February 2012
1 post
8 tags
Adventures in Bassooning, and other musical...
Just in the past year, music has gone from back burner to front and center (again) in my life. Some people that I know were surprised; they kind of knew that I like to play music, but didn’t know the extent of it or the history. So here it is - a quick and dirty musical timeline.
Pre-birth - Dad is a professional musician. He met two of my Moms while playing piano in clubs. Smexy....
January 2012
2 posts
9 tags
HoneyWine Hollow, in pictures
My friend asked me to come up with some photos that best embody the spirit of HoneyWine Hollow. I thought I would share them here, too. Why not?
A gorgeous Spring day when our goatie quads were born:
Tyme and a visitor to the farm cuddle on a hen:
A hummingbird perches in the tree next to our deck:
The day that Hiccup was born, with her Momma, Dot:
On the trails in the woods:
...
6 tags
Photos from Carmen: Up North
We traveled to New York City and Princeton, New Jersey this past weekend, and handed the camera to Carmen when we could. It was fun seeing the people’s reaction to her holding the camera and lens (the “short” lens is out of commission, so she had to use the telescopic 50-250mm lens instead). Here are some highlights, and here is the rest of the...
December 2011
5 posts
Happy Holidays from President Obama
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I'm ready to get this out.
19 and half years ago, I was raped.
I won’t go into specifics here about what happened, but if you’re especially curious, I’ll tell you personally.
Very few people know about the incident; maybe five friends total and no family members. (My parents were told about it by my therapist when I was 14, but I did not speak directly to them about it.) I have kept the story, as well...
5 tags
Photojournal from our recent California trip
We go to California a lot. Tyme’s company is based out there and they like to get some face time once in a while. This was a relatively short trip - only 10 days long. We still managed to squeeze in a lot of fun and had a fantastic time!
On Thanksgiving morning, we woke up at 4 AM, packed the girls in the van, and then headed to the Atlanta airport, where we met Toby at the gate. We...
3 tags
Letter to Mom, 2007
I just found this letter while shuffling through old files and making room on my laptop. This was written a few weeks after Mom found out that she had renal cell carcinoma cancer. Carmen was two months old.
2-20-2007
Hello Mom!
Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and then, five minutes later, you think of nine things that you wanted to say? When you called last night, it...
8 tags
Crying it Out. Really??
I have a real issue with people who have convinced themselves that the best way to get their young babies to sleep is to let them cry until they pass out.
Here are some actual quotes from actual parents who actually believe that it’s ok to do this to an infant:
“ let her cry it out. Crying is good for the lungs and the more you do it, the less she’ll cry and figure out...
November 2011
21 posts
5 tags
It's official
I guess it’s too late to change my mind once I’m on the program. :)
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What branches grow....: All I want for Christmas... →
stonyrubbish:
… nothing.
Even before I began to trim down my Stuff in earnest, I had been uncomfortable with how my material possessions gained a non-trivial increase in number at Christmas time. Having been fairly well-off financially as an adult, I had become used to simply buying something if I wanted it or…
This goes pretty perfectly with my last post about gifting and excess.
9 tags
The power of presents.
The holidays are coming. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? To me, it means good and bad stuff - fire in the fireplace, extra lights that we wish we could leave up all year, and it’s time to fill and use the hot tub. It also means family stress and melancholy, being guilted and yanked into too many gatherings than you can afford the gas or emotional bandwidth for, and some of the worst...
6 tags
This is not easy to write.
I went through a period a few months ago where I was filled with guilt and shame. Why? I actually let these words pass through my head:
“I wish I didn’t have kids.”
I was in Seattle when the thought first hit me. I was at SNAG, a conference for goldsmiths, and I was blown away by what people who graduated at the same time than me were accomplishing. Not to mention what...
4 tags
p.a.d. 14 - Yeah, Baby.
This photo was taken on March 20th, 2004, at the Hyatt in Savannah, GA.
