Apr 27, 2017

4.27.17

twice a week i drive across the fields and farmland to longmont where i teach english to non-english speakers - mostly spanish speakers.  it's an exact reversal of my time learning spanish in costa rica, a huge time commitment and so much fun.

Apr 22, 2017

4.21.17

currently listening to: s-town podcast, nina simone
currently reading: mary oliver; new and selected poems, & the lacuna by barbara kingsolver
currently watching: sherpa & girlboss
currently eating: 5 napkin burgers
currently drinking: just so much water
currently wearing: yoga clothes and rain boots
currently loving: fresh flowers again
currently planning: trip to new mexico, land of enchantment

Apr 21, 2017

4.20.17

i let this project dwindle and die.  i felt too bored with my photos, too frustrated with my lack of exciting subject matter.  i wanted more.  life as i captured it felt dull to me.  my photos were dutiful and uninspired.  i felt like i was letting people down.  why even do this anymore?  something that became such a chore.

i forgot that the value here is not in the individual image, although sometimes they are beautiful, because sometimes life is beautiful.  no, the value here is the collection of photos as a whole; the longevity, the consistency, the documentation of years and years.  the value is being able to look back over a life, to watch a life unfold, to document a life. 

i forgot that sometimes life is boring.  sometimes it's simple, and uninspired.  sometimes life is a chore.  what makes me sad in retrospect is that in my silence, during the almost year long absence, beautiful and important and wonderful things did happen.  things that should be part of the bigger picture of my life.  and of course i have pictures of these things, but they are glaring omissions from this archive.  that saddens me.  and motivates me.  

part of the problem is, i think, i began to get a lot of viewers and followers and i began to care what they thought.  i checked my stats and analytics all too often.  what started as a project just for me to share with friends became something that i was doing for other people also.  sometimes that pushed me to take better photos, but mostly it stimulated my ego, not my creativity.  

so i'm trying this again.  yet again.  maybe i needed the silence to come back to the calling in my heart.  maybe i needed to remember that it's only in the amassing of years that this becomes magnificent, not because each photo is exciting and amazing (but wouldn't that be nice also).  maybe i needed to move past numbers and stats and re-inspire myself.  

i'm turning off my analytics, i don't care if i'm popular in russia.  i don't even care if you're reading this.  although i'll keep writing to you.  

i realize now who you are.  
you are me.  
at the end of the project.  
whenever that is.  
but not yet.

4.19.17

john gave me 200 tulip bulbs for my birthday - a present that required alot of assembly and equal amounts of patience.  a present that provides endless joy now.  

people walk by and stare, some pause and admire, some slow down as they are driving, the neighbors come over and compliment.  i've never gotten a present that spread such pleasure and appreciation, even to strangers.  thank you johno.

Apr 16, 2017

4.15.17


This is Fiona..... she's a happy little lady.