O Joyous Day!

So Sunday, instead of my normal hibernation I packed up suitcases of hats and vintage wear, scarves and the like and headed over to my friend Daynas house for a photo shoot. I swear it was all fun and no work... we shot for about 3 hours, in a variety of hats and then had a lunch of Hummus, feta, kalamata olives and cucumbers on feta, delicious! Daynas home is full of curiosities and I could go back and wander around for hours looking at everything and taking lots of pictures as I went. Dayna is an amazing artist and teacher and I have learned a great deal from her, so it was exciting to be in her space and get to see what inspires her. I got home and reworked some of the photos, some traditionally and some not so much as the one above - and had free rein to play away, after she debuts them on her own website I'll post more here...

joy

What brings me joy was the question... when my son gives me a play by play about his day as a freshman in high school, when I hit the creative groove, a good hug, a well written line, a word used unexpectedly (in speech) and in context that is antiquated in our time of shortcuts and slang. A really great cup of coffee, even if I'm drinking it alone as I am now - ahhh - french press... a flower growing in a sidewalk crack and other unexpected shows of beauty... people, I love people, love to watch them, see the expressions that cross their faces - even in sorrow... it's all right there bringing us together if we just look. my family, when my mom and my sister and i are together it just feels right as seldom as that happens anymore. Paint, art supplies, a blank canvas that starts to fill... books, finding a great bargain, friends, a page waiting to be filled, when the product matches the expectation, a great photograph, mine or others... a touch that stirs, a look that inspires, inspiration... muses, being a muse... Joy is everywhere... and yet why not spend every moment in it - I suppose that's what's special about it... it's still rare, fleeting.

More for the round robin, this is the last round, now I've got a week and a half til the next book - what now?

my second go at a round robin spread, on self reflection.

unity

My beautiful sister and brother in law the day after the wedding on the beach of carpentaria... the tree holds their story behind her fence.

Picked up a book called Fortunes Bastard yesterday, hanging out with Destree after book club, it was fun. Feeling alive again after my trip away... Guy at the bookshop talked to us about Turkish coffee with cardamom... I was way too chicken to go back and talk more to him...