Love

Love is patient,
Love is kind,
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud,
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil,but rejoices with the truth.
Love always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.
Love bears all things, believes all things,hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
L o v e N e v e r F a i l s.
Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8

What is love? This the question I pose to myself and all of you this week. I find myself wondering if I am infact in love and it scares me to death.

What is love to you?

Creature Feature Part III

The saga continues.

I think he had a roommate.

"ear" loose and fancy free

Doesnt it just make you want to stick your head out the window?

These two dogs are my pride and joy: Copper and Chase. Two of the most intriguing Golden Retrievers I have ever met. They have completely different personalities, habits, desires, goals (yes goals - anyone who has a Golden knows what i am talking about). It's like that old saying, "you can’t judge a book by its cover" - not all Goldens are the same. I love my boys and it broke my heart when they couldn’t live with me anymore. It’s not a bitter custody battle. I just have no room for them and quite honestly, they are a handful together. And who wants to split these two up? They have completely adjusted to a life of togetherness which was not the case when we first got Chase.


Copper was an "only child" for four years. Thank God because he was a handful all by himself! Hyper! Wild! Crazy! Clever, but not too bright, completely unable to “retrieve” anything by scent but so eager to love and be loved. Happiest dog I ever met in my life! And the only dog I have ever known to chew through linoleum floors…down to the plywood, obviously pissed off that we left him at home. He got into everything as a puppy, including my underwear and Josh’s work hats (boy did they smell good!). He thought my duck slippers were his personal play toys and was often caught humping the laundry bag as I dragged it down the hall. I am sure many of you dog-owners can relate to that one! Those were the days! HA! Copper’s life long goals are “rides” in the car, chewing on sticks, a good ball toss, a tumble in the ocean waves and squirrel chases. Hardcore, live-on-the edge kinda dog!


Then there’s Chase: calm, sweet, gentle, loving, mushy BUT he has an evil side too. We rescued Chase from “home hopping” syndrome when his original owner passed away. He was four months old when he came home with us. Not house broken. Ear infection. SO FREAKING CUTE! I died and went to heaven. Chase was a fairly normal puppy. Loved to play, sleep and eat! What more is there when you’re a dog? It didn’t take long to house train him with his older brother Copper showing him the ropes. But that was as far is got when it came to “togetherness” for those two. Chase has some life long goals of his own: annoy Copper, steal Copper’s toys, annoy Copper and more stealing of toys.


Chase is my dog. He and I have a special bond. Despite his evil side, Chase had a knack for making me feel better. When Josh moved out of the house, Chase knew I was sad. I would sit on the steps of the back deck while they played and he would come and sit right at my feet and snuggle with me. He slept next to me all night long so that I could get used to “sleeping alone” again He had this sense that something was wrong and wanted to make it all better. And he did.

I call it inexpensive therapy and recommend it to anyone!

I love my babies!

cold, cold go away!

All this cold weather makes me cranky. I want to hibernate and not come out til the tips of the trees are covered in yellow and green! The winter winds blow right through me and instead of puffy white mounds of snow, we have ice... ice!!!! Everywhere! There's so much ice on my front lawn I could ice skate. I almost didnt get my car door open on Wednesday after work. My windshield wiper fluid is frozen and so a bottle of windex and a rag drive around with me every day stopping in the oddest places so i can clean the glare off my windshield. I cant find my gloves. I have hardly any winter clothes because last year's stuff doesnt fit me anymore (in a good way). I eat/drink to stay warm and I gain weight because I eat! (hot chocolate, coffee with lots of cream and any food that is warm) There's a cold breeze coming from the window next to my desk. My mom is leaving for Florida tonight and here I am planning a weekend trip to the Cape! DUH! What am I thinking? It feels like Spring is weeks or even months away.

HELP!

ok.. i'm done now.

experimentation with light

Hey! Check it out. I invested in some portrait lighting. Still working on my skills! This is fun!

http://ThroughHerLens.blogspot.com

Creature Feature Finale

my little buddy and i went for the "proverbial" drive today.

Sharing Travel Stories and Inspirations

I have a special treat for you guys today. An old high school buddy of mine who I now keep in touch with through Myspace posted a blog about his recent trip to Hong Kong and I wanted to share it with you (with his permission of course). And although it talks very little about Hong Kong, It has some powerful messages in it that I thought worthy of some extra light. Marc is a photographer in L.A. and he does FABULOUS work. Check out his website at the end of the blog.

