weekend recap, august 12

1. Morning Walk | 2. Brainstorming Session | 3. Cal's Choice for dinner | 4. Beach life | 5. Exciting autumn ahead | 6. Harvest | 7. Slow-paddle Sunday | 8. Portgage lessons | 9. My river | 10. Big Storm | 11. Sampling BSE | 12. Sunday morning cherries | 13. Morning paddle | 15. I guess we're in the market for a canoe | 16. Hardware | 17. Summer storm | 18. Sun Storm | 19. Happy together

We did better this weekend, I think. Starting Friday with a morning walk along the water with my friend Catherine. These walks along the water are always what I need, and that morning, walking with Catherine was just exactly what I needed. Where would we be without our dear friends? A productive meeting (more on that to come in the coming weeks) followed by a clean(ed) house and some BBQ wings at our favorite joint. Isn't that what Fridays are meant to be all about?

One of the benefits of joining the university gym is that they have outdoor sports rentals. We ran out of time last weekend to try this out, but as soon as the groceries were put away in the fridge on Saturday, we booked ourselves down there and rented a canoe so we could get our butts on the water. I have a lot more to say about how much fun and special this was (I'm saving it all up for tomorrow.), but let me say this much now. Being on the water, even just near it, is balm to my soul.

These are things I need to pay attention to.  

We had some crazy storms this weekend too, which are also thrilling to me, although Saturday's storm was more crazy/scary than thrilling. Lightening so close and powerful that the air sizzled.  

A planed dinner trip to the beach (now you can see why the chairs are staying in my car) was rained out, but Cal is happy regardless. His best buds, who've been out of town for the week, are home again. As I type this, they're upstairs throwing darts while the thunder is rumbling in the distance. Isn't that what Sunday evenings are meant to be all about?

five things, august 9

1. I think, despite her being sick, my mom's visit went just the way we needed it to. We sat a lot. That's okay. We watched movies and baseball and Moonrise Kingdom (my mom loved it). We went to the beach a few times, but it was a sitting at the beach kind of thing rather than a body surfing/boogie boarding at the beach kind of thing. Of course we made her bake. I was not at my best this visit, and I feel bad about that, but sometimes when you're feeling blue, a visit from your mom is just what you need. My dad is up next week.

2. I think I need to pay more attention to my Pinterest boards. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to link to them, they're so lame. I told my blogging class a few weeks ago that it's impossible to keep up with everything, and for me, Pinterest is the ball that gets dropped (and ironing). But. I have things I want to keep track of, dreams and ideas, and you people get it, what better place, right? I mean have you seen Annie's boards? Or Sue's? Clearly I have my work cut out for me. So how do you guys do it? What's your Pinterest work flow? Do you spend time pinning, pin as you go or both? How do you keep all the pieces and parts organized? I'm dying to know.

3. I think I'm going to be adding a few pieces to SPL in the coming weeks. One component will be a link to the blog I use for my blogging class. We're going for round two this fall, and I want to have that blog nice and tight. Right now, the blog is called The Artful Blogger Class (named after the name of the class, which is so named because we're teaching in an art museum!). To me that feels clunky and not minimal. I like things minimal and unclunky, in case you haven't noticed. So what to call this blog? Should it have the word "blog" in the title? Or the word "class?" Does it have to? Any thoughts or suggestions for me?

4. I think, speaking of blogs, we clearly have some kinks to work out around here. Are you guys still having trouble commenting? If so, please drop me a note via the contact page and tell me exactly what happens when you try to comment so I can get the awesome folks at Squarespace support on the case.

5. I think that I need to spend more time reading photography books. Or creativity books in general. My reading time is limited, generally, to right before bed, but I could easily find a way to commit more time. Right now I'm reading Photographically Speaking, by David duChemin. I borrowed it from my friend Jackie, but I'm thinking I might want to own it. Here's a little gem I probably should print out and hang on my wall.

I believe in the power of shooting intuitively in much the same way that I believe a jazz musician (I'm listening to Miles Davis's Kind of Blue right now.) plays so much, develops the muscle memory required to play his instrument without thought, and internalizes the language of music so well that the path between his emotions (intent) and his expression seems uncluttered by so much as a single conscious thought. That's flow. It's a magical place to be, but it doesn't happen because of your genetics or talent ... It comes from putting in the time.