Ringing in 2019

We rang in the new year hanging out with the Von Thuns and playing trivia and card games, including the non-computer version of The Oregon Trail. It was a blast! Then on the morning of the 2nd I flew out to Boston for a few days:

The company celebrated their 50th anniversary in the old Boston Plaza Hotel. It's weird how many new people they've hired, I hardly know anybody anymore. When I started 9 years ago there were just over 100 employees and now there are almost 900. Only a few of the people who were there when I started still remain, so I guess that makes me a dinosaur. Anyway, there was a cocktail party after the company meeting:

The hotel was super cool; it was built in the 1920s and had retained its old timey appearance:

It snowed twice while I was in Boston, but I returned to a very brown Iowa. That's OK, I don't mind the unusually warm January. Hello again, 380:

In mid-January it finally snowed and we got to do all the winter stuff you're supposed to do. Like sledding:

Meet Mortimer the snowman:

As we sat outside around the fire one night, I'm pretty sure the snowman was closer to us than he was when I looked earlier...

Then all of a sudden Rose turned 14! I'm pretty sure no one saw that coming. She had lots of friends over for her birthday and had cake, ice cream, and a snow storm:

Her birthday celebration on her actual birthday:

And her birthday celebration with friends on Saturday:

Lily hates our good time:

The girls split into two teams and went to Lindale Mall to do a photo scavenger hunt. They were a little hyper and got yelled at by a mall cop, but they checked almost everything off the list and the team that won only had one item that they couldn't find. I don't think they had very much fun:

Also, Rose is studying for her permit, so lock your doors and stay off the streets.

Cynthia and I went to Riverside to see Everclear on a frigid Friday night. The temp without the windchill was -4. Thanks a lot, January. It was an awesome show, though, and cool to see Art still rockin' in his own weird way:

January ended with temperatures around -24 and a wind chill of -49, thank goodness. Can't wait to see what February brings us.

NYE 2017

Happy 2017!

Goodbye, 2015

Whew! Behind the times. Rose had a birthday...

It's been a busy start to the year and I haven't kept up with posting here, obviously. We've enjoyed the mild winter...

And Emily has a birthday coming soon. Maybe I'll post again before summer...

The Future

the singed papers floating in the breeze

our history is written and unwritten again

and the cure has proved worse than the disease

so here we stand amongst the smoldering forgotten

snapping warnings burn into solar flares

so alive for a moment and suddenly burned out

the foundations reel as the fabric rips and tears

while relief washes away every cleansing doubt

appealing and appalling walk hand in hand

forget about the rights and wrongs

hands folded, eyes closed, no one takes a stand

the future is here and all is according to plan

put away your convictions, take a selfie instead

self-absorbed, narcissistic, bullet in the head

look at yourself smiling back in vain

the digital mask that fools only you

behold! crash of thunder, bright lights burn the haze

the pounding march of destiny approaching our shore

fierce riders driven by ancient days

fury comes with a sharp rap on your door

listen! do you hear the sound of avenging hoofbeats

steel clad shoes trampling foolish notions

a roar of unbridled wrath tearing up corroded streets

and flash of lightning burning across oceans

take heed! where are you, this moment won't last

like snapshots in the darkness

a bright light seizes the frozen past

tinder and sparks fly from the furnace

awake! stir from your slumber

this is the day that everything will change

take to your feet or be trodden under

the road is up ahead and that is all that remains

Hey, Look Where You're Going

It's funny how a sudden gust of cold wind, or an old building, the smell of smoke, the sunlight reflecting across the rooftops, the rattle of some dead leaves, the faint sound of a familiar tune drifting from a passing car, the taste when you bite your lip, the random sidewalk that detours around an old tree, passing the spot where a house used to be, seeing lights and shapes through dirty windows, or finding an old forgotten to-do list in your pocket can prompt a sudden rush of a million lights and sounds and memories of people and places and doors that you've walked through. All those fragments and sound bites become colored with age and each time you replay them they get a little bit better and take on a life of their own so that after a while those moments blend fact with fiction and you no longer know or care if your mind is taking creative liberties with the past. They become fond mental stories that get bigger and more nostalgic each time they are played back and for some reason they live out an elusive fairy-tale sort of existence... each time you reach out for them, they disappear like a puff of smoke. And yet when you aren't expecting them, there they are, waiting around the next corner.

Am I getting old? NO! Of course not. And when I'm 80 I'll still say the same thing. But I do believe that good memories are an important thing to hang onto and should be valued. Dwelling on them too much is a bad thing, but letting them happen across your path every now and then is good. You have to live in the present, but remembering the past and carrying some of the good things along – that in part make up who you are – is not a bad idea.

Here I go getting sentimental again, but isn't that the name of the blog, anyway? Every year around this time I start looking back and I see the good times and the bad, but I mostly try to remember the good. And as a new year gets closer, I look forward to all the great times it will bring and I can't wait to live them all!

Looking forward

Looking back on 2012, it was a year full of variety on Rekelekt. Photos, poetry, renting a studio, playing guitar, trying to stop bullets with a laptop, planning for the end of the world, and of course more wacky dreams than anyone wants to hear about. I'm still getting the hang of blogging and I imagine there will still be gaps here and there in 2013, but I plan to post more.

I'm really looking forward to 2013 and I hope to accomplish a lot this year. My resolutions for this year include building my photography business, writing more, and procrastinating less. That last one I keep putting off each year, so we'll see how it works out this time!

2013

Have a happy New Year's!