The Parra Journal

A new blog url

parrajournal — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:52:25 +0000

After a 10 day road trip that ran the length of both California and Oregon, the death of Eli while we were away, and the blessing of getting to spend real time with all of our closest family, I felt it was time to rethink the family blog.

I think this new look will work nicely with my photography style. The pages are going to be a work in progress, so some things may seem a bit unfinished for awhile. The biggest thing is that the journal will have a new url: http://www.alfredinthepacificnorthwest.com/parrajournal . The site is now on the same server that my work sites are on and in the end will allow for a little more flexibility and expression of my OCD behavior to want to fiddle with everything I create almost as soon as I’m finished creating it. Enjoy.

Early Evening at CalState Los Angeles

parrajournal — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:16:56 +0000

Watching my youngest sister graduate from CalState LA on Friday reminded me of a lot of things. Coming upon the heels of the death of our little dog, Eli, Krista and I had many discussions about how life just doesn’t stop for anything. Death, life, birth, hate, none of it stops life. At the end of Harriet Doerr’s beautiful Stones for Ibarra, Sara leaves behind the failed dreams of Mexico and the death of her husband, crying out in internal anguish for something to mark this spot in time, for the workers to stop working, for silence to spread itself upon the land, if only for a moment.

The workers don’t of course, and we don’t, of course, but in some corner of my heart, I found myself fantasizing ridiculously the chancellor of the school coming to the podium and before unfolding the pages of his speech, speaking quietly, “Before we begin on this uncommonly cold and windy afternoon, I’d like to thank the Parras for attending today. Krista, you lost a symbol of comfort barely an evening ago and to be here feels remarkable. The school acknowledges the desire to stop the earth and maybe even to reverse it’s course, and though no one has the power to do so, we can and do stop this ceremony, if only for a moment, we grieve with you. Peace be with you.”

But it doesn’t work that way, does it? Life continues. The little contrails in our hearts are what’s left and some fade more slowly than others. Some linger awfully long.

In that light, I continued to do what I do. Photograph. These are some of the things I saw that day.

The death of Eli, the black pug

parrajournal — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:24:39 +0000

Our little dog, Eli the pug, was killed the day after we left him with good friends in Portland. He got out of their house and was trying to make it the two miles home, crossed a very busy street and was run over. Krista and I were drinking coffee in the evening after having driven 18 hours down the west coast to Los Angeles when she received the call. Pretty bad stuff. Some dogs are just dogs. Some dogs become an active member of the family fabric.

It was painful to share it with the kids but it gave us a chance to talk about the kind of love that would cause a creature of this earth to pass through real mortal danger to seek it out. I’ve been contemplating that for two days now and thinking about all the times I’ve not been that creature to my wife and my family. Heavy lesson from a little black pug.

Birthday Catch Up #3

parrajournal — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:33:51 +0000

I’m caught up!

Birthday Catch Up #2

parrajournal — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:23:39 +0000

The homemade soccer cake…

The homemade soccer player…

DC

parrajournal — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:09:55 +0000

I only had my iPhone, but here are a few shots from my wanderings one evening around the capitol.

Isaac One Sock

parrajournal — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:28:29 +0000

Also known as Isaac One Shoe, I simply can’t figure it out. He gives no explanation.

Isaac in recital last Saturday

parrajournal — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:07:05 +0000

Aneila is organized

parrajournal — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:43:18 +0000

Last Thursday, Krista and I went out for an impromptu dinner. It had been a very good design week and I had just come from a successful meeting. She got the kids into end-of-day mode and we took off to Cornelius Roadhouse for beer and burgers (cholesterol be damned for one evening, right?). We get home around 10:30 or so and a short note, a notebook, and a perfectly sharpened pencil is on the floor at the entrance to our bedroom…

There is a reason Aneila has gotten better and better grades this year and will end with something close to straight A’s in another two weeks. She is ORGANIZED. Sometimes obsessively so, which we work with her on. But when it’s in the healthy way, she impresses me, a person who writes copious notes and then forgets he wrote them. Or writes an important note on the wrong date in his Moleskine daytimer and then can never find it.

That she explains what “It” refers to is either disturbingly organized (project manager material) or a statement of how unreliable she thinks her parents are after they’ve downed a pint of Ruby Red and consumed a Captain Neon.

Annual Metro Christian League track meet

parrajournal — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:00:33 +0000

Several things mark the end of the school year for the kids. One of the first is the annual track meet between a dozen or so private schools. TVJA is more of a soccer school than a track school, so the meet is a good time to have fun, run as fast as you can, and basically enjoy the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend.

Isaac made the team this year. Then didn’t. Then did. He ended up running a leg of the 4×100 relay and the 300m, which is run at the end of the meet and competes with fatigue, the heat, and hungry stomachs.

Isaac hanging out with his classmates before his first race.

PE Teacher Chamberlain

Isaac expressed some anxiety about the relay all week and you can see it in this photo a few minutes before they got staged.

Isaac turning the corner on the third leg

I think they took a respectable third.

Hanging out with mom after the 300m.

Gabe hanging out with his buddies.

Passing the baton for a third place finish.

Taking 4th in the 300.

Some day Gabe will realize he’s surrounded by girls, but today doesn’t seem to be that day.