Resilience

September 20, 2019 ~ oneletterup ~ 13 Comments

Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #64: Resilience

There is a catch to this week’s challenge: I don’t want you to use the word itself, but to illustrate what resilience means to you.

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It is not true that life is one damn thing after another — it’s one damn thing over and over.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Please be careful! I hold my breath.

I don’t speak because he can’t hear me…outside two stories beneath my dining room window.

I can see him walking his lively little black dog. Across the grassy area between my building and the road. Painstakingly. Slowly. Steadily. In the snow. In the rain. Blistering heat. The dog needs her walks.

In one hand he grips a long retractable leash. The other a sturdy cane and plastic poop bags. His body, bent over, lurches to the side as he walks, his left leg immobile in a metal brace. With each slow step of his right foot, he drags the other leg along. At what looks like an impossibly treacherous angle.

Step. Drag. Step. Drag.

Periodically he stops, balances on the cane and reaches down with the green plastic bag. His pup patiently waits, tail wagging…clearly used to the routine.

My neighbor has not always been like this. I met him when we moved into this over-55 community 3 years ago…and he is several decades over 55. All I know is he suffered a brain aneurysm maybe 10 years ago. Lost the use of his left leg. If he falls – and he does – he can rarely get up by himself. Add leukemia to the mix.

However…

He drives. Goes to the grocery store. Once back home, he transfers full shopping bags to a cart. Pushes it to the elevator in the garage. Slowly. Steadily.

He attends condo meetings. Cookouts. Pizza parties. He and his wife traveled to Europe last winter. Back in the day they skied on a regular basis.

He just does what he has to do. Offers of help waved off. Always a smile.

It looks so damn hard to be him.

But he keeps on keepin’ on in ways I can’t even imagine.

side yard copy

Magical

September 19, 2019September 7, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 23 Comments

Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #63: Magical

Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live.

Nora Roberts

During two visits to Vermont’s Shelburne Museum this summer, I kept gravitating back to this pond. One of many beautiful spots on the 45 acre campus. I’d walk by and then double back as the light shifted throughout the day. I took photo after photo, each shot just a bit different from the one before.

At one point, as if out of nowhere, a family of ducks glided across…and then…disappeared.

Magical.

magical pond

A few years ago I felt the pull to another favorite place…the ocean’s edge…late afternoon. In November when the beach was nearly deserted. The sun sinking.

I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

Magical.

hampton beach magic

Wordless Wednesday

September 18, 2019 ~ oneletterup ~ 5 Comments

Stone Cottage

Photo a Week: Something New

September 17, 2019May 26, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 2 Comments

Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Something New

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF SOMETHING NEW.

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When a kid gets a new bike…if that kid is fortunate enough to get one…it is an exciting day. Exciting enough to document with a photo.

At least it was at our house.

When my daughter was five, she was so done with her Strawberry Shortcake tricycle. She was usually “done with” things like that far sooner than we thought she would be. In her mind, she was always ready for the next thing.

She helped pick out her new purple bike, complete with a bell similar to one I had when I was little. We insisted on a helmet, which she was too young to protest. This was 1987 and children did not commonly wear bicycle helmets yet. She was the first one on the block to be seen with one.

The neighbors commented that we were overprotective. I did not care what the neighbors thought. Protecting her head when she (inevitably) fell off was uppermost in my mind.

It wouldn’t be the first – or last – time she heard me say I don’t care what the other mothers do/say/think.

Regardless, she was one mighty proud five year old with her new “big girl bike.” Training wheels and all.

new bike K

Her younger brother, on the other hand, graduated from a tricycle to his sister’s hand-me-down purple bike with training wheels. A bit banged up by then – 6 years later – but it still transported him around the driveway. Carefully up and down the street. And he didn’t seem to mind riding it. When you are not the first born, you often don’t get “something new” right away. If at all.

However, when my son outgrew his big sister’s bike, it was time for a new one of his own. Which he helped choose at the same local bicycle shop where we had gotten his sister’s bike before he was born. By then a helmet was standard and seen on the heads of most of the neighborhood children. Thank goodness.

A mighty proud almost seven year old, he did not need those training wheels.

new bike T

And off he went.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Candid

September 16, 2019May 26, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 12 Comments

Inspired by Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Candid (human or animal)

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When you’re a six year old big sister, it’s fun to read to your 1 year old little brother. Complete with distinctive voices for all the book’s characters, animals included.

This reading thing is a big deal, especially at six.

And it’s one activity an active little brother will sit still for.

1988

And when your little brother is 2 years old, both of you can hide under the dining room table…for a perfect cozy story time.

