The Fog is Slowly Lifting

(All pics. snapped on 5/14/11)

The last couple of weeks have been nothing short of a technological nightmare. Like I've seriously felt as if some sort of hex has been placed on me, or that I've done something to piss off the technology gods. On the upside, I've kept myself busy during the downtime - by tidying up my yard, my studio and my house. The bad news though, is that my poor Little Pretties has suffered terrible neglect. Additionally, some funky stuff went down on The Big Ugly's comment board - and this is something that I must explain to readers "Reddogg54" and "Adrian Hudson"...both of whom recently left wonderfully sweet comments about me, my pics. and the blog. 

K, here's the deal: over about a 24 hour period, sometime last week - Blogger was down and I was not able to login to my account, respond to or post comments, or work on entries for either of my blogs. When Blogger was finally back up and running, not only did I discover (upon trying to post it) - that Reddogg54's comment "no longer exists", but two of Adrian Hudson's comments (which had already been posted) had mysteriously been deleted, as had my reply to them...I was so bummed. I couldn't stand that those guys might be sitting there thinking, "What tha hell? She deleted (didn't post) my comment(s)!" 

Anyway, I just wanted to let you two know that although I have no earthly clue why it happened - I am awfully sorry about the snafu...Lord knows I would never do anything to intentionally slight either one of you like that.

Oddly enough (aside from the glitch with the comments) I haven't been all that bothered by not being able to tend to my blogs. Matter of fact, even before everything blog/photo-related essentially went to hell in a hand-basket - I had decided to slow down the frenetic pace at which I'd been snappin' self-portraits and candids, over these last few months - in the hopes that it might be beneficial to my work, in the short term as well as the long run. In other words, I was feeling a wee bit burned-out...and I believed that a brief break would do me and my pictures some good.

It's not uncommon for me to do this, from time to time (as I'm sure by now, you well know). To sort of shut myself off from the rest of the world, so I can sort out whatever may have become rocky or uncertain in my life, or to evaluate my current situation, and ponder potential solutions to whatever may have become problematic. And a classic side-effect of these cyclical reclusive periods - is that basically I've no desire to talk/write...much at all...

As this past weekend approached however, I felt a vague desire to resurface...and possibly even socialize a smidge. So when a friend invited me to come over and visit, it actually sounded appealing...

I had left clearing, almost sunny skies - when I drove from my town towards his place on the mountain, but as I neared the top of that band of the Blue Ridge - the weather conditions dramatically changed. It was much cooler and rainy, and visibility was practically nil - because of a dense fog that had draped itself over the mountaintop. The closer I got to my destination, the more and more anxious I became. I just wanted to be done with the treacherous driving, not so much because I was worried about whether I'd make it to my friend's place in one piece or not, but because for the first time in nearly two weeks - I was seriously jonesin' to do some self-portraits...and since dusk threatened to steal what was left of that fabulously thick, eerie light (the very reason for my urgency to take self-snaps, in the first place) I knew that I needed to just get there...and fast! 

All I can say is, thank goodness I had the sense to pack up my camera, before heading to my friend's house that night. I hadn't really planned on even taking any pics., but I'd figured it certainly couldn't hurt to carry my gear along...in the event that something should chance to come up.

My friend greeted me in the driveway as I parked my car, hopped out, and spastically gathered what I needed for the shoot. I quickly explained that I'd come inside in a minute - but if it was ok with him, I'd reeeeally like to take a few pictures in the fog first.

I shot from 7:54 to 8:25, at which point nighttime put my spontaneous shoot to bed. I was so thrilled to have snapped a total of 52 frames - that I didn't pay much mind to the cuts on my feet, from having run back and forth across sharp rocks and broken glass...

This impromptu shoot was in no way a panacea for everything that's gone haywire in my life, of late...but it definitely helped to lift the gloomy, heavy fog - that's been draped over me lately...