stories, photographs, adventures…the next chapter
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Cars & Trucks
This week’s challenge reminds me of my great grandfather…a proud firefighter in Cincinnati, Ohio during the early 1900s.
Unfortunately I never knew him, as he died before I was born. He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for many years…which eventually ended his ability to do the work he loved.
This photo showcases a Cincinnati fire truck along with my great grandfather (second from right) and his fellow firefighters.
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT DEPICT SEASONS.
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I live in the Northeast USA and signs of Autumn are everywhere.
My favorite indicator of the approaching fall season is what I like to call the “natural look.” The trees changing color on a daily basis.
It reminds me of the huge leaf piles I loved to jump in when I was a kid. I don’t recall having to rake them, but I probably did help. The sound of the crunch, the distinctive smell of…fall…drew me in one way or the other.
I clearly recall – one late fall afternoon in the backyard – lying face up on the damp grass amongst the fallen leaves. Watching the few clouds in an otherwise blue sky. The sun’s rays shifting. Leaves continuing to float down. I must have been 9 or 10. I will always remember this moment…I thought…staring hard…listening…trying to make sure the memory stuck.
There was also a dubious activity I took part in: hiding inside leaf piles at curbside. Dutifully raked by all the neighbors. Huge mountains of leaves…ready for the loud lumbering city trucks which came by to suck them all up every week. My game (along with my friend Kathleen): jumping out seconds before the trucks reached us. We shocked the heck out of those drivers.
Not smart, I know.
Remember, children were very unsupervised in the 60s. We played outside all day. One adventure after another.
We also got lucky. At least I did.
It was an exciting time.
Other signs of summer changing into fall?
Walking downtown yesterday, I noticed the local shops had updated their decor.
Orange is the new color-of-the-hour. As in pumpkins…and mums.
On the other hand…
During my afternoon trip to the local wholesale club, I was greeted by another type of decor marking the change of seasons.
Still orange, but not nearly as tasteful.
Definitely not the “natural look” I know and love.
[To my horror, this was also a few aisles away from a display of artificial 7 foot high Christmas Trees!! Yes, Christmas Trees on September 28th – WTH]
Inspired by Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo: Stone
An 1846 “Settlers’ House and Barn” is the site for this magnificent stone chimney.
The house – located on the grounds of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont – is “constructed of hand-hewn beech and pine timbers.”
An example of lasting craftsmanship…and the durability of stone.
Nearby…more stones…in a wall behind a flower garden. A mysterious massive stone with a hole in the middle was propped against it. I imagine it was designed for a purpose, but I could not find out what that purpose may have been. It was one of several on display.
Ideas anyone?
An interesting sight, nonetheless.
Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #65: Smile
…I challenge you to pay attention to and share some smiles this week.
[also submitted for September photo a day challenge: Autumn colors]
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A multi-dimensional word…smile. I try to coax a smile from my elderly neighbor who is not happy to be living here in the Northeast. She misses the warm dry weather of her former home in Las Vegas. Sometimes I succeed. Often I don’t.
At the grocery store I often catch the eye of a curious toddler or infant propped up in a nearby cart. Looking around while her or his parent inspects tomatoes or apples in the produce department. I’ll hold the little one’s gaze and smile…or wink. Nine times out of ten I’ll get a smile back. A real smile when the eyes join in. Later in the cereal aisle, I’ll sense someone looking at me. It’s that same smiling kiddo…often peeking around mom or dad. Who often don’t even notice. And if they do, they’ll smile too.
A smile just brightens the day.
Lately it’s not only the spontaneous grins from children that make me smile. Since I’ve dug more into photography, I’ve started smiling more at nature. Or more specifically, what I discover during the picture taking process.
When I got my first 35mm camera at the age of 24, it was all about people. Friends and family. I whipped out the Canon for my children’s milestones, school events, birthdays, first days of school. Or just fun everyday life stuff.
