Category: Tuesday Photo Challenge

Sun Soaked

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What a desolate place would be a world without a flower.

Clara Lucas Balfour

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Very much inspired by Dutch goes the Photo’s Tuesday Photo Challenge: Renewal

…please share what brings renewal to you…

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While scrolling through my plethora (I love that word) of photographs looking to complete a project, I happened upon this one image (amongst many) of a sunflower. Frank’s prompt for this week immediately came to mind. I stopped scrolling…Renewal!

I remember that beautiful day last fall (last fall? seems like years) wandering through a local apple orchard, but being much more interested in the rows of sunflowers nearby. Many had already been cut away and sold, but a few remained. A singular flower with its face to the sun in particular caught my eye and made me smile.

It still does.

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Fandango’s Friday Flashback: September 18

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Inspired by Fandango’s Friday Flashback: September 18

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year…How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year?

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The following post was published September 18, 2018
This surely feels like a lifetime – not just two years – ago.

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Tuesday Photo Challenge – Light and Dark

Here is my entry for this week’s challenge hosted by “Dutch goes the Photo”

The theme this week is “Light and Dark”

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A few years ago…for a brief 3 months, we rented a very small condo across the street from a stretch of Hampton Beach in NH.

It was a temporary home while we waited for our new condo to be finished…after  downsizing from almost 37 years in a 3 bedroom house.  In the interim, we stored most of our belongings and essentially moved twice. First to this rental! It was a stressful time of uncertainty, planning, paperwork, scheduling, packing, unpacking, working…oh and hosting Christmas with 3 more adults and a sweet baby.

However, this cozy oasis on the coast proved to be just that…an oasis in the midst of life’s chaos. Breakfast watching the sun rise. The stunning late afternoon light as the day ended. From dark to light and back again.

The view from any window had been more than enough to calm and restore my rattled self during that mini-chapter of life.

I took this photo the day we left.
One last look.

IMG_3387

Where the heck is that squirrel?

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SixWordSaturday

Dutch goes the Photo: Animals

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IMG_0926 copy
Taco & Lutra on the Lookout
December 2019

L: I told you I saw a squirrel!

T: Nope, it was a cat.

L: Hey, this is my house, I know what I saw.

T: Just because you live here it doesn’t mean you’re smarter.

L: Yeah it does. My humans think I’m really smart.

T: Whatever. I’ll give you this one cuz you’re older.

L: Hey! a few white whiskers don’t mean I can’t see.

T: Maybe. Maybe not.

L: Don’t argue with me or I’ll get my little human to chase you…

T: Like I said…whatever…but it WAS a cat.

Connecting

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Inspired by Dutch goes the Photo: Connect

…your challenge is to capture anything that either connects or with which you feel connected.

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connect branches

A sea of mismatched branches growing en mass caught my eye this weekend – as I was walking alone in the woods. Not another soul in sight.

All balanced just so…yet not making any sense to me.

I couldn’t help but wonder…why (or how) the branches came to grow in such a way. Haphazardly entwined and still surviving. What happened? A confusing sight to which I felt oddly drawn to. Snapping photo after photo.

Was nature imitating life in this current upside down world?

Forging a way to connect, however tenuously. Reaching out. Over and under and through the unknown. Despite the obstacles.

Somehow holding on.

Right before dark

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Spread

Given the current pandemic, I thought it might be of interest to take a different approach to the theme of Spread… While the spread of a virus is not welcome, a nice dinner spread or bread spread or even bed spread might be appreciated!

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I love this time of day…

spreading clouds

right before dark.

Even with clouds spread overhead…

glimmers of light sift through.

I like to think of it as the blanket effect.

Comforting and safe underneath.

It All Adds Up

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Number

I look forward to the innumerable ways you can approach this theme!

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cash book

 

I have always been a numbers person. When I was in grade school, I made numbered lists of favorite books, colors, records…even friends. When something was numbered, it took on a distinctive degree of significance. And importance.

It was also a way to organize. I numbered all my 45s onto a corresponding divider matched up with their titles, all stored in a bright green case.

The importance of numbers became crystal clear when I started earning money in high school. I quickly realized that saving money – after earning it – was the ticket to the independence I had been craving since entering my teens.

Not surprisingly, my habit of keeping diaries and journals morphed into meticulous record keeping of money spent and money earned. This was back in the days of cash or check. I still have the record of every penny I spent in my last few years of college. Numbers paved the way to learning how to budget. This turned out to be a crucial skill a few years later when raising a family on a limited income.

