The son knows the difference as dread fills his heart. How could he love a woman who is only a girl. How could he love at all because he is only a boy. The unfairness of it all drips down the back of his throat like poison that hardens his heart. This is no day of celebration, but a day in which a boy’s future dies. He turns his eyes away from this long walk so he doesn’t have to look at his wife.

She reaches his side and they both feel it. The palpable tension of futures stitched together like two cars crashing into each other. Neither looks at the other as the ceremony begins. He is numb as the venom spreads throughout his limbs. She is terrified as fear wracks her body, making her rigid and brittle.

This is the end as they turn to face each other. The veil between future and past is all that is left. With trembling fingers that are clumsy with anxiety, the boy lifts his hands and slowly pulls back the veil. Her eyes are squeezed shut as if to deny the reality of this moment as he looks down at her. She slowly opens her almond eyes and looks up at him with eyes dark and hazel and full of fear. She sees the fear within his own dark amber eyes and knows this is it.

This is the only future he could have ever wanted as a grin softens his face. She is as beautiful as he could have ever hoped. He is as kind as she could have ever dreamed. They just stand there and smile at each other as the veil falls to the ground. He found love in her eyes and she found love in his warm hands. They didn’t need years to get to know each other; all they needed was a moment to know this was right. So they turned together hand in hand to face the world, wanting no other future than the one they had.

Any who… The movie was really good, a few loose ends but a decent movie indeed. To get what you all are waiting for, Johnny Depp. I lurked in the back row with my telephoto lens to get these pictures.

He was exactly like what I imagined. He was the same as all his interviews, movies, or anything he every does, he was just Johnny Depp.

He was so nonchalant, but not in an arrogant way, very down to earth. It seemed like an altogether likeable guy. I really enjoyed his outfit. He had on like four necklaces, five rings, and a few bracelets as well as glasses. I feel like every interview I have ever seen him in he is wearing that hat. Not that it is bad, it is just sort of funny.

I really enjoyed his mannerisms. He was very expressive in his hand motions and altogether interesting to listen to as well as watch.

He talked a lot about Hunter and his relationship with him which was very interesting. Oh and he tried to take his jacket off and the interviewer that has there basically jumped to try to help him take it off. Johnny Depp gave him the funniest look, and started to laugh. So awkward and so funny.

P.S look at his tattoos, they are so interesting. I wonder what they mean.

Overall, a fun night. Very interesting to meet and see a celebrity. I wound up leaving a little early because I thought I was going ot either be kicked out or have my camera taken because we were not supposed to have “professional grade” equipment. So after I got to hear him talk for a little while and get a couple of good shots, I was outta there. Very cool, I hope to do this again some time soon.

The sickening dragging noise of her shuffling feet is drowned out by the hum of an old TV. The muffled voices seem far away from her and as the commercials end her ears yearn to hear the content, the sacred testaments the TV is slowly spewing now. She quickens her ladened steps and sets herself down, as her own body seems to sigh in relief. The chair welcomes her home, embracing her as it molds to her shape. The dent she has left in over years of use. This is her home. The shape of her body is engraved in its once lush frame, but now it creaks as it reaches out to embrace her. She doesn’t mind, it is still her home, her resting place, her haven and final sanctuary. Across the carpet sea sits her pride and joy, the television set. It sags now with age, pulling down at the corners just as her face now begins its tired descent into age. The antennas stick out at odd angles, just as she likes it. The occasional fuzz runs across the screen but she doesn’t mind, she takes it as a sign. The line of static that only briefly interrupts the vivid images that jump out into her lap. A reminder from her one and only friend that it is indeed still alive.

She sighs in contented happiness and settles in with fascination to her show. In the background though is a buzzing, a humming of sorts that mumbles its way into her mind interrupting her sacred time.

“For God’s sake Mom! Get out of that chair, go outside, talk to a friend, do something besides stare at that TV!” cried her daughter in anguish. “Don’t you see that you are wasting your life!”

