Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

The 50 Photographers show at Crocker’s Mark Gallery was a big success! The place was completely packed:

Here is my photo:

The Story:

I am close friends with a woman named Roz. She is a psychologist here in town who has been very generous with her time and expertise. I adore her, and she adores me. I’m so lucky to have met her.

Anyway, she and her husband recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, and they had a wedding vow renewal ceremony at their house. After the ceremony, I walked around to get some candid shots of people at the reception. I was outside on the porch trying to be stealth, and I was taking pictures of this woman: Roz’s mother. She was engaged in conversation with other people, then at one point, she looked over at me and mimicked my tiltted head pose – just a little. I smiled at her and leaned my head a little more, then she leaned her head a little more – lean, lean, lean, CLICK!

I was instantly so pleased with this playful moment that I ran inside to show the picture to Wayne and Jake. It’s one of those pictures where everyone who see it smiles. I love that about it.

When I later showed it to Roz, she said that things between she and her mother had been a bit strained lately, and she thanked me for reminding her of her mother’s playful side. That’s the reason for the title.

I couldn’t be more pleased by my picture. There were others I was considering, but my favorite photographer is Henri Cartier-Bresson. In his photography, the capture of the decisive moment usually happens when he observes something happening between other people or outside of himself. In this instance, the image reflects an interaction between me (the photographer) and Roz’s mom.

I’m big on interaction. Reciprocal interaction is kind of what I live for. I need to put a price on this image, but if it doesn’t sell (or even if it does), I know who this reminder is for. It’s for Roz. She’s getting a print of this no matter what!

My photo didn’t place in the contest, but I couldn’t have been happier with my choice and with the fact that Roz and her husband came and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I knew a lot of the other photographers, and I was so impressed by so many of the photos in the show.

There are so many things to share about Friday, it’s hard to know where to start. First, the winning photo was entered by Kelly. She took this on a meetup in Durham. I really love the lines and colors in it and am so glad she won.

She’s glad, too!

Some others I want to share (click to go to photo page):

My personal favorite (even though I have no idea why)

Jake’s (because I like him and because I was there when he took it):

Link to the other images in the show.

Oliver’s show at 101 Cafe was great, too. Jake and I went there with Kelly and Chad. Great little cafe, perfect for a photography show. All the work was his. I’m pretty proud of him. Must have been a HELL of a lot of work. I am a big dork and was WAY too excited that I was in a picture he had included in the show. Just my hands, but I really love the picture. His whole family was there, too. Yay for Oliver!

He and I both had pictures up at a benefit at Slim’s. Oh, I hope they sell! I want my efforts to go to the cause.

After a fun drive westward to some North Carolina vineyards with Jake, Kelly, and Andy (thanks for planning the trip, Andy!), we all stopped at Southern Season in Chapel-Hill for dinner. After dinner, we wandered around the massive foodie heaven to do a little shopping. Kelly was very interested in getting some chocolate for her new beau, so we hit up SS’s MASSIVE chocolate counter. I’ll interrupt myself to post a picture of the cutest offering I saw:

At the chocolate counter, Kelly and I met a man named Reginald Savage. He is a chocolatier and owns a chocolate shop called Chocolate Truffles By Azurelise. He had a sign next to him advertizing his upcoming appearance on Food Network, which I thought was kind of cute. Man, sign for man, 1 foot apart. Anyway, we got to talking, and I took this picture. I will definitely put the show into my TiVo, and then no doubt that I’ll be noshing on his truffles later this week! Gorgeous food visuals… fuggetaboutit. I’m powerless. The show is Road Tasted With The Neelys at 9:30pm and 12am. I’ll be watching – or at least TiVo-ing!

I saw Dottie had posted the Manga version of herself on Flickr yesterday, so I made one of myself, then a few others did, then a few others. Last night, Jake and I were looking at the Face Your Manga Group pool and cracking up at how this has spread in the last day. Well, this morning, I woke up and logged in to the Raleigh Social Group, and I thought I had gone to the wrong pool. Check this out:

Here’s mine:

I love the internet! Here’s the link to make your own.

I spent the latter part of yesterday watching Jeep and doing little tests. Her allergies are now treated, so she’s no longer got the runny nose, but she has still been hanging out under the bed, under the chair – just low to the ground. She hasn’t had that growly demeanor she has when she’s feeling bad. I kept her out in the living room with the bedroom door closed for a few hours. She’s avoided any chance to jump up on to furniture on her own. I put some little bits of food up on her favorite chair. She was interested, but it took a LOT of cajoling to get her to jump. She also was really reluctant to chase the laser pointer “bug.” Watching her get up, I noticed she seemed a little wobbly.

I think my little girly has arthritis. The doc had mentioned glucosamine for kitties (we had gone through all the possibilities), and looking it up, it seems like the right way to go. I think one reason she’s been feeling bad is that she’s had a few things bothering her (allergies AND arthritis), so when any actual bug gets her, it really knocks her out. It also explains the more frequent “accidents” just outside the litterbox.

I looked it up. A kitty cat that’s 11 years old is like a 60 year-old person. It’s hard for me to think of my girls as seniors, but the truth is, they are.

I am now spending a lot of time following Jeep around, attempting to anticipate her needs. When she looks longingly up at a chair, I pick her up. If I notice she’s been sleeping a while, I help her get down and walk with her to the litterbox. I could be making this up, but she totally seems to think I’m her hero now. She seems to be feeling better for the first time in a long while, and whenever I help her out, she purrs really loudly and gives me noogies. It’s nice to be appreciated! And it’s great to be able to finally help her out. I’ve been feeling pretty helpless to do that recently.

The tree has a “nose”, and I’m pretending to be a booger:

The most fun part of the 4th was the taking of this set of Polaroids:

My favorite part of 4th of July this year was this meta-creation of Polaroids. Perhaps this is our summer project?

1. Shannon’s picture of a flower
2. Shannon displaying her disappointment in the quality of her flower picture
3. Abby shows everyone how disappointed Shannon is
4. Robert shares the photo of Abby reacting to Shannon’s photo while Brian hams it up in the background
5. Rich sticks the Robert/Brian image in his pocket while (unbeknownst to him) Elise makes bunny ears.
6. Elise shows us the picture of Rich while Robert leans into the frame, looking slightly lecherous.

Click here for the originals.