Moon

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Photography: Sacramento Historic City Cemetery

I’ve been struggling with some health stuff and things feel very hard. I’m still working on various projects, but in small doses. I did get to meet one of my fellow bloggers in person recently, which was amazing. I also continue to sell a few books a week and reviews are still coming in (thank you!)

While I’m focusing mostly on health right now, I did recently visit the historic Sacramento City Cemetery on a bright fall morning and take these photos. I hope you enjoy them and please let me know if you have a favorite.

As always, thank you for sticking around here. It means the world to me.

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#20: Taken on the night of the full moon
  • Photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW
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Photography: Beach Camping

A few weeks ago, I went camping with family. Our campsite was surrounded by large bushes which attracted birds, we spent an afternoon at the beach, and I hiked up some big sand dunes.

Although these might be some of my favorite photos, it’s hard not to beat myself up because I’m not writing. I made an attempt at working on my middle-grade novel recently, and it was rubbish. And although I’ve sold over 100 books, more than I thought I would, I can’t seem to get people to review it. My mind tells me it’s because people don’t like the book, which is fine, but the small hopeful part of me is a bit sad. But you know what? Two local bookstores carry my book and I’ve been selling about three copies a month in store, from people just browsing and liking it. That needs to be celebrated. As I’ve always told my kids—comparison is the thief of joy.

So, let me brush this all off and say, I’m not writing currently, but I’ll be back at it soon. In the meantime, enjoy all these photos. And as always, let me know if you have a favorite. Have a wonderful day!

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Bonus photos:

I’m in love with Superman (aka kindness).

Converted the back of my van into a sleeping area with fun lights.

My hiking buddy.
  • These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
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Photography: Cold Moon

Although it was our last session together, the full moon hid from me. It danced among the snow but wouldn’t sit still long enough to capture it. I looked for light and cold instead. Winter held within a single frame. Tell me, can you feel it?

Moon rises fair and fleece.
Dark crow upon the fence outside.
Night thought, like snow concealed.
—Neil Reid

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I had high hopes and big plans for this final photo shoot, but the weather did not cooperate. I went out three different times but clouds and rain made it quite difficult. All the same, I hope you enjoyed this last installment and all 12 months of full moon photos. I learned a lot this year! Stay tuned for some big announcements in the coming weeks. I’ve got ideas for a new project and I’m still working on publishing my short story collection.

As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week.

One final note. For those who knew Neil Reid, I’m sad to say he passed away earlier this month. I wrote a tribute to him on his blog today, but I wanted to honor him here too. I will miss his comments, letters, and beautiful poetry. He taught me a poem is a poem if you say it is and to love B I G. I will miss him.

Neil’s kitties.
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Photography: Beaver Moon

For a moment I lost hope. Fear stuck in my belly and made me sick. I didn’t recognize my country anymore so I chased the moon with my camera. I couldn’t go over the pain. I couldn’t go under it. Oh no! I would have to go through it.

I’m not through it, not even close, but I found a few things to help. Rice fields at sunrise. Cranes taking flight. Gold-tinged farmland. You. We’ve got a long way to go and we need each other. So this is me holding my hand out to you. We are in this together.

“We all—adults and children, writers and readers—have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.”—Neil Gaiman

*In case you didn’t recognize the reference above, it’s from the delightful children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

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As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week. Only ONE full moon left! What?!!

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Photography: Hunter’s Moon

Forget about everything else and be right here. Look at the way the full moon rises, timid and then quickly. Bold. Look at the way the Joshua Trees grow. Each branch jutting off the main tree is from an injury. They make broken look beautiful. You do too.

Let’s remember this moment and make more. Many, many more.

“What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.”
—C.S. Lewis

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It’s not like me to be spontaneous. I like planning, making lists, and being as prepared as possible. Last week I decided at the last minute to visit my childhood best friend in Las Vegas for her birthday and got ready in three hours. It was a perfect, beautiful, enjoyable, and fully unplanned whirlwind of a few days capped off by the appearance of the Hunter’s supermoon. My heart is so full.

