Popular Photography

It's been around a long time...Popular Photography...and only 25 cents 68 years ago...that was probably a King's Ransom in those days and there weren't many photographers around then like there are now...Today every one is a photographer..and some can't even take a photo...but they love playing and doing what works for them...and do you know that Popular Photography is still on the market....stronger than ever, selling copies by the dozens...which just goes to prove...most things improve with age...

I'm thinking that's true for people also...if you live long enough you come into yourself and finally understand that your o.k. right where you stand.  Funny it takes so long to get that.  I am blessed in family and friendships...oh my, that is the best.  The boys, well if you come here, you know what value and love they have added to my life..so for  that alone...I celebrate my life.   My days are full of challenges just like everyone else...but they are also full of creativity and timelessness.. in the sense that I don't have to keep to a schedule anymore...I don't go by clocks and calendars...I go by feelings and desires...it's a wonderful way to drag your feet through life...like a dog walking all day long with his tail wagging. Happy to just exist...and on those hard days...that you wished you could plow through, someone comes along and lifts you up until the road is clear again...

So I'm moving into this next year with vigor...and probably a new knee...that should keep me going for another 20/30 years...I'm going to dream big and make some of it happen.  I'm going to keep on loving but not so much that I let someone step on me on their way up...I'm going to write and read and enjoy sunsets and a few sunrises...all with a couple kids and a dog trailing along...stars at night...warm fires, tea and talks with friends.   I'm going to pamper myself...(I already do) with pedi's and mani's...bright colors.  keep coloring my hair...blond and wearing leggings...i just started this year..should have done it sooner...eating ice cream but not to much and wine...I'm not giving that up, besides I only drink for medicinal purposes...I going to tend to my garden of friends...sometimes pulling a few weeds but mostly just adding new, colorful ones that I meet along my yellow brick road.I'm going to play more in the sand and swim in the ocean..Eat fried clams and lobster with a smile on my face...having tarter sauce to....it's going to be such a good year...this is my year...for looking at life at a gentler, slower pace..to meditate and breathe and listen and give thanks....for all the many gifts I have been given...it's time to enjoy them and it's time to maybe look at new adventures perhaps driving around this country instead of flying off to exotic lands...I'm so thrilled we were able to do that...but now it feels right to simplify...everything...and enjoy home.

So...1947 was a good year...I love that the girl on the sled wore red lipstick...perhaps I'll get me some of that...she wore a fancy black coat...I think I have one of those somewhere in my closet...her smile reminds me of my Mom...I bet in January's of 1947 she was smiling big like that girl...how could she not....she just had me...and I was enough.

“Youth. I don't seek it through another because I have it within; it's a state of mind, a spirit that is free, and a mind that is playful. The shell of my being is altered by the effects of time, but nothing will tarnish a soul that will never forget what its like to experience creation with endless wonder and appreciation. Each time I see the first snowfall of the season I feel it's the first time I've seen it at all.” Donna Lynn Hope

“It’s this freedom that’s the key to becoming visible again. Not caring what others think is freeing. Expressing yourself any way you want is freeing. Having opinions, emotional wisdom, spiritual understanding…these things free you. And in freedom, we find power.”  Jane Tara

 

When Roses Speak, I Pay Attention

"As long as we are able to 

be extravagant we will be

hugely and damply

extravagant. Then we will drop

foil by foil to the ground. This

is our unalterable task, and we do it

joyfully."

And they went on. "Listen,

the heart-shackles are not, as you think,

death, illness, pain,

unrequited hope, not loneliness, but

lassitude, rue, vainglory, fear, anxiety,

selfishness."

Their fragrance all the while rising

from their blind bodies, making me

spin with joy.

by Mary Oliver...Thirst

 Linking up with KK texture tuesday: 

greyday texture and preset-Litely used 

on all photo's...Be Still 32..three different 

backdrops..Linen, black foam core and lace.

Hanging by a Thread

Week two of our new year...I am hanging by a thread trying to get everything put away, cleared out, organized and making my list for moving forward.  January always feels like the first day of school did when I was a kid...exciting to have a new start..with new pencils and paper. Notebooks with wonderful covers that were gifts this year.  My writing awaits me but I cannot begin until all is in order.

I want this year to have more meaning, more intensity of purpose.  I want to follow my dreams and reach for the stars.   There is no excuse not to be able to do this...it really is all about choices and a little word called..NO.   It is a small word but it has a lot of power if we can remember to use it when the need arises. I'm learning and I'm getting so much better at it.

