Jessica
One photo, taken with the Vignette app on my Droid X, using three different effects.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted by Susannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 7, 2011
August 6: Cookbooks
Taken with my RetroCamera app on my Droid X camera.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted by Susannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 5, 2011
August 5: Foshay Tower Reflection
Foshay Tower reflected in a neighboring skyscraper, downtown Minneapolis. Taken with my Vignette app on my Droid X camera. Fixed with Picasa.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted by Susannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 4, 2011
August 4: Basil
Basil from my porch garden. Taken with my Panasonic DMC-LZ7 point and shoot camera. Fixed in Picasa.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted bySusannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 3, 2011
August 3: On the Way Home
Thread Art on Nicollet Avenue. Taken with my Droid X camera app. Fixed in Picasa.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted bySusannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 2, 2011
August 2: Bicycle Racks
Bicycle racks at my work. Taken with my Droid X, with the regular camera app (left), the Vignette camera app (middle) and the regular camera app (right). Fixed and collaged with Picasa.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted bySusannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
August 1, 2011
August 1: Eating at Restaurants
Christos, Minneapolis, Dinner (left), Pho Hua, Minneapolis, Lunch (right). Taken with my Droid X camera, regular camera app on the left and the Vignette app on the right. Fixed and collaged with Picasa.
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This photo is part of the August Break, hosted by Susannah Conway. During the month of August, participants post a minimum of one photograph per day. No rules!
July 31, 2011
Small Stones, in All Their Glory
Well, here we are at the end of A River of Stones. This time, I am happy to say that I was incredibly consistent (for me) and only missed a few days.
This practice of mindfully seeing my surroundings has been necessary for me. As my friend Laurel pointed out in the comments on one of my posts, I am in the midst of new experiences this month (and for the past seven) and it’s helpful for me to record them. I wish I had been recording them from the beginning of my pregnancy, but the fluctuations in my energy and time has made it nearly impossible. Instead, I just have this month in time to show my little one later.
Below is the collection of all of my small stones, in order:
- July 1: Visiting Home
- July 2: Persian Angel Baklava
- July 3: At the Patriotic Music Concert
- July 4: Wind Farm Off I-80, Central Iowa
- July 5: 25 Weeks, 5 Days
- July 6: Summer in the City
- July 7: Absolutely Desperate
- July 8: Untitled
- July 10: Humidity
- July 10: Onion Blossom
- July 11: Untitled
- July 12: Untitled
- July 13: Untitled
- July 14: Words From My Bus Commute
- July 15: 27 Miles to the Iowa Border
- July 16: Saturday Evening, 9:00, Clermont, IA
- July 17: Sunday Morning, 7:30, Clermont, IA
- July 19: Feels Like 108 Degrees
- July 19: Some Evenings
- July 20: Tonight, Together, We
- July 22: Afternoon Walk
- July 23: Untitled
- July 24: After Reading a Swedish Mystery in the Bathtub
- July 26: Other People’s Tattoos
- July 27: Belly-Dancing Class, 8:00 PM, Minneapolis
- July 28: Ultrasound
- July 29: Mango, Tamarind, and Curry
- July 30: Massage, 12:15 PM
- July 31: Tasting Olive Oil
I finished with 29 out of 31 small stones for the month, which may be my most successful writing challenge month ever. Even if it isn’t, I am awfully proud of this month’s work.
I am hoping to keep this energy of mindfulness going, by participating in the August Break. Hopefully, I can approach it with the same consistency and continue to see the small things in my life.
July 31, 2011
July 31: Tasting Olive Oil
Tasting Olive Oil
I move down the line of green bottles:
garlic, basil, lemon and Persian lime.
After a while, all I can taste
is spice and green, warm on my tongue.
***
Today, we went to Stillwater, MN and the Stillwater Olive Oil Company to get a refill of garlic infused olive oil. It took us almost a year to make it through a bottle and I expect that it will take us another year to use this one. The best part about the trip was tasting the rows and rows of olive oil, just for fun. We didn’t get any other flavors, although I was quite attached to the 18-year old balsamic and the Picholine olive oil.
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This micropoem is part of A River of Stones International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in July
July 30, 2011
July 30: Massage, 12:15 PM
Massage, 12:15 PM
Every cell of me is connected,
from the hips that have stretched wide
to the tips of my puffy, sore feet. I breathe
in and out, cradling what needs to be cradled.
***
I am not the type of person who pampers herself regularly. Sure, I enjoy a good facial/massage/pedicure, but I rarely shell out the money for these treats. My mother, on the other hand, is a world-class pamper-er. She indulges in these things, probably because she sees them as necessary to her happiness. So, whenever she comes into town, I have a good excuse to get pampered. Yesterday, she got me a manicure/pedicure, which was fabulous, because I can’t reach my feet well enough to paint my nails. Today, I treated her to a facial while I got a prenatal massage.
It was worth every red cent. The thing about pregnancy is that my body changes on a daily basis. These changes are interesting, on a scientific level, but they come with a degree of discomfort. Every day some part of me is sore and achy, which is exacerbated by the heat and humidity. Swollen feet, stiff legs, creaky lower back – they take turns. So, to have all of these parts soothed for one hour was a treat. After the massage, I felt the best that I have felt in months. Now, I just want to go back again.
***
This micropoem is part of A River of Stones International Small Stone Writing Month, hosted by Fiona and Kaspa. The goal of the project is for participants to create one small stone (a recorded moment of mindful observation) each day in July
