Kat Eye Studio

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Into the Distance

I love this image from Alpe di Siusi for the light, the shape and the hint of where it was taken in the distance. I have another version with much more in focus, but it doesn’t have the “feel” that this one does. I thought about why not, and I think it’s because this image isn’t as obvious. It’s not saying “See, look at me, I’m in the Alps!” Instead it says, “Hey look at me, I’m this fence in the snow. Look the snow is deep and it’s a beautiful sunny day. Oh, and by the way, follow this fence out into the distance, there’s a hint of something there, maybe some snow covered mountains. Don’t you wonder where I am?” The secrets aren’t all revealed at once, they invite the viewer in to share and speculate.

As I write this I am reminded of a great blog post by Jenny on RisingSunCoaching.com that I read this week. Our life journeys don’t have everything laid out for us all the time. It’s like this photograph, you have to discover things one piece (or “crumb” as she puts it) at a time.

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Let there be light

Love windows. Love windows with light coming through. Love windows with light coming through on a wood floor. Doesn’t this look peaceful? Doesn’t this look like what you want a living room to look like? I do. I want a comfy chair and a book and a blanket in that light. A cat on my lap. A pot of tea by my side. I can’t help it, when I see something like this, I just have to capture it. My own personal light when it’s dark outside.

What a crazy week this has been. It’s not work, that’s been reasonable, it’s this darn Italian driver’s license test! I’ve studied probably 15 hours or more in the last 7 days. Taken probably 50 or more practice tests. My passing rate is maybe 70-80% on average. The wonderful thing is that we can take the test in English. The horrible thing is that the English book has about half of the info that you can be tested on. So, I’m literally taking the tests to learn what I don’t know! If I’m lucky, I’ll get a test that has answers I know. If I’m not… well… I’ll be studying a lot more.

The test is tomorrow at 10am. Wish me luck!

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Simple Joys of Childhood

One of the simplest joys of childhood, and maybe in life, is swinging… the breeze on your face, the momentary feeling of weightlessness, the view from the heights. When we see a park while we are travelling, we usually have to stop for some good swing time for Brandon. This was taken in Bacharach, Germany during our trip to the Rhine River Valley in July.

Today is a momentous day for my Italian adventure: I’m finally getting a haircut! After almost 8 months of putting it off, and not being able to get in with my stylist during my December trip to Corvallis for work, I am braving the complicated discussion of hair that is too thick, lengths, layers, styles. It’s just gotten to the point of unmanageable, as you’ve probably seen in random pictures on Patrick’s blog.