Thanks again, NPR.

Hello, friends! Here is yet another great NPR link from The Picture Show. Some of these photographs are really amazing.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/11/mystery_ghost_photos.html

Forever is Tomorrow is Today

Vanity

I had fun buttons. And a happy necklace I found at the saturday flea market.

Also, with all the time I spend in my room writing my thesis, I am fast running out of things to look at.

All you need is...

Peanut butter and jelly. Seriously.

Colors

I got this bracelet in Cairo and I was so excited to wear it. When I got to the top of the hill and removed my coat though, I discovered it had dyed my arm blue. I am the classiest person I know.

To add to my day full of odd pigmentation, this wine was very inky and purple.

White clothing, beware.

Pictures, Drugs, and Rock and Roll

I still don't have a camera, but I have a keen interest in NPR articles. I found this one and thought I would share it...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2009/10/indonesia.html

Kelidescope

Not really, I just felt I should compensate for the less-than-spicy photo with some over editing fun. And I like the way that it looks like the world from some sort of looking device (um, other than a camera?) The light was really cool on San Sal, with a super long, skinny shadow cast by the Swisscom tower... and I was still suffering from the cairo-funk and in self-imposed quarantine, so I was happy to see something photo-worthy from my balcony.

Some Faces

I kinda like them...

I like this and I did not have a photo for this day:

Tahnee

Little Lights

The Good Life

Stella on the Nile. I love travel.

Lindsay

This photo is not of anything ancient, iconc, of highly entertaining so I have not given it enough attention, so I felt like it deserved some blogspace.

Alexandria: Cavorting with Cleopatra and Cavafy

The photos were not mind-blowing... I was still in a dehydrated stupor but I feel like modern Alexandria lacks personality. STILL, the idea of history, poetry, libraries, and lighthouses was intoxicating

Al Azhar Park

This was an incredible park built on a hill with a view of Cairo stretching into the smog. What was once a giant garbage dump became one of the only open green spaces in the city.

It is also one of three photos I took this day... I spent most of the day fending off death at the Hotel Cosmopolitan (also known as the twilight zone) while everyone else was galavanting around the city learning things (actually, I think the only thing I really missed out on was the Starbucks in Heliopolis).

Yes, I took a photo in the restroom at the American University of Cairo

Franklin has a lawn... AUC has everything else. Rather than making us jealous I think we all thought it obscene (the whole production, not this restroom).

Also, I love this photo of Claire.

I need a photo opportunity, I need a shot at redemption

I got what I was looking for.

*Also, let it be known that I love Paul Simon

October 10th: Tragedy Strikes

To all our faithful followers (not that we're a cult or anything, but the website dubs you 'followers,' so I guess I will too),
I have some very sad news as a photographer and an unemployed human: I dropped my camera today and damaged it rather significantly. I can still take pictures, but they are very blurry and if I try to zoom or change any settings, it's all for naught.
I did some crying, then some research on camera shops around the Twin Cities, and I'm at a loss. I have no job and no extra money for such things as camera repairs. I'm afraid that for the time being, my photography days are on hold.
As Alyssa, is on Academic Travel, there will probably be very few new photos coming up over the next week or so. Thanks for following us! This project has truly kept me going over the last year and we love knowing that we have so many friends and family that enjoy our hobby, too. I'm hoping to find a good place that can fix my baby for cheap, but I'll keep you posted.

Arrivederci,
Alauna

The Last Camel Died At Noon

No camels died. It is a book I was reading. It filled my mind with fanciful thoughts about action and adventure and archeology. Dangerous stuff, I tell you.

The City Victorious

I am never leaving.

Until tomorrow.

And...

November 6th.

Thanksgiving.

The End of All Things, December 13th.

But other than that I am never leaving.

Great Ages of Man

An unlikely pair...

It's official: I hate global climate change. As Minnesotans, we are a people prepared to deal with harsh winters. It is not uncommon to have snow on the ground from November to April. Five months of winter is just about as much as a person can take.

So far, 2009 has been a beast. We had snow all the way into May (and June, in the North Country), and this fall it snowed October 9th.

The only way to deal with global climate change in this part of the country is to accept the cold, try to find the beauty, and listen to Josh Groban's Christmas album, even if the first snowfall does preceded Halloween by a number of weeks.

Love and Betrayal

We thought we would have some fun carving him up before he became pie and soup. Lura had been talking to him for a couple days so it was a little bit hard for her to let him go...

Don't Despair

Those are words you use to try and make someone feel better when someone has died or all is lost, they are not words that make people feel like they are succeeding.

