color in the skys

         It's now getting lighter every morning! Seconds count! Yea!!  

        For 6 weeks I have wanted to share a series of photos my daughter made by noticing the sky was showing off its spectacular self. She made the instant decision to run outside with her iPhone to record the changes she realized were happening, quickly. All these photos were made within 5 minutes. A lot can happen in that short length of time! Hold on to your hats, here we go:

CLOUD PHOTOS by REBECCA WRIGHT

 

Whew! Wow! Wonderful!     And now for some recent photos of mine, fairly seasonal:

We'll have almost a whole week together!

a gift to the world in her Christmas jammies

another gift, via UPS

        

    wrapping it up

      My more or less monthly writers group finally was able to meet in person a few weeks ago, in Lexington, with one of us in D.C.  We had our annual Christmas meal and some words to share and some tears of happiness just from being together.

       

Then there's the sky outside my window tonight, always a gift, in my book.

       I sure hope the message about getting vaccines can be liberated from the politics it has brought on. Lies are so dangerous. Common sense is worth a lot more than it is given credit for.  I also hope you have enjoyed these few photos.  May you have something beautiful to be surprised by every day.  I look forward to posting again in two weeks.  Snow??  Ann

flowers amaze, as does my need to relearn every so often how to do this blog ....

        Long story short, now that my new phone is beginning to make sense to me, I still have to remember how to download photos with it and do a blog.  Life can be like two steps forward and one backwards.  It has been super windy here all day, so at least I haven't been tempted to disappear in the woods somewhere for the day.  I did have some Mothers' Day love and thoughtfulness, during Quaker Meeting this morning, an early afternoon visit and just now in a good long distance phone call. It can be a complicated day,  but this year -- after so much that's hard for everyone  -- I have felt more connected than usual to the wide range of emotions that showed themselves for everybody today. 

        The flowers that amazed me particularly were ones I saw over a week ago, when I was in Lexington (KY). I needed to drop off a book at the home of some friends, and I had no idea it was the time of year for their yearly showy garden display.  It had been raining off and on, but it stopped briefly so I whipped my new phone out of my pocket and made a few photos to share with them.  I felt full of wonder to have happened to be there just by chance and good fortune.

        

 

 

    Another photo group of this week is the tree debris along my fairly narrow dead end road.  A FEMA truck had been through the week before, to finish taking down injured trees.  They are now supposed to return at some point to remove as much of what's lying around as they can.  Who knows when.  Who knows how many miles of roadside there are that need the help.  Anyway, these photos are only a taste of the total job that still needs to be done around here.

 

        The last four photos are just ones I only see because I am always looking.  The first two are on a tree along my driveway. I have never before noticed this moment in the life of this tree! I wilI have time tomorrow to figure out what sort of scrub tree it is. I am stunned.          

 

 

What is this languid creature? He or she was not bothered by me in the least.

 

 

        Then there is always the unexpected sky, the compex cloud responses, and the wonder of the world we are denying needs our attention even while it showers gifts on us. 

     

the meadow, the tractor, and the sky

post #507 

            Hello, world, here is a hopeful try for the once again repaired system to upgrade blogger's posts. So far so good. I'm giving it another try.

        I'm writing Sunday evening after a week with wet weather, political revelations, my meadow half mowed, and finishing reading a book.  I wish I could say I have some new things figured out, but that's for all the weeks that follow.  I've even met recently over Zoom with college friends and with my writers group. I feel very privileged.

        However, I'm distressed about the horrible fires in California and the rest of the West, I don't think Trump is any healthier mentally than he ever has been, and then there's the virus.  It's sad that so many people have to get sick before they actually believe how serious the virus can be. Very sad to get sick, very sad to pretend it will just go away. I have been encouraged that now, when I go to our local Kroger store for groceries, everyone is wearing a mask. This is major. Thank you, everyone, for taking one for the team of your neighbors and community.

        OK, some photos to share from the week:

The wind had now started to blow, as shown by the leaves not holding still for the shot..

