Bodyscape

The first night of my trip, I stayed alone in Southern City Hotel. I had planned, actually, to have a day to explore and take photos before going on to my conference. I almost always try to stretch out conference trips to include some sightseeing of the region. If I'm going to get on an airplane, I'm going to make the trip count.

Instead, I came down with the most miserable cold. My sightseeing including mostly an early morning trip to the nearest drugstore to stock up on drugs, tissues, and comfort food. The outside air was warm, but even so, I just didn't have the energy to go wandering about with my camera as I had planned. Instead, I curled up like a cat on the window ledge in my room, just waiting for the sun to come and warm me.

When I talked to a friend on the phone, I lamented the fact that I wouldn't have any cool photos to put on my blog. Really, I'd done nothing all day but sleep. The only photos I'd taken were of the building across the way, with all its cool reflecting windows.

She said, "Oh, just take a photo of yourself sleeping in the window."

In my drugged state, her idea made sense. I didn't have a tripod with me, but I immediately thought of two items that can be found in any hotel room: an ironing board and a Bible. They worked nicely to bring the camera to just the right height. From my spot on the window sill, I could look down on the city: people rushing about on sidewalks, lights coming on inside buildings, cabs pulling up to the front of the hotel. When the sun came out, I stretched out luxuriously, and went back to sleep.