Nothing to bitch about

Today I was writing an e-mail to a dear friend - a woman who went through a total transition in her life during the time I knew her here, breaking up her long, seemingly happy marriage because she realized it wasn't what she thought it was, going through hell for awhile, but keeping at it, and finally deciding to go back to the US and live on her own. We've been in touch over the years since she left, and we still have this instant rapport - you know, the kind of relationship you have with your sibs, where even if you haven't seen each other in ages, you can still instantly find that place you always had with each other. She went on to get her life totally together and recently married again! I couldn't be at the wedding now that we're thousands of miles apart, but here's the thing: as I wrote the e-mail, I realized that I was going on and on about the goings-on in my neck of the woods, without getting into deeper issues of historical, political, scientific, ecological or any other type of value. As I read over my e-mail, I realized that it sounded very me-me-ME. Whimsical, optimistic, matter-of-fact, day-to-day stuff. No bitching about anything earthshaking. Was there nothing I needed to vent about on another level? She's a good friend! She'll listen!! Have I really nothing to bitch about on any level?

That can't be true!!! There must be something I feel passionate about and in fact there are many things I do have deep convictions about. But writing about them in an e-mail??? ¡¡Qué flojera!!! (makes me tired just to think about it).

HOWEVER, a blog is the place for this kind of writing! And that's exactly what I added at the end of my e-mail, in apology for not writing something deeper in the e-mail. So, since I virtually told her to take a look at my blog if she wanted to see my thoughts on deeper issues, I'd better start posting such things... along with the tomato updates of course.

And if anyone reading this has anything they think should be bitched about, leave a comment here.

Okay then, so let's talk about bitching! My feeling here is that: If you've gotta bitch, bitch to the right person(s). I truly believe that there is no reason to bitch to anyone about anything they are not directly involved with. If I have a problem with someone or some situation, I will look for the person(s) who can do something about it. I will then bitch at great length (if need be) until I've gotten my point across. Some examples:

1) I bitch to the bagpackers at the supermarkets if they start putting things in bags when it's unnecessary (some things come in their own bag!) or when they put too few things in one bag and then start to fill another one. I try to arrive at the supermarket toting my own bag but it doesn't always work out that I have one on hand when I'm in the vicinity and we need things from there. In cases where a bagger starts overdoing it, I bitch, apologize for bitching, and then smile encouragingly as I ask them to see that they actually have the power to make a difference in conserving the environment.

2) I bitch to anyone who tries to sell me anything in styrofoam. I tell them it's utterly unnecessary and should be on its way out of our universe. If they don't seem to care, I ask to talk to their boss and tell that person. I bitch to my kids' teachers when they want the kids to do projects involving styrofoam. I ask my kids to bitch to their teachers and the school authorities about that, about using too much printer ink for projects they have to turn in, about not letting the kids use recycled paper for their printed projects, etc. etc. And when I go to the meetings, either at work or at my kids' schools, I make my point on these kinds of issues.

3) I bitch to authorities by way of letters (or e-mail). The last time I did this was a few months ago, when the university tried to charge me a huge fee simply for being a foreigner. They didn't care that I actually live and have residency in this country. I wrote the best letter I could, did about 3 revisions, read it to a few people and asked for their comments, made more revisions, and finally sent it. My letter was read and answered: my proposal (to be charged as a Mexican) was accepted, which of course gave me a lovely sense of satisfaction, though you shouldn't think for a minute that I get such positive results every time I write a letter of protest or complaint!

4) I bitch to each of my kids INDIVIDUALLY about their INDIVIDUAL shortcomings, when that's how it is; of course, if they all have the same shortcoming, I bitch to them as a group!

5) I bitch to myself the most of all!!!! I bitch about all the things I keep saying I'm going to do and then don't do.

So where does it get me- all this bitching?

It gets me here... keying about it in my blog.

