Saturday, January 26, 2008

up on the roof

 

With today's warm weather snow on the roof started melting and some of the runoff ended up where it shouldn't, so I climbed up on the front porch roof to take a look and discovered a different way to frame the Wasatch mountains.

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Friday, January 25, 2008

white hot

 

Looking at this now, the snow and the red sign look too intense. But no photoshopping's been done. This is just how the camera captured it.

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

tell it again, rick

I met Utah writer Rick Walton at a library conference last year. He's quiet, talented, creative, funny, thoughtful, persistent, wise, and just a family guy with an extraordinary career. I bought his book Bertie was a Watchdog and highly recommend it. Rick's also got a great page that encourages the creative retelling of Goldilocks through The Goldilocks Project, 203 versions and counting.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

dreamcatchers

Do I own a dreamcatcher? Yes and no. No, I don't own one of these. I think there might have been one in our house at one time. So no, not in the traditional sense. But I do like the idea of catching dreams and in the realm of literally trying to bring some substance to the thoughts and images of twilight sleep, I've found a few ideas helpful.
  1. Decide it's worth your while to try. Are you dreams nonsense or is there something compelling there? How are you going to know if you don't have a way to catch and examine them?
  2. Make it as easy as possible by putting something to write on and with near your bed.
  3. Third, if it's hard to write when you're half a sleep, try using a hand-held recorder.
  4. Don't rely on what you write as your final version. As soon as possible after you fully awake, expand the note or listen to what you've said and recall other details.
  5. Persist. Like a lot of things, it's going to feel awkward at first, but stick with it a few days and you'll probably find that it gets easier.
spiral bound and not my own dreamcatchers, originally uploaded by rfin.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

snow connections

A few years ago we endured a power outage that stretched into a couple of days. Since then, I've been more aware of how much we're connected to the grid that includes power, telephone, cable for TV and the Internet, water, sewer, natural gas, and for some areas a secondary water system. Especially when the weather's very cold, or there's heavy snow and ice, I think of how fragile my connections can become. An then, of course, there's the movement to get off the grid.

Monday, January 21, 2008

holiday storm

Another storm, more beauty, another chance to get in a little shoveling exercise, the wave to neighbors passing by, to talk to a few of them, to feel the satifaction of leaving a clean driveway and sidewalks, and to see those growing piles of snow. In some jobs it's hard to see your accomplishments, but not so when you shovel snow. You can see what you've done and know you've made the world just a little safer for youself and your neighbors.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

same time, same channel

We get used to things being a certain way. You work and play and workship at certain days and ways, at certain times and places. Change the time or the place or the people and you change the equation. Some changes are for the better. They're logical. They're in response to other changes. But almost always there are unintended consquences--pleasant surprises and not-so-pleasant ones.