The Breakfast Club

I woke up super early this morning. I tossed on some clothes, brushed my teeth and headed out the door with my gear in hand. My first stop at Starbucks met me with dark windows. You know it's early when they haven't turned on the lights yet.

I headed north and found my way to the second coffee shop. Extra hot latte in hand, I made my way up to the windy meeting spot that we had all agreed to the day before. I was the first one there, but was soon joined by three other cars. We unloaded and realized that we couldn't get to the part of the park we wanted because of locked gates.

A quick change of plans and we piled back into our cars and headed to one of the parking garages in downtown. We shot as long as we could stand with the cold wind and then decided it was time to head over to breakfast.

 

 

I love that I have local photography friends that will dork out over ISO and shutter speeds. Who talk shit to each other about Nikon or Canon and who are all willing to teach and learn from one another. Thanks for waking up early gang! that was a fun morning.

Photowalkers

I have been fortunate enough to find a great group of photographers here in Reno. A few weeks back, four of us hiked in 3 miles to see a frozen waterfall. There were so many laughs, a few falls (ice and mud and backpacks full of photo gear really don't play nicely together). The trip was so fun that we started plotting a second adventure.



On Sunday we drove up to Virginia City and grabbed a quick bite to eat and then kicked up some dust and caravanned into a spot known as American Flats. Oh, and did I mention that part of the goal for the day was to get some killer bubble photos? I will let the images do the talking. Thanks again to a great group of people willing to be silly and awesome at their craft.

And when your with other photographers its, "Shoot or be shot..."

Comparing Android to iPhone.

I like it round, and big....

Quick draw

 Triangle Pose - photog style.

Desert Rats

On Friday we, loaded up Popup Penny and headed East for the long weekend. The last time we visited this place, O was just learning to crawl and we were braving the camping thing with a 9 month old. This time, we had two kids, one dog and three full days to play.

As soon as we crested the hill and the kids could see the big open playa, Fifi let out he biggest squeal of delight I have ever heard. I don't know if she was coo-coo from the long ride or just so happy to be camping again, but her comedic timing struck again and we all belly laughed.

 

I feel extremely at home on the desert. The playa is where I learned to drive, where I learned to watch the stars and look for UFOs. Although this isn't the Black Rock Desert (where I grew up), this smaller version is very much a happy place for me.It is called the Smith Creek Playa, located just outside of Austin, Nevada.

 

There is something truly otherworldly about being in a place so flat and desolate. It's like being at the ocean, only quieter. You can hear your heart beat, your breath and the wind in your ears. I practiced my yoga and went for two during our stay, pretty amazing on both accounts.

 

The weekend consisted of lots of time on the bicycle for O. Tons of running around trying to keep up with the big kids for Fifi. We all did some land sailing, rocket launching, kite flying, hot springs dipping, mud playing, giggling and visiting with friends.

I think I might be raising desert rats, and I'm cool with that.

walk with me

Lunch time, I need a break from my desk chair and computer screen. I am busy, but tell myself I will be more productive after I get some fresh air and sunshine into my skin. It's true, I always feel so much better after I have spent a measly 10 or 15 minutes outside. Winter in the high desert is cold, but beautiful. All at once white and sparkling, blindingly blue and bright. It can be covered in snow or dry as a bone, but one thing is almost certain, it gets really damn cold.I still insist on wearing skirts, I am like that.

I drive just behind my office, up a big hill that I run on when the ground isn't covered in mud or snow. The view of the entire valley comes into view, even with the inversion layer that settles into the valley during the winter months, I can see for miles. Downtown, the casinos poke their necks up in the distance and Peavine Mountain tall and regal like a painting. I can see west, all the new houses that cover what used to be ranches and a place where the cattle, wild horses and coyotes could roam. I watch the tiny toy cars stop and go obediently to the red and green lights along the McCarran loop.  Southwest, there she is, Mount Rose. Standing tall and covered in snow- scars run down her face where people, that are too tiny to see from here, ski and snowboard happily, because this year, the snow is really pretty good.

 

I walk down a path and look at how the snow has turned into crystals rather than the fluffy flakes they started out as. The sage and the rabbit brush poke their noses from the frost and sit, quietly and grey for the winter. If I step on a branch, the smell of snow and sagebrush takes me back to being 9 or 10 years old- flying behind a quad on a sled- hookie bobbing around the Granite Ranch. We would laughing our heads off in terror and joy wrapped up into one. The smell of cow patties and the state flower would fill our cold noses and settle in as memory that was forgotten, until this moment, this now.

I'm not really ready to get back in the car, but I do. I take in one more look and a very deep breath, hoist myself into the truck and turn back down the hill.

find me

If I could trace the lines that ran

Between your smile and your sleight of hand

I would guess that you put something up my sleeve

Now every time I see your face the bells ring in a far-off place

We can find each other this way I believe

From the hills and up behind, my town

is naked from the horizon down

The curvature is pressed against the raise

We walked up in the fields alone

And the silence fell just like a stone

That got lost in the wild blue and the gravel grey

Come and find me now

Though I'm here in this far off place

My air is not this time and space

I draw you close with every breath

you don't know it's right until it's wrong

You don't know it's yours until it's gone

I didn't know that it was home ‘til you up and left
 

Come and find me now

I keep you in a flower vase

With your fatalism and your crooked face

With the daisies and the violet brocades

And I keep me in a vacant lot

In the ivy and forget-me-nots

Hoping you will come and untangle me one of these days
Come and find me now

lyrics and song by Josh Ritter, Come and Find Me

summer rain...

cooling things down this evening....

from 90+

to a mere 80 something.

This is when I wish there was a scratch and sniff screen.

You guys, it smells so GOOD out there; ozone and sagebrush, my summer favorite 

(right next to bbq, how the heck did I survive as a vegetarian??? tee hee).