I photograph the sugar cookies i made at my cookie decorating party.

Merry Christmas!

Kinda catchy, eh? “Don’t put an apostrophe in ‘its’ unless you mean ‘it is.’”

We had one little bunch of daffodils in the back yard about two weeks ago.

Now we have a single tulip in the front yard.

…And we have a bunch of these little bluebells in the front & back.

The trees down at the park are starting to bloom. It’s really a nice little park, though the waterfowl are few and far between at the pond.

Happy spring!!

After a while we realized that the last baby was still sitting under the lettuce just beside the nest, looking up at his sibling and contemplating his first flight. I took one last photo of him, inadvertently encouraging him to join the others in leaving home forever. He flew directly to the firehouse rooftop with no trouble at all.

That was the last we saw of them. It’s been two days now, and we’re officially empty-nesters. Looking out at the garden box gives me a little pang of sadness every time. Nathan and i have been spending more time with each other now that there are no little ones around. Their nest is the same way they left it so far, but we’re contemplating converting the space into a bed for another basil plant. We’ve talked about taking up golf, and i plan to begin scrapbooking the memories as soon as we return from vacation in August.

They finally got cute. They’re about 2/3 the size of the adults already. When the parents are away they get up and hop just outside of the nest and flap their wings. If they see us coming, though, they pack themselves into the nest and become quiet and still. They’re so big that usually one is stuck directly underneath another one so that they can all fit in the nest.

I took this photo of our new hatchlings over the weekend. By now all five have hatched and are growing fuzzier every day, but they don’t have a lot of energy so i haven’t been able to get a good photo of all five yet. Aren’t they so ugly??

Two little sparrows decided to build their home in our garden box yesterday! I just can’t evict them, i think it’s so cute how they’re using our lettuce as a roof and everything. I even gave them some hair from my hairbrush and they used it in the nest!

That’s my pathetic little parsley plant next to it, by the way. I don’t actually have a green thumb, it’s all just a front.

This is the first real fruit from our little window box garden, although we’ve already taken a few leaves from the lettuce and basil plants for various meals. We’re pretty proud—we call the plants our babies.

Cherry tomatoes, romaine lettuce, thyme, parsley, oregano and basil.

Nathan built the window box and i chose the paint color. We planted the babies together and water them on days that nature doesn’t do so for us. We don’t have a proper watering can, so we use our cups instead.

I noticed today that our basil plant is blossoming. So pretty.

Lookie! I planted parsley seeds and they finally sprouted!! I’m pretty excited about this, as you can tell. I think usually this activity is a person’s first biology lesson as a four-year-old, but i don’t think we ever actually planted seeds individually at my school. This is the first time i’ve ever grown something from seed, and i’m probably just as thrilled by it as i would have been as a preschooler.

We’ve been out running, picnicking, going to shows and generally enjoying Spring. It’s wonderful, but i still can’t wait until summer so that i can stay out past sundown without a jacket – provided the mosquitoes aren’t too bad this year.

We had a small housewarming party last weekend, which was great fun but far too abbreviated. We will begin the last third of our painting class tonight. The first color painting we worked on didn’t turn out so well… We were pretty unmotivated. Hopefully by the time the class ends i’ll have something pretty to post here again.

Nathan and i just celebrated our six-month anniversary last weekend, as well. I’ll spare you the details and just post a couple of photos instead.

A love note on the refrigerator

My lovely orchids from Nathan

Sorry, that’s what one professor or another used to call writing down or drawing whatever comes to mind without editing or censoring it. That’s what i plan to do now. Sorta.

The photo is of my new Paperwhites which Nathan bought for me a few days ago, for no particular reason. They’re lovely and still have their bulbs, but they get top-heavy when in bloom and fall over and stand back up again regularly. It’s quite beyond me.

Our oil painting class began last night. We’d been making bets with each other about the sex, age, and crankiness of the teacher, judging solely by the provided list of required materials. We figured male, middle-aged, fairly strict and moderately arrogant – or maybe that was just my bet. Turns out i was totally off – she’s young and quite nice. I’m definitely excited to start learning about painting technique, because although i do pretty well with dry media of all sorts, i’m clueless about paint.

Obama is President, hooray!!

