Bibliophile

In kindergarten, I failed to learn my alphabet in a timely fashion and there were those (aka my teacher and grandmother) who worried something wasn't quite right with my brain. They may have had some slim reason for concern as I had been quite ill the previous year and hospitalized with pneumonia. Nowadays, docs reassure over-anxious parents such as myself that high fevers do not actually delete brain cells . . . but moving on. The summer leading up to 1st grade found both of my teacher parents toiling with me and a set of phonics books. Their hard work and dedication (and my resilient brain cells) persevered and I learned to read. And they'd be the first to tell you that I haven't stopped reading since! 
I thought I'd take you through a tour of the current stacks of books littered about my house. Yes, fascinating, I'm sure. The above pic features one of the piles with actually completed books -- well, one at least. The Irving novel, A Son of the Circus. He's a favorite of mine and this bizarre novel is no exception. The others represent my slightly eclectic tastes these days -- a little Victorian Bronte, spiritual searching and of course, what therapist would be without a book on schizophrenia. 
This delightful stack is currently on my kitchen counter. Did I mention the other was on my dresser? It is. (And one by the bed and another in the closet and a third on yet another dresser. I may have a problem. Do you think there's a 12-step group for obsessive book collecting?). Clearly this stack is all about work "stuff" and rather than continue to bore you with those, I took some pictures of some of my most nostalgic oldies . . .  
Ah, Gene Stratton Porter. She authored the little gem on top of the stack -- Girl of the Limberlost. My grandmother (the same that thought my brain had gone to mush) discovered all three of these volumes in her garage and I hoarded them and read them and have placed them in positions of honor in my bookshelves for over two decades. I'm such a nerd. 
Old books are beautiful. I love the feel of worn pages and soft, used bindings. You kinda want to reach into the picture and thumb through these pages, don't you? You'd enjoy it. I promise! 

The reality is that currently, I keep stacks of books about to remind myself that I do actually intend to read them eventually. I'm afraid to put them away. 'Course truth be told, I'm out of shelf space . . . but if I had the space and I tucked them neatly away, I'd forget I wanted to read them! Probably the best thing would be to quit collecting them to begin with. I should be disciplined - complete one before beginning another. That's what I tell my kids about their toys. That doesn't work either!

This weekend's task, among other things, is to finish Flow. I'm nearly there and then I can tell you all about it;) You know you can hardly wait! 

Lurking in the Flowers

There are good reasons I sent my husband ahead of me with a broom, brushing away spider webs, before I'd take pictures of my beautiful sunflowers this morning. And here the evil, lurking thing is . . . I swear I saw the bee buzzing as I snapped picture of neighboring flowers and when next I looked, it was deathly still. Upon looking closer, I saw this eery white spider. We'd met before, this spider and I. The last time I took pictures of the sunflowers. That time I  was sure he was going to attack my camera lens (as you may remember in previous post!). Oh, he's ugly!
The heat has broken here in Portland. Thank god! We finally joined the long lines of desperately hot and irritable people buying air condition units on Wed. Well, hubby did as I was steaming in clients' homes doing "therapy" -- what kind of therapy occurs when your brains are bubbling with heat? I'll tell you. Not much kind of therapy. However, there's a kind of bonding that occurs in mutual misery -- those that sweat together, stay together? When I came home, I found the family nearly worshipping the AC unit. I should have taken a picture of the two kids kneeling at the foot of the black, cool-air breathing machine. Priceless! 
Today the kids and I have all sorts of plans for enjoying the break in the weather, beginning with a morning trip to the park to ride bikes and take pictures. Then, perhaps a movie so mom can finish her notes and complete evals for the class she is teaching. After that? Water play!! Still need to gather more photos of our fountain trips to submit for a blog entry for ShutterSisters. I'm having serious performance anxiety. I thought perhaps I would write back and say that the city of Portland shut the water off to all the fountains. Or perhaps the dog at my camera? 

Photo Assignment #2 -- Plus assorted crazy

Ta-da. Our 2nd assignment asked us to take 4 photos of the same subject, varying the aperture. Here is the same church photographed last week with the noticeable addition of the sun! Ah, Portland has been basking in several days worth of unobstructed sunshine. Fantastic stuff -- I can feel the Vitamin D absorbing into my bones or wherever its supposed to be. Back to photos, we were also supposed to be focusing on shadows in our composition. I don't really know what that means except I made sure there were "pretty" shadows . . . Also bought a couple books that I hope to be helpful in my quest for photography skills: an after market book on my camera and Understanding Exposure by Peterson. Which brings me to the 2nd theme of today's blog -- the crazy.

Apparently this is going to be a very busy, busy year around here, what with all my "resolutions" and such. Oh, and new teaching gig at local college. Yep, that's right. Along with the job, and the photography class, and family, I am now co-teaching a class for aspiring therapists one night a week. Suddenly my world feels like it may spin off its axis! This is good news (not the falling out of orbit part)! The photography is about finding a creative outlet and coping mechanism for a rather stressful career. I truly enjoy what I do and it's my calling . . . but I need to be conscience about self-care or risk burn out. Teaching is another avenue for doing this. I hope that some day it can supplement a private practice and I enjoyed teaching when I was doing it. 

In the meantime, I'm focused on just managing my various roles and responsibilities in the short term. Just the basic necessities beyond what is needed for work and class  -- sleep, nutrition, family.  This last week at work was not stellar in these areas. I think that most days, I failed to eat lunch and regularly disregarded my poor bladder, dashing between various appointments. When I was home, I was worse than a lump on the couch. I was a irritable, head-achy lump on the couch. This can not continue. As the week begins, I am hoping to stay more fully present when with my family, be planful about caring for my own needs and embrace a new opportunity.