A New Life as one Passes

I was blessed enough to given the opportunity to take some shots of my eldest child and his fiance before they have the second grandchild (a boy) on the way. I was so honored that I could be a part of their experience in the slightest way. I became a grandmother first time just close to 3 years ago and have to be quite honest that I wasn't really privy to the idea that I was going to be a "Grandmother"! My vision of a grandmother in my mind was surely not what I had planned for myself , no way , no how. I struggled with the idea for months that this child was going to call me something cool and not label me with the stereotypical grandmother image. I was trying to figure out all these fabulous names, cultural, etc. and well when my little granddaughter arrived into this world , I just looked at her and said "you can call me anything that you wish precious little one". Now comes the second grandchild in my life ,and I believe not the last. Maybe one day after several more grandchildren I will be that vision of that grandmother that most see, but I doubt it!!!!!

So as a new life comes, we loose some in our lives. My sister/friend/family of many years lost her father around this same time, Pops. Oooh the times we have laughed (charades with pj's pulled to the neck and I still can't figure out what it was he was trying to do..ha ha ha) and cried over and with this man. My heart goes out to her. No matter how old you are and they may be it is never easy to lose a parent. In our minds we stay that child that looked at them ,with all their imperfections, as mountains that never could be moved. We hold them close to us in our memories and feel their presence around us and they live on in our children and those that come after.

Cheers to life and its many adventures!

The Coup

A few months ago I went to the San Diego Zoo with my family, utilizing the yearly passes we have. It is so nice to have it so close and just go for a walk. I always take my camera and every once in a while get a few really cool shots. I did stumble upon this pigeon coup in the area of the children's petting zoo. (Are they pigeons or white doves? Apparently one in the same?) I had never seen this before and I was really feeling and seeing the images in my mind. I am very pleased with the outcome. A great poem needs to go along with it !!!!

Target Practice

Simply put "target practice" that's exactly what this was used for . I grabbed it before the guys in the next suite of my working place had it for trash. I saw a perfect photo opportunity and it just spoke to me a little deeper than that. I felt as a woman many times like I was strickly "target practice" for others. Targets, sometimes masked in love, business, political and careers, family, motherhood......to often we as women allow ourselves to be just that. That is not always the case, many of us try to dodge those bullets and they find us like heat seeking missiles. It is a continued struggle at times to make sure that with caring, loving, nurturing , and undetermined strength that you don't forget that you are worth so much more and deserving. Opinions and inspiration are all mine - what do you see?

The Robinsons

Around my birthday I made a short road trip up to Julian, with my road dog. I had been before but always wanted to go up and spend some time taking some shots of the cemetery specifically . Julian as I was aware holds a lot of history and black history at that. Albert and Margaret Robinson ran the Hotel Robinson in the late 1800's - 1915 successfully and had people and dignitaries come from all over California to enjoy their hotel. Albert Robinson is buried in the cemetery along with his mother-in-law, and the Robinson's daughter. I found it interesting when visiting the museum and speaking tho the historian there that no one knows what happen to Margaret after Albert's death. Apparently she sold the hotel , worked there for a while and then just disappeared. Another African American, Fred Coleman (a free man) discovered gold in the hills there and started a gold rush in the area. I believe in the early 2000's they were able to locate the graves of the Robinson's and new head stones were erected. Of course the history of Julian is so much more expansive than what I have mentioned here. I just found it interesting that so few people know of the Black History in the area, let alone the history of Julian as a whole. These are things from what I remember and if you would like to research or visit the museum and the historian there is awesome....he will give you information above and beyond anything you might have imagined. The museum there has tons of memorabilia from natives in the area, gold mining, tools, shackles, buggies, period clothing and crafts.(Julian Pioneer Museum). Julian is beautiful. From the cemetery you can see all the peaks and valleys. The white horse in these images was so majestic to me and he was on a break from working the tours I believe, and didn't seem to interested in me at first but finally warmed up to me and we walked together and was interested in my camera for sure. I couldn't forget the pie...mmmm mmmm. My favorite is the apple-rhubarb.... It was a beautiful day trip for a nice little get away and drive.

Kaya- Coming of age

In June I was fortunate enough to be asked to photograph a beautiful girls Quinceanera, Kaya thanks to my friend connecting us- thanks Z. Kaya's family , especially parents , Claudia and Vinnie really made it a special day for her full of art from artist doing personal pieces for Kaya, music and so much more. They are very talented artist themselves and rooted ( check out their website www.indigenouswear.com or their facebook ). It was a pleasure to have spent some time with them, although it was a very full day I hope that I was able to capture at least a part of what the day was for them. We did do some shots around town prior to the event so I could get to know Kaya and her family. I was reminded of how it is to be a teenage girl coming of age , but surely a different time and space. I sound like my elders back in the day telling us about how times were different for them. With the experiences that I have had, I surely can see that in many ways the same things I dealt with as a youth. Many are so different....technology, social networks, etc. etc. My social network when I was her age was going outside and hanging out with my friends, yeah not always staying out of trouble, talking on the land line phone that had a 10 feet or more cord to move around the house to a little corner in the room for privacy, rarely in the house, oh my I better stop now. I am not trying to get on my soap box about society and what it has done to our children of the world (including me), but I hope that somewhere down the line that we as a people can in some way show the children of the world the beauty of life through art, music, creativity , education , culture and love. To Claudia and Vinnie, I do applaud you for having your children surrounded by art , culture and love.

Life is High Adventure. Leer

In May I took two of my children and granddaughter on a road trip north up to Riverside, CA. my birthplace and resting place for my father Leer Roux Larkins. I decided it would be a good time to go and just sit , have some libations and say "cheers" to my daddy and his life and what an impact he had on mine, needless to say inspires me. It is never to late to follow the path that you really would like to see come to be. My father was (and is,in my mind) an artist, photographer, sculpter, painter. Among other things lover of community , wisdom, music, and as he would say "fine things". He loved and was loved and adored by many and I might add.....very disliked as well (have to smile about that one). The cemetary that was to be his final resting place was a place he spent many years documenting , cataloging, etc. for a project he had been working on as well as for historic reasons. It seemed only fitting to have him there. He passed in 1993 at a spry 82 years old . I went in the office to find his marker because I was a little turned around and they had to pull out these old, yellowing, books that they kept there records for this building because it is so old. Mind you all hand written as you will see in the images. I had forgotten how historical this place was and as much as I enjoy cemetaries this mosoleum really was a little spooky feeling and at the same time peaceful. Lots of energy in those cold marble halls. His older grandchildren were able to meet him for the first part of their young lives but not my youngest. So for him this was a meeting for the first time in our meditation as well as of course my little granddaughter who told me (as though a medium) "grandpa Leer says don't cry....." as she was touching his stone in the wall of the mosoleum. We wrote some notes to him and quietly I felt his presence as I do often with both of my parents. I have been truly blessed to have a wonderful Legacy!