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With spring finally springing- I'm busy winding up the home apothecary/foraging around here. With the start of spring- comes dandelions- the number one reason I started all this homesteading crazy a year ago- to create a pain remedy for my husband. It worked and here I am a year later- doing 4 times a day runs to the hayfield to collect dandy's to dehydrate in batches. While doing so- I've taken the opportunity to photograph all the busy buzzing honeybees around me!
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Near the end of April- there was a "class" to photograph butterflies at FMG. It was an amazing evening spent with a photo friend/model of mine. We shared bad jokes, laughter, suffered thru the opinions of elder men dolling out their "advice", and I took some bucket list images of flutter bugs :) When I was a baby photographer... With my trusty Canon Powershot that I carried with me EVERYWHERE I went, before there were studios, and models, and pressure, and learning... I tagged along with Hubby on one of his monthly AED checks he does for large unnamed power company over in the middle and eastern side of the state. On that specific run, he took me past this abandoned farm house. And I was hooked. Ever since I have a deep passion for stopping and wandering and photographing the stories left behind. I had photographed and adventured up to the old asylum in Traverse City a few times before this- but this was my first abandoned farm house. A week or so ago- we went by it again on the same run. She's more caved in in spots, more rot, more aged sadness- but still beautiful. Even on a dreary cold late April afternoon. In early April, I went on a photo walk with my camera buddies. It was cold, and soggy, and honestly not much to photograph as Mother Nature hadn't started waking up yet. I'm excited to go back to this park in particular once warmth gives way to more photogenic nature scenes- but I think I did pretty good getting images of the symphony or greys and brown of early Spring in Michigan.
I swear on my life, as frantic and crazy as it is... That I am alive. That I have tried to sit down a write a blog. And have honestly tried to make lots of art. Photography wise- I did my first session since October a few weeks ago. My homelife and caretaking of my husband has absorbed a huge chunk of my life since my last blog post. I've been homesteading and creating art as I can- but taking care of him and being there for him has taken priority. I've been taking a lot of photos of Grand Rapids from hospital windows these past few months. In January Hubby and I were exposed and got Influenza A. Being both of us had gotten vaccinations, we got tested and found out well too late that Flu A as I've been calling it, wasn't in the needle poke of misery last year. I'm not going to lie- I would rather get "the Vid" again rather then that nasty bug. I had a temp of 102.7 for close to a week, lost weight because I couldn't eat, and my body was aching in spots I didn't know could ache. Hubby got it as well- and it straight tossed him into ICU for over 7 days. He was on a Bi-pap ventilator for four of those days for treatment of Flu A as well as double pneumonia. After 7 days in ICU- he was transferred to the rehab hospital to build his body back up. He spent 8 days there. We're just now wrapping up his bi-weekly rehab sessions there that are outpatient. This past week- he spent 4 days in hospital receiving treatment for what they thought was a stroke but was actually just inner ear issues. I did manage to get out and photograph World of Winter in Grand Rapids at the beginning of February. On a balmy 9 degree evening. As I mentioned before cute animals and homesteading has abounded. Sourdough baking, coffee blending, and planting the starter veggies for the massive garden that will be getting put in this year!!! I keep calling the seedling my basement babies... But I don't think anyone thinks I'm funny.
But stay tuned- I'm starting to book sessions again! I have a nature walk and a couples photo session this weekend! Plus I have some astro photography from last weekend. :) Homesteading- This year marked the start of my putting old knowledge to use and new knowledge to the test. Originally I started fiddling with homemade salves as a way to remedy my husband’s chronic nerve pain that we’ve been dealing with with high powered medications. I was hoping with a little knowledge and learning I could make him a topical salve that would ease his pain- and my dandelion stuff did the trick! That led to making numerous balms/salves/tinctures for common ailments and hubby specific ones- like Daisy Fleabane/Mullein tea to control his asthma and expel lung ailments like flu and bronchitis. I also made a crazy good couple of tinctures for immune boosting (one with elderberry and one with rose hips and orange peels) as well as a straight Fleabane one for those lung crud days Hubby gets now and then. We are even planning out a large medicinal herbs garden for next spring- herbs for us and herbs for our friends and families. I even hope to maybe start making soaps and lotions next year! And also an heirloom veggie patch as well to bulk up our already extensive canning supply. I also started very successfully doing water propagations of plants- mostly Pothos vines and Monsteras, and now have even more house plants than ever before! But just think of all that fresh oxygen! Plus keeping them all clean and healthy has become a bit of a anxiety reducer. Nature Photography- I’ve honestly photographed more nature this year than humans, which is okay and not okay- probably just a swing of time and I’ll be loaded again with human photography. I do have a handful of concepts and model at the ready for when we have a lovely blanket of snow. Until that happens- I’m completely okay with photographing Mother Nature and all her splendor. Taking the time and slow moments to photograph the small moments of beauty that get passed by in the great rush of life's daily adventures. People Portraits- Like I hinted at- human photography was severely lacking this year. But when I did get to make portraiture magic- I certainly did, including my Creepshow 2024 