My boss and a particular judge have a love/hate relationship. They love each other really but put on a show for the world that they hate each other. The Judge's instructions to me are "keep your boss out of my court room" therefore when I actually have to put cases on in front of him I apologize profusely the morning prior. The entire thing is so silly that the Judge has said when my boss walks into the court room "bailiff, do you have bullets in that gun?" So today we had cases in front of said Judge and he asked my boss "are any of your clients in the courtroom?" the boss said yes the Judge then said "what is he going to do to you when I give him 10 years?" So anyway we are doing our cases and we plead the guy to no operators license and request a prayer for judgment continued, the Judge says "class 1 level 1, 2 years in the department of corrections" my boss says "your honor" the judge says "ten years in the department of corrections" luckily I had already warned the client to ignore anything the judge said, so he was only slightly perturbed, and eventually the Judge entered the correct judgment. I enjoy my job sometimes, especially when certain Judges are on the bench.

In a sheer moment of serendipity, my husband has to spend an inordinate amount of time staying overnight in Columbus County, while we have parents of a band student (or should I say band students) who own a house on Lake Waccamaw. One day, the band student parent said "rather than staying in a motel room why don't you stay at the lake house" so (saving us thousands of dollars in motel fees) since that time my husband has been staying at the lake house. This, you can imagine has been an absolute boon for me, not only cause it means I do not have to budget four nights a week of motel room fees into our already tight budget but it also means than when I go down there to spend the night with him I get to stay not in a bland motel room but in a house, on the edge of a lake, with the most spectacular of views. As a photographer it is of course the most wonderful of opportunities. This week we had to attend the teacher of the year banquet, and thankfully it was over before sunset. While I could not get a good sunset shot seeing as the sun set right behind the house we were staying in I did get what I thought was a nice shot of the pink clouds and the boat houses.



The next morning I was hoping to get a wonderful sunset but the weather would not cooperate. I rose at 6am and waited for the sun to rise but unfortunately it rose behind the clouds, however I did get this shot of the sun rising and casting its reflection on the lake.



All in all it was a wonderful evening and morning, I just sat there with my bucket of tea and watched the sun rise, no stress, no hassle, no panic. I didn't have anywhere to be right then, unusual for me, so I just sat. I watched the swallows come out from their roosts and begin to hunt, I watched the bats gather to go home to bed, I watched the dragonflies wake up and begin to fly around, I listened to the birds begin to sing in the day. It was an hour, a precious hour where I did not have anywhere to be, I did not have anywhere to go, I did not have anything to do, so I sat, on the porch, drank my tea, smoked cigarettes and just sat. It was glorious.

I have pretty much decided that I am going to get out of the law business. I have been thinking about it more and more over the past week and the more I think about it, the more I realize that me and my boss are so alike in our thinking. We are TIRED of it, we are tired of clients who are never happy no matter what you do, even if you get the best result possible. We recently had a client who was charged with a serious assault (felony) client hired us and we got the charge dismissed, day later client called and said (I kid you not) "well seeing as the charge was dismissed and we didn't have to go to trial does that mean I get my money back?" We had a client who wanted visitation with a child, we got him visitation, wasn't happy cause he wanted more. Domestic cases NEVER go away, cause two years after you have completed the case the client will call on the eve of Thanksgiving (for instance) and say "I am supposed to get him/her for Thanksgiving and she/he says I am not going to get her/him" they NEVER go away. I am tired of answering the phone and listening to people who are complaining that they were "wrongfully terminated" from Taco Bell or McDonalds. I am tired of answering the phone and listening to someone who has had his/her case rejected by 27 other lawyers and saying "can you help me, my statute of limitations runs in two weeks". I am tired of listening to someone who paid $100.00 of a $500.00 fee almost a year ago and never contacted us again complaining that "why was I arrested for failure to appear today?" I don't need this, I really don't. I want to take photographs, I want to write, I want to, hell I don't know sell plants at Pender Pines, I want to do anything but this. I think this recent visitation case has convinced me that once the boss retires I am done. Unless another lawyer offers me an ungodly amount of money to keep doing this I am done. I was in a judgment conference today with two other attorney's (one standing in for my boss) and the chief district court judge of our district, after we had got everything settled we were all sat around chatting and the judge asked me what I was going to do, I told him what I have just said above. The other attorney said "that isn't going to happen, you are too good, and everyone knows you are too good." So if I am that good then pay me what I am worth, if not, I am done.

