Photo Friday: Phantasmagoria

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Had to look this one up!  PHANTASMAGORIA!! 

I am attempting to use this definition as my inspiration today: 

a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images

However, I’m OUT OF TOWN on another fun trip and prepping this post early, scheduling the publication.   I had ideas of taking some kind of photo with time elapse – on film?  and digitizing it but… nah.

So then I had an idea to find a photo of something MOVING and playing with some kind of crazy photo tool.   Come to find out that you can download free software to create phantasmagorias!    Which brings up another “however”:    I hate to download stuff onto my PC.    I’m silly paranoid like that.  

Going back to Big Huge Labs where we did the Hockney effect for Self Portraits, I found the BEAD effect.   I hope this qualifies.    I present to you the original photo of a water fall in Costa Rica, the purplized bead look and then the thumbnail which really captures the look I hoped for.     You can also go stand far away from your monitor to see the bigger one and catch the same effect, I think…

 

 

 

 

♦

 

 

I have no idea if this fits the theme!    I did NOT want to go look at any of the actual picture suggestions for the free downloadable software for phantasmagoria that I’m sure would distract me and give me reason to doubt….   So, in the humble words that always offer comfort:

It is, what it is.

 

 

 

Photo Friday: EMOTION

Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.  ~Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

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Here we are, another Friday.    I wasn’t into this assignment as much as weeks past and having had a little spat – really, it wasn’t even that.  Shall we say a conversation (one-sided.  HIS) that has affected me in the negative.

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.  ~Dale Carnegie

I have to remember that my “job” is being my husband’s ‘personal assistant’ (hey!  WITH benefits!) and sometimes he treats me like an employee.     I get ‘performance reviews’ like the one this morning where he  gives me not only some tasks to do TODAY but also how he would handle certain situations.    SItuations that I failed to do properly yesterday.    And like any typical person who gets a cricitized, I’m taking it harder than I should.   He’s absolutely right – I didn’t handle the situation well.  

aha!    I’m experiencing STRONG FEELINGS?!   How do I capture this on film?!   digitally?!     As usual, my fingertips run to open a new window to access Google.   “define emotion”:   Yep ==>  strong feelings.    I open my folder of photos to see if anything jumps out at me…    Ah, perhaps the shots I just took this week – certainly THAT would be appropriate?   And then, I go tripping through some of the QUOTE sites hoping something will tie this all together…

One’s suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields – even to sadness.  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Southern Mail, 1929, translated from French by Curtis Cate

FLOWERS!  YES!!     Not the most beautiful photos by any professional standards;  these are me just wandering around my yard taking candid shots of what makes me feel good.   FLOWERS MAKE ME FEEL GOOD!

 

I love lilacs.   I love the dark purple lilacs best!    I am so very excited that these are just about to bloom and in my front yard!     We planted them last summer and though I requested this variety, you never know if that’s what you are really going to get.    I’m thrilled.   Just thrilled that I have lilacs and plenty of them!    I can sit here at my PC and glance out the window to see them.    

I present to you ‘Study of Lilacs To Emote Good Feeling’.

Sadness flowers to the next renewing joy.  ~Jareb Teague

 

♦

and for a bonus, may I also give you unnamed orange flower (perennial) that smells really good too!   This little guy cheers me almost as much as my lilacs but I can’t see him from the window…

 

Feelings are much like waves, we can’t stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.  ~Jonatan Mårtensson

CHOOSE JOY!   go look at some flowers that inspire you.

 

♦

I should have known this would be an ‘emotional’ series!    Please visit my PFer friends and read the stories!     Such great emoting…

Jan gives tribute to her beautiful friend.
Tall Chick gives us a tale to laugh with.
Julie’s  “But I Just Don’t WANNA!” at Just for Fun

 

The Curious Cairn

David, over at Thoughts-0-Dave, frequently blogs about a cairn that marks his cycling route.    I suggested we ‘meme’ this…  and seeing how it was sort of my idea, I decided I best jump right to it.

According to Wikipedia, a cairn is an artificial pile of stones and many cultures over many centuries have interesting piles of stone erected for many reasons.  I didn’t have a reason for mine other than it sounded like a fun thing to do.   With eleven (some admittedly flat) rocks stacked upon a base of a chopped-down pine tree, I present to you
The Curious Cairn:

 

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“To come to the party at all you have to have the agreement of these guys.” (quote by some guy named Paul Cairns)

Which inspires me to include this quote, as well:

I think the rock’n'roll myth of living on the edge is a pile of crap. – Robert Smith

Flowering

I promised an updated pic of The Swale.    We added the rocks a few weeks ago and then just last weekend, added the mulch.   I have Lady’s Mantle growing all along which I will intersperse annuals and perennials so that in a few months/years time, it should look really colorful.    I do not join the debate between annuals and perennials;  I enjoy the planting so annuals that bloom for a long time are swell by me.   Most of my neighbors prefer to plant the perennials…    I plant both.

