A vision in white

March 6, 2012 § Leave a comment

On Friday I drove through the fog to rural Wisconsin. Spent several hours with good company, good conversation, and good food. I can’t say much more for now–other than that all of this, a chocolate lab, a few red barns, and a white-on-everything snowfall made what could have been a highly stressful day rather, instead, a gift.

A vision of the kind of place I want to be a part of. A few moments there. Gladness that others want it, too.

And then, you know, Wisconsin. It’s always seemed an invitingly beautiful state to me. (Pictures of the Minnesota/Wisconsin weekend forthcoming . . . once I track down my SD card reader . . . too easily misplaced!)

Home from travels, and considering others.

Home, family, and traveling

February 28, 2012 § 1 Comment

Do you want to hear some good news? I am getting interviews!

Yesterday my mom and I drove to Cedar Rapids to pick up a truck – a red Chevy Silverado! – for my dad. We had our usual fervent discussions about life, faith, art, careers, personality types, travel, and the future. In the midst of this my phone rang and Interview #3 has been scheduled for the week. None of these jobs may pan out, but then, one of them might! I smiled for five minutes. Finally, the resume is doing what it was designed to do.

Iowa is brown, flat, hilly, barn-speckled. We drove through many tired-looking small towns. They fascinate me with their combination of rustic-ness and run-down-ness. Sometimes I like them in their familiarity. Other times I want to give them a good New-England-style overhaul. I like small towns, but I’m more of a quaint village kind of girl. Things can be small AND pretty.

(European countryside. Yes.)

One day when I settle down in my semi-remote (or maybe not remote?) wherever, it’s going to be lots of fun to consider how I can help make my nearby town (or neighborhood) veer towards quaintness. If they let me. Once they learn to like me. I’ll give it the good ol’ stubborn Dutch girl try.

So, anyway, I will be rambling around for the rest of the week. I aim to take a few photographs to show you some of these places. The fun thing about getting into photography is how you take on this mission to find things that are beautiful and interesting wherever you go. In unexpected places. From otherwise unconsidered vantage points. It gives one a new sense of purpose.

Around here, in the log-house-that’s-for-sale, we have been taking walks with the dogs, planning future books, planning future Etsy shops, baking, cooking, sweating in the sauna, trying out new hairstyles, and writing down to-do lists both ordinary and ambitious. I have ordered a proof of my novel, which will soon be available in paperback! Today is one of those days when opportunity seems within reach. Despite the gray skies and the ice that fell all night long. Despite getting home in the wee small hours of the morning and waking up later than industrious girls ought to do. Despite this tangle of hair on my head and the laundry waiting to be folded.

I have a Pinterest board full of dreams, and seed catalogs in the cupboard.

What is happening in your world?

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