Farm Animals

This week has been a week full of farm animals.  First, I saw some guinea hens on Lamboll St, which was such a shock!  I wouldn't have been surprised around hipster central, but south of Broad caught me completely off guard.  

Then, I got to go see a pig!!!  Perhaps it started with Petunia the potbellied pig, my kindergarten class pet, but I have always had a fondness for pigs.  Let me be frank; I fawn over pigs as much, if not more than other animals, and one day, I will own one.  My friends practically had to drag me away from this precious one.  I felt like David Sedaris when his mother told him "take a good look at yourself!"  I was laying on the ground, totally oblivious to my circumstances, trying to get Pippa to love me.  She was just so cute!  She has yet to be named, but I'm voting for Pippa.

Pippa eating some spinach.

(She chews really loudly.  It's adorable.)

Eating anything she can find.  

(The wet spots on the lens are from her nose - she's quite a curious creature.)

Her itty, bitty hooves! 

Reunions

My favorite part of the holidays (aside from baking and subsequently eating far too much) is seeing old friends.  You get to visit with people you haven't seen in months, and you become a tourist in your own town, letting your friends appreciate to being home.  This weekend, we meandered south of Broad, watched boats sailing by, pressed our faces against windows, wandered into abandoned yards, and ended our day eating fudge and gingersnaps in the park waiting to make a surprise visit. 

Moments of Beauty

Some days are more rushed than others, so it's always nice to be able to meander somewhere with no real purpose or destination.  I notice that even though I'm accustomed to looking at the world with a keen eye, when I'm on task with something else, I observe from with more restraint.  It's the difference between noticing something and commenting to yourself "how nice/interesting/awesome" while you continue about the task at hand, and stopping what you're doing to fully appreciate the moment of beauty you've stumbled upon.  

Here were some much-needed moments of beauty from this week.

Ginkgo trees aflame.

Perpetually.  Amazed.

What a cute little mailbox!

Anyone watch Fringe?

Family

We always go up to The Country around Thanksgiving and Christmas time.  It's a lovely family tradition.  I learned how to drive a stick shift, which was a lot of fun.  Once I've mastered the car, I get to learn the tractor!  We took a lovely walk to the 'Indian Campground', where we always find shards of pottery.

I also put together the most awesome puzzle: pieces of family gravestones!  Perhaps I'm just a bit of a morbid person, but I'm fascinated by so many aspects of death, particularly graveyards and gravestones.  I suppose because it's one of the great mysteries.  It's something that we can speculate on til we're blue in the face, but we'll just never know.  But one thing is for certain: these pieces of stone mark the bones, the final resting place of my ancestors, and I owe it to them to put them back together, in honor of their lives.  

Next trip, I hope to go to the gravesite and find more pieces.

Surfing

Ever since I was in Hawaii this summer, I've been dying to really learn to surf.  It's my goal for 2012.  I've professed my love of the sea before, and any time I see surfers I'm just insanely jealous of their connection to the water.  I want it.  I want it so badly.  I dare anyone to watch this video and not want to learn to surf.  





(via Aubrey Road)

Today's Love: Music

I have been practicing music daily for the last week, and it has really helped me.  It puts me in a sort of meditative state, where I can truly relax but also focus on doing something productive.  I have always harbored a secret desire to be a professional tambourine player (I mean, really, what could be better?), and learning the guitar will give me a little bit more street cred with the tambourine, no?  

Mepkin Abbey

Recently I took a little day trip up to Mepkin Abbey.  It was one of the first truly winter-like days, and we took a picnic lunch to eat on a sunny bench on the bluff.  It was a lovely excursion.  

Across the forbidden monastic area, you glimpse views of the Cooper River.

The former plantation sits on the Cooper River, providing the most beautiful view of the sepia Lowcountry river under romantic, moss-draped oak branches, leaning precariously into the water.

The Snapshot Camera of Today

I'm pretty sure this makes me a terrible photographer, but sometimes I leave my camera at home because it's just too heavy, and the reality is that on my way to and from work I really don't much need it.  But when I don't have my camera, I will most likely have my phone.  When I saw this clip of Annie Leibovitz, I felt slightly better about relying on my phone to be my camera.  

