retinal perspectives

a non-touristy view of the waterfalls

the nicest thing about living close to places like the ocean and the gorge is that i never feel like i have to make each visit "count". i can just enjoy my visit, in whatever way i want to enjoy it. even with that, it's sometimes still easy to focus so much on trying to capture the big things, that i forget to notice the small things. happily, last time, i remembered. (i am pretty sure i had never noticed the portland sign before.)

big things or small things, we all see things differently. that's why it's so much fun to see your world through your eyes. 

ode to joy, volume 21

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent joy - my word for 2010}

a week-day adventure to see the waterfalls. with friend and pup.

pure joy.

as the soul dances

"Move your hair in the light.
Let it scatter amber,
as the souls of sufis begin
to dance, sun, moon, and stars,
around us in a circle."

- Rumi (from the poem titled The Dance of Your Hidden Life)

filling the creative well

i can't remember if i mentioned that i have been on vacation this month. i gave myself the time off to transition from working for someone else to working for myself. mostly, i've been doing whatever i want. whatever i want, as it turns out, is a lot of what people might consider nothing - nothing productive, anyway. 

lately, i've been realizing that i now see photos everywhere. i don't always have my camera, and i don't always take them, but they are everywhere i look. who knew that this time off would fill my creative well to overflowing.

with that, i am reminded - again and again and again - that this is such an amazingly gloriously beautiful world, and i am so lucky to live in it.

random bits of puppishness

as you can see from the photo, atlas does not love water. it stems from a slightly traumatic (for him) event in his younger days. i cannot remember if i've told the story before; if not, it'll have to be a story for another day.

the silliest thing i say to the pup, other than calling him snufflepupagus? "tweedle dog and tweedle girl agreed to have a battle, because tweedle dog said tweedle girl was full of useless prattle." (by the way, i'm pretty sure he wholeheartedly agrees.)

do you know that children knock on the door and ask if atlas can come out to play? true story. what they really mean: will i let him out so they can take him for a walk and play with him - without me. ha. what actually happens: i stand outside and watch while they pet him for a while and try to get him to do tricks and then he takes advantage of his freedom to explore while they chase after him and try to get him to stand still.

doggone diy instructions

i found a fun diy project on the internet to create bokeh with a specific shape. it seems easy, right? pretty straightforward?

pfffffft.

an hour or so later and a bed full of homemade lens hoods, i was no closer to figuring it out than i was when i first started. the above photos are some of my results. they're nice and all, but there are definitely no hearts. 

i shall persevere. one of these days, i will have a photo with heart-shaped bokeh.

coooooooookies

apparently newly self-employed people require cookies, since i am on my second batch of the week. i have been dreaming about these ones since last weekend and finally bought the ingredients to make them. they're peanut butter blossoms but with miniature peanut butter cups instead of chocolate kisses.

the only thing i cannot figure out .. how do people make them so the chocolate isn't all melty. whenever i take a bite of one, chocolate and peanut butter gushes onto the floor. the pup runs toward the treat. i try to say 'no' with a mouthful of cookie. it's a mess all around. if you've made them and have a trick for me, please do pass it along.

ode to joy, volume 20

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent joy - my word for 2010}

realizing that you are just not in the mood for rain-soaked hiking, even though you drove the hour to the coast to do so, but enjoying the drive and the day in a different way instead.

pure joy.

is this not fantastic

i saw this sign on the side of a building as i turned off hwy 101 in tillamook and had to stop and take a photo.

the blue. the faded and peeling paint. the bright sign on top of both. just fantastic.

with this ring

speaking of weddings, i just ran across this photo in my archives and am rather fond of it. i took it last year, at my brother's wedding. it was just so fascinating to see a ring on his ring finger.