This post inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo
The prompt: Vista
During a cruise to celebrate our 30th anniversary, my husband and I visited St. George’s, Bermuda. We spent a wonderful day exploring the town and a gorgeous nearby beach.
View from the ship…
And during our walk around town…
This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #49: Gadget
Tell (or show) me about those gadgets in your life, or better yet, put on your creative caps and invent something new.
It is right here on my desk.
A gadget of sorts that I tossed in a drawer over 25 years ago.
Thinking…I can probably use this thing once in a while. If I ever need it. Someday. Maybe for teeny tiny print on a label…
Teasing my husband – who is a year my senior – you’ll probably need this before I do.
Little did I know….
The truth is…I kept it because it was Oma’s. My grandmother, who ended up nearly blind from macular degeneration, viewed life through a blurry haze. Despite the thick glasses she was forced to wear in the last few decades of her life.
When Oma moved to an assisted living facility near me after Opa died, I arranged for her to have cataract surgery – with amazing results. Honey I can see colors! At 84, the blurry haze was finally in color.
Many years earlier she had gone to the Lighthouse for the Blind in New York for help. Which is where she got this flashlight magnifier. A marvelous invention.
It turned out to be more than a gadget. It was her pathway to reading greeting cards, letters from family and friends. Reader’s Digest. Restaurant menus.
She died at the age of almost 87. I saved her letters. Her photographs. A few pieces of her jewelry. The hand mirror that emits a laughing sound when you pick it up. And the Lighthouse for the Blind flashlight magnifier.
It has been dusted off and put to use a few times over the years. However, the older I get – and the more I have to reach for those DARN reading glasses – the more I switch on Oma’s gadget instead…
So handy when I examine Opa’s color slides…checking for dust…before scanning them for this blog.
It works like a charm.
I think of her every time I use it.
Nancy Merrill is hosting a photo challenge. The theme this week – Squares and Circles
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) FEATURING SQUARES AND CIRCLES TOGETHER IN YOUR IMAGES.
King Me!
…is said triumphantly during an intense game of Checkers…one of my favorite board games as a child. A two player game, my grandfather and I were often found sitting across from each other, leaning over the checkered board. Planning our next moves. Jumps. Double jumps. His pile of checkers usually accumulated faster than mine. Ferocious competitors until one king remained.
I seem to remember the game pieces as black and red, but this “newer” 1980’s version – which I played with my children – went with a new look.
This post inspired by May photo a day challenge
The prompt: Colorful
It was a cold gray dreary February day. No color to be found outside…other than brown, white and dark green peeking out from snow covered evergreens.
As I wandered through the produce section of a local grocery store (aptly called Market Basket), a rainbow of peppers caught my eye.
I imagined the security camera recording the image of a bundled up lady taking pictures of vegetables with her phone. Was she an undercover “Mystery Shopper”? (as I once was twenty years ago). Or from the Health Department? Or just capturing the perfect image to illustrate…Peter Piper Picked a Peck of….?
Or just because that pepper display was gorgeous…
I digress.
Vegetables = colorful. As well as being full of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, fiber and all kinds of good stuff you can’t get in a pill or a powder. No matter what the advertisers tell you.
Definitely a sight for my color starved eyes in the middle of winter.
This post inspired by Lens-Artist Challenge #46
The prompt: Delicate
I can’t seem to stop taking photos of my Mother’s Day flowers. Hand delivered by my son last weekend. They are the hardiest roses I have ever received.
Perhaps, also, the most delicate. I am drawn to the detail. The subtle coloring. The mysterious greenery that is not baby’s breath.
My eyes constantly drift over to their spot on the table across the room.
A few days later, I am at it again…
I also note how they are aging…gracefully. I refuse to throw any out, even as they lose their perfect delicacy. Their perfect color. Edges growing a bit more discolored every day.
Is beauty only in the new and fresh?…or can we also see beauty here…in the natural curling at the edges…petals darkening…greenery fading.
As the short life cycle draws to a close.
One week later…
Still delicate.
Still beautiful.
This post inspired by Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: The topic is Hands, Feet or Paws
Summer 2005
Family Reunion #10
Four giggling daughters of sisters
Squeezed onto grandma’s bed
6 years old to 23
Dusty dirty feet
Displayed
Years later
many miles
apart…
Those toes now dipped in new waters…
College student
Emergency Physician
Merchandise Manager
PhD candidate
…two doing double duty
as mamas
on their feet
chasing giggling little ones
of their own.