Tomato progress and reflections on an Intercultural Seminar

Well, I've been checking my garden but I can't get a picture of it because by the time I get home each day, it's dusk and raining, or about to rain. However, the garden looks good. A few weeds have sprung up but nothing major so I'm sure it can wait until Saturday. I'll get a good before and after picture of it then.
Also, I'm experimenting in sprouting some tomato seeds in cotton (remember those kindergarten projects with the frijol in a piece of damp cotton???). I read that they "take" better if you put them in a warm place - like on top of the fridge - so that's what I'm going to do. I'll post a picture of those little planters on Saturday.
Meanwhile, just a word of thanks to some people who inadvertantly provided input for an intercultural seminar I was asked to help out with yesterday. I was the "expert" as the German woman who led it introduced me. The seminar was for some Mexicans who are going to be living in the US for 3 years. They came with their families to this session to learn about the history, customs, people, lifestyle, etc. of the US. Pretty ambitious for a 10-hour session. I was supposed to give some info on the do's and don'ts, as well as the holidays and their significance. So I looked up a lot of stuff in Wikipedia and found such interesting things! Like the original history of American Labor Day - which is not the same date as Labor Day around the world. Read up on it here. It will surprise you. Ditto with Martin Luther King Jr. , Presidents Day, Veteran's day, and on down the line! Really spent some fun time reading up on all those things. I also found an expat forum that was fun to surf, and also took a survey from ale's blog - where she talked about 5 things she likes and 5 she doesn't like about the US, and also some observations from the girl from Villahermosa who lives in UK - about sneezing - that was so true!!!! And also, some wonderful comments from fned about what it means to be an expat, and how it contributes to your growth... I'm telling you I arrived with enough things to talk about, read about and mull over to last us for a week at that seminar. I even had a short clip from YOUtube showing Shirley Temple doing a dance with Bill "BoJangles" in her Littlest Rebel film (re: Civil War history, American public movie-going during Depression)...
And then it turned out we didn't use any of it!!!! The lead speaker needed to finish with her topics, which included the dates I'd looked up, so I did get to use some of that info. Then there were the issues of drivers licenses and universities, where she would turn to me to corroborate things, or to give my "expert" opinion about these and other such situations that came up. I didn't feel comfortable being put in that role since I haven't really lived in the States for so long, so when I got to talk about something, I ended up asking the participants what they thought about things (some of them had already been to the States a few times) and they all participated quite well! So much so, that there was no time to get to all those other subjects!!! But thanks anyway to those bloggers I mentioned... and keep blogging!

New Project - Tomato Garden (2nd Attempt)!

DAY 1: Starting anew! I've cleaned out the tremendous over-abundance of weeds (see picture), and made my rows - 4 of them - for this second attempt at growing tomatoes. I'm still not sure if anything will come up, as I haven't done some of the prep work I've been reading about. I can't help it - I am too impatient to get those seeds into the ground!!


I figure the soil is still pretty much fertilized after the last time. And by weeding so thoroughly in that section, I tilled and turned over the earth pretty well. I planted 2 rows of tomatoes - one row on each side - and chile serrano and cilantro in the two inner rows (see picture below). I got completely mosquito-bitten, my pants and shoes got pretty dirty, my back hurt by the end, but my hands were more or less saved by the use of heavy gardening gloves.

Now I've got the patch all watered and seeded (see photo above), and what's the next step? I'm gonna have to FORCE MYSELF to check on this little garden 3 times during the next week... the way the weeds grew the last time, I need to be on top of that, and pull them out before they overrun everything again (I did find (but couldn't save) two cilantro plants in all those weeds!) My goal is to see some tomato, chile, and cilantro plants in each of the rows by August 17th (four weeks). If you've got any suggestions to help me get there, please don't hesitate to enter them!

And now: GET THIS:

ANYONE WHO READS THIS ENTRY UP TO THIS POINT IS HEREBY "TAGGED" FOR THE FOLLOWING:


1 - For a period of 4 weeks, you must work and report your progress on a project of your own choice, documenting the results as they occur.


2 - You can take the time you need to decide on your project and then you write an opening "DAY ONE" description, with an introductory photo, and your expectations for the end-result.


3 - If you are "in" (oh please say you'll do it!), you need to leave word in the comments section so we all know who we are and then we can all keep track of each others' progress and offer support, advice, links that could help or whatever.


4 - Each week, you will post three times (whichever days you want, but three times a week) with photos showing progress. Or simply a description of what has developed since the previous post. You can give a shout out for help or moral support in these posts, or you can brag all you want, or whatever! If you post three times a week, you'll have a total of 12 posts showing the progress and final accomplishment, but hell, I'm no slavedriver; post only once a week if that's all you can manage - just keep it steady!


5 - At the end of the 4-week period, we'll have a documented chain of events that has led us each, in our individual projects, from point "A" to point "B"! Something we can later look back on with a sense of satisfaction! If our projects don't seem to be coming out right, we'll know early on, and we can take steps to repair the situation. Maybe we'll even need more than 4 weeks, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.


