Category Archives: Weekly Photo Challenge

Evanescent…That One Moment, That One Time

25 Thursday May 2017

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There are so many moments that you will have just one time, and in one place. Next time you return, if you do, it will be different…the light will change, the mood will change, the family will change, and so will you. You will look at the same place differently than ever you had before, and you will never look at it the same way ever again.

These moments in time are unique, they are special, often they are important…and for these many reasons I never leave the house without my camera…

I do not know what caused these geese to line up, all in a row as they did on this particular gloomy winter day…but I love that they did!

I love catching butterflies…they do not stay in one spot for too very long…

And always, the hardest moments for me come when we are visiting any one of our children, and it is time to say good-bye. So when I have the opportunity for one more moment, to enjoy one last beautiful site…I am going to take it and I am going to cherish it…and all our kids know that!

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge

 

Heritage-Handed Down

23 Tuesday May 2017

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Inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia

Heritage is what we hand down from the past. In America, we hand down to our future generations the ideals written down in a rather small, somewhat dark, and very hot in summer, room in Philadelphia. They are lofty ideals, those ideals written into the Declaration of Independence, those beliefs in freedom and justice, what we are taught as our rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

After returning home from a trip to Philadelphia a few years back, I was struck by a picture of Independence Hall that I had taken. I was disappointed standing on the lawn attempting to get that perfect picture of that perfect building representing everything this nation stands for. But I could not get that picture, there was too much in the way.

And then it dawned on me…it was the perfect picture!

 

There it is, that building from history where it all began. In front of Independence Hall were people going about their daily lives. The building, itself, had a cloth draped over the lower part of its dome as repairs were being made. And in the background is our new America, the one of skyscrapers and progress, business and busyness. My picture showed my living nation.

And so we find ourselves in 2017 with new questions and new challenges in a country we believed had all the answers. Well, we don’t…but this picture encourages me to believe that we may still go about our daily lives while we continue to work to repair our mistakes. We can still strive, not to be bigger and more powerful, but to be a better nation and a better people.

I guess as I look at the picture of Independence Hall, I realize how much I believe in this nation, and its ability to live up to its lofty ideals…even if sometimes we really do fail miserably. And the heritage I pass down to my children will be theirs to pass down to a newer generation…and a newer generation…for, I pray, a very long time to come.

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge.

Reflections One Morning in Arkansas

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Arkansas, Nature, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Not so very long ago, we visited one of our daughters at her home in Arkansas. On our way home we spent the night at Petit Jean State Park. What a gorgeous place!

In the morning, before our final leg home, we went down to the lake to watch the sun rise. It was a great way to end a great trip, and reminded us to reflect on the importance of the time we take to spend with family, as we viewed the beautiful reflections of sunrise on the water.

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflecting

Danger! On the Edge

05 Friday May 2017

Posted by in Missouri, Nature, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Missouri is called the “Cave State” in recognition of the fact that we have, within our state borders, 6,400 caves. Some of them are very large, and some of them are very small. Some of them are tourist attractions, and some of them are too small and narrow for even the most dedicated spelunker to find his way into. But all of them are a feature of Missouri’s karst geology.

Caves develop when underground water dissolves the underlying rock. In the case of our area, it is limestone and dolomite rock that is dissolved. And if that underground cave gets close enough to the surface…well, the surface is going to “cave in”, forming a hole in the ground. That hole is called a sinkhole.

The picture above is of Slaughter Sink, just outside our town. At a quarter of a mile wide, and 160 feet deep, it is one of the largest sinkholes in Missouri. One of its features is a promontory on which you can stand and look…seriously, don’t look down…look across, or around, but don’t look down!

I have been to Slaughter Sink one time, and I stood on that promontory…and, seriously, I did not look down! DANGER!

But I do have to admit I enjoyed that one visit, and was very proud of myself for being able to walk out onto that rock.

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge

Wanderlust…It’s My Nature

27 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Photography, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Let me tell you about all the things that cause me to wander…

The birds…

and the bees…

and the flowers…

and the trees…

and the moon up above…

and all the other things out there that I love….

sunrise on the river…

walks in the woods…

beautiful architecture…

the prairie…

winter…

history…

and I could go on and on…

This post is in Response to the Weekly Photo Challenge

The Persistence That Gives Me Hope

23 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by in Nature, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Celandine Poppy growing out of a rock outcropping.

