10 Things

Its my birthday today, I am 46. I am happy, blessed and content on the morn of my 46th year. This week my husband and my daughter have asked me repeatedly what I wanted for my birthday, and I have told them everything from a winning lottery ticket, a cabin in Alaska to a visit from the house fairy. The house fairy comes while you are sleeping and takes care of all of those troublesome house details, paint, new floors, furniture...a instant home renovation, like those on HGTV but it all happens when you are comfortable spooned in the arms of your husband, snoring.

Here is my birthay wish list, the first item is what my Mom has asked for her entire life, and as a kid it drove me crazy. Here in middle age, I no longer shudder when I exhibit some of my mothers behaviors--I celebrate them, my Mom rocks.

1) Peace on Earth-Good will toward man

2) Continued good health, so I can spend more time with those two I love most. Mike and Rach.

3) My own cabin in Alaska or one I share with my sisters

4) To see my extended family more often, my mom, my dad, barbara, my fab four, my Granny Nixon and Pa Wilson, my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, my grand nieces and nephews, my cousins, aunts and uncles

5) A six month vacation

6) A visit from the house fairy (I did not get a Martha Stewart gene)

7) Quilting lessons from my Granny Nixon

8) Time to take a professional photography class

9) Time to earn the Texas Gardener certification ( 11 Mondays off and 200 volunteer hours)

10) To attend a writers retreat where either Mark Doty or Jack Gilbert are teaching.

It's a big wish list, just to hedge my bets, I also asked for new photo software, sound canceling head phones and a stand to ride my bike inside. I am groovy and happy and love life. I really don't need a thing. I am damn lucky. Thank-you God.

Sepia Postcards

I am  blessed , sometimes when you least expect it joy sneaks up on you and every now and then you get lucky and are aware of it.  There is an acknowledgement and peace of the preciousness of time, of being in the moment with those that you love, a perception of being fluid.  I am still processing photos, I am doing a series on Exit Glacier, how it has receded over time, I chose the sepia images to bring a sense of melancholy to the images, an awareness of the transitory nature of these glaciers.  My uncle took some photos 8 years ago of this glacier. He is going to send them to me, I want to compare the images, I am hoping he sends them electronically.  I am thinking I might write a piece on the glaciers, an essay I suspect.  As I stood on the edge of the ice field I was filled with such an incredible sense of awe, awareness and loss.  With God's grace I am feeling groovy.

Home Again and it Feels Good



I slept in my own bed last night and it felt good, real good. I have missed my husband and my home. Rach and I got in last night from Anchorage after a day that was much like a cross between Planes, Trains and Automobiles and a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. I spend nearly 5 hours in the transportation hell of "stand-by" passenger after the Anchorage Airport closed all but one of the security lines and myself and about 20 others missed the 7:30 am departure to Seattle. The photo of Exit Glacier, still processing photos and unwinding, mostly groovy.

On Vacation

Rach and I leave today for Anchorage, we will be gone 9 days, a little bit of a shorter trip than normal, but given the last year of illnesses for both of us, the most leave I could scrap together for a visit. I talked to my niece Maddie, and she is planning our visit agenda, so far I know we will be going Horseback riding, Dads cabin and perhaps Seward. I am looking forward to just ambling around with my Dad, spoiling my nieces and driving everyone crazy with my camera. The doodle one I did last week during a meeting, I generally produce one or two more elaborate doodles during long meetings. In an odd way it keeps me focused on the meeting, as it acts as a siphon for my nervous energy, allowing me to concentrate. I am one of those people who always has something in motion, a taping foot, fingers that strum, a hand clicking a pen or a bouncing chair. As a child I would cut piles of paper, a habit that drew attention from my kindergarten teacher, who wrote Brenda likes to cut paper--as if it was a habit that I needed to curtail. I learned to doodle pretty quickly after the paper outlet was taken off the tableau of acceptable child behaviors. I used to scribble in the abstract. You take a crayon and scribble a random outline, and then color each intersecting area with a different color. As I grew up, I graduated to pencils and pens as a more socially acceptable form of the abstract. I imagine my professional credibility would take a hit, if I sat in a meeting with a box of 96 crayons. I might be asked to put my toys away. I am ready for vacation, I had hoped I could talk that handsome man I married into coming with us to Anchorage, but he is staying home. I really missed him with all of my travels this summer, and there is a big part of me that needs a week off with him, and just being big home bodies. Perhaps after school starts he and I can play hooky a few days. I am taking both cameras, 5 books, my chapbook draft, my Macbook and a box of 96 crayons.

City by the Bay