One small year

Sometimes it feels like the days drag on. Other times the weeks fly by. At the end of the year, when all of those “year in review” shows start running Christmas Eve, in anticipation of the coming New Year, I always find myself doing a mental “year in review” of my own life. I’ve long been fond of the New Year and the concept of a fresh start. But it isn’t often throughout the year that I take a look at the past year. Being a list making person who takes particular thrill at completion and accomplishment, you would think that I would continuously be in review mode, and in some ways I am, but usually short term, like this week, this month, and in reality, tend to be looking ahead to things that need to be done rather than what has been done. Completion and accomplishment is usually accompanied by a sigh, as in relief, and not so much a pat on the back, which I firmly believe that one deserves once in a while.

I began a photographic project recently. It is the 365 project, and it entails taking and uploading a photograph per day. The website is http://365project.org. It’s free. I joined because I wanted to be forced to pick up my camera everyday and see something worth shooting, even if I have to create it myself. Some days are easier than others. Some days I agonize over my selection, having so many good shots from that day. Some days are really a stretch. The idea is to chronicle your life for a year, and at the end of it, be able to review it and see a slideshow of photos that represent your progression through the year.

The way I organize my digital images is by date. This might not work for others, but for me, it does. Given that, I am able to easily look back through the year. The other day, I thought, well, exactly what was I up to last year at this time. I searched back into april and found this:

Though I recall that we were working on the house we had just purchased, I certainly didn’t remember the detail. Certain dates stand out – March 11th, closed. April 20th, cabinets delivered, May 24th, spent the first night, but not really the evenings I spent painting or Joe cleaning up the freshly sheet rocked kitchen, or when Nola first met Livvy. So, that’s what was going on for me last year at this time. It’s worth a note that the kitchen is still my favorite room of the house. I love my kitchen.



Scrolling through the year brought me into the next big thing that year, our wedding. I have the obvious (and fabulous if I say so myself) wedding pictures themselves that Amanda Prouty took (www.amandaproutyphotography.com). Our online album:

Our wedding photo gallery

What my camera captures during the year goes beyond my sketchy memory of the year. I use it to remind me when the crocuses bloomed at the Ornamental Garden in the spring and that Nola and I made chocolate chip pancakes on November 22nd, the same day I made a pile of whoopee pies. January 24th was blessed with blue skies and gigantic icicles that hung precariously over our deck and doorways.



So, one small year passes into another and if all goes well, another, until I’ve stitched together a lifetime. Thankfully I can freeze little moments of it digitally and relive them later, the next day or the next year.



I’d like to hear from anyone who has a chance to review their year. What do you remember, big and small? Does your camera help keep the memories sorted?

Shoot the fruit (and veggies)

I am food obsessed.  I love planning our menu for the week.  I even love - gulp - grocery shopping.  Now, like so many other families, we are on a budget of sorts and I try to save money when I shop.  Not only do I get the coupons out of the newspapers, I subscribe to the coupon websites, so I get a slew of coupon emails every week.  I also have requested that the local grocery stores' circulars be emailed to me as well.  Saturday morning comes and I am often at the kitchen table with coupons and my sale lists.  I coordinate our weekly menu accordingly, factoring in the usual mom kind of stuff like how we need quickly prepared meals on guitar lesson night.  My husband is great at getting the meals ready for us to pull together when we get home.  The other night - taco night - he did all the prep work while we were gone.  Take a look at this.  He's awesome, right?

I also love to take photographs of food.  The colors and textures are as captivating as those of flowers.  Recently we went to Whole Foods in Portland.  Joe and I had gone once before (we don't get to the big city much)  and I had remembered how beautiful the food displays were.  So this time I came prepared.  When we arrived, my husband knew that I was planning on taking pictures in the market on a busy Sunday morning and therefore would embarrass him.  Some people get squeamish if someone they're with calls attention to themselves and therefore anyone associated with them.  My daughter wasn't fazed and in fact, hollered across the produce department, "Hey Mom, check out the avocados!"  So, with Joe slinking over to the organic hummus and Nola juggling the lemons, I started taking photos of the amazingly displayed peppers - a personal favorite - the carrots, the zucchini, the summer squash - it was all too much.  No other department holds the riot of color that the produce department does.  There was a guy working there, putting out some new veggies, and prior to the first click, I asked permission to shoot the fruit.  Turns out he had just moved from Bangor to Portland and had worked at our local natural food store, so he was more than accomodating.  I complimented his produce and, thought he could have, he didn't take the credit for the array.  He said they have a guy whose job it is to prepare the display.  Amazing.  We call this "food porn". Here is some of his awesome work.

I'm also a huge fan of farmer's markets for this same reason.  The baskets of tomatoes, piles of potatoes, and those fabulous wooden crates of greens just suck me right in.  Most folks are pretty cool about my photographing their goods.  Sometimes I actually buy something. 

I rarely take my camera to my local supermarket.  I'm there for business.  Get the stuff on my list.  Get it for the best price I can.  Get out.  Get it home and get it put away. 

Perhaps I should reconsider this.  Take a look around your local markets and see what you can see.  They say that you should eat the rainbow - in colors on your plate - and if this stuff is any indication of what's available in the market, it's going to be a delicious road to the end of the rainbow. 

oh - one last image to share from my visit to Whole Foods. This was a couple of weeks before Easer and I couldn't resist.

Remind me to write about my obsession with signs sometime.