a lame vlog in lieu of a witty blog.

please don't make fun of how ridiculous i am in front of a camera. it's been a long day...

a little friend.

- from the garden this week.

that's all. happy rainy saturday.

my kind of exercise...

beats treadmill any day!

this & that

i cannot sleep. and so, at 2am i shall share a photo of my living room/piano studio...

and of a window which, if i am not mistaken, is watching me...
and i am editing photos of strangers taken back in may, even though a full inbox and even fuller to-do list await. we will be hauling dirt very early tomorrow morning, at which point i will be very regretful that i didn't try to sleep earlier.

these photos have intrigued me since i met them 4 months ago. 3 women - 3 life stages - each seem frozen in a moment of transparency. my favorite images are the rare captures of the expression in between expressions: that half-second when the subject is unposed and vulnerable, truth etched in each line and shadow.

i am a piano teacher now.

i met a little girl today named haley. she is 5. i am her piano teacher.
she loves pink and purple, and dolls and dancing. she has fluffy blond hair and blue eyes. she is not shy.

she is me. 18 years ago, i was hailey (with pink glasses).

she played the piano for me, just like she plays it at grandma's house. she copied every rhythm i tapped for her perfectly, concentration creasing her cherub face. she tapped the dolly with her right and left hands just as i asked. i told her that she must be the simon-says champion of the whole world.

when we were done hailey cried, "i want to stay!"

inside i said, "i want you to stay!" but outside i said, "i'll see you next week."
... and smiled really big.