Wander + Shoot

Stonetown

2011-02-20T12:34:00.005-05:00

Lil' T assumes her post, as she does most mornings, on my chest, purring loudly in hopes that I will wake-up and deliver to her bowl fishy smelling deliciousness. And I do.

Sunny and seventy something degrees, I needed no prodding to gather my things together and head to the beach. There is a little café along the way that I visit about once a month, I stopped and took a seat at the counter. I'm still feeling the place out, trying to decide if I like it or not. The service is just okay, the pancakes and the potatoes are good, but one of the owners/waiter has no idea that being nice to people is a prerequisite for a service job that involves tips.

Today I wore a t-shirt that I picked up over the holidays while visiting Zanzibar, a beautiful island off the east coast of Africa known for it's many spices. So, I'm sitting at the counter reading the paper and eating breakfast when the other owner, the nice one, tells me she likes my shirt. She smiles, laughs a little and then says out loud, "stonetown". She says it again with the emphasis on stone, followed by a little laugh much like the laugh that is so stereotypical of a teenaged stoner.

Still smiling and elbowing her co-worker to look at the shirt she asks where she can get one.

Wake Up

2011-01-19T14:32:00.003-05:00

This photo is oddly one of my favorites from my visit to Kenya. I took it from the back seat of the car heading back to Nairobi after three nights at Carnelly's on Lake Naivasha. The imagery along the road was stimulating, beautiful, colorful and at times over run with garbage and make shift structures. Kenya is a country of contrasts—clean and orderly, yet laden with trash; colorfully painted buildings next to darkened shacks; white kenyan economy vs. the native kenyan economy. I am still absorbing the sights, sounds, smells and interactions of my three weeks in Kenya, more photos over time.

15 days

2008-10-20T09:37:00.002-04:00

I'm relieved that there are only 15 days left until the election. I don't even watch T.V., but I still feel all of the tension and ugliness that surrounds the campaigning.
Obama is in Florida today, Orlando this morning and Tampa this afternoon. I plan on heading over to the stadium to see him, hear him and absorb the energy that is building around his run for office.
I read through a document (click on 'read full report) put out by the Tax Policy Center comparing and contrasting Obama and McCain, it's a good resource for getting the facts and understanding the effects of each candidates policy. Give it a read.
I've noticed Palin isn't in the news as much as the weeks proceeding her VP nomination. Are they hiding her to keep the damage at a minimum or is she just less interesting now? Though at times her interviews are great comedic relief, for the most part, I really prefer not to hear her at all. I lived in Alaska during the 2006 Governor's election, Palin won by circumstance. The results: Palin (R) (114,697), Knowles (D) (97,238) and Halcro (I) (22,443).
Andrew Halcro is normally a democrat, but ran as an Independent, which totally split the democratic vote, leaving Palin the winner. I'm all for people following their dreams and ambitions, but sometimes there is a time and place for such things.

Cheese

2008-09-11T09:57:00.003-04:00

Last week a friend and I made mozzarella cheese, it was really simple. It involved heating milk to a specific degree, adding the proper ingredients (citric acid and rennet), letting it sit, straining off the whey, then heating and kneading it until it was like taffy. That night we made pizza. Last week ricotta was the cheese of choice and we made cannoli. Lasagna was the first thought, but it never quite happened. Next up is yogurt.

Home again

2008-09-09T09:59:00.004-04:00

After living in Fairbanks for so long, I started feeling out of place there, or maybe I never quite felt "in place". I thought of leaving on a number of occasions, but didn't quite get around to it. Last February I began the process of leaving.

I started stashing money in far off online accounts, not that I couldn't get to the money, but since it was only accessible online, it felt somehow safer. I put my condo on the market in December 2007, it sold in April 2008. I moved into a dry cabin in Ester, AK until July 22, flying out on a 3:30 flight to Orlando - me, my cat and my friend Karen.

So, here I am. I am so happy to be here in the sun, the hot and the humidity. I grew up in Virginia, I feel like I am home.