PhotoHunt 286: ... Waiting ...

Waiting for the green line train in the DC Metro U Street Station.

This week's PhotoHunt theme, 'Waiting', was a difficult one for me.  Though most of us spend oodles of time waiting on so many things, I couldn't really locate a photo that expressed the seemingly eternal essence of it very well.  The above shot made the cut because I've always liked the way it seems to show the movement of the trains, even though there aren't any there. (Hence, the waiting).  So, until I can manage to come up with a better way to capture it, I suppose you'll just have to ... well, wait. 

PhotoHunt 284: Yellow, Ushering in Autumn

Autumn has officially arrived here in the northern hemisphere, and I couldn't think of a more perfect way to welcome it than to appreciate all of the beautifully changing color outside!  Fortunately, this week's PhotoHunt fits right into the now, and a lovely, though slightly damp, stroll through the neighborhood with Olivia (seen in the 3rd photo below) helped to capture some of the many wonderful shades of yellow to be found all around.  Happy autumn!

Photohunt 280: 'Symbolic' Lawn Decor

After not doing a PhotoHunt for a number of months now, I figured I should throw one in just to keep me on my toes.  This week's theme, "Symbolic", could go in so many different directions, but I figured I would just keep it nice and simple since I'm a bit rusty after all of this 'time off'.  

Above, is a shot of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom on the gates of Buckingham Palace.  The three lions in two of the the quartered panels of the shield are the guardant lions of England, the rampant lion panel is symbolic of Scotland, and the harp panel is for Northern Ireland.  The crest and the left supporter are royal English lions wearing the imperial crown, and the right supporter is a chained unicorn for Scotland.  (For all of you unicorn novices out there, apparently an 'unchained unicorn' is far more dangerous than a chained one.  Though this might at first seem like a jab at Scotland, the symbol is pulled directly from the Scottish Royal Coat of Arms that depicts two chained unicorns).     

Stunning, aren't they?  After our visit, I wanted a matching set for our front door, but was informed that these could only be used by the Queen herself.  Though Jay insisted that we could find far better ones, I have yet to find them at the local Target store, and feel that I might be better off finding myself a unicorn for the front yard - chained, of course.    

Making it to the End Game

I don't know why, but even if I have a good idea that something will turn out alright, I typically have a problem outwardly living that reality on a day-to-day basis.  I know this is due to a total disconnect between my flucuating emotional microscope, and the reality of it all, but that really doesn't make things any easier to grapple with.  Sometimes I feel like a heavy rollercoaster that tries to make it over that last big hill in order to get the momentum to spin through the fun loop-de-loops, but instead of a steady and positive movement forward, I seem to stall out somewhere in-between, and those loops seem so much farther away than they really are.

The other day, while feeling like I was in the middle of a pretty big 'life stall', I was searching for an image to accommodate last week's PhotoHunt (which had a topic of 'Digital' - not sure what I was supposed to do with that one), and instead found this.  

This shot was taken almost exactly two years ago today, and is the only photo that exists from that time period as far as I know.  It was taken while on a frantic quest for a 2nd home/apartment in the DC area to accommodate a job shift ... and then what turned out to be two job shifts, a move, a financial crisis, and a total personal meltdown.  In that one frozen instant above though, you would have never known that anything was even amiss.  I look happy, relaxed, and optimistic.  Though I remember feeling the overwhelming stress anyone would feel from any type of sudden life change, I also remember being kind of excited about it.  Things were moving so fast, and held so much possibility (even in the face of a challenge) that I had no way of knowing that I was standing at the starting line of a difficult long distance marathon instead of a short sprint.  I was nowhere even close to even seeing the end game. 


Initially, this mental stroll down memory lane churned up a lot of ugly memories, but the funny & more unexpected thing that it did was to inspire me to remember where it was that I thought I was headed at that time.  Seeing that image of myself, I can recall the ways in which I had been looking at the bigger picture, and trying to put the pieces together in the best way possible to get through to the end game. Though the costs of getting there were sorely underestimated at that time (financial, physical, and emotional), it was exciting, surprising, frantic, and everything that goes with that.  It was also necessary I suppose.