Most of these photos were taken at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. However, the last few photos were taken on the drive back in the morning. The last photo is the moon setting as the sun rose close to Newberry Springs, CA.

As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW. Let me know if you have a favorite and have a wonderful week. Only two full moons left of the year. Wow.

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Photography: Harvest Moon

Today the heat subsided and the clouds arrived. I went in search of you. I found sunflowers, pumpkins, cornfields, and a bridge. You peeked out for a minute from the clouds but then ran from me. That’s okay. I don’t need to see you to love you.

Because I’m still in love with you
I wanna see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon
—Neil Young

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I visited Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm with visions of taking a photo of the full moon over a cornfield, but the clouds didn’t cooperate. Instead, I had a lovely evening with my mom. I hope you enjoy these images and let me know if you have a favorite. As always, all photos were taken by me with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

My sunflower mom. I love you.

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Photography: Strawberry Moon

Darkness swallows the city. I drive for hours looking for the moon until I find it beside the courthouse at the top of the hill. It’s lit for the Fourth of July, a beacon of patriotic light.

“I’m going to live there someday,” I used to say. An entire childhood spent dreaming of a place that wasn’t at all what I thought it was. 

I park near an antique shop and stare at the oddities inside. Cars streak by below. The moon blends into the city lights as a warm breeze dances around a patch of thorns.

“Does time ever feel like it’s not moving normally? Like it’s all out of whack?”—Maddy, I Saw the TV Glow

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The sixth full moon of the year arrived the day after the summer solstice. I set out fairly late and felt uninspired by the view until I drove to Auburn and found my favorite building. These aren’t very “strawberry moon,” but I like them anyway. Let me know if you have a favorite.

These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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Photography: Worm Moon

As I carefully walk toward the rippling water my shoes sink in the soft mud. You tell me to listen to what the frogs are saying. I try, but I don’t know how to be still enough. A small patch of yellow flowers grows near the shore and I struggle to get closer to them. What are they saying? The Worm Moon bursts out from behind the clouds shining a spotlight across the water. Everything seems to be calling out. I swallow my words and listen harder.

“The gold tree is blue,
The singer has pulled his cloak over his head.
The moon is in the folds of the cloak.”
—Wallace Stevens

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For my third attempt at full moon photography, I visited Folsom Lake at sunset. It felt magical and different. My daughter drew a moth in the sand. Spring is here.

Let me know if you like these and if you have a favorite. These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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Photography: Snow Moon/Hunger Moon

You aren’t here with me in these blue woods. I’m alone. Hands hanging loosely at my sides, I track the full moon until it peeks through the dark silhouetted branches. The sky morphs from cold white to warm gold and back again. A breeze blows gently and my skirt dances around my knees. It feels like butterflies and Spring, but it’s still February. Still winter. Snow falls softly in the nearby mountains.

My mind forgets and remembers things as I walk, a circle of thought looping and playing. Soon a song cuts through and clears out everything else. “All this joy, all this sorrow.” Maybe I hummed it then, alone in the woods on the night of the Hunger Moon. The night I was missing you. Maybe you did too.

“We’re both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We’re connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me.”—Haruki Murakami 

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This was my second attempt at photographing the full moon this year and it was nearly as frustrating. There were a lot of clouds and I found myself more interested in the trees than the moon. I wonder if I’ll tire of this project or stretch my photography skills further. Time will tell.

Let me know if you like these and if you have a favorite. As is usual, these photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.

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poetry: radical

it can look selfish
this way I’m living
looking for love
through a camera lens
through the way my thighs move when I dance 
through the way my chest rises when I sing
but it’s survival
like the lone daffodil blooming in January
a waning moon at dawn
the first dandelion puff
the cluster of fuzzy buds on the bare peach tree
we are all looking

  • These photos were taken this morning in my yard with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.