splish. splash.

Do I really have this many pictures of random docks?  I actually had to thin the collection a bit.  It would seem that I am unable to pass by a beautiful lake scene without taking a picture so that I may later dream of sitting on the dock, dangling my legs in the water and enjoying a peaceful summer day.  I don’t really think there is any better place to be in the world…

To the right is the greatest dock in the world- and that's an un-arguable fact.  The little dots of water are from playing fetch with one of the dogs at the cabin.  I really really miss it up there.

“I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore…

I hear it in the deep heart’s core.”

-William Butler Yeats

Minocqua, WI...  Home of more ideal spots for dock lounging than anywhere else in the world.  It's science.

In Akaroa Harbor in New Zealand.  There were multiple docks like this, just meandering down into the water.

I think this was at Lake Seneca in NY.  freeezing cold water, but a very very pretty area.

Who doesn't enjoy a nice rainbow after a ski show?  And that there, my friends, is on of my other most favorite docks in existence.

4th of July at Duck Lake in NY :)

Another shot from the world's greatest dock.  Just an amazing number of summer memories attached to this location..

Our new dock.
I think it'll do the trick :)

la chasse au bonheur

"What I know for sure is that you feel real JOY in direct proportion to how connected you are to living your truth."

Oprah

yup, there it is.  I opened with a quote from The Oprah.  This is due to the fact that any quote about joy is so sickeningly sweet, that even I (who absolutely adores that stuff) couldn't handle it.  The idea of joy has been simplified into these really insipid little thoughts that bare little resemblance to how cool the feeling of joy really is.  It's this pure moment of forgetting everything except the feeling of some fantastic light busting out from within.  Or something like that.  I don't really write, I just steal thoughts from other people and muck them together with some of my fave pics.

So I tossed a few pictures that to me somewhat expressed that feeling... although it was difficult to avoid yet another collection of just cute kid pics, because it would seem that most adults have forgotten how to just let loose and just feel happy, even for long enough to snap a picture. 

I guess swimming in your dress is what brings joy to some.  especially if they've been drinking in the sun all day :)

It was the friendship or the fact that we were all tooling around in Australia...  both bring muchas muchas joy.

Kids bring more joy and spread more joy than anyone else.  Just looking at these little dudes gives me the grins.

ha!  mud pile during shot put season.  I don't know if that's joy or just plain crazy, but either way... good times.

My friend Rekha snapped this pic.  She was great with capturing kiddos at just the right moment...  I just preferred to toss them around a bit.

Ah!  Feet!  So awesome!  They're like hands for my legs!

Smilessss.

That would be joy brought on by my sweet yellow shades.

Pauly was just a joy spreader.

One Last TNT Thought

So one last thought from my continuous TNT posts that have little to do with my travels or photography in general...  I just wanted to show off my sweet-ass TNT jersey from race day, and say THANKS! to everyone that donated, tossed some encouragement to my gram, or bought a picture.  My grand total sale of one pic.  bought by my brother.  WHATEVER- I'm still stoked that one was sold :) 

The race itself was pretty sweet.  I recommend to anyone that they either run or at least attend a marathon at some point- with a cool sign if possible (my favorite from race day said "worst parade ever.") It was a crazy experience, and I ran the first ten miles on pure adrenaline, enjoying the crowds and watching the other runners.  It was also pretty cool that during the last mile (almost all uphill.  not cool) I heard another runner yelling to people "you're doing great!  finish strong!" which is just a fantastic example of the type of athletes involved in endurance events and what makes running so great.  Beyond that- the whole experience I had with TNT was amazing.  My teammates, coach, and new friends made me look forward to team trainings and pushed me further than I've ever run before (and I got the chance to raise some fat dolla dollas for a great cause.)

So this is the end of my harassing my very few blog followers for money- I will soon be back to scrapping together completely random collections of photography to ramble incoherently and nonsensically with terrible grammar and spelling.

as a final thought:

CANCER SUCKS.



fluffy wuffy cloudage

Can’t say I’m much for practicing safe photography.  Mostly because I have the unfortunate habit of taking pictures while I drive- which if I were to observe anyone else doing, I would likely think to myself, “self: that person is a douche-bag.  What a terrible decision.  No picture is worth driving like a dumb ass.”   However, that’s not really what this post is about.  I’ve already put together a whole collection of my bad decisions.

Post-Storm skies

Yesterday while driving after the storms, I had to spend time stuck in traffic while there was this funky coolness going on in the sky around me.  And since popping off to the side of the road to snap a few shots wasn’t really an option, I just behaved like a tool and snapped while driving. 

I guess it’s not too bad of a shot for a crappy cell phone pic…  but it was way cooler in person.  The shot reminded me of some other pics of the random impressiveness tossed out by the erf, so I threw ‘em together as a little homage to the occasional lucky catch.

Boom.

Pre-Storm skies in Sconnie.  It was actually pretty dark, but I put it on some random-long exposure, and this is what I got.

Storms in Africa?  No, just some nifty cloudage.
But now I could go for some Enya/Kitaro action.

My bro took this one while wine-touring the Finger Lakes in NY.

A sunrise from above?  I'm cool with that.
Not with the no sleep and the elevation sickness, but I guess you can't have everything.

You know, come to think of it...  I've probably already posted about random-lucky-catches-of-how-beautiful-the-world-can-be or some variation on that theme...  which tells me that it's about time to plan another long trip.  


Russia, anyone?

becoming a fan of fun... again

This kid was REALLY good.

So, to be honest, I’m not sure what the rules are on posting any of the pics I took for Special O of Minnesota last weekend…  so if anyone asks- YOU DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING. 