Not a lot else to report. It’s still cold. I haven’t begun packing yet. I still have my job… I think. I still see English errors everywhere, but I’m feeling less enthusiastic about blogging them, because i see people whom i know damn well read my blog continuing to make the same mistakes. It’s good for a giggle at best, but nobody’s actually learning from me. And maybe that’s okay and it’s still worth doing, i’m just not sure yet.

My little snowman

The gifts under my tree, most of them for me from Nathan

This is a rather poor composition, but i still like it.

My cute little tree

I cannot believe it’s November! It’s about seventy degrees outside and has been for a few days now. Nathan and i spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend, and i took some photos of the flood aftermath out by Saylorville that i’m pretty happy with. I’m going back to my photographic roots–black and white, natural light, and texture. I love it.

Roots of a driftwood tree.

We found shells along the beach. I don’t keep things like this anymore, i just borrow them.

This one is my favorite.

Also, i went back through some of my photo archives yesterday and rediscovered some shots from one of the last few Boheme poetry slams that i think are really beautiful exactly the way i took them. No editing, thankuverymuch Ethos. This was my last semester of school, so the photo is about a year and a half old.

Ghost Boy

God i love photography. And god this is the most beautiful fall i’ve ever known.

Bar #1 of the evening

The first bar the three of us visited was a piano bar in a high-rise with a spectacular view of the city lights. I had an eight-dollar mojito that really ought to have been my last drink of the night. But…

Bar #2

..We continued on to the Deschutes bar, where i ordered a Jubelale. It wasn’t my taste, so i traded Dust for whatever he was drinking.

Me & Dust

The third and final bar we visited was the Blue Moon, where i refrained from partaking in the refreshments.

Bar #3

Saturday i felt pretty awful, and that was the day of Dad’s wedding. He had to get me some nausea medicine so that i would be able to to function as his photographer. It was a nice ceremony, and the Hungarian dinner afterward was delicious.

Me, Dad & Dustin

I had to stay in that night to sleep off my maladies, and the next day Dustin and i hit Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom Rack before heading back to the airport. He flew back to Oklahoma, and i headed to California to visit our grandparents. Dad and Mary joined up with me there on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the three of us headed to Laguna Beach.

We had all sorts of wonderful food and drinks over the course of the week. The Adamo family is pretty small, and all were present except for Dustin for a couple of the feasts. We talked about our ancestors and i wrote down all the dates and names i could glean from the older generation. I’m contemplating going back onto Ancestry.com to try to track down some long-lost cousins so i won’t feel this mild obligation to have children anymore.

We watched some classic movies and struggled with the new technology, listened to forties music and discussed various physical maladies. The weather was perfect, of course, and yet we never used the patio because it was either “too hot” or “too cold” to do so. Grandma got mad at me once or twice for not saying “goodnight” or “good morning”. It wouldn’t have been a trip to Grandma’s house without that happening. I think i’d better visit more often, for multiple reasons.

My sister Amy and her son Harper are visiting from Oregon right now. They arrived on Wednesday and the three of us and Mom had fun shopping around the East Village of Des Moines, going to see WALL-E, reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and generally hanging out. Friday evening Uncle Doug and Aunt Vicki had a little BBQ to celebrate, and of course their whole branch of the family was there. Saturday we drove out to Uncle Dave’s and visited with that bunch and Harper had fun playing with his second cousins. It had been a couple years since most of us had seen each other, and it was nice to be able to catch up.

That evening Mom, Amy and I went to see Ani DiFranco at The Capitol Theater in Davenport. I never cease to be amazed by how much she rocks. She was a little less talkative than the last time i saw her over in Iowa City with Emily last summer, but that’s okay.

I wish i’d taken pictures of all this stuff. Next time.

Yesterday Amy & Harps headed for Cedar Rapids and Mom & I came back to DM. On our way we stopped at the Amana colonies for lunch and picked up some blueberry wine. I hadn’t been around there in quite a few years. It’s really well-maintained and cute, but it was so hot that we didn’t stick around for long.

I saw some paintings by this Chicago artist Laura Lee Junge in a little gallery there, and i thought they were really neat:

On an unrelated note, my current goal in life is to decide on an apartment to move to in Des Moines, which is proving to be a major headache. But i got my new camera phone today, so playing with that should relieve some stress for sure.

Here are a few of my favorites, or at least the ones from whom i was able to snatch a business card with a web address.

KEITH GRACE – This one appealed to the graphic designer in me because of the bright colors, simple images and the use of typography as texture. Fun collage/paintings, just really cool to look at.

