My favorite month is whizzing past me at break-neck speed. I've barely had time to stop and document the moments - but here are a few.

The Spoils:

The Likely Duo: 

The Food. Stuffed pork loin with spinach, cheddar cheese, apples, and garlic; homemade apple sauce; apple stuffing. Nom.

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Here's what I came up with. 

Kong!

Ladies in Waiting at the Big E

Big Rhythm Wine

Big Sandy

Drive-by Bison

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Check out ThemPho every Wednesday at its source . This is week 62!

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I had the notion to hop over to WrittenInc. for this week's theme, though, and what do I find? A color? A shape? An errant animal or vegetable, mayhaps?

Nope. Laundry.

Laundry. I have to hand it to Carmi, the blog's author ... he's really outdone himself with this theme, making us dig deeper than ever before to find a photo to fit, or to take a new shot that is intriguing and visually striking. Of laundry.

This is the closest I can get this week, and it is indeed a broad interpretation of 'laundry.' As in, boy, were the laundry staff pissed when they saw all the sheets they had to wash the next morning.

And what was on some of them.

I give you Toga, taken by a passerby with my Nikon N50, in Oxford, England, 1999 and scanned.

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starsmash, Ptown Mass. 7.30.2008

Wanna play? Go to your photo files and sort by date, or to your flickr account, click on 'organize photos,' then 'Jump to Date' in the bottom right corner of the organize screen. Leave a link to your post in the comments; it's fun and a good reminder that bright spots remain around us from day-to-day, and year-to-year.

This photo was taken of an outdoor cafe on a side street in Provincetown, Mass. - I had forgotten to readjust my settings on the camera after taking a long exposure, and this shot initially came out overblown and washed out. After playing with the contrast and saturation a bit, I came up with this retro, Lomo-esque look, and I cropped it to about the same dimensions as a CD cover because it reminded me of a photo my former band might have used for one of the many permutations of our one and only studio release, Pass the Sombrero. You know, because it has bright colors and not a lot of direction otherwise.

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"We all share this planet, and we'd like you all to share in this mosaic. And that leads us to what you can do now. The success of the project depends on getting hundreds of thousands of images. Each one represents your tiny block of our life on earth."

My contribution to Earth Mosaic 2009 ...  

It's Wednesday. Most of the day has been spent at home, as my husband recovers from surgery and we simultaneously field a second family issue. The weather is rainy, cold, and raw. 

I bought this dress at a small boutique on Cape Cod over the Thanksgiving holiday, and with the cold weather persisting, I have yet to wear it. Today, it caught the gray light in its sleeves and cast a soft, emerald glow as it hung by the window.

In the bathroom, I look in the mirror at the circles under my eyes, then realize we've yet to paint the trim around the door for the eleventh month in a row. It's more of an observation than it is another woe.

Still floating through the house, I light the candle on the oven. It lends warmth to an otherwise stagnant day.

This is the kind of day that makes me notice small things, like the book of vintage photos we keep in the living room. We flip the pages occasionally, to reveal a baby in a bassinette, a snapshot from a boat of a stormy sea, or a stoic family portrait like this one. We don't know who these people are - and somehow, that's comforting.

On the three-season porch,  I can't appreciate the raindrops falling on the roof, and splattering through the screens. Across the street, I see cars rushing through puddles and street lights obscured by water and fog. My camera sees much the same thing.

As I'm wandering through the house cooking dinner, administering ice packs and medications, and fielding phone calls from family members, I pop a cup of tea into the microwave for reheating. On top, the cucumber seeds I planted yesterday are already sprouting tall in their clay pot. It's amazing how fast life begins.

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As in, rotund?  

Literal?

Illustrative?

Abstract...

And of course, as food:

fin.

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Thirsty for More, Cape Cod

Trellace, Forest Park, Springfield, Mass.

Flower Vendor, Dublin, Ireland

Spa and Hibiscus, Bermuda

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Here goes:

Nice Melons, Wilbraham, Mass.

The Man ,The Eclair - The Big E, West Springfield, Mass.

Stunned, Cork, Ireland

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Therefore, I've compiled a little collection of photos. File under 'Scenes from My Hometown' - and an electric dedication goes out to Beanie and Mr. T, btw.

ArcherVision chases birds.

I've eaten in two of these places, worked at one, and own merchandise from a third.

There was a fundraiser going on - pinwheels in a lawn in Harwichport

The WMVY Blue Lobster makes an appearance at the East Harwich cranberry bogs.

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The song is Rehumanize Yourself by The Police.

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So here's the theme this week - 'Up.' I'm not sure how Carmi (Thematic Photographic's creator) comes up with his themes, but they're always broad enough to accomodate any kind of interpretation, while staying off-beat and interesting. 

Here are a few of my shots that say 'up' to me:

Dublin's City Hall

Nikon N90 28-200 Tamron Lens

Hot Air Balloon Media Trip, Greenfield, Mass.

Nikon D70, standard lens

Kite Flying, and Free Advertising for GoNomad

Nikon D70

Energy Stairs

Nikon N70

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4x4

Rules:

Choose the fourth folder of photo storage on your computer.

