Remember how Nathaniel always loved his rocking horse…
Remember when you only had one…
Remember when Alexander wouldn’t smile for the camera…
Remember when life felt absolutely crazy…
Remember when your arms were sore from always holding someone…
And your bellies were sore from always laughing…
Remember the kisses that squished your cheeks and left slobbery marks that you had to wipe off…
I am so glad that I get to help you remember.
(JoAnn, Nathaniel and Alexander 2008 – 2010.)
Rebecca brought two of her Fibershed artists…
…and the black felt jacket they made together…
…to meet the alpacas who grew the wool for the jacket…
…and the ranchers who raised the alpacas for the wool.
I am not sure who enjoyed the meeting more…
…the alpacas…
…or the artists.
But I think everyone, including the dogs, can agree that it was another super fun Fibershed adventure.
We learned, and saw, so much more than we ever thought we would…
.
…including all of Rebecca’s cute new leggings.
To learn more about our alpaca adventure, and Rebecca’s cute new leggings, check out Rebecca’s Fibershed blog:
http://fibershed.wordpress.com/
I would look like this too, if a stranger walked into my house with a giant camera and wanted to take my photo. But after a quick game of Simon Says and some parent wrestling we soon got to this…
And after two hours of tickling, reading, snacking, spinning, walking, jumping, cloud watching, fake sleeping, we got one of my favorite photos of the day…
Thank you to Jaz and her parents for playing with me. And thank you to my friend Suzi who came along to help. I had lots of fun and I hope to do it again someday.
We were living in Korea and I was going to an American school.
I can’t remember my teacher’s name.
But I can remember the day when my teacher, whose name might have started with a G, was writing on the blackboard and explaining that a desert only has one “s.”
But a dessert has two, because you always want more dessert than desert.
She was right. I have always wanted more dessert than desert… or anything else really.
But today I learned that after spending all day photographing just five desserts, for the Town Hall cook book, eventually, even I did not want more dessert… well at least for a few hours. Knowing that I wasn’t permanently cured of my insatiable sweet tooth, I boxed up the leftovers and took them home, so I would be prepared when the cravings for more dessert returned.
Huge thanks to my very stylish and talented friend, Bridget, for making the day and process so much sweeter.
Computer crashed, husband crashed, website crashed, email crashed…
I think that just about covers everything.
The computer is fixed, the husband is healing, the car insurance companies are settling… the only things that still aren’t working are the website and email.
So if you have emailed me in the past couple of days and I have not responded, please try this email address for the time being: paigegreenphoto(at)gmail.com
And hopefully I’ll be up and running crash free again soon.
At 9:18 pm on Tuesday evening, I had just finished dinner with friends in Oakland, when I got a phone call from my mother-in-law saying Arann, my husband, her son, was in the hospital.
She said… he had been hit by a drunk driver at 3:30 pm while driving home from farm camp.
She said… she had been driving in the car behind him and so she saw the whole thing happen. Meaning she saw her youngest child get hit head-on by another car.
She said… he had just gotten out of surgery, they were keeping him over night, and I should get to the hospital as soon as I could.
She also said… he had been wearing his seatbelt and both airbags came out… so he was going to be ok.
She was right… Arann is now home from the hospital and even though everything in his body hurts right now, he is eventually going to be ok.
Whereas the totaled car, which is now sitting in our driveway waiting to be towed away, silently reminds us that we are so, so very lucky that Arann will eventually be ok… because it easily could have been so much worse.
I love film and I love summer.
And I couldn’t live without either one.
Well, maybe I could.
But life would be a lot less interesting and a lot less fun.
The only problem is that they are both so very time-consuming.
This summer was so busy that it seemed not to exist at all.
But I know it did because I have the film to prove it.
Even with the endlessly long summer days,
It seemed there still was never enough time…
To stop.
Or even pause and devote the time that film selfishly demanded.
So it sat neglected.
Piling up on my desk.
Waiting in the sidelines, as digital got all the glory.
Waiting for the grand finale.
And finally, here, the first day of October, it is.
A few of the summer film highlights, all at once.
Like cliffs notes.
Or the final minutes of a firework show.
But I still have high hopes of devoting a full post to each of these amazing occasions, faces, relationships.
I have even started the spinning the narratives in my head.
But time is running out.
As it is known to do.
And so this will have to do for now.
