beers with ms morris

Having a few beers with my friend Emily Morris last night. I met her last year at a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer happy hour. We have completely opposite stories as she served in Senegal and never experienced a frozen toilet and wells of vodka, but there's a lot of similar thoughts and emotions around development and lifestyles that we share from having done it. She's getting her Masters in Public Health here at UT, and just smokes away on American Spirits. I love it.

a little time in oregon

It was great to see my friend Emily from Peace Corps, but even better to see her in her own environment and witness the beauty of Oregon. She took me on a tour of the Western/Central part of the state from the very sleepy but hip city of Portland, through the Columbia River Gorge, down to the Willamette Valley where dozens of perfectly arched vineyards poured over the hills, and then to the rugged coastal town of Newport where the Pacific's cold waves launched into the shore. Totally gorgeous.

I'm getting around America, slowly, sort of in awe that ever part of our country has a different feel and vibe - searching for a place to call home one of these days.

late night street

I was getting off work, late, walking to my car parked downtown as I passed this group of people huddled and laying around together in the heat passing the night away. I asked to take their picture, they gladly accepted. I'm not sure what they were pointing at. It could have been anything.

kids on the field

Just some very friendly kids I met while driving around my hometown of Blanco, TX one evening. I used to play softball on this field in high school, now the field has gone to weeds and red sand. The air was dry and windy, the sky almost retired, but the last few minutes of light I took a few photos of them hitting tennis balls to the outfield and then put my camera down and stepped up to bat. I had a blast. Special thanks to the Magical Mr. Brown for helping these pictures come to life.

water gun skier

My friend Toni invited me out to go water skiing with her today. Her son Conner, 5, also came with us. He sat in the back of the boat playing with a water gun, aiming it at the skier, and made general use of his time pretending he was King of the boat while intermittently probing me to jump in the freezing cold lake water so we could "freeze to death." I didn't get to ski too much, but I hope to get out there again soon.

a nephew's 3rd birthday

Photographing my own family is difficult for me - I have a hard time trying to be an outsider looking for moments in between moments, mostly because they are my family: I know them well. So trying to catch an unfolding scene isn't easy, and most of the time I just don't shoot very much at all. But it was my nephew's birthday party, 3 years!, and my brother and sister in law rented a gigantic blow up jump around thing, and it was a good reason to look, watch, wait for some backyard birthday moments to come around.

SlideShow - ShowSlide

It's been a while since I've been interested in putting anything up on this blog, so it goes sometimes. I made this slideshow for the small community of Armenians in Austin - many of whom have never seen Armenia. I had a great response from them when I presented it two weeks ago at their monthly gathering. So I thought I would share this with the World Wide Web. This is an "intro to my PC experience" - pretty basic, but to the point. I hope you enjoy.

Nov. 25

Left - Emily : Pies for my second Thanksgiving spent away from my family. Though we may live in Armenia, no trimmings were spared, stuffing, twice-baked potatoes, carrot souffle and many more.

Right - Me: Sitting in a hot tub with my sister, at the golf course my parent's live on. There was also a group of Muslim girls on a break from school taking advantage of the same warm, bubbly water.

Nov. 24

Left - Emily : This year I will be spending my second Thanksgiving away from home with some good friends in Shaghat, a village in Syunik marz. We went for a nice walk in the mountains yesterday around sunset. After heading back our little gaggle of Americans drew a lot of attention in a village of only a few hundred people.

Right - Me : Driving to my parent's house for Thanksgiving. Dark Texas roads, solitude at last.

Nov. 23

Left - Emily : Inside "Gitelik Hamalsaran" or "The University of Knowledge" in Yeghegnadzor.

Right - Me : You are always being watched by "Juan in the Water" (the name I have given this painting) when you eat at Taqueria Jaliscos #2 on Cesar Chavez Street in Austin, TX. I didn't mind the first time, I actually drove back there just to take his picture.

Nov. 22

Left - Emily : This time of year the sun sets right as people are getting off work and picking up groceries before heading home. I was caught today by the nice fading light the movement of people and cars around the city and the chance encounters with friends in the street.

Right - Me : Dogs are so prevalent in the world, some places as animals that roam around practically unnoticed by people and other places like members of the family. Their characters are easily personified, which is why I like reading 'The Adventures of Hank the Cowdog' books which are made for kids, but driven to make us all laugh. I was watching my friend Nadia's dog tonight while they were cooking dinner; watching him wait, watch, wait, hope, watch.

Nov. 21

Left - Emily : For the last year I have been working with a few other PCVs making a movie for the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps. This weekend Zoe came up from Goris and with the help of Meag we busted out a 3.5 minute clip to show the other volunteers at the upcoming All-Vol conference. We spent three nights awake until 3 a.m. slamming coffee munching on popcorn and chocolate and joking about our volunteer experience.

Right - Me : This little monkey was only 25 cents at a thrift store sale today. He was just sitting there on the ground waiting for the right kid to take him. My childhood doll was "Kimmie", and I cut her hair so many times that she was bald when I stopped carrying her around. Bald, sporting ratty oversized t-shirts but well loved.

Nov. 20

Left - Emily : Lately I have busy working with some ladies in Vayots Dzor trying to help them market and sell their beautiful crafts. I became associated with Tim Straight of Homeland Handicrafts, who has been helping these women get started by supplying them with material and thread for embroidery and a network in which to sell their goods. Meag and I have been working on designs and finally I was able to pay them for their first completed piece and give them more projects to work on. It has been an exciting and very rewarding experience.

Right - Me : I met Gayane at the Armenian Dance Party/Fundraising Dinner tonight at a church here in Austin. She talked my head off. She grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, and speaks Georgian as well as Armenian (which is extremely rare). She feels a big part of herself is actually Georgian although she is Armenian, and we had a really interesting conversation about her life here, her feelings about her identity through her ethnic upbringing, and her bleach blonde hair. When she left she wanted a picture of the two of us as well as my phone number. I'm sure I'll hear from her soon, at least I hope so. It felt great to be there.

Nov. 19

Left - Emily : Construction continues on the three houses just above mine, even late into the evening.

Right - Me: Chores. Changing the sheets, cleaning the bathroom. Weekend work in America.

Nov. 18

Left - Emily : The stairways in the old soviet apartment buildings here are always a sight to see. The exposed and incredibly complicated electrical system, the usually constant smell of natural gas coming from some mystery pipe and the lack of lights in the evening are all things normal to this set of stairs.

Right - Me : Its always is late in Texas, and sometimes just a few weeks long, but winter is almost here if you ask the trees.