Ode to Skitz

12 years ago I met Skitz. He was about the age of one, skinny, lively, talking, and full of loving personality. He enjoyed walking on fences, rubbing legs, and diving his head into my face. As he aged, he became an old man. Decided to gain a few pounds, get tired easily, and wanted to be left alone. Within that time he's had 6 homes, 2 cat mates, and 1 dog mate. He was the alpha male, chasing around and putting everyone in check (even humans). Since moving from my mom in Canada, to me in Seattle, Skitz has been in retirement. At first it was nice having a cat around, but that young loving personality came out, and he's been my little baby since. Happy to have two humans to dote so much love on him. It makes me sad that he's 13 years old, full of arthritis and bad teeth. I hate to watch him struggle to climb the couch, barely jumping to higher ground. Even his meows are fading. Then I look at him, basking in the sunlit, completely content, and happy for the solitude. I'm part of this chapter in his life where he is enjoying slowing down, having someone around to follow and rub on, eating tons of food, those occasions of playing fetch, and just being comfortable. He may be 13, but he doesn't look an age over 8.

Things Skitz enjoys in retirement:

• Basking in sunlight
• Taking walks outside
• Laying on the patio
• Laying behind heads on the couch
• Laps
• Licking his paws
• String
• Conversations over dinner
• Catnip on the Lounge
• People Watching

Big Four Ice Caves

Yesterday, Keith and I went to a place called The Big Four Ice Caves. It's a nice little hike in Mt Baker National Forest off of Mountain Loop Highway. It's about a mile to the ice caves, but with it being hot, humid, and a poor choice of footwear, I didn't think I was going to last all that long. Keith kept trekking about, so it made me more determined to finish. Once we reached the caves, the air was like nature's AC unit. It was so cold, crisp, and refreshing. (Totally worth all that sweat!) At that point, I felt like I was done, but Keith wanted to explore more of the ice caves up the rocks and trees to the right off the trail. So we climbed, slipped, and found even cooler, deeper ice caves. After all that climbing, with feet hurting, legs scratched up, we went back on the trail and detoured to the Stillaguamish River, and dipped our feet into the glacier cold river.

I'm falling more in love with this state every time I go and explore the true beauty that lies just outside of my metropolitan backyard. I will definitely return to you Big Four, but for now, I say thank you for the best day I've had in a very long time.

One Year with Bean.

Bean, my Sequoia from the Oregon/California Coast line, One of the Giants has been with me for a year. Bean is the first thing I ever tried to grow from a young sapling and actually is growing, and growing healthy. When I first saw Bean I knew that he was going to be my tree. He/she had a misfortunate event in the car being toppled around which resulted in some fertilizer burning some limbs. With a few care and snipping of these limbs, Bean is 20" tall. He/she is my spirit tree. Bean is a constant reminder than no matter how bad I fall and get scarred by life's happenings, I'll still be able to grow. They say you should have a plant before you have animals or a kid. I worked the other way around, but when I had him, and the care and love it takes to grow something to be one of the greats. It's a true honor and a sense of pride I can't explain. Here's to you Bean, I love you and I hope you become a strong tree for the many years more!

Welcoming Yggdrasil

I was never blessed with my mom's amazing green thumb to grow anything. I remember as a child I wanted to grow strawberries and radishes. My strawberries were tiny and bad, and my radishes never bloomed. It broke my heart because I always wanted to grow my own vegetable garden. In my older years, my mom gave me orchids and those never lasted long either. On one of our trips to California we drove down Highway 101 and stopped at the Avenue of the Giants. There is were I found Bean, my first tree. With the travel, Bean suffered some burning and scars from being tossed around in a backpack. He made it home safe and with minor tending he's grown to 10 inches. Little did I know, I healed with Bean. I've had my ups and downs, but now I'm standing tall and doing things that I didn't think I could do for another couple of years. That's why when I went down to California for another trip, I went to Muir Woods in Marin. There I found a little baby tree. A young sapling. I instantly fell in love with it's small size and I knew that he was going to represent the new life that will unfold before my very eyes. So I know it sounds pretentious to name a tree Yggdrasil, but at this time, it seems fitting. It also doesn't seem too outlandish when you come from a background of Scandinavian blood. So I welcome Yggdrasil to keep my Bean company and together we form a little weird tree family.

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here! My new job as of November 2012 has kept me pretty occupied and worn out to take any personal photos. So keeping up is a hard task to adjust too. Luckily, I was able to get away for the weekend to Long Beach, WA. I've always been anchored to the ocean since I was younger and living in the Puget Sound is not just "ocean-like" enough for me. Winter at the beach is probably my favorite time. Cloudy skies, cold and crisp salty ocean air. Nothing can beat it. I've decided that I have to plan trips to the Ocean to keep my sanity and my creative juices flowing. If you haven't been to Long Beach, you must go. It'll make you feel at home, even if you are nowhere near it.

I've always been a fan of those 70's - 80's Double Exposure Portraits. So I wanted to see if I could try to emulate them the best I could. When I brought the idea to my brother Paul he was more than happy to be my model. We had tons of fun making faces that we got to the point where we both were laughing at how silly things escalated. After editing and adjusting I am actually really happy on how they turned out. I can now add this to the type of portraits I can do.

Happy October! October is my favorite month. The changing of the seasons and the crinkling of the fallen leaves at my feet. My favorite holiday is also in October. Halloween! In honor of October and Halloween, I'm going to try to record, shoot, and anything else I can do for my favorite month. My first session, my friend JC came over with candles, knives, and flags and it just fit the mood. JC has never really had a photo professionally taken of him (besides class photos) and he was a really good sport. Especially the amount of candles I had surrounded him in. These are my favorites from the shoot and I hope it gets you in the mood for Halloween!