stories, photographs, adventures…the next chapter
I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun.
Virginia Woolf
My contribution to Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge today is a personal one.
These photos are from the collection: “Favorite Flowers of My Day”…
A gift from my son 7 years ago….
They arrived fresh, bright and glorious in color.
Snug in a vase.
Petals delicately layered…
…a sweet long distance Happy Birthday.
May photo a day challenge – Layered
This post inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #44
The prompt: Harmony
Color harmony is achieved when a piece of art includes complimentary colors, typically two or three colors side-by-side on the wheel, two colors directly opposite each other on the wheel, or any color combination found in nature. It can also be used to incite different emotions in our art. Monochromatic or analogous colors (side-by-side on the wheel) create a more soothing feeling, while complementary colors (directly opposite each other on the wheel) can create drama. Allowing a single color to dominate, especially a primary color, can create a very powerful image….This is (also) your opportunity to share your favorite harmonies. Give us your best yoga pose, or your favorite musician at work, or perhaps a happy couple arm in arm – whatever floats your boat (especially if it’s on a warm yellow/orange sunset or a cool blue sunrise 😊)
~~~
When I married a musician – a guitar player – I knew I was also marrying his guitars. It wasn’t in the vows, but I knew it all the same. I was okay with that. Even though, now, after 40 years I still wonder at the need for 8. But never mind.
They are first loves…especially his very first guitar…from the Harmony Company. The guitar he wrote his first songs on. Teenage angst, love and heartbreak. The guitar he has kept to this very day.
What does a guitar player/guitar teacher often receive as a gift? In his case…ties. Bright colorful music themed ties. Guitar ties. Beatles ties. To name a few. Some piquing the curiosity of his teenage students.
Creative color collages from all around the color wheel. As harmonious as the music he has created and shared with us. All these years.
Nancy Merrill is hosting a photo challenge. The theme this week – Three of a Kind
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE THREE DIFFERENT PHOTOS OF THE SAME SUBJECT.
Spring is finally here. So says the calendar.
However, Winter’s damp cold dome of a sky has been holding on. Clouds blocking the sunlight. The budding…and trying-to-bloom…trees…that I look forward to every year waiting to shine.
Until today. The sun was so bright, I nearly blinded myself taking these photos. But totally worth it. It’s supposed to rain for most of the coming week, so it was now or…who knows when.
The row of Callery pear trees…in full bloom at long last.
Spring Is Here!
Cee’s challenge topic this week: Eyes
Pluto and my 2 1/2 year old son posed for this photo…
Many years ago.
A small boy and his best friend.
Each buddy calmed by the presence of the other.
This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo
The prompt: Technology
One of my favorite memories as a child was home movie night.
When my grandparents would visit. And the 8mm movie projector was hauled out with great fanfare and set up in the living room on a card table. The screen slid out of its long narrow tattered cardboard box. Metal supports positioned on the carpeted floor. Screen unrolled and hooked tight.
My family would gather & find seats. Kids usually cross legged on the floor. Waited for my father or grandfather to get the film threaded properly. It seemed there was always an issue. Nothing was automatic. The damn film got stuck. Wait a minute. I’ll have to trim it. Okay here we go.
Finally, the window shades were pulled down. Lights out. The room illuminated only by the projector bulb.
Then magic happened. Flickering images of the “old days” appeared on the screen. My parents in their early twenties. My grandparents mugging for the camera – much too young to be my grandparents…but there they were! My sisters, brother and I as babies. Toddlers. Christmas mornings. Easter baskets. Birthday parties.
My siblings and I…fascinated. Eyes glued to the screen.
The only sound…the humming projector. Interspersed with the whirring and clicking of rewinding and changing each 3 minute long reel. With no audio….
The original silent home movie. 8mm and later – Super 8mm.
I was forever hooked. My mouth hung open in disbelief at the power of this machine to go back in time. Or so it seemed. Even without sound, it was better than television. When I reached high school age, I was honored to be the one who set up home movie night. Learning to thread the film into the projector. Trimming when necessary.
It was perfectly natural to continue this obsession when I became a mom.
First with a super 8mm movie camera. I had to control myself. Three minutes went by fast. Film sent to Kodak for processing wasn’t cheap. In 1983 we added the movie projector – and a screen – to watch the movies of our baby daughter. Six years later, our son. Christmas. Easter. Birthday parties. Watching a storm. Running in the backyard. At the beach….
We eventually graduated to a camcorder. Next a digital movie camera. Then a phone.
I preserved the home movies of my childhood by having them transferred to videotape in the 1990’s. I held my breath until I got them back in the mail from the video conversion company. Which had first spliced the movies onto over a dozen 400 foot reels. Safely returned along with the videotapes. Which we later added music to. And duplicated for my family members.
