After Hours.

Well, I missed a day. But the batteries in my camera died, and I had so much fun on Wednesday night that I came home from work yesterday and immediately fell into a nap, waking briefly around 8:30 to make a burrito, before heading straight back to bed. And now, the sun is out for the moment, and I know that what I really need is a run or a bike ride...but exercise will have to wait. I've got a pile of unread magazines, two rented movies, and Lines & Shapes to occupy me tonight. It always feels great to get home from work on a Friday - but today it's feeling extra, extra good.

I promised pictures of my slumber party in Edison. I tried to get some, taking shots of our pretty cheeses and salami and Breadfarm baguette, of the roast chicken and potatoes Berit made and the salad Jane and I assembled, of the Edison slough.

But I'm not sure pictures could detail how delicious the food was, how lovely little Edison is, or how much fun we had, because this was a time when photo-taking felt strained. It's hard to capture honest moments when you're on the lookout. Maybe it will become more immediate, more natural in time - but I've felt that the best pictures I've taken are the ones where I've inadvertently seen something, and not where I've tried to stage a scene, or capture the inherent movement and dynamism in an event.

I did get a private viewing of the current Smith & Vallee exhibition, though. I loved:

Todd Horton's cypress trees look just like booming skyscrapers (or do, perhaps, after six glasses of wine). I want to borrow that dynamic - I want to fit it into something like a Venn Diagram - to help explore all the city/country bits floating around in my head.

(For more of Todd's work, visit the Smith & Vallee Blog).