Dec
31
2009
the last day
Today, the last day of 2009. I decided to take a picture of myself to say goodbye to this very difficult year.Bye, 2009. But I also don’t like the fact that I am another year older.
Dec
25
2009
Christmas present from my rear window
Rain drops woke me up. It’ going to be a wet Xmas, I said to myself. Well, I need to work, any way. But the rain stopped and … I got one of my favorite Xmas gifts: deer sent by Santa Claus, from my window, not a chimney!
Dec
19
2009
it snows
Born in the south, I am never tired of snow, which is rare in my hometown. It began snowing very early this morning and snow flakes will keep falling for the next few days. It is already a bless to be able to watch snow flakes flying down from the sky, even nicer to take a walk in snow, or just share a squirrel’s joy in the snow. Now I miss the days when I took walks in the snow storm in Ward, CO. Tom’s dog, Gus, always followed us. I wonder if Gus remembers me.
Dec
17
2009
snaps
Running to different places and snap a few shots on the way. That means I didn’t get the time to talk with the people I photographed. Any way, I did my journal yesterday.
Dec
15
2009
from a break
What can you do when you have promised to do a photo journal but really get stuck to your laptop all day and all night? Kind of hard. But I must snap something. Snapped the setting sun outside the window yesterday and the woods in the dark (quite a long exposure.) tonight while talking a walk to escape the computer and for some fresh air.
Dec
11
2009
Bill
At New-to-You, a thrift store in Athens, he saw my D200 and came up to me. “Is that a digital camera?” He asked, then continued to tell me he used to have a lot of lenses and cameras, most of which he sold.
“Do you have a view camera?” I asked him. I am always interested in buying a view camera – I mean if the price is affordable.
“I used to have several. I sold them. Fifty dollars for each.”
“What! Gosh, I wish I had met you before that. I could have bought one from you at a higher price. Oh, no! A view camera for $50!”
We continued to chat about cameras. He was very happy to have someone to talk with him and he started to talk non-stop. He talked about his good old days and then his wife, who passed away some years ago. “After my wife passed away, I am so lonely and I can’t stand staying home by myself. I have to go around,” he said. I looked into his eyes. He did look lonesome. I felt and still feel sorry for him – Bill Gowings, 81, of Lancaster, Ohio.
The following is a picture from the library, taken not long after I left poor Bill.
Dec
10
2009
A 70-year-old kid
Eloise Clark, 78, one of my favorite people, loves fortune cookies. I promised her a bag of fortune cookies when I left US. Tonight I bought her the fortune cookies. She still remembers me despite my being away for half a year. And she was as excited as a kid, a most beautiful kid, waiting for a Christmas gift. She opened the cookies and I read her the prophecy. Each time, she exclaimed, “Wow! Oh! Oh! Bless your heart, my dear!”
Eloise offered me one of her cookies. In it I found mine: “A surprising announcement will free you!” Well, this is indeed what I need. Eloise gave me a hug for it. How I wish she were my real grandma. I told her so, just like my “American daughter” said to me when I bought her a double cholocate, “I wish you were my real mom!”
