Is this thing still on?

I used to blog.

I used to have thoughts and opinions.

I used to have a voice.

I used to sort out the ideas ricocheting around in my head, and try to get them to conform to the words of the English language.

I feel like I've been in a coma, and forgotten how to speak.

I'm ready to learn again, and to that end, I'm going to try my hand at a month of blog posts.

I don't know what to write.

So, I'll just sit here until the inspiration comes -- or until my head explodes, whichever comes first....

Should be an interesting month.

366: Week 7

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February 12: Disneyland Fever is raging in our house -- the early signs include massive swelling in the hands....

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February 13: This is the Daddy toothpaste and the Mommy toothpaste. The baby toothpaste is much smaller.

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February 14: Wuv....TWUE wuv....I get a craving for these hearts for about twenty-four hours each year. The rest of the time, they taste like chalk.

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February 15: That about sums up the day. I identify with Calvin -- probably more than I should...

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February 16: It's a giant lightsaber! Not really, it's just the Olympic Cauldron. These last two weeks have marked the ten year anniversary since the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games? Remember the Pairs Skating Judging Scandal (Canadians and Russians), and Sarah Hughes winning gold, and the American Snowboard Team sweeping the medals, and the Derek Para winning gold, and Apolo Anton Ohno making his first appearance, and the Roots berets, and the flag from Ground Zero being carried in during the Opening Ceremonies, and the Miracle Hockey Team from 1980 lighting this cauldron? 

Well, we remember.

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February 17: It's convenient to have a picturesque lake nearby, to stop and grab a quick sunset, on the way home. 

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February 18: How can you NOT love washing your car, when you wash it with rainbows?

366: Week 6

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February 5: We're going to Disneyland!

In October.

This cake was baked by my daughter to celebrate the 240 day mark on her countdown.

The words on the frosting say "Disneyla"

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February 6: Another photo from the series "Pictures I take, while driving in my car."

If you look closely, you can see a subtle self portrait. You'll notice I have both hands on the camera, which begs the question: "How is he steering the car?"

Well, that's what knees are for.

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February 7: Gourmet donuts. From left to right and top to bottom:

German Chocolate, Lemon Citrus, Apple Crisp, PB&J, Raspberry Torte, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, Blueberry Delight, Coconut Creme, Grasshopper, Chocolate Dipped Strawberry, Maple Delight (yep, that's bacon on that donut), and S'more.

19.95 a dozen.

Eat your heart out Homer!

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February 8: Hey, the sky was on fire! What was I supposed to do?

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February 9: I love Pixar. Unabashedly so. They have a beautiful touch -- not just the images they create, but the stories that they tell are so perfectly crafted. If I could have a dream employer, it would be Pixar. 

Actually, to tell the truth, if there is any Pixar movie that I'm sort of lukewarm about, it's Cars. But it has this little forklift guy in it that I just love (I drive a forklift all day -- and you just don't see a lot of forklift action figures).

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February 10: I can't remember what Emma named this little creation...so we'll just call her Shelly :)

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February 11: The Fett family, Boba and Jango, savoring one of those special moments -- before Jango gets his head lightsabered off and Boba gets eaten by the Sarlac Pit.

Photostory Friday: The Virtue of Shadow

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

I'm puzzled about how to even begin to write what I am going to try and say...

How do I tell you that I love the darkness?

How do I convey the idea that there is virtue in shadow, without you thinking there is something wrong with me?

We instinctively seek light. Light is life and hope, and it's easy to say that without the darkness we wouldn't know what light is -- and that's true. Without pain we don't know pleasure. Without sorrow, there is no joy. But, I'm not talking about the darkness that blocks our path and I'm not talking about evil.

I'm talking about the shadows we walk in freely.

Light is truth, but there's truth in darkness too.

I think there is a difference between turning to the darkness, and standing in the shadows, to appreciate the light.

And I think it's something we do again and again. When you love someone -- when you serve someone -- sometimes it's not enough to stand at the edge of the light and beckon to that person, sometimes you have to get behind them and push them forward, or even get below them to help raise them up.

If you are a good person, you have willingly walked into the darkness...and I know what you saw....

You saw that light is framed by darkness.

You saw that the shadows of life give us depth and dimension and definition.

You saw that there is a real and sublime beauty to walking in the valleys and deep forests.

You saw that sometimes there is virtue in standing in the darkness.

366: Week 5

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January 29: Nesting dolls. These were a gift that my mom brought back to us from her trip to Alaska.

Because she gets to go to cool places...and I don't.

But, I'm fine with that. Really.

Just move on, ok?

(Just kiddin' Mom :)

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January 30: So, I had the camera wrapped tightly around my wrist -- so there was no danger at all of the camera falling into the street.

