Simple Wonderment

Cooler temperatures and rain swept in last evening, replacing hot and dry Santa Ana winds. It seems appropriate with the holidays just around the corner. I guess it's time to "winterize" and cozy up. I won't complain!

Just two more days and schools will be out for a week, and we couldn't be more pleased. We've been impatient for change. Michael and I drove up to L.A. the last two weekends - I spent time with Olivia while he caught up with friends. Let me just say that driving through Southern California cities in weekend traffic with a student driver is one of the most terrifying things ever. I'm not sure if my heart is stronger or weaker after about 10 hours of pretending I wasn't near death. But I do what I gotta do for my kids, and now Michael has built up more driving experience and I've provided a way for him to build and maintain some good friendships. 

I came across these pictures a few days ago as I waited on Michael in the car, sorting through images in a dark community college parking lot. Several weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, Michael called from the bottom of the stairs saying we should go see the sunset. We both grabbed our cameras and arrived just as the sun was slipping below the horizon. It was a bit too late for the particular sights we hoped to see and pictures we hoped to take, but I'll take any time chasing beauty with my kids. Truly, it thrills me to no end.

He turned and gave me permission to take his picture, and I went and messed it up. So here's a dark silhouette of my tall guy.

He had a long day of school today - 12 hrs. since he left home this morning. I arrived a couple minutes early at the train stop, and in the dark I could see him step off the train with his vintage camera strapped around his neck. We share a common interest in photography, only his is so much more interesting than mine. While I only use a regular old DSLR, he has begun collecting and experimenting with vintage film cameras. It's cool to hear him describe the things he is learning, and so fun to see him immerse himself into a world of vintage-style images. He tells me about things like WW2 Russian lenses, artistic development processes, photojournalism laws, and the repurposing of antique film. He is learning things I've never even dreamed of learning and I find it fascinating to see how intuitive the science behind photography is to him. 

Anyway, since I had a moment to post a few pictures and a few words, I did. I typically feel like I should have more insightful things to write when I come to this space, but I've missed effortless posting of simple pleasures in life. I've recently taken some time to look back over the years of my blog journals; it has been interesting to see how my themes and purposes in writing have changed. It somewhat struck me that I no longer have a carefree ease of finding beauty AND writing about it.

So this post is for the simple purpose of celebrating and remembering the wonderment of my people and the blessings all around. Cheers to that!

~Katherine