The resounding sound of cupboards being slammed shut and the clumsy and loud movements of her daughter come from the kitchen behind her. She hears none of it, just a murmuring in the background, a static that she has come to tolerate. She ignores it, does not hear it, all else besides the soothing voices and images that constantly stream from her sacred box is faded.

“You have lost everything you loved, and those that love you have lost you.” The daughter cried in defeated bitterness. The daughter looks up from the kitchen alcove to no movement. Her words, her cry for change, have yet again gone unheard. Her voice never stronger than the TV’s. She looks down at her hands that have been stained and torn from work, none of which her mother ever knew about, or seemingly cared.

“Ok mom, I understand. I am leaving, and this time I am not coming back.” She sighs and leaves the kitchen as her high heels click on the kitchen-tiled floor. A harsh noise that is sharp and echoes across the empty, neglected house. But even this noise, persistent and hard never reaches the woman sitting in her throne atop the carpet sea.

“Goodbye mom, I hope you are happy with your real family, I won’t bother you anymore.”

The door is slammed, leaving the house with an absence. The mother senses this absence for a brief moment but chooses not to acknowledge it. She lets out another sigh as the murmuring in the background finally ceases and she can turn her full attention to the television.

The entire world around her seems to melt away in that moment. There is no longer the dark dingy room she calls home. No piles of dishes left to rot in the sink, no emptiness, no sadness, and no void that was left in her heart when her poor husband died. All of that is washed away in an instant, as the outside world seems to come within her own small world and nestle there at her feet making itself at home. Here her world is always perfect. In an instant she can be halfway around the world on a beach with the Mediterranean Sea warming her tired skin. Or she could be lost in the jungles of the Amazon living off the fruit of the land and experiencing the beauty of the savage untamed world. Her living room no longer houses the pain of the void left by the loss of her beloved, instead it is filled with the dreams they had but never were able to experience. She closes her eyes letting the world envelope her and gives herself over to a world so different than her reality. For that small moment, they are together again, living their dreams as they sail across the Indian Ocean and hang-glide over the cliffs of Dover. In that span of time, she finally lives. If only for that small amount of time.

An audible click resonates through her skull like a gunshot. The woman blinks repeatedly in shock and leans forward slowly. Releasing herself from the loving embrace of her loyal chair she grips at its arms with long unclean fingernails. With eyes wide, revealing their glassy blue hue that once shone like the sky, she stares at the television with a sinking heart. She stares into the face of static as it looks back at her mockingly. The sound is deafening. It strangled out the song of beautiful birds in South America and dolphins swimming in the sea and replaced it with the hiss of all things evil. The static crackles in her ears as her heart pounds. Frantically she grapples for the remote hoping it is just a mistake. The channels change but the image does not. She is left time and time again with the mocking static of her once loyal friend.

Her mouth is dry, her heart pounds, and her mind races in circles. “This can’t be happening,” she whispers in a hoarse unused voice. She detaches herself from her chair ready to brave the carpet sea. With determined and hopeful steps she drags her feet through the tangles of carpet and reaches her traitor friend. She grips the antennas desperately trying to rearrange them in an order that will bring back the images that soothe her broken heart like morphine. Nothing. The static continues as it hisses in her ear a lullaby of her worst nightmares.

Tortured and heartbroken she is swept across the carpet sea and cast down into the arms of her creaking old chair. There she lies watching with tear filled eyes, the second worst nightmare of her life. Left alone in a room, in a house, with nothing inside of it but her, her chair, and the horribly hissing of the TV. Just like that her world was taken away, and she was left more alone than ever. Not even her daughter would come for her now.

A simple order was put out to an employee, turn off a woman’s cable due to lack of funds. Her world, her dreams and her last hope, without a thought or the slightest of hesitation were snatched away. Her world was gone and all she was left with was the regret of a life she never lived, the pain of everything she had but lost, and of course, static.

