Photography

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The Band

American Music Hall. 2009. Photo Credit: http://www.pjtaylorphotography.com
Wente Winery. 2010
Great American Music Hall. 2009. Photo Credit: http://www.pjtaylorphotography.com
Great American Music Hall. 2009. Photo Credit: http://www.pjtaylorphotography.com

I’m pretty sure the band broke up a long time ago. We haven’t played out in well over a year and we’re not even rehearsing or trying to book gigs. But no one has said it out loud. Maybe saying it out loud would make it official, and maybe we always want to be The Gun and Doll Show. Forever. I know I do.

I joined the Gun and Doll Show in 2006. Before that, I was a singer and songwriter for an indie pop band (who kicked me out for my lack of being friendly. Or something). Prior to that, I was the lead singer in a classic rock cover band (I still can’t figure that one out). And before that, a backup singer for Alex Dolan (you can hear me on his Americana album), and somewhere along the way, I produced my solo CD, More of You (okay, you get it: I sing).

You never know what you’re going to get personality-wise when joining a new artistic group. Or any group, for that matter. It’s a total hit or miss. But in a creative situation, the percentage of getting at least one whackadoodle in the bunch is very, very high (trust me).  But the group that came together when I joined, just clicked. I’m not saying we weren’t passionate or dramatic or talented. I think we were all of that. But I think it worked so well because really, we just wanted to play good music and have fun (sounds easy enough. You’d be surprised).

Gun and Doll Show girls 2010

The Dolls. 2010

Gun and Doll Show girls

The Dolls. 2014

What started as a creative outlet, has given me so much more. Last weekend we all got together (with our significant others, our kids) over food and drinks at Jen’s house in Napa, then headed to karaoke (minus the kids) at the infamous Trancas Steakhouse (oooh yeahhhh). As I write this post, I’m realizing that during the entire night, not one of us talked about the band. It just didn’t come up. We simply enjoyed one another and had fun. Like always.

The band, reunited. (minus Tom)

The band, reunited. (minus Tom)

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Homes on Laurel Heights

Home in Laurel Heights

Laurel Heights is a small San Francisco neighborhood just south of the Presidio National Park. It’s one of the city’s wealthier areas, which means beautiful, well-maintained homes and impeccable landscaping.

Home with rotunda

I had some time between doctor appointments last week (most of Laurel Heights sits just above CPMC, one of the main hospitals in town, and several other medical buildings), so I went for a short run in the Presidio and then walked through the neighborhood (where I took these photos).

Home on Cherry Street

San Francisco buildings, especially the Victorian and Edwardian ones, are distinct, unique and quirky. And one of the things I’m going to miss the most.

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Family + Telling the Girls + Bugs

Family portrait

Spring 2012

I haven’t talked about my family a whole lot yet, but family is pretty much the whole reason for the move. This is probably my favorite photo of my three loves. My husband (who is the most private person I know – bless his heart for not collapsing when I told him about the blog) was being silly with the girls one morning and I captured this sweet moment. Lucy was about six months old and Penny had just turned three.

Speaking of the girls, we finally told them about the move last night. The first words out of Penny’s mouth were, “I’m not really that excited because I don’t like walking in Michigan….they have worms!” Not the response we were expecting, exactly, although it wasn’t entirely out of left field. Last summer when we were there, Penny was freaked out by all the bugs.

In the backyard

In the backyard. (No bugs.)

To her credit, they were kind of creepy, especially when they crawled up from the dirt and onto the hot stones of Nana’s deck or concrete sidewalks of the neighborhood. They would writhe around, flipping and flopping, and if they couldn’t find their way back to the earth, they would eventually shrivel up and die. There were also lots of beetles and bees and other flying insects. We rarely see bugs here, even in our backyard.

I feel her pain. Bugs make ms jumpy, too. My gross-out Michigan bug moment was during my early evening runs. Every couple of blocks, I would run through a swarm cloud of tiny bugs in a funnel formation (what were they doing? And what kind of bugs were they? I would Google it, but then I’d have to look at buggy photos). Every once in a while I would inhale one. I got to where I could spot them up ahead, and whenever I reached a swarm, I would flail my arms in an attempt to keep any bugs from entering my nose or mouth. Sometimes I’d let out a battle cry while doing it. Preeetty sure the locals could tell I wasn’t from around there.

Penny and I have some manning up to do, for sure (she’s been talking about worms all morning), especially since I plan on composting and planting an edible garden. I’ll let you know how it goes down.

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Hawaii: Running at Ala Moana Beach

Running at the beach

I was able to get several runs in at Ala Moana beach (a 15-minute drive from Mom’s house without traffic) during our short Hawaii vacation – yay! Definitely needed some exercise to balance all the sugary foods I consumed (if you can resist multiple helpings of the haupia pie that is eyeballing you from the refrigerator every day, you are not normal).

Here are some of the things I saw…

I saw someone using this, too!
Last morning run on our day of departure.
Crazy tree.
Beach Cafe
Bird (not sure what kind?)
Banyan Tree