In the End

perspective can shift
as the layers are revealed
you come full circle

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.
~Ivy Baker Priest~

It's been a while since I have done a haiku.
The transition between winter and spring always finds me in a deeply contemplative mood.
I hate to think that I have to endure it, but the fact of the matter is that, I do. A lot of us do.
The awakening of spring is the emergence of a "real" beginning,
one that I know I am very much looking forward to.

We are supposed to have 70 degree weather this weekend. I plan to be OUTSIDE!
Still don't know what to do yet?!?! But, we are giving much thought to camping out somewhere.

The tree is just another favorite from our Sunday Flurry.
It's one that I have photographed on a few occasions since it sits very close to our house.

Tonight, we attended the gallery preview at the Turchin Center to see Wonder Collides on display. Tomorrow, we are going back with some friends for the real shindig! This evening was for members and those being showcased. Tomorrow, is also when voting begins for the people's choice award. I know I can count on you guys to cast one for me, can't I ;o)

Or maybe, I'll just bribe you?! Bribes are goooooood.
Speaking of bribes, did you enter to win a MINI PRINT TRIO from my Etsy shop?!
If not, you still have time to enter for your chance to win.
Visit this post for more details.

Well, it is past my bedtime. Thank goodness tomorrow is FRIDAY!
Hope you all have a great weekend whatever you have in store.

Posted in OSI, Photostory Friday, Hooked On, & Haiku Friday

Sunday Flurry

First Snow
by Mary Louise Allen

Snow makes whiteness where it falls
The bushes look like popcorn balls
And places where I always play
Look like somewhere else today

Beautiful feathery flakes of snow
Over the woodland and field they go
Making a blanket so warm and deep
Over the flowers that lie asleep

I have eagerly awaited a snow day such as this. To see the valley blanketed in white.
Thankfully, it decided to come on a weekend so that we were actually able to enjoy it.
Compared to the gloomy rain we were having just days before, the snow was welcomed.
We walked to the park not far from our house with the snow tube in tow.
It feels strange to say but this was my first time doing so.
I had a blast! A very fun snow day, indeed.

Sledding on a Snowy Sunday from Wayfaring Wanderer on Vimeo.

Do I have the most infectious laugh or what!?!? Okay, maybe obnoxious, whichever.

Posted in Weekend Snapshot

Moments : Reflective

Winters would be cold
without the warm memories
of the seasons past


Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.
Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)


Thank you for the wonderful insights on my last post,
The Alternative to Resolutions. This week has been another to surprise me as a result of using my new method. Today, I realized that I hadn't done anything in the family/friend realm, so I continued gathering items for packages I am preparing for a handful of my family members. I am sending them something that is extra special to me.....something I have yet to share here with you, but I will very soon.

This weekend, I hope to start on a new project that I have been giving much consideration to. My ideas are flowing so freely right now, although that can be a bit overwhelming. For now, I have been writing them down so that I can revisit them when I am in the right frame of mind. I know my list makers are with me.....there were quite a few of them in the comments on my last post. It's no surprise, lists are just plain awesome! I have to write everything down or else I will forget. Heck, sometimes I will forget by the time I find a pen and scrap of paper! It's bad.

You won't find a Cody post this week. He was busy playing with some new tools. On the upside, it looks like I will have some new cube shelves in my future ;)

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend and you find many things to maintain your attention and pique your interests. Be sure to return at the beginning of the week for a debut and giveaway!!

Posted in Haiku Friday,Photostory Friday,OSI, & Hooked On

Beneath the Surface

Beneath the surface
in the depths of this season
my soul still blossoms

I am in love with the stark elegance of those dried leaves.

I've had a significant amount of time off work. And during this stretch I have finally come to appreciate what was nearly impossible for me a week ago. Throughout my days I have reminisced about the places I've been while dreaming of those in which I wish to go. This sentimental journey has found me thirsty for more. My sense of time in this lingering season has diminished, but somehow haste is still in the forefront. Trying to categorize and prioritize my ideas and hopes is a bit overwhelming, but I am making a valiant effort.