6 - So are you in???? Let's do this!!! Pass the word so we can get a network of people working on something interesting for one month and sharing the outcome - as it happens - with others. Maybe someone will hit on a project that we can all contribute to from our different areas of the globe! Now that would be cool!


P.S. If you don't want to do it, I can understand... I just got so caught up in the idea of being able to work alongside others, each of us doing our own thing, but matching our paces and learning from each others' ways of doing things... I thought it would be so neat. But if you've done it before or if you don't have time, or if you don't have a blog to be able to blog your progress, or whatever the obstacle may be - maybe you just don't want to do it - well, I can understand and I'll just go on with my tomato garden and you're welcome to cheer me on in the endeavor or just observe with no comment... BUT I HOPE YOU DO COMMENT AND I HOPE YOU DO DECIDE TO DO IT!!!

Day 30: end of the line

end of day

On our last trip to this beach in Veracruz, I was trying to photograph an incredible sunset. When I resorted to regular light, the picture came out too dark - mostly black with brilliant orange streaks, but you couldn't decipher the beach, water or people. Then Samo told me to use the night light and this was the result. End of day looks more like a brilliant morning!

But anyway, this is the end of the line for the 30-day photolog! Hence, a few reflections:

• It took more than 30 days! Due to the impossibility of blogging every single day, I was forced to cheat! Conclusion: next time it should be a 12-day photolog over the period of one month. That would give me some time to consider carefully, or to take random pictures for a few days before having to post one of them...
• I didn't follow the rules of using a picture taken on the day itself (picture above is proof of that!) ... too difficult to be uploading pictures from my camera every day. I gotta work, you know! And we aren't allowed to have cameras at work so that means my photo-shooting time is severely limited. Conclusion: same as above - next time I will take photos for a few days and then choose from those taken to use in a 3-a-week photo-blog.
• Using photos really gets the mind working. I like that aspect of it and it was only because of the difficulty of shooting, uploading, choosing, and posting one photo per day that I got so off-track. Conclusion: same as the above - a 12-day photolog spread over one month should be much more interesting and doable!

But I'll tell you what would really help - having a theme! If anyone has a good idea for a photo-log theme, please advise! That would give the whole thing much more content! I'll think on it too. Meanwhile, hope you're enjoying all the lovely sunsets, sunrises, rainbows, blue skies and rainy days too that come your way!

Day 29 - CLo's an Adult!

coming of age!

Not a self-portrait, not even about who she is, but the artwork is hers - CLo's. And since this is her b'day - her 18th no less! - I've decided to post one of her works...

Of course, today is not her b'day because today is not really day 29 - I've gotten pretty far behind on the 30-day photo log, you see... but the real day 29 was her birthday, and that's what counts!

I've since dubbed it "la triste historia de un cumpleaños no festejado" because the actual moment of celebration never quite got off the ground! There was reference to it... there was a lot of inter-communication about when it would be, what would be done and eaten, and even the hour... but things just kept coming between us and our objective!

NOTE: In this house, we celebrate in a very simple way: somebody makes the cake (or buys it if it's not one of our recipe cakes or if there's no time to make it) on the actual day, then we all come together in the evening, put some candles on it, serve it with or without icecream, coffee/milk, and sit around the table taking pictures and talking about whatever... no big deal, just the family members and maybe a friend or two who happened by... key words here: on the actual day, as in: very spontaneous!

BUT ON THIS BIRTHDAY:

There was the fact that I could not find a chocolate cake, which was the specified wish of the b'day girl, and then the birthday girl herself couldn't be home for the festivities at the hour we had first designated, which of course didn't matter because a) there was no cake at that time and b) I had to rush to the sports center to take the final pictures for my article - the game was announced at the last minute and it was to be the last game of the tournament, so if I wanted pictures I had to be there... and that didn't matter either, since we had no cake! As a matter of fact we figured it was a good thing because Lu could drop me off, go get a cake and pick me up and we'd be back before CLo got home (we thought).... but it didn't work out like that either because a) the game was still in the 2nd quarter when I got there (it was supposed to be ending at that time!) and I had to wait till the end to get the pictures of the teams... and b) Lu couldn't find a cake shop that was open or an open one that had a chocolate cake...