Tyme and I had been married for 9 months already, but people wanted a party, and who can deny our friends a good time? So we did the big gig, and man was it fun.
This beautiful person next to me is my Grandmother Logan, the lady that I named my second daughter after. She is an amazing individual; the matriarch of our...
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p.a.d. 14 - It's true.
This photo was taken on July 27th, 2007 when Carmen was 7 months old.
You know how people say that the kids prefer the box over the toy? It’s totally true.
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p.a.d. 13 - Union Square in Miniature
This is a photo of Union Square. I took the photo and manipulated it in photoshop to make the objects and people in the photo look tiny and fake when, in fact, they are normal sized and real. This technique is called “tilt shift.” It looks best when it’s large and viewed on black, which is what will happen if you click on it.
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p.a.d. 12 - Bones
This photo was taken on June 13th, 2011, by my four year old daughter, Carmen. We were visiting Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, GA with her sister Carolyn and our good friend, Toby.
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p.a.d. 11 - Epic Nap
This photo was taken on April 10th, 2008, in Santa Ana, California. This is a 15 month old Carmen, taking a snooze in the sunlight in our hotel room. I had been on the computer, probably answering emails while she wandered around the room and played. I realized that she was being more quiet than usual, and turned to find her passed out behind me. I let her stay about ten minutes, then gently...
5 tags
"So if you don't believe in God, than what exactly...
I’ve had to write this, or something like it, twice now since coming out as a godless person on the internet. So I’ll put it here, and if anyone asks again, they’ll get a link.
(For the record, I am A-OK with you having a religion. If you like it, and it’s working for you, then great. By all means, keep on keeping on.)
*Instead of God, I believe in physics and chance....
3 tags
Stuff Carmen says - A round up
2.5 years old:
*pointing to 3 month old sister* “Uh oh! Carolyn’s pacifier fell out of her face!”
*on sharing* “Sorry, you can’t have my butt. But you can have this spoon!”
3 years old:
Whenever we put Carmen down for a nap, Carolyn scootches down the hall to her door and harrasses her through it. I hear Carmen in there saying “Be quiet, Carolyn!...
7 tags
p.a.d. 10 - Baby on the green
This photo of Carolyn was taken on June 10th, 2011, in one of the squares of Downtown Savannah, GA. She was two years, two months, and two days old, and is accompanied by her best stuffed friend, “(S)nowman.”
We came down to participate as henna artists at the Savannah Asian Festival, as we do every year. With our family, however, Savannah is never a hit and run situation…...
3 tags
How to not be a dick about your non-beliefs.
Let me start by saying that I’m aware of the ironic nature of this post…. Ok, now that that’s out of the way:
There is a pretty major difference between my non-believing self and the non-beliefs of other people that I’ve met or have read about… I am not a rabid anti-religion dickhead. I do not care what you practice or believe, so long as you are cool with me,...
6 tags
p.a.d. 9 - Mermaids?
This photo was taken on December 5th, 2009, at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. As my friend, Riffat, puts it, “No wonder sailors thought they saw mermaids.” Watching these sea lions dance and dart underwater was mesmerizing. We could have watched them all day.
4 tags
A few new photos from Carmen, 4
About a week ago, I posted about Carmen, our daughter, who has shown an interest in photography. Here are some of her recent photos from our trip to Taccoa Falls and Halloween… click on the photo to enbiggen:
You can see all of her photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizebeth_joy/sets/72157625550359310/with/6306955770/
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p.a.d. 9 - Singing House
This photo was taken on April 3rd, 2005. This is the street view of the Singing House; the home that we own in Savannah and lived in from May 1st, 2002 until October 26th, 2007. We were married (in the kitchen), Carmen was born, I got a degree, and Tyme went from working at SCAD to being lured away by Evisions while we lived here. We made a myriad of friends, drank a lot of great beer, and...
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p.a.d. 8 - Come with Me
This photo was taken on April 4th, 2009, at Carrell Farms in Monroe, GA. Click for a bigger version.
