QuEStiOnS???

It went by and I couldn't help but turn my head
I wanted to yell "Come back!"
I had so many questions
Where did you get that?
Why do you have that?
What did you pay for that?
Where are you going in that?
Who are you?

I have these questions or similar questions frequently

I often want to talk to the beggar on the corner
I see him everyday on my way to work
one day I'll take his picture
but only after I donate to his cause
What is his cause?
Why do you do that?
Where are you going?
Where are you from?
Where is your family?
What is your story?
The questions probably won't get any closer
to the beggar than the inside of my head

Once upon a time
Studio Art Academy High School Commissioned an artist
 Bryan Andreas
To paint a wall mural on the outside of the building
It was art, it was interesting, it made you think
 it made me smile
The Rep Theater bought that building
They painted over the art
They painted the building an off white color
They painted over the art, the interest, the eye candy
Now stands a boring, nondescript building
Why did you that?
What were the conversations?
What is the story?

I am curious
I have so many questions
sometimes I am brave enough to ask
Sometimes I am unable to ask
But I know that unless I ask
I have no truth
just questions

CrACks

It may look beautiful and perfect

But that's only because you don't see the cracks

Be kind to each other

We live in a Good Friday World

A World with cracks

A World with heart break and difficulty

We are Easter Sunday People

Filled with hope, faith, and a God that loves us

A Big God

A God that stands by us in times of hardship

We all have cracks in our lives

Among my family and friends today:

A Widower

An ovarian cancer survivor

A mother of three adopted children

A beautiful young deaf woman

A liver transplant recipient

A former bulimic

A single mother

Three teenagers

Four elementary students

Two young adult twenty somethings

Legal issues

Money stresses

Friendship concerns

Broken hearts

We are all trying to find our way in life

God is with us on our journey

That journey is not always easy

But God does not let us travel alone

We were blessed today to be together

To hug, hold hands, talk 

To have great weather 

To enjoy terrific food

To laugh 

To pray

To have an Easter Egg Hunt

Be kind to one another

You can't see the cracks

But the cracks are there

I have them

You have them

He wAS SuPPosEd to BE in MeXiCO

He was supposed to be in Mexico, but the passport wasn't his

When your wife dies you gradually sort through things in the house

Gift the jewelry to the granddaughters 

Take clothes and shoes to Salvation Army

Go through the paper work

Annie is getting married in Mexico

Marlene would have loved to have been there

Lee made plans to go without her

Two weeks ago he got the passports out

Put the passports on the desk

He looked at Marlene's passport

remembering some of the trips abroad they have taken

He won't need Marlene's passport again

He decides to throw it away

Two days ago Lee gets up to go to Mexico

Grabs his passport

Looks at his passport

Rats!!!

It's the wrong passport

He is holding Marlene's passport

Which means he thew his own away the other day

He was supposed to be in Mexico, but the passport wasn't his

aKiMBo

Akimbo /uh-KIM-boh/ adjective 

with hand on hip and elbow bent outward

I stood arms akimbo

Unbelievable!!

The forecast was for 3-5"

Then I took this picture 

 arms akimbo

are you serious?!

Litter under the bench

Red coke bottle

hmmmmmm

it's the splash of color 

this monotone photo needs

Went to work today

walked into the classroom

walked to my desk

arms akimbo

what the heck

my hand lotion is missing

I think akimbo is fun word

I stand arms akimbo often

never knew what to call it

Akimbo

what's your akimbo story?

SigNS oF SpRiNG

This DQ on Broadway has been around since I've been a kid

It's Spring when the dairy queen opens

Well, in my mind anyway

There are somethings that signify change

 Seasons

DQ has always been one of those things for me

March used to be my "spring is here" month

It just has a spring sound to it

that got too frustrating

March is definitely not spring

Especially not this year

Heck, April isn't even spring this year

Snow Storm??!?!

Are you serious?!

Mid April

Baseball is my "summer is coming" 

July 4th

Marks the beginning of the end of summer

September is "A new start" month

I'm a teacher ....

December says the year is half way done

still in a teacher head

How do you mark your seasons?

bReAK a LeG!!!

