Archive for Picture Play

On loving London

God, but the sirens are loud tonight. I kind of like them, though. It’s a busy, busy place. And I find the constant motion energizing. I leave my dorm room window open to let in the city as much as possible.

Admittedly, the first few days were hell. I relapsed into dysfunction in every possible way. It wasn’t pretty. And I thought I was doing okay, too … but between the dog drama and jet lag and culture shock, and I don’t even know what else, my resiliency just went kaput. I wanted to go home. HOME. Where there are fleas and ticks, and spiders, and most recently, a cranky-ass little snake from the woods hiding somewhere in my bedroom (yes, my BEDROOM). That’s sad, y’all.

But things have steadily turned around. I had the good sense to make connections with other people from minute one in the airport, and lucked out to be rooming next door to a really sweet girl I met at orientation a month ago. Additionally, my psych professor is kick-ass awesome. And the sun came out and the rain stopped (in London? Unheard of!).

Oh, and here, you’ll appreciate this. Out of all the professors for my second class that I could have possibly landed, I managed to get the one whose wife is involved in dog rescue back home. Seriously? How does this happen? Apparently, the powers that be do sometimes have a sense of humor.

I am very much in need right now of a piano—or a dog. But I’ll find a way to remedy that without too much trouble, I’m sure. In the meantime, I can walk everywhere here—and I do so, with great satisfaction. I’m falling in love with the city and the people—and well, with everything, really.

And some photos from a recent evening excursion, because it wouldn’t be me without some picture play.

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A nod to the train tracks

But you can’t jump the track
We’re like cars on a cable
And life’s like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe … just breathe

-Anna Nalick, Breathe (2am)

I finally slept sometime after two this morning, and the sharpest edges of last night’s conversations and realities smoothed somewhat in the night.

The urge to crawl back under the covers this morning and sleep away reality was silenced with a swift mental kick in the pants and the usual remedies for a bad day: a camera, a leash, and the outdoors. Elsie and I walked the three miles down to the nearby train tracks and just sat on the ridge a few feet away from the rails for a while. The timing worked well … there was little traffic to frighten her and few people around to upset her, so we could enjoy the late morning between the two of us. I took some pictures, but mostly, we just sat. And sometimes, just sitting is good.

I love trains and train tracks—not quite as much as I adore airplanes and airport runways, but close enough. And the tracks offered a reassuring deep breath this morning.

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Elsie versus Georgia red clay

The main reason the deceptively cute little lunatic hasn’t been featured lately is because she is currently competing with her rope toy to see which one can become the dirtiest and at the moment, she looks like this:

My dogs are house dogs, I swear.

(In her defense, Ivan the Great has taken to slamming her through the mud under the deck every time they go outside, and the two of them wallow around under there like a couple of hogs until I come back to let them inside). In other pointless pit bull news, she is absolutely obsessed with her rope toy—or what’s left of it.

Soooo happy.

It's like a puppy pacifier - she takes it EVERYWHERE

Hey look, she even glows orange right now

So yeah. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I have a dog (or four) to bathe.

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Quiet times and power lines

And an unlikely place for a rainbow.

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On melty hearts, and kitten cuteness

Stereotypes defied. (Click for a better view).

Seeing how content he is now, I actually feel guilty that I didn’t get him a kitty before now.

The tabby kitten is no longer here, unfortunately. But the other three are growing into little roly-poly messes of motor-mouths and purrs, while Miss Mama Cat keeps the dogs in check (I walked in this afternoon and they were both asleep on the floor while she kept the WHOLE bed to herself, the bratty little thing). Gotta love it.

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Tallulah Gorge: the Picture Post

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Of waking up cloudy, defiant little daffodils, and mud puppies

“You sound like a rainy day,” a friend remarked as I answered her call and rolled over in bed. I could hear her smiling her sympathy on the other end of the line; she knows all too well how it feels to wake up cloudy. As I peered over the pile of pit bulls in the bed to check the time, I was somewhat impressed by just how long I had managed to oversleep. It was 2:30 in the afternoon.

I guess that’s what happens when you go on a frenzied walking spree until almost midnight the night before. You have to actually, you know, rest the next day. There are nights when the only way to quiet the demons of overthinking is to break them at the point of exhaustion, and last night was one of those nights. I had a lovely little post all about it … but it was all rather emo and angsty and frankly, introspection is a topic worn too thin to not be irritating around here. I’m entirely too tired for snark, apparently.

Besides, I get distracted easily and when I looked outside, I discovered that the daffodils had escaped winter’s weakening grip and raised their colorful heads for the day. I liked their stubborn show of spring—and hey, a little color, no matter how drab and watered down against today’s overcast sky, never hurt anything.

Meanwhile, I realized the trouble with having a white dog on a rainy day.

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And then there was this

Caught this little snapshot at work on the way back from Macon this past weekend. Yeeeeah, that redheaded chick in scrubs darting about the bank parking lot with a camera, trying to find a vantage point that did NOT involve power lines? Twas me.

(Oh hey LOOK – a picture that doesn’t feature an animal. Wonders never cease!)

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Photo Interlude: Mac

(Because no rainy day is complete without one, good shake)

His owner said he whined too much at night.

By way of an update, Hera, my project dane puppy of doom went into a foster home today (and no, not mine, thankyouverymuch). Now to just get this guy squared away.

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Photo Interlude: The Brindle Bros in the Park

I got off of work early on Friday to take advantage of a day of sunshine and higher temps. Snagged my camera, the Brindle Bros, and we headed for the park. It offered some much-appreciated down time to torment the dogs with the camera, sprawl out by the pond, and finish sorting through the events and losses of the early part of the week.

All the busy lines trailing off everywhere ... it fit the moment.

Naturally, after the beautiful weekend, it’s back to rain today and threats of snow. Yayzors.

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