Unpredicted storm

A few minutes after 1 a.m. I was awoken by silence. In the summer I sleep with two fans and a sound machine so when the electricity went off, the sudden silence woke me as if an alarm had gone off. Thunder rumbled softly, rain bounced off the driveway and wind caused the windows to rattle. Powerful thunderstorms are not unusual in the Midwest; however, it's rare that one causes power outages. ...

Read More

Once-in-a-lifetime eh

My best friend's dog, who captured my heart nearly nine years ago. Love him, love him, love him. Just as I was preparing to leave the house to go to a hair appointment, my hair stylist called as asked to reschedule. Totally fine with me. Instead of sitting in a salon for a couple of hours, I went to my best friend's house. [Note: in the interest of anonymity I'm using aliases for everyone I write...

Read More

While I was away

Welcome to my bland office. While I was at home yesterday afternoon the office manager enlisted the assistance of a couple of guys to move this storage unit from a recently vacated office to mine. I had requested the unit—it's sudden appearance wasn't the result of workplace shenanigans, although that would have made more fun when I unlocked my door this morning and found it. It's too large...

Read More

Summer rain

The day started out rainy and muggy. I was outside under an umbrella for a short time, long enough to walk to the end of this sidewalk and duck into a building. There was an event taking place that I needed to photograph. As soon as I finished, I walked back to my office, downloaded the images, sent an email and left for the day. My back has been bothering me off and on for a couple of weeks....

Read More

Bridges

Once common, these old iron truss bridges are slowly being dismantled in favor of concrete ones that look like an extension of the road. I have a love/hate feeling about these old bridges. They remind me of childhood but they also remind me of the uneasiness I felt when crossing them, especially if the wooden planks were loose and  bucked and rattled as the car tires rolled over them. Please...

Read More

Instantly better

Out driving one day, feeling many kinds of lost, I turned onto a gravel road that passed a country cemetery and a couple of edge-of-town properties – one with a backyard flock of chickens, another with a backyard collection of parted-out cars – then I looked over and saw this lone tree on a slope and felt...yes. Sometimes I need open spaces. Must remember th...

Read More