i had a dream i stood beneath an orange sky

It’s been an unexpectedly busy few weeks: I left my job, promptly found two new ones, and dove headfirst into National Novel Writing Month for the first time in four years. Already pumpkin spice lattes and hot apple cider drinks are making way for peppermint mochas, but Chicago spent all weekend thinking it was summer. I’m looking forward to life getting a little more peaceful and steady soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures of fall.

years ago, i read that there were ghosts here

I can’t stop listening to this song (via A Clock Without Hands):

I thought I already knew most of the amazing places in my neighborhood, but a few weeks ago, I found myself wandering through Architectural Artifacts for the first time.

september gurls do so much

Labor Day weekend: Seneca Falls, Taughannock Falls, my husband’s beloved Rochester Red Wings, Ithaca and the Moosewood Restaurant. Back home in Chicago: Renegade Craft Fair, neighborhood apple festival, turning 31, concerts and parties and chai. I promise to be better at updating.

i’m still here

Hello! Work stress and laptop failure have been conspiring this month to prevent me from posting, but I am still around, still having adventures, and still taking pictures. When I have a little more time, I’ll share some more of September with you, but right now I’m just poking my head in. See you soon.

summer is winding down

A weekend of parties and art and yard sales and free books and friends and even a few aspiring little ballerinas.

I am not ready for it to be September.

dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn

Some “mistake shots” I fell in love with anyway, taken while a band filled the square with the sounds of “Cecilia” and “And It Stoned Me.” I am still kind of shy about taking pictures of people, because they tend to have stronger feelings about being photographed than, say, other nouns do. But I know how much I love seeing pictures of myself, not because I’m crazy about the way I look, but because it’s nice sometimes to have my existence validated by someone else. “You were there, I saw you, and your presence was worth documenting.” I think, to some extent, we all need that sometimes.

this way for magic and music

Much has been written on the internet about the Enchanted Forest, Maryland’s beloved “storybook land” theme park, and its journey from popular attraction to abandoned wasteland to magical resurrection story. If you know me, you probably already know about my lifelong love of the park, my adventure to its remains in 2002, and the amazing chance I had in 2005 to not only attend but also perform onstage at the “grand opening” of the park’s new home at Clark’s Elioak Farm. This weekend, while we were in the area for a brief visit with my family, we also paid a visit to the farm, and I’ll let the pictures take it from here.

and to the bagpipes’ sound, the nymphs tread out their ground

Four-fifths of the band took a field trip to the Bristol Renaissance Faire last weekend, and pictures of course describe it better than words ever could. Huzzah!

thankful for the love these rocks have always given

This weekend: so many yard sales, so many kids dancing to banjos and fiddles at the latest incarnation of the neighborhood block party, French toast and papaya-orange juice, atomic sundaes at Margie’s, a puppet singing “Umbrella” while a giant lion danced along, sidewalk chalk everywhere. Even Monday felt a little like the weekend, wandering along Montrose Harbor and meeting friends atop Cricket Hill to watch The Muppets Take Manhattan. And I got to document all of it with my shiny new camera. Love love love.

there is a road that meets the road that goes to my house

July adventures: Baby Teeth at Millennium Park, my Chameleon World friends and neighbors at Silvie’s, Fourth of July and birthday and just-for-the-hell-of-it celebrations with so many lovely people, watching fireworks from my living room window, square dances and serendipitous science demonstrations in the neighborhood square, and of course the festival with its singalongs and musical discoveries and old friends and new friends and fresh-squeezed lemonade. My new camera arrived in the mail today and I can’t wait to find out what it will capture.