A Fall Day...

Our day at the Louisburg Cider Mill....
This weekend my mom, brother, and I took my nephew Joaquin to the Cider Mill for the first time.
A beautiful Kansas Day. Hundreds of people standing in line for cinnamon donuts and cider.
All of the nostalgia set in immediately. My grade school frequented the mill for field trips. My eyes would bug open as I watched "so many apples" being washed and smushed by big steel machines to make delicious jams, juices, and spreads.

The Mill was hosting Cider Days...
Complete with a live music, petting zoo, hay rides, pumpkin patch and a corn maze. Quite the little festival... interesting arts booths, water softening brochures, and of course a country store with carmel apples. Stand in line for fried pickles, corn dogs, or fresh brewed tea.My nephew Joaquin is only two. Everything is a brand new experience. Somethings proved toooo much for the little guy. Including a cold muddy pumpkin on his lap! But, all in all we had a fantastic time.
He shoveled corn, fed a goat, walked the patch... and got a hay ride.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. The smells, the bonfires, the jackets, and perfect fall days like this one!








I think our mission was accomplished! My little buddy fell asleep in his daddy's arms to the tractor sounds and the fall breeze on his beautiful little face.

One Way to Go from Here.

Experienced love and all of its power
More than emotion, it came as a shower

Rain as it covers; Love as it speaks....
The path of life has interesting curves and peaks

No way to end this shortened verse
A big red bow just leaves it cursed

Reason only leaves more questions
Advice and Perspective are mostly suggestions

Only one way to go from here….
The uncertainty often causes fear.

Refusing to let that get the best of me.
Doing more than just "waiting to see"

Taking action with my soul
Never again will my bag have a hole.

Cruzing ahead minimal at speed.
Never again making selections just out of need.

Alison Capra
August 08, 2008

In My Cubby, Creating

This morning at hot yoga, I put all of my belongings into a small cubby hole. My eyes scanned all the personal belongings of other participants stashed in side by side. I found myself wondering what stories each pair of shoes had behind them.

This afternoon I walked down the sidewalk in front of my studio and looked in at the chiropractor in the office next to me, sitting at her desk with her granny glasses on the edge of her nose… I smiled at her, she waved and smiled back. I walked past the other little shops, the Korean-owned dry cleaners... full of hanging shirts… the tobacco shop that seems almost abandoned… And I thought, “Man, we are all filed away in little cubbies.” On days like today, when its raining cats and dogs outside, we don’t get much business. And there we sit, all filed away in our little cubbies.

My business is to create. I find joy in my wedding photography. It might not seem very artistic to some… but it touches me to know, I shared in their story. I documented a special day in their lives… and when they open their wedding book, they will have memories that last forever as they watch their smiles and fun dance across each page.

If I can’t change the entire world and make everyone happy libertarians… la la la puppies, rainbows, and unicorns… All I can do is create. Create relationships worth having, love worth sharing, music worth experiencing, and art that touches the soul.

I DUG UP AN OLD POEM...

My Bag Has A Hole

Just When I Think It's All in the Bag...
I Realize the Bag Has a Hole...

I thought I patched the hole last time things were leaking.
But all I did was check the floor to see it needed sweeping.

Disheartened is the word that best describes this state.
A constant dripping in your spirit only God can placate.

Mendacity droplets in my ears a perfect dose for faking.
But I'm the one who let them in, MY decision making.

Four years I gave myself to this poorly painted peice.
All along thinking, someday the hurt would cease.

Only one thing to do right now, and that's the hardest part.
Patching up that good ole' bag with a fresh new start.

-Alison Capra
4-08-08

An excerpt from: Settling for the Stories They Told You

An excerpt from my upcoming book: Settling for the Stories They Told You

Why are we protecting principles over people? Why can’t we teach principles without basting them with FEAR? Why are we afraid to let young people question the truth? If the truth is the truth… why are we so afraid that harboring pieces of doubt and question will make the truth crumble at its core...?

-Alison Capra

Bringing My Wall to Life

Bringing life to my wall. I wanted something really gentle and life-giving added to the room, but I wanted to stay within my Asian-Fusion theme. The thing I really like about this tree branch, is that to an outside eye... the tree looks like it is dying, black and bare. But, the truth is, it's the beginning of Spring the tree is budding with new life after a long winter. Each blossom is covered with gold leaf or metallic paint to symbolize TALIA. Talia is the Hebrew word for dew from heaven. Talia is a name that I feel like God gave me, If I ever have a daughter someday... that is what I will name her.

To begin, I am sure you would like to see the before photos of the blank canvas.
My Asian themed living room with hardwoods I refinished myself... Thank you very much :)

As you can see, this space needed a boost!

I started with the cherry blossoms. I went to Hobby Lobby to find a fake flower that resembled a cherry blossom. I found these simple white blossoms and plucked them from their branch.

Check out my new workspace! It isn't fancy... but its coming along!

I applied gold leaf with paint brush and a simple gold leaf adhesive spray from the craft store. I also spray painted a few blossoms with a silver metallic color for more TALIA.

Here are a few of the blossoms before I smoothed out the gold leaf with the back of my paint brush...
Next came the branch! This was Tracie's brilliant idea, because my friend Tracie is brilliant! She even picked the branch. She brought it from her back yard and we pulled off the leaves. It has a dark rich chocolate brown color that we just loved, because it was raining all day!
We hung the beautiful branch from some twine in my living room.
Then, we set up a light to cast a nice shadow on the wall for us to paint. Brilliant!

And Away we go with the painting. I really loved doing short wispy strokes. I felt like they looked more Asian. I don't really think that there was a wrong way to do this. Every stroke contained its own character. With every turn or shift of my wrist... it added character, even if it wasn't perfect.






Next came the blossoms! I hot glued each one to the wall... and there you go! My cherry blossom branch, covered with dew from heaven.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
Author: Unknown

The one is a little different.
Two Different Versions!

... Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY:Be responsible for yourself

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant 's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by theGovernment GreenCzar.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:

Be VERY careful how you vote!