i took these two pictures on my first real photo walk with my new camera. i think i squealed when i saw them, and i knew in that moment that my new camera and i would be the best of friends. i don’t know what it is about them, possibly that they are slightly more in focus than is my wont and yet i still feel a sense of delight and magic. regardless of the specifics, i am a happy girl.

i am newly addicted to modern family. i am late to the party, i know, since apparently it started in 2009. i find it heartwarming and inspiring and every single episode makes me laugh out loud.

i am also addicted to these delectable rosemary crackers topped with brie and sliced cucumber (and sea salt, of course). i can eat them for lunch and dinner – and sometimes breakfast. at the rate i go through a wedge of brie, i should really buy an entire round of it.

what are you loving today?

last year, i stumbled across a website for farm to fork, an oregon event company that hosts dinners where you travel to an oregon farm and meet the farmers and winemakers and eat a meal outdoors in community. it sounded so amazing that i immediately added it to my (very long) list of things that i wanted to do someday.

a friend and i, somehow, serendipitously, heard about this year’s dinners at the same time. we both wanted to go so we bought tickets for the dinner in bend the morning they went on sale. the bend dinner was in july, which seemed like light years away at the time.

the dinner was last saturday!

oh my goodness. it was so wonderful.

we toured the farm, heard from the farmers and winemaker, and ate.

the food was delicious. among other things, there was a cold goat cheese tart with blueberry salsa, shrimp in tomato consommé, roast beef, and a creme caramel cake with strawberry-rhubarb compote. (i don’t know why i didn’t take more pictures of the food, except that i was too busy eating it.)

i suspect everyone there was amazing, but we had really fabulous luck in table companions, and we had lots of time to talk to them between courses.

there was something so wonderful about eating good food at long tables outdoors under the sun and moon, with other people who love food, in a very leisurely manner.

i want to go again next year. also the next year. and the next. really, it needs to become an annual tradition.

i have to tell you a story, though. i live in hillsboro, which is about 3.5 hours away from bend. i was at my favorite pet store one day with atlas, talking to the girl who was working, when a couple came in to ask about the orenco station farmers’ market; they were thinking of becoming a vendor. we wound up chatting with them for quite a while. we all introduced ourselves and they said that they were jerre and sean and they owned the dancing cow farm in central oregon. a week or two later, i got an email from farm to fork with updated information about our event. it announced that the protein for the event would be beef from the dancing cow farm. i almost jumped in the air because i was so excited at my luck in meeting the people who were providing the meat for our event! isn’t that fun?! it made the world seem so small and friendly.

yesterday, i read the gift of fear, by gavin de becker.

first, i decided that everyone should read it. then, i decided that i need to buy a bunch of copies and give them away to people i love, especially my sisters. then, i couldn’t help but wish that my dad had given it to me when i was younger and that all dads would give copies of it to their daughters. then, i decided that if i had to restrict myself to only one book recommendation, ever, it would be this book.

it’s about trusting the presence of true fear and your intuition to alert you to potential violence and danger so that you don’t have to let unwarranted fear rule your life.

i think it’s important. especially if you are like me and things like “but i have to be nice!” or “what if i’m judging them!” or “but i’ll look silly!” might get in the way of listening to your intuition.

the interesting thing for me is that i do feel physically safe most of the time, even in places where other people don’t feel safe. i thought it meant that i was naive and over-trusting. but i realized that it is also true that the times in my life when i felt the presence of fear (true fear, not worry or anxiety that feel like fear), i paid attention to it and did something, even though in at least one instance, i felt like i was probably making something out of nothing and felt very silly about listening to the fear and leaving.

now, i am thinking less about being naive and more about being willing to listen to that signal when it appears.

i do feel better equipped to protect myself from violence after reading this book. i only wish i had read it sooner.

{a photo project honoring radiance, one of my words for 2012 :: 52 photos that represent radiance, 52 photos that represent luminosity.}

i had a thought about radiance that i want to share, but i have not yet found my words. while trying to find them yesterday, i took a short break, during which i discovered byron katie’s youtube channel.

one of the videos i watched was so lovely and so inspiring and so applicable. in it, byron katie is examining a woman’s belief that there is something wrong with her.

i felt lighter and more radiant myself after watching it.

“And the sun and the moon sometimes argue over who will tuck me in at night. If you think I am having more fun than anyone on this planet, you are absolutely correct.”

– Hafiz

this photo was taken in the alhambra. i saw a ray of evening light in the palaces and wanted to capture it as it streamed through the window and then through a doorway. it conveys how i feel about the alhambra and the moorish style of architecture and design better than words ever could. come to think of it, so does the quote.