It's actually taken me a lot to rebound from the past two years, and I still feel like I'm cleaning up some loose ends from the fallout.  If someone had told me a year ago that things wouldn't be 'better' by this point I think I may have actually imploded.  Now though, I'm fortunately still in one piece, and coping with everything as it comes along - trying not to let the big things overwhelm (thank you Xanax), and taking time out to enjoy the little things.  At this point, I can actually take a look back at that photo above and begin to see the bigger picture again.  I can feel a little bit of what I was feeling there two years ago - anticipation for the next step, and excitement for the final outcome of this long journey.  I now know that the 'next step' might be more uncomfortable than I would like, and that there may be more hurdles before the final outcome.  I also know more about myself and in that, am (fingers crossed) better equipped to respond to whatever may come my way.  

I think sometimes in order to keep going forward without stalling out, you sometimes have to look back to see where you've been and how you got to where you are now.  In my case, an unexpected look back to two years ago has helped me to remember just where it was I was originally headed, and why I was (and should still be) excited about it.  For me, it seems to be exactly what I needed in order to to keep moving forward.  Given everything that has brought me to where I am now, I can only know that everything really will turn out alright.  I think I knew that in that photo two years ago, though at some point lost sight of the bigger picture in the midst of all the change.  I'm sure there will be more hills to climb and hurdles to jump regardless of time or place, and I'm sure they won't be easy or infrequent. I just hope that with practice I'll eventually continue to get better at responding to them all and keep up the momentum needed to make it to the end game.

Photohunt 263: Square, Aruban Excursion

It's been a while since my last PhotoHunt, but when I saw the subject for this week my mind went straight to one place -- Aruba.  This photo, taken from inside of the Bushiribana ruins, is one of my favorite shots from a trek up the northern coast on our first visit to the island.  Obviously evident is the square 'window' overlooking the beach and the vivid blue of the Atlantic Ocean.  Less obvious is the journey it took to get to that spot.

Bushiribana at a distance.

Rock stacks along the beach at Bushiribana.

The fierce waves against the rocky northeastern coast of Aruba.

Aruba is a very interesting island to me.  So sparse is it on the northeastern shore that our map was blank except for a few landmarks and, what I suppose were considered frequently traveled routes that had finally given way to a path.  You may or may not see another tourist playing adventurer for the day -- most of the time it's just you and your travel companion(s) all alone your little rental jeep battling together to cross a vast expanse of dry sand and rock.  Just about as soon as you think you can't take another view of dusty terrain, or you get tired of driving endless stretches of sand and rock, you catch a glimpse over the horizon and realize that there is the most serenely beautiful beach just across they way that keeps you going.  I suppose in that way, the island can be a lot like life.

The climate is so arid and the vegetation so sparse that everything is a dusty sandy beige contrasted directly by the most gorgeous blue everywhere you look along the coast.  Driving along the rocky dirt "roads", you almost feel a bit depressed by the endlessly dry, sparse terrain, and very unsure of exactly where it is that your path will lead (or even if you're on a path at all).  After Jay decided to drive us through a live military firing range (imagine how thrilled I was), we actually ended up getting our rental jeep quite stuck at a certain point in a particularly severe part of the "road"  (which might be more aptly deemed a chasm).  I was almost in a full-out panic thinking that we were going to be stuck there forever - just us and the occasional goat that wandered by.

Fortunately for us, we did not get eternally lost, shot, or end up getting stuck long enough to spend the night with the goats.  We were wonderfully able to trek ahead through the disparaging landscape back towards our little slice of resort heaven to indulge for a bit in some of the gloriously clear water, pink sands, and fruity drinks.  I think because of the earlier events of the day, we were actually able to enjoy the comforts and ease of our surroundings that much more.  We didn't make that same explorative trek on our subsequent visit (once was enough for me), though I would no doubt recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet struck out on their own to explore.  Had we not ever felt lost on our map, gotten stuck in the rough and rocky terrain or taken the risk of crossing the firing range, we never would have seen the beauty of the island in it's entirety to really know where we were, or appreciated the comfort and luxury of the resort quite as much as we did for the rest of our visit - a lesson I, for one, would be wise to remember more often.

