Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Hands
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO (OR TWO OR THREE) THAT FEATURES HANDS.
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Little hands on deck helping Grampa make pancakes.
The day before Christmas 2017.
Helping hands
Tag: Photography
Stair lines at sea
Exploration…
Discovery…
A day at sea on an anniversary cruise.
BeckyB: #lines&squares
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rectangles & Squares
All lined up
Scents mysterious
line the sill.
Oils of lemongrass,
cypress…
poised to heal.
Tools of the trade
made manifest
by her magic touch.
Miracles begin here.
BeckyB: #lines&squares
Paradise Found
Inspired by Lens-Artists Challenge #65: Pick a Place
We’d like you to capture the spirit of a place that is vivid in your memory. What was it that drew you in and why did it capture YOUR heart?
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You have to go to Coronado!
Stop at the Del for dessert since it’s cheaper than getting a meal!
My friend Barbara was adamant. My husband and I were planning a week’s vacation in San Diego (this was 1996…before the internet…back when you talked to friends and read travel books to prepare for a trip). I had always wanted to explore southern California – specifically San Diego – and Barbara insisted we include a trip to nearby Coronado.
She grew up in California, so I figured her advice was solid.
We dutifully signed up for one of those trolley tours you can take when visiting a popular tourist destination. Coronado (often referred to as an island, but as we were informed many times – it’s a peninsula – NOT an island) is just across the bridge from San Diego. Lucky for us…it was a stop on the route.
When the trolley let us off on Coronado’s Orange Avenue….we fell in love with what we saw. Palm tree lined streets, friendly locals, an amazing ice cream shop, a restaurant advertising the world’s best margarita, thriving community theater…and the best part: the Beach. Sparkly sand like I’d never seen before. Or since.
Yes, we also drank tea and enjoyed a snack at the “Del” (aka: The Hotel Del Coronado…the iconic location of the classic film Some Like It Hot). Thank you Barbara.
We discovered that Coronado Beach goes on for what seems like forever. Dotted with people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Tourists and townspeople alike. Kids building sand castles. Teenagers tossing beachballs. Runners pounding footprints into the sand. Even a section for dogs and their humans to play.
It’s also a perfect beach for walking, even at high tide. An ideal spot for stretching out on a rented chair or towel. Reading. Writing. Listening to music. Staring at the horizon. Quenching one’s thirst. Unwinding.
We returned to my favorite place a half dozen times and found something new to do every visit.
My last visit was a solo trip in 2006 for a week’s R&R.
No need to rent a car. Walking or riding a bicycle was enough.
From a walk by the pier…to the shops…to the beach.
After dinner…perhaps a concert at the bandstand.
And back to the beach for a sunset goodnight.
Just perfect.
Amber waves…
October is here and along with it, a new squares challenge from Becky B: #lines&squares
For those interested, here are the guidelines…
The theme is #lines&squares, and your lines can be long, short, straight or curvy. They can also be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, perpendicular or even zig zag. There again perhaps you might prefer them intersecting, natural, singular or in stripes. As you may have gathered there are no line rules, as whatever your line everyone is welcome in square photographs!
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I am still experimenting with my new camera…macro, end-of-day light and whatever catches my eye. Thanks to the wonders of digital photography I feel free to capture as many images as I can. Even when the breeze just won’t stop…
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Cars & Trucks
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Cars & Trucks
This week’s challenge reminds me of my great grandfather…a proud firefighter in Cincinnati, Ohio during the early 1900s.
Unfortunately I never knew him, as he died before I was born. He suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for many years…which eventually ended his ability to do the work he loved.
This photo showcases a Cincinnati fire truck along with my great grandfather (second from right) and his fellow firefighters.
Photo a Week: Changing Seasons
Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT DEPICT SEASONS.
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I live in the Northeast USA and signs of Autumn are everywhere.
My favorite indicator of the approaching fall season is what I like to call the “natural look.” The trees changing color on a daily basis.
It reminds me of the huge leaf piles I loved to jump in when I was a kid. I don’t recall having to rake them, but I probably did help. The sound of the crunch, the distinctive smell of…fall…drew me in one way or the other.
I clearly recall – one late fall afternoon in the backyard – lying face up on the damp grass amongst the fallen leaves. Watching the few clouds in an otherwise blue sky. The sun’s rays shifting. Leaves continuing to float down. I must have been 9 or 10. I will always remember this moment…I thought…staring hard…listening…trying to make sure the memory stuck.
There was also a dubious activity I took part in: hiding inside leaf piles at curbside. Dutifully raked by all the neighbors. Huge mountains of leaves…ready for the loud lumbering city trucks which came by to suck them all up every week. My game (along with my friend Kathleen): jumping out seconds before the trucks reached us. We shocked the heck out of those drivers.
