stories, photographs, adventures…the next chapter
(This was going to be a Wordless Wednesday post, but pairing it with Nancy Merrill’s vacation memories challenge made the wordless part too challenging…)
Photo a Week: Vacation Memories
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Covidcation 2020
Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania
Four Days of Quarantined Family Fun
From lakeside….
To a nearby deserted baseball field one morning…
Back to lakeside at day’s end…
…three generations gathered.
Treasured memories…well documented.
I discovered these sweet little wildflowers yesterday on a walk along the local river. The chain link fence always provides an interesting backdrop to flower escapees as I like to call them. Flowers and vines and such that Will Not Be Contained.
Mmm. Maybe too much projection going on, but I call it as I see it.
My husband, aka the sometimes expert in residence, (whose father’s business was hunting, collecting and selling wildflowers worldwide) declared I think Dad called these flowers “Butter and Eggs.”
Really?? said I.
Google concurred.
And they do kind of look the part, don’t they?
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photo a day challenge: Reflections
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Who’s that?
He looks familiar.
Do I jump in?
Nah.
Inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback: August 28
Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year….How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year?
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This post was originally published on August 28, 2018
This also makes me wonder what happened to Frank at Dutch goes the Photo (whose blog this post was linked to). I always enjoyed his Tuesday photo challenges. I am also forever grateful for his helpful advice in choosing a new camera last year. I hope he is okay!
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Here is my entry for this week’s challenge hosted by “Dutch goes the Photo”
https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2018/08/28/tuesday-photo-challenge-lift/
The theme this week is “Lift”
Lifting brings to mind the story of a maple tree. A crimson king maple tree to be exact.
We planted this maple tree with great care a few months after moving into our new bare-bones house and 1/2 acre. A young tree, it was just beginning to grow, as our young family was too.
Thirty five years later, the tree had grown at least 40 feet high…wedging itself between the deck and garage we also built along the way. We planned them both around this tree, but it wasn’t enough space in the end.
The tree had to go. And it had to be lifted from the back yard, swung around to the front, lowered and then put through the chipper.
Exactly a year after we said goodbye to this tree, we signed the papers to sell our no-longer-bare-bones home and its half-acre.
Lens-Artists Challenge #111: Everyday Objects
…we’re challenging you to take another look at everyday objects and see them from a new perspective…
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It’s not often one admires a vase without the flowers or single bud on display. But this vase does fine all alone. It originally belonged to my mother-in-law (a gift from my husband to her years before I knew him). I am glad we saved it. It reminds me of her.
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This pie pan had been my mother’s, but originally was passed down to her from her grandmother. If I remember correctly. Add in the peeler and corer and you’re halfway (well almost halfway) to making an apple pie.
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Last but not least…going way back in the way-back machine…these are my wristwatches. I’ve been wearing a watch since I was at least 5 years old beginning with this Mickey Mouse watch. I don’t imagine I could really tell time when I first wore it, but the significance of knowing the time took root in my psyche. Which Mickey has frozen forever at 6:36.
The watch I wear now is a simple Timex with one of those twistable bands. Every few years I need a new one, but otherwise it does what it’s supposed to do. I glance down and know the time.
It is truly my most “everyday object.”
Ragtag Daily Prompt: Instinct
This leaf – dropped from my struggling bougainvillea which hardly ever flowers – enjoyed its final moment in the sun a few months ago.
The June early evening light was just right…as it usually is that time of day. The window screen backdrop somehow seemed very appropriate.
Sorry about the dust.
August photo a day challenge: Pebbles, stones, rocks
During a visit to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont last year, I noticed an odd sign posted in the grass next to the walking path: Please Stay on the Grass.
It was then that I realized I was looking at an art installation. Who knew? I love smooth stones, which I usually only see at the beach. This was something entirely different.
I was intrigued.
The artists’ information was posted nearby:
What a sight it was a week ago Friday.
Six hours of driving (almost) nonstop. Highways to city streets to country roads. Following the GPS lady’s directions – every minute bringing us closer to our CovidCation. The weather was beautiful – almost too good to be true.
Faster and faster we drove (well I did…my husband’s foot is not as leaden as mine).
We were out-running a virus after all.
Get my lunch out of the backseat please! The car was packed with 2 coolers, 2 suitcases and laundry baskets full of necessities. My gluten free toaster in one of them. As we learned bringing our kids to college, laundry baskets work out well for car trips…as they can nest when they’re empty for the trip home.
It occurred to me that travel by car meant I could bring Full Size Bottles of whatever I wanted. So I did.
My laptop and our cameras…carefully packed. We remembered the tripod for a group photo. Paw Patrol bubbles (but of course). Decks of cards. Guitar.
We arrived at the lake house in the Pocono Mountains around 6:30 pm.
Within a minute a short blonde 4 year old came running out…Grandma! And somehow he was up in my arms with his arms wrapped around my neck, legs encircling my waist. I don’t know how I picked him up but I must have. The first full on leap into my arms hug since February. Far too long.
After that, my daughter and I shared a good long hug. Face to face for the first time in 6 months. Then hugs for my son-in-law, my son and his girlfriend. We had tested and quarantined and stayed safe. Carefully planned and orchestrated.
All those hugs felt so good.
Of course we were joined by the two family dogs: Lutra and Taco (who have been featured in this blog before). They enjoyed themselves immensely as well.
We were in our own little bubble.
A four day pause from virus fears.
What a sight to see.
No masks.
No social distancing…except from the family swimming across the lake.
(Grandma which one is the dada and which one is the mama? Grandma I think the bigger one is the dada….)
It was glorious.
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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #109: What a Sight
Ragtag Daily Prompt: Pause
SixWordSaturday
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