Month: September 2018

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge-Fences

I went looking for photos of fences but just don’t have many. Then it occurred to me that I live in a neighborhood where there are none.

I like that.

My house is the oldest one around for many miles. It’s on a long, dead-end street. We have a neighborhood email and phone list. We keep in touch regarding unusual neighborhood activity (fake solicitors, coyote and bobcat sightings, lost or found pets, etc.) For Halloween and other holidays, the children (and now grandchildren) on the street are the priority with trick-or-treating and caroling! And next weekend is our annual cider-making party. We usually hand press about 50 gallons of juice from the apple trees my neighbor and I share!!

This is the boundary line between my closest neighbor and myself.

I mean, if there were fences, how could we wander through each other’s yards to see each other’s gardens, and to say Hi? Or to watch out for each other, or take a short cut to the next street over?

And how would we check on each other’s animals?

 

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Henrietta, out of her protective custody…

and to photograph flowers?

or be inspired by yard art?

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How would the deer get into our yards to clean up the wind fall apples?

I love my street and my neighbors. There just are not many fences on my regular, daily trails.

But I did finally find these in my files…

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a house I lived in for a while many years ago…but the fence is new
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this caught my eye on a drive last winter
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watching sunrise from a nearby blue berry farm.

 

So my conclusion is apparently…Fences? For me, no thanks..

 

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #10: Fences

SongLyricSunday 9/9/18 picture/photograph

I always love different versions of a favorite song. Here are two!!

 

Fountain of Sorrow
by Jackson Browne
Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn’t show your spirit quite as true
You were turning ’round to see who was behind you
And I took your childish laughter by surprise
And at the moment that my camera happened to find you
There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes
Now the things that I remember seem so distant and so small
Though it hasn’t really been that long a time
What I was seeing wasn’t what was happening at all
Although for a while, our path did seem to climb
When you see through love’s illusions, there lies the danger
And your perfect lover just looks like a perfect fool
So you go running off in search of a perfect stranger
While the loneliness seems to spring from your life
Like a fountain from a pool
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You’ve known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You’ve had to hide sometimes, but now you’re all right
And it’s good to see your smiling face tonight
Now for you and me it may not be that hard to reach our dreams
But that magic feeling never seems to last
And while the future’s there for anyone to change, still you know it seems
It would be easier sometimes to change the past
I’m just one or two years and a couple of changes behind you
In my lessons at love’s pain and heartache school
Where if you feel too free and you need something to remind you
There’s this loneliness springing up from your life
Like a fountain from a pool
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You’ve known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You’ve had to hide sometimes but now you’re all right
And it’s good to see your smiling face tonight
Fountain of sorrow, fountain of light
You’ve known that hollow sound of your own steps in flight
You’ve had to struggle, you’ve had to fight
To keep understanding and compassion in sight
You could be laughing at me, you’ve got the right
But you go on smiling so clear and so bright
Songwriters: Jackson Browne
Fountain of Sorrow lyrics © Jackson Browne/Swallow Turn Music/Night Kitchen Music/Open Window Music

 

 

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https://helenswordsoflife.com/2018/09/08/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-9-9-18/

SongLyricSunday…on Friday, 9/7/18

I have had a grief-filled week and came across this song. (Thank you Carol.)

Nothing to do with cars, and I could save it until this theme comes around someday, but today is when I needed it, and there it was. It might not be new to others but a wonderful surprise for me.

The music is lovely and haunting, and the video is beautiful.

Full screen and volume up for this one.

I am resilient I trust the movement I negate the chaos Uplift the negative I’ll show up at the table Again and again and again I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen These times are poignant The winds have shifted It’s all we can do To stay uplifted Pipelines through backyards Wolves howling out front Yeah I got my crew but truth is what I want Realigned and on point Power to the peaceful, prayers to the waters Women at the center All vessels open to give and receive Let’s see this system brought down to its knees I’m made of thunder, I’m made of lightning I’m made of dirt, yeah Made of the fine things My father taught me That I’m a speck of dust and this world was made for me so let’s go and try our luck I’ve got my roots down down down deep So what are we doing here What has been done What are you going to do about it When the world comes undone My voice feels tiny And I’m sure so does yours Put us all together we’ll make a mighty roar I am resilient I trust the movement I negate the chaos Uplift the negative I’ll show up at the table again and again and again I’ll close my mouth and learn to listen…

 

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https://helenswordsoflife.com/2018/09/01/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-9-2-18/

KOB (Kammie’s Oddball Challenge) 9/7/18

Kammie’s Oddball Challenge 9/6/18

WordPress used to give us Bloggers a weekly photo challenge and I was dismayed when they stopped. But I now really appreciate how many other challenges there are to respond to.

I love sharing my photographs. I am far from being a pro but I have a camera with me at all times. I enjoy looking at the world, big and small, to see what catches my eye.

Apparently, it is slightly different than what others see.

Maybe it’s all that practice at “choosing my perspective”.

I have a whole category in my photo files called “accidental photography”. Sometimes, an accident turns out to be a favorite of mine.

Here’s my latest oddball/accidental shot.

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Miss Lucy, keeping me company, since we lost Zorro this week…

KOB (Kammies-oddball-challenge) 9-7-18

Been watching this guy all week on my morning walks…

 

Seemed lonely until this morning..

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finally…someone to talk to….

 

Kammie’s Oddball Challenge 9/6/18

https://ceenphotography.com/2018/08/26/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-august-26-2018/

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SongLyricSunday

Song reminds me of my Dad but his car was, in fact, a 1960 pale yellow, Buick convertible. Man he loved that car. When he could get enough time off work, he would pile my sisters and me in the car, and take us on what he called our Road Trips (never more than a few hours away).

My favorite was in the dead of winter when he would drive until we found snow…hard to do in San Diego.

He’d bundle us up in blankets, lower the top, crank up the heater full blast and drive the freezing mountain roads….

 

https://helenswordsoflife.com/2018/09/01/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-9-2-18/

Silver Thunderbird
Marc Cohn
Watched it coming up Winslow
Down South Park Boulevard
Yeah it was looking good from tail to hood
Great big fins and painted steel
Man it looked just like the Batmobile
With my old man behind the wheel
Well you could hardly even see him
In all of that chrome
The man with the plan and the pocket comb
But every night it carried him home
And I could hear him sayin’…
Don’t gimme no Buick
Son you must take my word
If there’s a God in heaven
He’s got a Silver Thunderbird
You can keep your Eldorados
And the foreign car’s absurd
Me I want to go down
In a Silver Thunderbird
He got up every morning
While i was still asleep
But I remember the sound of him shuffling around
Then right before the crack of dawn
I heard him turn the motor on
But when I got up they were gone
Down the road in the rain and snow
The man and his machine would go
Oh the secrets that old car would know
Sometimes I hear him sayin’…
Songwriters: Marc Cohn
Silver Thunderbird lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

 

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Lens-Artist Photo Challenge 9-1-18 ACTION

I officiated yesterday at a lovely outdoor wedding, with beautiful Mount Si as the back drop.

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These shots are all before the real “action” for the day started.

First, there was the worrisome action in the sky, but the potential rain bearing clouds politely passed over before most of the guests arrived.

Then, while waiting for the ceremony to start, came the delightful, energy-releasing actions of these impatient flower girls.

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But I can almost guarantee the action (though invisible) in this last photo is much more chaotic than the clouds or the dancing in the above photos, as this Groom awaits the beginning of his wedding.

 

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #9: Action