A Short Inspirational Poem
By Frank Outlaw

Watch your thoughts,
for they become words.
Watch your words,
for they become actions.
Watch your actions,
for they become habits.
Watch your habits,
for they become character.
Watch your character,
for it becomes your destiny.

It’s your First Kiss and several questions might come to mind:

‘What the heck!’ and Just Go for it!!!

My sister sent this to me in an email this morning.  She is always sending me silly emails like this, but this one was pretty funny so I thought I would pass it along.

If anyone knows who this little tot is, please have them email me, I would love to know!

I love looking at old portraits of people. Even if I do not know who the person in the image is, I feel a certain connection with them because we are all subject to the pushes and pulls of the human condition. The very best portraits are those that allow you to see who the person really is at the moment in time when the image is taken. It is a reflection of their life, and their time.

From 1935 until 1942, President Roosevelt’s New Deal employed some of the greatest photographers of the time to travel the country and take photographs of people and places affected most deeply by the Great Depression. It was the first time art was financed by our government, but not only was it art, it was also an important documentary undertaking and it produced some of the most powerful images in our country’s history.

Over the period of seven years this team of incredible photographers used their talents to deliberately shape public opinion and affect social change through the medium of photography. And I am thinking that going forward today these iconic images can be used again to as a reflection of our own time and certainly for a bit of perspective.

As the result of higher gasoline prices, and the rising of food costs, I have been hearing lately in the news we are headed for an economic crash the likes of which have not been since the Great Depression. Fear has always been a great way to sell news, and the recent downturn in the U.S. economy is no exception.

I think we can and should use Roosevelt’s documentary images to put perspective into our lives. Here are some of my favorites.

Dorothea Lange created this portrait in 1936. The image is a powerful portrait of the state of destitution.

The Burroughs Family, Hale County, Alabama, 1936 . Photo by Walker Evans. What is more powerful than family?

Another image from Dorothea Lange.

This weekend is the 4th of July.  And I am going to spend my free time this weekend going through my own family history of pictures and other items and see if I cannot discover a little about myself through what those that went before me have left behind.  I will post any goodies that I find next week.

Aren’t they adorable? They come and live with us every year in a big woodpile out back of our house.

Darton would like to see the woodpile removed, or at least cleaned up, but I will not let him…I think it is bad ju-ju to disturb our little friends. He says they are the ones committing bad ju-ju by burrowing under our brick paved walkway causing the bricks to come loose…I tell him, welcome to the wonderful world of home repair and maintenance!

Personally, I love to cook. In the winter, I live to make soups from scratch, along with all manner of casseroles, desserts and fancy appetizers. Recently, I came across a great summer recipe and I thought I would share it here.

You will need:

Fresh mozzarella

Homegrown REAL tomatoes

Sprigs of fresh basil

Olive oil

Italian Sausage browned and crumbled (optional)

Course ground salt and pepper

Slice the mozzarella into disks and then put the tomatoes down on their blossom end and cut ALMOST through. Slide a slice of cheese into each slot, tuck a few leaves of basil in too (randomly). Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. If you wanted to give it a little more substance, you could add browned Italian sausage crumbles.

These look gorgeous and are simply delicious for a light summer meal, or as a fancy appetizer.

Bon Appetite!

I apologize it has been so long since I last updated our blog, but Darton and I have been very busy with lots of new projects, including our most exciting project of all…Darton and I are pleased to announce the opening of our new studio in Winnetka, Illinois! Our new studio comes with a new name that we felt better reflects our life’s work and we are calling it Portraits by Darton.

Our new digs are located at 572 Lincoln Avenue, right in the heart of this delightful village. So far we have been warmly welcomed by the residents, and we look forward to serving them carefully and faithfully as we have done for so many years here in Baraboo and for others around the country.

Further information can be found on our new website

http://www.portraitsbydarton.com

or by calling 847.501.5850

I am hereby pledging a renewed commitment to regularly updating our blog!  Please be kind and gentle with me as I struggle to keep our blog updated.  As a youth, I was not one to keep a diary (that was my sister’s forte!) and what is a blog if not an electronic diary made available for the world to see?

I have so much respect for those who’s blogs are spring forth new material daily, it is my sincere desire to be like you.  so if you have any tips or ideas for me, please email them to me, so I too can look like a blogging queen!

Darton took this picture while we were on vacation in California last year.  I thought to myself, how simple and so beautiful, so I thought i would share it.

Let them worry about their own problems.
The failures — the success.
You have your own to worry about. And when the windows open-
don’t let the rainy skies get you down, find birth in an electrical storm.
Don’t lie. Don’t talk. Don’t hate. Don’t turn away.
Don’t stop.
The idols, full of themselves, are not your failure.
When it’s only your mother who loves you,
find a way to shun reality.
Don’t laugh. Don’t cry. Don’t accept. Don’t paint.
But, please, Don’t stop.
Don’t stop until you’re sure I’ll come back,
and someday, I hope we watch a nice scene together.
Changing only bit by bit, so slowly we can hear our own heartbeat.

My 15 year old daughter wrote this poem for me. I am not exactly sure what her deeper meaning behind it is, because when I asked her, she told me to find my own cotton candy in it.

It used to so much easier when she was younger to understand who and where she was, but many times now that she is a teen, I find myself scratching my head in wonder. Darton once said that our children live in a world that we can never enter. He is so right about that.

But, even though I am not sure her deeper meaning, somehow it seems a fitting bit a prose for me.