Scenes from a Train Window

Thanksgiving morning, 2002, Josh and I boarded a train in California, en route to Chicago. The trip would take a couple of days, and we were terrificly excited. When we boarded the train it was nearly empty, so they offered us a Sleeper Car at a fantastic discount. We jumped at the opportunity to have a cabin of our very own. I remember that I baked two batches of cookies, Molasses and Chocolate Chip, so we'd be sure to have a tasty Thanksgiving Day dessert. As it turns out, when you get a Sleeper Car, you also get three hot meals per day in the Dining Car, including dessert. Oh well, no such thing as too many cookies right?! We were treated to a Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey and mashed potatoes, served on their finest railroad china. It was so much fun to share this special meal with complete strangers. As west met east, the scenery transformed from sunny to snowy. We spent hours gazing out the Observation Car windows, and swapping stories with fellow travel-by-train adventurers. One of my favorite Thanksgivings ever...

Chicago!

Happy Monday, I hope you had a wonderful holiday...

Sunday in Seven Senses

One of my favorite daily reads is Abby Powell Thompson's photography blog, Abby Try Again. Do you read it too?

Abby has a weekly feature called Five Senses Friday which shes "uses as a way to sit down and reflect what what the past days have been like..." Abby invites readers to play along, and this week I thought I would... Only, I added "Wondering" and "Remembering" as extra senses because they're so much a part of each day.

I'd love for you to play along too, by leaving a comment on this blog, or a link to your own blog. If you do play, be sure to stop by Abby Try Again and let her in on the fun.





Tasting:

a sweet sweet California clementine

Seeing:

color, everywhere

Smelling:

a mid- afternoon cup of coffee

Hearing:

the sounds of Josh building something cool in his wood shop

Feeling:

excited to share with you the completion of two new projects

Remembering:

last night's incredibly luminous moonlite

Wondering:

if tonight's sky will be as memorable

Well, that was fun. Happy Sunday!
(Photos above are from our Sunday sunset two weeks ago.)

Saturday Evening Post

I know it's a tad out of the ordinary to post on a Saturday night, but I'm here at our shop working and thought I'd share a cool surprise... with You!

I stopped by Local Collection, to see how the display of my photographs turned out, and was thrilled to encounter a stop-in-your-tracks eye catching display of my work positioned front & center in the shop...!

The display of my work continues on all sides of the three-tiered table...

I dropped off approx. 50 photographs at Local Collection just a few short weeks ago, and I'm already planning to drop off a new round of prints this week. Thanks to each of you who encourage, support, and enjoy the photographs I create... you have me feeling quite warm and wonderful on this cold and drizzly Saturday night.

(I hope the weekends got you feeling warm and wonderful too...!)

December Visions

Today's sleepy greys have swept me far from fallen leaves and pumpkin pies...

Financial form, with line and curve

The Bank of Cool Shapes, Palm Springs...

And the piano, it sounds like a carnival

He says, son can you play me a memory

I'm not really sure how it goes
but it's sad and it's sweet
and I knew it complete
when I wore a younger man's clothes...

La la la de de da...

("Piano Man," Billy Joel.)

Aloha, Palm Springs

Island paradise, desert paradise... Yes, please. I'll take both. I mean either. Or both. Yes, both.

Happy weekend to you, in whichever form of paradise you may be...

Thanks, honor, memory

Theater marquee, Las Vegas, New Mexico, 2009.

The halo

My lovely Mom, and my littlest nephew, playing a late afternoon game of chase.
I'm still amazed at how perfectly my nephew is encircled in a halo of sun flare.

(joyeux anniversaire douce mère!)

Time Like a Turtle

On the morning of our departure we enjoyed a stroll through the Palm Springs Botanical Garden. For some reason, it made me happy to see that this (what appears to be) prime piece of real estate has been allowed to remain in humble existence...

Fascinating creations, yes?

Solar Power, Palm Springs

Slowly but surely I'm making my way through the photos I shot in Palm Springs. Many more to share...

Classic Beauty...

(happy Monday.)

How it all turned out...

Before we move too far past Halloween, I thought I'd share how it all turned out. Dressing as a 1960's flight attendant was everything I'd hoped - really fun and easy. I picked up the two-piece mod suit in Berkeley four or five years ago, and actually wear the jacket pretty often. Josh's vintage TWA bag made a perfect camera bag, and I even found some Air Canada wings to pin on my jacket, in my Dad's collection of knick knacks. The only thing I had to buy was a pair of "suntan" pantyhose.

Josh found his white tux at a thrift store in Palm Springs. Though you can't seem them in the pics, with his sharpie drawn black mustache and tuxedo tails, he turned out to be one fancy fancy man!

(photos by my niece Savanah.)