skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
--The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
After many years as a self-proclaimed film snob, I swore I’d never go digital. I have always loved the smell of film, hoped someday I’d have a darkroom to play in, thought digital photography was making everyone lazy because “you can just delete what you don’t like.” But I finally caved. As of this weekend, I am the proud owner of a Nikon d80 and I cant wait to figure out how to use it.
I spent a good bit of yesterday neurotically reading the owner’s manual. I’m not usually one to read a manual page by page, but there are just too many buttons to “wing it.” So far, my favorite thing from the directions: “When operating the viewfinder diopter control with your eye to the viewfinder, care should be taken not to put your finger or fingernail in your eye accidentally.” Awesome advice.
I did feel a little pang of sadness packing away the body of my film camera. I’m sure I’ll still get it out from time to time, but it is definitely like the old toy that gets put away for a while in favor of the new one with all the bells and whistles. But that “old toy” traveled a lot of miles with me and took a lot of great shots… And as my first “real” camera, it has helped to develop (seriously, no pun intended) a hobby I hope to continue for many years.
Is it weird to get all poetic and sentimental about a camera??
Anyway, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite pictures taken over the last few years… 
This is why John Mayer could be my boyfriend.
A couple weeks ago my dad was down in Cincinnati, helping me with some house projects. Before we started, I went through my CD collection, found five that we could agree on and put them in the stereo on shuffle.
(It’s funny…when we went on car trips when I was little, there wasn’t much beyond Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles that we could all be happy with (especially when I was all about eighties glam rock)…now that I’m older, I find that I like a lot of “their” music…and they like a lot of “mine.”)
But I digress…
One of the CDs I pulled out that day was Arlo Guthrie’s Outlasting the Blues. When I was a kid, this was one of the albums everyone in the car could sing along to, but it’s not one that I listen to all that often these days.
One song in particular struck me as funny…. Here are the lyrics to “Telephone.” (If they’re not completely accurate, blame it on the lyric site I found…)
Every morning just as soon as it's light
Get out of bed and I'm feeling alright
Make me some coffee and I sit down alone
The rest of the day I'm on the telephone
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
I got a phone in my bedroom and one in the barn
A phone in my car and one in the yard
A phone on my saddle for when I'm out on the range
A phone in my pocket for when I'm down at the grange
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
Now with devaluation all over the land
The whole wide world has got more money in their hand
They'll be calling me up from Peking and Nome
I'm going to rip out my telephone
(It probably loses something if you don’t know the tune that goes with it…)
Anyway, I remember liking the song when I was a kid because it was just so ridiculous. How could you ever have a phone in your pocket? Or in your car? Hmmm…
Most people know I like to cook. My mom turned me onto Tyler Florence and I have to say his cookbooks look great, but I cant stomach his tv show, Tyler’s Ultimate. Typically I look through the tv guide to see what he’s going to make and if it looks good, I’ll record it.
Last night, I watched the “rainy day” episode. The recipes du jour? Tyler’s ULTIMATE chicken noodle soup and Tyler’s ULTIMATE grilled cheese. In case you were wondering, everything he does is ULTIMATE.
My thoughts as I watched:
1. ABSOLUTELY. Does he HAVE to use that word in every sentence? Does someone pay him per use? Also beautiful and fantastic. He must get extra points for 'absolutely beautiful' and 'absolutely fantastic.'
2. BOOM. Every time he puts something in the oven. Every time he puts something in a bowl. Every time he puts a pan on the stove. Boom.
3. ADJECTIVES. Somewhere in his contract it must say that every sentence must have at least three adjectives. "We're going to cut these onions. Look at how absolutely beautiful and fragrant these fresh delicious onions are." Some things don't need adjectives. Onions are onions. Just cut them and move on.
4. THE INTRO. It’s so forced and scripted. I saw in the title what you're planning to cook. I don't need a poem about rainy days and the sunshine in the kitchen. Fire your writing staff and just show me how to cook.
The man just talks too much. It’s a shame, because his recipes usually look really good. Last night’s grilled cheese – excuse me…“last night’s ULTIMATE grilled cheese -- glorious artisan bread with fragrant, beautiful pesto and fresh, delicious mozzarella cheese” – looked delicious.
But seriously...he's ABSOLUTELY annoying.
On the chopping block next week? Rachel Ray
A few people have said that the Jonathan entry should be a series. I don’t know if I’ll make it a series, but I do have a couple funny Jon Stories worth sharing.
My parents went out for his annual progress meeting the other day (they were called IEP meetings when he was in school…they have a name now, but I don’t know it off-hand). Overall, Jon is doing well and everyone there loves him. But they did share these three stories that my parents and I got a kick out of…
They’re always working with Jon to become more independent (as much as he can be) in everyday tasks. Over the years, they’ve worked on getting him to bring his dishes to the sink after meals, putting his clothes in the hamper when he changes and putting things away. And the latest – bringing his clothes hamper to the laundry room when it’s full and back to his room when it’s empty. Amazingly, he does it…but as soon as he gets back to his room, he empties his closet of clean clothes into the hamper because hampers are supposed to be full of clothes. In his head, having an empty hamper isn’t right, so he fills it. In the meeting, it was suggested that maybe they put a towel in the hamper that can always be there – so it’s never empty…and then someone suggested a shirt or other article of clothing – because knowing Jon, the hamper should have clothes. Not towels.
As long as he’s lived in his current home, they’ve had issues with him unrolling the toilet paper onto the floor. Who knows why…he never did it at home that I can remember. Given that the staff at his home wont really get in his face and yell at him for it, he’ll probably never stop. Anyway, they’ve realized that there is a pattern to his paper unrolling… He does it when he has snow days or other interruptions to his usual schedule…almost like he’s mad about not being able to do what he’s supposed to do, so that’s his little way of lashing out.
The third one is my favorite… Just inside the front door of his home, there’s a bathroom. Mostly intended for guests and the staff, I assume. There are bathrooms for the residents in both hallways by their bedrooms. For whatever reason, Jon has decided he’d rather use the bathroom in the foyer. When the staff sees him head for that bathroom, they redirect him to the one by his bedroom. I don’t know if he makes a fuss about it or not, but he hasn’t given up. The staff has watched him sneak out the back door, walk around the house and come in the front door so he can get to that front bathroom without being seen.
Just makes you wonder exactly what that kid knows. He doesn’t know today is Monday, but he knows how to outsmart the adults who don’t want him to use the bathroom in the front of the house. There are plenty of other similar stories that have made us all shake our heads over the years…I’ll post them as I think of them.
