life lately: signs of brightness

1: surprise flowers/collage

2: el cortijo/secret bubbly

3: scribblings

4: steph comes to visit (thai food, ravioli/twilight)

5: springtime sandwich & lemonade

6: holga/ice cream dress

7: sunday breakfast (k makes coffee, i make crepes)

8: baby bananas/big rock candy mountain

9: tree bark

10: woodland wanderings

11: reading by the riverside

12: cloudy day

waking weekend

Last weekend, when K and I were finished thrifting, he offered to take my outfit photos at Fort Ethan Allen (okay, I offered to let him).

And then we communed with nature:

Camel's Hump

Robin's nest on our back stairs :)

Beaver!

weekend wanderlust

I saw this photo (above) on Kallie's blog earlier this week and was inspired to see more. I was delighted to find this wonderful collection of images by Randy P. Martin, all capturing the wild spirit of the Pacific Northwest that I've been missing lately. I want to strap some granola on my back and climb mountains and look out over majestic landscapes and just be quiet and peaceful and free for a while.

(all photos found here)

When I was in high school, I had the choice to either go to France and Switzerland with my French class or travel to Washington with the Outing Club. I chose Europe, I certainly do not regret it, and I know that I am more inclined to be the sort of person who goes to Europe than the sort of person who spends a week camping under the stars in the mountains. However, I have always had a special connection with the natural world that I will never (and never want to) shake. Someday I will hike through the Rockies and sleep in the Redwood forest and visit Big Sur, but for now I will have to content myself with gazing longingly through the window of Martin's lens. And, for old time's sake, some photos from a long-ago road trip to the Oregon Coast, when i was broke as can be and free:

a fisherman's life for me!

(Vogue China, Oct 2009)

Last night, K and I went on an impromptu fishing trip to Lake Iroquois. Since his epic failure this weekend, K has been itching to even the score with the elusive VT fishes.

While K waded into the water,

I lounged on a nearby rock and dove into my new book.

After a few minor mishaps...

...he got one!

I looked on with pride...

...as he reeled in an enormous bass!!

He ended up throwing it back because he didn't want to eat it. I scolded him for fishing merely for sport but he said that bass had a higher-than-desirable mercury content and if he caught a trout he would eat it. So I let it slide.

He didn't catch a trout. He caught another miniature bass and threw it back, then got a leech on his leg that I had to rip off. Besides the fact that the fish were no longer biting (the big bass must have spread the word that we were in the neighborhood) and the ick factor of the leg-leech, the sky was beginning to darken--so we left. But we'll be back! It was a lovely little Monday-night adventure. :)