Tuesday

Today is Tuesday---and this is a test!

My First Love....

My biggest love right now is my daughter, Madie.

Second to that, I love photography.
Truthfully, I love the picture.
And I love taking pictures.
I love the idea of taking pictures.
I love the idea of capturing time on a piece of paper. I love the artwork, the imagination, the details, the essence of a nano-second in time being held within your fingers. The idea that it will never change gives me chills.....I get goose-bumps all up and down my arms. brrrrrrrrr......
Yes. I love film, photography, pictures....oh, whatever the heck it is that you want to call it.


Always have.....always will.


I have loved film and camera's since my very first one, back when I was 6 years old. Of course, it did not work. It was broken. But I could pretend. And I loved it.

And before that, I remember being teeny-tiny, my uncle taking pictures with a new type of camera! Point! Click!! Pull (very hard)!! Peel the photo off the film......blow on it.....watch the paper produce a black and white picture right before your eyes!



It was magic!



I was in Heaven!



Instant pictures!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........

It was just "something" about capturing the moment in history, space and time.
It was truth. Pure, crystal clear, truth. No thinking. Just looking.

Yes, I have always, ALWAYS loved pictures.

I remember spending Saturdays with my Grandmother, going through all her boxes of pictures.
She even had the metal "tin" pictures from the very first camera's that were ever used.
I faintly remember her saying that a great-grandfather was a photographer. These pictures were all of his, passed down through the family.
It was magic!
I was in Heaven!

I really miss those days.

I remember my very first 'real' camera that belonged to me. I still have it.
It was a blue-green automatic Kodak camera that my sister had given to me back in 1972. I used it to take pictures in our backyard, at my highschool, at picnics. I still have those pictures. Somewhere.

And then came DIGITAL camera's!!!
WHOA!!!!
HELLO!!!!
MY WONDERFUL FRIEND!!!!
How much more awesome could it get than to to SEE the picture that you are taking!!
How much more awesome could it get than to take 287 pictures at one event and not worry about how much film you have used! Or, not worry about how much money it will cost to get those pictures developed! (one vacation, I spent over $90 on developing pictures from 12 rolls of film...yep....I kid you not!)
I am still in shock that I can get a picture like this, in a heartbeat...or a blink of an eye.....(actually, her eye.....isn't it just beautiful?)........


















Sadly (oh my! did I just type that?!@##!!!)
Is it possible that there is a "SAD" part to digital pictures????!!!!
We just recently attended the Relay for Life at Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. I took my camera to the event, to get some pictures, and it was there that I realized my camera is just not 'fast enough'. I have a teeny tiny digital 'point and shoot' Cannon Powershot A520 that fits in your palm, but it does not reload fast enough from the batteries to get really good shots of "action". Most especially those of a Cancer Survivor who is pounding the heck out of smashed up car! I took her picture as she walked up to the car, but she had banged it three times before the crazy camera reset itself to take the next picture, so I totally missed it!

















I think I'm going to have to start searching the pawn shops for a better digital camera. I love my Powershot, and it has taken some really fantastic pictures for me. But, it's time to play with the big boys. So, you guys will just have to suffer along with me as I find the perfect camera and learn how to use it this summer!


And, of course, I need it for my Photography class at GSU!....or is that going to be a 'film' camera where I have to actually develop film with chemicals and a dryer and then put it on paper?.....be still my heart!!!.........I pretty much think so!!

:-)
p.s......Madie was the first child to actually make a 'dent' in the car with the adult sledgehammer, as noted by the gentlemen helping at the event. His eyes went up in shock and bewilderment as she landed the first blow! He said, "Whoa! She must play softball with a swing like that!" To which she replied, "Yep!"
And then she smiled really big........

The Power of Poetry

Pictures can say a thousand words.
Or not.
Like the one above.
It's just red dirt and one softball.

Or is it?

It's just one picture, but when you gaze upon the image, your mind is led around into endless possible tales of whim and adventure. Or not. Oftentimes, your eyes will rest on one spot of the image and you feel drawn in to the hypnotic lull of it's simplicity or beauty. You let it wash over you, like a warm rain. It's so refreshing.....and healing. Like a wonderful 'all you can eat' buffet for your eyes!