My inspiration was conceived within the heart of another.
Seeing my world through someone else's eyes was the reminder I needed.
I've always been grateful, but I never really thought that we lived an enchanted life.
You all know as well as anyone how much I appreciate my surroundings, and now I feel as though my "home" is part of that equation. I am very content in the haven we have created, which is partly why I have taken this time to savor belonging to myself.
Blogging, and reading blogs hasn't been on my agenda since I've been off work; I needed time away. But please know that I have missed it very much and I look forward to catching up with you all.

Posted in Haiku Friday, One Single Impression, & Photostory Friday

TRANSITION

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
~Anatole France

*Thankfully, these quotes sort of sum up what's going on with me lately. I'll bring you up to speed when I have more time.

Bees & Confessions

It is not how busy you are, but why you are busy - the bee is praised, the mosquito is swatted.

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I've had a lot of things going on lately. And I'm not hoping for them to settle down, because I'm busy for all the right reasons, which is why the above quote is so fitting. I've got some catching up to do on {366} Photographic Journal, especially since I'm starting month three now. Take a look if you haven't been there in a while, because I have posted some new photos recently (link on sidebar).

Today I turned in the printed and matted versions of the photos selected to be in the gallery, and I took some photos, of the photos, to share. I'll get those up tomorrow.

The above photo is from a walk I took last Thursday at the park near my house after work. It's not really a park, there's a field and a track, but I guess that constitutes a park according to the Town of Boone. For my purposes it suits me just fine.

On Friday after Acupuncture, I decided to take a quick once around on the track over there at the old Cove Creek School before getting in my car to go home. I didn't have a warm enough jacket to do anymore than that, next time I'll be better prepared. Anyways, after the walk I was heading back over to the car and in doing so passed by the park area. The one at Cove Creek is a real park because they have the play area for kids, you know, the plastic/metal jungle gym type things. I was feeling pretty good after the treatment and walk, so I bounced over to the jungle gym, and thought, "Gee, it's been a looooong time since I've been down a slide"............I climbed to the top in 1.5 steps, it's a lot easier when you're not 2 foot! Anyways, I picked the one I thought to be the tallest curly-q slide of the three.........the tunnels were smaller than I remember?!?!?!......I couldn't really take a step, so I had to kind of drag myself through.......thankfully no one was around to see any of this......at least not that I was aware of anyway.......I finally made it through the tunnel and onto the platform, then feet first sped like a rocket down the chosen slide.......WHOOSH........I really picked up some speed within those few feet of plastic!!........high on the 'ode to be a kid again' feeling, I quickly rushed back up to test out the other slide.........WHOOSH, again.......I couldn't believe how much fun it was, and how giggly it made me. I also couldn't believe that for all these years I've been depriving myself of the sweet and innocent joy of taking a ride down a slide........

I have a confession to make:
Today after hanging out downtown, having lunch, and going to the library..........I did a drive-by........i was jonesing.......jonesing for that deliriously intoxicated feeling I got from gliding down a tube of plastic.......I didn't get my fix though.....their slides were about as long as my legs (which aren't very long) and I didn't think they would humor me as much......

*I highly recommend that the next time your out and about with the kiddies or by yourself, just try it, it's surprisingly exhilarating!

[Shadow from the Sky]

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves!

~Andre Gide

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If you like trees check out these:

• Splendor of the Sun
• Tree on Hilltop
• Orange Blaze (Fall photo)
• Snow Days Feel Like Saturdays
  

To the Root

I'm glad that I make it a habit to revisit the many folders of photos that I tend to accumulate. They have become so much more vast since I took on the {366} Photographic Journal. Trying to manage so many photographs can prove to be a daunting task. Sometimes I fall behind, although I've been very proud of the fact that I have yet to lapse completely. At times, I've feared that I would forget to take a photo ruining the entire year, but I have daily reminders in place to try and prevent that from happening. Anyhow, these two photos are from a walk I took around Bass Lake a couple weeks ago. I found them, and realized that I in fact did like them. I suppose that my frame of mind at the time these were downloaded wasn't really keen on the notion of dead flowers; I don't really know either way. Which brings me back to the fact that it's good to go back. Oftentimes, I will find something I wasn't ready to see in a certain way until I've had some time away. Does that happen to you?

