Category: Photographs

Never mind…

~ oneletterup ~ 32 Comments

 

park bench kids copy 2
June 2019

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Never mind that my husband and I spent our 42nd(!) wedding anniversary Wednesday in our condo garage…wearing our finest face masks & work clothes. Emptying out our 2 storage units for hours. Yeah, we still have too much stuff, but oh well.

The Mold Remediation Company was scheduled for Thursday to clean all 32 units plus the entire garage.

It took hours to move all of our crap stuff into our parking spaces. We were joined by our fellow masked condo dwellers…many initially embarrassed by the exposure of hidden “treasures.” I can’t believe I still have so much stuff. The thing is, there used to be SO much more before we downsized. So, don’t worry about it.

Talk about lousy timing. But that’s 2020 for you.

garage

[Never mind that I alerted the Condo Board to this issue 3 years ago and they didn’t listen to me. I told you so.]

Never mind that even after 4 repair attempts, the refrigerator’s lights still don’t work…and is limping towards its last days.

Never mind all of that.

Why?

On Tuesday we braved the local hospital’s outpatient lab to get Covid-19 tests, so we could be sure we weren’t infected (we aren’t). Even though we have no symptoms.

waiting room

Why?

Because we are going on a CovidCation.

Today we are driving to the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Pennsylvania to a house by a lake. We will enter a Covid tested bubble of love…to spend a quarantined 4 days with our “kids,” their spouse/partners, grandson and 2 dogs…most of whom we haven’t seen in 6 months or more.

My 4 year old grandson has been asking me on facetime…

Grandma are you excited to go to the lake house?

facetime

I sure am!

Never mind that we spent the better part of yesterday (Thursday, right?) moving our crap stuff back into the cleaned storage units. Followed by packing up clothing, supplies (so many supplies when you are older), and food. Hoping we made enough lists and remembered everything. The option of “we can buy it when we get there” is no longer okay…to stay safe.

If the stars align and health prevails, we will soon be on the road today: Friday. Six hour car trips are a huge challenge physically – and I haven’t attempted one in 3 years, but…

I’m excited to go to the lake house!

My daughter made a spreadsheet of the menu and I am also excited about that. We might even make s’mores – and I’ve been told they will be GF (Gluten Free aka Grandma Friendly).

So I may be absent from my blog until next week.

CovidCation here I come.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Aging Flowers

~ oneletterup ~ 10 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge Special Request: Wilting, dead, or aging flowers and leaves.

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Unusual special request, but I understand it.

After all, beauty comes at all ages.

I found two examples.

Tulips – while wilting – took on a “life” of their own a few months ago. A different kind of beauty. One worth documenting.

faded tulip
A vine of leaves added a unique touch while weaving its way through a fence along the river’s edge. Stopped me in my tracks.

Still hanging on…

faded leaves

…and showing off.

Macro Monday: Gotcha!

~ oneletterup ~ 15 Comments

bee butt

I am always impressed by my fellow bloggers who are so adept at photographing the tiniest members of our nature community.  I try to avoid…at all costs…these many legged creatures who always seem to show up uninvited. (except for butterflies of course!)

One of my favorite (in a weird sort of way) laughing childhood memories (in retrospect, but not at the time) was pointing at an errant spider or mosquito or ant or something tiny and gross crawling up my younger sister’s arm or neck…or even worse…her face. And yelling there’s a bug on you! there’s a bug on you! Followed by much swatting and slapping and inspection and running around. And general – genuine – hysteria.

Or conversely…spying it on myself and jumping around yelling there’s a bug on me! there’s a bug on me!  The fact that I react with massive swelling to bites plus I’m allergic to bee stings didn’t help. It became close to an almost sacred anti-insect ceremony…one of the few things my sister and I bonded over. The trespassers usually saved themselves and escaped.

Apparently now I’m too old or tired to get as wound up about it. A mysterious brown bug fell on my leg in the bathroom this morning. I think it had just woken up too and kept trying to fly away. There’s a bug on me! I grabbed it in a tissue and it was gone. Happy Monday.

So, back to Macro Monday. I waited for this bee to settle down and pose for a photo when visiting a neighborhood flower bed last week…and it kind of did.

My first Bug Photo…even if it is a bee’s butt.

 

citysonnet photo a day challenge: Visitor

Lens-Artists Challenge: Sanctuary

~ oneletterup ~ 18 Comments

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #108: Sanctuary

This week we invite you to share what Sanctuary means to you, where you find it or how you create your place of calm and healing.

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“Preserve, within a wild sanctuary, an inaccessible valley of reverie.”

Ellen Glasgow

sanctuary path
June 2020

Since the pandemic started, the Squamscott River that runs through Exeter, NH has been my sanctuary of sorts. The town “parkway” runs next to it and has been closed to traffic since March. Walkers have been able to go “one way” on the sidewalk and “one way” back on the street towards downtown. Social distance and all.

It is peaceful and calming…and what more could I ask for during these times?…

Unsure of what’s to come…

window sanctuary
August 2020

A chance to step back from life’s new realities.

sanctuary river
July 2020

Reflect on what remains to give comfort.

sanctuary reach
August 2020

A sanctuary…a safe place.