Enjoy.

Travel Journal
Marc Cartwright

Hey all. So I am finally back in the USA. :( ...

No, not that it's a bad thing. Actually when I returned today it all looked different for some reason. What was once just everyday life looked very "American" if that makes sense. But I did get that same sense when I was driving around the streets of LA that I had when I first moved here, before I allowed myself to become bitter and jaded. Because I wasn't today. A little sad to be done with an amazing experience, but not bitter about it.

If there is one thing that I feel Asia gave me, it was a sense of peace. It was fun to just look in someone's eyes over there and just smile and bow a little to say hello for no good reason. You just knew that it would be returned without some weird look or expectation. And of course everyone from Asian decent was on my brotherly love list today. I was telling whomever would listen about my travels and found some interesting stories in return. I had a bunch of those moments that make you say, "ahhhh, this is why we need people... they aren't all just extra's in my life story and there isn't a conspiracy where these random beings are planted to make me late while getting from point A to B" I still hate waiting on lines, but with my new point of view I met the coolest lady from Australia waiting in line at Customs.

What a great reason to travel the world... just for the sheer state of being related to people in your home land. I don't know what it is, but when you tell a person that you are traveling or have traveled somewhere a weight seems to be lifted and their eyes begin to sparkle. Whether it be for their own desire to explore, the respect that comes for someone that seeks things outside of their bubble or even the chance for someone else to tell you what they know about your destination.

Letting others know that you're gaining knowledge or experience, in general I guess, has that sort of effect. Talk about college, traveling, the arts... people's body language tends to open up. They become more available as if you are giving them permission to explore in the moment with you. I love it.

There was this one lady on my plane traveling on the first leg of the trip. Normally, someone I would have never talked to... She was overweight, had a mustache, and I could smell the slight hint of sweat cascading from her bigg uns'... Not to mention we were in coach and I pretty much kissed my armrest goodbye for the 4 hour trip from Hong Kong to Tokyo.

However, she was open in a way that gave me permission to explore. We talked for hours about our travels... traded knowledge and experiences. I was happy that she sat next to me and I completely forgot about my usual tactic of:

1 )Staring out of the window... fascinated with the dramatic take-off... (hmmmm.... Marc's mind... ponder again... How do these rather large hunks of metal manage to get into the air? How fast are we going? Why I'll bet it's at least 200 mph. Should I take a cool picture? Nooo That might create questions about my camera from "those sitting next to us that we shall not speak of". Just press your face against the window)... And then...

2) Instantly pretend to sleep until the movie comes on, slipping my earphones swiftly onto my eager ears, I watch a movie that I have no desire to see... And then...

3) Fall back to sleep once the movie is over, only to magically be awakened by...

4) ...my fascination of the plane safely landing... Clap Clap Clap... Smile to the person next to you while nodding... Don't say anything... and if they say something, come back with a witty statement that requires no response... just smiles until the seat belt sign is turned off and they MAYBE feel your warmth enough to block the traffic behind you while you get your bags out of the overhead compartment ensuring a quick exit. You don't want them to KNOW that you were avoiding them the entire trip.

All this... just to avoid talking to the human being next to me.

This time... I actually found myself asking questions and probing deeper into her life, as she did mine, leaving us with a very rewarding experience. I almost softly whispered, "Don't go!" when she had to switch planes for her travels back to Canada. And you know, upon a closer look, she had beautiful yellowish / green eyes. Something I would have never chosen to notice before.
This is getting rather long, and I want to share my experiences in Hong Kong... but I'll do this, send me your e-mail addresses and if you care, I'll send you the link to my online photo album. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to talk about it.

I will say though that Hong Kong is quite amazing. Like Time Square on really good happy Crack. Without the homeless people, thugs, dirt or anything else bad really. Just lots of lights.
No, I don't do crack and don't know if there are really any good happy kinds... It's actually the devils drug as far as I'm concerned, but you get my point. Perhaps I should say... New York on Steroids... No... that implies bad things too.... Unless you don't mind having a small wiener and lots of rage... But the Hong Kongers don't really have rage and what use is there for a small wiener.... Hmmmm...