PhotoHunt 260: Trees, and 'Audrey III', Part 2

For this week's PhotoHunt, I couldn't help but share a picture of some trees from the National Cherry Blossom Festival that happens every spring in Washington, DC at the Tidal Basin.  There are so many gorgeous blooms that it really is a spectacular site, and I highly recommend getting to at least once in your life if you can.  With the beautiful Jefferson Memorial across the water, and the trees dropping petals like spring snow in the breeze, it's at once ethereal, calming, and exciting - almost like stepping into another world.

Though not a tree (and not quite as breathtaking), I also thought I 'd take this opportunity to share with you the progress that our Lady Banks Rose,  'Audrey III' has made over the past few days.  If you're a little lost on this background story, check out my previous post here.

April 5

April 7

April 8

Looks like some birds have decided she makes for a perfect home.

Looking at all of those blooms just makes me smile.  I know it's a bit cheesy, but hopefully it will add a little smile to your day as well.  :)

PhotoHunt 258: Caged, A Spin Through the National Zoo

So you might be thinking that this isn't the epitome of this week's PhotoHunt subject, but quite honestly it was my favorite shot from one of my trips to the DC National Zoo.  If you look, you can most certainly see the cage at the top of the shot, and trust me, there was no doubt a cage was involved here -- quite a large one too.  I think what I enjoy most about this shot though, is how natural it looks; as if the lounging cheetah is almost as thankful for the cage as the people on the other side of it are. Even though the thought of a cage tends to bring to mind negative connotations, I suppose it works both ways sometimes as long as it's humane.  In this case, it doesn't look like the cheetah seems to mind a little peace and quiet, and it probably leads a pretty cushy life all things considered.

Here are some additional photos taken the same day.  In some, you can see more cage than animal - probably more appropriate for the topic, though nowhere near as beautiful.  In the last shot, you can catch a glimpse of what the District might look like behind a cage - something in which some might find a little irony.

PhotoHunt 256: Machine(s)

Machines are all around us these days, so it really wouldn't have been a difficult task to snap a shot of any random machine that most everyone comes into contact with on a daily basis.  Keeping that in mind, it really made me wonder why this specific picture is the one that automatically came to mind for this week's PhotoHunt.  I think part of the reason may have been the idea of wanting to know more about what "it" actually is, and the other part may have to do with the role that it played once upon a time in everything that has grown up around all it.  Both reasons actually leave a lot for thought on some level, so I can only assume that is why I hadn't completely forgotten about this photo altogether.

Have you figured out what it is yet?  Here's a better representation of the machine as a whole.

Still a little lost?  It's ok, just keep reading.

For me, I think the most interesting aspect of these photos, aside from the amount of information I uncovered just to satisfy my curiosity about what exactly I was looking at, came from the meaning in the composition.  If you look at the top photo, you'll see the old 'Lucky Strike' cigarette factory peeking through the structure - a direct result of it's forgotten surroundings.  In the photo that follows, there are a few things of note.  There is a tiered image of structures, quite possibly reflecting in chronologically descending order, with the machine that is the subject of the photo at the top; an old canal, whose primary usefulness has been all but discarded, supporting both the machine, as well as the modern skyline; and then, of course, there is that lone bird in the photo standing on the water of the old canal harkening back to a scene that those who were here before any of this engineering may have seen.  Through looking and learning about everything in this photo, I've thought about all of the amazing things that our machines create - cities, states, and countries, but I've also thought a lot about those who have created everything leading up to our machines.

