Hello, Again, World!

January 24, 2023 ~ Crystle ~ 1 Comment

Oh, dear. I seem to have neglected my blog, and my photography profession! I’ll wipe off some of this dust, pull down some of the WordPress cobwebs, and I will fill you all in, for blogging continuity purposes. In 2018 I officially closed the door on Yea Yea Photography. It was a great experience, but I wasn’t feeling purposeful or creative in the field anymore. I wanted to serve my community in a different way, so when we moved from Alaska to Arizona, I stopped marketing, stopped pursuing leads, stopped putting my name in the running for bids. Then I made a decided to return to an arena I once dabbled in during undergrad as a shelver. The library.

After much careful consideration, I filled out my graduate school applications, rounded up some reference letters and sent them in, hoping for the best. After receiving my acceptance letters (yay!) I decided to enroll at the University of Arizona because it was local. I started graduate school in January of 2019, and I graduated in May of 2021. I finished with a 4.0 which was a huge achievement because my undergrad gpa was marred by home-life problems, health issues, and a lot of partying. It felt really good to redeem myself academically! During graduate school I worked in a public library and interned for a semester in the academic library setting. Unsure of which path would open itself up to me post-grad, I tried to keep my options open.

In December 2020, Army orders sent us from Fort Huachuca, Arizona to Fort Hood, TX where we have been living for the past two years. Last year I taught Kindergarten, hoping to pursue the school librarian track. But when the year ended, and I tallied all the years it would take for me to actually certify and qualify to become a school librarian in the state of Texas, then researched the process of transferring school licensing to other states, well our meager time in TX wouldn’t cut it and my heart wasn’t in it.

After the school year ended, a cataloging position opened up at the local city library, and I was lucky enough to apply, interview and receive a job offer. I’ve been cataloging in technical services for a very short amount of time, but I’ve learned so much! Cataloging and Metadata management was easily the most difficult course I took in graduate school, so I was nervous about the prospect of specializing in it, but it’s been going very well. The demands of work in technical services are very different than a public-facing librarian position. Working in TS is a standard M-F, 9-5 type of gig, while your dutiful frontline librarians at your local library pull all kinds of hours to accommodate the public – evenings, weekends, school breaks. I got really lucky to find a position that allows me to still attend soccer practice, and games.

Isaac returned from a 6 month deployment very recently, and we are so glad to have him home. He’s in a command position that I probably can’t talk about because of operational security rules, but I can say that it kept him very busy when he was away, and continues to keep his phone ringing and buzzing throughout the day (and sometimes night) while home. He will continue his work in the military for the long run, and we will just keep adapting to whatever is thrown our way in the process.

Oh, we also got a pug named Bonnie almost two years ago, she’s hilarious.

Looking back at the previous post, it’s surreal to see how quickly time flew, and reading this current blog post, I’m amazed that so much has been accomplished (I also ran two marathons!). On this website, it’s one page to the next, but in that space an entire chapter of our lives transpired. I hope to not let so much life pass by without checking in on this little site of mine (it’s 13 years-old now!).

So, anyway, Hello, again World! My photos will once again start populating this page, and I’ll hopefully bring content to the site 1-3 times per month.

XOXO Crystle

OKC-ATX

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 ~ Crystle ~ 1 Comment

Well, Isaac’s MR340 race was postponed this year. The paddling event, which starts in Kansas City, MO and ends in St. Louis, did not pan out due to high waters from recent flooding. Since the Army does not give much wiggle room for leave dates, our family vacation turned into an Oklahoma City visit, a trip to Austin, TX, a hike in the famous Carlsbad Caverns ending in an immensely spectacular bat show.

We were also able to tack on a night in El Paso at the trendy Indigo hotel before heading home.

In OKC, we spent a day at the Omniplex with my best pal Jax and her awesome squad who are conveniently stationed in nearby Ft. Sill, OK. That museum grows every time we visit, and it would take at least two days to see everything. We ate at Empire slice house, had ice cream at Roxy’s and found a splash pad at McKinley park in the Plaza district where the kids ran off some of their bottomless energy.

We also rode the city’s new trolleys around downtown, ate on the 49th floor of the Devon tower, and got hot and sticky in the Myriad gardens. Oklahoma city is maturing and growing into such an exciting metropolis.

