We’ve been housecleaning all day today in anticipation of the arrival of some beloved guests tomorrow evening. Nothing motivates me to clean my house like having house guests and I only wish we had them more often! My dad, stepmom, and niece Elise are arriving tomorrow from NH and I’m looking forward to spending some time with them as we don’t see them nearly enough!

In derby news, there is no news. I haven’t skated at all in 2 weeks. My knee has taken a sudden and inexplicable turn for the worse and I don’t get it. I just know it’s hurting more than ever and now my lower leg is swollen and stiff like it had never been before. It’s kinda mysterious considering I’d quit all forms of exercise 2 weeks earlier. What gives?! So I’m wearing my knee brace all the time now and trying to be extra careful. *sigh* I’m not very good at inactivity.

Clearly the universe is determined that I learn to be patient. Resistance is futile. Like I’m always telling Rio, if don’t learn the lesson then you’ll just keep suffering it. Here I am, suffering it again!

I finally upgraded my Wordpress installation and the site survived intact. There was a little glitch with the categories but I worked it out. I still have some minor issues to solve concerning thumbnail images and my archive pages but it’s not urgent. It’s not like there are 10,000 visitors on my site earnestly sifting through my content. Right now I’m pretty thankful about that:)

I have a whole bunch of black and white shots from a roll of film that I’ll have to scan. Since my leisure time is scarce I’m not sure when that’s going to happen, but there are some cool images that will be worth the effort.

The other big news is that I finally bit the bullet and replaced the battery in my digital camera. Film is expensive and money is getting tighter by the day. As a result, I shoot less and I’ve also noticed that I’m overly picky about the shots I take and so I don’t take enough family photos. I’ve also realized that when I only shoot 4 or 5 frames at time, it might be 6 months and as many events before I process the entire roll. Therefore, the shots from the first half of the roll are already dated. I miss being able to post photos instantly after an event takes place.

There are many pros and cons to both film and digital, and while I will always love shooting film, right now my circumstances require that I opt for the convenience and affordability of digital.

Main Street in Plevna, Kansas.

Today my team is off to Oklahoma City to face off with the Victory Dolls. I won’t be there because I’m still nursing a torn ligament (MCL), which sucks but this is the last bout I’ll have to miss. My stepdaughter, Emily, will be making her debut on the travel team tonight as Nasty Sinatra, and I’m excited for her! I can’t wait to hear all about it:)

This past winter Kansas got hit by a severe ice storm that decimated the trees. As we drove along the highway we could see the aftermath - the forests were littered with the wreckage of huge broken limbs. Only the trunks and sturdiest limbs survived intact, but they had been virtually stripped of every small branch and twig. As a result, most of the trees appeared as the ones shown in this photo - growing back in tufts of new growth along a few sparse branches.

The lamp post is leftover from an old freight station along the train tracks in Plevna, KS.

Gosh, it’s been an awful long time, eh? Here’s the lowdown:

• We went to Kansas, as usual, for the 4th of July. This photo was taken on the road. More to come!
• I tore a ligament in my knee and had to sit out the last home bout. My team was also missing our star jammer - Whiskey broke her ankle and will be out for the rest of the season and that’s going to hurt the travel team as well. In any case, my team lost but it was a much closer score than our last bout. Our rookies performed magnificently, especially our newest jammer, Biohazard Betty, who received MVP!
• My knee is healing well and I should be back in action before too long. I’m forcing myself to follow the doctor’s orders and avoid straining it. It was torture watching my team skate from the sidelines on Saturday night, but I have to think about the big picture. It will be worth missing 1 or 2 bouts if it means my knee can recover fully without surgery and I can enjoy a long and spectacular derby career;) So really, 1 or 2 bouts isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. I can do it!
• Steve just took a job as a sexton. Get your mind out of the gutter!
• Life is pretty damn great all around. Being too busy to blog isn’t really a bad thing.

Just so you know I haven’t quit posting photos altogether:)

I added my 4 newest acquisitions to the Camera Gallery. This is the one I hope to test drive soon.

I finished a roll of film! It was unseasonably warm last weekend so we all went to the skate park and I took a bunch of shots of Tyle skating. After that I tried out my new outdoor wheels in the Roller Hockey rink and that was lots of fun.

