The Stories Behind The Images

May Fuji Round-Up Part 2 | The Matchbook 6.19.26

Last week you saw part 1 of the month that was May. Now it’s part 2, because I’ve found, I take far too many photos I love each month to whittle them down to just 25 or 30. I’d rather whittle them down to 75, so I give you the whole width of the month I lived through.

After all, shouldn’t we celebrate every day we sleep and wake again as a monumental victory?

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Here was the second third of our month, the ides of May as it were. All the beauty in all the bits, even the boring ones. Especially them.

Click to view on the website, which lets you view these bigger and scroll through the gallery.

Kicked the second third of May off by celebrating Sarah’s mama’s birthday at their house with them. Sarah once again made the most ridiculous cake in all existence, filled with her own homemade lemon curd, the craziest moistocity (not a word but should be) you’ll ever see, and insane frosting she invented somehow because she’s a witch of pastry. The light in their backyard was gorgeous, we got to see Charlie (the dog) and snuggle her, and I love the black and white image of Deb before she blew out the candles. It just feels peaceful, I think.

My favorite image of the entire month might be the photo of Sarah laughing under the purple sky. It feels like a memory, and that’s the best way I know how to say it. The same soft-focus-slightly-grainy-kind-of-out-of-focus-half-light of some early summer evening that is how your mind remembers things that matter from a long time ago. One of those images that if your life flashed before our eyes in a cinematic way in some film about you, it’d keep going back to that one shot, that one picture, with music swelling behind it. Like it mattered, like it really mattered.

The photo after it also feels like Stranger Things to me, and I love that. Finally, Henry home from college means sitting on the deck in the fading light of evening, listening to the birdsong, waiting for hummingbirds, and just letting the world slow down. What a thing.

There’s a softness to May light in the evenings here. It’s like the antithetical light to that of early Autumn, same glow, different angles, different shades. I love it. Gilly also adores the deck sitting, it gives him a chance to wander back and forth from person to person, making sure the moment someone gets tired of petting him and lavishing him with attention, someone else is ready to step in. I think he has a little circuit he goes on so he’s almost never left un-doted. Smart creature.

More storms, more sun-soaked walks, more photos of Sarah being weirdly stylish all the f’ing time. The image with the shadow silhouette of a house with just a peek of Sarah in the bottom right corner is another that feels straight out of cinematic nostalgic memory. Also, I love long shadows, we take a lot of photos of them. If you’ve not been to Montana, May is a doozy of a time to do so. Holy smokes, a lotta pretty all stuffed into one place.

The second third of May dwindled down, you could feel it changing, shifting into something new. Addie had her final tennis meet (of 3) of the season, and she said overall she had fun trying a new sport. As a senior. Rad. We went and watched and while it was very much not Wimbledon, every now and then they strung together some shots that felt like a rally. That’s cool. She then caught up with us on our walk after her meet, and I snapped the one of Sarah smoochin her head in the sunset light and I loved it. We were exhausted that night so luckily she drove us home from the walk. When we got in, Gilly jumped into the front seat before we could do anything, Addie strapped him in, and we drove up the hill to our house. He’s hilarious.

A few more walks, a few more stunning skies, a few more animal friends, and a trip to a local pastry place let me snap the mirrored image of the rolling pins on the wall. I liked it.

Family from Spokane came to town for a Memorial Day mini-vacation at my folk’s house up in Elliston, so we got to see everyone for a short time up in the forest, where a crazy forest fire broke out.

Tune in next week and you’ll see photos of that, and more, and you’ll get a weirdly intimate glimpse into what a life here, with us, is like.

I love you all.

Be good.