I've been thinking about what to do about my various LJ's for a while. I have two "active" ones, ghostjourney from my trip across Canada and the US 4 years ago, myasma, which was my original journal, and various other ones I never did much with. Of course, I don't do much with my active ones lately either. I post pictures at lowflyingsquab every once in a while, but hardly ever write here any more.

I've thought about why I don't write more. It's not that stuff isn't going on. My life is probably as interesting now as it has ever been. Maybe I am just busy living.

Sometimes I think it could be that I wrote so much about my life for a time that eventually I needed to step back and give myself a little privacy. And back then it was more like being along for the ride-a sort of road trip through tragedy and grief. I don't feel that any more.

Anyway, I'm thinking about trying to wrap it all up in some way. I don't want to stop journaling, but I don't want to have all these dormant journals either. I'm thinking about going back and revisiting the journey, in words and images, but through the perspective of time.

We'll see.

This is an alternate shot of the angel I posted on facebook the other day. I liked this one better, but ended up working with the other one for reasons I can't remember.

When I took the picture, I was thinking about it ending up in black and white--mostly because of the sky. One of my teachers was always talking about Ansel Adams and his dark, dramatic skies, and I kind of got sucked in.

This angel is in the Mountain View Cemetery in the Oakland hills, just south and west of where the big firestorm was. I've been coming up here for over 30 years now--it's one of my favorite places.

I still have negatives I shot here from the first photo class I ever took at Laney College back in the early 80s. I didn't even have a car then--I took the bus up from my shithole apartment with the million-dollar view overlooking Lake Merritt. My landlady, Mrs. Kong, would sneak into the apartment while I was gone and leave me notes--"clean your toilet!" and "throw away wine bottles--not in my trash!!" Like a mom-for-hire.

Anyway, I have all sorts of shots of this particular angel. It's fun to look back and see that although the angel doesn't change, how I look at it does. I like that.



"I am the Angel of the Sun
Whose flaming wheels began to run
When God 's almighty breath
Said to the darkness and the Night,
Let there be light! and there was light."

--Longfellow

I
Opusculum paedagogum.
The pears are not viols,
Nudes or bottles.
They resemble nothing else.

II
They are yellow forms
Composed of curves
Bulging toward the base.
They are touched red.

III
They are not flat surfaces
Having curved outlines.
They are round
Tapering toward the top.

IV
In the way they are modelled
There are bits of blue.
A hard dry leaf hangs
From the stem.

V
The yellow glistens.
It glistens with various yellows,
Citrons, oranges and greens
Flowering over the skin.

VI
The shadows of the pears
Are blobs on the green cloth.
The pears are not seen
As the observer wills.

--A Study of Two Pears, by Wallace Stevens

1: Anyone who looks at this entry should post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
2: Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
3: Don't change your wallpaper before doing this. The point is to see what you had on (shorts and a t-shirt).



This is an image of a Buddhist nun I took in Cambodia a few years ago. It is, I suppose, my favorite photograph. I love her serene smile.

If you look in the top right corner of my desktop, you will see a pdf of a pistachio gelato recipe. I can't make it because I can't find an essential ingredient. Send me a tube of Bronte Pistachio paste, and I'll send you a print of the nun photograph! :)

We knew we had to legalize our marriage in order to be able to do the paperwork that allows Malida to stay here beyond the three months allowed by her fiancee visa. We just hadn't really planned anything out beyond her getting here.

Most of the time she's been here, we've been sightseeing and getting used to each other. It's been fun, but more like being on vacation that being in a long-term relationship.

Anyway, after having an argument about something else and not talking to each other for a day, we began to talk about what we wanted to do. She was (understandably) a little nervous about being here and not really having a plan, and pretty much being dependent on me for everything.

So we sat down and made a plan. The first thing was to get married. We wanted it simple, so we decided to go to the courthouse and just do it. I made an appointment at the courthouse, and we went out and shopped for rings.

We went down there first thing wednesday morning. It was pretty easy. We stood before the county recorder and said some simple vows, exchanged rings, and that was it. After we were done, we went to the park and took some pictures, and then went to the International House of Pancakes for breakfast.

We came home and made some sticky rice and pork, then got in the car and headed for Yosemite. We spent the first night outside the park in a town called Mariposa.

We went to dinner at a nice place with good food, and mentioned to the server that we had just gotten married. When she brought us the bill, there was a card on it from the owners, informing us that they had covered our bill. It was pretty cool.

Yosemite was perfect. We only spent two days there, but it felt like a week. Malida thinks it's the most beautiful place in the world.

Now it's on to whatever our real lives will be.

atop sentinel dome

we got married this morning (US-style) and then had a big plate of blueberry pancakes!

1. The million pigs in the house ("it's like living in a zoo of pigs!")
2. Mexican mangoes ("they smell funny")
3. Paying $6 for grapes in the grocery store (too much--very ugly!)
4. Thai food in the thai restaurant ("not yummy and too expensive!")
5. Infomercials (look interesting at first, then they say 'CALL NOW!'")
6. Using the clothes dryer ("there are many sun outside!')

"that's all now--maybe ask me again when I am upset."

1. Waffles
2. The first season of Lost
3. "My garden with vegetables"
4. Wing Wah asian market
5. Galt farmer's market
6. The espresso maker
7. The california coast
8. Big roses
9. Walking to the park
10. Sitting in the sun in the morning time with husband