an open book and an empty cup

"the sky really was that blue", says graham, in his first post about the europephotobloggers meetup*.

it wasn't just the perfect weather, though, that bestowed brightness on the weekend - it was, first and foremost, the people: those i had met before and was delighted to see
again, those i had hoped to meet and whose aquaintance i was happy to make, and many, many new, but now-familiar names and faces.
the energy, the sharing of creative insights, the good humour, made the get-together
a great success, a true feast.

and london itself - whose sidewalks we explored at length: thank you, eric! -
was the icing on the cake.

*many more impressions (everyone's) on flickr!

with somewhere to be

the week to come will be spent picking and packing, and peeking daily at the weather forecasts - rachel and i are off to london on friday for the europephotobloggers meetup.
this new old camera will, without a doubt, be slipped into my suitcase: it has an
uncanny ability to make even the greyest of days glow.

and counting

a week has become ten days, and i have been twisting myself into knots trying to translate everydayness - a summer cleaning, a profitable garage sale, a beautiful
concert in theater carré, too few sessions at the gym, and the dilemma of what
to take to london in ten days time - into some sort of uniqueness.
but there are places in the world where, sadly, such simple things would be sorely appreciated, so i feel - though subdued and uninspired - singularly blessed.

asleep with the fireflies

it's a focus thing.
i'll be back in a week.

piece of cake

"birthdays are occasions for looking forward to the making of plans, for dreaming dreams, and hoping they will come true."
-unknown

well: what a coincidence!
that was precisely what i had in mind for today.

tea with grandfather

he sits, silhouetted by light and lace, corduroy rustling on corduroy, composed, hands clasping cup, pensive.
gazing solemnly over his straight and weighted shoulders is himself, as a boy. between them, dust dances, filling the metres, the minutes, the decades, with movement and memories, and the space between black-and-white and grey with a lifetime of colour.

if pigs could fly

well.
i suppose this was their reasoning:
if you won't brake for cows, and you refuse to slow down for geese, perhaps - just
perhaps - sheer incongruity will stop you in your tracks.
it did us.

closer to fine

i can finally stop feeling like i've been put into storage for the season, and start toasting the future:
the job interview i had last week left me feeling so positive, and so enthusiastic, that even the substantially "irregular" shifts involved - and the major commuting - couldn't keep me from accepting...with delight.
i start october first, which gives me time to aquaint myself with a few new/old
cameras, and to enjoy the europephotobloggers meetup at the end of september in
london (you, too?).
my cup runneth over.

out on a limb

"curious people are interesting people, i wonder why that is?"
- bill maher (american comedian, actor, writer and producer, b.1956)

i understand the term "pear-shaped", as used when life - ah, life! - goes slightly awry.
but i wonder, sometimes, what one calls life-going-well.
banana-shaped?
apple-shaped?
when i have things on my mind, like i do right now, i ponder the silliest things.

that is the question

when i am asked, "what do you miss most about canada?", i always answer "kraft macaroni & cheese dinner".
but i jest, of course i jest. i miss my family most of all, and then i miss kraft macaroni
& cheese dinner. but i also miss things like maple syrup, and browsable bookstores, and chips with gravy, and, especially, space.
a few weeks ago, we viewed - at my quiet insistence - a house-for-sale, and it had space.
well, i saw space: a kitchen large enough for a table and chairs, a generous study, bedrooms aplenty, endless storage, and nothing - oh joy, oh bliss - attached.
my husband saw, above all, chores: a roof that needed repair, a floor that demanded replacement, a lot of plastic panelling, fake brickwork and definitely-not-us colours that would grate, aesthetically, very quickly.
i fell in love, despite, and envisioned myself getting old(er) there; he envisioned
himself sanding and sawing to kingdom come.
*
sometimes twains meet; sometimes they don't. we'll see.