Listening to a house

(inspired by C. Beth)

The hum of the refrigerator,
Whoosh of air conditioning,
Passing cars on the way somewhere important,
The tick-tock of a clock marking the passing of the day.

My house is quiet.

No gossiping of neighbors,
No conspiring of sisters,
No laughter of friends planning dinner,
The tick-tock of the clock marking the passing of time.

My house is lonely.

No baby giggles signaling delight,
No toddler screams expressing frustration,
No persistent “why?” from a curious child,
The tick-tock of a clock marking the passing of life.

My house is empty.
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I rarely write anything in poem form but Beth's poem today set off a bit of reflection and a nagging need to respond. By no means do I think this is any good and I debated about posting it but that's what this blog is about - somewhere to let out whatever creative urges I feel, missteps and all.

First Photos

Just a couple of photos from my first trip out with the new g10. The first three are the same image, manipulated a bit in Photoshop. And the last one is a random tree I liked. Everything was taken in auto-mode because I haven't had a chance to even begin figuring out the intricacies of the camera yet but it still performed pretty well.

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

Those are words that make me quite happy. My camera will be here today (Joe even stayed home to sign for it) and we're going away this weekend to visit a winery and do some hiking. Perfect timing!

Canon g10

Learning Curve

We've just booked an awesome trip to San Francisco, featuring Napa and Lake Tahoe.

I love to travel, when I can keep my anxiety in check. And one of my favorite things to do is capture the places we've been so we can "visit" them over and over.

To aid in this, I've been feverishly working to learn the manual controls on my camera, a Canon g5. It's several years old but takes decent photos. However, I've been considering buying an entry level digital SLR so I can really take advantage of manual focus and lenses.

In the end, I chose the Canon g10 (much newer version of my g5) over the T1i d-slr. The cost of lenses really overwhelmed me. And the g10 offers great flexibility for macro, automatic controls, manual controls, etc.

In the meantime, as I await the arrival of my new toy (as well as a new sd card and backup battery), I've been shooting a lot of shots with the g5. I figure they're similar so it can't hurt.

The first two sets are all basically the same subjects (shoes and turtles) but using different manual settings. I share these so you can see how much I'm failing. The third set is from a garden we drove out to yesterday - some of these are actually not too bad.

I'm hoping one day I can look back at these starter sets and laugh about how far I've come. Or at how much I still have no idea what I'm doing.

A Study in Shoes	Turtles in a Half Shell	Sunday in the Garden

Running

This is a recent submission to The One Minute Writer If you're unfamiliar, the site provides a daily prompt to spend just sixty seconds writing about. I don't participate every day but probably a few times a week.

This piece was a response to a Friday Fiction prompt:

Write a brief bit of fiction involving running.

It's nothing astounding but I kinda liked it and didn't want to lose track of it.

I could hear him behind me. I didn't dare look back but I could sense him gaining ground. Not sure how much longer I could keep up this pace, my eyes constantly scanned ahead of me. I was searching for a hiding place, assistance, some sort of escape from my relentless assailant.

As I rounded the corner, I spotted my salvation. Daddy! I jumped into his arms, giggling as our new puppy bounced at Daddy's legs, unable to reach me. My pudgy little toddler legs may not be that fast but as long as Daddy was there to save me, no way would that puppy steal my ball!

Never Fall Away

Letters From the Sky
Civil Twilight

one of these days the sky's gonna break and everything will escape
and I'll know
one of these days the mountains are gonna fall into the sea
and they'll know
that you and I were made for this
I was made to taste your kiss
we were made to never fall away
never fall away

one of these days letters are gonna fall from the sky
telling us all to go free
but until that day I'll find a way to let everybody know that you're coming back,
you're coming back for me
'cause even though you left me here
I have nothing left to fear
these are only walls that hold me here
hold me here, hold me here

one day soon I'll hold you like the sun holds the moon
and we will hear those planes overhead
and we won't have to be scared
we won't have to be scared,
we won't have to be scared

you're coming back for me
you're coming back for me
you're coming back to me

I first became aware of this song while watching Harper's Island on television and the song was used in a very powerful scene. These lyrics have really stuck in my mind and I can't clear it from my head.

The lyrics seem to be about two lovers but I think they can also be applied to an idea, a feeling, anything that stirs emotion inside you. So when trying to think up an idea for the blog where I plan to capture some of my creative urges, I kept coming back to these lyrics.

As for what I plan to post here, it's going to vary a lot. Works from others. Bits that inspire me (like this song, a photo, a movie). Works of my own (photos, graphics, stories).

No guarantees for how often I'll post - this blog is all about when and where and how the mood strikes.