Honeymoon, Part 5: The Top

On the way back from the far side of Hot Springs Mountain, we stopped at Hot Springs Tower and one of the nearby lookout points. We had a great view of downtown Hot Springs (and our little motel) and more of the landscape around the mountain, not to mention finding some interesting things on the tower itself.


And last but not least, here is a bit of graffiti we found carved into the plexiglass of the top of the tower lookout. It is a heart that says in it "Charles Hates Elizabeth." I guess it was a bad breakup?

Honeymoon, Part 4: Mostly Small Things

As Cory and I continued our hike around and over Hot Springs Mountain, I found lots of small things to photograph, from berries and mushrooms to puffballs and lizards. The regular stops to squat and take pictures of something on the ground slowed our hiking speed considerably, but I think it was worth it.


In addition to these small things, I took more pictures of the view from up on the mountain.

Young Sophie

My kitty Sophie is very sick and may have to be put to sleep within the next month, according to the vet. I wanted to post some pictures of her, including some of her when she was younger, so I scanned and uploaded some of her kitten and adolescent kitty photos.

Here are a few relatively recent photos of Sophie:


And here are a few of Sophie as a youngster (the quality is lower, but she is still supercute):


And, finally, here is one of the last pictures I have of my mom, my brother, and myself together. We're holding all three of our kitties (from left to right: Heidi, Sophie, and Lucy). This was taken sometime in 1999.

Honeymoon, Part 3: Looking Out

We spent Saturday in Hot Springs hiking around the park. These photos represent the first leg of our hike up, over, and around Hot Springs Mountain.



And just for good measure, here's another picture of Cory that I like:

Flickr Inspiration: Javier Retales Botijero

In addition to featuring my own photography here on my blog, I'd like to occasionally feature the work of other people whose photography inspires me.  I will start with Javier Retales Botijero, if only because he is my most recent flickr contact.

His recently explored "m" caught my eye (see below) and I spent a good deal of time paging through the rest of his amazing photography.

m, originally uploaded by © retales botijero.

Retales Botijero's work is filled with color, humor, character and amazing detail, whether in his still life photos or his portraits (equally wonderful whether of people or animals). Here are a few of my favorites as illustrations of these qualities.

chejof, originally uploaded by © retales botijero.

., originally uploaded by © retales botijero.

dress code, originally uploaded by © retales botijero.

Check him out.  I bet you can't flip through a page of his photography without finding something to make you smile.

Honeymoon, Part 2: Steamy

Here are some more photos from our first night in Hot Springs on our honeymoon. These are all taken around one of the hot water fountains downtown. It was lit up at night and I really liked the effect of the lights through the steam in the cold air.



I also took some pictures of Cory.

Honeymoon, Part 1: Saturday Night Lights

This is the first installment of honeymoon photo posts from the trip Cory and I took to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We didn't think we'd have the money or the time off for a honeymoon anytime soon, so this trip was planned at the last minute, but we had a wonderful time.

We stayed at the Happy Hollow Motel. It was cheap, within walking distance of where we wanted to be, and wonderfully kitschy.



I took lots of pictures of lights the first night we there as we walked around downtown after dinner. (Don't worry, I took pictures of other things, too, and will post some later.)

Mountain Goats and more

Last Thursday night, Cory and I went to see the Mountain Goats play at the Granada here in Dallas. My brother Zachary came, too.

Now I love the Mountain Goats. They are probably my favorite band. John Darnielle's songwriting is amazing and in live performance he'll knock your socks off. In fact, the first time I saw the Mountain Goats perform (about three years ago), I barely knew any of their music but left a dedicated and diehard fan because of how amazingly compelling the live performance was. This show was just as good.


Not only were the Mountain Goats awesome, though, so were both opening acts. Larkin Grimm played first. She's a sort of indie alt-country singer/songwriter with a fantastic voice.


She was accompanied by a violinist and a guy who sometimes played guitar and sometimes played harp (both of whom sang backup as well).


After Larkin Grimm, Final Fantasy played. This is a band I'd neither heard nor heard of before and they were awesome. Really, the band is primarily Owen Pallett on vocals, violin, and keyboard, but he was accompanied by another guy on drums, guitar, bass, backup vocals, etc. And oh man were they good. I bought one of Final Fantasy's CDs the very next day I loved it so much.


But it was the Mountain Goats I went to see.  And they were awesome.  If you don't already know them, I cannot recommend them highly enough.  I understand that they may not be everyone's favorite, but I think they truly are good enough to deserve a listen.  Recommended albums:  The Sunset Tree, Tallahassee, and Heretic Pride, with close runners-up in Get Lonely, We Shall All Be Healed, and The Life of the World to Come.

So good. And, just because I really like this picture, here's a shot of my brother post-concert, in all his plaid finery.

One more day!

I woke up this morning from a dream in which Cory and I were getting married.

We were late arriving at the location, there was a huge crowd of uninvited and noisy people there to observe, and the justice couldn't get our names right for a while, but that was all okay because it was me and Cory and we were getting married.

I woke up with so much love. It'll be even better in real life. Tomorrow.

Two Days, Two Hearts

Two Hearts, originally uploaded by Gabri Le Cabri.

Three

Three more days! I want to skip right to it already!

Impatience Is Our Greatest Strength, originally uploaded by See El Photo.