CHRIS HONEYSETT – Obviously a great black & white photographer. Who doesn’t love fog photos?

BRUCE HOLWERDA – These paintings are just so whimsical and colorful and beautiful. I love that he captures the magic of dance and uses techniques like splatter painting and collage-like color so that the image almost seems to glitter.

So check out their websites, buy me a print or two… And come with us next year. We’ll get a four-dollar beer and gripe about all the other gawkers.

Two storms today (yesterday now, it’s that late at night) gathered and rumbled and threatened but never broke. One outside, one in.

Monday i spoke to Canright for scarcely half an hour before he offered me a job. Right then and there. He told me to take 24 hours to think it over, and so I wasted no time in beginning to panic. I talked to the people closest to me on the phone and went to Nina’s to try to distract myself, to no avail. How could i possibly just take the job without having even seen the place? I sent an email to Jim Canright and requested a few more days deliberation, to which he agreed.

Tuesday i called up the Student Travel Association and they found a wicked cheap plane ticket to Portland for me for the following day. At this point i thought i would definitely take the job if the place felt right. I couldn’t put my finger on a specific fear, but i was just scared somehow of getting stuck in a situation that wasn’t right for me, and i thought that that would have to do with the job rather than the city.

Wednesday i flew out to Portland, rented a car and drove to my brother’s best friend Ryan’s apartment in NW Portland. All by myself. I met his girlfriend and her mean weiner dog Pancakes who will lure an unsuspecting stranger’s hand by looking cute & innocent, and then lunge to bite his or her face without warning. I was warned, however, so this didn’t happen to me. She even let me pet her, eventually. Between the two of them, Ryan and Amy have two weiner dogs and one weiner/chihuahua mix who recently had her teeth removed (read: cutest freaking thing ever). I proceeded that night to watch Ryan’s “The Office” DVDs until bed time–again a necessary distraction from the huge decision i was facing.

Thursday i borrowed Amy’s GPS unit and drove down to Canright in SE Portland. The place was perfect. Jim is a really nice guy, and most of the few people who work there are women my age, extremely friendly. The neighborhood is artsy and bohemian and has narrow streets with cars parked on both sides, and the building was comfortably modern and painted an inspiring shade of light green on the interior. There were Macs just waiting to be used and a corgi dying for attention.

I had lunch with Kara, the accounts manager, and then talked to my Dad on the phone. He asked how sure i was that i’d take the job and i told him 90%.

I was driving around to look at a few apartments when things started to not feel right. It was all becoming very real. I realized i didn’t care about having to move all my shit across the country, wasn’t concerned about making new friends, wouldn’t have a difficult time adjusting to the new job. But Portland didn’t feel like home. I didn’t like the idea of disrupting my family in Iowa. And the thought of saying goodbye to Dan forever made me instantly burst into tears, despite the fact that i had thought i was ready to put my career first.

The truth is i’ve never cared about location or occupation nearly so much as the people i love. And it would be unfair not to mention here the fact that i dearly love my Dad and my sister, who both live in Eugene, Oregon. They’ll always be in my life and i’ll always be close to them, however physically far away. But to physically leave Dan to me meant to lose him, and i just couldn’t wrap my mind around that. I realize this about myself every couple of years when i decide it’s time to move away, and yet i need a more definite reminder every time. Last time was Rome. Before that i was going to transfer to the U of O. Before that i thought of starting college at U of O or the AI of Portland. Before that, high school at South Eugene. And on, and on, and on.

I lead a somewhat split life, having dreams and loves in two distinct locations, but at this point going to Oregon woudn’t be about returning, but starting anew. It will always be there if i some day decide i’m ready.

Friday i was able to spend some time with Dad and get a lot of good advice from him. We visited the Hawthorne district and the rose garden. After he left i talked to Dustin, Dan, Mom, and finally Jim Canright. Now is not the right time for me to take this job, i told him. He was sorry to hear it.

Saturday i flew back to Iowa and Sunday i reunited with Dan. Things still aren’t perfect, but i figure what’s already happening here is definitely worth seeing through. I’ve started the job hunt over completely. There are no freaking jobs around here, but i’ve got enough saved to probably see me through to better economic times, if necessary. I’ve got changes i want to make once i have income again. New glasses. More exercise. Increased appreciation for all that i’ve already got.