Catie Brazzale Photography

I took this picture while on my road trip to Boise, ID.  IT was actually taken in Boise, at an old penitentiary.  We didn’t get the tour because we arrived to late, but I was able to snap a few pictures, and this was one of them.  I love the window behind the window.

This is one of the pictures I am most proud of.  I love the vibrant green, the simplicity, the contrast of the brown on the green, the cow on the hill way off in the distance, the color of the sky.  I could go on….and on….  Not to mention the memories behind this photo.  It was taken on my “road trip” with my best friend while in Germany.  We took a long drive from Northern Germany to Munich.  Driving in a foreign country is not as easy as it may seem.  We passed this farm, and I made Sara turn around so I could take some pictures.  This happened to be one of them.  Something about it reminded me of home, Wisconsin. 

I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do.

Look what I found!  In my yard….  Its funny how I often blog about run down houses & the crazy things you find there.  Looks like mine is one of them.  I came home Thursday evening to our throne in the front yard.  To make matters worse, my lawn mower is broken, so the lawn hasn’t been mowed in almost 2 weeks.  Yes, folks, I am the white trash of the neighborhood.  But I have an excuse, I’m fixing up the house!  My plumber graciously left the toilet in the front yard as a joke for me.  Such a sense of humor!  Also, I was able to mow the lawn that day.  Phew…I am no longer white trash & my house is no longer the spectacle of the neighbhood.
Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

There is something eerie about these swings.  Maybe because they are at an abandoned house.  Or because there are no happy children around.  Or maybe because its winter & they look so lonely.  I don’t really know, but something about them draws me in. 

The picture was taken right before Chrstimas 2007.  It was actually a fairly warm day out, not to mention not a cloud in the sky.  The perfect winter day for picture taking.  On the way to a friends house, I passed this abandoned ‘farm’.  The house had broken windows, the shed was tilting to the south, there barn had a whole in the roof, and of course, the swings were abandoned.  It makes me wonder what happened.  Did the owner die & family didn’t care about the house?  Did it just become in habitable?  Why did they leave the swings? 

I originally shot the picture in color.  It still looked a little eery, but for the full affect I made it black & white.  I, personally, feel shooting in color and then changing the photo to black & white after makes for a better B&W photo.  If shot in color, the color data allows you to have more control over the end result.

I guess I’ll start with Thursday 2 weeks ago.  I was in the front yard fighting the war on Dandelions when a very elderly (85?) Hi woman approached me and said “Espanol?” and I said “no Espanol” and her face got a bit worried and she said “No Ingles…”.  I then said, remembering the smallest bit of Spanish from High School “Un PocoEspanol”.  She handed me a silver bracelet that said “epileptic, Andrea XXXXX, Address”.  She handed it to me as if asking if it was mine.  I said “no, this isn’t mine”  She shrugged.  I then thought maybe it was hers, so made the follow me hand gesture and started walking towards the address.  Still a little confused on what to say to her and what she wanted, I looked up the word “lost” on my iphone in spanish, and said “perdido?” and she said “Si”.  So I walked her the long 5 blocks to her house.  All we said to eachother was “Me Llama Catie” in which I got a smile from her & a “Me Llama Andrea”.  I got her home safe & sound.  She thanked me graciously & I went home feeling good about myself.

Fast forward to tonight.  It was about 8:30 PM and just before dusk.  I let Lucy out to potty and as I was calling her back in the house, a figure on the street caught my eye.  At a quick glance, I thought it was just someone on the street, then I looked again, and I thought it was Andrea.  WE made eye contact.  I let Lucy in the house and saw this figure walk past the front.  I had this feeling it was Andrea and she was lost.  I told Matt what I thought, and he said she’d probably be fine.  After 5 min. of worrying, I aksed Matt to drive through the neighborhood with me.  After going up & down 2 streets, I saw 2 cars pulled over talking to eachother, one of them really looked like the SUV I see in Andrea’s driveway.  I said to Matt “Should I roll down the window & tell them I think I saw Andrea a few minutes ago?” and he sai d”no, lets keep driving”.  So we did.  We drove down another street, finally taking a Right onto Bayaud, right in front of Andrea’s house.  I thought “do I knock on the door?” and just as I thought that, the SUV I saw a few seconds ago pulled in the driveway and out stepped Andrea. 

She made it home safe & sound…but yet I’m still bothered by it.  I feel so bad for her.  Maybe I should have said “Hola Andrea” when I first thought I saw her & walked her home.  Does she have dimentia & wonders off?  Does her family get mad at her when she gets lost?  I’m considering letting her family know I’ll pick her up 3 nights a week to take her for a walk through the neighborhood, just so she’s supervised. 

I guess I shouldn’t worry.  She’s not on the streets, she’s home where its warm, dry, & comfortable.

On a happier note…here are pictures of possibly the 2 cutest kids in the world.  My niece, Abby & Nephew, Gabe.

What a wonderful suprise to have 2 random tulips growing in my yard.  I thought maybe they were weeds, but I listened to my mother & let them bloom, and sure enough, a red & yellow tulip.  My favorite! 

I took the opporutnity on Sunday to snap a few pictures of them as they just bloomed.  They were perfect.

Tonight I used Adobe Lightroom to “develop” them.  I just adjusted the color to make them more vibrant.  What a difference!

**side note…I just let the dog out, only to see tulip petals scattered around the backyard.  I guess Lucy, the dog, also enjoyed them!

one room schoolhouse

This is a picture of the one room school house my mother & her 7 brothers went to.  I’ve driven past it over 200 times in my life and always admired it.  Mostly because the “one room schoolhouse” concept boggles my mind.  How do you teach the 5 year olds & the 9 year olds at the same time?  How do all the kids fit?  How do keep all the different age groups engaged & under control?

Last fall, on the way to the cemetary with my mom to lay flowers on my grandmother’s grave, we passed the infamous one room school house.   This time, after no seeing it for a few years, it seemd more rustic & run down.  I wondered if it would be there much longer?   

On the way back from the cemetary, I asked my mom to pull over so I could take some pictures.  As I took some pictures, my mom & I walked around.  She showed me the trees she climbed in, where the playground used to be, how she & her friends would play softball during recess.  It was amazing.  I was able to get all my one room school house questions answered (the concept still amazes me), and I got to hear about a part of my mom’s life I never thought about.

I’ve decided to give my website a new look & do it as a blog, so bare with me as I try & figure this all out. 

Keep coming back to check out the new photos I’ve taken along the way and also my gallery at www.catiebrazzale.com/gallery