No-Sun Day

Sunday afternoon and it's a bit

dreary and overcast.

Perfectly matches how I've been

feeling these past couple of weeks.




Life has taken some eventful turns.

My son called me out of the blue

and said he needs to move back home.

And it had to be the upcoming weekend.

Of course, being just prior to inventory,

I was scheduled to work.  So I hired

GoShare -- think Uber with trucks.

After being alone so long, it isn't easy

living with your adult children.

Add to it the fact that my job is changing

in a big way - because of corporate changes.

Every day is stress-filled, only to come home

and have stressed filled evenings as well.

I should be out walking; instead I'm enjoying

having the house to myself for a bit!

Hello, Spring!

Sometimes

the morning light

is just too perfect

for my creative side

to ignore







It's been a while since my last post

because I'm attempting to do "adulting";

to take care of pesky things

that need to be done.

This year I'll turn 60

and the future needs to be addressed.

Or arranged for:   Adulting done!

7am, the sun rises and that first light

is magically golden.

Happy Spring, my friend!

Shades of Orange

The sky takes on shades of orange 

during sunrise and sunset, 

the color that gives you hope 

that the sun will set only to rise again.

-Ram Charan

After a frenetic week

full of work, making appointments,

and trying to get things caught up

this band of orange light from sunset

came streaming in my window.

I dropped everything to create a photo - 

because light is everything in a photograph.

When I was 10, I got to choose the colors

for my bedroom, including my carpet.

I chose shades of orange for the room.

I often wonder if it was part of who 

I was to become that made me 

enjoy those sunset oranges?

Perfectly Me

Love your curves

and all your edges

All your

perfect imperfections

-John Legend









I'm not perfect

but I'm perfectly me.

The last of the evening light

shines on a white door

more computer playtime

creating art

while Sadie snores at my feet.

Curves, not Angles

Magic 

lives in curves, 

not angles. 

- Mason Cooley

Here it is, August already.

still hot in the Valley of the Sun

stuck indoors for the time being

and experimenting with 

light, shadow and curves.

Happy Weekend, my friend!!

Backyard Light

“Wherever there is light, 

one can photograph.”

~~Alfred Stieglitz

It took a huge effort

to bring out the camera

and try for a shot.

It's been unseasonably cold here,

frost every morning for days straight.

And after working many long hard days,

I lost enthusiasm for doing anything

beyond vegging out on the couch.

I'm looking forward to a much better week

*crossing my fingers* 

How's your weekend going?

Home Sweet Home

Home

Sweet

Home

no matter how often I travel

to see my family

while it may still feel like "home"

because it's still the house the family

bought back in 1966 ---

I'm old now, and my home

is my only home sweet home!

It was a good trip, always fun to see Mom,

For some reason, my first day in Calif

is spent suffering through a migraine.

My Mom's 80th birthday was celebrated at

her favorite restaurant. 

We did a little shopping.

And watched some Olympics!

Keep It Simple

“Not believe in Santa Claus! 

You might as well not believe in fairies!” 

― Francis Pharcellus Church

Children and Christmas, they go together

and when your children are grown and gone,

Christmas becomes different.

Not in a bad way, 

just different.

Me, I try to find ways to bring a little of the

joy I found being a parent at Christmas time

to my grown kids.  Today, I cooked up a huge

batch of spaghetti and took it over to my son's

family, along with a loaf of french bread, 

some goooey cupcakes, and gifts.  

I wrapped a box of dog treats for their dogs,

I gave my son his favorite jerky and beef stew lunches.

I gave my daughter in law a pair of wonderfully soft

socks, and cute lap blankets for the two teenagers. 

(along with a box of Mike and Ike candy!)

I also fixed up a dish of Ghiradelli Peppermint Bark

(and added in some Smirnoff Peppermint Twist).

Simple gifts, wrapped simply,

designed to bring a smile to their faces!

Keeping Christmas simple ... that's me! 

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's hoping you had an 

enjoyable day with family 

and/or friends!

Those of us who work retail

get the short end of the stick

prepping for the rest of the world

who want to shop for their 

Holiday gift giving! 

But no matter, I still had a nice

plateful of turkey, mashed taters,

cornbread stuffing, green beans,

covered in gravy along with the

other normal side dishes. 

Sans family. 

But after 17 years, I guess you could

say this is the norm for me.

In the mean time, I happened to catch

the last rays of sunshine streaming in

my window, so I posed just for you!

Stillness

We all have

within us

a center of stillness

surrounded by silence.

~ Dag Hammarskjold












Why is it that when these should be "the golden years",

that life should be slowing down to a manageable pace,

I feel busier than ever?

I know that back when I was raising kids, I was running

from one thing to another, just so things were ready for

the next hectic day.

And it still feels that way, to an extent.

Perhaps because I feel time pressing against me,

and the need to get all that I want said and done

out there.

Immersed in a family project, I find myself writing about

memories on a daily basis.  Which is a good thing.  But it

all takes time.  Frankly, I thought it might spark some

lively bits of conversation among the kids - my own,

my nephews, etc.  It hasn't.  I don't think they've reached

the age where they have finally realized that who they are

has a lot to do with where they started, where they came from.

Maybe some day.

I was dashing around the house, and the light coming through

my back window was lovely .... so I snapped this quickie for you!

