you were expecting a pumpkin photo perhaps.....

or

something scary

or

me in a costume

~

sorry

~

all i have is this

adorable squirrel

that i felt so sorry for as i watched him try to remove a burr stuck in his tail

but

then he gave up

and

smiled for me instead

~seriously, do you see that smile~

~

anyhow

i would like to think

though

that if i was going to go all out and wear a costume this year

that i'd be as cute as this little guy

*

BOO

happy halloween

and

remember

don't eat the funny looking candy

and i'm fine with haunted....

last weekend

after shopping in a vintage furniture store downtown and then driving through an area we weren't familiar with

we found this

perfectly amazing old

house

~

it was hiding quietly behind some very overgrown shrubs and trees and in order to get this photo i had to get out of the car and walk up the driveway.

personally i think it's a bit haunted. probably only one ghost. maybe two at the most.

~

and

seriously

if there had a "for sale" sign in the front yard

we'd be signing a contract with a realtor today

*

maybe you wondered....

when i changed my blog to "moredoors" it was due to the fact that i wanted to embrace all the doors in my life that had opened for me. mostly those doors had been attached to new houses, in new neighborhoods, in new states, after 13 moves in 21 years.

~

but often, doors aren't real doors with doorknobs and welcome mats and pretty flowers growing in a planter under the doorbell. instead, sometimes doors are new experiences that lead you down a path towards a dream you weren't expecting. or sometimes you've worked for years to open "that door" and finally you find yourself on the other side.

~

you're heard the saying "you've had so many doors open for you" or "i hope this job opens the door for you to go onto bigger and better things"

~

so today, thinking about doors and some new things i'm working on, i hope that all of you find a door that opens for you in a surprising way or that a beautiful~ornate~vintage~glass knobbed door with years of love, swings wide open and welcomes you with open arms after you've been through blood, sweat and tears to get there.

~

happy weekend

a compliment that made my heart smile...

i was playing at the camera shop yesterday. printing pictures in the back of the store. talking to all the men that work there. it's one of those places i feel so comfortable in. they know me since i visit often. sometimes all i have are questions but they don't mind that all. and if i have some dust that needs to be blown out of my camera. well they love doing that for me. anyhow. after i was done printing my photos i showed this one to keith and he said he didn't realize i was scanning old photos onto cd's and printing them. i said i wasn't. i told him this was from a shoot a few weeks ago.

he said the old~soft~dreamy look of the photo was fantastic.

just beautiful and had obviously fooled him.

and

honestly

that's the only compliment i need this week

*

now granted

if anyone tells me that my hair {that i hate} looks nice

or

comments on my new skinny legged jeans which i'm not 100% sure a 46 year old mom should even be wearing in the first place

i'll take those

too

but

the photo compliment

from a photographer

at the camera store

who has seen millions of photos and has never said anything before to me about my photos

~we usually talk cameras~

kind of put me over the moon

~

i'll come back down to earth tomorrow

probably

*

hold it in your heart....

i've been playing in my studio

{while listening to really loud music and occasionally dancing}

and

honestly

loving it

~

i used to spend hours in that sweet little room

and

then my passion for art and paint dwindled

while my passion for photography soared

~

now i'm combining the two and working on some new projects and ideas

and

today with the help of my hubby

i even worked on some dreams

as he took my big and wild and not even close to perfected thoughts

and

juggled them brilliantly for me

~

he's so great that way

anyhow

today i just wanted to remind you

that what you love

might look slightly or even hugely different from what someone else loves

but

no worries

~

remember

it's all in the eye of the beholder

and

more importantly

it's all in that beholder's heart

and

if it's in your heart

well

then

now we're talking

*

picture above...cropped and original

photos forgotten.....

when we were in seattle

back in august

we saw our first elk

and

since around here i think deer are amazing

you can only imagine what i felt seeing a field full of elk at dusk

this tractor was in the same field as the elk

and

i didn't want it to feel left out with all my picture taking

and

honestly, as far as tractors go, it's quite fabulous

and

at the wedding rehearsal

when i asked the groom and all "his guys" to jump

well, all i can say is WOW

~

i feel terrible that they were all blinded by the late afternoon sun

but

i had to get that mountain in the background

*

and i play....

with some new projects in the works

the studio

once again

is

my friend

::

so

with another rainy day

softening my view

i play

i order prints

i cut

i glue

i frame

i tie ribbons

i write

*

happy sunday everyone

i want to know....

it's raining here today

and

the color of grey is everywhere

~

it's the kind of day that makes staying in your pajamas justified

~

i mean really, if the only thing you're going to do is sit and watch the football game and eat sandwiches with too much mustard, does it really matter what you're wearing. i think not.

