It’s gettin’ hot in here
July 31, 2008
So. I know Arizona is hot in the summer. Everyone knows this, right? But Phoenix is tremendously hot. Spectacularly hot. Hot to the ninth power. But it’s a dry heat, as they say, so it’s different from what hot in the midwest is. When it’s hot in the midwest, it’s 90 degrees (or more) and saturated with humidity, which makes it feel like it’s 20 degrees hotter than it really is and causes you to sweat immediately upon stepping out of the air conditioning. The 111 degrees that it was in Phoenix yesterday would be unbearable in Wisconsin, but here, it is just remarkably hot.
As soon as we got here, after I took a slew of self portrait attempts in our groovalicious room, we immediately jumped in the pool. It was required. And even the pool was kinda hot. But really really nice.
Then we went to see Sarah. If you don’t know Sarah, you really should, because she’s quite possibly one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met. We had a quiet afternoon in her new home, chatting and hanging with her kiddos. Gunnar showed us his prized Star Wars stuff and Annika read her favorite Martha Stewart magazine with me and gave me one of her paintings. I am so honored. We hung around and had artichokes, one of my favorites, and then Jeff came home and made grilled “yumbo” shrimp marinated with lime and rum, the kids swam, we gabbed, we drank, and it was so lovely. And can you believe I only took three pictures? Well, three of the maybe ten that turned out unblurry. I hadn’t pressed the shutter once until I saw these limes squelched of their essence, stacked up in a neat pile, and then I was motivated. Thank you, Sarah and Jeff, for inviting us into your supa new home even though you weren’t fully unpacked yet, I know how hard that can be, and treating us to good simple food and drinks and your family. I hope we can come back sometime!
And now I am sitting by the Valley Ho pool, blogging. And it’s getting hot again so I might need to take another dip.
Postponed
July 29, 2008
So, friends, it is with great voracity that I announce to you all that I am jetting off to the desert for the rest of the week, to attend a wedding that is unfortunately no longer occurring. It’s been postponed, but the plane tickets have not. I’m sure we could, but I have a nagging suspicion that it would be a Royal Pain In The Ass, as the original procurement of said tickets was as such, according to The Husband. Did I really just use all of those big scary words?
All is not lost, though, as I still plan to hang out with my old friend, and I will also have the opportunity to chill with Sarah, who has been a glowing light in my neighorhood of the internet for some time. And who, incidentally, suggested that we might enjoy staying at one groovy looking hotel that is usually quite expensive, but is at this hotass time of the year, quite affordable. I’m looking forward to sitting by that pool. We also plan to stare into the vast crevasse in the earth that is known as the Grand Canyon, as well as wander around the desert taking self portraits. Perhaps with cacti. I dunno, the possibilities are endless.
Phobias
July 28, 2008
Page 1
A few days ago I sent off my interpretation for the latest edition of the Howiezine, with the theme of Phobias. My own personal phobia is, and always has been, arachnophobia – the fear of spiders, as I’m sure everyone knows. My goodness, that movie sent me over the edge. I have such a bad case of this irrational fear that there was no way that I was even going to be able to address it for this project. I didn’t want to think about spiders, I didn’t want to do anything with spider imagery, nothing. Just the concept gives me the heebie jeebies and leaves me feeling phantom crawly legs and looking around the room for the offensive beasts.
So, no spiders.
Instead, I did a little bit of research on phobias, just to see what was out there. There are some really odd phobias. Did you know that pteridophobia is a fear of fiddlehead ferns? And that I actually know someone who used to be afflicted with this phobia? Crazy. That is the wonder of the internet at work.
Page 2
I used this photo of a circus style tent that I snapped in Indiana this summer for my image foundation, because it evokes a couple of phobias that I find interesting, and a little odd. The fear of open spaces comes to mind, with all of that air and clouds and space. And those circusy stripes and tenty shapes make me think of the fear of clowns too, which I guess I have a tiny touch of, myself. It’s not debilitating, but there is a certain creep factor that I find with clowns. I just don’t trust them.
Spread
So anyway, after my bits of research I laid down some simple type through the sky to add some interest, and called out the phobias that I felt the photograph is supporting in another color, then subtly added the description of their techy terms below them.
This came together pretty fast, and I’m relatively pleased with it. I can’t wait to see what the other participants came up with. The HZ is always such a mix of perspectives.
Meditate.30
July 27, 2008
Week 30 . Meditate Project
See it larger here.
Wow, 30 weeks down. That’s more than halfway. Crazy. I’m caught up now, at least.
Mellow Yellow
July 25, 2008
So, yellow week comes to an end. For me, at least. If you want to continue through the weekend or into next week because maybe you didn’t start on Monday, you rock it!