This story was inspired by an interaction with a woman at a garage sale who told me a story about how her cable was shut off because she could no longer pay her bills. She said she was devastated because  “It was like they took my world away”.

The first thing we saw was the city hall building which was more akin to a giant gothic cathedral rather than a government building. It was magnificent, reaching high into the drizzly skies the peaks and spires seemed as if they would tear the sky open.

Decorated in flags and red flowers this building was a worthy monument to stand as the center of attention for the entire city. The large clock tower it its grandeur also has a somewhat childish side and is basically a giant cuckoo clock. Within the green part of the tower are all manner of figurines that upon every hour come to life as the towers ring and music plays and dance and twirl for all to see. Among a rather massive crowd we watched these figures twirl about as the rain started to fall very softly. We went into a cafe right across from the clock tower, high above where we were almost level with the dancing figures. There we had cake. Along with silence, the German people really seem to enjoy their cake. In Germany, it felt like all we ate was cake. For breakfast there was cake, and of course yogurt with cereal on top, for lunch there was more cake, and for dinner there was even more cake. Do not get me wrong, the cake was delicious and there is nothing wrong with massive quantities of cake, I just thought it was an interesting observation to share. In this cafe we had some extremely traditionally German cakes; a warm apple strudel (which technically isn’t cake but i think it still counts) and an interesting fruit cake that is basically a yellow sponge cake with fruit like raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries on top coated in a jello like substance. It was very good and really nice to try some authentically German cuisine because as my friend tells me the rest of German cuisine mainly consists of meat and potatoes, which I also found to be very true. However they are very good meat and potatoes.

I seem to always wind up talking about food, even when there is a beautiful city that still desires attention. Walking through the streets of Munich we passed numerous shop windows filled with tinker toys and tons of little knick-knacks of every kind.

Besides these funny little shops, the architecture is quite amazing. There seem to be clock towers and church spires all around us. Everywhere I look I see some beautiful building in the distance or right next to me.

In a city square of sorts we came upon a structure that at one point was the stand for one of Hitler’s very first speeches to the German people.

It seems like everywhere I go there is so much history hiding in the cracks of the sidewalk and behind building walls. This city is full of life that we barely scratched the surface of in our very short time in the city. With our short ime we were able to go inside one church. It was one of the first things I spotted in Munich, the tall watch tower with the teal dome resting on the top caught my eye from quite a while away from the city’s center.

Nestled within the city streets, this giant resides as if it does not stand tall above all the other buildings. If the towers were not magnificent enough, the inside was astounding as well. With a ceiling framed with window crosshatching, this church had the most amazing ceilings I have ever seen.

In such a large cathedral t is hard not to feel small and insignificant in this house of God. It really was beautiful though, with high arching ceilings, and giant stain glass windows the silence of Germany seemed to be filled with a different sound.

Munich feels full of life that thrives in a contemplative and silent manner. It was amazing to feel the splendor of this city as the first of many amazing cities to come that are all astoundingly different. This place though has the feeling of an antique portrait of a time where life was grand and the people are kind, if not a little strange.

Notice the man in the bottom left hand corner and you will know what I mean.

We also spotted a nice small red lizard. He was enjoying his sun spot and was extremely good at camouflaging himself.

There was a skink looking lizard as well who was very colorful. He was very fast and not very interested in sticking around for me to photograph him.

Finally after searching for a long time we finally found the lizard I was looking for. It was the same type of lizard as last year but unfortunately he was younger and I didn’t have the amazing color that the other did. He had the prettiest patterns and shapes including spots and stripes all over him.

He was posing all over the place, a perfect little model of a lizard. He was on rocks, near old branches, and of course the beautiful red sand.

He really was funny, running all over the place, stretching, and doing push-ups. It was awesome to see such a beautiful animal such as this lizard. All of them were beautiful and it just reminds me how much I love taking photos of animals and other wildlife.

