autumn

"made in China"

sorry, no words today. I need to save them for an essay.

All images taken autumn 2009, edited winter 2010. I'm considering getting a flickr or deviantart account because blogger just doesn't do the photos justice.

The heart image is not photoshopped. I've only edited color curves.

Poppy

Avogadro, center

We called him Avogadro because of his large size.

But I called him Poppy.

His lips sucked in and out in a forever hunt for food. I liked to imagine that if I hung, silently with my eyes closed, suspended in the water next to him, I could hear a faint pop! every time he opened and closed his toothless mouth.

He was charmingly plump and when he swam his whole body endearingly wiggled back and forth. His favorite food was thawed peas and duckweed, which he gobbled and eyed us like a boy in a candy shop, asking for more.

His stout body had the deceptive appearance of sturdy health. When we returned home from vacation last year, he bobbled at the top of the water like an inflated balloon. We rushed him to the aquarium where he spent a couple weeks recuperating back to health. A man offered a hundred dollars for our Avogadro, but we declined and took him home.

Over the next few months his health came in spurts. We tried everything we could - antibiotics, less food, colder water - but in the end it was lack of stomach that killed him. His, literally, as goldfish have a single, long intestine in place of a stomach. Us, figuratively, as we could not bear to see him suffer.

Poppy lived a well-loved life.

buttery sunshine

Dear Summer, you are mine. the sky is pregnant with clouds and raindrops fall like the damp tip-toe of small feet. Your back arches with meadows, the grass is soft and sweet and glows. Flower stretch their vermilion heads, their petals laced with perfume. oh summer, how you smell of half-baked earth and cool stone, warm sticky honey and fresh corn, sweet smiles and lips stained red with watermelon. oh the watermelon, juices run down your chin like tears, the green and cream rinds ferment in the backyard compost.

the rain has ceased, the clouds crack open like time-worn granite, revealing a shattering blue sky. slowly they melt away, traces of the storm dry up like snail tracks left on a hot sidewalk. you and I are standing with our toes tasting puddles and our minds hugging the buttery sunshine.

all images by me, pre-dslr.

family of four takes turn around lake! spots wolf and prisoner!

Don't you love it when you're just walking along and - OH MY GOD there's a prisoner's mitten on a tree!!

In other words, the family and I went for a walk around one of the lakes last Sunday. We were originally going to go to Purgatory, but we decided that it would be to far of a drive.
Aww.
That's right, Didi doesn't walk around lakes - he glides.

When I look at this photo I think snow! desert! oasis! and angels in my head belt out a chorus of "Silent Night."

Lone dog runs on frozen lake.

The CUTEST chimney EVER! I'd be happy to live in the chimney, except they probably have chicken wire in each of the "windows" to prevent birds for getting high on chimney smoke.

When I was looking through photos I thought, Gee that must be mom and dad walking off into the distance. How cute.

Upon closer inspection it turned out to be Didi. Yikes. He really is growing.

Don't you hate it when you're riding in a car and - OMG a cute doggy pokes its nose out the window! And then you feel obliged to pull out the camera, take a photo, and upload it to your blog. Sheesh.

Note the juxtaposition of the street signs: ONLY turn left into the MAC store, but don't actually enter it or park next to it.

Next time: Pizza Luce's stomach-turning pizza! (that's where this dog is headed.)