I usually ride my bike from my car to work, but on those occasions that I do walk, I make sure to pass through some of my favorite parts of the city.  Here are some shots from my walk yesterday.  

Prettiest fall wreath.

  

This is my favorite graveyard in the world.  It's so wonderfully overgrown and magical.  It's how I think a graveyard should be.  A place where you give yourself to eternal life.  Take the phrase eternal life however you wish - in a religious context, or in a literally context that your body feeds these beautiful plants.  Manicured graveyards seem staid and depressing, mausoleums seem spooky, but this is perfection.  A soothing place meant for reflection.  It reminds me of a favorite line from the Avett Brothers: "I want to...give my body back to the Earth and not complain."

Prettiest graveyard flower.

Be Happy

Today was a spectacular day.  It was unseasonably warm, and beautifully sunny, so after work today I rode out to the beach for a nice bike ride.  As I passed so many wonderful beach cottages it got me thinking about the perfect beach house. 


I'm sure the grass is always greener, but I think I would be perfectly happy to live on a beach somewhere for the rest of my life.  Here's my perfect beach house: a brightly painted shack somewhere with warm water, a hammock on the back porch to take afternoon naps in, wind chimes to catch the ocean breeze, a deck to sit on in the evenings and watch the ocean, and a garden taking up the whole yard, within biking or walking distance from a grocery store and a little cafe that serves great fish tacos.  And of course, some wonderful people to share it all with.


What more could you ask for?


P.S. - If you like to torture yourself about living in the tropics, check out this blog.  You will want to move to Hawaii.  (I mean, who doesn't want to carve a pineapple for Halloween?)

Monday Afternoon

Today was not a particularly exciting day, but after work I made time to ride to a park and read my book on this beautiful day.  It was far too pretty to be stuck inside all day long, so I took my laziness outdoors.  I also discovered the most comfortable foot rest!  When I saw the preview for the recent Three Musketeers movie, I decided that I should read the real deal, and I've absolutely loved it so far.  I can't wait to really get into all the intrigue!

Quote of the Day

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

- Vincent Van Gogh

Michael Kenna

My parents went to a lecture last week by Michael Kenna, which I really wanted to go see.  Unfortunately life gets in the way sometimes, and I had to work.  But I went by the gallery this afternoon to see his photographs.  Seeing stunning work like his makes me want to learn more about photography.  Lately I've been wanting to experiment with both a Holga as well as a pinhole camera, and my dad said that some of Michael's photos were taken with a Holga, which makes me doubly inspired.  

It's so funny to me how sometimes life conspires upon you, and the same idea will present itself to you multiple times in the span of a week.  I've been wanting to experiment with long exposures lately, and want so badly to take one tracking the path of the stars, centered on the North Star, and of course, there in his exhibit is one similar to this one.  

(Photos by Michael Kenna: 1. Japan 2. Guatemala)

Today's Love

This evening I was enamored with the striking garnet color of my wine.  It seems so strange, but during dinner I happened to look down at my wine glass - straight down through the wine and the glass to the stem and base - and I was so taken by the color.  Looking at the wine from any other angle you lost the clarity of the color, and it became opaque, but straight down through the glass, it was the most beautiful wine I had ever seen.  I attempted to capture this color on film, but alas, it's not quite the same.  



I am constantly amazed at the power of some small thing of beauty to make your day.

The Fair

This weekend I went to the Coastal Carolina Fair.  I haven't been to the fair in ages so I was beyond excited to go.  I'd been talking about it for weeks, and begging all my friends to go with me, and a few gave in.  

We rode most of the fun rides.  Apparently not everyone loves the Gravitron or the big drop like in the above photo.  But the classic Tilt-a-Whirl was still a blast!  Oh and the guy across from my friend on the Pharaoh's Fury looked like he was about to lose his cookies which I found highly entertaining because I (hopefully) wouldn't have been affected by it.  Thankfully he held out, but oh his face was so much fun to watch.  

I hit all the major food groups: fried and sugar.

