An Odd Jumble

My sons and nephews are accustomed to the eccentric compositions that ebb and flow from our kitchen table. I was shooting some food this morning (Blam!) and I had to take a moment and appreciate everything that was jumbled before me.

• A coffee cup that was a gift from Sunshine Cottage, when I was invited to lecture hearing-impaired children on cooking. I took my son Henry with me, and he drew a cartoon of a pirate on their white board. It was a nice day.
• Loads of crumbs from the Pan de Campo I wolfed down for breakfast.
• A beautiful orchid that I keep forgetting to water
• My husband’s latest bronze sculpture
• Various boards that I was using as a fake tabletop to photograph the eggs from my husband’s chickens. The boards were from my warehouse shelving, but they had textured white paint on them, which seemed to work well for my shot.

Our Projects are Always on Our Minds

My husband and I are under some tight deadlines for projects. We hover in the kitchen briefly to shovel down some food, and then we are back to our desks. He has to wait until I finish with a food shot in order to eat, and usually I give him the less that photographic portions. Poor guy. He has not divorced me yet for feeding him ugly, cold food, so I guess we are good.

He’s working on another sculpture right now, and spends his day focused on a greasy lump of clay, half watching black and white westerns and charro movies from the 1950’s. I’m in the other room writing, needing total silence. The voices in my head are competing with fake gunshots, and timid voices of swooning school marms. Just another day in paradise, here at the ranch.

Most days we just shove the odd jumble on our table to one side, so we can eat, and then get back to work. It’s just the two of us here at the ranch, but our projects join us at the table like stuffed animals at a tea party. We make room for them, as our projects are always on our minds.