in the neighborhood.

just a photo.

This photo was taken way back in the summer.  With the current weather the way it is, it seems like the summer existed in another world.  A bright, sizzling world where everything felt like it was melting.

This wall is just one of those walls that I happen to walk by nearly everyday.  It's just a normal wall.  I'd never paid much attention to it, really, until one day, I turned my head a little bit to the left and there he was, this little angel guy looking back at me.  A small, grumpy little angel guy drawn in white.

He said something to me that day.  Well, he really didn't "say" anything at all.  He just struck me as something special, that's all.  A symbol of humanity, perhaps?  I can't really say what made him seem so noteworthy at the time.

The following afternoon when I walked by on my way to the trolley,  I was expecting to look over and see him once again.  I was even looking forward to exchanging hellos with this new little friend that I had made.  But, sadly, he wasn't there anymore.  Sometime between one day & the next, someone had covered him with a red block of fresh paint.  He was hidden.  Permanently.

Who knows how long he had been there painted on that wall.  But I just happened to meet him on his last daylight appearance.  His final day.  Seems significant.  Who knows, I might be the last person on earth who has any recollection of him.

Nowadays, when I remember, I'll sometimes look over at that wall still expecting to see him in all his glory, just like I saw him that one day.  I know he's still there.  He's just hiding behind .002 inches of red paint.

Silly, I know.  But it's true.

curiosity.

importance.

We are human beings and this is the part of our human nature, that we don't learn the importance of anything until it's snatched from our hands.  
-Malala Yousafzai (2013 Nobel Peace Prize recipient), from her interview with Jon Stewart

walking at sunset.

"Open my heart," I prayed.  

"Help me to feel, see, experience the present.  Help me to be right here, right now."

broken and rebuilt.

Let us continually pray for open eyes and a loving heart.

in a dream.

After ten or so years of not remembering anything from my dreams upon waking, 

I am finally remembering them again.  

It seems fitting to post these photos.

Nature is a sanctuary.

Music scenes.

A few "scenes" from this past weekend in East Hampton.  These photos don't even come close to capturing how many instruments were laying around. So much music.  Hoping to go back sometime next month.

a winter's day at the beach.

A short weekend visit to East Hampton, while Christopher & bandmates are busy recording their fourth album at the Flaherty's "Paddock" for the next two months.  I spent the daylight hours alone, wandering the lakes & shores and spent a few hours in a local coffee shop named Jack's Stir Brew. 

Tomorrow we go to Montauk.

thankful. and some insta-snaps.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of posts about thankfulness.  It's been encouraging for me to see these posts, and it's served as a constant reminder to actually put my thankfulness into words, no matter how large or small. It seems like once we allow ourselves to start thinking about just one thing that we can be thankful for in life, we start thinking of many things.  We've been given so many extraordinary things in this life, but it's not because we actually deserve any of it.  Everything we have--even life itself--is a gift.  And, thus, the best thing that we can do is appreciate these things and express that appreciation.

These are just a few Instagram* shots that I've taken in the past month while walking to/from work.  I've been so thankful to be in better health recently.  To be able to walk around outside again.  To be able to walk to work, if I chose to.  To even have a job (or two), in the first place.  To be able to see and experience beautiful things while walking to work.  To capture some of those things with a camera.  To have such a nice camera, in the first place.  To feel like I can express something by taking photos.  To find pleasure in it.   I could keep going on this thankfulness train....

*my Instagram account: staceynicolemcdonald

around the neighborhood.

cats and a green couch.

new lens!

[or, A Family Vignette]

See this look?  This is called excitement.

(See, I don't even care that my hair's all disheveled.)

See this guy?  This is the guy who has made his wife insanely happy--buying her the lens she really wanted. 

And here?  This is our playful, chubby cat who can now be photographed in our dark, indoor lighting with a wider aperture.

This?  This is Momma, who's rather upset by the news.  "Even more pictures of me and my babies?"

Yup, coming soon.

experimenting.

this was a photography experiment in panning.

setting a slow shutter speed, narrow aperture.

taking a moving object and following it with the camera. [trying to keep it in the same place in the viewfinder.]

the result is a blurry/streaky background and a [somewhat] focused subject.

interesting, no?

[thank you, dear husband, for being such a selfless, cooperative, and good-looking test subject. :D]

Opposites.

One:  

Curled-up kitty paws.

Two:
Curled-up kitty schnoz.

Until the day that Christopher and I decide to "start a family," our cat Random is going to be adored, spoiled, and basically treated like the child of the house.  He's the one that gets all the attention.  All the time.  He's the one that has, and will continue to have, his life documented in photographs because "Mommy" just can't help herself.

We'll be able to look back on his "childhood years" and gawk at how small he used to be.  But, actually, we can already do that.... since we took him in two summers ago, he's doubled in size.  Literally doubled in size.  What can I say, he's one of those "food motivated" cats.  He's chubby, no doubt, but we love him just the same.

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with camera settings and trying to find the "art" of it.  Random just happened to be laying around in the sun the other morning, looking all adorable (as usual) and it was the perfect lighting situation to experiment with both under- and over-exposing.  It's amazing, the wonders that light can do for a photograph.

Whether it's relaxing or hectic, I'm hoping you and your family have a wonderful weekend.  We're going to be doing some early Spring cleaning over the next few days.  We're invading our closets and drawers and hopefully sending most of it off to Goodwill.  Sometimes it's crazy, the things we get super excited about.   Cheers.