I know it’s WordlessWednesday but these photos are begging for Captions!!
Send suggestions in Comments! (Or return for mine later…)
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
 #6
#7
I’ve written a lot of posts that contained embarrassing self-disclosures, but this one is a stretch, even for me.
First of all, I’m not clear who to credit for this challenge, but since perspective is one of my driving, life-force words, I’ve decided to just write and share photos anyway.
Here’s the story.
I have been photographing a tiny piece of mystery debris on my street for over a year. No idea why. Can’t really justify it except I spotted it, and became intrigued, and over the months, it evolved into a mild obsession.
I have thought at length about why in the world I would become so interested in this scrap of trash, and the only thing I can come up with is my Dad. It’s his fault really. He taught us very early on that boredom was a sin against Nature, and that if we used all of our senses, and just changed our perspectives, we could always find at least one miracle.
“Just look at the ground”, he would say. “It’s covered with magic!”
(I wrote about this in a story, with working title The “Ruler” and the Torn Screen or One Square foot and posted it on on V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #40 “Things my Father said”)
https://wordpress.com/post/chosenperspectives.com/18412
I guess what grew from that particular Dad-Lesson was a life long habit of looking down at the ground, always in search of treasures! No surprise one of my favorite activities in life is Beach Combing. I have huge collections of rocks, shells and beach glass! I have even been known to collect tiny treasures right off the street, especially if it’s been too long since I’ve had a trip to the ocean.
I’m fairly easy to please.
I have photographed what I am walking on many times…
Even modern day litter…
So spotting this one piece of junk on my daily walk was not the surprise. It simply stood out. Unidentifiable, it caught my eye.
The surprise was that I started looking for it every day. Every single day. I became more and more curious about why it never, ever moved. Its location was on a high-traffic part of the street. With all the cars, bikes and people passing over that very spot every day, it should have been run over…repeatedly.
So I decided to actually start tracking it…on purpose…and taking its picture…
Uh oh, I had bonded with a fragment of litter.
Seriously, and now, over a year later, and I’m even writing a Post about it.
But wait , as Paul Harvey used to say, here’s “the rest of the story”…
Last week on my regular morning walk, I got to the top of my street, where my Scrap lives…and it was gone! GONE!
I figured a car tire had finally knocked it off to the side, but after a long, elaborate roadside search (yes, a search) for my missing piece of rubbish, I had to accept it was over. My mystery remnant was truly missing.
In a world of uncertainty, a tiny, but predictable piece of my daily life, was gone. Sigh.
Believe me, the symbolism and the underlying explanations for this attachment are not lost on me. Been thinking about it all week. The pandemic. Being locked in my home, except for this daily walk, for 142 days. Reminders of my Dad, and wondering how he would have looked at today’s confusing, emotional, frightening new normal, ETC.!
I tried to find a replacement touchstone, something more permanent, and spotted this whale (or maybe it’s a country in Europe)…
But when looking through photos for this post I discovered this formation, permanently embedded in the street, had been there all along.
Anyway, this morning….I’m on my walk, approaching the former location of, you know who, (my reliable and familiar bit of trash), I decide maybe one more look around…
And there, well off the pavement, directly in a beam of early morning sunlight, I see this!
I was disproportionately happy!!
And YES, of COURSE I brought it home with me, and put it in the cabinet with all the other treasures! It’s just not safe out there for such a vulnerable little guy.
Yep, I’m glad I’m so easily entertained. Thanks Dad!
Uh, helloooo?
Uh, God?
Uh, excuse me Mam! Don’t want to bother you. I know you have your hands full…
But was this a warning shot?
Or did you MISS?
Life and the world have been a bit distracting of late. For a while there, even I, the self-appointed champion of uplifting things, had a difficult time finding stuff to share.
But here are just a few things that hopefully bring you a sliver of beauty or a tiny laugh or little piece of inspiration to hang in there…yep, even longer than we had hoped!
I have enjoyed the wildlife in my yard lately.
This guy is relentless!!!
Brazen intruder in Bellevue
And Bunnies everywhere!!
And of course, flowers!
And my favorite, the Birds…
But of course, also the indoor wildlife…even though it’s often hidden…
Where is that silly cat now???
Creative Quarantine
Here’s a new collection for you, of feel good, feel deeply, and feel connected things to watch, read and listen to!!!
And if that didn’t delight you and make you laugh, just look up almost anything by Jeanne Roberston…
And I keep this on in the back ground sometimes or check it out all day long. These baby eagles are hysterical to watch at this age. What a miracle it is that we even can.
Skip ahead to about 55 on the counter. Then if you want, skip ahead to 10:48.
Or this one is amazing also!
If you need to get up and move, watch this standing. You’ll be bopping around before you know it!
To connect with deeper meaning and the bigger picture, read this lovely contribution
https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/irish-american-teachers-poem-covid19-outbreak
The poem reads…
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
BEST for LAST!! This is so sweet!!!!Â
My favorite thing yet. I have watched it several times and feel moved toward hope again and again.
The Great Realization-a Bedtime Story
Watch this to help meet your Recognition Hunger…virtually!
And here is one of my favorite organizations. I have loved their newsletter for a long time and they are a wonderful resource during these days. I especially liked the collection of articles in the April 21st issue.
![]() |
And for some good feeling laughs, another episode of Some Good News from John Krasinsky
Lastly, look what I found on my walk yesterday…growing in a long stretch of icky weeds.
I’m tellin’ you…ya gotta keep your eyes open for these sweet things!
Hope you are hanging in there. Please share any Spirit Lifters of your own in “Comments”.
Earth Day slide show
Earth Day Entertainment and Inspiration
Downhill from Everywhere by Jackson Browne…released today…
Jackson Browne Drops New Song for Earth Day, ‘Downhill From Everywhere’
And best for last, DEFINITELY X Rated, so watch when your kids are at Home School in the other room…
OK at this point, sick humor is about the only way to get through a day…well, not really, but here is a collection of things that have been sent to me…hope at least one or two get you laughing at the absurdities of our days…(if you click on one picture, you should be able to scroll through the rest full size…)
And here’s one of my favorites….a complete break from Covid19. But before you decide I am unenlightened or have a gender bias, just listen and tell me what you disagree with. (someone let me know if this works! I don’t think I’ve tried inserting a sound thing like this before…)
Enjoy!
Last thing…if you have never listened to Jean Robertson, this may give even a hard core feminist a laugh!!
I’m tired of no words!! I want some words!! Apparently, because I am so visual and kinesthetic, (NOT very auditory), I need way, WAY more WORDS than most. (Probably one of the things that makes me a good therapist.)
I mean these Zoom meetings, and SKYPE Sessions with my clients are great, actually modern day miracles, in my elderly opinion, but I want to TALK with someone, lots of someones, and be able to use the rest of my senses in a conversation!!
I miss walking arm in arm with someone. I hate that the little kids in my neighborhood that usually run up and hug my legs (I’m everyone’s Grandma on my street), are now coached (appropriately so) to stay far away from me. I miss comforting a neighbor, friend or client with a hand squeeze, a shoulder pat, or a big, long, juicy hug!
Whew! Glad to get that out!
Now, onto my WordlessWednesday post.
Spirit Lifters; Day 34 of being “grounded”
Now, PLEASE
WORDS WORDS WORDSÂ
Lots of them in the Comment section!!
Thank you!