Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Got myself another toy today. I know absolutely nothing about this camera, but I thought it would be fun to play with (if it actually works).  I took it out of its case and started fiddling with it. I could tell there was a roll of film in it. I absolutely love getting an old camera that still has film in it. I couldn't get the rewind to work since I didn't really know what I was doing, so then the question became: Should I open it? For the next ten minutes I went back and forth. I had no idea what kind of film was in it. I had no idea how long it had been in it. It'd be cool to develop it and see what pictures the owner (who I was told was 92) had taken. But I didn't know this person and the likelihood of the images coming out decently was pretty slim. So I opened the camera.   Inside was a roll of Tri X Pan, circa the mid 1980's. I was really kicking myself for not taking more time to figure out the rewind feature, as I could have developed this roll myself and no...

I've been working on getting my darkroom up and running for three years. Actually longer if you consider the year I bought the enlarger and had it sit in the garage attic. More like fifteen years. When I brought the enlarger home and set it up in the basement of the house I was then living in, it wasn't going to work because I couldn't raise the enlarger far enough up to focus the image onto the paper. Hence why the enlarger went into the garage attic.  Fast forward twelve years and me buying my adorable little house in a little village out in the middle of corn and soy bean fields. This house has a lovely basement. I started my darkroom the summer of 2020, getting everything in place except for making the room light tight. I turned my attention to other things, leaving the darkroom to sit until this summer. This summer I returned to that social media platform I'd left five years ago. Five years of not knowing what others were doing. Five years of learning that it's...

I'm taking two grad classes this semester. A better idea would have been to take one, but hey, when I decide to do something I figure jump in all the way.  So far, I'm staying afloat. Barely. Teaching five composition classes and being a part of "develop a new course" group is a lot. And then there's Teddie on top of all this. Teddie the sweetie. Teddie the needy. Teddie the terrible (but just every now and then, never all the time, thank goodness). I haven't been this busy in my life since the kids lived at home and were involved in their activities. I'd gotten used to the slowing down, the free time to do absolutely nothing.  Now, if I don't put what needs to be completed on the calendar, it doesn't get remembered or completed.  But I'm afloat.  One goal I am determined to achieve is get the darkroom done. DONE! It's been three years in the making, with nearly everything I need to develop the first roll of film, but I've dragged my fe...