Not smart, I know.
Remember, children were very unsupervised in the 60s. We played outside all day. One adventure after another.
We also got lucky. At least I did.
It was an exciting time.
Other signs of summer changing into fall?
Walking downtown yesterday, I noticed the local shops had updated their decor.
Orange is the new color-of-the-hour. As in pumpkins…and mums.
On the other hand…
During my afternoon trip to the local wholesale club, I was greeted by another type of decor marking the change of seasons.
Still orange, but not nearly as tasteful.
Definitely not the “natural look” I know and love.
[To my horror, this was also a few aisles away from a display of artificial 7 foot high Christmas Trees!! Yes, Christmas Trees on September 28th – WTH]
Stone
Inspired by Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo: Stone
An 1846 “Settlers’ House and Barn” is the site for this magnificent stone chimney.
The house – located on the grounds of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont – is “constructed of hand-hewn beech and pine timbers.”
An example of lasting craftsmanship…and the durability of stone.
Nearby…more stones…in a wall behind a flower garden. A mysterious massive stone with a hole in the middle was propped against it. I imagine it was designed for a purpose, but I could not find out what that purpose may have been. It was one of several on display.
Ideas anyone?
An interesting sight, nonetheless.
Smile
Inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #65: Smile
…I challenge you to pay attention to and share some smiles this week.
[also submitted for September photo a day challenge: Autumn colors]
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A multi-dimensional word…smile. I try to coax a smile from my elderly neighbor who is not happy to be living here in the Northeast. She misses the warm dry weather of her former home in Las Vegas. Sometimes I succeed. Often I don’t.
At the grocery store I often catch the eye of a curious toddler or infant propped up in a nearby cart. Looking around while her or his parent inspects tomatoes or apples in the produce department. I’ll hold the little one’s gaze and smile…or wink. Nine times out of ten I’ll get a smile back. A real smile when the eyes join in. Later in the cereal aisle, I’ll sense someone looking at me. It’s that same smiling kiddo…often peeking around mom or dad. Who often don’t even notice. And if they do, they’ll smile too.
A smile just brightens the day.
Lately it’s not only the spontaneous grins from children that make me smile. Since I’ve dug more into photography, I’ve started smiling more at nature. Or more specifically, what I discover during the picture taking process.
When I got my first 35mm camera at the age of 24, it was all about people. Friends and family. I whipped out the Canon for my children’s milestones, school events, birthdays, first days of school. Or just fun everyday life stuff.
I was first in line at family reunions to record stills and video. Vacations were for photographs of scenery. My everyday life was full of work and focus on family. My husband was the one who would be crouched down taking pictures of a spider web or peeling paint on old rocking chairs. I didn’t understand why.
It’s interesting how things change.
Since retirement, emptying of the nest and downsizing, all of a sudden (it seems all of a sudden, but it really isn’t) another dimension in life has opened up.
Perhaps it started with this blog. Or just coincided with it; nudged forward by all the WP support. Digital photography and instant results played a part…as it encourages practice without the worry of buying film and paying for processing.
For instance….a few days ago I was finishing the last loop of my late afternoon walk when I noticed these trees up ahead.
The light. The colors. Oh my.
No cars in sight.
I crossed the road. Stood under the tree and looked up, focusing with my iPhone (wishing I had brought my “real” camera…). Turned around in a circle. My head back. Ignoring the cars going by. Hoping I wouldn’t lose my balance (I didn’t).
And then a flash of sunlight caught my attention.
The longer I looked, the more I smiled.
And captured it minutes before the light shifted.
I was smiling even more when I discovered this sunflower extravaganza in a nearby town.
I will admit I went (more than) a bit crazy there.
A sunflower convention…a sunflower Woodstock…!
I was a grinning fool by the time I hiked out of there.
Perhaps the moral of this story should be…
“We become more easily amused the older we get”
Countryside
Inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #64: Countryside and/or Small Towns
Several countrysides come to mind for this challenge…
In the fields next to what used to be a New Hampshire family farm – and is now a farming cooperative – was the sight of a recent sunflower festival…
I was driving past it a few weeks ago and just had to stop. It was a few days before the festival and nobody was there but me. A perfect photo opportunity! I had never seen so many sunflowers in one place at one time.
Such an amazing view.
In early September, during a visit to the small town of Shelburne, Vermont – the countryside was on display next to the grounds of the Shelburne Museum.
I also visited Vermont in mid June. Where a bit farther down the road, a community garden was just beginning to showcase what was to come.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 