A Photo a Week Challenge: Flying

Flying (Nancy Merrill Photography)

I went to the mall last week to find some containers I needed and to browse the bookstore.  The mall is near a small plane airport.  As I got out of my car I saw this plane coming in for a landing and remembered this challenge and quickly took a pic.  I had scoured my photos for anything to do with flying and came up with nada.  I try to take pictures of birds all the time, but being currently limited to phone photography at the moment, it’s often hard to capture them.  So this small plane will have to do for now.

I didn’t really notice at the time, but when I went back and looked at the photo, I noticed the clouds.  They remind me of all the fluff that comes out of a dog toy.  I had a dog who loved to pull the stuffing out of her toys.  She would not rest until the toy was completely empty, stuffing all over and squeaker destroyed.  The stuffing would be stretched out like these clouds all over the floor.  It was a pain in the butt to clean up the mess, but it made my dog so happy every time I brought home new toys, I couldn’t deny her 🙂

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Isolated Subjects

CFFC (Cee’s Photography

Yesterday was a tough day.  I was feeling really tired and had a hard time clearing the fog in my brain.  I have been walking everyday, but it’s tough to fight the fatigue mentally and physically, so I listened to my body and rested.  After dinner though, I got a burst of energy and immediately put on my walking shoes and hit the pavement before the energy was gone.  I came upon this abandoned rose in the middle of the sidewalk.  I took a quick pick and continued on so I wouldn’t lose my momentum, but I wondered about that rose.  Why was it there?  Who dropped it?  Why?  Did someone get their heart broken tonight?  Did someone lose a loved one or were they remembering someone?  Did someone throw it to the ground in anger and stomp on it to hurt whoever hurt them?  So many possibilities and I’ll never know which one.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Sky

CFFC (Cee’s Photography)

I took this pic on a walk last week because of all the different kinds of clouds all in one space.  When I look at the clouds in the sky, I do 1 of 2 things – 1) I imagine myself flying through the clouds, lying on their fluffy coolness and spying on the world below or 2) I look for fun shapes in the clouds like in one of my favorite children’s books, It Looked Like Spilled Milk by Charles G. Shaw.  I would always read this book in Spring to my Preschool class and then we would take some white paint, drip it onto blue paper and then fold the paper in half and squish the paint around.  We would then take turns opening our papers to see what shape cloud we made.  Preschoolers have wonderful imaginations.  Sometimes I miss being a preschool teacher.

 

Share Your World – May 1

SYW (Cee’s Photography)

Would you rather live where it is always hot or always cold?

I’d have to say cold.  I can’t stand the heat.  I have never been good with high temps.  I was always the kid who got heat stroke as I was growing up and things really haven’t changed much for me as I became an adult though I think my joints now would prefer warmer weather.

Do you prefer long hair or short hair for yourself? 

I love long hair.  You can do so much more with it, but as previously mentioned, I hate being hot, so eventually I always cut every year when the temps start going up for my own survival.

What is your favorite month of the year?

November.  Yes, it is my birthday month, but is is also when the weather finally starts to get cool, the holidays are coming, lots of family time to look forward to, the leaves are changing, yummy foods, and all that goodness.

What is the easiest way for your to learn something new?  By reading, by seeing and doing, in a classroom?

I can listen or read about something, but I never really understand it I see it done and then do it myself.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful for finally finishing one of the shawls I have been working on and I also got out and painted some pottery.  I am also glad to be back to writing and taking pictures after awhile away from it all.

This week, I look forward to the energy boost I seem to be having at the moment.  I made this Essential Oil cream that is helping my joint pain and keeping me getting out there and walking each day.  I am also trying Clarity essential oil to help me with the fog that often takes over my brain when I get super tired due to my chronic fatigue and so far the scent isn’t my favorite, but the fog clears and it’s wonderful.  I think I might add something citrusy to go with it to make the scent more bearable since it seems to really be helping.  Crossing my fingers it helps.

Color Your World – White

CYW (Jennifer Nichole Wells)

I have always thought Iris’ were weird flowers until I got older and really looked at them.  They are quite beautiful whether they are plain white like this one or full of color like many of I have spied recently, but have yet to photograph.  Their petals are so delicate and look almost like the fabric on a long flowing dress.  I am definitely adding these beauties to my list of flowers that I would like to plant once I get my own house with hopefully room for a garden.

Color Your World – Salmon

CYW (Jennifer Nichole Wells)

I was having trouble finding the color Salmon.  I searched through my pictures and found nothing.  I thought about going to the grocery store and taking a picture of salmon in the butcher’s case, but instead as I parked my car to take a letter I had typed up for my Father-in-law to him, I spotted these roses.  The entire front of this house was covered in rose bushes of many different colors, but these were the prettiest for sure.

 

52 Weeks Photo Challenge:Week 31 – Empty Space

Empty Space (The Girl that Dreams Awake)

I took my little charges for a walk this week to get out some energy.  They walked and played games ahead of and around me as I tried to earn my step goal for the day.  Part of my motivations for walking is finding things to photograph.  I try to spot things in the distance that I want to see closer and possibly may want to take a pic.  I found this empty snail shell on the paved part of the path we took.  There were actually quite a few empty shells around.  It made me wonder if they all died or got too big for their shells or some other theory I couldn’t think of.  I am hoping they didn’t die, but who knows.  As we got further on our walk and onto the dirt trail, we began to be surrounded by wild flowers.  Apparently when a long drought comes to an end, it is often marked by an abundance of wild flowers.  I have certainly seen them around in patches for sure.  The following pictures are just a few patches we saw on our walk.

 

Color Your World – Wild Watermelon 🍉

CYW (Jennifer Nichole Wells)

I’m always on the look out for bright colors and interesting things as I drive around town.  I never really realized how many flowers there were in my community until I started taking pictures of them.  Finding them each day is a constant reminder that there is beauty in the world even though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the ugliness.  It’s  the little things in life right?

 

Color Your World – Scarlet

CYW (Jennifer Nichole Wells)

I got out for a walk this morning and saw these Scarlet beauties.  Though having my phone die on me recently was a serious pain in the butt, having to upgrade to a newer and better phone does have it’s benefits.  The one I’m loving the most right now is the camera.  The pictures are so much clearer and brighter.  It has also become a motivation to get out and take more pictures again, motivation I dearly need at the moment.  Here’s to a great week.