that day, I sat down at a lecture, reached into my bag and pulled out the 2008 journal. I opened to the middle and started reading. Almost immediately it kind of turned me off to see that what I'd written is pretty much what I'd write today. Same old, same old.

Getting work done
Creative quiet
Spiritual desire
The remembrance of good dinners with family & friends
Dreams
Sticking points
Wonderful objects such as chairs and trees
Sentences about weather such as this one: Heard only the wind today.

Reading this book made me what to shake it all off like a very wet dog just after a swim.

Two for Tuesday: The Look

Spring walked down Fourth Street this month. Fresh, warm, lovely, and green.

Behold this twosome who made me jump up from my cafe seat to get a closer look. I couldn't help but notice their style, their connection, their olive outfits that seemed picked with a performance in mind. The pair, Denisha and Durell, both students at WSSU, were downtown for a conference about using Hip Hop as a teaching tool.

The initial shots we made were posed look at the camera first drafts. Unavoidable, reflexive stuff. Then, thank goodness, I realized I'd left my card back at the table, so quickly ran to grab one while they waited on the street corner.

As I returned, there the beautiful couple stood, embracing as the twilight sun fell over them. Look at the light on Denisha's arm, on Durell's profile. Notice the shine of her gold bracelet and the gold on his LA sunglasses. See how her long hair curls down toward his embracing hand. Really all that was missing was the soundtrack.

I like what Pablo Neruda said about spring -- "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."

Favorite Places

Can't say much at this point. Still reading the image taken this afternoon at my new favorite place.
The experience gave new meaning to Friday night happy hour.
Hope you're having a little happiness too.

Two for Tuesday: Turned Off

Came across this old fashioned hardware Easter Sunday when I pulled off Route 54 in Alamance County to visit an abandoned house. What drew me in first was the color combo. Just loved the olive green with the rust and then I became excited by how the doubled OFF switches made such a strong statement of abandonment. Lined up darkness.

And yet, I don't know why, I find this twosome so graphically pretty and warm it doesn't appear at all sad. Maybe it's because of the way the two screws tilt up toward the right like synchronized winks. Whatever the reasons, there's an Aaron Siskind kind of beauty in this found, manmade object.

Here's what the great photo writer and critic John Szarkowski once said about Siskind:  "...he made pictures of great visual beauty, almost (but not quite) free of the tugging presence of the mundane world."

The Lightness of Being, Redux

Getting back into the series, The Lightness of Being. It's a lovely and welcome relief from complexity.

Two of Tuesday: Playing Around

People say American children are suffering from nature deficit disorder. I believe it, but that fact made it all the sweeter when I  stumbled upon this twosome over the weekend. The brother and sister were out - by themselves - in a neighborhood park getting into classic mischief with a wonderful climbing tree.

At this moment the boy is reaching for the lowest branch that was just a bit too high for climbing up on. He's jumping for the branch which is being yanked down a little lower by his sister, who pulled on the branch using a  grocery bag handle attached to a stubby growth on the limb.

Ingenious duo, right? Their teamwork paid off. The boy with the orange shoelaces made it up onto the limb. Once he steadied himself, he immediately turned his perch into the staging ground for his machine gun warrior moves - lots of intense branch shaking and loud noises.

I was captivated and inspired by this twosome and enjoyed our chance meeting. After twenty minutes of talking and watching, I told them goodbye. Ohh, noooooo, they said.  Don't go.