Kindness

I have a way of turning everything into work. And if I am not careful, I forget to rest. Forget to sink into presence. Stay in my mind, thinking things to death. But he helps to keep me grounded. He doesn’t think of the idea or even plan the event, but he shows up. This is what really matters to me. The showing up.

We had a leisurely lunch at the Floris Tea Room this week. A well deserved respite with the man I’ve known and loved since I was 18 years old. He is the person who knows me best. I don’t think he always understands me, but he tries to. And I am grateful to be known and loved.

Still Working . . .

I woke up around 4am with digestive distress. (I wish I could say this is uncommon but it is not. I’ve been working through a flare-up of IBS-D which is just not fun). Distraction, along with a heating pad, often helps to lessen my discomfort so it makes me feel better to work. I spent the early morning hours updating my current project, A Guidebook For Small Travels.

I’ve been working on this travelogue for over 6 months and it’s been enlightening to see the benefits of the long and slow approach. The focus of the book has become sharper with the scope limited to local travels—rather than my first go round of just any picture that fit the theme of travel and the aesthetic of colorful. I’ve weeded out pictures that just didn’t work for one reason or the other. And considered what I might like to add to finish things off. I’m thinking of trying to work in some sort of collage page that features all of the places I love to pick fruit. This would be orchards and farms. That might work. And I have 3 rolls of film to develop from our recent travels that might have a picture or two worth adding to the book. I’m still holding out for our Richmond zoo trip and Patterson mini golf, too. But it’s important that the project be about the process and not the product. This travelogue is not a bucket list of places to tick off. That’s one of the great things about making a book using images I’ve already made. It reflects our actual life and places we really go and things we really love to do. It’s not aspirational or performative.

I want to add a dedication page. I’d love to see if I can stretch my creative skills and write a short essay, though I’m not sure at all what I have to say. It’s worth trying.

Virginia Fine Arts Museum Photo Exhibition

Nothing Gold Can Stay.

The title Nothing Gold Can Stay takes its inspiration from a Robert Frost poem about the fragility and transience of youth.

The exhibition includes nearly 20 photographs that explore themes related to childhood and adolescence by artists working from the 19th century to the present. They include Diane Arbus, William Eggleston, Dawoud Bey, Issei Suda, Emmet Gowin, and others.  

Jacob, 2005

The large format polaroids by Dawoud Bey made me recall photographs I took of my youngest son in a makeshift photo studio in our garage when he was about 8 years old. He sat before the camera and smiled with all of the innocence of youth and not an ounce of pretense or self-consciousness. It took me a while to dig through the archives to locate the pictures but it was worth it. My images might not ever make it to a museum, but they will always be placeholders for the love and devotion I feel for my sons.