Late summer here in the Mitten brings us Goldenrod (not to blame for allergies, that's Ragweed). And Goldenrod brings us gorgeous golden hour sunsets with their blooms lit up beautifully, alive with the hum of honeybees scurrying for their last sip of nectar for the summer.

Goldenrod, thru my newly found love of foraging and all natural medicine, is the flower equivalent of vitamin C. It's good for everything. So naturally I have a huge jar of it downstairs steeping for tincture making later in October. I've also made a besom to hang by my back door- a traditional blessing to the goddess of the Harvest and foragers- Demeter.

As we wrap up the month of September- which just seems crazy to me- I'm furiously working on Creep Show photo sessions for 2024. And soon will be taking way too many pictures and walking through way too many cemeteries as the colors change across the countryside. Plus- there's all that house prep to be done for the cold weather months.

Sometimes it is slightly unplanned adventures with friends in familiar territory. It’s bad jokes, commentary on human existence, seeing things thru other’s creative eye that makes a place you thought you knew so well completely new and worthy of shooting too many images! It’s a lack of pressure to create something new and just have fun being yourself and wandering along the sidewalks and hidden corridors.

I love shooting in GR. Taking my own adventures into the dark alleys and making my own photo walk adventure. It’s bright, and dirty, and artsy, and urban. I can get in my truck, drive 20 minutes and suddenly be surrounded by concrete and plate glass and people and murals rather than the open blue sky and agricultural fields that surround my peaceful home. And when I’ve had enough of the city, I can speed down the highway with music blasting back out into the countryside and enjoy the quiet of home.

Odd? Probably. But that’s me. And when I can share those urban adventures with photo friends- it’s even better. They see things and shoot things that maybe I haven’t. Or know places I never knew about. Even if it was 92 degrees with little to no wind on street level. Even if one of us had to have a glass cut tended to on a corner sidewalk after crawling hands and knees in a parking lot to "get the shot"... Even if we were severely underdressed for places we ended up wandering. 

It was amazing. It was fun. It was just what I needed to break a mental health funk- even if for just a little bit.