Decades later, when the tapes began to disintegrate, I digitized them on my computer.
Grateful for more technology to keep memories alive.
I still have the movie reels. The projector. Just in case. Trusting what I can hold in my hand. No offense to thumb drives, platter drives, solid state drives…phones…and clouds everywhere.
Below is a snippet of a (silent) 3 minute movie I took of my daughter, who is narrating what she sees out the open window.
Hurricane Gloria – September 1985.
Transferred from 8mm movie film to videotape to a M4v digital file.
Old technology saved by the new.
This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #46: Response
For this week’s challenge, I thought it might be interesting to create a post in response to someone else’s work. This might be a poem in response to an image, or an image in response to a poem. It might be an imagined dialogue, or a response that demonstrates how the other has inspired you. As always, be creative, and remember to create a link to the original piece.
~~~
Pat at 2squarewriting posted “The Art of Letting Go – Moving On Without Losing Everyone You Know” on April 4, 2019.
My response…
It’s okay to
wrap up the
indignation and despair
for what was real
but really wasn’t
grateful to know
the difference
from years grown up
tethered to an illusion
of close connections
grateful to gain
the strength
to halt
the searching
for the right and the wrong
finally understanding
there’s still
time
to carefully
wrap it
seal it
tie the bow
and
gently
leave it behind
This post inspired by Ragtag Daily Prompt
Bread…the often maligned staff of life. A slice of evil carbs. The heaven-sent envelope for melted cheese.
I didn’t give it much thought on a personal level until 10 years ago. When I was diagnosed with celiac disease. And reluctantly began my adventures into the murky depths of the gluten-free diet.
Full disclosure: I worked my entire professional life as a registered dietitian, so I knew what celiac disease was. And what a gluten-free diet was. My least favorite diet to teach someone about. Challenging to say the least.
It was not without great irony, that I embarked upon this new personal life chapter.
Returning to the subject of bread…
“Back in the day” as we baby boomers say, gluten-free (GF) bread was akin to extra thick cardboard…at best. Available only by mail order. Or at a lonely booth at the annual dietetics convention. Samples piled high as dietitians rushed past the company table. Towards the latest low fat potato chips on display further down the crowded aisle.
GF bread was oh so very dry. Like chewing on a rug pad. Sandy when crumbled. Taste? A junior high science experiment gone wrong.
When I was diagnosed in 2009, a hopeful light had started to appear at the end of the gluten-free diet tunnel. A few companies were starting to manufacture decent gluten-free mixes, cookies, cakes…and some breads. The marketing strategy was not so much aimed at those of us with celiac disease (we are only 1% of the US population), but for those with gluten intolerance as well.
However, the real economic driver for the cascade of GF foods on the grocery store shelves? The tidal wave of consumers who believe a gluten-free diet is a healthier diet overall (it isn’t, don’t get me started…).
All the attention is fine with me though. I benefit from more choices that actually taste…almost as good…as their “real” counterparts.
I tried making GF bread from a mix the old fashioned way. Letting it rise and all of that. There were a number of disasters until I found a mix that turned out okay…
…but the texture? meh… Taste? better than a GF loaf off the shelf. Still way too much work.
In 2011 my 2 adult children took pity on me and gifted me a bread machine at Christmas. Along with several bags of GF bread mix.
“It’s easy Mom. Just put it all in the machine and push the gluten free setting button!”
They were well acquainted with my aversion for recipes with more than 6 ingredients and a few steps.
They were right. It was easy. The bread tasted even better. And did I say it was easy?
The magic bread mix plus bread machine did equal a quality loaf of gluten-free bread. Not quite like the old days of hearty wheat and bran bread, but a definite improvement…
No more cardboard bread. The taste and texture acceptable. But still not…well…normal.
However…since I pride myself on reading directions – no matter what they are for – I also studied the recipe book that came with the bread machine.
I found a gluten-free bread recipe listing:
5 different flours plus
9 other ingredients
and 15 steps…
…I thought maybe I could make an even better GF bread. Worth the time to assemble. With so…many…ingredients. And the bread machine…
My curiosity got the better of me. As often happens.
I tweaked the recipe with:
1. What I had learned since my diagnosis (which includes: forget all you ever knew about baking bread)
2. Old Food Science class info nuggets pried from my memory bank circa 1976 (science is science after all).
3. Let’s try somehow to increase the fiber so eating white bread doesn’t feel so wrong.
It worked.
Excellent tasting gluten-free bread.
Which I know I have a photo of somewhere.
And when I find it, I will add it to this post!
One thing for sure: samples would go fast at the convention….
This post inspired by Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: The topic is View From the Side
Daddy narrating a nature walk
Pauses in profile
On the path
One summer day
A family respite
Precious days
Woven
Together
Little ones held close
Up high
Down low
Safe and Sound
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 