~

do you want to read my favorite poem

~

i hope you do. it's quite perfect for a rainy grey day.

well

any day really, but especially today.

*

happy weekend

i would....

if you asked me to walk with you. i would. we could talk about how life is so interesting and no matter how much we plan, things happen. and some things we plan on happening, don't.

~

we could skip down the leaf covered path together. hand in hand. and jump over the little spot where the pond water always visits. even though it's not welcomed there.

~

i know the sun will be shinning. perfectly. and the warmth of it will make us tired. eventually we'll sit with our shoes off and ask each other what we believe love really is. and even when our opinions and ideas teeter on the brink of different, we'll nod our heads in sweet understanding and approval of each other.

~

when the cool breeze makes us raise our shoulders up while we wrap our arms around ourselves, we'll walk briskly back to where we started. and you'll ask "what time do you have" and i'll smile sheepishly knowing you don't really want the answer.

~

and

when the moon disappears

and

tomorrow is here again and then again and then again

i'll remember that walk

forever

and

if you asked me to walk with you

anywhere

i would

*

what we remember.....

photo taken about 14 years ago

i feel terrible that i don't remember more

~

i don't really remember what my babies smelled like when i cradled them in my neck, unless i smell a new baby today and then those memories come back and knock me over. i don't remember all the funny things they said. or all the questions they asked me day in and day out except for

"why"

~

i don't remember what the tooth fairy left under their pillows, but i know she visited them. i remember letting a scared child or two stay in the safety of our bed for awhile, but i don't remember what scared them.

~

but

because of photos

i know my daughter was a crayola crayon for halloween when she was 4. and i know i was a witch. i remember rock climbing and loving it. i remember the day my son flew over the handle bars on his bike and went face first into a wet puddle of mud. i remember homecomings and proms and all the dresses we spent days shopping for. and hairstyles. oh the hair. i remember my son playing dress up with all the items i used for little girl tea parties. the hats. the boas. the earrings. and i remember not telling him those were just for girls. i remember the head- gear my daughter had to wear at night with her braces. i remember all the clothes i used to wear that now hang on the racks in the vintage aisle at good-will. and back to the hair.

i remember all my bad perms.

~

but

only

because of photos

~

photos help open my memory bank and the flooding begins

~

the

"oh remember this and the oh remember thats"

are loud

when my unorganized boxes of too many years swimming together are seen again

and

the laughter

well

there's always laughter when the old family photo albums are opened

~

real.from the heart.deep.special.unreplacable.laughter

and

the memories

oh

the warm memories

that belong only to me and my loved ones

fill my heart to bursting

and

are heavy and beautiful

like my most favorite old quilt that i never want to sleep without

~

thank you god for photos

~

i walk. i see. i breathe.

i imagine.

i hope.

i dream.

i wish.

i ask.

i listen.

i touch.

i dance.

but

most of all

i love

*

he said he'd pull me out if i fell in....

as we were walking in the woods this weekend

like a beacon of light

this mushroom called my name

enough said

~

oh

and

no

i didn't fall in or even get my feet wet

~

it was a good day

*

i know, i know....here she is again....

BUT

with an invitation this time to come over here

and

see the entire family photo shoot

~

a local apple orchard let us use their land for this shoot and i loved every minute of being there

~

this family is so easy and funny and loving

and

after 330 photos

i selected about a tenth of them to share with you

~

i hope you have time to bop over and see them

~

i think they'll make you smile

*

i'll take it....

it's been unseasonably warm here this month and we're not complaining

~

in fact

we'll take another month of it

or two

~

i took this photo last weekend while we hiking at devil's head lake

~

so this weekend

i hope you all have the chance to let your hair shine in the warmth of the sun

and

if your straps fall gracefully while your bottoms ride up your bum a bit

and

you have to brush chunks of sand off your legs

well

i consider that the most perfect outcome of these warm yellow and orange hued days