tradition. And apparently learning and getting pretty darned good at photographing Mars and her magical Fire Dancing. Pets- This year, Frank celebrated his official one year birthday. Watching him grow and change into and adult cat has been fun- almost as much fun as watching his relationship with Lola mature. This summer we had a health scare to deal with from Lola- for a brief time it seemed like hard decisions were to be made. But it turned out to just be a routine UTI that medication remedied after expensive ultrasounds and x-rays cleared her of the tumor concern the vets had. We also unfortunately had to watch the decline of Skjit’s health to the point where the extremely heart wrenching choice was to be made to ease her over the rainbow bridge after being my faithful Calico shadow for 18 years. I’m still not healed from that choice two days before my birthday in October, but each day it hurts a little less. I rescued her from a cardboard box left in a blizzard outside of a pet shop, no bigger than a soda can. She never developed into a large, bulky beast like Frank and Miss Meow both are- rather staying on the very thin and fragile side of shapes. She had her own personality right up to the end of her days. Cuddling on her terms and with whom she chose. But in the end, she held onto my arm and peacefully fell asleep, crossing the rainbow bridge where so many of her animal siblings were waiting for her. In August, Miss Meow appeared in our lives- begging for food and cuddling late one evening. I hurriedly made her beds in the garage, a litter pan, and fresh food and water. Every day I would spend hours out in the garage cuddling and loving on her, trying to figure out if she was indeed pregnant, curing her of fleas and tapeworms. By early September, she decided us humans were pretty darned cool and strolled right into the house. She's developed such an amazing personality and has become the cuddle monster we’ve always wanted in a cat- Skijit was never really a cuddler, and Frank certainly would rather bite, fight, and make you bleed rather than cuddle. She’s helped me heal a lot since the loss of sweet Skijit. Places- Hubby and I took only two distant trips from home- a 24 hour backroads adventure to Frankfort, MI and back home- the only rule- no highways traveled. Of course one of my photo buddies and Lola tagged along! And an afternoon adventure to Detroit. Other than that- most of my places visited were local haunts- Holland for the sunsets and Tulip Time. Wandering behind closed doors and finding neat places in Grand Rapids. And doing a crash course in studying on how to photograph flying aircraft for a day trip to Muskegon for the airshow. Didn’t think I had a snowball's chance in hell of learning everything I needed to learn before taking on that adventure- but I wanted to make sure I got good images from hubby since he so deeply loves those warbirds. I even dipped into the massive pool of knowledge my Canadian friend has to learn everything I could in the week before going. Maybe there will be more travel next year… Maybe there won’t be… Who knows. But I sure do have fun shooting while I take adventures- local or otherwise. Solar Storms- This year our sun is at solar maximum- a super fancy science term for long evenings outside with my camera catching the gorgeous wonders of the night sky. In the beginning of 2024- I would have never imagined I would have gotten such a crash course in astrophotography. It interested me, yes, but seemed out of my reach as far as the learning curve necessary and my incredible lack of attention span to absorb all the numbers and figures- but again, I’ve surprised myself yet again this year. Honestly the amount of time spent shivering and staring up into the heavens this summer has given me tons of practice. According to the science type peoples- we still have almost a solid year of these amazing light shows ahead of us!! There are no lofty goals or lists of things I want to shoot this coming year. As it happens will be how it goes. I'm trying ti change small things in my life as a way to manage my anxiety issues- and the pressure of an accomplishment or goal list will feed the beast I'm trying to tame. So this year- we'll just have to see what happens and when :) See you in 2025!!
Two days before my birthday- our home suffered an incredible loss. My beautiful calico Skijit became too sick to continue caring for. We knew she was in devastating pain and the best choice was to take that pain away. The loss of her beautiful face in this house has been almost too much to handle mentally and physically for me. She was mine for 18 years. When I rescued her from a cardboard box outside of a pet store in a January blizzard- she was improperly weened from her mother and the size of a 12 ounces can of soda. She nursed on my shirt or blankets for the first 5 years of her life. She grew into an amazing animal- so full of love (on her time table). She helped raise Lola thru puppyhood. and of course was the mentoring mother figure in Franklin's life. It has been a process to grieve and work through missing a big part of our home. 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. Wow... The "last month of summer"... I assure you I've been shooting, planning sessions, making artwork... But I've also been deep into winter prepping the homestead, making plans for next year, cleaning, decluttering.... It's been insane. I don't know how very many times I've tried to sit down and catch up the website, my social media... And just- life, gets in the way. I expect once the weather turns cold and I'm not outside working almost every day- I will have time to settle in and get to work here... Until then, fingers crossed I will keep dipping my toes in once every week here- but life it a tad wild right now. Lots of sessions getting booked, planning for a possible Creepshow 2024.... AND the arrival of a very pregnant stray cat that soon will have babies for me to help tend to until we can adopt them out. |
AuthorGreetings! This is honestly a personal perspective blog about life as a photographer and artist. Sometimes there will be pictures, but there will always be truth as I see it. Archives
May 2025
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