Category: Tuesday Photo Challenge

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rock

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

 

Can we go out to the mica mine?

…said my husband to his mother when he was a little boy.

My husband’s mom grew up across the road from an abandoned mica mine. That just happened to be on her parents’ property. In the mountains of rural New Hampshire in the 1920s. After my husband’s grandparents died, his aunt and uncle built a house on that land – the mica mine way in the back. Partially hidden by overgrown vegetation.

Family visits often included that little boy begging to hike up the mountain to search. For shiny slivers of mica…to slip into his pockets.

At some point two large chunks of mica made their way out of the mica mine. Down the mountain…and ended up nestled in the gardens at my in-laws’ home.

Many years later we rescued them before selling their house.

The traveling mica rocks spent the next 15 years at home in our yard. Tucked in with lilies of the valley. Also transplanted from my in-laws’ carefully tended yard.

Mica
Until we downsized a couple of years ago.
And the mica rocks were on the move again…

Now safe and sound…
In their new yard.
At the home of a very good friend.

 

 

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Wonder

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Wonder

The wonders of the world? The wonders of nature?

How about the wonders of the food we eat? The colorful & crunchy vegetables that grow from the ground – if carefully tended and nurtured and harvested.

From the earth we need to take better care of…but that’s another blog post topic all together.

A huge light bulb moment in the 7th grade changed my life. I asked my science teacher Mr. Jackson about potassium. My mother needed to increase her intake and I thought he might know the answer. It was a chemical after all.

His answer? Broccoli. Bananas. He then gave me a list of high potassium foods. It was that simple.

I had no idea until that moment in time that natural foods were that important. And what “healthy” as an adjective in front of “food” could really mean. Eat. Chemical reactions in the body. Feel better.

I went on to study nutrition and dietetics in college. My career resulted. Thanks to Mr. Jackson. Teachers: another wonder.

A true wonder of the world? I believe it starts with vegetables. Broccoli…peppers…carrots….
And then, of course, fruits.

As I used to show my patients, drawing a line down the center of a paper plate (way before the publicized “My Plate” visual), vegetables should take up half your plate.
Not always a popular suggestion.

Vegetables may not be exciting.
But they are still a wonder…

 

broccoli

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Tuesday Photo Challenge – Sunrise

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Sunrise

I am not the morning person in the family. Never have been. Prying my eyes open before coffee for any useful purpose…not advisable. Focusing on anything that early in the day would not lead to my best work….

In search of a suitable photo for this challenge, I knew just where to look. My husband – definitely a morning person – even a cheerful morning person at that – had just what I was looking for. And graciously agreed to contribute the following photos, taken on his morning walks before work.

 

sunrise 2016
Sunrise
Ocean View

 

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Sunrise
Neighborhood Land View

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Round

 

round crop

 

Have you ever heard of 3D Tic Tac Toe?

I never did until we took a family weekend trip to Boston in 1995. One of the highlights was a visit to the Boston Children’s Museum. The “Brain Games” section on the third floor included life-size chess and checkers…and 3D Tic Tac Toe. My 13 year old daughter “especially liked” that section (as noted in our travel scrapbook).

We all enjoyed it so much that my husband made a family home version…using a piece of pine board, dowels and 64 wooden beads (he painted half of them red).

Our homemade game survived downsizing.
Perhaps to entertain us in our old age.

Who says it’s just for children?

tictactoe
3D Tic Tac Toe

 

 

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Layer

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This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo

The prompt: Layer

One very windy November afternoon in 2016…

Layer upon layer of loud angry waves crashed toward shore
Lining up one right after the other…
Relentless.

Matching rhythm with my steps
As I paced up and down the beach
That day.

Head down bracing for the gusts
As I pounded through the sand
Relentless.

Trying to make sense
Of the path ahead.

 

wave layers
November 8, 2016
Hampton Beach, NH

 

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rose

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

The prompt this week is: Rose

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Mother’s Day Roses 2006

 

My sweet son has often made it a tradition to give me flowers for my birthday. Or for Mother’s Day. Or as a combo since there are years when they coincide.

When he was a senior in high school, he included a two page letter…describing what each of the 10 roses signified…looking back on how we navigated his childhood together. His love and gratitude expressed.

I’m not the only writer in the family.

He may not have realized it then, at only 18, how much his words touched my heart. I still have those two sheets of paper. Carefully printed words to mother from son. Although there hasn’t been another letter like that one, the roses have continued for many of the last 13 years.

Beautiful bouquets arrived on my doorstep in May.
A mix of favorite colors.
Always deserving of a photo or two…or three.

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Tuesday Photo Challenge – Bank

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

The prompt this week is: Bank

 

The day-after scene from one of many memorable snowstorms.
Before the white turns gray…
…then black…as it morphs into slush.
Snow banks everywhere.
Courtesy of city plows and resident snow blowing and shoveling.
Whew.

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Snow bank in the winter

~~~

River banks.
Same river. Different spots.

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River bank in the fall
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River bank in the summer