Chicken Soup: I shot the Sheriff

This was shared by my dear friend Nance. I thought it was too good not to share :)

BY: Kathryn Wilken

I admit it -- I shot the traffic cop, but I had a good reason.

After I made the illegal right turn, his motorcycle zoomed into my rearview mirror. Dang! I pulled to the curb and meekly handed over my license and registration. He strolled behind the car. Turning, I regarded him through the back window as he wrote the citation. His helmet gleamed in the sunlight, white against the red and yellow leaves of the liquidambar trees. I reached into my bag, my hand closing around the comforting, shiny black object I was never without. Raising it above the seat, I fixed the helmet in my sights. With a steady hand, I snapped the shutter.

I was fulfilling my 2004 New Years resolution; to take at least one photo each day. Id made it this far, and I wasnt going to abandon the project. The police officer was my photo for November 3rd.

I'd made the resolution on New Years Eve. My new digital camera was still in the box because I was resistant to learning its baffling terminology -- JPEG, CCD, TTL, TIFF. Yet I knew I needed to join the Digital Age. I resolved to create a visual record of the coming year. How hard could it be to grab a snapshot each day?

I began carrying my camera everywhere, looking for beautiful or intriguing subjects. Each evening I downloaded that days photos and designated one as the official Photo of the Day. I subscribed to a photo-sharing website and posted my daily images -- landscapes, still lifes, abstracts -- to my home page.

After a few weeks, I told family and friends about my resolution. They thought it was a little weird, but most of them posed willingly or didnt get too mad if I caught them in a candid moment. I snapped photos of my friend Jean with her new Honda Element one day, operating her printing press another day. I captured my husband several times -- hiking, grilling steaks or reading the paper.

At first I was reluctant to approach strangers. No, make that terrified. But I wanted my collection to document the community as well as my own activities. One day in January, picketers were marching in front of the supermarket. When I grabbed the camera, it almost slid from my sweaty palms. I asked two workers to pose with their signs so that I could post their photo on my website. They exchanged an is-she-loony? look. My Photo of the Day explanation sounded lame even to me. Then one man said, Okay, were doing this to get our message across. Fire away.

It got easier each time. I took a picture of a Nordstrom saleswoman, a clerk at the Italian market, a knife-twirling chef at a Japanese restaurant. After a few months I started getting bossy: Hold your saxophone like this, I said to the jazz player, and turn to the left. But people didnt seem to mind, because I tried to learn something about each one. The man in the botanical garden who was polishing a benchs brass plaque said it was a memorial to his recently-deceased wife. The handsome couple running a Greek food stand at the Los Angeles County Fair told me theyd given up high-powered careers in order to pursue their dream of a nomadic life selling gyros and spanikopita.

Not everyone cooperated. One day at the dry cleaners, I asked the proprietress to pose by the moving clothes rack for a portrait. Oh, no! she said, blushing. Hair not good today! I switched off the camera.

Another time I was zooming in on a blueberry tart at the bakery (the gum-chewing clerk had shrugged an okay when Id asked permission) when the baker stormed out of the kitchen, toque aquiver and bushy eyebrows drawn together. What are you doing? he thundered. We serve a unique product here! I assured him I was not a spy from a rival bakery, but tucked my camera away nevertheless.

It was the only New Years resolution I ever kept. At the end of 2004, I had 366 photos on my website and printed in a book -- an indelible record of the year, and hard evidence that each day of our lives is unique. Photos of the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and the towering monoliths of Stonehenge remind me of a trip to England. My nephew playing his senior percussion recital at Juilliard, a picnic overlooking the Grand Canyon, a smog-free day in downtown Los Angeles -- Id probably remember those events even without the photos.

Its the quiet domestic scenes I would have forgotten -- a kettle of French onion soup simmering on the stove, the redbud tree in bloom, a scattering of golden apricot leaves lying on a weathered bench. These photos, so mundane when I took them, have gained in value. They glow with a patina of nostalgia.

I have proof that nothing lasts. The orange grove where I picnicked with friends has since been plowed under for a housing development; the rusty motel sign on an Arizona back road was torn down soon after.

And family members look different today than they did arrayed on the front porch on Thanksgiving of 2004. The little boy coloring a starfish in one photo now wields a baseball bat instead of a purple crayon. The doll being clutched so lovingly by a little girl in another photo now sits neglected on a shelf. Life changes in such tiny twitches, you dont even notice them.

By the end of the year, my camera had become an extension of my arm. I could change white balance, turn off the pop-up flash and increase ISO without even looking. I changed too. Over the course of twelve months I gradually became family archivist, photojournalist, fine art photographer and portrait artist. And cop shooter. I never imagined I would do such a thing, but when youre desperate for a Photo of the Day, you take any opportunity life hands you.

My Favorite Things #2 ... Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

Friday Night Lights!!! We love, love LOVE this show!

The writing, the characters, and yes, dreamy, yummerific, Kyle Chandler! (okay, so I'm the one loving Kyle!)

From the cry of Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose before the game to the action on the field, which will remind us all of our high school football days, and thankfully are not the predictable win all the time endings we've come to expect from Hollywood writers, this show is one of those that fills your soul. You believe in the relationships, heck you may even envy the relationships - most of all, its REAL. Its gutty, believeable and makes you wish that t.v. executives would demand, writers would write, and allow actors to show their craft in quality productions like this show.