After a few few rounds of TMs in search of cake shops, Lu finally found a cake; by that time, I had my pictures! He came by for me and we went home... only to find that CLo was just getting home too, it was much later than we'd planned, and everyone was either too tired to do the whole cake-thing (it was a weeknight after all), or already asleep! So we put it off till the next day... and by then it was just not the same! Moral of the story: when there's a birthday to be celebrated - DON'T PUT IT OFF! JUST DO IT!

one last note: don't feel too bad for the b'day girl - she has celebrated QUITE NICELY with friends and family THE WHOLE WEEK!!!! The cake might have bombed but the shopping for her upcoming trip and partying with friends have pretty much made up for the lack of our normal routine!

Day 28: The basketball story

getting the scoop!

Technically speaking, this photo should probably not count, since I didn't take it myself - in fact, if you zoom in, you can see me in the picture! Yep, there I am, getting the scoop for an article I'm trying to finish for the school magazine. But it was such a good night! Taking all those action photos... Samo continued where I had left off... Of course, I didn't get anywhere near as good in either my article or the pictures as Mexpat did in her recounting of the Mundialito in Playa del Carmen... but maybe someday I'll get the chance to do something as totally absorbing as that must have been!

The article's about a women's basketball league and how a lot of the women in the league are married to men in the men's league! And even more amazing is how many couples actually met and fell in love through playing basketball!

On the womens' teams you can find mothers and daughters playing on the same team! There are even a couple of grandmothers and daughters!!! And these girls play hard and shoot really well! Too bad I can't upload all the shots... but that would be upstarting the article!

Oh, just one other thing: the article was the reason I let myself buy the camera... so I've got the pictures and the interviews and the info on the gym and how to go about forming a league... now if only I can just put it all together and send it in!

Day 27: There's no place like home

just because

Light and Color - that's what it's all about. And right in my own Home! And you can see Life and Growth! There's a Child (or children) nearby (see the tire swing outside the window?) and there's even a reference to Ascension - which is always nice... going up implies Learning, Becoming...

Okay, enough with symbolism... you can interpret it however you want. The simple fact of the matter is: I like this picture, it's my blog, so I'm posting it here for Day 27. Enjoy the day!

Day 26: Taking the less-traveled path

Scene from a hidden back road

Driving home from work is something I do five days a week. But it's not something I do the same way every single day! Know what I mean?

I have tried many, many different routes to get home over the years, sometimes out of mere curiosity - will this way be faster than the usual way?; will it be more scenic, or less clogged with traffic? Sometimes, I take a different route because I need to stop somewhere first, like the grocery store, or the panadería, or when I give someone a ride home; and sometimes, I must take another route simply because my usual way is blocked and there's a detour.

There's a route that I sometimes take when I give a fellow teacher a ride home. I go through a little town, then get on a small highway which takes me home. As I'm driving down that highway, there's a certain curve where I can turn into the cobblestone streets of another small town, drive through it and get back on the highway to continue home. More often than not, I do this in order to go to a tiny bakery I know there, which has hot-off-the-line tortas de agua every evening about the time I leave work. So I get them still warm. (They also make cuernos de sal and huesitos de manteca that are extremely delicious!)

Every time I connect to the small curvy highway after dropping my co-worker off, as I come to the first big bend, I notice a smaller road connecting to it and looking as if it would eventually lead into the small town of the panadería. I always eye that road and say to myself, next time, I'll try it.

Well, last Friday was the day. I turned onto this little road and started down it. As I traveled, the pavement turned first to cobblestone, then to dirt, and then to a very rough, muddy, hole-ridden path running between huge cornfields. I was driving the Crossfox, which is supposed to be excellent for this kind of terrain, so I wasn't too worried (except for the possibility of rain), and I was curious to see where I'd come out; so I hummed along in second gear for awhile, enjoying the scenery, until I came upon the scene I've captured in the picture above. It took my breath away.

I stopped the car, stepped out, picking my way through the less muddy areas, and took a picture of it, while a pick-up loaded with produce passed slowly by, the two girls sitting on the edge of the let-down tailgate lid stopping their animated conversation to watch me curiously as they swung their legs to and fro from their perch.

I don't know why that house in "obra negra" is standing out there all alone... but I wonder about it. If you click on it to make it bigger, you may notice some other houses way in the background. One of them is also only the shell of a house.

The trip turned out to be much longer in time than I had thought it would be, and when I finally saw the connection to the highway (with secret relief), I realized that I had only advanced about a kilometer in terms of the highway I had yet to cover.

But that house... I'm going to keep my eye on it to see if it gets built. What do you think?

