Macro Adventure

I had an artist date with a wonderful man, meandering with cameras and chatter through the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. I haven't played with a macro lens in ages (my DLSR broke this summer), and these are the results of that play.

Bridges & Skylines

Evelyn: A friend in the P3 community passed this weekend - a therapist whose gentleness and low voice served as a beacon to many, many people as they have moved into recovery, healing, change, and rediscovery. I took some time to have a beach walk with him - as I couldn't be there amidst the many who are grieving - and I enjoyed a sunset and internal conversation.  It was in that space that I took pause, and tried to processes several levels to this event. For me, he was a father in the courseroom, a protector, and his illness a difficult look at the challenge I have with things out of my control. Instead, I am reminded by him to be present, as he was in so many moments.

Monica: I told Michael that I wanted to get away to the water this weekend--a lake or a river where I could savor the pleasure of weightlessness and freedom that I feel when I'm in the water. We drove to Auburn and on Saturday afternoon made our way to the North Fork of the American River, where we hiked about a mile to a placid swimming hole where the water was deep and green. We spent several hours on the river swimming and sunning and watching daredevil teenage boys flip and dive off the tall rocks into the deep pool of water below. It was a quintessentially California summer day, reminiscent of childhood summers spent camping in Yosemite.

Heat & Rain

Monica: We had a heatwave last week where temperatures in our little valley got up to 116 degrees. The critters have been flocking to the our little watering station we keep in view of our kitchen window. I looked up from rinsing radishes and there they were: Mama Deer, Bambi, and Thumper. At one point, the three of them were drinking together. When Mama & Bambi made their way up to the manzanitas on the hill, Thumper followed. I love this place.

Evelyn: This year we are having a lovely monsoon season, the afternoons filled with ominous clouds and deep thunderous rain. After a few drenching showers, we get pops of sunlight that makes the roads steam. During the evening light I headed out to take out the trash and enjoyed a world sparkling with the remnants of yet another storm. I love the way water illuminates and magnifies the world. Stormy weather...

Catch Up - Oct 22

Monica: Moment

Catch Up - Oct 20

(Monica)

Catch Up - Oct 6

(Monica)

Tangles

Evelyn: Like a web, but the eager tangle of new growth at the end of a stalk. Sometimes growing feels a bit like tangles.

Contemplation

Those Who Pass

Evelyn: A late night in the classroom, and after all the rain, we often see an influx of amphibians. This little guy, a bit larger than a thumbnail, had to be caught and returned outside.

Tree

Carcass

Evelyn: and then the rain stopped... and the carcasses of the flooding emerged in the wake of wetness.

Flowered Hope

Greens

Evelyn: Dinner with a friend who cooked an unexpectedly different and delightful meal. I felt appreciation for the care he took, the organization of his efforts in a one-ass kitchen as I plugged away at Javascript lessons. Conversations over papaya salad and steak... 

Coming & Going

Evelyn: Morning beach walk, and for once I went to the pier. I paused to stand, just as she did, to take in the meditative lull of the waves moving along the pillars.

Skyline

Evelyn: This was on a first date with a guy from dancing... and I thoroughly enjoyed meandering St. Pete after dinner. But what gets me about these two images is how perfectly the horizons blend, the peer running into the stream, the hill into the water-sky line... 

Pair of Nibbles

Evelyn: I can't believe how far behind we are... 

Infrequent Visitors

Evelyn: Unexpected grazer between traffic and students... and I wonder just how mother nature puts up with all our busy-ness.

Reptiles

Evelyn: Kinda fun when we do this... both caught by a creature - a Wilbur Turtle and a Palm Harbor Blue Lizard. 

Big to Little

Evelyn: One of the parting gifts from the shower was a little plant with yellow flowers. I have been enjoying how they open and shut like California poppies.

Reminants

Evelyn: It is our last day together. Monica and I get up early in the morning to soak, quiet secret chatter in the silent flumes amidst soft pleas to the universe to let me stay longer. It feels really hard to leave Monica, knowing how challenging things have been and how much I can offer, if there was time. As we put my bags in the car, heading out to Sacramento, we stop by the sacred sage on the property and I pick a sprig to follow me home. I long to stay, and I draw in the aroma while sitting in the airport, a little piece of Wilbur in my pocket.