Sadly the lighting was terrible so I couldn’t get great photos of the terrific landscapes that were all around us. There were giant canyons with walls seemingly stretching to the skies and rivers that paved roads for giants. It was quite the sight and to enhance the experience we decided to take a hike up Taylor Creek. A nice six mile hike along a river that eventually ends at a double blind arch.

We had a lot of fun crossing rivers running along the red sandy pathways, and just enjoying the magnificent scenery all around us.

The arch was enormous and had the best deep red color surrounded by bright green plants. It was quite the sight but we were chased away after a few quick pictures by bugs.

We also found some old cabins in the middle of the woods from old settlers who passed through Zion long ago. They were beautiful and haunting, nestled deep in the woody wilderness that strectched within the many canyons of Zion.

After Zion we tried to go to Cedar Breaks National Monument but it was closed due to snow. Yeah, you heard me right, closed for snow in mid June… in Utah. Weird, right?

We made due and instead stopped at Red Canyon which had some amazing spires and gorgeous red rock pillars.

While there is grandeur all around us there is still simple beauty everwhere. One of these sources are the amazing wildflowers scattered about all of Southern Utah. They simply add the final touch to all the beauty that we have experienced on this trip already.

Utah is one of my favorite places to visit because it has such astounding beauty that is unlike any beauty i can seen near me. Red rocks, canyons, desert expanses that stretch for miles, and of course the bluest skies you will ever see. Our trip began today hours before dawn heading out to St. George, UT, right past Las Vegas. This means that our day was entirely full of about thirteen hours of driving without any planned stops along the way. However any good road tripper can find amazing little adventures and detours to occupy time and make the day seem less daunting and more fun. Our first stop was to take pictures of dilapidation.

One thing about desert is that there is no end to the amazingly broken down and graffitied houses on the side of the road. It just so happens these are some of my favorite things to photograph. So we pulled off down a tiny road and found three old homes that had long since pasted their prime days.

Shells of their former self, gutted, empty and abandoned, left only for the sun and time to slowly peel away the paint off the walls, these houses are the definition of desolation. Here they are simply forgotten remnants of a life no one seems to care to remember. They have a sadness and a mystery that hangs from the broken ceiling beams that I find extremely alluring.

Speaking of forgotten desolate places, our next stop was a tiny ghost town that could hardly be called that. Just a few miles from Mojave Desert National Park is Silver Lake, or what little is left of it. An old Talc mining town, today there are only a few scarce building foundations buried in sand and a cemetery with a few solitary head stones.

On a happier note we then made our way to the Devil’s Playground in Sin City, yes Las Vegas. We stopped to gorge ourselves on the Bellagio’s glorious buffet and do a little shopping in 100 degree weather. Look I even have proof

As usual the food was glorious and we had to sample all sorts of delectable treats that elsewhere we would never find.

We also explored the gardens in the Bellagio which were beautiful and with some sort of American patriot theme.

So here we are after the first of many days to come of adventure. Tomorrow the fun really begins with our first national parks including Zion, Cedar Breaks, and Bryce Canyon. I can’t wait but for now we can only wait for dawn to come and watch the sun slip away behind a veil of red.

Wildlife never gets boring because it is never the same. Each movement in its fluidity is a step towards something new and I hope to be there to watch as this creature sets out on its path to who knows where.

Within this steps the most beautiful thing about watching a Heron’s movements is watching as they take flight. Watching as they lift from the ground far from where I can follow them. This is where our paths separate, and I will forever wonder where it is they go.

After a little while the eggs are ready to be peeled. The the fun really begins and the wonder of colors comes into play.

Ready, set, PEEL!

Underneath the plainly colored exterior of the eggs lies a network of colors branching across the starch surface of the egg like a spiderweb. It was pretty amazing. The color had seeped through the cracks we made to reveal a colorful network of dazzling Easter Egg design!

It really had amazing results and the inside of the peeled shells was even interesting.

All in all, a huge success and we had a lot of fun experimenting with this amazing idea!