So what is my machine?  The machine in my photo is an old train trestle drawbridge, known as a single-leaf bascule bridge, standing over a section of the James River and the Kanawha Canal at Great Shiplock Park in Richmond, VA.  It's said that sketches of these bascule bridges have been found in history as early as the 1500s, in notes by Leonardo diVinci.  The top shot shows you the counter weight inside the great big box that used to pull up the train trestle so the boats coming up the canal could transport freight to the warehouses along the canal into the city, and the rest of the state.  This canal was surveyed and planned by George Washington in the late 1700s, and construction was finally completed in the 1850s as part of Washington's plan to secure Virginia's economic success, which in turn secured the City of Richmond's economic success.  By 1877, the flooding and the Civil War had done a number on the success of the canal and it's funding, and the railroads eclipsed the efficiency of the canal system.  Rail was put in along the river by the canal to serve the same purpose of importing and exporting goods, like tobacco, to and from the many warehouses that sprung up along the route during the early years of the city.  The bridge you see above was built in 1930 by the Virginia Bridge and Iron Company for use by the Norfolk & Western Railway.  Though the track may still see sine occasional use, the bridge has not been raised in many years to accommodate the canal beneath.

Through digging around and discovering 'new' things in order to properly identify the  very cool machine in my photo, what I can't help but notice is how our human history is as interconnected as parts of a machine, constantly working together to achieve a purpose.  We are most likely to take for granted all that came before us to achieve that from which we take, create, and make new in order to help form our future, but like cogs on a wheel, everything we do now as a "human machine" is a result of someone or something that came before.  So, though we may at times think of ourselves as useless parts of a whole, we certainly cannot help but know that everything we do now will most certainly affect the foundation that our future is built on.  And, much like the evolution of our  industrial machines that depend on the function of their counterparts, we wouldn't be nearly as functional or productive in our own evolution without the support of each other .

PhotoHunt 255: Self-Portrait

Ok, so this week's PhotoHunt was not really high on my list of priorities since I didn't feel like putting a lot of thought (or any thought really) into what I think I would define as a valid self-portrait - I would probably need to talk to a therapist afterwards.  It also seems kind of narcissistic and uncomfortable in a way, which is why this is kind of a short post.  Anyway, as I was sitting on the couch with no makeup and not even a brush run through my hair, I decided to see what my laptop cam would snap.  I mean, you really can't get any more real than a grey sweatshirt, and no makeup or hair help.  Well, as I found the original results a little too real for my comfort level (I did just turn a year older), I decided to play around using the effects available, and came up with some pretty unexpected results.  What I guess I hadn't expected is how much the effects actually captured, in my opinion, more about me than what I thought the "normal" shots did.  Then again, that in and of itself might be the most telling thing about my 'self portraits'.   I've selected my favorite above (which also happened to be Jay's selected favorite as well), and have also included the 'runner's up' below.  I hope you enjoy, and if you have a few spare moments of your own to play around with a bag of computer camera tricks you should give it a whirl.  At the very least you'll probably get a good laugh, and if you look a little deeper you may just be inspired to see a side of yourself that you haven't noticed in a while, which can be quite refreshing.

PhotoHunt 253: Silhouette

Silhouettes are very intriguing things.  They can say a lot about the subject, and then at the same time, nothing at all.  They almost demand a sort of viewer interaction that piques interest and causes a subtle questioning.  They can be very mysterious and seductive like a glamourous old hollywood detective film;  yet at the same time very innocent and straightforward, depending on what you, the viewer, are bringing to the table.  Though I had quite a few shots that technically satisfied this week's PhotoHunt assignment, this particular shot seemed to sum up the shadowy, sensual mystique that a great silhouette can evoke.  This silhouette is courtesy of one very cool hotel room window, looking out over Chinatown, that became even cooler at night with the lights out.

