chookooloonks blog

view 05 - love thursday: family

Karen Walrond — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:00:49 +0000

Photos of our friends Ken and Helen, and their kids, Conor & Vianne.

"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future."

~ Gail Lumet Buckley

Happy Love Thursday, everyone. Please feel free to leave your stories or links to your words or images of love in the comments section, below.

Song: All you need is love, as performed by Linden David Hall (from the Love, Actually soundtrack)

view 04: walkabout

Karen Walrond — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

My lunch meeting with my publisher yesterday was canceled, so I suddenly found myself with an hour or so of free time. I decided to try to get a little Christmas shopping done.

Walking around in the gloomy, drizzly day reminded me so much of walking around my old neighbourhood back in London. You know, if London were 75 degrees Fahrenheit in December (didn't it just snow the other day?).

(An aside: you know what's weird? Blogging like this, with mostly images and fewer words, feels far more intimate than blogging the way I usually do. I can't really explain why, but it does.

Does it feel this way to you, as well?)

Song: 1 2 3 4 by Feist

view 03: at the coffeehouse

Karen Walrond — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:00:50 +0000

"I don't know what it is, but for some reason this year, I am filled with the Christmas spirit."

"Dude, so am I."

"I'm not sure what it is ..."

"It's not just you, man, it's in the air. Like my best friend? Normally, he hates Christmas. Hates it. But last week, when it snowed? Brutha went out and bought himself a tree."

December views.

Song: All I wanna do by Sheryl Crow

view 02: rainy, hazy, lazy day

Karen Walrond — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:00:10 +0000

December views.

Song: Drive away by Thomas Newman, from the soundtrack of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

view 01: falalalala

Karen Walrond — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Our Christmas tree-trimming philosophy: if you can still see the branches, it's not done.

December views.

Song: Drink ah rum

december views, and notes on being a photographer

Karen Walrond — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

A few days ago, I was surfing the 'net, hopping from link to link (as you do), and I came across this post from a blog I'd never read before, Hippy Urban Girl. The post explains her idea called "December views" -- in essence, since December is often a frenetic busy time for most of us as we celebrate, wind down old years and get ready for new ones, she plans to use her blog by limiting its words, and instead expressing herself contemplatively through images, each day of the month. It is her way of slowing down, and helping her readers slow down as well.

I love this idea, and thought I would participate. So, with your indulgence, for the rest of the month I'm going to limit my words here -- I'll probably continue to write some, but not a lot -- and try to let my images do most of the talking. I think it's a great exercise in mindfulness; in addition, it allows me to be more circumspect in choosing the photographs I share with you as well. The upside is that I'll have a new post here every day this month, including weekends (just as I did last month) -- and I'll also continue to find a song of the day that helps convey my current state of mind.

On a related note: I also found this fantastic post by Zan of A Cup of Tea & a Wheat Penny, describing the process of choosing "moments" in photography. I particularly loved this passage:

Before I read the Dyer book, I told Jim that I believe that the difference between a photographer and someone who takes pictures is that a photographer imprints his or her emotion onto the picture itself; something exists in the photo that would not be there if someone else had taken that same photo. Nothing to do with light, or color — but with the way a house in his photographs might appear to be sighing, or a chair frustrated by passers-by in mine.

Yes. Yes. This is exactly it. This is the best description I have ever read of what makes a photographer -- it's not whether someone is a professional or a hobbyist, or if someone is famous and another is completely unknown -- it's all about the imprint. The emotion that is infused into the image.

So for the rest of the month, I'll be working on my imprints. It'll be like a little visual Advent calendar, I'm thinking, except it'll go through the 31st. As always, I invite you to keep stopping by and taking a quiet moment along with me. And of course -- of course -- your commentary is always welcome as we go through the month.

Song: Just another story by Jamiroquai

snow!!

Karen Walrond — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:46:56 +0000

And then, 20 minutes later ...

