Etudes

Na

2012-01-31T23:17:00.003-05:00

A Tinge of Red

2012-01-30T23:44:00.003-05:00

Green around the Gills

2012-01-29T22:24:00.002-05:00

Vera

2012-01-28T23:44:00.002-05:00

"I learned to play in church," Vera told me.

"Can you play most anything you hear?"

"Yes," she giggled, "I guess I can."

Friday Night Madness

2012-01-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

Weekend retreat with 30-some middle-school choir kids.

Drink More Water!

2012-01-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

Reflect-o-rama

2012-01-25T23:50:00.000-05:00

Wired Again

2012-01-24T22:58:00.003-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-23T22:54:00.002-05:00

At Louisville's August Moon Bistro, the pot stickers are my favorite thing. Many's the time I've ordered a full meal there, when the pot stickers were all I really cared about. Tonight, I asked for two orders of pot stickers and nothing else. (I'm old and it's the Chinese New Year. Why not get what I want?) The server didn't even roll her eyes at me . . . while I could see her.

Cuff Kitsch

2012-01-22T20:51:00.001-05:00

"I Certainly Hope So!" --The Dowager Countess

2012-01-21T23:50:00.000-05:00

Apology Face

2012-01-20T23:48:00.000-05:00

Matt forgot to come to his 9:15 piano lesson this morning. When he stopped by later, I told him his punishment was that he had to be my Project 365 picture for the day.

His voicemail promises a video as proof of practice. I think I need to hold him to that, don't you?

Uptown with Sid

2012-01-19T23:47:00.000-05:00

The Bedazzler

2012-01-18T19:35:00.001-05:00

Nancy always makes me laugh until my face hurts. She sparkles and shimmers and smiles with her eyes, and I'm pretty sure she would permanently bedazzle herself if she could find a way to do it. I've known her since I was twenty-something, and that was a long time ago.

She drives a bright green bug that sports big red lips and long-lashed eyes. I'm quite sure I saw feathers and maybe even a boa inside her car when we met for lunch today.

"I'm going to start charging people to take pictures of it," she said. (Apparently, it happens often.)

"And I'm charging $10 extra if they want me in the picture!"

Nancy has lived through enormous pain and loss this past year, but she keeps finding ways to laugh and smile and move forward. She is a strong, remarkable woman, and I think the world of her.

Sparkle

2012-01-16T22:37:00.003-05:00

Clarice Preferred Dim Lighting

2012-01-15T23:00:00.002-05:00

A Shadow of Your Festive Self

2012-01-14T22:12:00.000-05:00

Story of My Life

2012-01-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

Lens, Baby

2012-01-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

Strung Out

2012-01-11T23:07:00.001-05:00

Always Watching

2012-01-11T23:06:00.003-05:00

2012-01-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

Surviving Mondays

2012-01-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Goosebumpinator

2012-01-08T20:12:00.000-05:00

You know that moment in a live music performance when you get goose bumps? Kevin is a master at making that happen. He has a perfect sense for when to pierce through the sound of an ensemble and rattle your bones. It's never too much; it's just the right amount to give you goose bumps, and then he blends right back in.

Determination

2012-01-07T19:24:00.001-05:00

Blooming in January, in Kentucky. Impressive.
(Somewhere along Louisville's Baxter Avenue.)

Kathy

2012-01-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

Kathy can typically be found on Louisville's Bardstown Road between Grinstead Drive and Highland Avenue. If you walk by her, she'll almost certainly ask if you have anything to spare. That's how she always puts it: "anything to spare."

"Kathy, do you have a place to stay?" I asked her tonight.

"No."

"Why not sleep at one of the shelters?"

"They're not good."

I showed her the picture, but I don't think she liked it.

"I don't get no care out here," she said.

Keeping Warm

2012-01-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

Dead and Gone

2012-01-05T22:27:00.002-05:00

Nosey

2012-01-05T00:05:00.003-05:00

Air Devils Inn

2012-01-03T22:35:00.003-05:00

iPiano

2012-01-02T16:31:00.005-05:00

Pane on Main

2012-01-01T22:31:00.004-05:00

Goodbye, 2011. Goodbye, Mom.

2011-12-31T17:16:00.004-05:00

Some years are remembered for a single event. 2011 was such a year.
_____________
It is not for pleasant tasks that people visit hospitals at 3:00 a.m. I was surprised to see the parking shuttle nearly full.

“What sorrow brings the others?” I wondered, climbing aboard. "Are they, too, coming to say goodbye?"

“Your mom has had a massive brain bleed,” Dad had said in his call around 1:00 a.m. Mom had already been in the hospital for nine days. She’d had a stroke on February 24. The day before that, she had been her usual happy self--still working full time, gardening, grandmothering, enjoying a full life at age 72.

“She’s not going to make it.” Dad said.

In times of grief and trauma, Dad has always had the capacity to remain stoic. I admire that. He makes you believe you can soldier on.

