Photo Friday "Evil"
Photo Friday "Destruction"
I've had a subscription to Rolling Stone since I was a teenager. It was a gift from my grandmother that she has continued to give me every year for the last, um...17,18, no, 19 years (sheesh, I'm getting old).
The year it began filling my mailbox, only one woman graced the cover. Madonna was topless, but the photo didn't span below her shoulders. The next year Lisa Bonet appeared baring some side butt and a couple of months later I thought I saw her on the cover again, looking like Dr. Huxtable demanded she stop using her sex appeal to sell magazines. Alas, it was Terence Trent D'Arby, her doppelganger.
Over the years the percentage of women on the cover of Rolling Stone has increased, yet it appears to be linked to a decrease in clothing. Such a shame. Add in a top notch makeup artist, a Photoshop master and a hair stylist and you've got yourself a cover that makes money. Speaking of photoshop, this is a great clip on the "authenticity"of the female models we continue to see.
Last week I received the latest issue of Rolling Stone. My five year old daughter brought in the mail that day. Off the cover came. I wanted to read the magazine and no offense to Fergie, but the title "A Good Girl Gone Wild" was not what I wanted on my coffee table in view of my two kids. Around here, a good girl gone wild means someone stayed up til 8pm on a school night after eating two scoops of ice cream right before bedtime.
Photo Friday "Boy". Not so boyish red lips courtesy of a poolside popsicle, eyes courtesy of his Mom and scar on the bottom of the chin courtesy of a favorite boyish pastime- bike riding.
Photo Friday "Friends".
The last day of summer vacation. New teachers and new friends await them tomorrow, but for today they have only themselves and the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo Friday "Portrait" of an outstanding $40 investment.
It was almost exactly eleven years ago that I walked into the animal shelter thinking of adopting a kitten. I was 25 years old and had just kicked my boyfriend of five years out of our house. Things were awfully quiet when I got home from work every afternoon. So, one afternoon in August of '95 I walked into the shelter and found myself stopping at each cage and petting the various stray dogs. I didn't want a dog, but they were all so overjoyed to see a potential Mommy. I just couldn't walk past them without faking interest. An hour had passed before I stopped at a cage holding two tiny black and tan puppies. One of the puppies jumped at my hand, nipping and whining. The other one attempted to hide behind the water bowl, but knocked it over and scared himself. I laughed and continued on to the cats.
I left the shelter without a kitten that afternoon. I had decided that the decision was entirely too overwhelming for someone as young as myself to make. What was I thinking? Adoption? I wasn't ready for that. I was an only child, living on her own, two thousand miles from my family, working full time. I was selfish and self sufficient and came and went as I pleased. A pet? Pshaw. I think not.
Three hours later I was on my hands and knees in the "get acquainted" room of the animal shelter. Forces beyond my control drove my Mazda back to there and demanded that I spend more time with the black and tan puppies. I threw chew toys and the one frisky puppy grabbed them and growled, initiating play. The second pup sat and stared at me from the far corner of the room. Throwing a toy across the room, the frisky dog bounded off after it. I scooped up his docile brother and felt him lean into me.
I sat on the floor for an eternity and walked out in a daze minutes before the shelter closed with a wide eyed black and tan bundle of nerves cradled in my arms. Looking back on it, maybe it was me that was shaking so hard, but I thought it was him.
I named him Nesta. Bob Marley was one thing that always calmed me down and helped me focus and I thought that passing on his middle name to my nervous pup might have the same effect on him.
Never having owned a dog before I wasn't prepared for the screeching halt of freedom that came with dog ownership.
"Stop on the way home from work to meet you for dinner? Sure, I'd love to...ohh...wait...I can't. No, sorry. I can't. I have a dog now."
It sounded hard to believe, yet there Nesta was every afternoon when I got home. Eager to please and thrilled to have someone to prove it to. Walks with a leash were never necessary. He stayed at my heel and would turn in circles over and over again, as long as that was the way I was going. Even at eight weeks old he rarely had accidents in the house. He never barked to be let inside either. I sensed that he was afraid any wrong move might send him back to that annoying brother of his.
Eleven years have passed. He hasn't let me out of his sight intentionally even once in those eleven years. I've been married for nine years and have two children. We've moved across country so many times, I'm starting to think Nesta knows the route well enough to do the driving. Instead, he sits in the back of the truck. He doesn't look out the window, doesn't notice the endless fields of cows and horses. Nope, his brown eyes stay fixated on the back of my skull for every inch of the highway that runs east to west and back again. Moving is just fine with him, as long as I'm along for the ride.
We probably won't be moving again for four or five years. When we moved in a month ago I realized this might be Nesta's last house. I don't think he cares, as long as I'm here with him.
PHOTO FRIDAY "SUMMER"
We kicked off the Summer of '06 with a cross country trip from the deserts of Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean in North Carolina. The first few days were filled with the brown and red hues of a sun drenched Southwest. As we progressed eastward grass appeared, slowly at first and then in larger amounts. Then finally-trees! No roadside rest stop would get our business on that day. We might've been the only cross country travelers to ever stop to rest under the shade of this tree! Laying on my back watching the patterns in the trees I wished that I could carry this view with me everywhere.
Photo Friday "Metallic".
Taken at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona after taking the kids to see a ballet of Peter Pan.
Photo Friday "Red".
Taken moments before my 4 year old hand fed the above Lorikeet at the Aquarium. She overcame her fear of flying living things before only to be traumatized by it in the long run. This time proved no different as she stood statue still and let the bird perch on her arm and dip its tongue into the cup of nectar. As soon as the nectar was gone it grabbed ahold of her shirt with its beak and scooched its way up to her neck where it promptly bit her and drew blood.
If only if I had a picture of her face at that moment. Talk about red.
