Tag: Photography

Macro Monday: Gotcha!

~ oneletterup ~ 15 Comments

bee butt

I am always impressed by my fellow bloggers who are so adept at photographing the tiniest members of our nature community.  I try to avoid…at all costs…these many legged creatures who always seem to show up uninvited. (except for butterflies of course!)

One of my favorite (in a weird sort of way) laughing childhood memories (in retrospect, but not at the time) was pointing at an errant spider or mosquito or ant or something tiny and gross crawling up my younger sister’s arm or neck…or even worse…her face. And yelling there’s a bug on you! there’s a bug on you! Followed by much swatting and slapping and inspection and running around. And general – genuine – hysteria.

Or conversely…spying it on myself and jumping around yelling there’s a bug on me! there’s a bug on me!  The fact that I react with massive swelling to bites plus I’m allergic to bee stings didn’t help. It became close to an almost sacred anti-insect ceremony…one of the few things my sister and I bonded over. The trespassers usually saved themselves and escaped.

Apparently now I’m too old or tired to get as wound up about it. A mysterious brown bug fell on my leg in the bathroom this morning. I think it had just woken up too and kept trying to fly away. There’s a bug on me! I grabbed it in a tissue and it was gone. Happy Monday.

So, back to Macro Monday. I waited for this bee to settle down and pose for a photo when visiting a neighborhood flower bed last week…and it kind of did.

My first Bug Photo…even if it is a bee’s butt.

 

citysonnet photo a day challenge: Visitor

Lens-Artists Challenge: Sanctuary

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #108: Sanctuary

This week we invite you to share what Sanctuary means to you, where you find it or how you create your place of calm and healing.

~~~

“Preserve, within a wild sanctuary, an inaccessible valley of reverie.”

Ellen Glasgow

sanctuary path
June 2020

Since the pandemic started, the Squamscott River that runs through Exeter, NH has been my sanctuary of sorts. The town “parkway” runs next to it and has been closed to traffic since March. Walkers have been able to go “one way” on the sidewalk and “one way” back on the street towards downtown. Social distance and all.

It is peaceful and calming…and what more could I ask for during these times?…

Unsure of what’s to come…

window sanctuary
August 2020

A chance to step back from life’s new realities.

sanctuary river
July 2020

Reflect on what remains to give comfort.

sanctuary reach
August 2020

A sanctuary…a safe place.

Lens-Artists Challenge: Winter

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Lens-Artists Challenge#107: Winter

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand, and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

Edith Sitwell

~~~

Winter brings back the cold. Reliable get-out-the-thick-sweaters cold. Gotta put on a coat before stepping outside cold. Hats and gloves cold.

Most of the time, however, this season of cold shows off…with spectacular displays of snow. My favorite time is right after a snowfall…while it is still fresh and new.

snow maple

Before the city plows started piling it up at the end of our driveway…

snowplow

That’s how I remember winter days back when we owned a house with a driveway and a walkway and a deck. Where the oh-so-beautiful snow couldn’t remain where nature dropped it. When we had to shovel and snowblow and move it out of the way.

snow deck

Color exploded in the sky our last Christmas at the house where we lived for over 36 years.

sunset69
December 2015

Along with Christmas comes a gathering together of family. Complete with holiday lights and decorations.

Winter also brings about changes at the beach – the sand is groomed into hills to guard against storm surges. At least that’s what the hippy guy from town told me – who I crossed paths with the day I took this picture.

winter beach
Hampton Beach, NH – January 2020

A January walk in the woods isn’t totally devoid of color…if you look closely…

winter berries

And last…but not least…in my growing family winter always meant…
…are you ready for some basketball? 

Both of my children played for their high school teams and enjoyed it immensely. As did my husband and I…watching and enthusiastically cheering in the comfort of a heated gym.

Box Out! 🏀 Defense! 🏀 Go Team! 🏀

Looking forward to the other side

~ oneletterup ~ 41 Comments

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

Rachel Carson

from the back fence

Behind one sturdy fence lies a river
Rising and falling with every tide
Each day the moon is relied on
Nature carrying us along for the ride

I took a break from a long walk in our local park recently and took a seat…alone…on the memorial bench we had donated to honor my in-laws. My view was interrupted by the metal fence separating me from the river beyond. But I knew what was there.

Bordering trees and plant life often double as reflections on the water’s surface. River banks are exposed when the tide is low and disappear when the tide is high. There is something strangely calming and comforting about this. The predictable pull of the moon. An ebb and flow of the changing seasons and time of day.

Nature at its finest with a lesson at its core.

It was hot as blazes the day I took this photo. What did I expect for July? Exactly what happens every July.

I hold out hope upon hope that a predictable life will return someday.

When we get to the other side.

~~~

BeckyB JulySquares: Perspectives
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