Our family is part of the Rochester Dance Company

I say our family because it truly is a family event

Quinn is the artist within the family

She gets to preform

I put in the mandatory volunteer hours

We drive to rehearsals

provide bobby pins, make up, hairspray

lots of hairspray

spend long weekends watching

the culmination of all the work

I was in a play in 5th grade

Something about a Gumdrop Dragon

I was Lady Lemon Drop

I liked the socializing

being part of a whole

creating something

presenting the something

accepting the accolades

moving on to something else

It doesn't have to be a performance

But community and creating or working toward something to be proud of

I think we all desire to have that in our life

I have friends that get that from scrap booking

I get that from my photography and my photo buddies

My husband finds that in his biking group

Book Club fulfills that for me too

What communities are you proud to be a part of?

Communities that help you grow and nurture a  love of something.

goLf (#57)

Went to the golf course today

With my camera

One guy asked if I was taking pictures of my awesome swing

I wish I had one to take a picture of

I was on a letter hunt

I took pictures of an O, L, F

Hmmmmm now to find a G

these pictures will be great in a word

for the golf nut in mind

I should have the letters posted on the website tomorrow

An Art Festival Jury contacted me

Wanted to know if I bought the pictures I sell

Nope

I do all my own footwork

And having a blast

I love art fair season

Thursdays on First 

Opens June 9th

Are You Ready?

A bAll (#56)

A ball is just a thing

or is it?

Baseball

Have a ball

You've got balls

The Ball and Chain

Play Ball!!

GrOW DaMmiT!!

This time of year excites me and confuses me all at once

I love watching things grow and the daily changing landscape

The days get warmer and longer and happier

Ok, it's me that gets happier

The confusion sets in as I try my hand at gardening

well, I call it gardening

I think a true "gardener" would cringe at 

my style, lack of knowledge, and absolute ignorance

What I really am doing I guess is planting

I also do a pretty good job of watering

then there is a lot of guessing that I do

The guessing comes in when I weed 

(is it a "good plant" or a "rotten weed")

I honestly can't tell 

Last year I started pulling blue bells out until

Thank God

My Neighbor asked me why I didn't like blue bells

And if I didn't want them She'd gladly take them

I said, "oh, they aren't a weed?"  duh

I have raspberry bushes too

I know these aren't a weed

but they are a"rotten plant" in my garden

They have chutzpah (and thorns) and not near enough berries

for the effort - these guys are taking over!!!

A "Gardener" would probably know how or learn to tame the beast

I just want the beast to go away

I love a beautiful garden

I just don't know how to get there

iT's NoT eASy BeINg Me (#54)

Gorgeous Bride, Handsome Groom

Cute, Sweet Couple

Easy to work with

A Kiss framed between the bride's maids

It was not hard to be me on this day

BUT...Some days it's hard to be me

It's hard to be me when 

I forget stuff

I hate days like that

We went to the cities once

When we got 40 miles out of town

We stopped for coffee

ummm...I realized I had forgotten my shoes

It was hard to be me on this day

Good thing they sold farm boots at the gas station

Today when I drove 50 miles

for a great picture I had been planning

I got there just at sunset

perfect

Reached in back for the camera

ugh

I had forgotten the camera

It was hard to be me today

Good thing I had a back up picture

It's hardest to be me when my

forgetfulness impacts others

Like the time I forgot that I had promised

to drive my friend 

to

catch a shuttle bus to the airport

So he could catch a plane to Denver

oops

Sorry Paul

Is it a funny story yet?

I like being me

except when it's hard

When is it hard being you?

BlACk & WhITe

Sometimes things look better in black and white

Which isn't really black and white

Look at all the shades of gray

The contrast is more obvious

There is drama implied

HaPPy BiRtHDaY MaRLenE!!

Tim's Mom's birthday is tomorrow

This picture was taken on the last day

 Tim's mom was in our house

I remember that day

A perfect day that almost didn't happen

Tim's mom had been in a Nursing home for a couple of years

But we'd take her out for outings

At Christmas 2009 our gift to Marlene (Tim's mom)

Was a dinner at our house with anyone she wanted

We'd send out the invitations, we'd serve

She invited 2 couples - her best friends

9 months later

Schedules matched, nice weather

Dinner at our house on a Monday evening

The Lewellen's and McCann's

Lee and Marlene

Beautiful Day

Drinks and appetizers on the deck

Dinner and desert and friends and stories in the dining room

It was so much fun

Marlene got sick two days later

she never recovered

and died about six weeks later

We miss Marlene a lot

But we love and hold onto

 that last great memory

Happy Birthday Marlene

She'd be 79 tomorrow

MoRNiNg = SaNgUiNE

Why do I sometimes forget about this great time of day?