How about this... Hong Kong is much like New York in an elevated, more stimulated state. That's better... See, it even sounds more eloquent and well traveled. HA!

And the little areas like Long Qui Fong (spelling... I don't have a cantonese spell check on this thing... Hello Apple... Some of us like to travel and talk about it...)... But I LOVE it!

Oh... I just may start flabbing at the mouth (or fingers rather) again... I'll leave it up to you. Maybe if I get enough inquiry I'll make another posting about Hong kong. I will just say this... If you eat in Hong Kong, be prepared to look into the eyes of whatever you are eating. They keep the heads on everything! I was at this one restaurant and my friend Brooks asked for the fish... They brought the live dude over in a plastic bag to see if we liked him. I had already named him by the time the waiter walked away, I was Finding Nemo at that point! I couldn't eat him.
Alright, I realize that jet lag has set in and that part of this posting may be a bit crazed. Off I go to sleep and attempt to get myself 13 hours behind time.

http://www.marccartwright.com/

Creature Feature Part II

He's back. This is war!

Where are those sticky pads?

Who's got the REAL mouse traps?

Creature Feature

I had a special visitor last night around 12:30am, just in time to celebrate my birthday. For the last several weeks I have been, involuntarily, sharing my kitchen with a small gray creature. Fearless in the face of "me", he would walk on the counters, play in the sink when I left a dirty dish or two and keep me up at night rummaging through everything.

I got a good look at him once. He was walking on the counter and I thought I might try and sneak up on him to see how big he was. He was a cute little thing. His face had lots of character, much like the mice you see in cartoons or movies. It took him about 10 seconds before he actually saw me, but when he did, he scurried off down into the stove through the vent. I guess its safe in there since cooking in my house has been few and far between since I met Rob (the man's a genius with food).

I was never a big fan of mouse traps. They freak me out and my humane and compassionate nature often prevents me from falsely luring unsuspecting mice to their death. My mom suggested the sticky pads. "The only thing that's rather icky about those is that the mouse may still be alive when you find him on the trap," she said. WHAT? I don’t think so.

I didn’t want to kill the thing, I just wanted to trap him and relocate him to a more suitable living environment that will benefit both of us. I laughed to myself when I thought of small condominiums stacked in some field near by. Give the guy a pool and a gym and he's set!

So here I was, sharing my house with a 2 inch furry creature with no hopes of gaining my complete independence back when Rob came to my rescue last week. He handed me a small box with a trap door. When the trap door was open, the box teetered forward. When the mouse entered, unsuspectingly to gather some bread crumbs I left inconspicuously, the box would teeter backwards and the trap door would close. Voula!

I left the trap near the garbage for a few days with no prospects until i realized, DUH I had the thing set wrong. Oh well. I then decided to put the trap directly on the counter since Mr. Fearless enjoyed his evening ventures there the most. I came home the other day to find the trap was closed. I picked it up, shook it a little and realized it was empty. When I opened it, I saw NO bread crumbs and lots of mouse poop. WHAT? He got away? I figured I was going to catch him in the act eventually, but this was somewhat ridiculous.

At this point I was on a mission and last night Mission Accomplished! So there I was, lying in bed, when I heard the rustling of the trap. I quickly got up, got dressed and grabbed the trap, holding the door shut to avoid any escaping this time around.

Since it was the middle of the night, my travel options were somewhat limited, so Mr. Fearless and I took a walk down the yard. I felt somewhat guilty because, after all, it was 20 degrees and the poor thing had become accustomed to such temperate environmental conditions in my house. BUT not guilty enough to open the trap door and watch as he scurries off. See ya! Ciao! Don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out.

If you're wondering what the moral of the story is I suppose it depends on your point of view. Most wouldn't think twice about killing the sucker (like my mom). Some would say I did the right thing by trapping him. And others would see the rather sarcastic humor in putting him out into the cold to meet his death anyway. Whatever people! Despite the annoyance, it's been an adventure.

Thirty One Years Ago Today

This morning i woke to a winter wonderland, a beautiful blanket of white covering the world. Ironically this is not much different than the day i was born 31 years ago today. My mom tells the story now and then about how Dad drove her to the hospital in the middle of a crazy blizzard in an old beat up pick up truck. She was in labor and felt EVERY single bump along the way.