We take our alpacas, Machu and Picchu, to be shorn once a year. Carrell Farms is a beautiful place where about 65 alpacas live the good life, as well as water buffalo, giant jack donkeys and some seriously spoiled exotic birds.
We usually take the time to explore their acres while there -...
3 tags
p.a.d 7 - Jaws
I can’t pinpoint when or where this photo was taken.
I am pretty sure that it was at an aquarium somewhere, or maybe a natural history museum… perhaps in Atlanta or Chicago, but probably in California (LA or Monterrey). My kids love aquariums, and we spend a good deal of time staring at the marine life and trying to decide what is edible and what might see us as lunch, instead....
5 tags
Dear Carmen and Carolyn...
Your father and I were talking tonight about our role models for parenting. It seems like we both had a mixed bag while thinking back on our own experiences growing up… In some cases, it was easier to list anti-role models and things we would have wished we had from our own parents, rather than ideals. However, as we sat there, we ended up creating a list of quite a few of our hopes for...
Fun... totally random photos from our flickr...
http://www.krazydad.com/gustavog/FlickRandom.pl?user=67733812@N00
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p.a.d. 6 - Books for Babies
This photo was taken on November 11th, 2007, three weeks after we had moved into HoneyWine Hollow, and one month before Carmen turned one.
The bookshelves were one of the first things that we set up in the house. Our family believes that reading is absolutely imperative for a person, young, old, or in between. Both Tyme and I remember devouring books as young people, which enriched our lives...
October 2011
24 posts
5 tags
p.a.d. 5 - Hiking
This photo was taken on January 18th, 2010.
Carmen, just barely three, and her grandmother, on a hike at Watson Mill Park in Oglethorpe County, Georgia.
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p.a.d. 4 - Why not?
This photo of Carolyn was taken March 1st, 2011.
We all want to do it. It may not be ice cream… it may be chocolate cake, or wasabi peas; whatever tickles your fancy. But we want to turn it up over our face and devour every last bit of it. Adults train it out of us when we’re kids. We get lectured, the evil eye, or smacked.
But why not? What will a little sticky on the...
5 tags
My kids think that breastfeeding is how babies...
To my kids, breastfeeding isn’t weird, gross, funny, sexual, or shameful. It’s normal. It’s how babies eat.
(Even the cat likes it when humans breastfeed)
And they’re right. Nursing is not a new fad, or what hippies do - it’s how mammals feed their young. A bottle is the alternative, not the norm. Formula from a bottle is what people use when nursing...
4 tags
p.a.d. 3 - Hey-o
This photo was taken on Carmen’s 4th birthday, December 26th, 2010. We don’t often get snow here in Georgia, so when we do, it’s a huge deal. Carmen woke up on her birthday to a winter wonderland, and we couldn’t convince her that it wasn’t a gift just for her. Not that we tried very hard… having a young person believe that the world has given them a...
3 tags
If I disappear...
… for a while, this is likely what happened.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html
I’ve been depressed since I was a young kid; I remember looking at the sky and wishing it would eat me. I wondered why everyone else was so good at faking smiles and laughter. It took me a while to realize that what I was constantly struggling against was...
1 tag
p.a.d. 2 - One of these things is not like the...
This photo was taken by Tyme on June 28th, 2007, in Edison New Jersey, during one of the pre-wedding ceremonies held specifically for the groom. Carmen had just turned 6 months old here, and she was the belle of the ball. The groom was Ashish Patel, a longtime friend of Tyme’s.
This day was beautiful because our family was taken in and cared for as if we were actually part of the Hindu...
8 tags
Names - lots of them.
I have a lot of names. Not as many as most Hispanic or hard core Catholic people I know, but still enough that it can get confusing. Here is a (somewhat) brief history of my name(s):
I was born as Elizabeth Joy Wolski. That’s what is printed on my birth certificate. My social security card, however, read Elizebeth Joy Wolski, and that is how I’ve always spelled my first name.
