August 20th, 2010

I have yet again found myself
Standing in front of the old wooden door
Once it was beautiful
But now no more
It is broken and withered
Destroyed by age
But still I remember the time
When behind that door
A life was held
Born and raised
Someone lived behind that closed door
But now they are gone
Leaving the door wide open
To let all evil inside
It is empty now
Only filled with time
The only remnant left
The old wooden door
Long ago left behind
It is hanging now
By one rusty hinge
Hidden in over grown grasses
Blowing slowly in the wind
I can’t remember the child’s name
Who once lived behind this door
No memories remain
I try to remember
But there is nothing left
Just the old wooden door
And a forgotten address

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August 19th, 2010

I always call chipmunks chippies now from a summer of hearing them being called that up in Northern Michigan. It is almost instinctual but after I saw it I always stop and wonder, did I really just call that chipmunk a chippy? Then I remember, yes, I have spent way to long using Yooper slang.

Anyway, this cute little chippy was in Yellowstone out by the confluence of the Yellowstone River and the Llamar River. He was definitely the smallest chipmunk I have ever seen. You can sort of tell by the proportion of that piece of grass to his entire body. I just love how he is precariously perched in the bush just munching away.

It is interesting that some of the most common wildlife can still be so extraordinary at times. I ask myself how I can appreciate this little guy so much when I have pictures of other more rare wildlife like a red-tailed fox and a black bear that seem so hard to compare to this picture. Still, I find even the most common of wildlife amazes me. It isn’t the animal, or its rarity that appeals to me but rather the idea that it is life in its most raw and savage form. Even these little cute guys, it is nature, it is life, and to capture any level of life within the eye of my camera is an extraordinary experience.

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August 18th, 2010

My mom and I went on a beautiful hike at Mt. Rainier, Washington. We went through a field of wild flowers like these ones, along with many lupines, and others that I cannot begin to name. Flowers light up my life 😀

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August 17th, 2010

I went to my first ever concert yesterday with my lovely friends Golnoosh and Hailey. Lady GaGa is amazing! It was such a good show because it wasn’t just a singer doing their songs, or even just an amazing performer, it was that she interacted with the audience on such a personal level. She talked with the audience, at one point people where even throwing their clothes on stage and she made her own outfit out of all of it. She had such personality, and not to mention her dancing and singing skills that just made such an awesome concert.

One of the best parts of the show was just watching the way the crowd responded to her. The whole building felt like it was shaking from the base and the jumping throng of people. She would ask the crowd to do something, jump, throw their hands up, or just scream and they would. It was amazing to see how much control she had of such a massive bundle of chaos.

Anyways, to start off, the people where insane. So many people were dressed up in the wackiest of ways ( many were dressed in a more than slightly whorish fashion though). I was dying to get creeper photos but sadly didn’t have my big camera, so I got a few but you will have to stay tuned for them. We got our picture taken with this really creepy guy that had an awesome outfit on.

Some of my favorite outfits where this guy, all the people with tin cans wrapped in their hair like curlers, and the people wrapped in only caution tape. It was an interesting night full of interesting people. The opening band was also… interesting. Semi Precious Weapons opened the show and at first I thought the lead singer was GaGa and I got all excited. As soon as I saw his face on the camera view television I was so shocked.

I just said, Oh my God, THAT’S A GUY! I really thought it was a woman, he was wearing a long grey t-shirt and fish nets, that was it. At one point he even pulled up his shirt and gave a nice full shot of his butt in fish nets and even gave us a little shake. Let me tell you, I saw my fair share of ass this concert, more than my fair share.

After quite a wait, the show began. At first it wasn’t even GaGa, it was just her shadow.

You know you’re famous when a giant crowd will wig out just because they see your shadow. When her shadow came out, the crowd went wild! Then slowly we could find GaGa’s figure in the dark and man did everyone go insane! Every time she moved it was a torrent of new screams and applause.

She was rocking those purple shoulder pads in a big way. This set was really cool because within the hood of the car was a piano and she just ripped it open and started playing. It was so cool. Then everyone moved over to a big neon flourescent jungle gym.

I think it was some sort of modernized stripper pole but I could be wrong. It was fun to see all of the dancers, and of course Gaga just crawling all over this thing. After this Gaga made the first of her many wardrobe changes. It was something like eight times that she changed her clothes.

I loved the nun outfit which was totally see through and to compliment the saintly attire, a bloody skeleton hand. The dancing was phenomenal and the sets were amazing to look at. It follow a sort of Wizard of Oz plot of descention into scarier and scarier places until the final set, the monster itself.