Day 25: The Controversial Tree

It's a Long and Winding Tree

The window in my study looks out onto a huge "Dollar Tree"; that's how the tree in question and pictured above is known around these parts. I love this tree. As I'm tapping away at the keyboard, I just have to turn my head to the left and there it is, its silvery leaves (hence the reference to silver dollars in the name) shaking softly on their branches, making their characteristic rustling sound (almost like music) in the breeze.

The Dollar tree is known for its devastating roots. They are supposedly shallow roots, unstoppable in their quest for underground territory, which means that over time, they break through the foundations of anything built near the tree. There is some evidence of this, as a small section of our patio has been uprooted and we've had to dig under it, chop through the roots there, and close it back up. According to Car, there is evidence that the roots are trying to get through the cement floor of the utility room, which is the closest to the tree. I haven't noticed any bulging in the floor yet, but I'm willing to wait and find out, because I certainly do not want the alternative Car proposes, which is:

Chop down the tree!

NO!! ABSOLUTELY NOT!! ARE YOU KIDDING?? NO WAY!!

So far, I've managed to keep him from doing it, but if the roots start to come through the floors of the house, I don't know... keep your fingers crossed that we find another way to deal with the situation if the time comes!

Day 24: Independence Day?

Caught in the act!

Last week, I missed CLo's triumphant moment - that walk across the stage for the diploma. This week I witnessed the whoooooooooole thing with Samo and shot this picture at precisely the right moment. So, while some were celebrating Independence Day in the States, Samo was celebrating his own particular independence - from Jr. High!
P.S. Just to clarify and balance, CLo got a long mention in this blog on her graduation, but no evidential picture, while Samo gets only a short blurb because, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Day 23: Are there any tomatoes in there?

I think it's time to weed!

Okay, I've been letting it go, thinking sooner or later, little tomato plants would pop up, but it looks to me like all I've got here is a lovely mish-mash of weeds!

So, today, I'm going to weed my garden and plant again. Maybe it's the seeds I bought. In addition to planting in my little garden, I planted a few tomato seeds in three different strategically-placed macetas in the house, but nothing has come up in any of them either, so maybe the whole pack was a dud - although the expiration date says 2009. Another problem could be the earth-enricher I used... (abono), which is all natural but maybe too strong to put right over the seeds (which I did)! So, I'll dig up the weeds, mix in the abono lightly and plant again... or maybe, as one student suggested plant the seeds first,

and then put the abono lightly around - as opposed to on top of - the plant-hole.

Wish me luck!

Day 22: Reflections on a concert

José González playing his own music

Anto's friend Moni had tickets to see this guitarrist and since Anto had already gone to LA, she asked me if I wanted to go... and I said sure.

It's been a loooong time since I was at a concert like that. In fact, I don't think I've ever been at one quite like that. I mean, I remember back in the 70's going to bars where a group was supposed to playing - you know, Austin is one of the all-time music capitals of the world, ever since Janis Joplin and even before...

But in those places, - one of my faves was Hole-in-the-Wall - the bar would fill up with people and though there was no one playing at first, there were tables and the bar was ample, and there was pool in the back room(s), and you could generally have a good time while you waited for the group to get there, set up and play. You paid your cover and you drank your beer, but you didn't gripe about not seeing the musicians immediately because other things were going on and you could usually find people you hadn't seen in awhile, or if you felt stranded, you could find a place to sit and just people-watch.

But this place!! From the time we arrived, the musician we had come to see was already there. He was sitting outside on the patio, drinking a beer with a buddy and we introduced ourselves saying how excited we were about seeing the show and how relieved that we had gotten there in time, since the flyer said it began at 9 and we got there at 10. He said, 'don't worry, the show hasn't started yet', so we thought, great, we'll go inside, get a table and have a beer while we wait.

Moni had already paid what I consider a tremendous cover, but she assured me it was worth it - 'this guy is soooooooo goooood' - and I really respect her taste in music. She always finds the most incredible videos on youtube and sends me the links.

So we go inside and to our dismay, there are no free tables. Not because the place is too crowded or too small and already filled... no, the place is quite big, but there are only about 10 tables and they're filled of course. There's a bar in the back corner but it's tiny and it's crowded there and it doesn't look like there are barstools there anyway...

So our alternatives are either: to stand around uncomfortably and chitchat above the deafening techno sound system or sit on the cement floor and get stepped on by people traipsing through to the bar. We opt for neither, go back outside to the patio, but have nothing to do there either - plus it's chilly and wet out there... inside, the music is too loud to be able to hold a conversation for more than 2 minutes, and the bar has nothing interesting to look at, listen to, or do, and as for people-watching, that can only distract you for so long.