I...
6 tags
Occupy/Feeling numb
I want to do something about this. Images like this, and the articles, videos, and pictures of the man shot in the head with the gas canister, are deeply disturbing and sickening to me. I want to repost all of it and spread awareness…. but I don’t know what good could come of it.
If someone can explain to me why my outrage, and yours, is helpful, then I will know what to do...
It all makes sense.
2 tags
p.a.d. 1 - Motherly instincts
January 30th, 2009.
Deanna was originally our real estate agent, and she helped us find and buy what is now HoneyWine Hollow. She became friends with us after we moved here and I also became her photographer. This photo was taken on one of our trips out to shoot a property that she was listing.
Carmen was just over two years old and I was pregnant with Carolyn, who was born a couple of...
7 tags
Why we really love living in Bumble Fuck East.
This is my response to my own post, “Country Crap.”
Living out here rocks. The benefits far outweigh the downsides. Here are just a few examples:
1) You can see the stars. Lots of them. You can clearly see the Milky Way. The air is so clear that I can point my camera at Jupiter and capture his four major moons without using a tripod.
2) There are trees. Lots of them. We...
4 tags
Kids with guns
Yesterday, Toby and I took the girls to a playground. While there, I found myself feeling something that, at first glance, seemed irrational. There were two boys there with toy guns - proportionately correct, plastic, and orange - one was a double barrel shotgun, and the other was some type of pistol. They made loudish popping noises that sounded like a cap gun, and the boys (about 7 or 8 years...
Stuff my kids say
Carmen (4) on gender equality: “Girls can do everything they want to do. Boys can do everything, too, except lay babies.”
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Carmen the photographer
Carmen is four… she’ll be five in December. I’ve been passing my Canon xSi to her since she was three, and letting her capture whatever catches her eye. It’s fun for her, and an interesting exercise for me in patience, trust, and a new eye in composition.
I usually set the camera to a shutter speed, aperture, white balance and ISO that will work with the area that...
2 tags
Having a musical family
Music is a part of being human. We are all moved by it, somehow. I strongly believe that music was one of the earliest forms of communication that humans used - beating out rhythms to speak to people far away, passing down stories using melodies and rhyme. So many other animals also communicate using song - birds, amphibians, marine mammals, insects … it’s encoded in our DNA. Even...
8 tags
Why we're raising our kids to be godless heathens.
Our kids are not being raised to follow a religion. Instead, we are instilling these intrinsic values and beliefs in them:
Be Kind and Gentle to everyone and everything. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Have love for humanity and the universe.
Enjoy this life as much as you can. Assume this is all you are going to get (there may not be an afterlife).
Search for beauty and good...
I rather like this. It can be handy.
Obesity.
This is interesting.. but I see issues with it.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/why-a-personal-trainer-is-making-himself-obese-on-purpose-2583990
Being “fit” or “fat” are not black and white - they are not nearly as simple as “if you eat this and don’t move, you will be fat. If you stop eating that and move around more, you will be fit.”
This guy...
2 tags
Shop Monkey Duties at Crimson Art Studios
*Keep solder pallions stocked
*Organize/clean tools as needed
*Locate pieces of project dropped on ground
*Put books back on shelf
*Commiserate with rants and occasional crying fits
*Create findings such as bezel settings
*Kill bugs and dispose of corpses
*Attach wax sprues to trees as necessary for casting
*Double check studio safety – eyewear, footwear, ventilation, hearing protection,...
5 tags
Metals and Festivals and Pies, oh my
This weekend was pretty great, all around.
Last week, we scrambled to get the studio looking awesome and totally functional. The only thing left to do, really is to move Junior out to her new home, as soon as we make her space clear. She weighs 104 pounds, and the thing she’s sitting on weighs another 50, so this is not a small feat.
We hosted an open studio day on Saturday and really...
