I want to set off endless chains of events, I want to ask if we can be friends.
The world is opening up, and so is my heart, my wants, my dreams.
Once there was a broken piece of china that made hopes come true.
That something so small and seemingly insignificant could be the unexpected catalyst in creating something huge, why does it come as such a surprise?

Do not discredit the size of a seed.

Random little things will lead to life altering stuff and there is no predicting coincidence.
Now I ask myself: If there is power in little pieces of something that used to be whole, is there an end to how much can come from something broken?
How far back can I trace the big moments in my life?
Be a little brave and see major things come from it.
Be a little brave, and the ‘little’ will grow into courage.

There’s a link of sorrow on this chain. I wish it wouldn’t have happened, but it can’t be removed- it contains a life. A life I got to know, a friendship that grew.
And with all the things I’ve come to learn, the good and the bad, I know it will set off new events on this never ending chain of happenstance, and I’m just sitting here watching it unfold. Taking it in with all of my emotions.
Not that I have a say, I can’t stop it.
Why would I even?

I have a meadow office now.
It’s on a yellow checkered picnic blanket in a park that is almost always empty (except for a few dogs and their owners, some old ladies and their newspapers).
It has sun and shade, a large old tree that feels like it’s guarding me, and there are birds ants and squirrels, and long stretches of grass with puddles of white clover flowers.
It's so green right now, and the other day I heard that Atlanta has the highest ratio trees per person and I haven’t checked if that’s true but I like it.

Two weeks ago I sat in this exact spot when I got the call that a dear fried of mine had died.
I had been thinking that this place feels so meaningful to me. That later, when we’re back in LA, I will think about it with warmth.
Now it carries so much more; it’s a meadow for thoughts about life and death, and I will never forget it and the large old tree that took such good care of me.

We got to experience some real Georgia weather this past week, with Tornado warnings, and thunder storms louder than any I’ve ever been through before. It was my very first Tornado scare.
We sat on the front porch one evening when the rain poured down. Lightning flashed the sky every other minute and the thunder rumbled for what felt like a lifetime before it rolled away.
My head on his shoulder in the jasmine scented, humid Atlanta night.
That’s another one of those evenings that will become an important memory from this time in my life.

I remember having full thoughts.
I don’t remember losing them though, but they probably got misplaced somewhere in the pandemic.
Maybe if I sit down to write they will return?
Last week I walked so much I kept waking up in the middle of the night with cramps in the foot. Let me tell you, it’s quite difficult to discretely get rid of a foot cramp without waking up the person sleeping next to you. Leg, straight up to the sky, fingers desperately pulling back on toes hoping for relief, tension everywhere, PAIN! Teeth clenched.
Wait. Did I do it?
Relax. Breathe.
NOPE! OW OW OW!
Repeat.

Things I’ve noticed after being in Atlanta for a couple of weeks now:
-Everyone has a dog or two.
-Revving and/or blasting loud music from your car seems to be huge in Atlanta.
-Parks on every corner! Love the many green spaces.
-It smells like weed everywhere.
-Atlanta feels a lot like Gothenburg. It surprises me every day how Gothenburgy it is. Train tracks through the city, a bit roughness, bricks and concrete next to each other, beauty in the old. Unpretentious and full of life.
-My outfits seem a bit out of place here. More so than any other place I’ve been to. Not that it bothers me, it’s just an observation.
-Atlanta feels like it was made for springtime! Flowering trees like fluffy colorful clouds along the sidewalks. Confetti on the ground. Green leaves bursting from every branch.

I put on music, sit down in front of the computer, and hope for full thoughts.
Are there still just bubbles in there? Scattered pieces of sentences and scrambled words without an end. Do I have something I can focus on, cling to, rope it in and fold it up into a neat little bow of ThoughtFull-ness. Something that makes sense?
I see a piece of thread sticking out from underneath a pile of wayward thinking. If I pull on it, will it all just unravel into more fragmented ideas or will I be able to wind it into a ball of yarn? A ball of thoughts perfectly rolled up into a manageable size?
I will need a basket for all of these.

We've been in Atlanta for a week now and I've been walking around with a camera around my neck taking photos of things that have caught my eye.
I've never been to Atlanta before so I'm enjoying getting to know the city.
Here's what I've seen these past 7 days.

It's like we arrived just in time for spring. Everything was on the brink of bursting.

On Sunday we went on a little excursion.

To get bagels from Emerald City Bagels .

Magnolia while we waited.

Look. At. That.
We walked to a nearby park to eat. My egg and bacon breakfast bagel was probably the best one I've ever had.

You can tell, right?

Then we visited the historical Oakland Cemetery.
If you've been here a while you know I'm a big fan of cemeteries, they're always the first thing I look up when visiting a new city.

I understand that this might be a family name, but I like to imagine that they just decided to sort people by their first names and this is where all the Courtneys ended up.

And we'll end this first Atlanta post with an angel who's lost her hand.

A little technical note for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing:
All of these photos where taken with a Nikon Z6, and I used the following lenses:
A vintage Nikkor lens 35mm f1.4 for photos number 2-7 and 13-16 .
Nikkor 24-70mm f4 for photo number 1, and 8-12.
A vintage Nikkor 35mm f2.8 for number 17-26.