PhotoHunt 252: Education (Or, Learning to Polish a Turd)

It's PhotoHunt time again!  I'm a little late with it again this week, but better late than never (like last week), right?  This week's theme being education, I couldn't resist posting a photo of some of the most tangible education I've ever received - my first house, on good 'ole Grayland Avenue.  That's her ... right there looming above.  She actually looks strikingly pulled together in that photo compared to what I remember her looking like most of the time, so much so that I almost don't remember her looking like THIS (cue psycho shower scene music, hold your nose, make sure that all young children are out of the room, etc) ...

... or maybe I have just managed to block that part out at this point.

At any rate, you can probably see why this might have been a learning experience for a young, single female on a limited budget, who's only handyman experience was watching home improvement shows and depending on someone else to 'fix it'.  You also probably see why everyone that looked at that house with me before buying, with the exception of my Dad, told me I must have been smoking crack in order to want to buy that.  In full disclosure, there was not one wall that I remember that didn't have peeling paint (probably lead) on the cracking plaster walls; the bathrooms were not usable, had old astroturf on the floor, and smelled of urine (which was on the walls and I'm certain was on the astroturf as well); the kitchen appliance (there was only one) was playing host to an array of smelly decaying rodents and bugs; and there was a rotting dead squirrel in the 2nd floor hallway that had apparently fallen into the house through the huge gaping hole in the ceiling of the master bedroom (also smelling of pee) which, not being able to get back out the same way, had gnawed on the majority of the wooden window sashes in the house until the panes were hardly secure, in a futile effort to escape.  Why did I think this was the house for me?  Well, my Dad was quite impressed with the sturdy foundation and steel I beam that ran through the basement.  But obviously, for me it was because it was within walking distance of my social nightlife circle, and of course, because 'it showed character'  - that's right, I might as well have been smoking crack.  

Thanks to the support I received from my Dad (who obviously thought I needed this type of education) I bought myself a house and felt all proud and adult-like about the turd I had purchased.  At first, I was a bit gung-ho about the idea of polishing it up and making a nice home.  I had the help of friends and family, and I was excited.  I had outwardly taken on the appearance that I was a wall of confidence that was strong enough and determined enough to manage the task at hand of putting that house back together.  I had no idea that in order to put a house like this back together, you most times have to take it apart first.  As my friends and family went back to their own daily lives, and I was left to manage my new project, those walls of confidence came down (sometimes literally) as I ran into more and more issues that I didn't even know could have existed within a house.  Sometimes I had no idea what the actual problem was, much less how I was supposed to handle it myself.  My house turned out to be VERY good at taking itself apart in order to expose even further issues, and I then became also VERY good at promptly freaking out; so began the cycle of extremes.  

Often times, while I was desperately trying to hold it together during the challenging process of living in the house myself, I think I could relate all too well with the peril that dead hallway squirrel must have felt  trapped in something that was so much bigger than him, but still fighting to get out.  After fighting for so long though, and allowing myself to crumble right along with the house, I finally came to the realization that you can't expect to turn a turd into a diamond, but you certainly can do your best to polish it up (see MythBusters on this if you don't believe me).   Once I acknowledged the house for what she really was, and realized that the one who needed to change the most was me, things got easier.  She and I still had our share of issues and she was normally the one in charge, but at least I was in control of the way I handled the situations and what I expected the outcome to be.  Oh, and here was the final inside result ... 

... not too shabby, huh?  I think both of us turned out pretty nicely after coming back up from the bottom together.  It really did get better once I realized I had to work with what I had and not try to make it into something else.  I suppose on some level my Dad must have known that my own 'sturdy foundation' and 'steel I beam' were enough of a match to stand up to, and prosper from the type of education I got from my very first house on Grayland Avenue.  I learned a lot about hands on home repair.  I learned that watching home improvement shows does not even come close having to do the work yourself, and learning how to do it yourself.  I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with things.  I learned that sometimes in life, what your given (or in this case, what you've purchased) isn't going to change, so the only thing you can do if you don't want it to take you down with it, is to learn to polish it and embrace the change it might bring about in you.  And maybe most importantly, I learned that I will never again do anything like that without having the money to hire contractors to do it for me.