I’ve been a bit “out of it” lately due to world events and general procrastination. I keep meaning to get back into the swing of things so when I (finally) sat down to catch up with my online community, I came across this Lens-Artist Challenge is hosted by Leya. She encourages us to share what makes us smile. For some, smiles these days might be hard to come by so this is a particularly timely challenge.
What makes me smile? Here’s a few:
Nature
Whether it’s an Eastern Carpenter Bee getting up close and personal with Kay’s Pink Roses (photo featured above) …
Or the tell-tale sign of a raccoon visiting our campsite at night …
Or a swallowtail butterfly feasting on penta blooms …
Or a praying mantis praying that it is blending in …
Or an red-tailed hawk just hanging out in the ‘hood …
Or a momma gator and her baby.
Sometimes Art makes me smile …
Sonic Blooms, Seattle, Washington, 2014
From the exhibit: Created by Seattle-based artist Dan Corson in a collaboration between Pacific Science Center and Seattle City Light, these sun loving, harmonic blooms use regionally manufactured, custom solar panels to generate their own power. Each flower top contains 48 solar cells that produce 4.6 Wp (watts at peak production) for a total of 1,104 Wp for all 5 flowers.
The electricity generated will make the flowers dance with light through the evening and sing through the day, 365 days of the year. Sonic Bloom combines art and science to help educate about solar energy in the Pacific Northwest and inspire people to consider how they can incorporate renewable energy into their lives.
Especially funny signs or photos …
A bigger smile from me when they refer to knitting …
What makes me smile the most? Cats, always the cats …
Junior (RIP) and Maxine (RIP) staking out their territory on my husband. Wendy and Raji zonked out in the sun.
I hope you got some smiles out of my selection! Let me know what makes you smile.
If you want to participate in this Lens-Artists challenge, remember to tag with Lens-Artists and link to Ann-Christine’s original post.
Next week, Sofia will lead us from her beautiful site Photographias – be sure to visit on Saturday 30!
To all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. Despite current world events, we still have much to be grateful for. I know I am grateful for each one of you.
This week, Anne leads the photo challenge with “Wildlife Close to Home”: “Stop. Look. Listen. Doing those three things will help you discover the abundance of wildlife you have nearby.” I stop, look, and listen a lot on my walks in the hood and even in my own backyard.
You might recall that my husband gave loaned me his Lumix GX85. So far I’ve been pretty pleased with the quality of photos I’m getting. As always, my favorite subject: the humble bumblebee.
We’re making an effort to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to our little slice of suburbia. The following photo shows a shrimp plant that, on any given day, will have two or three bees slipping in and around its flowers. I am utterly amazed by this plant. It wasn’t blooming at all the first couple of months. I transplanted it during that time, but still no blooms. Finally, I moved it to a much bigger pot and now I have 20-30 blooms on it!
Shrimp plant. Looks good enough to eat!
There are wilder places than our backyard. One of my favorites is St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. We went out there this past Monday (a gorgeous, cool, sunny day) on our bicycles. We took a break at one of the two concrete bridges that we cross over. We delighted in the spectacle of a number of insects enjoying the yellow centers of the Climbing Aster.
This here is a type of bee making hay with a Climbing Aster. Taken with my iPhone 8 Plus.
I really struggled to get a good shot of the bees (they were moving too fast). Here’s a photo with just the flower so you can see how pretty they are.
Climbing Aster. This one I took with the Lumix GX85.
The refuge would not be a refuge without an alligator. We found this one “dozing” at the first concrete bridge we crossed. When we came back this way a few hours later, he/she/they were still there. The day wasn’t too cold, but cool enough for the alligator to go into a kind of stupor. Still, I was more than happy to stay on the bridge and just admire it.
Alligator doing what alligators do when they’re on the chilly side. (Taken with my iPhone 8 Plus)
Now for a change of pace. Several months ago we went to Mashes Sands Beach, a funky strip of sand along an estuary. I love going there because there’s always something interesting to see. On this day, I was playing with my old Canon T3i and a telescopic lens. This is an osprey on the hunt.
Osprey on the hunt. Taken with a Canon T3i and telescopic lens.
Last, but never least, one of my favorites from springtime at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge: the bum of a bumblebee as it tears through a thistle.
Bum of a bumblebee on a thistle.
Thank you for visiting!
If you care to join in the fun, remember to tag your post with Lens-Artists and make a link to Anne’s post.
