{Sacred Space}

If you are a dreamer, come in, If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer. . . If you’re a pertender, come sit by my fire For we have some flx-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come In! ~Shel Silverstein One of my most treasured moments as a mom is reading with my children. Or watching them read, learn to read, discover a juicy book that they can't put down. My daughter is a voracious reader and I love it. She gets sad when good books end. Befriends characters. Get's lost in stories and new worlds. This picture really captures that for me and it is precious. I miss these days very much. When I could just see and watch her. Daily. Bug her and give her kisses.
 I know not to look back too much. It takes me to a place I'd rather not be. In my own head. But I look at pictures like these and my heart swells and my head spins. And for a few moments I'm looking backward. Trying to filter the good feelings. Which out weight the heaviness of other memories. I don't regret any moments of my life because they are leading me to a really good spot. The only problem is I'm not quite sure what that is yet. And boy, that drives me insane. It feels like God is fucking with me. Damn it. Knee capping out my foundation and replacing it with a stronger base and frame.
I have a lot to be grateful for as I move forward. I have a lot to be grateful for when I look back too. I struggle to be mindful. Stay present. Watch my thoughts and not BE them. Then I shut the fuck up and work hard at building the foundation I look at pictures of her a lot though. I'm happy. They are sacred too me. And we are characters in a book. Figuring out a new story

{Puddle Beam}

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.” 
-Walt Whitman

This almost spring puddle caught my eye on an evening walk today. I spent quite some time trying to capture the dancing light that strummed across the surface. Looking like diamonds or glitter...Diamonds on the soles of my shoes. And then after I got home realizing they were also all soaked up the back up my pants, almost to my knees. Oh sweet, lovely spring I've miss you.

{Passports}

“But those who seek only reassurance from life will never be more than tourists—seeing everything and trying to possess what can only be felt.
Beauty is the shadow of imperfection.” 
― Simon Van Booy, Everything Beautiful Began After

I'm still planning to post to this blog frequently and more so with personal art and reflections. My new business blog can be found here:
Stacey Thayer Photography
Check it out!

{I want candy}

“Light is good company, when alone; I took my comfort where I found it, and the warmest yellow bulb in the living-room lamp had become a kind of radiant babysitter all its own.” 
― Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake



I bought this candy apple over the weekend at the Oakmont Bakery in Pittsburgh while visiting my sister.
This bakery is incredible.
A visual delight.
As too the caramel apple.
A cosmic combination of everything I love.
Family, Comfort, Apples, sweets, colors, sprinkles, color...
And a challenge.
In all of life, wouldn't a caramel apple encompass challenge...
I digress
My intention was ...is.. to photograph then send to my kids. Yes! That is my intention.
I'm working on my food photography portfolio so it makes sense.
However, the apple and I are having a stare down.
I want to eat it. Devour it.
Wait...
The photograph
How do you photograph a caramel apple?
So it comes across like the tasty beauty that I remember...
I'm not sure
And It's All Wrong
All of it
The sprinkles, the moment it hits your teeth and tongue
So we stare each other down
I pack it away and pace
But there is a shelf life
So, I pace fast
I'm sure it will be captured
After I taste it

{Freeze Frame}

“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible. So part of us believes that when the tide starts coming in, we won't really have lost anything, because actually only a symbol of it was there in the sand. Another part of us thinks we'll figure out a way to divert the ocean. This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be.” 
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I love this quote and I love this picture. So put them together....Perfection!

{Infinite, Universal}

“Every day I discover 
more and more 
beautiful things. 
It’s enough to drive one mad. 
I have such a desire 
to do everything,
my head is bursting with it.” 
-Claude Monet

{LOL CALLA and other things that said at flower shops}

“Some people see things that are and ask, Why? 
Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? 
Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.” 
― George Carlin



A few days ago, a man called the flower store hoping to place an arrangement order for the lolcalla flower. If we carried those in stock. With plugged ears from a cold and also notably still very new to understanding the world of flower speak, I asked him to repeat the name of the flower. He said it again, lolcalla. At this point, I gave up and asked if he could possibly be referring to a Calla Lily. With a pause, I got a let me read this text again response. Her favorite flower was a lolcalla. It all clicked...one, two, three. Was she laughing at something prior in the conversation I asked? Another pause, and then a real laugh. Yes she had been! He'll take an arrangement of Calla Lilies please.
I had to also laugh and then thought how disappointed I was that there was no such thing as a LOL Calla.