a certain slant of light.

He brought me flowers when he came home from work today. I have been keeping fresh blooms by the kitchen sink, but since I've been gone for the theatre course, I haven't kept up. Pink and white blooms, spilling into the sunlight, so light and perfect. Small things to carry around, like a locket to my heart.

I've been told I have a thing about showing you pictures of the dogs and flowers...


Summer is so perfect for sitting outdoors, for watching the sun set, for drinking a beer. I spent a good deal of my afternoon getting my fingers dirty, pulling up a week's worth of weeds, continually amazed at how quickly the sprouts are growing, becoming plants, becoming producers of actual vegetables, while I am gone. Even The Fiance's corn has grown, and though it is not as high as we would hope, we might actually see some kind of miniature results. We may have tiny buds, tiny ears to celebrate. The zucchini is already coming in full force, which is no surprise from last year, but this plant in the end of our garden is shooting all kinds of shapes at us--bulbous, elongated, all stunning, all curious.



My sister and I have begun discussing some changes to our blog. Her little slice of Texas is currently wading in a significant amount of water, somehow throwing the internet off, so she can only send email with her phone and occasionally go on the net at her boyfriend's place. We had originally planned to give each other assignments each week, trading off, and post pictures with that theme, but the regular Mondays have been difficult for her, and lately, with all of my travels, difficult for me as well.

I think the idea of the blog is working well: a way for us to creatively communicate when sometimes we aren't as good with our words. So we don't want to end the project, but shape it more to our ability and interest. 3191 was the inspiration for this project, and what I find striking about this webpage is not just that the photos come every morning, but also that the photos speak to each other, have conversation. So while we are not in a place to have a set time for our photography, I think what we will glean from this admiration of mine is the conversational tone, the way our pictures can speak to each other, and still allow us the space to grow as photographers.

I think the idea is that she'll send me a "packet" of photos each week (maybe seven?) and I'll go through my own to see which pairings might be the most compelling, the ones that seem to connect. Since I clearly am very regular about posting (here and on my photo a day), I don't think this will be a problem! Please let me know what you think, once things get going over there.



Our mailbox now has been littered with little creamy envelopes, each with a brown bird flirting with our address--the RSVPs are arriving. Each "will not attend" makes my heart sink a little, though each person has a valid reason; we knew our attendees would be a surprise either way, given how far flung our friends and family have become. It's lovely to have such a myriad of places to visit, but difficult when you want a reunion.

I've also added another member to our overflowing party: Marie, an exchange student we hosted from Germany ages ago and who returns every summer to stay with my parents for a month, will be my personal attendant. I told her it was mainly a decorative title, as I have seven bridesmaids, but with eight girls and two mothers and grandparents as well, I'm sure there will be plenty of nuttiness to keep her on her toes. :)


It's good to be home, if only for a while: hydrangea are in bloom, big puffy balls outside church doors, and in the window of a drug store downtown, red-white-and-blue along with all signs of red wings are in the windows. It is our city's 150th anniversary this summer, which means all kinds of small town pride, puffed up chests, little parades with banging bass drums, bands, and banners. It's nice to be in a place that has a holiday stroll just after Thanksgiving every year, a place that has cookie cutters in the shape of the town symbol, that is known for so much: shoes, pottery, hanging flower baskets. You can arrive on a train or a boat; we rest just on the Mississippi. There are bed and breakfasts, inns, and an historic hotel. Emerson wrote on Barn Bluff, there are hints of Twain along the river, and the Anderson Center hosts poets as well as a printing press. I am falling in love with this town, which is so good, because next year I will teach here, and soon, we will raise a family here too.