Vignette #17: Change is Inevitable
I am heading out back to complete some errand - water the plants or relieve the dogs, probably. But I stop when I see this furry yellow fella. It's the first caterpillar of the season. My photographer's eye tells me to stop. Capture the texture. And the color, so vibrant against the African daisies in our front yard. Think about the metamorphosis which caterpillars signify. Change will come. It is inevitable. And so often . . . it is good.
****************************************************************************
My Photographer's Eye is a semi-regular series designed to feature my instagram photography and a brief accompanying narrative. You can see the other vignettes in this series by clicking on this link.
May 16, 2013, 2:15 p.m.
It's after noon on a weekday, but I'm still in my pajamas. Red flannel pajama pants with an out-of-season Christmas motif and an oversized yellow t-shirt. I'm sitting on our bed, surrounded by Henry's scrapbooks, hunting for a picture I know exists. It the photograph of his very first baseball team: t-ball at age four or five.
I can see it in my mind . . . he's sitting on the dirt surrounded by friends. So tiny, so cute, so happy. I'm searching because last night at dinner, after their last baseball game (yes, they lost, so it was their last game), we began talking about how long these boys have been playing together. And which combinations of these nine incredible High School seniors were on those first t-ball teams, all those All Star teams, the teams that went to Cooperstown, etc. I keep flipping through his albums, feeling frustrated in the dim light of our bedroom. It's a foggy, grey day outside. The dogs are sleeping nearby. Paul has gone off to get Clara from school. I'm alone with my thoughts, drifting down memory lane.
I see soccer pictures, basketball pictures, baseball pictures, and in each of the photos, so many of the same faces over and over. There's Henry and Cole, Reese and Peter, dribbling down the basketball court or posing in front of the goal. I get to the scrapbook with the High School photos and realize that obviously I passed the t-ball photo some time ago. I pick up his preschool album again, flip it open and finally find the memory I've been searching for:
There's Henry, third from the left, dwarfed by his hat. The boy on the far left, Austin, is the same boy who's standing just to Henry's right in the Senior photo which Becky gave me last night. The girl in the sunglasses on the far right in the t-ball photo is Chandra, still a good friend, though she now plays softball not baseball. Looking through the albums I realize why the end of baseball means so much. Although these boys all played baseball and basketball and soccer together through middle school, once they reached High School, they dropped some sports and tended to specialize. Henry was the only one who continued with soccer. Peter took up football. Cole and Reese played a few years of basketball. But, through all four years of High School, they all played baseball.
Each spring, they reunited on the diamond with their friends - the same boys who they grew up with, with whom they learned to pitch and field; the same boys with whom they did science fair projects and school plays; the ones who were there for birthday celebrations and trips to prom.
Through it all, there's been baseball. Their constant. Their bond.
And now it's over.
But they'll always have their memories.
And, as I heft the albums back onto the book shelves, I am grateful that I have the photos.
*******************************************************************************
Simply a Moment is a monthly meme hosted by Alexa of Trimming the Sails. To read other moments in May or to add your own, simply click here.
Last weekend, Jennifer hosted a really fun blog event called "Onward and Upwards," which included many fun challenges. The challenges close soon, so I wanted to post my last entry. This was for a "Be Inspired" challenge which asked you to be inspired by any of the posts from the blog event. I was inspired by this post about making cards.
My cards used some random patterned paper I had on my desk and some Elle Studio journaling blocks (which were probably meant to be used for Project Life). What I love about these cards is that I started with some fairly standard products but then made the finished project completely and totally my own by using unique images from my collection. These images are not well-known or widely seen because they come from my heritage photos, my own photography, and ephemera from my travels, which I have turned into collage sheets. I think my design sensibility in these cards tracks some of Sian's, seen in cards such as these and Julie Kirk's Pludering Pages (such as this one), but these still very much "me." For years I collected rubber stamps and made cards based mainly on rubber stamp images. Right now, though, I'm really loving this style of cut and paste card. It's interesting to realize that my style is evolving. What about you? Have you noticed any changes in your card-making, painting, collaging or scrapbooking styles?
******************************************
Edited to add: If you are interested in learning more about my collage sheets and how I make them, check out my post at this link. Also, some time ago I posted a "recipe" or tutorial for using collage images in cards. You can read that post by clicking here.
Last weekend, Jennifer hosted her "Onwards and Upwards Blog Event" which had many fun challenges. One, called "Be as Free as a Bird" encouraged you to experiment on a project, doing something you normally wouldn't do because you worry it will spoil everything. I decided to give the challenge a go and created some blank card bases using pretty paper, images from my collage sheets and some Elle Studio journaling blocks. I created them, by matching colors and mood. The scary part was I didn't know how I would finish them and worried about whether I had any appropriate stamps to add. Here's what the bases looked like:
I added "Happy Birthday" to make the one up top and really liked it. Here's how I finished the other two:
Maybe not as successful as the Birthday card, but I'd still feel good about sending these out.
Jennifer also said you could fulfill the challenge by making a project with a bird on it or by putting down embellishments without worrying too much about placement. So, I made these two cards:
I like them both very much. They feel very "me." It was a lot of fun to create cards quickly and without stressing about whether they would be "perfect" or not.