Choose the fourth photo in the folder.

Explain said photo, tag four people to do the same.

So, ok. I chose the fourth storage folder, which was labeled 'New Orleans.'  Cool, I thought. Another excuse to talk about my trip. Problem is, I apparently threw a bunch of other, unrelated stuff in the same folder, so what you get is this:

This is a pic of these insanely awesome shrimp-tartlet-things from Li's Brothers, a Chinese and Japanese place near my house. They have pecans and toasted sesame seeds and syrup... they're swimming in butter... they're just great. And unfortunately, there's not much more to say about them.

So, on to the tagging - I tag Teen, Beanie and Mr. T, Kat, and Max. Teen's been blogging more lately, B&M are new to the Blogosphere (welcome!), Kat is receptive to tagging - I see them on her blog from time to time - and Max? Max I know is going to post some crazy photo of a Colombian lizard or an Iranian camel.

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The song is Rave-up or Shut-up, by the Rave Ups. Special appearances by the Holyoke Knights Marching Band, Drum Corps, and Cheerleaders.

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And so goes navigating the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the holidays. I put together a much peachier view in photos below... enjoy. The soundtrack is North Pole by the Dance Hall Crashers (The Old Record).

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Walking in the Garden District of New Orleans last month, I saw this poster in a home's window. When I took the photo ten days ago, I liked the contrast of the blue clapboards and the bright parrot with the 'Hope' poster. Now, I like more the fact that when people see this shot in the future, they won't think of a candidate, but a national leader. No matter what side you fall on, this is an exciting time to be alive.

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I posted a photo montage of our trip a few days ago, but since a lot of people probably don't have the time to watch a six-minute movie (nor the inclination!), here's a little run-down of some high points:

 We arrived on Wednesday evening and took a shuttle bus from the airport to our hotel, the Grand Boutique on St. Charles Street in the Garden District. We wove through the French Quarter first, giving me my first glance - I loved the gas street lamps mixed in with neon signs. The balconies are as majestic and cool as I'd imagined, too.

Our hotel had a very cool, Art Deco vibe, and we liked our room - we checked into Room #1, the first time that's ever happened to me. I didn't even know they existed.

We walked down St. Charles street after getting settled, and noticed that the stretch is teeming with restaurants ranging from little pubs to Emeril's Delmonico (his national headquarters are a bit down the road, too:).

We noticed one that had a sign reading "bar, grill, gameroom, and laundromat." If that isn't convenient, I don't know what is.

We walked a long way down St. Charles, past gallery row, and into the Quarter, where we settled on a German brewpub for dinner. I had the burger with Marzen-flavored sauce (a dark beer) and one of the beers itself. I wasn't really listening when the waiter asked me if I wanted a half-liter or a liter; or maybe I wasn't absorbing how much a liter actually is. Either way, this was the result:

The next day, we walked to a luncheonette on St. Charles, the Trolley Stop Cafe, for what we figured would be a pretty standard breakfast. I wanted grits, so I went with the Trolley Stop Special, and ended up with the best. Pancakes. Ever.

These things were so sweet, so delish, so crispy-on-the-outside and soft-in-the-middle, they didn't even need butter or syrup. ArcherVision theorized that part of the secret was vanilla extract.

The giant plates of goodness were enough to keep us fueled as we walked back to the Quarter to scope out Bourbon Street and the surrounding area. We got caught in a downpour and got totally soaked - but we still got to see a lot of the area and take some photos. I bought my one and only souvenir, a t-shirt, when we spotted this place. It didn't seem right to leave the area without something:

That night, we attended a family celebration for my cousins, Jen and John, whose wedding we were in New Orleans to attend. We joined up with my aunt and uncle, two more sets of cousins, and a couple of members of the wedding party, and went to the hotel's restaurant, Copeland's, which had a snow bar - real ice and snowflakes on the bar and the taps - and an ice wall with bottles of liquor mounted in the floes.

That night went late, and much imbibing did occur. But we were well enough to get out the door the next morning for a second visit to the Trolley Stop and a little photo safari around the Garden District. Here are a couple of my faves:

...and one for the many cupcake-lovahs in my blogosphere:

Then, it was on to the wedding (video here)- and what a gorgeous, Victorian affair it was. The ceremony and reception were held at the House of Broel on St. Charles, a private estate the owner, Bonnie Broel, rents out for wedding services for which she serves as officiant.

The ceremony was in a garden with white lights scattered in the greens and a koi pond stretching into the middle of the seating area - and dancing took place in a parlor with a hardwood floor and a full mirror-wall on one side, facing an array of tapestries. The whole house has a Versailles kind of motif going on -- easily one of the cooler venues I've ever been in and ideal for a gorgeous wedding.

The only part of the trip that wasn't fabulous was the plane ride back - ArcherVision already wrote a pretty comprehensive post about it, so I'll let you take a gander over there. We'll definitely be going back, though - we have yet to take a cemetery tour and get our voodoo on. That's the rule - always leave something for next time. Thank you, New Orleans!

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enjoy! 

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