On the Move

March 2013 - Athens, Greece

Olives Beyond Olives

March 2013 - Nafplio, Greece

Loved Ones

March 2013 - Nafplio, Greece

"Pirooz"

Happy Persian New Year!

March 2012 - Dallas, TX

Delectables

Kali'spera from Greece!

March 2013 - Athens, Greece

It's almost Persian New Year and seeing these pastries in an unbelievably fragrant Athens pastry shop this weekend was a sore reminder that I am missing out on the annual festivities with my family this year for the first time. Looking forward to some lovely baklava though to make up for it!

Charm City

Been missing "Balti" a bit recently. I know, I'm surprised too...

September 2011 - Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD

It's a bit of an underdog (an afterthought, or D.C.'s shadow). It is home to some of the worst crime, the worst stats, the worst you-can't-even-imagine-it situations for a kid to grow up in.

But there's something about being down at the harbor on a Spring day and smelling that harbor-water breeze as the sunset saturates every color and glint of light from the lapping crests. There's just something about riding the bus or the Charm City Circulator on a lazy weekend afternoon and watching your driver slow down in the middle of the street to call out a "Hey, friend!" out the window to an acquaintance.

It's not a pretentious city.
And it's certainly not one note - from Hampden to Canton, the Hopkins campuses to Fed Hill, Fells Point, Mt. Vernon, and then the blight of West and East Baltimore, you happen upon different people, a different tempo, a different style. But it's all part of Bawlmore. You get comfortable there, wrapped up in a small town feeling, despite its size and population, which outranked D.C. in 2011.

To tell you the truth though, there is a sadness that hangs in the sticky, humid air in the summer and in the wind that fiercely whips at your face and hands in the winter. Or maybe that's just the way I remember it. But it's why I refused to love this city. I've been heartbroken too many times.
I came across a poetic and brutally honest article recently: When You're in Love with a Broken City. It's quite short; definitely worth a read.

See ya next time, Hon.

Shimmering

Purple

May 2009 - Baltimore, MD

Congrats, Balti!!! Go, Ravens!

Watercolor

Never let it fade away.

January 2013 - Jackson Hole, WY

(Be)fore-ground

January 2013 - Jackson Hole, WY

Pursuit of Happiness

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold 
I'll be fine once I get it, I'll be good.

January 2013 - Jackson Hole, WY

Tell me what you know about dreamin’ dreamin’ 
you don't really know about nothin’ nothin’ 
tell me what you know about them night terrors every night 
5 am, cold sweats wakin’ up to the skies

Rosy Light of Hindsight

January 2013 - Jackson Hole, WY

Brisk on Mass

November 2012 - Cambridge, MA

Palette

October 2012 - Minnewaska State Park, NY

Earthy Gloom

October 2012 - New Paltz, NY

Happy Halloween!

Sounds of the Subway 7

I heard it from the Grapevine:

I'm trying something new as I've been inspired over the past months of New York subway travel to capture snippets of the "artists" of the subways. Hope some of these short clips are as smile-inducing to you as they were to me!

The Wise Men

October 2012 - Grand Central Station, New York, NY

Pair o' Pinks

October 2012 - New Paltz, NY

Change

October 2012 - New Paltz, NY 

Drift and drift
and sift and sift
and in the end
swift, it's swift.

Midnight City

October 2012 - Pershing Square, New York, NY