iPhone Snaps
something i’ve learned this past year is how to take root and be more
stationary.
planted.
still.
i haven’t always been good at this.
and i might again at some point not be good at it.
but right now i am and i’m proud of that.
Forever catching trains
Endless good food
A boy named Sven
Cully Classic Music Festival
Paddle boarding
A place a daughter of a sailor feels right at home
Blue
Via Instagram
Spain
With it's peaches and cream and sandy tones
"Sangriasangriamojitosangria"
Friendly strangers in the metro to help reorient our turned around selves
New Castle Boys bound for Valencia
Two hour train station waits
Waiting and waiting and waiting
Hot sticky summer nights
Via Instagram
i'm a child of the moon
dancing on
asphalt underfoot
in the light
waxing and waning
Oh August.
You came and went so quickly.
You're a month that tends to be on the end of least-liked for me as far as months go.
But this year you brought quite a lot of things with you that I wouldn't have wanted to do without, so I didn't mind you so much this go round.
Above are shades of your last day spent. Muted tones of browns and off whites. Almost foretelling, in a way, of the colors of the leaves that will soon be falling from the trees. Something I normally can't wait for, fall being my favorite season, but this year I'm content to wait.
Not just wait though, as if they're something to get through, but enjoy.
So here's to the remainder and select few days of summer that are left as they draw to their sticky-hot to crisp-cool close.
A girl named Siorsia
Being serendaded by Irish men singing John Denver's Take Me Home Country Road
A homeland for so many that I could see myself calling home
Oh Molly Malone
Everything's savage
Green
Via Instagram
Magnolia blossoms
NPR playing in opened door garages
The feel of oriental rugs beneath my toes
Well worn t-shirts
The smell of sawdust
A certain someones laugh
The color blue
Late nights of read-a-loud stories
Waking up to the sun
The open water
Hardwood floors
The smell of rosemary
Fuzzy boy heads filled with cowlicks and bits of sunshine
The sound of coffee brewing
Gold rings
Theses are all, for me, symbols of home
So to tide you over until I can get to the many many many photos I have to share from Iceland, here are some iPhone snaps.
Just a few of my favorites.
(Of course if you follow me on Instagram a few of these will be repeats... Sorry!)
They're sorta-kinda-mostly in chronological order.
My favorite house in Reykjavik via Instagram
Iceland.
A land full of myths and mystery and wonder. Oh how my heart almost burst at the thrill of being in that magical country.
It's so bittersweet to be home, as is always the case after any venture of mine.
But I feel especially so after this one. Iceland captured my heart in a way that it hasn't been captured before and I'm not sure it's ever going to fully be freed.
I told more than one person that if it weren't for the people I loved waiting at home for me, I just might have stayed and not come back.
I'm sitting here at home on this dreary and gray Monday (weather I actually am quite fond of and something I missed while in Iceland, as we didn't see much of it during our stay) and listening to some of the Icelandic music I picked up during my trip. It feels so crazy that I was in such a different environment and space just a day or two ago. I always have a little bit of culture shock, if you will, when I return home from my travels. It's a little jarring to all of a sudden be back home and pushed back into your normal day to day after being in such a different time and place (jet lag aside), experiencing otherworldly things so outside of your norm mere hours before. I sometimes wonder though if that's just the affect of 21st century travel. The ability to be on the other side of the world, in a place completely different than your normal surroundings, is possible within just a few hours by hopping on a plane and flying there. I wonder if, back in the day, when you had to travel by ship or train or even horse and buggy, if your culture shock was lessened by the gradual transition back into your normal surroundings. The switch from cultures and experiences not as drastic in their slow reversal.
Maybe that's a rabbit trail for a different day...
Anyway.
The dream of visiting Iceland being realized gave me nothing short of that pinch-me-is-this-really-happening feeling pretty much the whole time I was there. I frequently found myself setting aside my phone, or my camera and just taking in my surroundings and trying to experience them as fully as I could without the help of technology or any documentation.
It took me off guard in so many wonderful ways. The varying landscapes, the people, the food, the language, the wool...
I filled up about 70gbs of memory cards documenting my wonder and adoration (I mean I didn't set my camera aside the whole time). So there will be lots of photos coming your way as well as a video (if I can get my act together to edit the footage).
However, in the meantime, I have some work to catch up on.
But I'm surrounded by lots of new Icelandic wool, some pretty magazine and newspaper clippings and post cards on my walls, a few snacks still left from Bonus, photos awaiting editing on my desk top, and some new music to fill my ears.
So going back to my normal routine and work day today isn't quite so bad after all.
I very much feel as if I'm achieving this dream currently actually.
And so I feel pretty content right now.
I am so very excited and honored to share this with you guys!
I had the hardest time keeping it to myself these past few weeks....
*Insert drumroll here*
I'm featured in the April issue of Whurk Magazine!
Not just that, but the centerfold pin up feature (a different kind of centerfold that is ;))!
How cool is that right? I know. Pretty cool.
For those of you who don't know, Whurk is a free magazine that has monthly issues featuring artists, special events, poetry, photography, music and all kinds of awesome things from people all over Virginia. In fact, when Seth, the editor, emailed me asking if I'd like to be featured, I had just the day before finished reading the latest issue!
If you feel so inclined, you can read it online here or, if you live in Virginia, you can pick up a copy at various coffee shops, art galleries, and other ultra hip/cool places around your town.
Big thanks to Stephen and Seth for featuring me! Love what you guys are doing. Keep up the good work, or... Whurk... as it were (sorry... I couldn't help myself).
P.s. How perfect is it that there are sheep on the cover?
I'm pretending that was on purpose, just for me.
#theknittingqueen
