A week ago — a senseless, unthinkable act. Beyond comprehension. Beyond explanation. What words can be offered as condolence for those who have lost so much?
Today — maybe the end of the world as we know. But then every day is really the end, just like every day is also a beginning.
Hold loved ones even closer, even tighter. Love deeply. Say the words you always wanted to say and do the things you always wanted to do. And honor the lives of loved ones lost by living the fullest Life possible.
A few camera phone pix from our long and relatively uneventful flight: 8+ hrs to Dakar then another 9 hrs or so to Jozi.
We’ve been on holiday in South Africa the past couple of weeks, getting lost on terrible unpaved, unmarked roads, searching in vain for fresh fish markets (the great mystery of South Africa), avoiding crazy drivers and highway pedestrians, camping in remotely beautiful places, snapping thousands of photos of wildlife (and most of those elephants and monkeys), getting caught in a crazy wind storm and getting sandblasted because of it on the beach, meeting amazing people and having an impromptu psychic reading… So many memories to share and stories to tell.
I hope to squeeze in a few posts from our trip in between moving this week. We are finally moving into our new place and even though we moved a good amount before we left for South Africa, the worst part is always the end when everything gets stuffed in trash bags and sits unsorted for months in some hidden part of the house.
But for now, a few photos mid-journey, taken on a secluded beach after a short hike in Tsitsikamma where we holed up in a tiny forest hut and waited out a relentless rain storm.
More to come…(hopefully)
While the tow boys have been getting along like long-lost brothers, Pandora has been sulking in her Princess tower down in the basement. She comes up from time to time like a prison warden to survey the house, monitor the food, and rough up the newbie.
Overall though, she’s adjusting just fine. Her level of disdain has gone from hatred to just annoyance.
We love our sweet little girl.
On this day, two years ago, a Texas-sized storm blew in. Lightning. Wind. Thunder. The whole nine yards. It didn’t seem like it would let up. All our our hanging paper lanterns were blowing furiously in the wind. Despite all of this, I never felt calmer or more at peace.
The truth is, the sadness never disappears. Over time, it just became a part of me and my new life. Everything before this day six years ago belonged to another time and place, another life. It’s neither better nor worse, just different. Continue Reading
It’s no secret: I’m a crazy cat lady. It’s hard not to be when Max makes it so easy to love him. He follows me everywhere, chirping when he can’t find me or doesn’t know where I am. He doesn’t mind the long, late hours I spend in front of the computer — he will either come and sit in my lap or sit in his cat tree house and patiently wait until I’m finished. He’s both a child and a buddy, and we are pretty obsessed with this fuzzy ball of personality.
Many people like to tell us we are substituting Max for some secret desire to have kids.
I just think we are really crazy cat people.
A few photos sent by my mom of some vintage Pyrex that she found for me last weekend. Besides its durability/functionality, I recently started collecting Pyrex because it reminds me of the bowls and plates we used growing up (and still use). I had no idea people actually collected the stuff and that there were so many different patterns and colors!
Vintage housewares and kitchen gadgets are my most favorite thing to buy/collect. I love the idea that we actually *use* what we collect, and I love even more that by using these items, we are continuing a story of cooking, gathering, and family dinners.
From Top, L-R: balloons cinderella chip set bowl, crazy daisy green mixing bowl, snowflake blue baking dish, butterprint round casserole dish, early american cinderella mixing bowl and oval divided serving dish, colonial mist mixing bowl
I’m still a newb at this, but this site has been very helpful (not to mention total eye candy) with identifying patterns and production dates.
One of my main motivations for blogging (again) was to force myself to go through all the zillions of photos I have taken over the years and just do *something* with them — either print them, organize them, or put them online. It has taken me a long time to go through years (decades?) of photos on cds, old (now practically extinct) online albums, dusty computer hard drives that have sat dormant for nearly a decade…needless to say, it is still a work in progress.
I stumbled across a set of photographs taken (I think) in the late 90s or maybe 2000 when I was just a little pipsqueak visiting an ex-bf in Chicago. That trip had been all but erased from memory until I found these photos.
These were hastily and poorly scanned straight from the b+w negatives in low resolution around the same time these were taken. No edits have been made.
