Farm Life Photos: Red

Tractor Shy

It finally snowed enough to plow and YAY! out comes the tractor and my camera to document the occasion.......

Vroom. Wait. 
Clearly, I stole the tractor's soul with my camera clicks. Boo.

And so it sat in the driveway, almost but not quite blocking the propane refill. Sigh. Life sized tractor shaped boat anchor indeed. 

25 More Random Things, Jr. High style

 Random Things

1) I once made up an imaginary boyfriend. His name was Zeke and he was a 14 year old olympic skiier.  I even wrote letters in his handwriting and showed them to my friends. Stupid.

2) I was a HUGE fan of Dirty Dancing and permed my hair to look like Baby's, tight rolled my jeans and jean shorts, and wore white canvas shoes.

3) I wore blue and green bonnie bell eyeshadow.

4) I kept make up in a Caboodles.

5) I had an ESPRIT bag, but it was a duffle and not a shoulder bag like the cool kids had.

6) I watcher Beverly Hills 90210.

7) I was a fan of Debbie Gibson AND Tiffany. 

8) I mastered the three way call and once had 15 friends from school on at the same time AND also made calls where the 3rd person didn't know there was a 2nd listening in. 

9) I rode my bike around wearing a walkman listening to Depeche Mode Enjoy the Silence because a boy I was crushing on liked the band. 

10) I also had a huge crush on the paper boy and waited on the porch everyday for evening delivery. He ended up bringing his kid brother along to throw the paper at our house. 

11) I loved 1950's music and had a sock hop birthday party. 

12) NKOTB...I know what that means and they should not reunion. 

13) Lipgloss

14) Sun in. 

15) I was planning on naming any and all future children Taylor. 

16) Ouji boards freaked me out. I, to this day, have never used one and left the classroom when someone used one as a show and tell.

17) I helped stage a protest about our schools cockroach problem. 

18) I was in lots of school plays. I was a drama nerd. 

19) I died my hair red to look like Tori Amos and a red headed popular girl thought I was trying to look like her stalker style. 

20) I was not a "popular" girl.

21) I was in Amnesty International. The host teacher was soooooo cool. She invited me to go out of state to a u2 concert (maybe out of country?) and my parents (rightly, maybe) got really freaked out about it.

22) I was a huge u2 fan, I accidentally got Joshua Tree at a garage sale inside another cassette tape case and I was hooked. It rocked my world.

23) My appendix burst in the midst of a very turbulent family drama and I ended up spending 3 months on my aunt's cattle ranch to recover. I mucked out chicken houses and worked a Ren Faire, took long walks in the back woods listening to Joshua Tree on the walkman. It was that summer that I became a spiritual person.

24) I used this stinky white face cream in a tub to mask and wash my face. I don't remember what it was called but once I forgot to wash it off and everyone at the bus stop got a good laugh.

25) I was in a 1950's band and we practiced in my attic. I even called a Chicago diner to book a gig. Oh yeah, they laughed at me. 

So, that was fun. Now I am sick of memes though. Look for an actual update with photos later today.

Dreams and what they mean

The July before Blueberry was born I dreamt I was 5 months pregnant, on the road assigned to take pictures of pink houses, and I encountered a screech owl in a dead/charred forest. The owl was awake and alert in the daylight after I had knocked on the tree it walked out at eye level and almost nose to nose we stared at it. Then I backed off and took its picture. The baby started kicking and writhing. I walked on past to find the pink house and finish my journey. This dream sequence is still incredibly vivid in my memory almost 3 years later. The conversations I had with people along the way, each pink house I took pictures of, the editor who assigned me the project......

What does this mean?

Pink houses. Let's start with that. My Aunt owns and operates the Villa Bed and Breakfast in Galveston, TX. It is the pinkest house I have ever seen. As pictured. When she was first house hunting I found it for her on Realtor.com. She said no, no way, too pink. Sometimes we reject too quickly based on first impressions what is actually a perfect match.

When I was 4 months pregnant Dearest bought me the camera in the dream.

Owls. I love owls. Blueberry is a watcher. She reminds me very much of an owl in her personality.

I don't know. Dearest often says that the most boring thing in the world is someone talking about their night dreams. Perhaps. But I think for me, it is part of the creative process and part of reconciling reality. You know? Just a thought.