Interesting...

We had thunderstorms move through the area tonight and although they were spotty and didn't drench the entire metro area they left the sky, well, they left the sky interesting.  I have noticed the crows circling  and cawing most nights around now and have been waiting for a more interesting sky to silhouette them against.  The view is out my living room window.  The sunset is from my bedroom window.

Two things--first, if I am going to take more photos out of my windows they better clean them and I better remove the screens.  It is a bit sad to take a picture with a half-way decent camera and lens and then have them be a tiny bit soft because I was shooting through a dirty window.  Secondly, I sure hope I have the horizon level!

Walking, again

I have decided that having this lake nearby is kind of fun.  At least with photo opportunities abounding near the water, I am not taking all those darn flower photos!  Th6ese are a few photos from a recent walk around the lake--nothing really great but it sure is a pretty lake.

I still am not feeling all that fulfilled as a photographer but at least I am thinking about it a bit more.  I am starting to think that that feeling comes from being unbalanced overall right now.  No, not that kind of unbalanced, though some may argue.  It is just hard finding that balance with the work/art/life spheres when one sphere is missing.  I am trying and I have applications out to all relevant local higher ed jobs, but to be honest there just aren't that many of them right now.  While I miss the paycheck, I also miss the social parts of a job as well.  Yesterday, for example, I had a very nice conversation with two charming adorable young ladies who live in my building.  It was a highlight of my day, even though the conversation was mostly about red monkeys and unicorns and talks on a make-believe phone with no big words.  Then they had to go take their afternoon nap and have their diapers changed.  As fun as they were, I probably do need to get out a bit more.  I will have to think about how to accomplish that.

Until I figure it out, I will just enjoy the lake.  Remember to click on these to make them larger.

NOTE:  I am always amazed about some of the responses I get from these posts in part because I am surprised that random people actually do read and look at these posts.  Within 5 minutes of the original post, an anonymous troll I mean commentator noted that my horizons weren't level.  Yep.  It has been a lifelong flaw of mine that I hold my camera tilted just a bit.  Frankly, I am sometimes surprised that the photo is in focus and exposed correctly.  It the photo sneaks over that bar, I sometimes forget to straighten the photo so the water doesn't drain off the page.  My apologies to the horizon sensitive folk who are offended--I will try and do better.

I got nothing, or noth'n if you are from MN...

I had a great lunch with friends in Stillwater today, and of course I got lost on the way.  I blame the endless construction--no GPS can keep up with all the lane and exit closures.  So I wandered around Washington County on a beautiful summer day.  I am not sure which one I like best or how strongly I feel about either one, but here they are.  At the least, they are proof of a day when it was just good to be lost and looking.  Let's hope it happens again soon.

Morning storm

It has been hot here in the land of 9,000 and some lakes.  There used to be more than 10,000 lakes but let me remind you that  it has been REALLY hot and those lakes left for North Dakota or some place like that.  Of course among the pluses of steamy humid days are the resulting thunderstorms, although some have suffered with severe storms and then they are less fun.  With that apology, here in the city they can be fun.  The lofty perch of my eerie/apartment affords me a great view of the storms that thunder down I-94  from the West.  My bedrooms offer almost a panoramic view of these fronts, complete with lightning.  I am enjoying this now--we will see if I enjoy it in January when those storms bang against my 60-year-old windows with -40 degree winds.

This morning brought one of these summer storms.  At 7:45 AM, long after dawn, cars were crawling along in the almost dark of a good-sized storm.  The photo above would have been sharper but it was shot through a window.  It isn't like I would go outside in the rain to take picture just to make a photo better.  Get real.  I like to think that the photo is "impressionistic" which is of course a code word for a fuzzy. blurry photo that happens to have good color.  So this is my "impression" of a morning storm.

Living

Someone asked me the other day about how I was doing, and I had to think about it for a few minutes.  I settled on the following--I am living the dream, with better coffee and a whole lot less money.  I do think that sums it up.  It is a great opportunity to live in a vibrant metro area, and I so enjoy that.  My apartment, with its recent additions of FOUR book cases, is starting to feel like a home  And,  I can mostly find my way to a grocery store, a gas station, a place to get Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese/Mexican/Italian food, and I I have reached the exalted status where the local baristas know that I want a large light roast with room for cream.  And a pastry of some sort.  Have I arrived or what?

It isn't to say that it has been a seamless transition, but I think that I have had worse.  Now it is just that pesky task of finding work.  I have applied to a few places, but that is a priority task for me this week.  The question I have been struggling with is whether to just find some type of a job (without a hairnet, of course) to bring some money in and to give a bit more structure to my daily life.  I still would like to teach, but with enrollments down all over the state there aren't too many extra classes floating around but I am still in the process of looking for those last minute openings.  And there is that big question--do I stay in higher ed?  Do I write a resume with a college degree on it, vaguely state that I did some administrative work for colleges and apply everywhere?  I honestly don't know about that one.

In the meantime, I am learning more about and enjoying my neighborhood.  There is a great farmers' market with innovative pastries and vegetable thingies, I think, but I am not as sure about thosw  as I am all about the pastries.  I live about 5 blocks away from Lake Harriet, a wonderful place for a three mile walk, and coincidentally right near one of the better Italian deli/restaurants in town, and if they don't have pastries, they do at least have really good bread.  Walking around the lake is real treat.  First of all, nature has blessed the trail by making it flat and then filled it with puppies and all sorts of interesting people.    That there is a band shell at the half-way mark with music or movies six nights a week doesn't hurt the appeal of the walk, even if there aren't any pastries at the band shell.  There is ice cream and wine so I am not adrift in the desert by any means. There are speedo-friendly beaches, so I am sure that I will fit right in, though I would  fear the great white whale rescue team and their incessant efforts to push me back in the water if I did happen to show up.  It's those pastries!

The photos are mostly self-explanatory.  Be sure to click on them to make them bigger.