This showcase of why I love film and why I hope you will too.
Besides the obvious yet unpredictable beauty of film,
I also love its more discreet yet unfaltering faithfulness.
I feel comforted knowing that if disaster struck, and all my hard drives suddenly crashed tomorrow,
My film would still be there, sitting in a pile on my desk.
Waiting patiently in line to be filed away.
And talking excitedly about the summer that really did exist.
…with one very delightful two year old…
….and two teeny tiny two month old twins…
…makes for two super sleepy parents.
But it also makes for one awesome photo shoot. I had so much fun photographing the continuous baby juggling and I hope to get to come back again when the twins are a little bit older, because these sleepy, baby juggling days will not last forever.
As hard as it is to believe right now, the twins will eventually become better sleepers, and they will not need quite as much juggling… instead they will be on to their next growing adventure. The fun has just begun for this family of five, and I am grateful to have been able to document the starting line.
Two weeks ago, I received this email from a woman named Marnie:
Hi Paige,
We have this 21 person local cow share going on in Nicasio, right above the Nicasio Resevoir. We are all getting together to have one of our cow share meetings. We talk about our cow and share products we have made from her milk in a kind of pot luck. Everything from butter and cheese to moss artwork! We were wondering if you would want to take a photo of all of us with our cow up here on Black Mountain?
I had never heard of a cow share before, but after living on a farm with two Jersey cows for a year and a half, I know how much work (and milk) is involved in caring for a cow. During my time on the farm, I had countless, seemingly endless, milking sessions, by hand, with two Jersey cows, so I know that even one Jersey cow produces way more milk than a single family can consume.
There were many mornings when I would have paid someone to come and take over my milking duties… those were usually the mornings when Barbra, the cow, kicked over the full bucket and I watched my hour of warm, white, liquid, labor spread across the dirty barn floor. So I thought the idea of a cow share was brilliant and I couldn’t wait to document the gathering.
I learned that the cow share initially started off with five families. But with two milkings a day, seven days a week, sometimes people couldn’t make their designated milking, so another family would be brought in to substitute and eventually the cow share grew to 21 people.
Unfortunately not all of the 21 people were able to make it for our photo shoot. But of the people who were there, I was excited to see many familiar faces, in addition to an absolutely gorgeous backdrop for our photo shoot.
After the group photo, we came back and had a picnic of all the yummy products people had made with Rosie’s milk…
Including feta cheese…
And ice cream…
The group was clearly proud of their girl Rosie…
…they had baby pictures to prove it.
As we were picnicking, more people showed up, and even though we still didn’t have all 21 people, we had more people than the first photo. So we decided to do another group photo, because the more people in the photo, the more effective the message of the cow share.
But as we were trying to encourage some of the reluctant members to be a part of the second photo shoot, as well as to move quickly, because Rosie’s dinner time was rapidly approaching and she was getting antsy, it became clear that 21 people is a big group of people. And big groups of people are hard to manage, especially when technically there isn’t a manager.
As we stood on the hillside, after the second group photo, the group had an impromptu talk about the future of the cow share and the challenges that it presents, especially for Marnie, who ends up spending the most time worrying and caring for Rosie because she owns the property where Rosie lives. She confessed caring for Rosie and managing all the milking schedules was a lot more time-consuming than she thought it would be, so she felt like Rosie had to go to a new home.
The group seemed surprised and disappointed by the news, but not discouraged. Challenges and hurdles are inherent when working with large groups of people… and cow shares, as wonderful as they are, are no exception.
Sharing anything takes lots and lots of communication, and sharing a giant living, milk producing cow… probably takes even more communication. So it seems Miss Rosie will most likely lose her glorious view overlooking the valley, but hopefully this cow sharing, milk loving, community will continue to go on, and with good communication, it will only grow stronger with time.
One year ago today we started our love affair with this ridiculously wonderful creature….
We met Arlo, formerly known as Johnny, through an internet dating service called…
It was the best (and only) internet dating experience I have ever had and I completely recommend it to anyone who is looking for unconditional love.
One final After School Special: Arlo was saved from a shelter by a group who picks up dogs who are about to be euthanized. He is such an amazing dog that I can hardly believe our luck that he was rescued. If you are thinking about getting a dog, please think about adopting from a shelter near you. There are lots and lots of amazing dogs, just like Arlo, who need a good home.
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