I love mornings

I love the peace of the day at dawn

Ok this is a little later than dawn

But dawn is my goal

The glow from the sun is warm and inviting

There are no demands on my day yet

The voice I hear is my own

My to do list

Looks possible this time of day

Sanguine

Morning is always there

Waiting for me

I love that

Tomorrow I am meeting my morning

@ 5:15

Breakfast, coffee 

Yoga at 6am

Then a walk with my camera

AcCouTrEMentS

I love this great little pink bike

handlebars decked out with pink

It had a bell too (I heart my bike)

The accoutrements used today are "manufactured"

In the old day it was all homemade

We used playing cards and clothes pins on the spokes

I loved that sound when we rode our bikes

Instead of boughten ribbon hanging from the handlebars

I stuffed crepe paper in the holes of the handlebars 

sometimes I even laced crepe paper 

between my spokes

alternating colors

Accoutrements are our way of making something our own

Our way of individualizing what we have

creating a uniqueness out of something that isn't

What have you accoutered lately?

pUt YouR FeEt UP (hiccup picture)

A Hiccup Picture is a picture

Not  taken today (the hiccup)

But one I've "worked" through editing

This is my journey 

I think I'll define it as I go

The main objective:

Learn and study

Photography

Revisit - August 2010

Cassie and Landon's Wedding

Cassie "put her feet up"

between pictures and vows

perfect time

We don't put our "feet up" enough

I put my feet up tonight 

Quinn is at Dance 

 Eli is at Baseball tryouts

When I put my feet up 

I read 

I work on the computer

This is the me time

Please don't talk to me

Just let me be quiet

Ideally my "feet up time"

would be in an empty 

clean house

with a fire 

 a glass of wine

Pandora streamed 

Folk Music (Greg Brown) or Ingrid Michalson 

What does your "feet up time" look like?

THriFt StoRE FiNd - NOt

I love a good Thrift Store

Rochester has gained many over the years

I have a favorite

I am a staunch Salvation Army Girl

Why the Loyalty?

I love their organization

The prices fit me

I know some of the workers by name

The location is often in my path

I like the where my money goes when I shop here

Today I went looking for props for Quinn's dance recital:

Blue or Grey Cardigan

Mickey Mouse Ears

I didn't find either

Rats!!!!

I wanted it to be an easy hunt

But I may have to work for my treasures....

What treasure have you found at a thrift store?

Tracey's Take: MovIN On... SenIOr PHotOs

Tracey's Take: MovIN On... SenIOr PHotOs

MovIN On... SenIOr PHotOs

 Senior Pictures

With a Most beautiful young woman

 Meet Christiana Johnson

Birthday's on Friday - Coach Shoes came a little early

 UGG Boots Came a little late - on back order from Christmas

 This is a wonderful ruins I found near Simpson

 Across the street and down the road from the ruins is this great graffiti wall

 Silly in a formal 

in a not so formal setting

The Girl Next Door 

(if we were all only so lucky)

FoRM is EvErYThiNg

The Throw 

The Catch

I wouldn't know good form in baseball

I still throw "like a girl"

But if I were learning to play the game 

the form would be important to me

In my journey with photography

I am learning the basics

good technique and good form

I am learning that as in everything

there is a lot to learn 

there is always something to learn

I have new questions everyday

Good form and good technique are the basics

The groundwork for success

Once the form and technique are established 

you 

are free to play around with it

change it up

make it your own

Your questions guide you in learning

Don't be afraid of the questions

Don't be afraid to seek out the answers

learning is work

hard work

practice

commitment 

the pain is temporary

the journey is where its at

look where you started

know where you are headed

appreciate the road

the bumps

the turns

the view

the memories and the people you meet along the way.