I was first in line at family reunions to record stills and video. Vacations were for photographs of scenery. My everyday life was full of work and focus on family. My husband was the one who would be crouched down taking pictures of a spider web or peeling paint on old rocking chairs. I didn’t understand why.
It’s interesting how things change.
Since retirement, emptying of the nest and downsizing, all of a sudden (it seems all of a sudden, but it really isn’t) another dimension in life has opened up.
Perhaps it started with this blog. Or just coincided with it; nudged forward by all the WP support. Digital photography and instant results played a part…as it encourages practice without the worry of buying film and paying for processing.
For instance….a few days ago I was finishing the last loop of my late afternoon walk when I noticed these trees up ahead.
The light. The colors. Oh my.
No cars in sight.
I crossed the road. Stood under the tree and looked up, focusing with my iPhone (wishing I had brought my “real” camera…). Turned around in a circle. My head back. Ignoring the cars going by. Hoping I wouldn’t lose my balance (I didn’t).
And then a flash of sunlight caught my attention.
The longer I looked, the more I smiled.
And captured it minutes before the light shifted.
I was smiling even more when I discovered this sunflower extravaganza in a nearby town.
I will admit I went (more than) a bit crazy there.
A sunflower convention…a sunflower Woodstock…!
I was a grinning fool by the time I hiked out of there.
Perhaps the moral of this story should be…
“We become more easily amused the older we get”
Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #64: Countryside and/or Small Towns
Several countrysides come to mind for this challenge…
In the fields next to what used to be a New Hampshire family farm – and is now a farming cooperative – was the sight of a recent sunflower festival…
I was driving past it a few weeks ago and just had to stop. It was a few days before the festival and nobody was there but me. A perfect photo opportunity! I had never seen so many sunflowers in one place at one time.
Such an amazing view.
In early September, during a visit to the small town of Shelburne, Vermont – the countryside was on display next to the grounds of the Shelburne Museum.
I also visited Vermont in mid June. Where a bit farther down the road, a community garden was just beginning to showcase what was to come.
Inspired by: Cee’s Flower of the Day and Citysonnet’s photo a day challenge (Soft Red).
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I spotted this pot of red flowers earlier this month during our visit to the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. Unusually warm for early September; it felt like mid summer.
I don’t know what kind of flowers they were, but there they sat – all by themselves on a porch – basking in the sun.
Looking a bit lonely…but thriving all the same.
I knew I was saving this photograph for a reason.
One day in June – that time in late Spring when you notice the landscape has totally changed from brown & white to color – I looked up. And paused from snapping photos of leaved out trees, budding flowers and soft no-longer-crunchy green grass. To catch this…
Waves of clouds.
Kind of like the ocean in the sky.
Clouds also brings to mind Joni Mitchell…and my favorite song from her album Clouds, which was released 50 years ago in 1969.
Both Sides, Now is that song…
Inspired by Citysonnet’s photo a day challenge. Prompt for today: Clouds
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Stacked
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF THINGS THAT ARE STACKED.
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This past June I enjoyed a visit to a farmers’ market in Washington DC.
Fresh vegetables stacked on tables…under tent after tent.
Local produce at its best.
Including carrots…as fresh as you could find anywhere.
Let’s compare to carrots from a plastic bag…in the produce section…at my local grocery store.
Stackable…but just not the same.
Agreed?
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Fuzzy
Even though I have quite the collection of unintentional fuzzy photos, I decided to take some fuzzy-on-purpose photos for this challenge. (for years, my family would hold up a finger for me to focus on with my old Canon film camera…even so, results often were fuzzy. Oh well, many of those years are fuzzy in recollection anyway)
I digress…
A recent late afternoon walk around the block revealed these fuzzy flowers. The light cooperated, as it often does that time of day.
I have no idea what these flowers looked like pre-fuzz, but I enjoyed this brief stage in their plant life cycle…
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