It was all I'd built it up to be except for a few things: the advertised fried Kool-Aid was really just fried Kool-Aid flavored dough (I mean really, if you're going to advertise that, don't just flavor some dough...) and no one would go halfsies with me on a fried Snickers.  I mean, when else can you legitimately try a fried Snickers?  Oh hey, while we're out getting dinner mind if we stop by that fried Snickers place and pick up a few for dessert?  Yeah, that doesn't exactly work...

I guess now I have something to look forward to next year!

Notice the advertisement for "Deep Fried Kool-Aid".

P.S. - While I was looking through my photos, I was reminded of my pictures from Jazzland.  

Boo!

When I went to the pumpkin patch last weekend to pick out my Halloween pumpkins, I was absolutely stunned by the variety.  It's been probably 4 years since I've been to a pumpkin patch, and the difference is almost unimaginable.  4 years ago all you saw were picture perfect pumpkins.  I didn't even know this many varieties of pumpkins existed! 

This pumpkin was the black sheep.  I was fascinated by him - I mean, he was such a dark green that he was almost black!  And he was the only one of his kind there.  

And this was the wartiest pumpkin of the lot.  (Of course I had to take him home!)

The four lucky pumpkins that I ended up getting - the warty green one, a pretty orange and white patterned one, a warty orange one, and a white one!  All so unique, and just think, 4 years ago none of these would have even been there!

Hope you have a spectacularly spooky Halloween!  

Charleston

I love the flock of birds descending onto the weathervane of this church.  There's something about birds that I find immensely fascinating.  I just can't shake my jealousy at their freedom of flight.  

The perfect ending to the day?  Spending the evening with friends drinking wine by candlelight.  

Sun Moon Stars Rain

I drove into the sunset, then towards the moon.


The horizon was bleeding - bursting - brilliant oranges, deep cranberries, and golden hues into the sky.  I wished I was on my bike so I could stop and watch.  On my right was the sun spilling the last of its warmth into the evening sky, while on my right, the moon was rising to take its place in the quickly cooling night.  With the two opposing, yet strangely mirrored objects on opposite sides of the horizon, on opposite sides of myself, as I wished I could create a collage of pictures spanning the entire width of the sky, with these sun and the moon bookending the spectrum of our heavens, the words of the Flaming Lips played through my mind so clearly:


Do you realize the sun doesn't go down?  It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.


And maybe the world doesn't really change the way that we think it does, maybe it's just ourselves that change, and our different perspective causes the world to look so different.   

Tearing My Heart in Two

It's hard for me to understand, and I just don't know what to do about it, but this morning I realized that I am in love with two different places.  I awoke to another crystal-clear fall day, sat outside on the joggling board, dipped my toes in the delightfully cool water, and watched butterflies flit from flower to flower.  It was quite magical, and I thought to myself, once again, how much I love the water.  Simultaneously, however, I was longing for New Orleans in that gut-wrenching way that makes my stomach hurt (or is that just from Pilates yesterday?).  

I can't quite grasp how I can so whole-heartedly love both these places at the same time.  And it's not in the way that you love, say, the country and the city at the same time.  I don't love them for different reasons, or wish I could split my time between them.  I want to live fully in both places at the same time.  It's heart breaking, and I just don't know what to do.  

Sunset

The perfect ending to a wonderful day.

The Simplicity of a Fall Morning

This morning I awoke to a crystal clear view across the harbor, and felt compelled to go outside to see if it felt as wonderfully fall-like as it looked.  And boy, was it ever.  As I sat on the porch, lazily eating yogurt and reading a magazine, I realized what I have been missing.  The past few weeks have been a flurry of jobs and general hurriedness, so much so that I forgot about some of my priorities, goals, and passions.  This morning was a much needed reminder.  It never fails to amaze me how the most mundane and seemingly trivial moments in life can bring you such joy, and can so effortlessly realign something in yourself that has been off-kilter.  

Today's Love

Sitting on the dock after dinner with a glass of wine watching the last of the colors leave the sky.  The way the fiddler crabs clear the dock before me as if I am the cruel, wicked White Witch.  The bats flying in their wayward patterns catching the abundance of mosquitos and other bugs, sometimes coming close enough that I could hear the beat of their wings.  The gauzy, nearly-full moon, behind a thin veil of clouds.