THE ENCHANTED FOREST

I entered a photo contest. I think everyone in the WORLD is invited to enter, so I'm not keeping my hopes up. Actually, I don't know where the high res versions of these are so it might be a slight problem if I got into the show because how would I print them? 

Anyway, these are from a series called "Into the Enchanted Forest." 

This is the blurb I wrote about it:

This was an amusement park I visited as a little child. On a recent trip to my home state of RI I visited the now abandoned park. There was nothing left but a shell of its former glory but creeping though the park brought back strange memories. Everything was overgrown and dark. I went back twice. Once while it was raining with a small point-and-shoot camera and the next day, better prepared, with my SLR camera. I'm attracted to abandoned spaces because they are filled with memories and experiences from the past. When I find little rusted objects, walk over caved in floors, or step through overgrown paths to nowhere I in some strange way feel at home. 

Yeah, I always overdo it on these things with the blurbs. But I do get some thrill from going into these places. I really do love the history involved. I think that's why I like writing about history and why I like collecting antiques. It's all part of the same thing.

CARDS FROM MY DAD

These are a few Valentine's Day cards from my dad:

The inside of this one alludes to the fact that he owned the original red bus (the book is out of print but you can read it here).

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

I seem to have an obsession with taking photos of shopping carts...

NOISE UPDATE

I thought the peace and quiet would be good but the crickets sound like jackhammers. The peeptoads also sound like jackhammers.

RETREAT!

I couldn't take another day of jackhammers and bulldozers. Construction has been going on in my neighborhood for the past 4 months or so. Monday through Friday. And now illegally on Saturdays. I have called 311 to complain about the illegal jackhammers on Saturdays but they continue anyway. Sigh. The evil noise starts at 7 am like clockwork. The city is replacing all of the water pipes and tearing up all of the sidewalks and streets and who knows what else.  I came out of my apartment this morning carrying all of my dirty laundry and my laptop and other belongings and walked the plank... literally... and stuffed all of my belongings into the car and drove off into CT, got stuck in hours and hours of traffic, and moved slowly towards peace and quiet in RI. 

I was not kidding about walking the plank. I didn't take a photo of "the plank" because my arms were filled with stuff but the side walk was no more (the photo above was from a few weeks ago) and there was very a long skinny board to walk across to get from the door to the street. I wondered if I fell off "the plank" carrying all of my belongings if I could get the city to pay for my medical bills. I feel bad for the businesses in my hood because I'm certain they've lost a lot of profits. One day the door at store across the street was blocked off completely by jackhammers and the like. Ugh! I'll be glad when this thing is finished. Whenever that is. Right now I'm listening to crickets chirping. And the hum of water int he distance. It's very calming. The photo above is not so I don't want to look at it anymore! 

RED ALIEN SHIRT

This shirt was spotted at the 2012 Georgia Children's Book Awards and Conference. 

Pretty nice, eh? Well... an author always thinks it's cool to see her book 

cover on the back of a shirt. Okay, this has only happened once. 

VINNIE'S PIZZA BOARD

Vinnie's Pizza is right across the street. There is obviously a great artist working there because every time I go in there the white board has some new art on it with a funny catch phrase to go with it. 

Here we have the "Loaded Landscape" slice.

And the "Freaks and Geeks" salad...