I’m staying cocooned in my home this week, working through each little pain and complication of last week’s surgery. The pain brings clarity of focus, and I find myself considering small details, like the banding on this teeny hand-thrown vase, for long moments.

I hear giggles mixed with serious discussion drifting up the stairs to my sick bed. I haul myself to standing, hobble to my camera, and tiptoe down the open stairs to see exactly how this day of their summer vacation is starting.

“…and being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” ~ Luke 22:44 I clear the dinner plates from the table, pile them into the sink and begin to rinse them off when the crushing weight of remembering hits me again, making my heart thump heavy. In three days my mind will know nothing. The night before,...

I stood at the edge of the tracks, very close, maybe too close. But I’d never had a train pass within feet of my body. I did not know what it felt like to be nudged by that great wave of air coming fast in front of the engine, and I wanted to know, just in case. So I stood close and felt a cracking pain in my eardrum when...

It is kind of weird to be shopping at Whole Foods on a Sunday afternoon and come across a band standing in a little triangle-shaped space between the olive oil, fish fry counter and bulk dried beans, jamming their faces off. It’s even weirder when the music is actually incredibly good. I wedged my body between two parties of greasy-lipped diners woofing down their fried oysters to take these shots,...

I wonder if a butterfly hanging wet-winged and upside down from a slender branch doesn’t look up at the grass or down at the sky and think to herself, “Hello, Grass,” or “Hello, Sky, I have been away for a while. But I am here now.” In June of 2010 started working full-time in order to provide for the family during a long financial dry spell. I found out quickly...

The older men always doze on the evening bus ride back to suburbia. Their heads nod in unison, lowering to their chests, and with each pneumatic sighing press of the brakes, their heads flick upright, as if mounted on hinges, and so they nod their agreement that, yes, their days are numbered.

Three of my photos have been selected to be a part of the InstantDC Mobile Photography Show 2011, sponsored by the DC Ad Club and APA and in partnership with FotoweekDC. Opening night is Wednesday, November 9th at Interface Media Group, 1233 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC. I attended this same show last year as a wannabe. I moved from grouping to grouping and wondered if I’d ever be “good...

I can’t describe what a joy it is to have a son. This bedroom of his speaks volumes about the person he’s becoming…if you can read the clues.

It was slippery outside this morning, too slippery to run. I made maple oatmeal scones instead. We sipped coffee and read about dinosaurs, then I retreated to the home office to begin my day.