Anyways- I’m pretty stoked to be back in the action again.  To be specific, the combination of three of my favorite things:  sports, photography, and peeps with cognitive disabilities.  I guess an odd trifecta of favorites, sure, but that’s how I roll.  But it was a pretty fantastic weekend.  I remembered by I used to enjoy taking Chileda kiddos to Special Olympic tournaments and getting to be a part of all of the action.  There’s no better crowd than at these events- everyone gets into the games and cheers for all everyone without it feeling like a “isn’t that just SO special?!” feel to the fans.  It was great- I especially enjoyed listening to a couple guys trash talk about some of the plays during a basketball game.  It was the same shit you hear people saying at any game anywhere…  and don’t worry- the crazy mom’s screaming “miss it!  miss it!” during free throws were there too.  Although I think my favorite event was the power lifting, and the fact that the guy lifting 65 pounds got the same reception as the dude lifting 350. 

I could keep going on about how enjoyable the experience was, but I’ll give it a rest.  There was a definite downside though, and that is that I was reminded that I have no idea how to get good shots inside a gym.  The lighting really really just sucks.  Should probably work a wee bit on that one…

Unified basketball was pretty sweet.  It's teams made of of players with and without disabilities.  I think there were a lot of high school kids involved, which was pretty bad ass.

This girl was just bashing into people all over the place.  It was great...  like if I were to play basketball.

I'm thinking it doesn't feel so great to land on your leg like that.  But to her credit, she totally brushed it off and kept playing.

BOOM.

I've never been a huge fan of photag'ing swimming...  only because it's so hot by the pool, and I can never quite get over the urge to jump in and join the athletes.

Grandma Awesomeness

So this post may not be as based on photography as it is completely not based on photography- BUT before you flake, since my writing is often terrible and incomprehensible, it would mean a lot to me to at least attempt to follow my rampaging thought train.  Although before I begin, it's a least slightly about photography- the photo above is my little homage to my Gram (I'll explain later), the person on whom this post is based.  So here we go...  What follows is a list of why my Gram is the coolest person ever, and why I'm busting my ass to raise funds and run a race in her honor.

1. She doesn't know the meaning of "day off."  Yes, that may seem to be something most people believe about their grandmas, but when a lady basically doesn't take a single day off through her entire working career, to only begin volunteering at the hospital she was treated at following chemo, she takes it to the next level.
2. She has excellent taste in ice cream.  Butter pecan.  Yessss.
3. She willingly wore shoes painted with blue sparkly flames.  They were superawesome, and she rocked 'em like no one else could.
4. She is terrifying in a political argument.  For realz.  And I wouldn't suggest starting a discussion while driving anywhere.... It wouldn't be shocking if she opened the door and booted you out.
5. She chooses the most amazing gifts.  Presents from my gram are exceptional.  The photo above is a glitter/snow globe from the gift shop she volunteers in.  Gram knew that I have an unnatural (for my age) appreciation of glitter and fairies, and found the perfect combination of each.  She told me she also chose it because it had Forget-me-Not flowers at the bottom, so I never forgot her.  She also never forgets to send cards for holidays.  It's awesome.
6. She's fun to drink with.  Yeah, that's right.  One Korbel and water (with fruit!) and she's a bit silly.  But again, stay away from politics.
7. She's a great movie date.  It's our tradition that every time I'm in Madison, we go to see a movie. Occasionally one each day I'm there, actually.  She's got great film taste, and great book taste as well.  I've raided her enormous library more than once.
8. She came to like every one of my brother's and my ski shows.  And donated money almost every time, bought more programs than any person needs, and also used to help out in the concession stand.  She was our bestest fan. 
9. Her gene line led to some pretty awesome people.  Just throwing that out there.

So here's the deal.  I'm sure people are aware of my fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (my family has been super amazing helping out) but I don't want to just rest on what I've got.  So I'm again attaching the link for the fundraising page:  

http://pages.teamintraining.org/mn/minneapo11/ahansen0ku

and for my photography store page: http://curiousbirdphotos.blogspot.com/2011/01/just-buckets-of-karma-coming-your-way.html  (does your business need some new artwork?!?  or your house?) 

or if you're thinking you don't have the scratch to toss a little support to the LLS, any words for my Gram would also be greatly appreciated, especially now.

ALSO... For those who know Gram- 

Definitely feel free to add your own reasons of her awesomeness :)

happy thoughts happy thoughts happy thoughts

Being part of a great team...  What's better than that?

 It's something of an inevitability that everyone feels like total crap for no real reason once and awhile.  And as I was sitting around the other night, feeling sorry for myself and making up excuses for the reasons that everyone had it SO much better than me, I decided to take a break from being a total sad sack and made a list of the thoughts that never fail to cheer me up.  If even just for a few seconds, reveling in my favorite memories is a great way to slap the blues around.


So here are a few pictures that sparked some of my favorite memories...  I had to stop and label this album "part one" since so many warm fuzzy moments were attached to pictures, that photos would still be uploading to this post three years from now.  I think everyone has their strange sour-mood fixes, and I'm glad mine involves in soaking up the past and appreciated the awesome friends I've had and the great places I've been, rather than focusing on what I think I'm currently missing.

Grandmas!

Mid-week drinks out with coworkers at awesome hole in the wall bars.

Making sure to let friends know you love them :)

Greasy spoon culture.

Getting to share tiny moments of a strangers happy day.

Pretty things in unexpected places.

Bonfires, and all of the events attached to them.

Silly drinks.

Favorite sites, beautiful summer nights, thousands of memories attached to one place.

Nerding out in public places.

The hint of an upcoming summer.

Interesting new friends and jobs you never knew existed.

Natural family moments.

Getting a real taste of an indescribable place.