It’s been awesome, finding all of this yellow. I’ve been noticing it in the most unexpected places. Like on the bike path yesterday on my jog, I was seeing yellow shirts and backpacks and sort of wishing I had the camera. I went out on a walk at work today to capture the swaths of yellow flowers swimming in the grassy field that I’d noticed a few days earlier. It was the perfect day for it too, because it was cloudy, and that yellow plus gray thing that I love so much was going on. And The Husband looked at me yesterday morning, pointed at himself in his yellow shirt (second yellow shirt of the week for him!), and exclaimed with a big smile, “Yellow week!” How enjoyable was it to fall in love a little bit with this color, to really cement my fondness for it. To see it in places that normally I would overlook, and to have a bunch of awesome people play along!
And thank you for coming with me on this little yellow journey, participating and noticing the yellow in your worlds. Each of you had such a great take on the color! I especially loved Raina’s yellow toenails, Ani’s retro (feeling) yellow sleeping bag, and Anne’s sweet story. There were so many wonderful everyday things that you all noticed, though, and I really hope you had fun! I sure did.
So, until the next color challenge out in blogland, for more yellow, check out the links below of the people who are participating in yellow week along with me. There’s some great stuff out there.
Thirsty For Yellow Thursday
July 24, 2008
Sarah mentioned yesterday about yellow week, that she’s suddenly becoming a huge fan of a color that never quite did it for her. That’s pretty cool, to be involved in something that opens up a new world of color for someone. I have felt that myself with these color weeks that float around blogland occasionally, and maybe it was part of my motivation to host one for this color.
Yellow has never been a big favorite of mine in the spectrum of color. I much prefer orange. And before orange there was the love affair that I had with green. But only the shades of yellowy, limey, or avocadoy green. I still love that color immensely. But yellow has been growing on me over the past few months, ever since I started seeing it paired with cool gray in design. Oh, that combination really makes me excited for some reason. And it’s really sneaking up there on my list. I wonder what color I will develop a higher love for next. Purple? Hard to imagine.
For more yellow, check out the links below of the people who are participating in yellow week along with me.
Meditate.29
July 23, 2008
Week 29 . Meditate Project
See it larger here.
I found myself awake at some strange hour this morning, and unable to fall back asleep for some time. The itch of a mosquito bite on my foot comforted slightly by the weight of the cat against my other foot. I love that. When they lean on you. So I’m tired. Yet, not as breathtakingly exhausted as some of my past days.
I figured I should post the last catchup Meditate though, so here it is. In yellow, of course. I’m throughly enjoying yellow week, I hope you are too. And here are a couple more yellows.
For more yellow, check out the links below of the people who are participating in yellow week along with me. There’s some awesome stuff out there!
Queen Anne
July 22, 2008
I used to go outside at lunch on nice days, but somewhere along the line this habit ceased, replaced by staying in the cubicle doing other things. Today, the weather is nice, and it seemed necessary to go out, so go out I did.
Everything is different outside. Alone. I thought about things. I didn’t come to any conclusions, but it’s easier to think about things outside, I think. I listened to the buzz of a field full of grasshoppers. I discovered beetles on willow branches. Queen Anne’s lace.
I’ve really been noticing Queen Anne’s lace everywhere this year. I don’t know why I’m more sensitive to its presence this summer than in previous years, but there it is, always in my field of vision. Perhaps it is because it is a biennial plant, so probably didn’t flower last year. I keep wanting to take bouquets of it home with me, to be in my house too, but I haven’t yet. I saw a couple of blooms with the one red flower in the center. Did you know that that represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making lace? I only recently heard that, and I thought was a myth until I saw it for myself.
I was noticing yellow also, but without the camera. So today’s yellow is from elsewhere.
For more yellow, check out the links below of the people who are participating in yellow week along with me. The list is growing…
Yellowness
July 21, 2008
I want to thank all of the awesome people who have decided to participate in finding some yellow this week with me. I hope you have as much fun as I am having photographing color!
This was one of those blessedly relaxing weekends for me, and it was much needed. We started it out with a bang as we went to see Batman with all of the other super psyched people on Friday night. Have I ever told you how much I love seeing a great movie with a theater full of rapt, pumped people, especially when they clap at the end? Clapping in a packed movie theater when it is totally deserved is one of my favorite things. There was even a little jubilant shout that escaped from someone. It really made me smile.
I found alot of yellow for my yellow week at my good friend Ann’s when she had us over for dinner on Saturday. They made us some stellar wild Alaskan salmon and corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake, and there was a whole lot of laughing and storytelling and it was grand. And they didn’t even seem to mind my picture taking at the table. In some circles I would imagine that might be considered rude. You know, the same circles that don’t abide by elbows on the dinner table. But luckily not with them.
After all of that phenominal food, wine portraits and merriment, we all went to the chateau at Devil’s Lake State Park to see her husband play in the big band and watch people ballroom dance. It felt like we’d gone back in time. We didn’t do any dancing, but it did make me want to take lessons to learn how to do more than foxtrot, which is the only one I know how to do with any semblance of skill.
For more yellow, check out the links below of the people who are participating in yellow week along with me. If I’ve missed you, please do let me know!
My name is Tracy Harris. 
