IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE ONE OR TWO OR MORE PHOTOS WITH NATIVE OR ADDED TEXTURE.
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Friends of ours live in a home with a wood burning fireplace. Not a wood stove, but the old fashioned version where you build a roaring fire on a snowy winter day. Where flaming sparks crackle and fly when you toss more wood in to keep it going. The type of fireplace with the chimney for Santa. A real life yule log.
It’s for keeping extra warm while enjoying a book from the local library in the comfy chair nearby. Or while watching a Patriots game on television.
During one hot summer day, I noticed their growing collection of wood logs…freshly cut by our friend himself. Stacked very carefully in the backyard as they age and dry out. Waiting for the cold.
Inspired by Frank at Dutch goes the Photo. The prompt: City
My favorite vacation destination city is San Diego, California. The place for shopping at Horton Plaza and Seaport Village. Or checking out the museums at Balboa Park – including the Hall of Fame Sports Museum (now closed). The San Diego Zoo and Spreckels Organ performances. Sightseeing and getting a family photo taken dressed up in “old time” outfits in Old Town.
And of course theater! And delicious food and drink (one memorable dinner at China Camp is part of family lore).
Coronado is just over the bridge from San Diego …
It’s where I took this photo of the San Diego skyline…one sunny day in 2006.
San Diego, California
Fun Fact: Traveling across the Coronado Bay Bridge is a unique experience. When we visited with our 2 kids, we rented a minivan. While driving from Coronado to San Diego and back again, I knick named it the “scary bridge.” I insisted we stay in the middle lane and avoided looking out the side window. Sitting up higher in a minivan means you don’t see the bridge side barriers.
As I recall, the kids thought it was quite exciting.
This is a video someone else posted of this scary drive.
This week, we will explore different ways of framing images. Many photographers agree on one thing about framing – that it can help direct the viewers‘ eyes to where you want them to look.
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It’s hard to believe the summer of 2019 is – for the most part – in the rear view. I don’t know what it is about summer, but it always seems to “go by” faster than winter with its endless cold dark days.
This summer, we traveled more than usual. Not very far…Vermont in June and Washington DC in June and August. No trips overseas or cross-country. Which is okay…longer distance travel is probably not going to happen anymore. Also okay.
As always – no matter how far I travel – I document. My ongoing attempts to freeze time.
For this challenge, these 2 shots came to mind.
The first one is from our three day June visit with friends on Lake Champlain in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont. We witnessed spectacular sunsets over dinner from their back porch.
At one point venturing closer to lake’s edge for unobstructed views…
Sunset on Lake Champlain – framing the shot
During our second visit to Washington DC we spent a few hours babysitting for our 3 year old grandson. A few blocks away his parents started painting his new bedroom a pale shade of pink…in preparation for their move a few days later.
I think he sensed that big changes were in the air. After an hour of making multiple garages with magnetic tiles for his miniature construction trucks with Grandma & Grampa, he became restless and began looking for Mama.
That is, until we heard a Home Depot flatbed delivery truck across the street. The front porch offered the best view…as we watched one man unload a large pallet of lumber and building materials. By himself! With an attached forklift! Fascinating stuff for a lover of all things construction.
Several minutes of respite for a 3 year old…and for Grampa too.
During a recent trip home from Washington DC we flew out of Reagan National Airport. The interior of Terminal B caught my eye as I walked from one end to the other before going to the gate. I was intrigued by the amount of artwork and use of the color yellow throughout the architecture. Perhaps for yellow’s calming effect?
Angles…everywhere! At every angle.
I took the first photo at one end of the very long hall looking up at the ceiling.
The second photo…pivoting to the right, facing the windows and blue sky.
When we downsized in 2016 one of the many things eliminated was more than half of our record collection. Vinyl records…LPs and 45’s. We sold some to a local antique dealer. We sold some at a garage sale. We gave some away. Most we don’t miss. Some we do.
We saved two cabinets’ worth. No way was I parting with my collection of Carole King records or the “Three Bs” Barbra, Bonnie and Bette. Or classic Original Movie and Broadway Cast Recordings…Hello Dolly, West Side Story, Porgy and Bess, Saturday Night Fever…to name just a few. My tattered 4 record set 97 WWDJ/TOP HITS made the cut. My husband and I combined our Beatles collections via negotiating sentimental value of each. My beer stained copies of Meet the Beatles and The Beatles’ Second Album won out. My collections of The Carpenters, Herman’s Hermits and The Moody Blues did not.
Fortunately we still own our original turntable from the 1970s. My musician husband has maintained it meticulously over the years, along with the receiver and multiple wires and jacks and whatever. Including a cassette deck. And a CD player. No wireless mp3 system for us!
He also alphabetized all our music. The records are organized first by genre and then by last name or group. We have a zillion CDs alphabetized the same way. Phew.
One of the two record cabinets sits under the window in the living room area of our condo. Never mind that I flashback to dorm life.
A reminder of when rock was young…and when we were young as well.
Record Albums – Cabinet #1 (D. Ackles to B. Springsteen)
[We are also well aware that this collection will be the only thing our daughter and son will probably fight over when we are long gone. I doubt they’ll wish I had saved Close to You or Days of Future Passed….so I can rest easy]
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO FEATURING YELLOW.
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Yellow brightens my day.
Forsythia bushes are my favorite yellow. We had two at our former home…one in each corner of the front yard next to the street. Mother’s Day gifts from my husband and kids. The spot for photos during the few weeks each Spring when they were in full bloom.
I often remember the forsythia from my childhood. It had also marked one corner of the front yard at the house I lived in until I was eleven. I think it actually belonged to the neighbor next door, but its massive branches stretched in all directions…providing the perfect backdrop for family photos of squirmy kids in their Easter finery.
This past Spring my husband and I planted a small forsythia on the edge of the condo property. Within sight of our living room windows.
We also planted a few daffodil bulbs last Fall. What a delight to see flashes of yellow once again…still brightening my days.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 