When I decided to accept a new position at my workplace (first mentioned here), I didn’t take into account the time I’d give up, the work I’d gained. Kind of like when I decided to share meals with the love of my life, not taking into account the clothes I’d give up because of the weight I gained. Choices.
The extra weight I carry is worth the 30+ years I’ve been with my husband, and I believe the work I’m now doing will be worthwhile, although not on a par with my marriage. Nothing bests my marriage.
I’m sure I’ll have plenty of times when I’ll slap my forehead and wonder out loud, “What was I thinking?!”. Oh, well. As I tell anyone who will listen, I’m grateful to have a job. We could take care of ourselves just fine if my new status in the office doesn’t work out. My bosses need me more than I need them, but that is what I respond most sincerely to: when someone needs me.
The time I’m giving up in order to catch up means I’ll have to make choices as to how I spend my even more precious free time. This past week I haven’t read any blogs, but I would like to change that. I’ll just be a more intermittent reader. I’ll definitely be less of a writer … for now.
Before this upheaval, I interviewed Megan Russo, author of A Daughter for Mr. Spider, a mixed media chapbook published by Nightingale and Sparrow. Here’s a link to the interview: http://nightingaleandsparrow.com/interview-with-megan-russo-author-of-a-daughter-for-mr-spider/ I had a lot of fun interviewing Megan. Even though it was done through email, I found Megan to be a wonderfully open and thoughtful writer. Her memoir is a lovely mix of flash narrative, poetry, photos, and collage. In roughly 50 pages, she gracefully tells a story of three generations of her family. I highly recommend A Daughter for Mr. Spider. Details for purchasing can be found here: http://nightingaleandsparrow.com/a-daughter-for-mr-spider-by-megan-russo/
For something not completely different because it’s still about writing: The book in which I have an essay arrived at my house recently. What’s not to love about seeing your name in print, to see your essay listed in the Table of Contents and … (drum roll) to even be cited in the index! I had written about this publication here: https://1writeway.wordpress.com/stay-at-home-and-stay-away-personalspace-socialdistancing/
Sexual Harassment is a powerful and timely reference book edited by poet and historian Merril D. Smith. Many of you already know Merril and enjoy the poetry, photos, and musings she shares on her blog at https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/. This was the first time I had ever received compensation for my writing so I did what any writer would do and bought a copy of the book. As a contributor, I did receive a very nice discount, but I would have bought a copy anyway. I like seeing my name in print.
So I have been writing, but will likely write less. You will see less of my writing here on my blog, but I hope to visit you all more.
My challenge now is to use my time more carefully, more mindfully. Yoga, forest bathing, knitting, and brushing my cats are activities I need to do to counter the effects of being on the computer even more now. Are any of you experiencing “technology fatigue”? That’s what I’m calling a kind of fatigue that overtakes me sometimes, often during the work day. My Skype Business meetings are often beset with inadequate audio and visuals. That is draining enough. Then, while in a meeting, someone else might instant message me while another sends an email and still another calls on my cell phone. I do have moments when I want to scream (and since I’m currently working from home, I do scream). We have technology that is inadequate for our needs but we behave as if we must use all of it all the time.
That is what makes it so hard to shift over to my blog, to open my WordPress Reader or Twitter feed or Instagram. I (again) deleted my LinkedIn account and I avoid Facebook (except my youngest nephew and his wife recently had a baby so … yep, gotta check Facebook). So I’m not pushing myself. I tamp down the FOMO anxiety and remind myself this (job) isn’t forever. I’ve got a whole other life waiting for me when the time is right.
By the way, my boss gave me permission to use this photo as my work profile picture.
Cool cats wear face masks.
We’ll see how long I can get away with it. Some higher-ups might argue it’s not “professional.”
Now that summer is nigh in Florida, we going to try and make a habit of walking in the morning on Sundays and feast on pancakes for brunch. Here are a few scenes from Sunday’s morning walk.
Hawk!
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I do love seeing hawks in our neighborhood. Lake Marc (sigh) is actually a storm water facility that is not well-maintained: Lots of trash floating around and a tree is growing in the concrete inlet. I managed to pick up some trash but not as much as I could have if I had a boat. But birds and insects abound, marking the area as having ample biodiversity. We saw the hawk again (assuming it was the same hawk), red-winged blackbirds, a merganser duck, bees and butterflies, dragonflies. The air shivered with buzzes and hums.
Summer is nigh (did I already say that?) and the cats are in their stupor, showing their bellies.
Marie at 1 Write Way 