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.

~King Whitney Jr.

If you liked this check out:

• ~Juxtapose~
• Bass Lake
• R E F L E C T I O N

::::::Bittersweet::::::

* P E R M A F R O S T *

~ In a perfect world.....I'd get a snow day.....I'm pretty desperate to get an extra day or so off right now but refuse to call in "sick".......just because I'm hurting doesn't mean that I'm "sick"......It just means that sitting here is making me........well........for lack of a better term.......sick!.......most people want to sit around and veg out on sick days......me, I'd much rather be out hiking and taking pictures instead of sitting in a solitary position all day long.....Thankfully, I have an Acupuncture appointment today so maybe I will get some relief then - I've got my fingers crossed.....no more moving refrigerators or microwaves for me anytime soon.....I'm stubborn, I know.
~ The above photo was one that I took during the freak ice storm we had a few weeks ago, which resulted in a quasi snow day......I post it in hopes of conjuring yet another one sometime this week....I wish I knew some sort of snow dance!.....anyways, I just never got around to posting this photo but it deserved to be here as much as any of the other ones so.......here it is......this a a tree in the field right next to our driveway.....if I composed the shot differently with more of the left side of the frame in view you would have seen the downed power line......which by the way is still there!.......I'm guessing it's the phone line since we don't have a land line thus never calling them to come out.....Lights, Cable, Phone....all different people.....they don't care if the other guys stuff is laying around posing a hazard.....Everyone's got that it's not my job mentality these days it seems......

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Interesting tidbit:

ZeFrank: I appreciate his way of thinking, and to me this video seemed valid for how I'm currently feeling. His other videos are zesty and often times peppered with slants on current events. Although this one has no explicit language or other offensive content.

*Cody stumbled upon this guys stuff last night, he's a pretty interesting character. This video was part of a podcast project he did mon-fri for an entire year.

~Juxtapose~

VS.





I thought it would be of interest to see the same subject from two technical aspects. The top photo was taken with my regular digital camera while the second photo was taken using the TtV technique. As you can see the result you are left with gives two completely different finishes. I have really enjoyed dabbling with the 'new' technique. My plan is to continue working with it down the road with hopes that I will get better, and maybe I will find a way to make it more manageable, and possibly convenient!


What are your thoughts? I know some of you have expressed an interest in the photos.....care to be more specific on what you like about it? or don't like about it for that matter...........

F A N T A S I A

Winter Beauty
When it's winter in the Valley
and my breath hangs in the air,
The snow will crunch beneath my feet
and glisten in the air.
The stars at night light up my world
so I never walk alone;
It's clear and crisp and beautiful
in the Valley I call home.

Joan Adams Burchell

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Thoughts about this photo:

• It was one taken during the beautifully wretched and freak ice storm this past Friday.
• The sun came out for a very brief period of time and brought some blue skies with it.
• Everything started melting at warp speed, we had to watch our heads for falling ice.
• I feel terribly lucky that we got stuck at home that day and I was able to capture it.
• I'm not always that lucky when it's that beautiful outside......
• I'm also thankful that we have some very neat scenery around our little house 'in the valley'.
• This photo makes me think of a dreamland.
• It was very surreal to witness everything encased in 1/4" thick ice.

Update:

• I have some new posts over at {366} Photographic Journal.

*How is your weather? Today was unusually warm, I was outside sleeveless, it was wonderful! Especially compared to the down pour we had yesterday.......

Incandesced Days

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
~Anthony J. D'Angelo

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Things you should know:

• This photo completely contradicts what the weather was actually like today.
• I could use a little sunshine, what about you?
• I struggle with getting to bed early, I'm going to take a crack at it tonight.
• We've avoided going to the grocery store for almost 5 days now, the fridge is seriously lacking.
• I finally finished sorting through my photos from 2007, and chose my favorites, which turned out to be more than I expected.
• The photo competition deadline is this Saturday..........I better get a move on!
• There is something that I don't like about this photo, although that doesn't out weigh what I do like, which is why I'm sharing it with you.

Wintertime's Listless Rhyme

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show.

~Andrew Wyeth