In moving this site over to become penbitten, I also had to move and upgrade my galleries; as such, I unfortunately lost some descriptions, and there are so many pictures in there I just don't want to deal with redoing it. But, in going through them I realized a lot do deserve some explanation, so here are a list of some of them I enjoy most. I'll be updating the gallery a little more soon; last time I changed computers things became a bit of a mess.
Anyway, here are some of my faves, some because I like the pictures and some because I like the stories behind them.
The Guide: A picture we took at my college newspaper's 85th anniversary gala. The Guide is responsible for my life: it is how I discovered there were other things in me than science, it is how I started on the road toward my bliss, it is how I found the ability to move beyond what I thought was expected of me and what I had expected of myself. And we had great parties.
The cake from Marisa's wedding; I just love the colors here.
This is one of my favorite pictures of my beautiful sister.
My Dad's birthday 2005, with, from left to right: Aunt Rosetta, Uncle Enzo, Mom and Dad. This picture just seems to capture something, to me, about how funloving they are.
The water off our NJ house, a picture I took during July 4 weekend, 2005. Everything at that time was defined by the upcoming JKR interview, so it's how I remember that weekend: freaking out over the coming trip, torturing Cheryl over the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, feeling the all-too-familiar queasies whenever I let my brain wander to the trip. The opportunity to take this picture cut right through all that.
All of us that weekend; my sister took the pic from my mom's balcony.
The main room of the RENT movie premiere party, a night full of color and light and joy.
David looking evil, which I find hilarious because he is anything but. I took this picture while waiting for friends with him at a pub; I was just playing with the light settings on the camera. I half-screamed when I saw how it had come out. "YOU LOOK EVIL!" I think he just said, "Ew."
My cutie-patootie cousin Alfred. He's 24, not the age that a name like cutie-patootie would suggest. But look at that face.
Mom with Antonino: My mother and this kid have a bond like nothing I've ever seen. The minute he sees her he starts (now, as he's older than in this pic) yelling, "Ann Cawoool!" (Aunt Carole) and opening and closing his little fingers into fists in a beckoning gesture. When he and his family have to leave us, he sobs for Ann Cawool to come with them. Whenever he's near my mother is also easy to find; she's the one rolling around on the floor with him, hiding behind couches so he can pad over and discover her (an action usually accompanied by his joyous and infectious giggling and baby-bubbly jumping), and making unintelligible noises while tickling his "roast beefs" (legs). At family gatherings, this child will go around and say goodnight to everyone very politely, kiss them on the cheek, etc; he gets to my mother, plants her a big one, and yells, "Ann Cawoool I wuv you!" It could melt stone.
With John and his sisters, when they came to town last summer, because this pic is so funny. I had had a very long and hard day at work and was in a relatively bad mood, but this is the first night I ever met John and so I really wanted to stay out as long as I could make it. We had just gone to "Mamma Mia" courtesy John's fam, and had a wonderful time; then all the of-age people (sorta) went to find a good bar. We wandered into this karaoke place which we really did not know was a gay bar, not until later when we saw a rainbow flag with a big paw print on it. It was all good; the men in there loved John's sisters singing (no, PotterCast listeners, I did NOT). John didn't sing either. But we laughed, and laughed, not that you can tell from my face this pic.
Antonino again, this time using a chocolate fudge pop the way George Burns might have used a cigar. That whole picture album is full of his adorableness.
The National Cathedral in DC - I just like the angle.
A sculpture on the cathedral wall.
Sunrise on Mt. Haleakala: this pic was taken by Aimee, at 5:36 a.m., after we had spent three hours driving in pitch back and bitter cold to the top of Mt. Haleakala to see one of the most inspiring sights I'll ever see again: the sun sailing to the peak of the sky, over a thick mat of frosted clouds. The clouds were set ablaze by the rays, and the colors changed every few minutes; if you blinked you missed something. It was incredible.
More sunrise
The black sand beach in Hana, in Hawaii. There were jellyfish the size of dimes all over this beach, and so I did not venture into that water.
Waterfall on the way to Hana: I broke my shoe trying to get this pic.
Sunset in Lahaina: Most sunsets in Hawaii were fluorescent oranges, chartreuses, bold colors that you expect. This pastel-ey, fuschia-tinted sunset was totally unexpected.
And some sunsets looked like heaven itself was reaching fingers out to greet you.
Venus Pool, my favorite spot in all of Maui.
Lava fields aren't necessarily nice to look at, but I found a calming beauty in them. They provided a nice counterpoint to the water scenes that are so abundant in Maui you get spoiled on them.
Taken from the hotel bar. That's water, kids.
A hat shop in Lahaina
Portrait artist in Lahaina.
A cliff near Hana which was like a large and quiet reward after a day of exploration.
A Maui version of a post office
The waves against the Olivine Pools, offsetting the very tranquil wells of water found in them.
The vista from a prime spot on the Olivine Pools
An island overlook near dusk. I pulled over when I saw the silver slicing through the water like that.
Meeting Marta was a highlight of the 2005 trip to England; we all went to a coffee shop and talked into the early morning.
This was the first sight that greeted me when I de-planed in Edinburgh on July 15, 2005. It was like my welcome beacon.
Edinburgh Castle: I took this picture outside a pub, where I was trying valiantly to have lunch with Emerson, his mom, and Jamie of MN. David and Kathleen were sleeping in the hotel, or trying to, while we went up to meet the people from Bloomsbury, have lunch, calm our nerves for the coming night. I coudn't do it; the food tasted like glue, and I don't think it had to do with the pub. I instead went outside to answer a phone call, and when I saw the sun making a portrait out of the castle like that, I snapped.
The Hub, at the front of the castle. Operations for the event were set up in there; I did not expect this picture to be so imposing.
The Esplanade at Edinburgh Castle that night; full of light and excitement and kids, and me about to throw up.
This is one of the only pictures Emerson and I took together that weekend, and I like it because it seems to sum up how excited we were, and you can see the city behind. The girl that took this picture, incidentally, is the girl who told her father, the head of Bloomsbury, that he should read Harry Potter. We were like, "Oh, jeez. You're only responsible for all this. Thanks."
David and Kathleen, doing what they did while Emerson and I were off doing the reporterly things. They drank. This picture was taken right before I and Emerson joined them (in that order), right as I was filing a story for my paper that I had written in about 10 minutes flat, and shortly before we all, giggling madly for reasons I will not disclose, tottered out onto the Edinburgh cobblestones, and spent a night in sheer celebration and downright giddiness. It ended with us all walking Emerson's mom back to her hotel, then twirling home to our own, laughing loudly through the streets and feeling as though six tons of weight had been lifted off our shoulders. I've never slept more soundly.
The next day, we took a very leisurely and needed walk around Edinburgh. I hadn't a chance to see much of the city's beauty, what with a little interview to conduct and all. So, free of all the pressure, we lazily walked for hours and took it all in, and enjoyed the last day of what has been (and will be for some time) the most memorable experience of my life.
Beautiful Edinburgh
And, finally...duh.