It really was okay though... PROGRESS.

I win.

Halloween: An Ode to Chocolate (Muffins)

Kendra and I did some delicious baking. :)

Crayola wish list.

I will tell you about it some time

Castagne Love

She came downstairs like this...

Scenes from a real kitchen with a fake camera...

I have taken this photo a thousand times.

... but the view never gets old.

Photography Tip #1

Since we are now in the early stages of October, and have been blogging since January, I believe it is now time to give my first photography tip. To all of our followers, please know that this tip comes solely from my own experiences...I am not suffering delusions of grandeur. So, without further ado, Alauna's Photography Tip #1:

When taking pictures, always remember to bring your camera.

I have had and missed the opportunity to photograph no less than five deer recently, all within 30 years, and some closer than 20. I missed these opportunities because I did not have my camera with me. Now, one of these instances was not my fault. I actually did have my camera with me, and was in my car, sitting still. I looked up, and along the treeline was a deer, staring right at me! I watched it for a long time, neither of us moving. And then I decided that it was actually a hunting target and not a deer. So, I stopped watching it, felt like a fool for being tricked by an inanimate object (again), and got out of my car (senza camera). It was then that the deer turned tail and ran into the woods. That wily beast!

Later that same evening, two more deer came trouncing through the yard. Since I had left my camera in my car, however, they got away without photographic proof of their existence.

Another evening, I was driving around the time of sunset. The sky was gray and bleak, but the sun was a giant orange ball, glowing in the sky. It seemed very out of place, but it was totally beautiful. I had planned to drive to the corner of highways 18 and 17 and take a picture, because I knew it would be a wonderful spot for such a photo. I got to the corner, which is home to the tiniest Lutheran Church and cemetary I know, and realized I did not have my camera. I made the angry seagull gurgle sound that Marcel occasionally makes and looked up, only to see yet another deer watching me with a mixture of confusion and satisfaction (I'm sure). We watched each other for a while, and then one of his friends came bouncing along and there were two deer watching me. I swore, and they ran away, and that was the end of my sad saga.

So, whether you are an experienced photographer or a newby of sorts, always remember to bring your camera.

Happy shooting.

Temptation

I got a package. Of Emergen-C and this...

Nalapak

**Note: Mickel's food is nearly as long as she is tall.**

We recently went to Nalapak, located on Central Ave. in Columbia Heights. It was sublime.

We both ordered different kinds of Dosai, and when the waiters brought out our dishes, we both looked and each other and said, "We should have split a meal!"

But, we both finished our plates of copious amounts of food without a problem.

Redezvous

We ditched a lock-your-doors hall meeting in favor of our own. At the monastery. With food.

I know it is not very good, but it makes me happy anyway.

It was tricky... It was dark, but the floodlights were bright, and there was a nasty glowing fog...

Beauties of Fall

One of my favorite things: Fall trees with all the colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, and a few lingering Green leaves. Gorgeous.

MacBook

Have you ever read a book you remember being good, but when you read it again you are older and wiser and it is no longer the challenge and stimulation you remember it being? It is like reliving an experience with a different brain...

This class is like that. It is pretty much the Media and Culture class (only not as bad, taught by a professor with a soul, and thank the Lord, missing a few key imbeciles) I am pretty sure it counting as my last COM requirement is the result of a series of odd events and major loopholes; the cycling through of four different professors, the drastic change in course

offerings, drastic changes in core requirements, the fact that I have been here for a million years, and my desperation to graduate. Anyway, it is like reliving the same story all over again surrounded by small Franklin children... and they make me a little bit crazy.

That has to do with this photo because we had to have a mid-semester chat about plagiarism, critical thinking, and weaning yourself off of all forms of technologically mediated communication during class (rude). It was a good chat. Perhaps it means the macbooks (and phones, blackberries, ipods, etc) will stay home.

Windowsill Produce

'Tis the season of harvest.

A Confession

This was not taken today, and it was not taken Monday, the day I posting it for... Actually, I have stretched the most interesting 4 days of the past 3 weeks into about 12 days. My thesis is eating my life. It is okay- I like it, it is going well, and I need to devote my time to it. It is just not very good for the everyday photography because a) I am in my room working, and my tiny corner-less room can only yield so many interesting photos if a pile of books an paper, which is essentially what my life looks like right now, and b) I have been lacking any drive to do anything else- other work, cooking, cleaning, dressing in a socially appropriate manner. The good that has come of all this is that when I do venture out into the world it seems even more striking and lovely and deserving of copious photos. I just thought I should confess.