“Would you like to be here when we have her life support removed?”

Of course I wanted to be there.

So Dad and my two brothers, Tim and Craig, waited while I drove from Louisville to Lexington. Laura and Lynnea, our sisters, had just returned to their families in Texas and Virginia after spending most of the past nine days with Mom--keeping vigil, helping her in every way they could.

When the time came to say goodbye, Dad, Tim, Craig and I surrounded Mom’s bed, holding on to her, hoping she could feel our presence and our love.

_____________

Ella Carlene Light: May 19, 1938 -- March 6, 2011.

2011: A year for grieving.

We love you, Mom. We miss you.

The Christmas Song

2011-12-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

Don't Horn In

2011-12-04T17:13:00.000-05:00

Don't Be Ghoulish

2011-10-31T21:48:00.000-04:00

A Weekend with Family

2011-10-23T22:40:00.000-04:00

Morning Glory

2011-10-09T22:03:00.000-04:00

Autumn Leaves

2011-10-09T22:01:00.000-04:00

Little Bell Blue

2011-10-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

ighland 'n'

2011-10-02T21:53:00.000-04:00

Climbing Aegon

2011-06-25T19:37:00.000-04:00

Rhymes with Frilly

2011-06-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

The Peonies Popped

2011-04-24T21:33:00.000-04:00

Bea Reader

2011-04-19T23:22:00.002-04:00

Shake Yer Steak

2011-04-19T23:21:00.002-04:00

Dogwood

2011-04-18T23:20:00.000-04:00

Pinotti’s Flower Market

2011-03-29T22:48:00.003-04:00

Everybody Dance Now

2011-03-28T22:50:00.001-04:00

As Big as Your Head

2011-03-27T22:52:00.000-04:00

Petal Posse

2011-03-27T22:51:00.001-04:00

Spring!

2011-03-20T22:53:00.000-04:00

*)

2011-03-19T22:54:00.000-04:00

Visiting Home

2011-02-20T20:48:00.002-05:00

Sit and Stare

2011-02-06T20:26:00.002-05:00

My piano teacher used to say, "Honey, sometimes you just need to sit and stare."

So, so right.

Toot Toot

2011-01-24T22:17:00.002-05:00

Man Cave

2011-01-23T23:45:00.000-05:00

Passing Glass

2011-01-11T22:09:00.001-05:00

Mozz

2011-01-07T00:19:00.001-05:00

Straight Up Yonder

2011-01-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Running on Fumes

2011-01-05T00:17:00.000-05:00

Too Early

2011-01-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

Winter Evening

2011-01-03T23:41:00.002-05:00

Tightly Wound

2011-01-03T11:56:00.001-05:00

All Up in My Grill

2011-01-02T23:54:00.001-05:00

Holihaze

2010-12-26T23:52:00.000-05:00

Christmas Visitor

2010-12-25T12:25:00.000-05:00

A Favorite Gift

2010-12-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

Fa La La

2010-11-27T16:11:00.002-05:00

Let the Merriment Begin

2010-11-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

Walking in Circles

2010-11-13T14:01:00.002-05:00

Outside the Lines

2010-11-08T23:15:00.001-05:00

Maple

2010-11-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

Slammed

2010-11-06T15:33:00.003-04:00

Steak 'n Shake

2010-11-04T23:52:00.000-04:00

Ella Goes Explorin'

2010-10-31T09:39:00.000-04:00

Munchkins in D.C .

2010-10-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

Sisters of Charity

2010-10-29T10:23:00.000-04:00

My Kingdom for a Scratch on the Nose

2010-10-28T22:25:00.002-04:00

Spirits Soar

2010-10-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

Reticulating Splines

2010-10-08T10:20:00.000-04:00

JPegg

2010-09-19T10:18:00.000-04:00

Like a Spider!

2010-09-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

Moon on Main

2010-08-29T10:15:00.002-04:00

Have You Seen My Nose?

2010-08-26T10:10:00.000-04:00

So Long, Summer

2010-08-18T00:36:00.002-04:00

Full Speed Ahead, Mr. Barkley

2010-08-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

Incineratoropolis

2010-08-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Burger and Fries?

2010-08-09T23:57:00.000-04:00

Slathered with Mustard

2010-08-06T23:50:00.000-04:00

Your Shirt Sucks!

2010-08-01T23:48:00.000-04:00

Outlier

2010-07-12T23:55:00.000-04:00

Nom

2010-07-11T23:41:00.001-04:00

West Baden Springs Hotel

2010-07-04T23:18:00.002-04:00

BFF

2010-06-20T23:17:00.001-04:00

Nieces 'n' Nature

2010-06-19T23:15:00.002-04:00

Skyline Pilgrimage

2010-06-08T23:12:00.002-04:00

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

2010-06-07T23:59:00.001-04:00

Red Tree

2010-06-05T23:06:00.003-04:00

Playing with Fire

2010-06-05T18:25:00.002-04:00