*

left of center....

there aren't many days where i feel completely centered. usually i'm a bit off.

i blame it on sleepless nights. or my digestion issues. or the medication i'm on.

or

even

the change in the weather

~

today

i'm not blaming anything

~

instead

i'm embracing it

by sharing photos with you from my walk around the pond

where

on purpose

i put the focal point of my camera on the left

and

shot away

~

maybe

it's just my way of saying

"change your perspective"

or

maybe

it's just my way of saying

"being off center isn't always an awful way to be"

::

i don't know how i do it.....

i really don't know how i get through my photo shoots

when

i'm swimming in all the puddles of deliciousness that only kids provide

"hi you. what you doing. we want peeza"

"wis peproni. k"

::

i have over 300 photos to look at from this family shoot. then i have to narrow them down to a reasonable number and do some editing. but how do you eliminate any when the cuteness factor is overwhelming ?

so for now, i thought these might make you smile.

~

and

a few more of baby c

on a new day

are over at here

*

oh, i hope you are...

i hope

you're taking a great big bite out of october

~

this month has been truly spectacular so far

and

i have no reason to believe that the slow

and

very orange and yellow days ahead

won't be equally as wonderful

~

i also hope you're taking a bite of life

~

as i watch the miners

fathers~sons~brothers~uncles~nephews~grandfathers

being slowly lifted one by one

to the world they haven't seen in 69 days

where waiting families let tears

heavy with love and relief

fall

~

well

it just makes being alive feel that much better

*

are you enough....

debi

wrote a beautiful post a few weeks back that included these words

~

"life is just overwhelming at times

and

we are all standing on a corner

with a sign in our hands needing something"

~

and

then she asked us what our sign might look like if we had one

~

"i am enough"

is the sign i made in my studio this afternoon

~

easily said

but oh so hard to believe

~

as women

we tend to think

we're not thin enough

we're not smart enough

we're not nice enough

we're not patient enough

we're not strong enough

we're not brave enough

we're not gracious enough

we're not quick enough

and

the list could go on and on

~

but

guess what

~

we are enough

~

you are enough

~

i am enough

~

so use my sign today

and

pretend you're wearing it proudly on your body like a sandwich board

~

if you want to see the other signs

debi

would love to have you stop by

*

all about O.....

how lucky am i to have a niece who lives just thirty minutes away

~

who completely indulges me when i ask for a few photos

she turns 9 today

~

nine years old

already

how did that happen so fast

~

that thing they call time that seems to fly

it kind of makes your head spin

lucky her

~

at nine

spinning her head doesn't cause her weeks of a "tweaked neck"

oh

to be young again

*

happy birthday sweet girl

ten-ten-ten

we spent yesterday hiking at devil's head lake

~

let me just say

wow

this is just part of it

and

we hiked/walked around the entire lake.

~

i have so many photos to share with you. everything from kids swimming to rock skipping to two weddings to just pure fabulousness. all from an 85 degree day which broke a record set back in 1879.

oh october 2010. i will remember you.

~

and

who knew that lady asian beetles bite. like really bite. one of them had a field day on my upper chest when he got caught under my shirt and i didn't know it.

oh well

~

it was still a perfect day

and

that was only

10-9-10

~

i wonder what

10-10-10

will bring

~

kind of exciting

isn't it

*

my friday gift to you....

when i showed my "polaroid" like photos to my apple instructor

~who is also nuts about photography and is amazingly patient with me~

he said

"oh lord, you are totally degrading your photos"

and

since i'm old enough to be his mother

and

the fact that we have a fantastic relationship

i bonked him on the head with the back of my hand

since i couldn't grab my laptop case fast enough

and

then

in trying to sound hip and cool

said

"whatever"

and

then stuck out my tongue at him

here's the thing. these soft photos make me happy. and if you've ever tried to get your hands on actual polaroid film, that you might find on ebay in the middle of the night, for some ridiculous amount of money. well, who needs that headache.

~

so here's my gift to you

if you don't already know about it

~

rollip

~

it's that easy

~

pick your look. upload a photo.

wha-la

"polaroid effecto"

~

otherwise known

~in my world~

as

sweet soft happiness

*