Things have been all quiet on the blog-front lately, thanks mostly to my most favorite and grand adventure to date. The last Weird Stuff Wednesdays became Bronchitis Wednesday, Broken Computer Wednesday, and Traveling in Europe Wednesdays. But now that I’m back from my wonderful adventure, expect more regular posts!

My trip across the ocean was supposed to start like this – a flight from Raleigh to Dallas, overnight in the Dallas airport (which did not sound like fun), catch a super early flight to LaGuardia, take a cab to JFK, and fly from JFK to Madrid. Fortunately, at the last minute my airline employee mom was able to switch my flights around and I flew straight up to New York a day early, where my darling friend Lindsay, who I hadn’t seen in at least three years, let me crash at her adorable Manhattan apartment for the night.  We spent the night giggling, reminiscing, and catching up with my old childhood friend Sarah, who I hadn’t seen in at least two years. Because I’ve been to New York approximately 292,834,798,467 times, the pressure was off to do “New York things,” and after Lindsay left for work, I slept until about 10:30, grabbed a bagel, and went to visit St. John’s Cathedral, which I’d somehow never made it to. 

Though it’s not one of my favorite cathedrals (St. Patrick’s will forever take that title), it was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. It was mid-day and I was one of only a handful of people wondering around the empty cathedral, with no pews. Each time I coughed or breathed too loudly, the sound echoed to the angels. The gardens were lush and green and perfect, and I said a little prayer for safe travels.

Inside, there were 23 skulls on sticks, which really confused and terrified me. It turns out it’s part of an art instillation speaking out against environmental destruction in the west, but it looked like the Catholic church had been renting space out to a cult.

It was so wonderful to have a tiny, relaxing trip before my flight across the ocean.

Today’s Weird Thing is this vintage Kodak camera.

I have a love of old things that were once used to create things. It’s why I love my old typewriter and why when I saw this camera on a back shelf in an antique store in a sleepy mountain town, I knew I had to have it.

This is a Kodak Jr. Six-20 Series II camera, made between 1937 and 1940. I literally spent my last $15, a week before payday, to buy it. I was living in a small town in Appalachia at the time, where antique stores full of awesome things were every few miles and probably owned by the same person.

Even though I know few people share my penchant for weird old crap, I love giving carefully picked antiques as gifts. So for Christmas, an old friend became the third person I’ve ever given a vintage camera to as a gift. When my then budding and now professional photographer roommate declared me the “coolest girl in the world” I knew I’d nailed it.

Three people, and I had yet to buy one for myself. But that changed the day I ran to the bus stop as my bus pulled away and I just decided to walk the two miles to work instead, passing my favorite little antique store. I decided to duck in quickly. And there it was just waiting to be bought.

A few days ago, I bought two rolls of film for the camera, and though I have no earthly idea how to use it, I’m taking it to Europe with me as part of a little experiment in time travel. How do I decide what to document if I can only photograph 16 things on two rolls of film?