Poetry has the same power for me.
Each word is specifically chosen to elicit a cascading waterfall of emotions that drip over my brain and seep into my soul. Again, it is refreshing.....and healing.

So, it is with squeals of glee and delight that I signed up for the DAILY LIT book of "Masters of Verse: Thirty Poems from Late, Great Poets". I totally love the website and you can sign up (http://www.dailylit.com/books/masters-of-verse) to have them sent directly to your email! How awesome is that!

Poetry is art for your ears.
Go feed your ears!

Spring Break in Atlanta, in spite of the Weather!

Well, it's official. I picked up Madie from school and no sooner had the car door closed behind her when she spoke the words that I was dreading to hear. "So......What are we doing for Spring Break?!#@!!"




{OKay---so that is NOT the actual picture of Madie talking to me last Friday, but it is her talking to me from the backseat last Halloween when we were going out to buy a pumpkin at the church. I just wanted to let you guys get a **feel** for what it looks like with her in the backseat always asking questions, talking, and of course, always asking another question after another question that never stops and continues nonstop for the entire duration of each trip as if she would just die if she were to stop talking.....I have no idea *where* she gets that from, do you????}

I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see her sweet, innocent face staring at the back of my head. I turned around, facing her, and smiled back.

I had been dreading that question.
Well, not really 'dreading' it, but I guess more of trying to figure out a method of how to avoid answering it. I had not even brought up the subject at all this past week. Secretly, I was hoping that she would have amnesia and not realize that school was out this week! Ha! Ha!

But, how to answer that dreaded question? I knew it had been coming. I knew that her friends were all leaving on wonderous excapades of enlightenment. Some were going camping, visiting grandparents, or going to the beach. Because of my being in college, she was going to be denied the luxury of having a week of wonderous experiences. Could I feel any more guilty?...not.

I took a deep breath.
"Well, remember, that I have school on Tuesday and Thursday. Do you still want to go to the Gwinnett Gymnastic Center on those days?" I crossed my fingers, chanting a secret prayer.

Madie answered me, "Yes! Of course I do! But what about today, this weekend or the other days? What are we gonna do? Huh? Yah? How about it MeeMaw?"

I was pulling out of the school parking lot as I answered.
"Well, you know Madie that we don't have a lot of money. I was thinking we could go swimming, maybe? And quit calling me MeeMaw!"

As a side note, Madie started to call me "MeeMaw" several years ago. I have premature white hair and when we go out, people think I am her GRANDMOTHER!! For Heavens Sake!! And Madie calling me that does not help! Gracious, child! How many times do I have to tell you! I AM NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER! She does that just to get me, but then sometimes I think she says it as a term of endearment. She was pulling out all the stops to get my attention.

Madie laughed. "Well, you are a GRANDMA, so really, that is your name, MeeMaw!" I could feel the twinkling in her eyes light up the back seat without even turning around to look. "Can we go swimming today! Huh? Yeah? Huh? Can we?"

"Well, let's go home first to get a snack and we can talk about it."
How lame.
That was so lame.
Just dash those hopes out the window and run the car over them, how about it.
Where does she gets the energy, I don't know. She is like the Energy Bunny, just keeps going, and going and going....and going.....and going!

At the house, I checked my email very quickly, which was down. Yikes! I think that crazy internet virus had hit the email servers that I use! If that were true, it was going to be down for the next two days. Thankfully, I use Microsoft Outlook on my desktop, so I have control over my email and I can interface with the Microsoft Office products (another story!), so I went back to older emails to be sure I had not missed anything important from the night before.

And there it was!
Like magic!
A beacon calling out to me in the murky sea of "Spring Break" conumdrums.
It was a sign!
It was an email from the High Museum of Art!

Of course, I can't afford to be a member of the museum right now, but I am on their mailing list. The email had come Thursday afternoon and it read "Exhibition Closing: Last Chance Offers from the High". I had promised Madie to do everything in my power to take her to see the King Tut exhibit or the "Terra Cotta Army from China" during Spring Break. But the tickets were soooooo expensive! I am college student, supporting a child, working part-time as a substitute teacher and I'm lucky if I have an extra $10 each month. I wondered what this "Last Chance" email had in store. I opened it. I held my breath. I was stunned!

It appears that the High Museum is opening these next two Mondays, when they normally would be closed! YEAH!!