I call my meadow beautiful, despite its rough, unkept look, but the time had come to cut it all back for the winter, an investment in the future: 

        This last space is reserved for my photo of Amy McGrath in her first campaign, when Joe Biden came down for a rally for her in a small gym. I have had SUCH A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE this evening with the revised blog procedures that I am NOT going to look for that photo too hard right now. Tomorrow instead. Tonight has left me encouraged.  I love doing my blog every Sunday, and I'd hate to have to give it up in frustration.   [LATER: PHOTO IS IN NEXT WEEK'S POST.]

         My motto for the day: believe and hope but consider the science. 

Thanks for wearing a mask.

 

      

 

short but sweet, sort of

This Sunday I am NOT going to struggle with the Blogger effort to frustrate us all in every possible way.  SURELY they will soon admit that they have royally screwed up and take us back to where we know how to make Blogspot work.... It has been very reassuring to discover that so many users have chimed in after having similar experiences to mine.

So, as is said, I'm going to give it a rest -- though maybe I will at least try to add a couple of sunset shots from two days ago ---  no secret message intended.  I will also make a brief comment before we have a week where dubious claims nightly will overload our political news cycle.  I hope everyone is a becoming a believer that the virus is real.  Nearby neighbor friends of mine may have tried to hide, but they were found this weekend. It's seriously sad. We all pray for their safety, for their recovery, for their families, and for all of America.   We are paying a high price for not having a national coordinated effort to combat -- via science -- the reality that the pandemic is world wide.  We need to have each other's back.  I have a lot more photos I want to make. And I'm way behind in giving and getting hugs.

facing SSE from my house:

and, last but not least, shared because we can always use a reminder of hope, a recent favorite photo of mine, from dear English friends, of a great grandson with his great grandfather:

California, #3 of 3

post #425 -- am publishing this 425th weekly blog a whole day early! girls gone wild!

          On the last evening of my California visit, Liz showed me the area of Mill Valley which is made up entirely of house boats, a whole small village of them. I never even knew this place existed! We walked up and down all the piers, and I loved it!  Lots of color, lots of potted plants, lots of surprises....

       This photographer (me) malingers, while her friend leads the way....

cat serenity:

The whole time we were walking up and down the piers the tide was low: 

whimsy, again and again:

      At first, I assumed that this duck was a carving, with feathers placed around it, one more work of whimsy. But when I looked more closely (thank goodness I did) I saw breathing!  I assume someone worked hard to make the duck feel so welcome, though, of course, perhaps it was a breathing piece of art! I know that a bird will stay on a nest if there are eggs newly hatched, but, in any case, I was touched by the beauty of it all.

      The morning of my return home, it was raining as I took the wonderful bus at 7 a.m. from Mill Valley directly to the SF airport. This meant I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge en route, headed toward San Francisco and beyond. I had time to take this one photo, with my iPhone, while the bus was moving across the bridge. I couldn't believe how it turned out. I share these words about how it happened because it's such a thrill to capture one's emotions in a moment that unexpectedly presents itself. I was sad to leave, glad I had been able to come, so thankful for friends, and, always, grateful that I still love making photos. The seeing seems to help me make sense of so many things.

 

My plane from SF was delayed three times, so, essentially, I spent a day in the airport, and I didn't see my checked bag for a day and a half.  But, hey, my two planes were took off and landed safely, and the airline put many of us up in the Hilton Hotel across the road from the Chicago airport. I slept in a Murphy bed! with a great mattress! Once we actually were flying somewhere, I couldn't help taking photos of moments when sky, clouds,and light from the sun banded together.

     

A totally different look outside the next day on the way to Lexington:

A last note: I saw this large photo during my visit, in a restaurant in Ukiah, and I wanted to make some joke here about how I got slowed down by some construction problems getting across the bridge..... However, I realize that my humor might not make enough sense to share.  (Sometimes my humor doesn't make any sense, but other times..... ) Seriously this photo shows the Golden Gate Bridge under construction, in the 1930s. It was way ahead of its time, and it changed the whole region. Everyone, here's to adventures, every single one.