Yesterday afternoon, I volunteered to help beautify the patio at the nursing home.    All I did was show up and dig.   They wanted me to be ‘in charge’, they provided all the flowers – some which were too late to plant and not for this environment, but hey – and it was fun to ‘discuss’ with the ladies about how to divide the pink flowers and insist upon dividing the marigolds (ew – I dislike marigolds…) and I just tried to keep things moving and not fuel any disagreements!    They wanted me to be a flower expert and I am not.   I just do and like what I like.   I have no idea what I’m doing and if things bloom, hallelujah!    Keep ’em watered…   This porch is going to get a lot of sun.    Hope it all works out!    

Then I came home and decided not to mow the lawn which will now have to be done this afternoon.   In one of our troublesome areas, I ripped up 4 wheelbarrows of grass&weeds, added topsoil, planted a bunch of pachysandra ground cover and few viney things from one of the neighbors and added mulch.    It’s along the other end of the swale, closer to the house.

  

 

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.  ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

Unemployment is capitalism’s way of getting you to plant a garden.  ~Orson Scott Card

 

 

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence.  ~Benjamin Disraeli

 

 

 

 

Photo Friday RELIGION

  Happy Photo Friday!

Visit the source of this awesome Friday activity by clicking on this line.

The theme this week is religion.    I pondered this topic, and had too many swirly concepts suggested by my manic brain with no resulting concise amalgamation of words image ideas.   So, I shall post the photos of examples of nearby places of religious institution and then some contrasting scenes from nature.   This is inside a church on the Cape.   The exposed rafters are supposed to be representative of fishing nets, as the church fishes for men’s souls, so I was told.

  Perhaps, the holy spirit? 

 I particularly was taken with this colorful window; is it more fishing for souls?

 This is the steeple of a church in Provincetown MA which I visited on Tuesday.  I was hoping for more photo opps but it was a coldy dreary RAINY day.
 Contrasting with this glorious seed pod of a green lush plant in Costa Rica. Fascinating isn’t it?

And finally, looking to the blue sky from below a flowering cherry tree…    My God as Creator. 

A religion without the element of mystery would not be a religion at all. ~Edwin Lewis

 

 

more, others, pls visit! 

Tina at Sky Windows gives us The Prayer Trail.

Linda(Lou) takes us on a tour of a churchy neighborhood and wonders where people park.

Julie’s single photo is quiet and respectful.
 
Jan – our PF Originator! shows us the top of the church on the day of her wedding – quite impressive!

Juxtaposition – A FUN Word

Well, I know, after all, it is only juxtaposition, Juxtaposition, in short; and what is juxtaposition?               - Arthur Hugh Clough 

   

Our next Photo Friday Theme is “Juxtaposition.”   I have been contemplating, considering, imaging, looking for and attempting to isolate this concept. 

Google Images offers many interesting photos and pictures and drawings and ideas to consider…    As does googling for quotes on this word. 

  Please enjoy a few of these I found most interesting.

 

I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like.
 - Don DeLillo

      

Words are not pebbles in alien juxtaposition.
- Learned Hand

Answers.com gives us the wonderful definition of using the word we want defined as part of the answer by which little is explained…     The act or an instance of juxtaposing or the state of being juxtaposed.

Merriam Webster gives us a more and better: 

juxtaposition

One entry found.

jux·ta·po·si·tion 

Pronunciation:

\ˌjək-stə-pə-ˈzi-shən\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Latin juxta near + English position — more at joust

Date:

1654

: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also : the state of being so placed

— jux·ta·po·si·tion·al  \-ˈzish-nəl, -ˈzi-shə-n^əl\ adjective

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juxtaposition)

 

              

And WHAT does the Urban Dictionary give us today?   My favorite is this one:

Standing next to ugly people in order to make yourself look really hot.

(http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=juxtaposition)

But the best for me is the first on found: 

Contrasts and differences shown side by side or together.

juxtaposition

  Main Entry:

Setup For Friday

The upcoming Friday Photo theme will be Photographic Art.    I want to provide an introduction to what I will post on Friday so that day’s post will be simple.

Awhile ago, I came to the conclusion that I have some deep-seated heretofore unexamined and troublesome philosophies about money.    The problem was exasperated by not knowing how to investigate this dark section of my psyche in order to ‘solve’.    

