
Wordless Wednesday

stories, photographs, adventures…the next chapter

Becky B’s Squares Challenge: PastSquares
Cee’s Flower of the Day

This is another wanna-be photo that would have been a fitting entry for past Squares themes…Flower…Lines…Bright. Better late than never!
Becky B’s Squares Challenge: PastSquares
Cee’s Flower of the Day

This lively group of 10 tulips really wanted to be featured during the April 2021 bright squares challenge, but didn’t make the cut once they completely opened up.
In hindsight, it is obvious they would have been kinda perfect for past squares themes…such as flowers or circles or top or perspectives (who looks at tulips from above?). This month it’s way past time for their turn.


Up close and personal…capturing the minutiae of nature’s wonders shortly after a rain shower. Another mystery plant I can’t positively identify (possibly “Lamb’s Ear”?), but still want to share.
BeckyB’s 2021 October Squares Challenge – PastSquares




October 2019 was the second month I participated in Becky’s Squares Challenge. Taking a look back, I chose a few favorites to share once more…as we are challenged to do this month.
“Wednesday Window” was a shot taken at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. The museum is actually an amazing array (45 acres!) of 39 buildings, artifacts and gardens. I want to return once they are fully open again. Maybe next year. It is truly a photographer’s paradise.
“Song Lines” featured my first (and only) acoustic guitar…purchased in 1967 for $28. I learned simple chords to such classics as “Blowing in the Wind,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Home on the Range” via group lessons taught by a local folksinger. My friend Wendy and I would sing (or some close facsimile to singing) with great gusto as I strummed the chords to “King of the Road” – our classic duo act. I made a cassette tape recording of this venture, which I still have and will never share in public. You’re welcome! My guitar has been on quite the journey since those days. My son used it in college for a class and returned it years later when we gave him a guitar for his birthday. It now rests comfortably in a closet…very close to antique status.
“Tree Lines” was taken in the woods behind my condo building. It’s always a new discovery of light playing with nature back there. My getaway. Time of day, of course, making all the difference.
Last but not least – and actually my favorite – is “Ponding Lines.” I found “my pond” along the path in those same woods near my building…partially hidden behind a wall of trees. I have followed the goings on there since moving here almost 5 years ago. It’s been a delightful privilege. I have to step carefully and push aside prickle vines and such…but the view doesn’t disappoint. Especially in October.

SixWordSaturday
BeckyB’s PastSquares
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You could hear the kids yelling up and down the block as those familiar.. and oh so repetitive…melodies grew louder and louder. Summer days and early evenings interrupted by the sounds of the approaching Ice cream man! Ice cream man!. Always shouted in double time…and always “man” because…well it was always a man. I hopefully imagine that in 2021, there are women driving as well.
My sister, brother and I must have had super sonic hearing because we were out the door or across the yard in seconds – quarters clutched in sweaty hands (if we were lucky enough to finagle them from Mom). We needed to make it to the curb before the truck went by. Chasing it down our suburban street was just not the same, although we took off after it whenever necessary.
It was always a Good Humor truck. My favorite ice cream bar was the one with the candy bar inside, but it cost more so I rarely bought it. Chocolate Eclair or Toasted Almond were my usual go-to choices.
The truck featured in this square photo was parked out of the way at the National Zoo in Washington, DC during a visit in 2019. Plugged in and keeping cold. When I saw it kinda tucked in under several trees, branches resting on its roof…I thought of all the times when the sights and sounds of a simple ice cream truck became the highlight of my day. A blast from the past.
Lens-Artists Challenge #167: Colors of Autumn
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The colors of Autumn are peeking out…little by little…in my northeast corner of the US. I have chosen some old favorites to share in this challenge, as I think Autumn (once it gets going in my neighborhood) is the most colorful season (sorry Spring!).
There’s nothing like blazing red, orange and everything in between when you look up. It all seems to happen overnight or close to it.

Leaves crunch underfoot. I marvel at the uniqueness of each one. I know it’s nature and the leaves’ final stage of life, but perhaps the blaze of color is its glorious send-off after shading us all summer…

Gourds are once again arriving at grocery stores and farm stands. Their colors and textures…so unlike the vegetables of summer. They’ve always struck me as strange in a cool sort of way. I never know what to do with them (no decorating potential…Martha Stewart I’m not), but they deserve a photo.

I know that apples are available year-round at the grocery store – trucked in from somewhere, but Autumn is the time for apple picking in my local area. Fresh off the trees, branches weighted down…there’s nothing like it. Orchards are busy in September & October…morphing into destination spots for festivals, bluegrass music, hayrides and apple cider donuts. And apples. Lots of apples.

Last but not least, there is orange once more…not just leaves…but pumpkins too – so plentiful in Autumn. Pumpkins to set out on your porch as a festive nod to the season…but when our kids were growing up…the first step was carving jack ‘o lanterns. Very important preparation for placing a lit candle inside on Halloween night.
Hand a knife to a 5 year old and look out!
Careful creativity in the making….


Ragtag Daily Prompt: Melancholy
Even though Monday brings to mind Macro Monday, today I was sidetracked by Heather’s most timely RDP prompt. Ah yes…melancholy.
Is that what this is? The dark clouds overhead when I reluctantly open my eyes in the early morning hours? Metaphorically speaking, but there they are. Hovering. Amorphous. Heavy. As I ponder the day ahead. Wondering what crisis may await. I run a household and a condo board.
The pandemic was supposed to be mostly “over” by now (think vaccines people). Hospitals were supposed to get a break from the insanity and constant threat of personal harm.
I thought my third journal about life in the pandemic would remain half full. Bizarrely there are towers of disinfectant wipes and toilet paper on sale. They can’t give those away now.
There’s more to say, but that’s all for now.
I am not unfamiliar with melancholy. But the older I get, the less energy I have to fight it.
It’s probably why it took all day to finish this post. I tell myself…at least I did.
Patience is on my side.