But along the yellow brick road there was a lot of dancing, outfit changes, singing, and insanity.

Oh and the coolest outfit of all was this strange fairy electronic dress.

The entire dress moved on its own and even had wings in the back, photos can’t capture the life in this outfit. definitely the most spectacular outfit of the night.

Oh yes and lots of blood and tiny dresses. I thought she was going to pop out of this dress. She kept having to grab it and fix it while she was dancing around.

And finally, the monster with Gaga in its clutches. Strange that it appears to be an angler fish…. Still it was really cool to watch Gaga interact with the monster. And what Lady Gaga performance is complete without boob and crotch fire?

And yes, the monster is watching in the background along with tons of little children that are sitting there wishing they too could have sparklers come out of their crotches. The poor minds of the younger generation.

After that it seemed like the show was over, which was very sad because she hadn’t played Bad Romance. But then the lights went out again, and the encore began! More singing, more Gaga, and more dancing!

Thanks Gaga for an awesome night, an awesome first concert experience, and just a bunch of fun, music and dancing.

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August 15th, 2010

This child was so beyond precious. Words almost can’t describe how cute she was. She truly was a baby of a thousand faces. The range of emotion ( and the range of positions of her hair) were phenomenal for that short amount of time.

I found her at Mt. Rainer in Washington and she killed me. Even trying to post this photos makes me almost die of laughter. Just take a second, look at her hair. Then look at her face. Now back to the hair. And finally back to the face. How can you not laugh? You made my day, you are still making my day. Thanks for the hair, and the face, and the lollipop. You’re amazing.

Oh and yes, I did just post five pictures of one person, that is how much I love this baby.

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August 14th, 2010

Books are like life, with a new chapter every day.  Books are like traveling, for you visit a new place ever day.  Book are like a heart that hasn’t been broken.

So here are Golnoosh and Monica’s conversation as I write…

Golnoosh: LEt me play With it!!!

Monica: How do you like the underside of my bench?

Golnoosh: I feel like a cat. I cannot sleep. Ok come on.  I GOT IT.

Monica: I don’t appreciate my pig being forced fed to me.  IT’s MY PIG I CAN JIGGLE IT IF I WANT

Golnoosh: You’re the jiggle master. Well I hate you. Well then you have Gaga (dancing)

Monica: laughing. OH WOW

Golnoosh: BYE beautiful.

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August 12th, 2010

My mom and I decided to dub North Dakota the sunflower state because all along the road we were driving on where rows and rows of sunflower fields. They were dazzling, just miles and miles it felt like were filled with the yellow faces of sunflowers. It really helped brighten up a long drive, because who won’t smile at a field of sunflowers.

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August 11th, 2010

This was one of the stranger looking animals that I stumbled upon on my road trip home. I nearly stepped on him while I was stalking the infamous white buffalo in Jamestown, White Cloud. I was trying to run away from packs of mosquitos while also attempting to spy the elusive White Cloud who decided it would be a perfect to hide behind a bush as soon as I decided to show up when I saw a small movement on the ground. At first I thought it was a squirrel but it didn’t have a tail and had a bunch of these weird stripes on its back. Then I decided it had to be a chipmunk but I had never seen one like this, with that many stripes and no fluffy little tail. I started thinking that maybe it was a mutated breed between a squirrel and a chipmunk maybe with a third wheel prairie dog thing going on, just maybe. So I was confused and a little creeped out by his eyes. He had such weird black doll eyes that just sought you out no matter where you moved. It was fun though seeing an interesting and mysterious animal like this. My aunt Karen told me that it was indeed a 13 striped squirrel which was something I had never heard of before. So yea, I saw a 13 striped squirrel. Jealous much?

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August 10th, 2010

I just loved your hair, it had such a life of it’s own and really complimented everything about you. I saw you inside and didn’t get a picture of you and I was really sad but as soon as I walked outside there you were just sitting there eating your lunch overlooking Mt. Rainier. It was perfect. The wind kept throwing your hair around and making the red really light up. Anyways I just wanted to tell you, I love your hair and don’t change it.

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August 9th, 2010

Today was our last day on the road and we got home around dinner. It was a really long vacation starting on June 28, driving for a week to Upper Michigan, four weeks in Michigan one of which was in Chicago, then a week drive back. So it was a long trip and we are glad to be home. The experiences we have had are unforgettable and will stay with us forever. Glad to be home, but missing the adventures. I can’t wait to see what sort of adventures we go on next.

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