I often go for walks in the woods. It is in the woods that I can clear my head, I can put things in perspective, and I can be renewed, refreshed, and recharged. It is in the woods where I can discover the Earth on which I live, my place on it, and my responsibilities while I am here.

Current political realities in my country give me angst, and I often find myself distressed, wondering what will we ever do…so out to the woods I go.

The woods, the Earth, never disappoint. While hiking in the woods the last couple weeks, I found my energy, my hope, in the persistence I found in our natural world. Missouri is known as the Cave State. We have a unique karst geology, with a lot of caves, sinkholes, deep springs…and, as my father would always say, “a lot of rocks”.

Blue Phlox growing out of a rock outcropping in the woods.

To see, over and over again, wildflowers growing out of the rocky bluffs along the trail reminded me of the power of persistence. Ferns, wildflowers, even some trees persist in our world of rocks, and they are magnificent. I feel good after visiting the woods, returning home with my new phrase…

“Yeah, it’s that persistence thing.”

…and my whole world feels better!

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge

Security

07 Friday Apr 2017

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Home…enough said!

In Response to the Weekly Photo Challenge, Security

Resilient

02 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in England, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Weekly Photo Challenge

Resilient…able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

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This past summer we were fortunate enough to visit England, where one of my favorite sites was Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset County. Built by the Saxons, and made even more extraordinary by the Normans, the Abbey fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII.

Over time, the Abbey was looted of its valuables, and stripped of its lead and stone which were hauled away for buildings elsewhere. By the eighteenth century, the Abbey sat in ruins, and in the nineteenth century, the site was blown apart with gunpowder and became a quarry. In 1882, the Glastonbury Abbey came under the protection of the government and has been a preserved site ever since.

It was my favorite site because walking the grounds of the Abbey, I could not help but think of how resilient are both nature and beauty. You simply cannot destroy the beauty of what was once an incredible building, crafted by talented men who loved their work. Nor can you destroy the resiliency of nature. Nothing gave me as much pleasure as viewing the flowers that grew on the remaining stones of this once magnificent structure. Life is resilient…and it always will be!

You simply cannot destroy beauty!

Path

26 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by in Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge

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I believe life is made up of choices…choices about the paths we will take as we live our lives each and every day. Some of the paths we choose are spiritual, some are physical, some are emotional, and in the end the paths we take define us. They define who we are, and they help each of us define who we will become.

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This path is from a state park near our home, where we often go to take long walks…to clear our heads, find new perspectives, and walk out our worries. And as in real life, we often run into forks in the path. On this day, a day in mid-November, we chose the path on the left, the one we knew was longer, more intense, and would allow us more time to consider the future, and our particular place and responsibility to that future. We were thinking of our children and our grandchildren, and how we can leave them a world in which to thrive, while also being kind, generous, and tolerant. Yes, it was a long walk!

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We walked this path at a nearby conservation area one very cold day last winter. As we looked at the footprints and paw prints of those who had come earlier, we were reminded that we are not the only ones to use this path…or indeed, any of the other paths along our life journey.

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This is a path I walked with my daughter and granddaughter at a conservation area near Minneapolis. Our granddaughter could hardly wait to find out what we would find behind that bend in our path. As I looked with her youthful eyes, I was reminded to always look forward…to the future, to the surprises, to the magic of the journey.

Paths are an important part of our lives, may we never avoid venturing out onto them.

Weekly Photo Challenge

In Harmony…A Pleasant Place To Be

06 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by in Nature, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

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Harmony

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The dictionary defines harmony as a “pleasing arrangement, a state of congruity”.  Congruity is defined as a “point of arrangement”.

A couple years ago, my husband and I traveled to Cacapon State Park in West Virginia in early spring. We hiked a trail that was strewn with rocks, with blooming trees, with big, tall trees, and with incredible mountain vistas.. As incongruous as that all sounds, it was one of the most “pleasant arrangements” I had ever encountered. And as Jim hiked ahead of me, I felt very close to nature, very much a part of nature. I was awed by this planet Earth, which is my home…it was a pleasant place to be.

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