Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Monday Photo Shoot: Black & White


I haven’t done Scalzi’s Monday Photo Shoot in a while, and here it is, Tuesday night, really almost Wednesday, and I’m just now getting ‘round to it...c’est la vie. I am QUEEN of the Procrastinators, and have been for some time, and although it’s one of my many resolutions to be more prompt in 2006, so far, I haven’t gotten ‘round to that...and I’m participating in the Monday Photo Shoot this week (better late than never), because it’s a topic I like - favorite black & white pics. I’m posting one that I took of Alex and Kath when they were little, in November, 1982, when Alex was 6 (almost 7) and Kath had just turned 4. I’ve posted this before, on my old, AOL blog, but it’s one of my favorite pics, so I’m unabashedly posting it again. I took it in Chicago, when I was younger and more creative (or at least more energetic), back at the time that I learned to walk a tightrope (but that’s a topic for another entry) and I kept a roll of seamless suspended from my dining room ceiling so I could roll it down in a heartbeat, whenever I felt like taking pics. I had a couple of umbrellas for lighting, and an old 35 mm Nikkorex with a noisy shutter and some good Nikon lenses, and between ripping out cabinets and painting walls and hanging wallpaper, between doing loads of laundry and dishes, and cooking dinner, and going grocery shopping, and playing with the girls and doing all the things a young mother/wife does, I liked to take photographs...

I’ve spent some time thinking about those days recently. I’ve felt a certain strange nostalgia for those days, and at times I’ve found myself thinking, "If only...if only I could go back in time, I’d be a better mother, certainly a more patient one than I was, etc., etc." But...that was then and this is now, and it’s not possible to go back in time, and in my saner moments, I realize this is just the Black Eyed Dog of January nipping at my heels, sooooooooo...back to reality, back to the present.

I can’t believe it’s 2006, and I can't help but wonder...if I practiced...could I still walk a tightrope?

9 comments:

odie said...

A tightrope? Seriously? I can barely walk on solid ground.

Love the picture, especially the eyes.

One day, if I ever get my house back, I'm gonna learn how to post pictures and add links and all of those other cool things.

Odie

Lisa :-] said...

I think the Black Eyed Dog of January has ripped off my leg and is gnawing on it under the dining room table....!

Beautiful pic. You were quite the artiste in the "olden days."

Tammy Brierly said...

I often wonder how I did it all but because we did it, we could most certainly do it again. With what we know now we could do it even better! I can relate with you on having regrets. I'm struggling with great sadness as a mom, maybe February will be a happier time.

I love the picture and think you should get one of that sweet grandson. You have the eye! The girls are beautiful, can their eye's be any bigger?

dreaminglily said...

I used to be best friends with Nove Wallenda (Carla Wallenda's granddaughter) and I remember watching her practice tightrope. I was always so jealous of her, she was so good, so athletic and I just never had it in me lol I wonder if she still works with her grandmother... Hmm...

Well, I do understand the January feelings. I'm getting those sentimental pangs too... ::sigh:: Can't wait for spring...

~Lily

emmapeelDallas said...

How cool that you knew her! Oh, Lily, the feeling you get, stepping out on a tightrope - there's nothing like it. The feel of the cable cutting into the soles of your feet, through the leather bottom of your ballet slippers - and then to have your arms wide and step out - you feel like anything is possible! It's a fabulous feeling, and I highly recommend it!

:)

TJ said...

This picture would be one of my favorites also. It says so much. I love it!

Christina K Brown said...

this is a wonderful picture....

Abadiebitch said...

Beautiful picture. I often play the song in my head if I could go back and be a different mother. Moreso lately since my daughter is having a baby any day now and I want her to be ready, more ready than I ever was, but I am all out of time now.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely photograph this is. Beautiful girls. These are the things that become more precious as the years go by. tina http://journals.aol.com/onemoretina/Ridealongwithme