(a million thanks to gillian for putting this quote on her facebook page. it is my new favorite.)

there is much excitement in the elizabeth & atlas house.

early tomorrow morning, i am setting out on an adventure. my youngest sister is studying in spain this semester and i am off to spend her spring break with her.

as a bonus, i am going to turn 35 years old in morocco! with that beginning, i am pretty sure that 35 is going to be the best year ever.

i will be back on the 20th – with lots of photos, i suspect.

(speaking of photos, did you know that if you buy a spare camera battery and it sits in the box for four plus years without use, when you happen upon it and are excited to take it on an adventure with you and go to charge it in preparation for the trip, you will discover that it doesn't work? i feel rather sad that my poor battery expired without ever getting to do the thing for which it was created.)

my blog will be quiet while i am gone, so i am leaving you with three things:

a picture of atlas, who will be having a jolly time at the doggy ranch;

a rather silly story about a hippopotamus named humphrey;

Humphrey

and a sneak peek of my brand new website, which i adore and will introduce sometime after i return. it's from the lovely allie of allie creative, who is a design genius.

until i return, may your april be full of sunshine and flowers.

i can’t quite put my finger on why, but i really really like this photo.

remember my year of trust? well, erin at vulnerable pulp is looking for trust this year. i loved seeing her first glimpse of it.

it turns out that ice skating is like riding a bike and also not at all like riding a bike, at least when you haven’t skated in ten or so years. as in, you might not fall, but you might not be able to do much more than remain on your feet either. the ice is a slippery place, and those blades are awfully thin.

atlas is getting up at least twice a night for potty breaks lately. it might be just a habit, but i cannot figure out how to change it. sometimes i wonder why i thought i would die of sleep-deprivation if i ever had children. when i think about it, i’ve been somewhat sleep-deprived ever since i got atlas – over eight years ago – and clearly i’m still functioning. i might not be at peak performance, but i’m definitely functioning.

i stumbled upon a website for someone who creates digital mandalas and i cannot stop watching the mandala movies. watching each mandalas morph and dance and transform is quite possibly the most mesmerizing thing i have ever seen.

how are you? what is going on in your world today?

i guess three photographic odes to mark rothko isn’t really very many, given that my blog is over two years old.

• photographic ode the first
• photographic ode the second

wait. only three? clearly i need to do more of them.

mark rothko for everyone!

speaking of mark rothko, did you know that the portland art museum is curating a mark rothko exhibition? it opens in february. i will be visiting. i’d invite you to come with me, only i suspect i will sit myself in front of a painting and not be able to move for ages, which is what i did the last time i saw one of his paintings in person. did i mention that i am kind of a fan?

my friend heidi was here for a visit back in november and she took this photo of atlas and me. it’s four of my favorite things: my beloved foiry (his latest nickname – it was “my beloved furry” and then i adapted it), nature, the pacific northwest, and autumn. love.

i am so happy to have this photo. i have three photos of atlas and me that i love. one is from 2003. one is from 2007. and now i have this one from 2011. interestingly, they were all taken in autumn, they were all taken outdoors, and we both look pretty much the same in all of them.

goodness, do i love this dog. i tell him that i love him more than the sun, the moon, and all the stars, and i mean every word of it. even when he’s saucy. and i must say that since he turned 8 1/2, he seems extra-determined to get what he wants when he really wants something. it’s sort of like he got up one morning and thought, “hey! i’m getting old! we shall do what i want from here on out.” not that we weren’t mostly doing that already ..

want to see the faery circle i made next to my front door?

i started making a circle outside my front door this autumn. i’d gather fallen leaves and arrange them in a circle when i left the house for the morning walk with the pup. the trouble was that my leaf circles never lasted very long – pesky winds.

i brought the stones home from the olympic peninsula in may to live in my bathroom sink. they made bathroom tasks feel calmer and more meditative. (also, whenever i spit out my toothpaste, i pretended the white was foam on the rocks. it was very fun.)

one day, i realized that the rocks didn’t want to be in my sink anymore. they wanted to be outside again – in nature. they now have a new home. and i have a faery circle that actually stays put.

by the bye, if you love mail, and want a fun option, my friend amy sends postcards with messages from the faeries! my year of faery post expired earlier this year and i miss it so. they always sent me the loveliest messages. most of the postcards are in my desk drawer so i can pull them out and re-read them whenever my spirit needs a hug.