An unexamined life is not worth living.    Socrates

Shunning the concept of professional help via the mental health route, I decided a prosperity coach would be more financially acceptable – I could then write off the cost of this from my taxes as a business expense since I was self-employed.  BRILLIANT!

Perhaps harboring suspicious thoughts on ‘psychiatrics’ is not so healthy, either.  Oh well.    I once had a doctor – family practice, I believe – who told me it is NOT a good idea to get any kind of notes on your medical files concerning depression, etc.    Interesting, huh?    I don’t mean any offense to anyone on this issue, I just have not been brave enough to consider it for myself due to that stupid stigma crap.   And cost / insurance issues.      Having known a few life coaches, I have bought into the idea that counselors never ‘fix’ anything and coaches get you moving and growing and … etc.    Anyway…  

The point of this post is my experience with my prosperity coach and how that relates to Friday’s Photographic Art.

We chatted about fun things I like to do and how I could possibly turn these activities into money-making ones.   We discussed my love of snapping pictures – mostly flowers, architecture, and/or whatever catches my fancy.    I often make my own greeting cards but do not get terribly elaborate or creative.  (for example, I don’t have Photoshop…  why?  don’t know – haven’t gotten around to it…)   This does not mean that I don’t get compliments and encouragement from friends about how ‘amazingly creative’ I am.   I eat it up.

And then one day, I’m sitting in a restaurant when the sunlight steaming through the window casts a shadow on the wall that catches my eye.    I whip out my camera and snap a picture.

I go home and play with the photo manipulation software that I do have and I print off a composite of ‘effects’, print on photo paper and frame it for my friend that was with me for lunch that day.

“OH!  OH!   OH!    You must SELL this to the restaurant!    They would buy it, I’m sure!!”,   says the friend.

My prosperity coach agrees.   This is a good idea.   It will FORCE me to confront my unwillingness to appreciate my talents and assign monetary value to these talents.    It will make me face the concept of money as it relates to WORTH.    I must consider the exchange of my talents given to the universe and be willing to receive DOLLARS as reward.

So, off I go to pitch the ‘art’ to the restaurant…

Part 1 of 2 or 3.    We’ll see.

Meet Wilhelmina

THE BEFORE. 
For the beginning of this story:   New Project

For dressing her up like a doll for St. Patrick’s Day:    Happy Red Sox Fan

 I’m not sure that I will be able to mosaic her hair.   I’ll have to think up something creative.    Her face will definitely be a challenge…

I’ve been out scrounging plates at antique/junk stores and even stopped by the local craft store (chain) to see what mosaic-ing supplies they have…  I was actually disappointed to find out they have everything one would need.  Including BROKEN plates!  for $7?!?!?!   goodness, me.   That bothers me for some reason.    A lot of the fun is pulling out a funky scrolled plate from under a pile of dusty junk and deciding that it has enough flatness to it to be worthy of smashing.    But now, all ya gotta do is go to Michaels and buy the whole kit and kaboodle.   

Trust me, you can save money doing it the scrounge way.   From buying the caulking glue and grout from the hardware store, and plates from Goodwill, and even a rock or two from the yard!   I’m always finding discounted picture frames and other wooden decorating accessories – I check the clearance sections and have a stockpile of goodies to mosaic someday…

Here’s the ‘craft room’:      And some of my tiles/odds&ends waiting patiently for me to get my nippers and hammer out to create interesting pieces to glue…               I found this cute terracotta crocodile in Costa Rica. 

 

She’s got some attitude, doesn’t she?  I’m still wondering if I should ‘dress’ her or go random-funk or swirly?   Maybe a combination.

     gggg

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.             
-Anais Nin

Contemplation

“Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.”

Nicolas Chamfort – French playwright, 1741-1794  

Having just completed the book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly  by Jean-Dominic Bauby, I sense within myself a fine appreciation for the small things in life.    I am content with the joys of pretty flowers and sunshine, of children’s goofy giggling and delight with a gift of a simple balloon, with the comforting aroma of coffee brewing.    Life happens so fast…          or    

“One day at a time–this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”   -unk…

hhh

Some quotes on dreams and doubts…

                  

           “The greater danger for most of us in not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”                  Michelangelo                         

              Hey HEY HEY

When you argue for your limitations, the only thing you get are limitations.  

            HEY

From:   Wisdom of the Ages by Wayne W. Dyer

“When you consider what you would love to accomplish in your life but feel ill-prepared to bring it about, picture the eighty-nine-year-old Michelangelo living five centuries ago, painting, sculpting, and writing.  Imagine he is telling you that you can create whatever you desire, and the great danger is not in having too much hope, but in reaching what you have perceived as hopeless.”

 

“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft would win by fearing to attempt.”                           Wm. Shakespeare