1990

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Books & Paper

September 15, 2019 ~ oneletterup ~ 16 Comments

Inspired by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Books and Paper

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Bookshelf of Book Survivors – Front Rows

Books have been an indispensable part of my life – and my life story – since the days of Dick and Jane. The classic first grade learn-how-to-read “Primer” of the 1950s.

After I learned to read, there was no stopping me. A flashlight under the covers at night until I finished a chapter…or two.

Books and stories were often my escape hatch from real life. The Scholastic Book Club in grammar school supplied countless thin paperback story books that multiplied on my shelves at home. Hardcover Nancy Drew mysteries soon followed.

I was fascinated by the biographies of “famous people” at the school library. Of course I believed they were all true depictions of historically significant Americans. However, thinking back, I realize that women and non-white “famous people” were drastically underrepresented. Hopefully that is changing.

As I went through high school, I discovered paperback novels. The thicker the better. In college, I was a member of the Doubleday Book Club for several years – a mail order monthly deal. Later…the actual Book of the Month Club. Vacations always included long stops browsing at local bookstores.

A few books from my childhood survived the drastic downsizing-of-hundreds-of-books that took place 3 years ago when we sold our home. Letting go of books was probably the most difficult “letting go” I ever did.

Despite the massive book purging, I still needed to buy a bookshelf for condo life. There were just too many books I had to keep! They are shelved two deep. In no particular order. After taking the photo for this challenge, I realized I should organize them by subject or author or something. They represent my life stages…all jumbled together.

Scaling down the sheer volume when we moved forced some tough decisions. It is interesting to notice which ones made the cut. They used to be spread out all over the house in different places. Now all in one room…crammed together as if competing for an important spot.

I have read most of them, but there are many I look forward to starting. The anticipation is still exciting.

The only book I have bought since we moved here was Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Otherwise I visit the local library.

Focus

September 14, 2019May 26, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 15 Comments

Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Focus

Yesterday I went on a walk around a nearby neighborhood. Late afternoon when the light softens and begins filtering in from an angle. Some call it the “golden hour.” My favorite time of day to catch nature at its finest.

Trees lined the quiet streets, interrupted by flower gardens in varyious stages of late summer wilt. Very little breeze to interrupt my focusing attempts.

I took along my (relatively) new camera (thanks Frank, for the tips on venturing into the digital full frame mirrorless mode!) to have more fun with its macro lens. Good thing I don’t have to worry about wasting film.

My contributions for this challenge:

The first few leaves shifting to fall colors, even though it is still technically Summer.

Leaves that jumped past Autumn.

And some caught right in the middle.

(Canon EOS RP, 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM)

Ripening

September 13, 2019 ~ oneletterup ~ 19 Comments

Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #63: Ripening

Consider what is ripening in you, or the world around you. Maybe this requires a glance backwards to another time, or a peek into the life of another.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I stumbled upon an interesting definition of ripening…

To develop to a suitable condition for something to happen

I am quite familiar with ripening as it applies to fruits and vegetables. I do play the how many bananas should I buy at a time game so I have one every morning at just the right stage of ripeness.

And when’s the last possible date I can eat those tomatoes left ripening on the counter before they go over the ripening edge into moldy mush? Splitting open and spewing blackish seeds at random. I play that ripening game too.

I don’t like to throw away food. I’m also not a big fan of banana bread…the last edible resort for overripe bananas.

It all has to do with chemical changes. Age. How long before starches turn to sugars. Acidity levels increase. Everything softens. The plant loses shape. Dries up. Eventually caves in on itself rendered inedible.

And…speaking of ripe…

Let’s not forget the antiquated expression about living to a ripe old age….

Hey!

Wait a minute…

I don’t know if I like what seems to be falling into a familiar place here…

1) Chemical changes: Umm, yup. (need I list those? I think not)
2) Everything softens: Uh, yeah…
3) Loses shape: It’s-called-gravity-people!
4) Dries up: See #1.

Let’s not discuss the caving in on oneself part now.

My point in going down this Ripening Road of Realization is to focus on that first definition. I much prefer to consider my aging self as getting ready for something to happen. Something positive. Before I get to the caving in part.

I need a plan…of action.
As well as a healthy energy for that action.
I may be ripe for something, but for the life of me
I have yet to figure out what that is.

slime pond

Silhouettes

September 12, 2019September 7, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 19 Comments

Inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #62: Silhouettes

After a recent long walk up and down the shoreline at the beach, I noticed a row of seagulls perched on the roof of a shelter near the parking lot.

I assumed they were taking a rest from a long day of swooping down on unsuspecting tourists and their dropped chunks of sandwiches, fried dough and chips. Always on the lookout. Always hungry.

They didn’t seem to mind being photographed.

seagulls on roof