Category Archives: photography

signs of spring

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The last few days have been lovely here in Michigan. We’ve had lots of golden sunshine and warm temperatures, it felt soo good after such a long, snowy winter. The other day I spotted that photo of the cranes on flickr leech and I don’t know why but it just made me really happy! I’m posting it with permission from Kishore. I just thought of a fun game. Click on the flickr leech link (you have to click the Go button next to the date when you get there to get the pics), click on a photo that represents spring to you (or one that just makes you smile), then copy and paste the web address as a link in your comment. I can’t wait to see what inspires y’all! I’ll do one too just to start us out:)

I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. ~Charles Lindbergh

changing world

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flickrleech.jpg

We hear a lot about the bad things people are doing using internet technology. Identity theft, internet porn, harassment, and phishing are only a few types of internet crimes that are reported on a daily basis. But while access to the World Wide Web may have opened new doors for criminals, few would argue with the assertion that it is also having a positive impact on the world that we live in. The ability to share information has empowered individuals and groups as never before, particularly in areas such as communication, commerce, and healthcare.

When I was ill some years back, I read about a new drug on the internet that was being studied at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. It was being compounded at a small pharmacy near the hospital and the more I learned about it the more I thought it might help me. I eventually spoke to the pharmacist in Maryland, convinced my doctor to write me a prescription, and after one month of therapy my health improved enormously. That medication is now FDA approved and is widely available.

I have also found great sources for gluten-free food on the Web, learned new photography techniques, researched products and prices before making purchases, discovered wonderful authors, artists, and musicians, had fun with Web gadgets like flickr leech (I used it to make the illustration above, click on the photo to see it larger) and I’ve met a bunch of really nice fellow bloggers from all over the world. Some believe that the internet will bring about the biggest change in human social structure in history. So the question of the day is: How has the internet impacted, enhanced, or changed your life?

spring?

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So today is the first day of spring and I couldn’t be happier. Really, I’m happy, whoo hoo it’s spring! The problem is (you knew that was coming didn’t you?) no one told the weather here in Michigan. We still have some snow on the ground, the temperature was 25 when I got up this morning, and we have a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow. What the #%*? Now I try not to let the weather effect my mood, I’ve lived in Michigan all my life, I should be accustomed to snow and cold and cloudy days. But the older I get the less tolerant I’m becoming of the local weatherman and his gloomy forecasts. When I was younger I used to snicker at all the “snowbirds”, the older folks who took off for warmer climates the minute the first snowflake fluttered to the ground. But I get it now. Time is flying by and spending five months bundled up against the cold, shoveling snow, feeling like you’re taking your life in your hands getting to the end of an icy driveway just to retrieve your morning paper is getting old, oh heck, I guess I must be getting old! My question is, how much does the weather influence your mood?

Click here to take a quiz and see what kind of flower you are, I’m a Snapdragon (funny, I thought I’d be a Lily) .

snapdragon.jpg

think green

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In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, a photograph with plenty of green in it to remind those of us in northern climates what’s to come. Three more days until Spring!

Walk tall as the trees,
live strong as the mountains,
be gentle as the spring winds,
keep the warmth of the summer sun
in your heart, and the great spirit
will always be with you. ~American Indian Proverb

wednesday journal

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The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. ~M. Scott Peck

6 word memoir meme

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As I read yet another book review of a memoir this weekend, my husband told me that I should write one. I said that my story would be much too short and rather boring so when I ran across the following book I decided it was just my speed. A six word memoir! Written by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure is a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were- For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. There’s a video on Amazon with examples from the book, it sounds like a fun read! I’d like to start a six word memoir meme and here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere

4 .Tag five more blogs with links

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

It was actually a lot more difficult that I thought it would be, but here’s mine…

This too shall pass, I hope.

I tag Melynn at Breathing Easy, Sandy at My Inner Edge, Lisa at Books on the Brain, Janie at Ragamuffins, and Fighting Windmills.

If you haven’t been tagged but would like to participate go ahead and copy and paste this post to initiate your own string of the game, or post a comment with your 6 word memoir and I’ll post them later:)

**Blonde Momentos added a link to Smith Magazine on her memoir post where you can go and leave your memoir, they are collecting them for book #2!

monday moanin’

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Last week my doc told me that I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists. It wasn’t a big surprise because I’ve had symptoms for a long time; numbness, tingling, and pain in my hands when I get cold along with fingers that are always so naturally chilly I can dip them quickly into boiling water and nab a hot noodle to check it for doneness. I have to strap on two lovely wrist splints every night now (very sexy) and I’ll visit my massage therapist and see if she can open up the carpal tunnel and relieve some of the nerve compression. I’ve been doing more writing and photography in the past few months, and even though I try to use good posture and support my wrists, I think that the added time at the computer has made things worse.

And here’s where the moanin’ part comes in. My body has disappointed me plenty over the years and I’m more than a little annoyed that it’s up to its old tricks again. I’ve dealt with chronic illness on and off since I was in my twenties and I’ve had to rearrange my dreams and goals many times to accommodate and care for the whims of this rather needy little body that I was born into. Living with chronic health problems has forced me to lead a more balanced life (which is a good thing), it has taken me on a journey that has taught me the value of self-acceptance, hope, and resilience (also good), but enough is enough already! So take note body, this is war, I absolutely positively refuse to give up any more territory to illness!

Oh, and that photo up yonder was taken just this morning, the sun actually came out today! The wind chill is 10 below zero but that’s okay, we are sooo sun starved here in Michigan this winter we’ll take it any way we can get it:)

My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass. ~Leslie Grimutter