P is for Pictures....

...or photos, or photography, or anything in that realm. I love pictures. When we escaped Afghanistan, we had to leave everything behind, and that included pictures. There are no pictures of me as a baby, of family parties, or of relatives long gone by now. None. All left behind. One of my favorite pictures as a child was one of me sitting on my uncle's shoulders as he sat in his Army jeep. I used to show that picture to EVERYONE. My uncle later died in a refugee tent camp in Pakistan, and I have not one picture of the two of us.

Back then in a country like Afghanistan, developing film was a luxury, so pictures were highly prized possessions. Since my early teen years I was determined to never suffer the loss of a prized possession again. Pictures are pictures, and in all reality, it is a paper image. But, there is something about being able to share your memory with someone through imagery. Right now I just described that picture of my uncle & me....but you can't see it the way that I see it in my mind. And it makes me sad that I can't share that visual memory.

I started working at the ripe old age of 13, and one of the very first things I ever bought for myself was a Pentax 35mm manual camera. I loved that beast! It was a cranky, moody used camera, but I loved her! I took hundreds of black and white photos with it, and literally spent HOURS in my darkroom developing my prints. It has been a love affair that has continued since. I absolutely love taking pictures.

In the digital age, it has become so much easier to store and organize photos. I have well over 4,000 pictures organized in my Flickr account. I'm not kidding when I tell you that over half of them are of our animals and the animals we've come to love. The sense of peace I get when I save my pictures in Flickr is priceless for me. Even if I lose all of my pictures and memory cards in a fire (God forbid), I can always log on to my Flickr account and reprint all of my prized possessions.

I have some favorite subjects, as you all know given my incessant posting of my Golden Furbabies. These are just some of my faves and I wanted to share for A-Z Mondays........happy viewing!

The "You & Me" shop in Venice, Italy. We stopped off in Venice before going to Rome for our wedding. Look closely....what do you see?


Feet. Paws. Same difference. I stalk my furbabies when they sleep. Here Achilles & Milo were sleeping facing each other, paws touching. It melted my heart.


I even like to take pictures of pictures...get it? Can't stand the rip-off prices of photos at amusement parks, so I snap a picture of their picture. This is us on Splash Mountain at Disneyland...me up front, Ed right behind me. It's my favorite ride.


Our shadow.


Picture of a picture of us on Disneyland roller coaster. I lost my gum and it hit the forehead of the man behind me. See if you can tell. Poor guy.

My ring in the sun.


Our feet.


Our hands.


My sweet Nick, enjoying his massage. He wanted to be as close to me as possible, to the point of squishing his face against me. Hope you're having fun up in heaven my sweet boy.


Stalking the sleeping Milo Bear.


Happy boy Milo running in the park.


Enjoying his "bully stick" cigar....


My Golden Love Puppies.


My three favorite boys walking home together after the park.


Ed's wedding band. We were in a cab in Spain, heading to the airport after our honeymoon. I looked down and loved the play of light and shadow off his hand and my leg.


Ed and Nick just hangin' out.


Ed and Captain Morgan, his companion of 15 years. This little green parrot rules our house, believe that. He is the Green Feathered King of our house.


My three boys again. I adore this picture.


Captain Morgan again...with him in our home, I have four favorite boys. He is a handsome green fella, isn't he???


In Spain while on our honeymoon, I decided to trek up a rock outcrop in my rubber Skechers sandals. Not the brightest idea I've ever had, let me tell you. Trust me when I tell you that I'm lucky to be alive today. I never told Ed, but I nearly slipped and fell down that cliff. However, that did NOT stop me from snapping a quick shot of my brown feet in brown shoes on a brown rock. You like?


I made it safely back down to our beach, where I was so grateful to be alive, I took a picture of my bare brown feet.


My favorite Asics got a workout while in Rome. Have I ever mentioned my love (some call it a fetish) of socks? I LOVE FUNKY SOCKS. (Shout out to Stephanie at Oranges Grow on Trees, my fellow Asics sista!)


Stalking my baby Achilles as he sleeps.


When Lis Sis used to visit (now she lives in San Diego), she'd have one suitcse just for her shoes. That's where Achilles used to sleep, hence, "Achilles' heels".


Achilles and his bully stick. He carries it around like its a cigar.
For more A-Z Mondays fun, see who's playin' along at Jen's blog:
http://unglazed.blogspot.com/

Check out Busy Bee Suz' "P" interpretation. It's hysterical!