When was the last time you let yourself go creatively and be "free as a bird" without worrying about perfection? If it's been a while, I would highly recommend it!
My son's baseball team has qualified for the Central Coast Sectional Playoffs, and their first game is today, Wednesday, May 15. He's playing with a group of boys with whom he has played for over ten years - Little League, All-Stars, travel ball; a couple trips to Cooperstown, New York. I don't think any of them will play in college, so this is really the last hurrah. It's a single elimination tournament, and I hope they win more than a few games. Good luck thoughts and wishes gratefully accepted!
For this week's look up//look down, I thought I'd feature a pair of photographs from their last regular season game. Looking up at the backstop; looking down at their bats.
Look Up//Look Down is a meme started by Helena of Helena's Creative Maven.
I love the Glue it Tuesday Lounge, hosted by Aimee of Artsyville, because it allows me to play with my large assortment of papers and collage elements in a stress free environment. This week, I made a pair of mini-collages inspired by the "Feeling Up, Up, Up" challenge at Jennifer's Onwards and Upwards Blog Event this past weekend. They are both about letting go, being creative, being happy and living your life! Similar bases of paper scraps for both, layerd with an Elle Studio journaling block, collage images from my stash and some stamping. These were such fun to make and make me really happy!
A shout-out to blog friends who have sent me some happy mail lately (click on the image to see an enlargement):
Suanne Brauer sent a prize package which included the journaling blocks, along with a little journal and other goodies; Melissa of Daily Life - Bits & Pieces sent me an RAK; and Jessica Sporn sent a wonderful water color blog prize with a fantastic quote from Henry Miller. Thank you ladies for the happy mail!
If you like the look of these little collages, come back on Thursday when I'll have some cards also inspired by pairing the journaling blocks with my collage images. In the meantime, why not check out the Glue it Tuesday Lounge by clicking on this link.
Hello Monday . . . a meme started by Lisa Leonard
Hello Winners! . . . as part of Jennifer's Onwards and Upwards Blog Event, I participated in a blog hop and offered up a prize to the person who could guess the missing item in my running kit and set the tie-breaker question to guess the color of my new running shoes. There were two correct guesses. I need a very good running bra (which I decided not to photograph) and my new running shoes (pictured above) are orange (technically electric melon but when I asked my husband what color they were, he said orange). So, congratulations to Annie C of Tag Tuesday (a very fun challenge blog) and to Jennifer, the blog hop hostess. Since there's only two of you, I'll send you both a prize. Email me at rinda 1961 (at) yahoo (dot) com with your snail mail address, and I'll drop a tag in the mail.
There were some other very good guesses - I don't run with music because I am paranoid about not hearing cars or stalker-killers sneaking up on me; I do have good running socks, but they were included on my list and in my first picture; I'd love to get a pedometer/high tech running watch but don't use one now; and I would dearly love to get some sunglasses (just haven't had time to get 'round to the optometrist). Thanks to everyone who joined in!
Hello pedicure . . . to celebrate out last long training run (we only do shorter runs between now and the June 2 race - we're in our "taper" phase of training), I got my toes painted a sparkly purple.
Hello sore muscles . . . our last run was supposed to be 12 miles, but because my leg was bothering me, the coach wanted me to run 10 only. We compromised at 11. I'm happy to report some soreness, but much less than before. So, I'm also concluding that I only have a tight hamstring and (thankfully) not a torn one.
Hello awesome daughter . . . (that's her, second from the right with some of our TNT team mates). She ran 12 miles in about 15 minutes less than it took me to run 11. If I were good at math, I could calculate something about our relative speeds, but it doesn't matter because she's committed to running the half-marathon with me, at my speed.
Hello awesome team mates . . . those who are doing the full marathon ran 20 miles on Saturday. It was amazing to watch them cross the finish line, totally spent physically and emotionally; yet smiling through their tears and sweat. It's been such a great experience getting to know everyone involved with our team. Although we're a small team, we have raised about $50,000 total, which is enough to fund a researcher at Stanford University for a full year, at a fellowship rate. Couldn't be more proud!
Hello different morning routine . . . Clara's rekindled her love affair with swimming and found out she can swim for free before school. So, she's been getting up early every day and getting a 40 minute work out in before school! Did I mention that I feel like she's finding her awesome, and that makes me so happy.
Hello Mother's Day . . . we had a fairly quiet day. Clara and I watched the movie Psycho. It was really good and strangely appropriate for Mother's Day (since it is all about a boy and his mother after all) and then got our toe nails done. Henry and Clara washed my car and sat for photographs (which is all I really ask of them for Mother's Day). Clara also brought me flowers and left me a sweet note.
Hello grading . . . I'm about half done. It really hasn't been that painful this year.
Hello volunteer training at the humane society . . . so that Clara can start working with the dogs there. We've been waiting for months to get a spot, and we're looking forward to it.
Hello end of regular season high school baseball . . . it was the Senior Game last Wednesday (doesn't Paul look good), and the boys played their last regular season game on Friday. Luckily, it was a good season, so I can say . . .
Hello Baseball Playoffs . . . the boys qualified for CCS, and they will play their first game on Wednesday. It's a single elimination tournament and good luck wishes are definitely appreciated.
What are you saying hello to these days?
Posts