Here's something curious: the place is large, as I said. There's deafening techno music bouncing off the walls, and there's a huge empty floor.... so why aren't people dancing??? Don't the people in charge realize that if no one is dancing to that music, maybe they need to change it???? Why have a huge dance floor and lots of people, but no one dancing??

Back inside the bar, first we pull chairs up to the outer edge of the row of tables but it's not a good place because waitresses are constantly having to squeeze by with trays of drinks. Then we ask some people if we can sit at their table (they have 2 unoccupied places) and try that for awhile. Finally, we see other people sitting on the floor so we go up to the front and get settled. I'm thinking, okay, this is good, the concert's about to start and we'll be right next to the stage.

And still I'm wondering why we're all just sitting and waiting! Aren't bars supposed to be hopping with action? Since there aren't enough tables for everyone, shouldn't people be milling around, or better yet DANCING?? Why are we all sitting on a cement floor like that, just waiting...?

So the first act starts 30 min. later and it's a girl singer-guitar-player. She's not at all good, but she has a loyal following there that night who cheer her on and applaud wildly, so naturally there's even an encore! I try to find something good in her performance, but it ain't easy... maybe her voice has a nice tone to it, even if the words leave a lot to be desired.

But when she's finished, instead of the main act being announced - the guy we all came to see, the young Swede of Argentinian descent, José González - we get an even more deafening barrage of techno... and it goes on and on... until MIDNIGHT! Yes, that's right... the main act BEGAN at MIDNIGHT!!!

And still we're all sitting on the floor... which by now is resembling a minefield of spilled beer and cigarrette butts!

Well folks, by that time, I was so deafened by the music that had been forced on my ears for over two hours, and my tush was completely numb from the cement floor, and I was tired just because it was late!!! So, I wasn't in the best disposition to fairly critique the music. To me, although José González has a very nice style (all his songs are picked and strummed, the words are flowing and ballad-type), the sound system wrecked the better part of his performance by distorting the guitar when he wanted to add volume, by completely muffling his voice so that it was impossible to understand his lyrics... I'm telling you, it was a pure and simple case of FRUSTRATION!!

I think what I mainly want to say here is this: if you're thinking about opening up a night club, bar or whatever for nighttime entertainment, HAVE SOME CONSIDERATION for your clientele. Have some class!! Don't drown out all sounds of human interaction by too-loud, body-invasive techno beats if the people there clearly demonstrate that they're not interested in dancing to it, don't open a place and charge a cover if you can't even offer your customers a better place to sit than the hard cold floor, and if on top of that, there's no live music for the better part of the night, and ESPECIALLY don't advertise your main act for 9 pm if it's not really going to start until MIDNIGHT!! According to the manager, whom I searched out when it got close to midnight and we were still waiting, the bands have the say of when they will go on, and it's quite "normal" procedure for them to start at midnight... well, if the main band doesn't want to begin earlier, I think owners/managers should feel a certain responsibility toward their customers and make sure that there are other bands or acts that can play earlier... after all, they do have SOME say about the agenda! If they can't find live groups to play on the bill, they can at least choose better piped in music for the intermission... I mean there's something to be said for having a bit of variety you know!

Day 21: Playing with the camera

posing under the skylight

I've got to stop all this nonsense of nonstop photo-taking. It started out because of this 30-day photolog, which I've totally messed up by now, as I have the days all out of sequence and I always seem to be trying to catch up...

Meanwhile, since we've had some visitors, who brought their cameras, and since we have some new cellphones in the family, each with its own nifty little camera option, and since I just bought the Sony digital to take "professional-quality" pics for the magazine, we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time snapping, discussing, reviewing, posing for, looking at, and looking for "that perfect picture"! I tell you, it's exhausting, it's stressful, it's time-consuming... yes, it's totally out of control!

But it's fun too! I just read an e-mail saying that life is short, so we should go ahead and take all the pictures we want; better too many than too few... and it least with digital cameras, we don't have all the paper and chemicals since we never seem to end up printing any of the pictures, although maybe one day, we'll choose a select few and actually print them out.

If I ever do sort out all these pictures I (and others around me) have been taking over the last month and decide to print some, I doubt if the one above will be included, even though I like how these guys look standing under the skylight. But this picture was taken on my cellphone, so some might insist it's "technically inferior", and anway, why would I print out a picture of people checking out the picture we just took of them on another camera!

Whew!