Birthday Love

Matthew relishes birthdays. Any excuse to celebrate love; he's pretty amazing that way. It's started to rub off on me, the begrudging Scroogey type always making a big deal to not make a big deal out of these things. This, my quarter-century celebration, turned out to be simple and lovely.  We walked uptown and went to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. If you're in or going to be in Charlotte, at least visit the outside of the Bechtler and the Green across the street. There is an installation by Niki de Saint Phalle called Creation of a New Mythology, several large polyurethane foam statues with lovely stone, glass, and plastic mosaic detail placed throughout the Green. It was uplifting to see how that type of accessibility brought so many people off of the sidewalks to comment, touch and explore.
Here are a few shots of just how gorgeous a day out can be with twenty bucks and a whole lotta love:

Spring

Diaper changes are fun!

No need to comment.

Woman.

Family.

Thunderhead (also the shape of my engagement ring).

Skyward.

St. Peter's.

Synapses.

Textures.

Textures.

Such a lovely day.

Pax.

A Day With No Electricity

*I wrote this a few days ago after a huge storm knocked the power out.*
The excuse I use for not focusing on my craft is often, "You know, life gets in the way." This may be true, but after today, I find it more likely that the distractions I have installed into my day-to-day may be more the culprit. It may not be life getting in the way as much as my cell phone, facebook, Netflix, all of my frequented sites, etc. Left with no contact to my social environment, I am inside our apartment writing by the light of my once heavily used head lamp.
All of these things. All of these wires and cords. Their rainbow- black tangled heaps are sad looking now that I notice them. Jumbled webs not so well hidden behind the entertainment center and desk. Everything seems so dead. The apartment is so quiet. I've grown used to the hums and buzzes of modern living. 
And along the way, I've accumulated all of that noise and energy, too. It came to a head when Matthew and I were arguing over the spoiled food in the fridge and the wet laundry and the lack of hot water and our cells both being dead. What cacophony! A disgusting low class rant of a lower middle class citizen living an often unaware existence. What?! You mean for this one day, I can't continue my X Files marathon while brewing my expensive tea before giving my child a warm bath and going to bed surfing the internet on my Macbook Pro? BLASPHEMY!
Now, I have to actually reflect on the state of Japan, Ivory Coast, Libya, and the rest of the world instead of reading my Associated Press app to get my daily dose of desensitization? Send up a flare! I'm bored! So, even though the laptop is dead, I do remember how to use a pen and still have empty pages to fill, and I hope to share them more often.