have been using the blender more often.
for smoothie bowls topped with nuts.
for reconstructing thoughts, some i’ll keep, some will be scrapped.
for blending work and play.
july & august & september are typically months where time blends, too.
the major movements in the garden have passed. planting and weeding have slowed. which leaves more moments to find areas to enhance, to leave rest, to repair, to ask for help, to photograph.
still am finding the boundary of photographs: for business, for art, for me, for memory.
still am finding so. many. parallels between gardening and motorcycles.
if you haven’t experienced either, what are you waiting for?
so many people are sitting, repeating movements, waiting for time and death to greet them.
but time and death are oh so ever present.
i remember working my first ‘real’ job when i was 15, receiving the uniform top and name tag, and introducing myself to the residents at the nursing/assisted living home.
started off in the kitchen washing dishes, by preparing and delivering meals.
moved on to office manager on the weekends answering calls, giving tours, misplacing post it notes, menu making, handling emergencies.
ended with becoming a caretaker.
humbles me to this day.
although i was basically a child, my youthfulness and eagerness were accepted and appreciated.
to soften the hard edges of reality. to bring in spontaneity and creativity.
rumors from the staff and residents were that losses came in ‘threes’.
which made hearts extra heavy when not one, but two residents passed away in the past tens of hours.
and emotions even more acute when a third and fourth disappeared.
and then we counted that in a short while, we had to say goodbye to six darlings.
amidst the chaos of life and death, the establishment undertook renovations, resignations, intermediaries, and inadequacies.
i typically don’t reflect on these days.
but when there is an opportunity to have a group hug, or try a new restaurant instead the same old joint, or adventure without a map, or to look into someones eyes when it’s hard, or to walk barefoot, i remember to live a bit more.
so here are six photographs of life.
by no means are these all encompassing.
but each is a fond moment for me.
partly captured.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯\_(ツ)_/¯