... and finally, because you knew it had to happen:

(Thanks to Mr. Potato Head for loaning us his parts.)

chewfus the dragon slayer

Karen Walrond — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:00:16 +0000

This year, Alex started going to our local public school. I must say that so far, I'm very impressed: Alex is enjoying her class, her teacher, and the parents of the students are very involved. Twice I've been asked to come in as a "Mystery Reader" -- the kids have no idea that I'm coming (that's the "mystery" part), and once I arrive, I read a couple of chapters of a chapter book to Alex and her schoolmates. It's been a lot of fun.

Like a fool, however, I signed up to be a "Mystery Writer." Little did I know that being a Mystery Writer not only involved showing up unexpectedly, but I was required to actually WRITE and ILLUSTRATE a story for the class. "It's really easy," said Alex's teacher. "Just write a little story, 8 pages max, draw some pictures, and come and read it to the class. It's about inspiring them to want to become writers themselves."

Huh.

The thing is, I can't draw. Not even a little bit. Children laugh at my stick figures. I'm totally incapable of it. And while I can write, in our house, Marcus is really the storyteller. Each night he weaves these wildly elaborate tales for Alex before she goes to sleep. I always default to the tried and true method of reading actual published books to her before she goes to sleep. But come up with fiction on the spur of the moment? Not I. So if *I* was the parent to come up with a story and draw pictures to illustrate it, the last thing those kids would be is "inspired."

You know where this is going, right?

Two nights before the story was due, I pleaded with Marcus to come up with a story. He groaned (as I knew he would), but then whipped out a story in about 3 minutes flat (as I knew he would). The next day, I pulled out my camera and shot the images for the story, using items we had around the house. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.

Sadly for you, however, because we worked so hard on it, I didn't really have a post ready for today. So instead, you get to witness our handiwork. Sit back and get comfortable, children, for you are now about to read the story of:

Chewfus* the Dragon Slayer

story by Marcus (Alex's dad) photographs by Karen (Alex's mom)

This is our dog, Chewfus.

He likes to chew.

He chews his dry, boring dog food.

He wishes it was turkey.

He chews my shoes, my dress

and my mom's computer.

But Chewfus has a secret identity. He becomes a different dog when he sneaks through the hole in our fence ...

... he becomes Chewfus the Dragon Slayer!

He defends our garden from the dragons who live outside our fence.

He doesn't use a sword to slay them. He uses his voice to scare them away, with a mighty "WOOOOF!!!"

Okay, maybe he doesn't really do that. But I wish he would fight dragons, and stop chewing my shoes.

THE END.

The children may never recover.

*Name changed to protect the very, very guilty.

Song: Underdog raps as performed by Kyle Massey. I know. I know. I'm sorry, all around. Have a great weeekend anyway, though, okay?

love thursday: parenthood

Karen Walrond — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:00:26 +0000

My friend Kandy and her son, Sam.

"It's not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself."

~ Joyce Maynard

Happy Love Thursday, everyone. Please leave your stories or links to your words or images of love in the comments below.

And here's to reaching for the sun today.

Song: I love to see you smile by Randy Newman

random thoughts: midweek edition

Karen Walrond — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:00:39 +0000

A friend of mine described her children, along with their friends, as running all over her house in a happy feral pack. I love this phrase, and will now sprinkle it liberally in my day-to-day conversation.

The weathermen are doggedly insisting that there is a good chance for snow here in Houston by the end of the week. Are you getting this? Snow in Houston. And the weather right now is giving it the old college try: it's COLD here these days. As a general rule, I do not like being cold.

But the thing is? Right now I'm sort of enjoying it. There's something about crackling fires in the fireplace that put me in the Christmas spirit. I'm liable to croon a yuletide carol at any given moment.*

At some point, I need to do some Christmas shopping. Thinking seriously of going the Etsy/handmade route this year. Any online favourites?

* Oh, there's crooning.

Update: Speaking of which, I forgot to mention, the 2010 Chookooloonks calendars are still available, now for only US$ 14. They make great stocking stuffers, so if you're giving as a gift, please be sure to order by December 15, so that I can get it to you in time!

Song: I feel it all by Feist