steeling

gathering © Laura Kicey

Though rather hot, Sunday qualified for Almost-Perfect photoday status, and fantastic all-round day too. It had been quite some time since I visited the western-central wilds of PA to go on photo exploration with Mr. D. We trucked out to once-somewhere now-nowhere town of Steelton which has, until now, gone largely unphotographed. A shame as it is rather ideally frozen in time, architecturally.


amputee © Laura Kicey

The pinkish shells half-abandoned-half-used steel refineries loom across from the homes of the people who once worked there. Not once were we harrassed, aside from a couple of honks in passing. The police, who by passed us several times, didn't even slow down.


solar plexus © Laura Kicey

We hid from the peak of the heat in an Asian buffet where we let squid and dumplings and buffet-inspired guilt consume us. After refueling, we returned. And only covered half the town. So return again, we must. For all its seeming misery, its was curiously welcoming.


musical chairs © Laura Kicey

I'm not a believer in astrology, particularly. I enjoy reading horoscopes and occasionally seeing what can be gleaned from the astral alignings during my month-late birth. Am I going crazy with hyphenates today or what? I especially enjoy Rob Brezsny's newsletters for the other bits and bobs it includes... especially his observations of language.... I'm always enjoy interesting translation peculiarities from other languages, if I had a better capacity for picking up languages, I might find work as a translator rather interesting... (such as was recently pointed out to me that there is no distinction between 'waiting' and 'hoping' in Spanish... though there may be some subtleties to that statement I am missing)
Anyway, my Virgo forecast this week fell into that realm, see italicized at end, I really liked that bit and its what doesn't kill you makes you stronger notion wrapped into a single word:

Once upon a time, you asked a certain someone for a blessing. Instead, he or she blasted you with a curse. The debilitating blow of that bad magic hit you right smack in the place that was ripe for the blessing you requested. What a tragedy! Now, at last, you're wise and strong enough to defeat the power of that old curse.
Here's the first step: Understand that the seed of the blessing you
once needed (and still need) is hidden within and obscured by the curse.
Figure out what that blessing is, and it will reveal to you what to do next.

(P.S.:
The French word for "wound" is *blessure.*
It suggests that blessing can come from wounding.)


Yeah that was totally tangential. And the French word for blessing is bénédiction I believe, but I like a little word twisting whimsy.
Sorry I've been absent, technical difficulties have finally been circumvented and now I am working on some expanding web designery so my presence might be patchy until it is put to bed.