January is also my birthday month.  This year I was forced to take a better look at what that means.  I really wanted to be aware of time passing, more quickly each year.   To calculate what I expect to do with the rest of my life..and so I've made some promises to myself.  I am, of course my own worst enemy.  So, once again I will break some bad habits...learn to be more disciplined in my writing and photography and most importantly, get back to the life I love.  Where I call the shots for where my time is spent and not being pulled in so many directions...

Each year...I pick a word for the year.  I thought this year that I would skip that process, until I stumbled on my word...it fits me and my frame of mind perfectly.  This year my word is Nourish...I love the way that word falls off my tongue.  I love the visions that dance in my head when I see it.  It was exactly the word I needed but didn't know it..but now I own it.  

I will nourish my dreams..I will write.  I will photograph, I will hang with my Grandsons as often as possible. My kids are funny and entertaining and full of knowledge.  I want to spend as much time in their space as possible and I relish the written word of others so I want to read more books. I'm making a separate notebook to keep track of what I read and what the book was about and even where I heard about it...and of course I want to walk with Jim to so many more destinations.   He wants to get a Teardrop (google it)...I don't.  I know though, that we will meet somewhere in the middle. 

So where does this all leave me...I'm giving up holding on by a tread.  I did that last year.  This year it's all about letting go...waking up each day with the freedom to choose my path for that day.  To stay in the moment, be focused and disciplined.   To know that mornings are for brain work and late afternoon or evenings can be for trolling the internet.  I can no long let other people control my time.  Either in person or on the net.  I have so many friends in so many places...that is a joy.   I will not be far away from them...but I won't be jumping each time I hear a ping or a ring..this, my friends won't be easy.  

So that is my plan...as the year unfolds in all it's delights and mysteries..we'll see how I do if I let go of that thread...I might dangle for awhile, as I learn my way, but hopefully you will all see the results of my resolve to to nourish myself...one foot in front of the other.  One day at at day...moving forward in grace...

This Guest House (Rumi)

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

~

Linking up with Texture Tuesday...photo textured with Kim Klassen's Chill

Hers and Mine

It started with a spark...sometimes that is all it takes to get a thought rolling around in my head. I was visiting a friend in Seattle this fall...she lives in a most gorgeous little harbor town.  We were at her house for dinner one night and as I walked into her living room..with a view, the light caught my eye and took me to a small table by the window...and what to my wondrous eye did appear but a silver plate just full of sparkling little tea spoons. To add to my delight, they were on a lovely silver tray.  I took out my i-phone and started snapping but something was missing..the photo wasn't giving me what my heart was feeling...Along comes my very talented friend, I show her my shots, she then procedes to turns one of the spoons over, took a shot and there it is...the spark.

I came home from that trip, uploaded my photo's and in my grouping, was..Her photo.  From there I went through my dining room and kitchen draws...looking for silver, and I was surprised by how many nice pieces I actually had..some very old spoons  given to me by my Ms. Margaret before she died..some of my own that I had found at antique shops and a few newer pieces all blending together nicely, but no where could I find a silver tray, so I used a beautiful dish of my Grandmothers for my silver spoons.. Not long after that I got a gift in the mail...a tiny silver spoon that shows Mount Rainier, with the height of the mountain printed on it..My friend remembered how much I loved her spoons and and she knew we were heading to Mt. Rainier, after leaving her, so she  sent me one...it was a beautiful gift.  So it went on my little tray and then I took my photo.  My tray sits on the hutch in my kitchen so everyday I pass it and I see her little spoon there, resting so nicely with all the other little spoons...sort of like a little spoon family.  It reminds me of the days I spent with Her...and her generous heart.  That was when I thought of my photo...Hers and Mine together...forever.  

So a spark brings light, joy and and an idea.  A spark can generate a trip, a visit, an open heart.  That's what happens if you feel the spark and then act on it.  The spark starts off tiny...like meeting on Flirckr and grows throught the common love of photography and a meeting of the minds..and occasionally the spark turns into a forest fire and you pack your bags and you go...and that's is when you feel the flame of friendship...sealed for life.

Who knows when we will meet again..but we will, of that I am sure, but the spark has been lit and the flame has grown and the fire continues to burn...it produces warmth, respect and love...generating across the United States...all of this and now a beautiful, timeless photo from one tiny little spark...

As you move into this New Year...full of plans, ideas and goals...remember to keep your eyes open for that spark and don't turn away from it...go towards the light...you never know what you might find at the other end...

Happy New Year...friends...

A very special thanks to another friend across the miles.  She gave up part of her day to talk to me, help solve a problem and in the end...made this photo more beautiful...sparks are flying everywhere.

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

Albert Schweitzer