Walking in the Woods

November 7, 2021 ~ oneletterup ~ 39 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Sand or Dirt
Which Way photo challenge

I escaped out the back door last week and headed to my favorite sanctuary of sorts. Which way to go? Down the path into “my woods” of course. At this time of year, I am blessed with a soft carpet of leaves to welcome me. The CFFC “sand or dirt” would obviously easily be found somewhere along the way.

First I checked in on my crooked tree – phew – still hanging on after all these (3) years.

As I walked deeper into the woods, I looked down and spotted a section of the path where many leaves had blown away. Aha! Sand and/or dirt! Plus a few of nature’s odds and ends.

At the end of the path, where it eventually ends near the parking lot of a local business, I came upon a pile of dirt. A huge pile. But it was more than dirt, it was a repository of refuse that had been pushed into a pile – widening the path to allow for a truck to pass through. Knocking down small trees in the process. I had seen it there before over the past several years, but it’s gotten much bigger – at least 4 feet high now. Yard waste, construction debris and who knows what else. A mountain of a stain on this beautiful landscape. I stepped into this mess for a few photos.

One showed life. One not so much.

Fandango’s Flashback Friday: April 9

April 9, 2021 ~ oneletterup ~ 9 Comments

Fandango’s Flashback Friday: April 9

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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This post was published April 9, 2019 as an entry to a Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. A year later – at the beginning of the pandemic – I was back to watching the nightly news. It was my only connection in real time to what was going on. And that what was literally a matter of life and death around the world. The horror of what unfolded – and I won’t summarize here as I (and probably many of you) don’t need to revisit those images. Now, in 2021, I still watch the news and maintain the hope that I will begin to see less negative and more positive. That has not happened although vaccination sites and listings of how many people got “shots in arms” is often the lead story. I’ll take that as a positive, although there is a still a long way to go. One thing hasn’t changed…I am still looking for kindness to get more than 2 minutes at the end of a broadcast.

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Path

If you stop to be kind you must swerve often from your path.
Mary Webb

I have stopped watching the nightly news. Which is totally unlike me. Usually wanting to know…What Is Going On. The importance of being informed and up-to-date was always at the top of my list. Part of being a responsible citizen.

It seems to me there used to be more balance. The good and the evil. The positive and the negative. Now all I do is wince. Our leaders fighting. Shouting. Accusing. Deaf to the voices of reason…or fairness…or empathy. Especially empathy. Unwilling to even pause and consider a different path.

Nightly Breaking News punches story after story. Announcements line up in 10 second sound bites. Assault…Abuse…Cheating…Lying…. Young child missing…young child found in a shallow grave. Inconsolable parent. Another shooting. Blurry security camera video. One more senseless loss of a sister, a brother.

The news anchor drones on, his face barely changing expression. Night after night.

Rarely would I see kindness…until the final 2 minutes of the broadcast. Showcasing an act of generosity. Compassion. Selflessness.

Good to know there are people still out there…
On a different path.

They deserve more than two minutes of air time.

CFFC – Walks, Trails, Sidewalks

Lens-Artists Challenge: The Long and Winding Road

June 12, 2020September 7, 2020 ~ oneletterup ~ 31 Comments

Lens-Artists Challenge #100: The Long and Winding Road

…share your images and thoughts about the long and winding road. Feel free to be literal or metaphorical in your approach.

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My long and winding road entries (one begins as a path) for this week’s challenge are close to home…seeing as that’s where I’ve been for 3 months. The photos, however, are from last fall. One could argue they aren’t very long and winding, but the roads themselves eventually are just that.

The first photo is where I turn right into my street. The trees light up with color in the fall and the road does eventually wind – snake like – past 7 almost identical condo buildings to where I live.

road in fall
The second photo is the “road” more traveled and is located in back of my building. At first a well worn path, it eventually joins a dirt road used by runners, dog walkers, dirt bike riders…and sometimes snowmobilers in the winter. Every so often the utility company powers a massive truck past the “no trespassing” sign when it needs to do its thing. Often leaving deep muddy tire tracks in its wake. After fiddling with the massive power boxes or clear cutting trees.

But I like this road for its discovery potential. And the deer I sometimes meet for brief staring contests. Fearless chipmunks and squirrels pay me no mind. The woodchuck, however, always makes a quick getaway at my approach. It’s their home after all. I guess this road was made for them and me. 🙂

As far as I’m concerned…this road is mostly made for walking. And that’s just what I do.

Except to pause when it’s time for play…you never know how many acorns you’ll find along the way.

road path fall