But I didn’t know that back then.

In 1974 I was still living in a dormitory…on a meal plan paid for by my parents. Food was not a major expense, but other “essentials” added up.

numbers 1

Apparently record albums were a priority.

numbers 2

 

numbers 3

Numbers added up more significantly once I moved to an off campus apartment the following year…when a garbage can, spatulas and beer mugs took the place of record albums on my list of spending priorities.

At least for a while.

Guitar Action

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Action

…there are multiple interpretations available to you, so feel free to represent the action of your choosing.

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I was intrigued.

Action…I could use one of the many cute and adorable action shots of my cute and adorable grandson. Or…from the dusty archives…my cute and adorable children…back in the day when they were little. I have plenty of those.

Nah.

It’s been cloudy and drizzly and snowy today. Flat even light filled my open concept living room. Lots of windows.

Perfect for a pseudo photo studio setup…

Which takes a certain amount of action on my part. Clearing off a presentable surface in front of a suitable window. Pushing furniture to the side. Finding a step stool to stand on. Two actually – one for each foot for balance – so I don’t tumble through the plate glass window.

All before what’s left of the light disappears.

Then figuring out there are five latches on my husband’s guitar case. Why that’s necessary, I’ll never know. Time passes.

For those not familiar with all things guitar…

Acoustic guitar action refers to the height of the strings above the fretboard. It is also used to describe the general feel and playability of a guitar. Generally a guitar’s string height is measured at the 12th fret….Action is also measured at the first fret.

guitar action one copy
The 12th fret marker

It is generally frowned upon if your guitar action is set too low (the strings are too close to the fretboard). Strings may then buzz during your rendition of – for example – “This Land Is Your Land” or “Good Morning, Blues.” I’m not sure how it would affect the opening to “Stairway to Heaven,” but if it did…not good.

Obviously action is very important when it comes to guitars.

That’s the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

guitar action three

I am sure this guitar – which has seen a lot of action – is not set too high or too low.

Making beautiful music…it’s just right.

Time for a Rest

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Rest

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A baby at rest.

A welcome sight for a sleep deprived new mom.

At 5 months old, my daughter often found it difficult to wind down. Close her eyes and take a rest. A nap even. So many exciting happenings in her baby world. Lights. Smiles. Laughs. Talking. Music. Hugs. Books. Sunshine. Mama’s Milk. Bananas. Cereal. Baby walker exploring. Johnny Jump-Up calisthenics.

She never wanted to miss a thing. Still doesn’t.

Resting happened wherever she happened to be.

resting baby034 2

Which was fine with me.

Happy Birthday Firstborn!

Art in the Sky

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Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo: Trees

…share some of your favorite trees with one another…

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I will be the first one to admit how much I enjoy the Fall season – with its endless array of oranges and reds emerging across the landscape. The multicolored trees are indeed spectacular and I always capture dozens of photographs as the season progresses.

However, my most sought after – and elusive – tree image is only possible in Winter. Against the night sky right around sunset.

After all the leaves have dropped…when a tree’s true shape and character is no longer hidden. Branches, exposed and unencumbered, stretch out…for all the world to see.

Displaying a pen and ink drawing across the sky. A freeze-frame dance of sorts.

As if to announce…here I am! Look at me!

An abandoned bird’s nest…often still nestles precariously against the trunk. Or a massive wasp hive hangs empty…ahhh…that explains the constant buzzing last summer.

The stories these trees could tell.

When the sky turns pinkish/orangish/gorgeous-ish, I attempt year after year to capture an image like I see in my mind’s eye.

I came close this past December on a city street in Washington DC. Taking a walk with my real camera, I had a sense the light would be magic (as cheesy as that sounds, it actually was magic). It was the day after Christmas after all.

A quiet evening at 5:00.

The Tree appeared a few blocks in the distance – but power lines crisscrossed in front of my view. After realizing the light was not going to last much longer, I hurried through the empty streets…getting closer.

A lefthand turn…one more block…it was time.

Standing as near as possible, I decided to include the few power lines still visible under the main branches of the tree. Before I lost the light…I looked up…tried a few exposure settings…and went for it.

Even though I was not able to photograph the entire horizontal expanse of this magnificent tree, I was thrilled to capture a sample of my favorite art in the sky.

bare tree

 

citysonnet January photo a day challenge: Looking Up