What about being a responsible driver, you ask?

Hey, I have a responsibility to my art, don't I?

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January 31: This is the sight that greets me each morning as I step into the shower. It's a little disconcerting  -- they seem so eager...so hopeful...so intensely focused...

Sorry your highnesses, I'm almost forty, it's probably not going to get much better than this.

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February 1: This is the only football we recognize at our house. And truthfully, only two of us recognized it.

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February 2: I'm still working on this whole bokeh concept. Thursday night I found myself lying on the floor, amidst a bunch of Christmas lights, trying to come up with some ideas, when I noticed the way the lights were reflecting off the back of this DVD, laying on the floor. 

Why was the DVD laying on the floor?

Don't ask me.

Seriously, don't ask me...it's a sore subject. 

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February 3: I am a BYU fan. My son is a FANATIC. He's sees Y's everywhere. He draws Y's on everything. He wears a BYU shirt to school every day (no, not the SAME shirt -- he has enough to wear a different one each day). He's actually known as that kid that wears BYU shirts every day. He even makes Y's out of Legos. This one, he says, is perfectly, exactly the same. 

You and I would say it's symmetrical.

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February 4: Second verse, same as the first...only different. With this Skywalker family photo session, and the Stormtrooper family from last week (along with a couple of other ideas I have) I'm thinking of producing a line of VERY exclusive Father's Day cards this year.

366: Week 4

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January 22: Self Portrait. That's me on the right.

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January 23: S'mores on a stick.

Here's the recipe: Take one tooth pick, skewer a marshmallow, dip it in melted chocolate, roll it in graham cracker crumbs.

Eat.

One.

It's pretty hearty.

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January 24: Yes, this week I took pictures of toys. My toys.

These are my Mulder and Scully action figures (they're NOT dolls! -- that would be my Ken and Barbie as Mulder and Scully...)

The X-Files was a show specifically designed for me -- the weird and the unexplained are right up my alley (whenever I go to the library, the first place I head is the 000-100 section -- that's where all the weird subjects are), and at it's peak, was one of the best shows on television. But, by the end of the run, it was pretty ridiculous -- and the last movie is unspeakably bad.

The truth is out there.

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January 25: Bokeh is a Japanese term referring to the quality of the out of focus portion of a photograph. The art of the blur, for lack of a better term.

I shoot a lot of zoomed in pictures, which results in a lot of blurry backgrounds, but this was the first time I intentionally tried to incorporate the blurred background as an essential part of the picture itself.

I kind of like the effect.

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January 26: In fact, I had so much fun, I tried it again the next night. Can you tell who my mystery guest is?

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January 27: Chuck vs. The Goodbye

Chuck is one of my favorite shows, and tonight they aired the final episode. The show had it all -- action, a LOT of humor, and heartbreaking sincerity. I freely admit I can get pretty sappy at times (I choked up several times in the recent Muppet movie), but I make no apologies.

Every episode of the five year run of this show was good. Not many shows have that kind of record. 

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January 28: So, I stole this idea from the internet, but it looked like so much fun I just had to try it.

I am very pleased with the way these pictures turned out (I have several others), and it gave me some great ideas for some other pictures -- stay tuned!

It just occurred to me that this week is full of pop culture touchstones from my life -- that was completely accidental.

That usually means something has tickled my nostalgia bone.

366: Week 3

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January 15: This is my nephew Ethan, he's the next advancement in human evolution...how else do you explain that enormous cranium, except that it contains an enormous brain?

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January 16: In the Salt Lake Valley, during the winter, we often have what is called a temperature inversion, which is when a strong high pressure moves in, and holds the cold air down in the valley, making it actually warmer at the ski slopes than it is on the valley floor.

It also holds the smog in the valley, making for air so thick you can chew it ... and pictures like this.

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January 17: Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip!

Turns out I already have both...

And the hat...

And the jacket...

And the shirt...

And the Head Piece to the Staff of Ra...

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January 18: Self Portrait

What can you tell me about myself, from this photo?

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January 19: My Emma June. This is a typical Emma smile -- sly and subtle, like she knows something that you don't.

Because she does.

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January 20: Jordan got her first cell phone on Christmas. She dropped it in a puddle less than a month later. It's not really her fault, you see my family is cursed. It's not like we have had a lot of puddles around, it's just that there is a universal decree that if there is a small puddle, about the size and depth of a cell phone, a Thornblad MUST drop their phone into that puddle.

If you've ever wondered if burying a wet cell phone in a bowl of rice to suck out the moisture works, I'm here to tell you that two days later, it's as good as new.

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January 21: Snow finally fell on Salt Lake today. It was really wet and sloppy -- like living in a great big, white Slurpee.