old photos

been going through old photos lately. started looking more closely at the series the above photo comes from. i noticed that my cousin malin is wearing the green dress that later became a favorite of mine. just realized it must have been a malin hand-me-down. also noticed that i am cracking up in the above photo.

i love the swedish flag in the center of the desserts tray. i love the blue and green napkins, the flowery couch, the orange lamp, and the green thermos (in another photo). i love the total mishmash of decor.

in another one in the series, everyone is singing. must be a birthday. i love mormor's outfit (floor length floral skirt!), and my aunts' outfits. so 70s. and my cousin karin's jumpsuit. must have been hot for the uncles to be going around shirtless. this is how i remember swedish childhood summers—full of family, which was so fun and different from my usual only child life. 

MLK

my day today:

1. fought my way out from under cat purring on chest. took a video, but purring not captured.
2. dressed and listened to a pretty good forum on how to talk with kids about race (lessons to be applied to adults too).
3. took a long walk in alameda in the sun. snapped some old cars.
4. sat on my favorite bench and took a selfie. 
5. saw MLK likeness in a window (actually in all windows of this house).

(not pictured, among other things: the ebelskiver i made for breakfast! i also got stuck under the cat at breakfast. kale salad and more ebelskiver i ate for lunch, uneventful dinner leftovers, the erasing of the hard drive on my old computer. sharon van etten singing serpents)

vegan cowboy

been sneaking photos at the ferry building. 

1. textured lady in line: she also had on great shoes and turquoise earrings, and her hair was super textured too. it was short, but sprayed in all different directions with parts layered over other parts, almost like a basket. i've never seen the style before, but she was pulling it off. i couldn't stop looking at all of her textures. 

2. cowboy traveler musician: he stopped to get a vegan donut! the donut vendor and baked goods vendor chuckled at something vegan cowboy said. i wonder what it was and where he was headed with his pile of suitcases, guitar and donut.

behind the picture

i've been foiled about five times now for this behind the picture project. the most recent time i foiled myself (if that's possible), being just before this picture, at breakfast. erica and i went to a local breakfast joint, where i'd planned on taking my behind the picture photo, but when i took out my camera i realized i didn't have my memory card in it. err.

anyhow, here is a photo i just took in the backyard. i don't hang out in the backyard enough. i like it back there.

if you look closely, you can see a basketball going through the net in the yard behind ours, just beyond the fence. a boy and a girl were playing there. they didn't talk much and didn't seem fiercely competitive. occasionally i'd hear them saying something in spanish in a pleasant way of kids just really into what they're doing. mostly it was just the basketball thudding in the background.

and water draining in another yard, perhaps from the washing machine. trees rustling with the cool breeze. one plane flying over. and a constant, though far off hum of traffic. a wind chime chiming.

despite all these sounds, it felt very quiet back there. i sat down on the cold, cold concrete in the sun to write down what was going on behind the picture. my butt was freezing, but the sun felt nice. it reminded me of breezy days in laguna sitting in the driveway outside our house hanging out with the dogs. the air felt really clean. (it's one of those days when one really notices air.) i had a slight headache behind my eyes. a full tummy after eating a chocolate shake, eggs, potatoes and sourdough toast for breakfast. (yes, a shake for breakfast.) still appreciating the relief i am experiencing after this. and appreciating supportive friends, family and blog readers.

please check out the other behind the picture players. links in the comments in this post. grey dandelion feather's is quite poetic. please join us next friday!

wanna play?

things you can't tell from this photo:

it was taken yesterday around 11:15 am. (very late breakfast)
it was about 50 degrees farenheit in the kitchen, before i opened the oven door to let out the biscuit warmth.
i was wearing my clothes and a blanket.
i had to heat up some old, stiff honey to pour on the biscuit.
i think i got sick from this old honey later on.
it was quiet and pinky and i were the only ones home.
pinky leon jumped onto the table and tried to sniff the butter. (if i wasn't there, i'm sure he'd have done more than sniff.)
i moved the organic brown sugar (for the tea) off to the side for the photo because it didn't look pretty.
i have four and a half biscuits left over.
next time i'm making pancakes from the trader joes mix instead of biscuits.

i am just remembering the above, but i think it would be fun to do a project where you take a photo and note everything else going on at that time. a different kind of five senses game. wanna play? maybe friday?