It appears that the High Museum is offering 'HALF PRICE' tickets for Monday! DOUBLE YEAH!!

And, it appears that Madie and I are going to the High Museum of Art to see the "China Terra Cotta Army" on Monday at 10:30am for a mere tiny pittance of $13.50!! (ie...student fare, child fare...half off!)

HOW AWESOME!!!!

Now, if I can just get the weather to cooperate as it appears we are in for a blustery, stormy, snowy week! How much more weird can it get??? Wait! Don't say that!!

p.s....CRCT testing begins on the Tuesday after Spring Break. I think we are going to be the only people walking around town and riding MARTA while studying the CRCT handouts that we have from school and the DOE website! UGH!!!

......AND HERE THEY ARE!!!

A few weeks ago (okay, so February 12th is more than a few weeks), I took Madie and one of her friends to an art history lecture over at the Carlos. It was a lecture from Dr. Gay Robbins, the author of my Art History class textbook. She is world renouned, and just totally awesome! My Art History professor, Dr. Melinda Hartwig, recommended the class go attend. Dr. Robbins was speaking about ancient Egyptian culture and the jewelry pieces that they wore. I had never been to the Carlos, and really wanted to go.

....Wait.

You don't know what the heck the 'Carlos' is, you ask?

Okay, here in Atlanta we lovingly call it the "Carlos" and it is the "Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory" which, of course, is at the Emory University. It is the most awesome museum collection of Egyptian Antiquities that you would ever want to see!

I get chills just thinking that these pieces were created thousands of years ago. And here they are! Right here in our back yard...waiting for us to go by and take a peek. It's like a time machine, only you don't have to jump back thousands of years in the past. You get to stay here, in the present time, with all the modern plumbing included.

I look at this picture of Madie and chuckle. The art history lecture was scheduled to start after 6:00pm, so the Carlos was closed. She was disappointed that the doors were locked to the museum, but she was just crazy for the artwork that was hanging on the walls or sitting on tables for display. She took a million pictures. I took a million pictures. So, together we should have about two million pictures, right? Well, not exactly that many...but a darn good bunch! I love this picture the most of all. She was pretending to be a tour guide, pointing out artwork and making up stuff as she went. It was just hilarious to be a part of her magical tour and step back into time.

It was great fun---And the museum was even closed!! I can't wait to go back and see it when the museum is open. It is awesome that we can choose to make our own fun, no matter where we are and in spite of our circumstances. I love that about my daughter.

I'm not sure if she has a future as a tour guide, what with the frumpy hair (don't EVEN go there!) and being so short. But, she sure can think fast on her feet and provide hours of entertainment talking about things she barely can even pronounce. Personally, I believe it is her big feet that gives her that finely honed sense of humor, confidence, and wit......But then, she gets those from her mother! (ha!ha!...get it? fast on her "feet"....really big feet....okay, it was a joke!)

Seriously, though. The Carlos is one of Atlanta's best kept secrets! So, GO! ENJOY! LEARN!

Beginnings.......

Oh my gosh!

I cringe at the first time that I have to post something or start a paper or drawing.


I do.

I guess that I am just not that great at finding a 'jumping off' point, which I think stems from the fact that I never know where the beginning of something is or if there is an end.


Now, when I knit something together, I know where to start and end based on the fact that I am creating something three-dimensional that you can hold in your hands.
When I create something like that, I have a starting point.
I create something recognizable out of things that normally would have no life on their own, like the string of yarn or flat fabric that eventually gets sewn together to create a garment or blanket.
That is easy to find a starting point and begin a project.

Thinking like that, it leads me to the thought of exactly 'where' is the beginning?
Or maybe, exactly 'what' is the beginning?

When I worked as a Business Analyst, I was intrigued to discover that what was acceptable for most people as the business process 'beginning' was woefully misplaced. I had suspected that it was influenced by earlier patterns of activities and proved myself correct each time.
Not just once.
Not just a few times.
Not many times.
Every time.

And that got me to thinking.......

Does it all come down to Physics?
Does the beginning of one thing have a lasting affect on everything?
And since everything is changing because the next thing is beginning, are there no endings and no beginnings? Like the game of Life, do we just hunt for the block that says START and go from there?

Well, I love games!!