Barn Series

What it is about the rusty, dilapidated, pathetic barns, I don't know. I like the fallen iron gateways and overgrown lawns; the houses sitting so close in the same condition but obviously still inhabited. It pushes me a step back to point out again that life is all about fundamentals: build a sturdy foundation and one can grow what s/he needs for the future.

This is one such lesson just down the street from my place; it is tucked behind suburbia in a most unassuming way, two blocks from the old Herbert Hoover Highway.








Just around the corner is a prettier version of the midwest, though I feel it lacks the certain interest I find in the scraped incarnation of itself above:





What do you think?

Oldies and Goodies

My sister applying lipstick on her wedding day,
and a bridesmaid with the same idea as mine

The first rose my guy brought me

Tulip tree (I think? I'm no botanist) in DC

Clock in a friend's apartment

Random fellow on St. Patty's Day

My birthday cupcakes (the only thing I can really bake)

Farmer's market in DC

Hanging in the Herbert Hoover Museum

Rocking horses in Upper City Park

Looking out the window on the way back from Utah
(guess that river!)

My and D's shadows on Sundown Mountain

...just a few of my favorites along the way!

Tulip Time, Part 2

Pella was all sunshine and pools of color on Saturday. I happily skirted the perimeter of most of the puddles, snapping over and through them, not finishing sentences or answering questions because of all the aesthetic distraction.

There were games for the little kids and the restaurants were going full force. Golf carts drove around the blocked off streets.

At one point in the day, I wandered into a courtyard area. It's a funny sensation when you walk into an eerily silent group of 50 people facing the same direction. What they were all looking at was this:


We hovered near the front of the crowd, scanning it for clues. A sign announcing the Klokkenspel times pointed brought the situation into focus. So, we waited...

...and we waited...

...just to finally see this:

Yep.

We were so underwhelmed that we needed lunch. So, we ate at a place called George's Pizza and Steakhouse and had cheeseburgers.

It was then, when we joined the crowd refueled, that we realized the tractors we had been seeing

were for pulling the festival-goers around town on tours! ...So we set off afoot (after a vow to go next year). For the following hour plus, I whiled away my time snapping photos...

...and then ultimately, it was time to go home.

Tulip Time, Part 1

Okay. It is the end of a looong, enjoyable and productive weekend. I hit the Pella Tulip Festival, two friends' birthday celebrations and managed to co-produce Mother's Day brunch. Okay, and maybe I did a little shopping. After sullenly and soberly realizing I am, in fact, a Mac...*sigh*... I have narrowed the [number was obscene and has been deleted] pictures I happily snapped to my favorite... er... thirty-some? Don't worry, I will only start with a handful:

This boy, like so many others in attendance, was dressed in "authentic" Dutch garb. I think he looks like a little conductor!

The reason for the season.