+ One of my complaints about living a ‘normal’ life is that time speeds up too fast. While backpacking time slows down and it feels like life is mellow and enjoyable. You can stop and relish the way the light lands on different things throughout the day. The rhythm of hiking is simple: wake, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, relax, sleep. And while I don’t really have a very complicated life (let’s keep it that way!) life sure does speed up through getting up and working, coming home doing chores and somehow finding time to relax and wind down. + While we still have a long…

I went back and forth for a few days about cutting my hair. I’d just ooogled at my long hair photos from hiking and thought about growing it out long again. But then I didn’t. I felt the urge for a good hair cut, someone to play with my hair. I don’t know about you, but having a wash, cut and style is just about as cathartic as a massage. If I didn’t have to stay awake for the stylist to tell me to dip my chin or turn my head I would totally fall asleep. I went in asking for a bob, something short and cute. It didn’t end…

A happy accident. I was photographing a stream in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park and jostled my camera, resulting in this image. I was going to delete it but once I reviewed it in the camera I decided to keep it to see how it really looked on a screen. I love it! It’s what I get for not carrying a tripod and using my knee instead. Exif data for those interested: F/20, 0.5 sec exposure, ISO 400, 18mm. Fall is coming. Ironically summer still felt alive and well while in NW Washington, but here in Texas, I see the changes. The beautyberry’s are fruiting, their pearled fruits…

This last week Chris and I were traipsing all around northwestern Washington state. Seattle-Olympic Peninsula-Central Cascades-San Juan Islands-Seattle again. Once we landed a week ago Saturday we made a beeline for the flagship REI store to buy supplies for our four days in the Enchantment Lakes, I was completely enamored with the city. Hippies, hipsters, regular folks…organic, crunchy, no-plastic-bags-at-the-store…my kind of place. I saw pink hair and was instantly wanting my pink hair again. ‘Pinky’ as my mom called me, might be resurrected soon. Need to muster some courage up though. It’s one thing to sport pink hair in a community that supports that, another in an area or society…

There’s this space between deep napping (and this feeling only happens to me during naps) and the moments before being completely awake where little snippets of the past come to me. These moments hit me like rock and are usually filled with emotion, sad mostly because I know those moments are gone. I came home this evening after work fully intending to hit the ground running with a rollerblade around the neighborhood and chores but really I knew I needed a quick snooze. In a semi-deep 15 minute snooze I suddenly awoke thinking about poor Momma, the tortoiseshell cat that was part of the cat colony when we moved in.…

When we first looked at our house, Mother’s Day of this year, we saw a couple of cats running around. Two or three, no big deal. Maybe it would be fun to have a yard cat or two. Then once the ball got rolling with the process of purchasing the house I came for the inspection and sat outside on the porch because the owners had decided not to leave while the inspection was going on, choosing to move some things out at the time. While on the porch I noticed a kitten and thought, well, ok, I get a kitten too. I saw a few of the adult cats…

June came and went and now July is nearly gone. I have not stayed on top of my daily photos but here are some of the ones leftover from June. I’ve seen a handful of these old street posts around our area. And handful meaning two. This one was literally around the block from my last house. Cleetus the donkey—will miss seeing him. Maybe August will be better with the photo documentation.

I’m sure one day things will calm down and life will be semi-normal, instead of days filled with unpacking, cleaning and getting my head on straight. If I said I didn’t feel overwhelmed in this month I’d be lying. It’s been one big overwhelming thing after another. And while most of it might seem rather innocuous, things begin to wear on you. To the point that watching episode after episode of season 1 of Alias makes things all better. Well. Mostly. Because you know that season 3 will come eventually and that was the crap season. We’ve had two weekends of visitors, the first bringing Chris’ brother Neil and his…