pagan angel and a borrowed car

I invest emotions into most places that I have visited.  I may not have solid memories of a place but I tend to always associate special feelings with those places that come from my experiences there.  Sometimes they are very strong, other times subtle - sometimes these emotions are very specific, other times I cannot give a name to them. But they always wash over me when I enter or view those spaces again. 

This spot in Germantown is beautiful.  Every time I stand on the tracks, though, my heart falls to my stomach.  To have experienced so much sadness in a space and revisit that sadness every time you revisit that place, well the best way to put it is...it just plain sucks.  I want to create new memories here - find joy in this space, so that I can look on it with a calm and warm heart.

bierock and a triple karmeliet

As a young person I would watch movies and store away images that I hoped would be recreated in real life for me as an adult.  One of the repeated montages featured a group of adults eating together at a big table, enthusiastically conversing with one another, sometimes in a group, often in small pairs.  It would be during evening at a pub or outside. There would always be a rustic meal surrounded by bottles of wine, steins of beer, and candles.  People would be smiling, exclaiming, gesturing with their hands, and maybe even some hearty laughs (the kind where your head is thrown back without care).  When I find myself really living these moments, I just have to sit back, take it all in, and be thankful.

milli hearts africa

I have so much respect for my friends that have made decisions to serve others in different countries.  I am also a little jealous of their gumption.  Milli is one of these such friends, whose strength and faith are outstanding.  She honored me by asking for my services to shoot her "support card" photograph.  These were shot behind the Goss Ave. Antique Mall, representing Milli's love for Germantown despite her aspirations across the sea.

I am having a hard time deciding which I like better.
What do you think, color or b/k?

Milli will be working as a nurse in Africa for about a year's time.  To leave the culture you know, immerse yourself in another world, and give your life basically for a people you have never met....that is love.

the joys of a three day weekend

One of the benefits of being a teacher is the observance of all national holidays.  This year held no long lines of tourists needing to buy a t-shirt or teenagers salivating for a frappuccino (in my world anyways...).  I mean, what's the point of "Labor" day if some people just end up working more?  I was so blessed to have 3 glorious days to spend however I wished, with whomever I wished.  The weather was in the mid-80's and everyday produced some pretty radiant sunshine.  The following are a few moments from my weekend - almost like little praises.

my beautiful friend, Kelsey, decided photographs were more important than frisbees

time spent at cherokee park is time spent well

caught Matt's game of rugby 

walked through the neighborhood

played at the waterfront

spent time with family

How often do you really get to REST?  Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, I have a tendency to find distraction in movies, television, and naps.  But I found that a little bit of friendship, sunshine, frisbee, babies, and laughter can be more than an amusement - it can be the real thing.

the beauty found in the abandoned

My friend Alan and I found a very interesting abandoned building in his neighborhood.  It was a warehouse of some kind that must have experienced a fire and subsequently vacated.  It has become overgrown with vines and trees have taken root in its interior.  I find the juxtaposition of factory and forest, hardware and nature quite lovely.

exterior of warehouse, Alan with old couch

interior leftovers

What if you were to leave your place of work exactly how it is right now, not come back for 20 years, and find it overgrown with vegetation, windows broken, and open for tiny critters to build their home?  I think my art room at school would look magnificent this way.