Beautiful Things

I just want to make

beautiful things

even if nobody cares.

I'm not sure who said that,

I saw it on a poster.  lol

But it's sort of what drives me.

I'm that way with my photos

and I'm that way with writing, too.


This summer, I'm combining those two

forms of creativity in my home life by

finding 3-4 photos that relate, then telling

the story, the memories, the moment.

Even if no one reads them, it's important

to me that they get written down.

I'm a huge genealogy freak, and have data,

dates, photos and assumptions about my ancestors,

and very little of the stories.

I want to leave a better legacy!

Yoga Morning

"I will pull myself out of bed today.

I have slept enough

I will face all this ugly

with every sense of beauty in my bones."

-mattfoleypoet

No gym today

there are chores to be done

so a little morning yoga

to stretch out the kinks

(yes, hello, Sadie!)

Every morning

we are born again.

What we do today

is what matters most.

-Buddha

My yoga form is far from perfect but it's a 

process, i won't get better if i don't practice!  

It's taken me 57 years to get into the shape

i'm in, changing that won't happen overnight! 

Two weeks into the gym routine, lost 3 lbs.  

Which can be gained right back with one very 

juicy Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger!

But that isn't what's important this time.

My goals are simply to become more

healthy.  My treadmill goal started with

1.5 miles in 30 minutes, now it's 27 mins.  

It's not much but it's progress!  

My Aunt got her wings yesterday; as she told me

she's completed her journey to heaven! 

Sending her all my thoughts and love today!

I will miss her dearly.

Windows

The window is the

absence of the wall,

and it gives air and light

because it is empty.

Be empty of all

mental content,

of all imagination

and effort,

and the very absence

of obstacles

will cause reality to rush in.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj


Never heard this quote before,

it drew me in.

I never considered a window

being an absent wall,

or thought about what

a window gives:  air and light.

May all your rooms have a window - or two!

Reflective

“Each time a person passes by you and you say 'hello', 

imagine that person turning into a candle. 

The more positivity, love and light you reflect, 

the more light is mirrored your way. "

― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun

A quiet Friday afternoon with a nap

turns into a quiet Friday night

and I'm reflective.

A rough work week ended with saying "Goodbye"

to someone who meant a lot to me.

I wish him luck in his new career

but for purely selfish reasons wish he was staying.

Life moves on, and we move with it.

Mi Vida Loca

I'm exhausted

from trying to be

stronger than I feel.

That pretty much sums up

how I've felt all weekend.

Friday night I got the dreaded call.

They totaled my car

which means I now have to buy something.

And quick.

And get rid of this rental car.    UGH

Making decisions when it's my choice to make

them isn't as hard as having to make decisions

because you're forced to do so.

I wandered a dealership on Saturday, but it was

too soon to know the financial end of things.

And it was too hot to be crawling in and out of

cars that have been closed up in the midday sun.

All the stress has made me unbelievable tired.

If I sit down to for a moment, I fall asleep.

I even dozed off on Friday night watching TV

with a slice of pizza in my hand.

That's my crazy life!    Mi Vida Loca

Soft Light

"To really fly

you must claim the courage

to live out of your real self .....”


― Paula Rinehart, Strong Women, Soft Hearts










Just a moment to pause

in soft light

in a soft nightie,

ready for rest.

It's been a trying week and

I'm ready for a weekend!

Star Gazing

I saw these pretty little lights

(on clearance for 75cents!)

and pulled them out today

as I was thinking

we all need to be reminded

to put life on pause

go outside in the dark and

look up

the stars are heavenly!

Express It!

Greetings, my friend!

Yes, it's been a while

because there are things happening

that I have no control over,

no matter how much I might want to have it.  

So, today's thought as I was reading:

It doesn't matter if you're

20, 40, 60, 80 or 100,

Embrace your sexy-ass self and express it!

Flash Back Friday

Dug in the archives again

for a FlashBack Friday post ....

just don't have it in me to make

a new photo this week. 

My sis had a biopsy today - 

and now we wait for the news.....

the holiday rush in retail has been

overly busy this year - and i'm not 

sure if folks are actually buying or

just doing a lot of shopping.  In my 

store "shopping" means they're 

opening packages and destroying 

things as they're looking at them.

and the returns!  So many TVs and 

appliances coming back -- are they

buying things and not even waiting 

for Christmas for the gift-giving?

As I get older and further away from

the traditions I grew up with, I find

that I do not enjoy the holidays any 

longer.  I enjoy the "pre-season" part

much more than the month of December.

Is it January yet?

Tangled

No matter 

how tangled 

things get, 

there is always 

a lesson 

to be learned 

in the untangling 

of those things.” 

― Bethany Brookbank

Life can be funny sometimes - not haha - 

although there are those moments too,

but a weird kind of funny.  

I took this photo and was thinking all 

Christmas-y, and yet here I am, 

these lights and string of beads all tangled up. 

And it seemed a metaphor for what life's become.

With so many things pushing at us, pulling at us,

needing this, wanting that, there doesn't seem to be

an end of the things that direct or demand our attention.

When we have too many things going on, 

life can feel like a tangled mess. 

Lately, I've been sorting things out, and declaring "war"

on the tangled mess of things around me.

Every day off, I've been minimizing my :::stuff:::

Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, 

and life needs to be simpler now!

Untangle the mess!