the domestic zoo

Yet everything is accomplished.  ~ Lao Tzu

1) I photographed my first wedding two weeks ago (May 15). It was challenging and exciting and exhausting, but not once was it stressful. I can’t say that I LOVED IT so much that I want to drop everything and do wedding photography. But I did love it, and it was a great experience, and I am very excited to be shooting another wedding in just a few weeks.

If you’re a friend on Facebook, you can see the wedding photos there. If you’re not a Facebook friend…well, why not?

2) In the past two weeks we’ve added 10 new pets to the household. You know how they say that nature abhors a vacuum? The same is true of our household and pets. We can’t ever stay below a half dozen for very long.

The good news is that all of the new animals are fish. Because when I get into something, I really get into it.

Tropical Tank (1-African Butterfly Fish, 5-Corydoras Catfish):

Goldfish Tank (55 gallons, 4 goldfish*):

*Schultzy will be joining them after their quarantine is over

3) Hannah finished 10th grade this past week. She had a great year and we’re both excited for 11th grade, but we’re also going to enjoy this looong deserved summer break.

4) My cousin Michelle will be here in three days! It’s weird for me to even type out her given name: to us, she’s just “Mickey”. Awesome, funny, witty, beautiful Mickey. She was here two years ago and featured prominently in a day in my life. We’re all really excited to see her again.

Looking back at that post, I realize that a lot of things have changed in two years. Papa isn’t here anymore. Neither is Rex. Dad has facial hair (and Stephen has even more of it), and Hannah’s let her hair go back to its natural curliness. My dreads are two years older now. Kayla has been MARRIED for almost a year. We saw the X-files movie (it wasn’t so great) and I can’t believe I actually forgot about paying over $4/gallon for gas.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

On the other hand, I am currently at work, drinking soda, and watching Netflix. Some things remain the same.

5) It has been an absolutely gorgeous late spring/early summer here in Maine. The weather is warm, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are busy doing whatever it is that birds do. Our backyard smells like a florist’s shop and sounds like an aviary. I walk outside and can’t believe how fortunate we are – I love living in the country!

Goldfish can poop bubbles.

Now that Holy Week is over, I find that I really miss being in church every day. To borrow a thought my dad shared yesterday: there is an appreciation for beauty and aesthetic in Orthodoxy that I love almost as much as I love Orthodox theology. It’s not another world – it’s the real world, and it is wonderful.

After the very scary storm that hit the Northeast on Thursday night, we spent the next three days without electricity or running water. We are fortunate enough to have a generator and so we had heat, and some lights, and made do with the rest. We’re fairly accustomed to losing power – it happens a few times a year – and inconveniences aside there’s something to be appreciated about the quiet and the dark, and finding creative ways to keep ourselves entertained. We’ve even talked about having “outtage nights” where we intentionally go without electricity for an evening.

But maybe we’ll wait on that for a little while.

Right now, I am just looking forward to the pure luxury of a hot shower.