What did you do today? Whatever it was I bet it can't beat what I did. I sat, baking in the sun, watching the birth of a dragonfly. It really is a privilege to be a witness to something like this. When you watch Mother Nature's wonder unfold before your very eyes. When a tiny naiad who perhaps has been living underwater in the pond for its entire life, suddenly, in a moment that only it knows, decides that today is the day, so it makes its way to the surface, and after breathing water suddenly pushes its way into the air. I wonder how it feels, is it just instinct? It sits there for a moment and tries to find a structure to clamber to. How does it feel?



It finds something to clamber up to and sits there for a moment, all sorts of things must being going on inside that little body and yet we don't see it, it just looks like an ugly little bug sitting on a perch covered in pond weed.



Suddenly the skin on its back splits and green begins to emerge



He drags his head out first, and takes the first breath of air as an air living creature, he pauses a second, filling his lungs perhaps?



Quickly he pulls out his legs, in order to get a better grip on things later, he hangs there for a second, the effort exhausting him.



As he hangs there the buds of his wings begin to be engorged by blood, his wings will be his life, without them he is nothing.



In a gargantuan effort he reaches round and drags his tail out of the naiad and sits, he is safely out.



His wings begin to engorge, and he sits there and allows his body to do what it needs to do.



Soon his wings are stretched, but still look like tissue paper, they have to strengthen.



The wings are getting stronger now, unfolding, beginning to become transparent.



Wings are getting stronger and stronger, turning more and more transparent.



Almost done, he feels confident enough to try out those wings of his



An experimental flight doesn't last long, he ends up on the surface of the pond weed, wings not quite ready yet.



He crawls to the mint at the side of the pond, to allow the breezes to blow through his wings. The sunlight bounces off them.



Then he is ready to fly.



He flew shortly after that, and I watched in wonderment, and prayed that the tiny soul that I had just seen emerge into its new life would be safe. I hoped it would have a chance to feed, and to mate, and perhaps have a life beyond its own. Just a tiny thing, a tiny thing, yet in that tiny thing was the whole world, fluttering into the sunlight, the whole scheme of Mother Nature's plan flew off with that tiny thing. Everything we are, everything we do was represented by that gossamer winged dragonfly, and with him, on his gossamer wings went hope, hope that I will see it again, hope that his ancestors will still be emerging from ponds hundreds of years from now, hope that we will not screw things up so badly that this is never seen by another human being. Happy birthday little guy.

Happy Earth Day.

It wasn't the President of the University, it wasn't the Chief of the campus police, it wasn't the janitor, it wasn't the secretary, it was a psycho with a gun. The President of the University did not shoot down 32 innocent students in cold blood, a lonely, depressed psychopath did. And yet there are as we speak calls for the president of the university and the chief of campus police to resign. Why is it that there is this inevitable blame game where EVERYONE literally everyone but the person responsible for the tragedy is being blamed. It is akin to the 9/11 attacks, the committees the investigations, the inquiries, everyone wanted to find someone to blame when those who were to blame the 19 hijackers, were largely ignored. When someone murders someone (one person that is) generally there is no cry for someone else to be blamed, generally there is an outcry for the killer (or alleged killer) to be brought to justice. And in high profile cases (Scott Peterson for instance) there is absolutely no interest whatsoever in investigating anyone else or any other scenario, nope once the media has decided who is guilty then by god that person is guilty. So in this case why on earth are people being asked to resign when the guilty party is well known and actually dead. Well it's simple you see, you can't sue a dead person, there is no money in it. Mark my words there will be lawsuits filed like confetti in the future, suing everyone from the President of the University on down, there is no point in suing the perp, he's dead and mores the point has no assets so lets just forget that, lets sue the University cause they have insurance. Lets place blame where blame belongs people, it was a psycho with a gun. Let it rest there and forget about the lawsuits.