cobaltika

it was one of those weekends that was good enough to make going to sleep on sunday night pleasant, even knowing next day was back to the grindstone (with the delightful addition of afternoon dentistry to look forward to). pretty lazy on saturday morning, then got LOTS done. the usual stuff and a trip to the nursery, then hanging out with traci, first to wander through the neighborhood with our plastic cameras to the Art in the Yard event, then back to my house for white wine, glueingshitdown, dinner, then more glueing. on sunday morning i was only partly lazy, as long as the coffee lasted, because there were plants to go into the ground and i wanted to work when it was cool, so i was out by 7:30. for three hours i planted and weeded, taking breaks to talk to my mother, text back and forth with betsy, still in ireland, and talk to margaret, still in texas. a BIG basket of yellow REAL flowers came from my small girl. what a surprise!!! by 10:30 i was dying of starvation, so we brunched on olives, spinach bread, mozzarella and strawberries. yum. some reading - “Little, Big” (i’m hypnotized). then we decided to take an afternoon hike to the Fitch Nature Preserve. i decided to take the jamcam. she has never been there. it was hot and green and smelled very fine and fresh. we saw a HUGE snapping turtle, a tiny flycatcher who sang on a branch right in front of us, a lady oriole, some deer and some finished jack-in-the-pulpits. it was good.

there are pictures here.

now. dentist. omigod. at least there will be nitrous.

there is really not much to write about this week. cold. plodding. cold. plodding. and so on. the day of the Big Snow (for us, anyway), i dawdled about going out, then bundled up, put the jamcam in my pocket, grabbed the snow shovel and made a great windy path down our walks, as my poet taught me last snowfall. we don’t walk the straight and narrow but prefer the meandering and curious path. then i set off at a leisurely pace.

this week has not been as awful as the week of the ice, but still, great focus is required for the mile up the hill and the mile down every day. no iPod, no camera (except that first day), no daydreaming. just consciousness. it is a pretty good exercise and i have not fallen down this week at all! i stay mostly warm in my perfect black parka and my wonderful wool hat with ear flaps and fleece lining and my crappy purple boots from LLBean (they already have a tear in the seam! poorly made!). my face is cold though, and if there is wind, like this morning, my thighs! ouch! freezer burn on the meat!

yesterday i pulled a 3 foot icicle from a sign to play sword with on the way home. i wrote love notes to my poet in the smooth snow by the sidewalks. he walks the same way i do to and from work (at different times). i wonder if he will see them?

i can’t even remember what i have written this week. it is all fuzz. sunday was a GREAT day in the studio. monday i acquired a sewing machine. which is set up but not otherwise touched. the other days were too cold to even go into the studio, so i read books instead. with a blanket. now it is the working weekend and i hope that room gets warmer! next week i’m going to texas. margaret!!!!!!!

jamcam : january 2007 : lawrence kansas 

i have been having trying and buying and selling and returning new cameras lately (looking for my dreamcam) and i have come to the conclusion that i see no reason to keep a $199 olympus spycam (despite trade-in) when i have a

JAMCAM

i adore my jamcam.

the junkstore window : lawrence kansas : jamcam

it was a fine holiday. on xmasEve, late afternoon, i wandered with the jamcam. i was looking for holiday lights, and surprised to see so few. the fresh air was good though. then made pesto pasta with tomato and fresh mozzarella for xmasEve dinner. we wallowed and read the rest of the evening. slept very late on xmasDay, woke, made coffee and a giftpile (it was very small and sweet), we did some rip and tear, talked to family on the phone, arted and listened to Rolling Stones and Gene Autry xmas songs while betsy made Crust. i cut up some things to put in the Crust. my poet completed the quiches. one Morningstar “bacon” and onion, the other sundried tomato and spinach. they were SO GOOD. omigodgood. betsy and i drank cold white wine and we had salad. then FLY to the movies with the dessert in our pockets. the decision between Good Shepherd and Apocalypto was difficult at first, but the timing made our choice for us and i am *really* glad we didn’t have to snooze through the Good Shepherd. Apocalypto was GRUESOME as hell, but at least it was hugely entertaining. then home. cleaned up. wallowed and read the rest of the evening.

then back to work today.

still looking at cameras. now thinking of the Canon S3 IS. hmmmmm…

and wondering about the new year to come.

i keep wondering when i will be able to go back. not *this* xmas, for sure! but perhaps in the spring, margaret and i will meet there again, finally, and wander and look and shoot and eat and be. i like being there with her. (and with betsy, of course, but she will be MUCH to faraway to join us). the last xmas in new orleans was odd, i was sad and rebellious and determined to make my own time and reclaim my own self. it was lovely there and i made many images that i have never shown. and i pretty much got myself back together i think. and it snowed. on christmas day. it was so amazing to wander the french quarter in the snow of 2004 and watch the great silliness of both tourists and residents. now, of course, i wonder if it was some kind of meterological preview for the nightmare that was to come. i am *so* ready to return.

enough nostalgia. i am quite happy in my little world here for now. i have slept late. the sun is coming out. as soon as i can get out of my nightie and put this big coffee down, we will go to the store and buy a few foodstuffs then home for the rest of the day. maybe a walk later. and more artTable. yes!

the new important camera is packed in its box, ready to return. whew. that libran event is over. i knew yesterday when i didn’t want to “bother” with carrying that Big Thing when we met traci for lunch, then planned a photoWander after … i just wanted to carry my little Olympus XA2 and the Valiant. i dreaded the big camera. so i came home and packed it. i am a mosquito. and a naive photographer. i travel light. i manipulate everything. the FZ7 will be wonderful for me. i have already handled it and i know. it was good to have a photoWander yesterday, even though we didn’t see many thrilling scenes. we walked on the north side. i noticed several of my favorite doors were GONE. but not from me. i have them for always! well. as long as pixels last…

i wish for peaceful celebrations for all.

i guess i’m not sure exactly why i want such a *good* camera anyway since the images i take the most delight in are the ones that come from my … pencam! or jamcam! but, i do like to capture easily and reliably with a good, basic cam and then make transformations, too. also the thought of making them BIG is tantalizing. i am still vascillating about the fz50. last night i played around a little more and even Read The Manual (instead of a novel, in bed) and i have a much better grip on the numbers now. it doesn’t seem to be as hard as i thought! but it is just so BIG. the Uzi was also big and i was fine with it. but i have been carrying tinycams around for a while now. i like to be sly and incognito when i am capturing. i don’t want you to see this big black barrel pointing at your little housey. or *you*. ha ha!

well. there is still the test of wandering to be performed this weekend. if this day ever ends, that is. i think we are making quiches for xmasDay dinner. i sort of wish we could go out, but i’m afraid everyone would think that too costly (as if a pile of fancy groceries from the Merc are any less so?) and i doubt there is a place open in town on that day. oh well. perhaps i will just let betsy and my poet cook! and i’ll paint! mostly i am excited that i have a LONG weekend and it is a weekend of no work and no travel. the first in over a month! wheee.