Our visit to Austin included a stay at a downtown hotel where we toured the city by foot. VooDoo donuts has a shop in Austin; munching their creations brought back fond memories of traveling in and around Portland. We rode electric scooters and bikes, went to some great restaurants, including Cooper’s Old Time BBQ Pit, and had fun swimming at a swimming hole at a nearby greenbelt. Definitely check out my instagram stories for that clip – doggie heaven is real, and it is in ATX.

I didn’t want to lug around my 5DMarkiii, so I didn’t take any photos there. The lighting at Carlsbad didn’t allow for photography either, using a tripod down there would just feel silly. I did however document some highlights on instagram. Check those out here: Carlsbad Caverns highlights.

Interestingly enough, no digital devices are allowed at all during the bat flights. No cameras, phones off, and be very quiet. This is a directive taken to prevent the bats from migrating elsewhere, and ending the century long tradition of bat flight shows.

Carlsbad Caverns hosts a bat show nightly during the spring-summer at the amphitheater near the cave entrance. The bats swirl out of the cave counter clockwise, fluttering and chirping about as they flock to find water and food.

Someone broke the rules and documented the event previously, and against better judgment I’m sharing it here for anyone whose curiosity has been piqued.

Overall, a wonderful journey to both familiar and unfamiliar places!

The Pioneer Museum of Flagstaff, AZ

August 2, 2018August 2, 2018 ~ Crystle ~ 2 Comments

When we found out Margot’s first day of school was August 1st, we scrambled to scrape together a family vacation at the last minute. We like to keep our plans loose, avoiding reservations and expectations in order to flow with the weather, and our moods while traveling. It’s an art form, really.

Our plan was to take the pop-up camper out for almost a week; staying at Apache Lake near Phoenix, and camping and hiking in Sedona. Well, Apache Lake was sweltering. I went for a run at the Burnt Corral campground where we stayed at a shoreside site and the temperature held steady at 104 at 7pm. I got zero sleep that night, and felt like I was suffocating in 97 degree weather at midnight. The kids were fine, and Isaac seemed okay, but I definitely was going to have a bad time camping in weather like that; and if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. I think that’s how the saying goes.

So north we traveled, hoping that the weather would cool the further we went toward Flagstaff. Sedona was still above 100, so we traveled onward to Flagstaff.

Camping at the county fairgrounds was wonderful. Quiet, cheap, centrally located. We had at least two activities a day that we achieved; visiting the Arboretum, a Mansion, trails in the mountains, kayaking at Lake Mary and — my favorite — checking out the Pioneer Museum!

The Pioneer Barn, separate from the main building, contains loads of artifacts of yesteryear – I especially enjoyed spotting a large floor loom. It was warped with a project on it. I wish I were able to identify all the features of various looms on the spot. I need to crack open a few more books and click around a few more websites before I can do that.

I’m still neck deep in Pioneer culture right now. As some of you may know, I tend to latch onto a topic and immerse myself in it for a year or so until my interests are swayed into another direction. We’re reading the Little House on the Prairie series and chipping away at lessons in the Playful Pioneers curriculum at the moment, so this museum was exactly the type of place we had to visit.

A lumber train staged in the front of the museum was open for us to trot through. From there we followed the foot path to a historic cabin. I love imagining how life would have been in the late 1800s. We went to the museum after a trail run, and I wasn’t feeling as hygienically civilized as I would like to be, so I think I had a pretty good idea of how it felt to live intimately with the seasons and the elements. That is certainly part of the joy to camping; reconnecting with nature and learning to appreciate the modern conveniences we all have. And resetting the internal clock to coincide with the natural circadian rhythm — totally necessary!

I will tell you the best part of the Pioneer Museum, by far. Their Children’s Room, full of wooden toys, period costumes, school desks and books.

We had to loop around to the Children’s room twice so the kids could continue to play with the Jacob’s ladders, hobby horses and oversized dollhouse. Engaging children in museum settings is difficult, so I commend the Historical Society of Arizona on curating such a magnetic place for kids to explore.

Among the many activities we did in Flagstaff, the Pioneer Museum was top of the list for me; although it was tough choice between trail running, s’mores making, and kayaking. I will definitely revisit this place, and I doubt I’ll have trouble dragging my family along again.