Days, Improvised.

I used to begin my days here

and you here, in a rented room with striped wallpaper.

Our Days, improvised.

As you drove I began to see

our old town in a new way.

I remember the day you assumed the role of a trucker

and I the trucker's rag doll girlfriend

we roamed the lot
playing games of distraction
in attempt to make art of the summer heat.

(photos circa 2001.)

Playing with Pink.

Playing along with Poppytalk's "Summer Colours Week." Today's color - pink!

What Home Means to Me

Last year Josh and I sold our home, a loft we built with our own hands. We have been in transition ever since, living out of our suitcases, as we slowly relocate our lives and business from the Bay Area to Southern California, to be closer to family. For nearly a year we have been staying with family and friends, and sometimes motels, for days, weeks or months at a time. We've traveled the road between San Francisco and Los Angeles so many times that I feel more a resident of the state than one particular city. Of the many things I've learned in this year without my own home, I've learned most clearly what home means to me.

I am excited to be one of 300 bloggers participating in the Pin It Forward project, started by Victoria of Sfgirlbybay, in collaboration with Pinterest, a great new bookmarking site where you can create your own inspiration boards (Warning - Pinterest is really fun and highly addicting, which means you should probably give it a try!)

Exploring what home means to me turned out to be quite an emotional process, probably because this past year has been so unlike any other I've known. As the path to our next house continues to take shape, I am grateful to have such an encouraging and supportive family, and although my patience wears thin some days, this period of "without" has me heart-to-heart with the notion of carrying my home within.

Tomorrow it's the if only girl's turn to share her meaning of home. What does home mean to you? For me it is a question with many answers...

Happy Monday everyone...!

Children of Earth and Sun

- Buildings, too, are children of Earth and Sun.
Frank Lloyd Wright

I shot these photographs a few months ago, on a beautiful Sunday morning. The Marin County Civic Center was Frank Lloyd Wright's last and 770th commission.

I've visited a couple of times, and with each visit I see more clearly how the building's colors disappear into the landscape of Marin's golds, ambers, and blues. The building is showing signs of wear, which I think makes it even more beautiful. See some really cool photos of the building circa 1957 here and here.

Following a Colorless Sky

Early one morning we drove north without plan, and found ourselves in a tiny town along the Russian River. Even though it was raining, we felt the excitement of a sunny day's adventure. Vacation Wonderland?! I just have to return to see that sign with a blue sky backdrop.

Stories of Summer

The Amazing Adventures of Indiana and Superman

Summers Earliest Day

Sometimes the first moments of summer are felt in winter.

Found Family

Last year on Father's Day Josh and I were in Oakland, and my family was in Southern California. I felt a bit amiss. As you may know, it can be difficult to travel for every occasion and sometimes it's necessary to enjoy loved ones from a distance.

On that day Josh and I had company of our own, and we took them to one of our favorite junk / treasure shops in Berkeley. It was there that I spotted this photograph, tossed into a stack of torn and yellowing papers. Happy.

Though I wasn't looking at a photograph of my own family, on that day the sight of these people captured so simply, so sweetly, made me feel closer to my own family. I assume the photograph is of a father and his daughters, but of course I can't be sure. I can't help but wonder how a photo such as this found its way into my hands, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. When stories end with a curbside drop-off at the junk shop, my heart longs to know more about beginnings and middles.

Photographers play an interesting role in family and circles of friends, and beyond the click of the shutter, our photographs enter uncontrollably into the world. Some end up framed on walls, others in albums, envelopes or storage boxes. Some become pierced with push-pins or sticky with tape, and others rest flat and peacefully protected.

After my morning coffee I decided to go through a box of my own yellowing and torn papers, and re-discovered this photo. Happy, once again, though for many more reasons. Today on Father's Day I am in Southern California, together with my family. I will be shooting a portrait of my Father, my brothers, and their children after lunch, and I can only hope to create a photograph as spirited as that of my Found Family.

I hope you all find a piece of happiness today, father or not, together or not, you and this day.

It's Friday!

Your weekend is here, go bananas.

Bright-colored tufts and the fresh morning breeze

Way back in the days when the grass was still green

and the pond was still wet
and the clouds were still clean

and the song of the Swomee-Swans rand out into space...
one morning, I came to this glorious place.

And I first saw the trees!
The Truffula Trees!
The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula trees!

Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.

(Seuss-worthy trees, don't you think?)

Sunset, dark.

Chinatown L.A.

Have you ever seen L.A.'s Chinatown? I hadn't until last night, when we went to check out a furniture exhibtion at the Fifth Floor Gallery.

Quaint, charming, and definitely one of my favorite Chinatowns ever...
Do you have a favorite Chinatown?