I haven’t skated since then, though, because I had surgery on Wednesday: Operation Lump Exorcism. I guess it went well, although it remains to be seen whether or not they got all of it. Right now it’s still tender and sore but hopefully the swelling will go down and everything will be back to normal.

I underestimated my recovery time drastically. I expected the incision to be sore of course, but I wasn’t prepared for the more general after effects. I was feverish and woozy the last couple of nights but I’m feeling better now, just tired. I didn’t even take any pain meds, thank goodness.

So I will try to be patient and give my body time to recover before I start beating up on it again. Meanwhile, I will post more pictures for you. Hasta luego!

Glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly in MO Botanical Garden’s tropical Climatron.

Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

Life is incredibly hectic right now, in a good way, but hectic nonetheless. At least I have some photos to post:)

This is a well-known catfish restaurant in Sedalia, MO.

[Find it on the Flickr map]

Who’da thunk it?

Rocheport, MO

[See this photo on the Flickr map]

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. I didn’t shoot as much as I hoped to at the party since it got dark pretty quick. I’ve been working on the same roll of film in my XA for weeks now and I’m not even sure any of them will turn out well. That camera has been having issues. I might just give in and wind up the roll and get it processed before I get to the end. Besides, I’ve got some new old cameras to play with and I need to spend some time with them, too. More on my new cameras later.

Derby practice went pretty well on Saturday. My wrists are sore again but not quite as much as last weekend. I need to practice falling more. And skate more, mostly. Rio and I will go to the public skate on Wednesday to further that effort.

I also have a big nasty bruise on my left hip that might become a permanent fixture;)

OK, here’s a fun one from our Kansas trip last month. I’m hoping to shoot some film at a party this weekend, so I should finally have some new stuff for the blog soon.

Otherwise, life is humming right along. I’m going to get back on my skates tomorrow for another roller derby practice, so wish me luck. I’m a little concerned that my wrist problems are going to complicate my derby dreams. Last week I fell hard on my hands, once at home and then lots more at the rink, and I’ve been nursing the pain in my hands ever since. I’ve had tendonitis for years, thanks to my stint as a factory worker, so my wrists aren’t very forgiving. I’ve been accustomed to the chronic ache of tendonitis from typing and mouse-clicking, but lately the pain has been much more acute than usual.

But I’m hoping that I can teach myself to fall without putting all my weight on my hands. Because falling/crashing/wiping out is all part of the game, so there’s no hope for avoiding that. Although it will be easier NOT to fall when I’m able to skate with more skill!

I’m not ready to give up yet. I wanna be a derby girl, dammit!

UPDATE: See this photo on the Flickr map!

I hope to be using this feature more often. I am a professional mapper, after all, and it’s fun to keep track of where my shots were taken.

I may have been away a long time but I have not been idle in my absence. I must confess that I haven’t been shooting much at all lately, partially due to the extreme heat we’ve been experiencing and also due to a general lack of inspiration or opportunity.

During this recent hiatus, I decided to do a complete overhaul on the site. I want to be able to post general posts and updates without photos, especially at times like these when I just don’t have any new shots, but I still want the photos to be the primary feature of the site rather than an accessory to a text blog. So I’ve been building a new site with Wordpress that meets all of my needs. It has required extensive customization but it’s very nearly finished. It will also have a new design (again!) because I’m already disenchanted with the current aesthetic. Yeah, I know, I’m a fickle one;)

This will be the last post in the current format. I wanted to give you a chance to update your feed links if you subscribe via RSS or Atom. The new feeds can be found here:

RSS 2.0
Atom

Stay tuned!

I will have to bore you with photos of my dogs until I finish a roll of film. I’m afraid I may have permanently damaged my beloved XA. I dropped it in Kansas and now the shutter is jammed. Also, the back doesn’t seem to want to shut properly and is prone to popping open. I may try to repair it, if I dare. Otherwise, I’ll be shopping for another on ebay soon, as there seem to be some bargains out there. I’d be lost without my darling little XA!

This photo didn’t turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but it’s still kinda cool, if only because Jerry is an interesting subject.

Today is our third anniversary:) Isn’t he irresistible?

More from the Garden of Eden in Lucas, KS. This sculpture remains unfinished.

Kansas is so under-rated, folks. If you’re every passing through, be sure to check out this gem. More photos to come!

New Haven, MO.

New Haven, MO

New Haven, MO

New Haven, MO