Radio Silence

Rational:

1. End of school year.
2. More left to do than there is time to do it
3. A little stressed
4. Migraines returning with marked increasing frequency
5. Probably points to A LOT of stress
6. "Jenn, can you help me with this?" most frequent question asked
7. Paint still drying on the teacher gift
8. No more coffee in the tin at home
9. Sleep seems more attractive than blogging
10. at 2 a.m.
11. In the meantime, the photographs go up at Looking Into with regularity
12. Until the queue runs dry
13. Which could happen at any moment
14. But today there is a gorgeous guest post
15. So, quit reading here and go look there.

We'll talk soon.

Cause for Celebration

Today is the day! And a big day it is around here too. Not only is it the day that Sinterklaas comes by with a big sack of presents; it is also the day Allison and I celebrate our first 100 photos at our joint photo site. She writes about the experience(s) of our first 100 days with oh-so-much-more eloquence than I and truly you should leap over there and read all she has to say. But I wanted to give it a nod, a shout-out, a plug. Because keeping that site, and working with that woman is a total rush.

Come. Take a look.

My wordless wednesday post is below.

It Can Be Done

An entire blog post

written only in haiku

bringing you the news.

Half-term break is here

which surely means vacation,

no work and no school!

Six will board the train

Our destination: Berlin.

(Germany, of course).

Just one week to play...

Post trip I'll share everything

Back here at the blog.

While you're missing me

You can visit everyday

The other blog I keep.

At Looking Into

Allison and I both share

the photos we take.

I will miss you all

And I hope you'll miss me too

You can leave love notes.

xoxox

jenn

XOXOX

Repaired now for Cynic's sake

I'll sign off: Love, Jenn

Let Them Roll

It's that time again! Thanks to Momma K and Lindsay who developed and host it each and every month, we have once again arrived at PERFECT POST day.

It is my pleasure to present this award to Whiskeymarie at Never what you think it should be... for her post My Inner Esther. When I read this, I laughed until the tears flowed. Go read it and see if the same thing happens to you.

Congratulations WM! There are always good things happening at your place.

*****************************************************

The good things happening at my place look a little like this:

Jams O'Donnell of The Poor Mouth shared a little award with Allison and me. He feels our new photos only site--Looking Into--deserves the Creative Blogger award.

Isn't that cool?

Jams is a cool cat out of the U.K. I meet him often on Wordless Wednesdays and enjoy his photography immensely. This award means a lot coming from the likes of him.
Cheers Jams and thank you so much.

(If you haven't been to the new site yet, I'll make it easy for you. Just click here to visit.)

Now, last things last, there is one more place I want to send you. Scribbit has been talking about me and if you are interested to see what she has to say, you can pop over to her blog and read this. If you don't want to go, you don't have to. However, if you don't click over, you'll miss the picture.

But whatever, do what you want....

It's all good.

Something for Sunday

Spend some time reflecting.

Click on over to the photo blog to see today's photo.

There is a Season

I believe in timing. I don't know that it's everything, but it certainly is, well, a lot. My life is a series of moves wherein the timing of events altered my course, leading me to new paths and in new directions. I have myriad examples to back up such a claim. From the moment I met my husband more than 20 years ago, to the way I just landed my new job, there is a strong pattern in my life that timing dictates my destiny.

I also want to mention that I believe in simultaneous epiphanies.

Indulge me and I will tell you why.

Recently, as in December 2006, my husband spoiled and surprised me with a gift. An insightful gift as it turns out. At Christmastime he presented me with a new camera--a digital SLR, Canon EOS 400D to be precise. I had never owned such a nice piece of equipment before. It is an incredible piece of technology and I immediately went to work to see just what it could do. Or what I could do with it as it were.

I fell instantly in love.

As I look back, I can see the timing of this was spot on.

With our move to The Netherlands in 2005, I left behind my teaching program which was just about as everything to me as a job could possibly be. I missed the creative outlet and the spontaneity of teaching the performing arts. I hadn't yet opened a blog to feign artistry in my writing. But I was longing for a form of expression. I didn't realize just how much until the shutter of my SLR opened and closed and I found something new.

Photography.

Oh, how I love photography.

The impetus to open this blog was two-fold for me. First I thought it would be the perfect way to keep in touch with my friends and family to keep them apprised on the happenings in our international life. (I didn't know there would be all of you wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL people who come by to read, comment, build me up and make me part of an an incredible community) But secondly, and possibly the most exciting part for me, was the idea that I could publish my photographs.

It's been a perfect venue to do just that.

But wait, there's more.

I mean to say, I wanted to do more.

It wasn't so much a conscious thought as a latent wish. You should know, I take photographs every day. Every. Day. And I have hundreds sitting on my hard drive. Just sitting, without a frame or a place to hang. I really wanted to do something with them, but what? Then, last week my blogging hero, Allison at Soccer Mom in Denial expressed the wish out loud. Not my wish but her own, to open a site where she could share her photographs. And if we're being technical here it was not so much that she said it, but rather e-mailed it; this thought she'd had about opening a photo blog. Without thinking hesitation I sent her a response with the query Couldn't I please be part of that? Could we do it together?

So we are.

A new photo blog launches today. It is our joint effort. Allison and me. And we intend it to be a joint effort between many. A venue for others to share in the art and expression of photography.

The site is called Looking Into, as based on a quote by Ansel Adams: A photograph is usually looked at--seldom looked into.

You can visit the new blog by clicking here.

Or here.

Or even here.

(I really don't want you to miss the launch.)

I am so pleased to be part of this project and I hope you will be pleased with what you see.
You are coming over to see, right?

I will see you there. And here.

There's time for everything.