Thanks to DirecTV who showed the complete 3rd season, (woohoo without commercials!), I am recommending that the rest of you who don't have DirecTV, tune in on Friday Nights (hello, why on earth was this always scheduled on every other night except Friday nights?), and watch!! Tivo, DVR, tape or whatever - this is quality from the first moment to the final second.

And let me know what you think of Kyle too!

My Favorite Things #1

So, I've decided to post about some of my favorite things in my life!

Today, I'm starting with with one of my favorite t.v. shows that I record every weekday. I used to record Dr. Phil, but the message got old, the guests were still stupid, and honestly, it was depressing! Then one day I was home and caught Ellen - oh my gosh! What an energy boost! I was so darn HAPPY when I watched her show. It was so nice to sit and smile, giggle and relax during a show and I actually felt good after watching it. Ellen is sheer joy to watch. So now I come home, sometimes stressed, sometimes not. But for 45 minutes I can watch Ellen (instead of the news) and my cheeks actually hurt from smiling to much. Ellen is good for you! Better than vitamins even!

The other day Ellen had Dr. Wayne Dyer on as a guest. He remarked on the 4 Virtues that he had written about in a book several years ago and I think they're very timely considering the state of the nation, world and planet. They are:

(1) Have a REVERENCE for all of life and show respect for all living beings. See the unfolding of God in them, rather than you sitting in judgment and tut-tutting about them.
(2) Live a natural sincerity meaning honesty as a human being - be true to yourself.

(3) Service for all of your life. Make an effort and get out there and spend your life doing something for others instead of thinking "what's in it for me". Instead of wanting to attract something to me, for me ask yourself what you can attract for someone else's life - how can you make a difference.

(4) Gentleness - extend kindness to others instead of passing judgment on them. The doors of life will not open if you are wanting something to satisfy your own ego, rather than a higher source.

Finally, if you have trouble relaxing before you sleep and spend those last few moments worrying about things you need to do, can't control, what's wrong, what you don't like or what you're missing out on out there - STOP.

Now take a deep breath and instead focus on how you want your life to look - the BIG picture - feel the power of POSITIVE thoughts and the calm that comes with it. These are the things we should be thinking about - not whether our 401k will take another hit. You know what - the stock market will fall, its going to happen and we can't control it. What we CAN control though is how we feel about it.

Next Tuesday our country takes steps in a new, positive direction. Imagine if we ALL had the positive thoughts to go along with it -- think of what we could achieve - awesome huh?

A New Year ... A New Cold

So here we are - 10 days into the new year and I have a horrible cold. UGH. I'm missing an Eagle Court of Honor today because I'm sure the last thing they want is me sniffling and coughing my way thru their ceremony and food line! I dropped off Brian at the hall this morning and of course didn't realize (blaming it all on the Tylenol fog) that I dropped him there an hour early! whoops! Pays to read the fine print of the invitation ... must remember that next week! LOL!

Today is also the first Saturday that El has worked in ages. Feels a bit strange at this end, and I'm sure it must feel equally odd for him. Hopefully he'll have a good day though.

I think I'm going to curl up with my remote, kleenex and blankie and see if I can find some movies to watch today. I hate being sick!

Finally ... Brian drives!

WOOHOO!!! As I type, Brian is out driving his car and getting a feel for it. He's been so nervous about driving again and getting a car for Christmas only seemed to make it worse. So El decided that today was the day he was getting our boy out there and behind the wheel. YAY!! And bonus, they made a quick side trip to Jamba Juice to grab me breakfast - I'm a happy Mom!

New sneakers!

Brace yourself - I'm posting again! LOL!

Can I just say how much I LOVE new sneakers - especially when they're comfy! I bought 2 pairs the other day (love a sale) and now have a whitey white pair along with a pink & white pair. I think going to Ginger's retreat helped me find my "pink" side - woohoo!! I love New Balance sneakers cuz they're wider (like my feet) and they just feel good the moment you put them on. El was so excited to see me get new shoes - he insisted I wear them out of the store! I guess I held onto the Nike's for a little too long LOL

Happy New Year 2009!!!!

Resolutions - who has some, who runs the other way from them? I used to make them (okay the same one) every year. Woohoo, having the lapband and losing 68 lbs this year has lightened that load (and me) and I no longer feel compelled to make the same resolution every New Years Eve of promising to lose weight, feel better, blah blah blah. I'm on the happy road and it feels great. Course, some days I would like to EAT, but I'm quickly reminded that its not a good idea anymore!

I would like to change other things. One is that I need to post on here more often so there's that resolution. The other is to brace myself and finally face up to the horror that is my scrapbook room and ultimately begin scrapping again. Yeah okay. Laugh if you want - heck I'm laughing with you! LOL! I have literally stayed out of the room because its just too horrific to go in there -- I think paper elves have drunken parties in there because its BAD! I know there's a floor ... heck, there's carpet. I just have to ummm find it! I have 1,434 projects to complete and have done NONE of them - this must change! LOL! So I'll report in each week with my progress - I'd post photos but I think it would scare people (plus the paper elves get annoyed)!

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year ... 2008 was a rough ride at the end and we just hope the economy improves. El's work has been hit hard as all automotive dealerships have been. His "team" is officially defunct as of today and tomorrow he finds out what team he'll be on for the immediate future. He's talked with other techs in the shop and no one is making any money like they did 6 months ago. But we are optimistic - we have our health, we're happy, we have looney tuney dogs that make us giggle, Brian has a very cute used new car (woohoo!) and maybe he'll even drive it one day! LOL Things are just gonna be GOOD and better this year!