a trip to the buddhist sculpture garden
buddhist temple of san antonio : january 2011

FINALLY.
i am working on some of the images from texas. last week i started feeling "better" as opposed to sort of blahSad since returning. then yesterday i went crazy playing with pictures. still having problems at the artTable though i finished lots of small pieces and put them on my etsy where they long for new homes. but ... that blurb later. this is about the pictures.

my poor bigGirl camera, i barely remember her name - aretha, i think - this was her only chance to come out and play. and it wasn't even with ME, it was with my sister, Pam. these are all her images! i only edited them a little - didn't even transform them. i just wanted to try to show this amazing place a little. i don't know what faction of buddhists are at this temple, but it is amazing, sitting on a couple of acres at the edge of a prissy subdivision, in far northwest san antonio. the parking lot gate was open, so we just parked and began wandering in the sculpture yard and shooting. it was such a happy place, almost childlike. the images have a bit of description, so i won't go on and on, but it was GOOD.

i also finished the driveby shots, which i actually made with aretha. all other images were made with the ipod and i am still working on them. otherwise, walking a lot, trying not to eat like a pig, drinking a little red wine (not now, it's morning), reading too much, flossing regularly and hoping we don't really have 24 hours of ice storm coming up. that stuff is really hard to walk to work in. ice. shudder.

i'm already a little tired of icyCold hipstamatic photos and you might be too. sorry. not much else around here lately! although one day i was even inclined to make ... gasp ... selfPortraits! it was a little scary. i can't tell if my nose is becoming even more crooked or if it only looks that way because i am fatter? my mother says i should get that radium pellet removed from my face. no way i am having my face cut up. it's bad enough. besides i'm used to my crooked nose now. (i really do hope that radium is not still active though - after 50-some years, surely it is not???)* anyway. i have a face picture on face book now. i was so excited.

the pic above is from Kansas City where i visited the poet (finally!) this weekend. we did our usual fun stuff and even though it was very cold and snowy, we took a walk in the park and the fancyHouse neighborhood. the fresh air felt so good. i haven't had much since returning from Texas and being snowed in/frozen. for some reason, i have had anxieties about winter this year, but i think i am better now, after both driving and walking out in it.

staying inside has given me time to finish a bunch of stuff for MY ETSY SHOP though. again, i have become intimidated and thwarted with bigger pieces, so regressed back to the little things. there are lots of them. and they can be had for mere pennies. well, almost. more arriving daily. at least my hands have been busy.

also, so that i don't bombard my online journal and my tumblr with iPod photos, which i have become deeply in love with, i started a new tumblr just for that purpose : the iPodographer. mostly they are mine, but i am open to finding other images, too. so far, i think only traci and i are having gobs of iPod fun.

i guess i'd better get out of bed now. there is actually sun out there today!

* i was born with a strawberry mark on the side of my nose. the military doc's told a pair of frightened, very young parents that the best way to Get Rid Of It was to implant a radium pellet and nuke it away. i guess it worked. i don't have a strawberry mark. but i have a dented and crooked nose instead. oh well!

10 scenes from an icyWalk

finally. up to 20 degrees yesterday.
i could take a walk in the alleys with my iPod!

i'm back from Texas now. i realized on the way back that it was probably the longest time i had stayed there in the 12 years i have lived here. 10 nights! i missed some of my homeStuff but mostly i was having such a grand time that i didn't even care. although i made tons of images, i don't think i am going to try to "catch" up with some kind of photoAdventure to post, or tell a big story. it feels hard to do this thing after being away from it for so long. the funniest thing is that i only used my big girl camera ONCE. for drive-by shooting in South San Antonio. then my sister used it at the amazing sculpture garden at the Buddhist Temple of San Antonio. otherwise ALL images were made by my iPod Touch. some of them were quite lousy, but it was always fun.

i loved visiting all my family and some friends, and of course being with the girls was excellent. we had all kinds of fun, several LONG nature hikes, happy hours, meeting Margaret's sweetie, Adam, playing with her new dog, who loved the hikes as much as we did. he had amazing stamina for a puppy and he has the best manners. we ate good stuff and went to see a stupid but funny movie (Little Fockers) at the Alamo Drafthouse, which seemed very strange to me, to eat and drink in the movies! i spent a few days with my mother in the country and went to San Antonio on a small adventure with one of my sisters. the drive back and forth was very very long. and now it is snowing like crazy and about to be below zero. sigh ... and i spent all my money. but it was totally worth it. now. onward. a new year. starting from here.