Seeing the Beauty

Daffodils, one of the earliest flowers to begin blooming here, altho these are not from here, well, technically they are not, they are actually from Trader Joe's and I have no idea where they came from. But they remind me of Spring and what's eventually to come and the sun is shining and all is good with the world.

Well, not everything. Just reading the newspapers is a scary event.  What with Hilary hiding e-mails, the violence continuing in Ferguson, ISIS spreading and destroying lives as well as precious artifacts, and next season may be the last for Downton Abbey, so no I guess everything is not right with the world.  It's difficult to think of all the bad things there are in this world, all the unfairness, all the diseases that are not curable, but dwelling on these fears is not good for our souls.  Many of you know that my husband's decline is what brought me to photography.  It gave me beauty when I was surrounded by grief and anger.  So I encourage you all to find something, someone, anything that takes away the fear and sadness in your life and replace that with something of beauty.

God has given us beauty, let us enjoy that beauty that surrounds us and try not to dwell on the ugliness in the world.  I don't know why I chose this subject to write on today, except perhaps after reading the newspaper this morning, which seemed to be exceptionally worrisome, I looked up and saw the daffodils that I bought yesterday that were nothing but tight little buds, now in full bloom and so cheery on the windowsill.  So my focus went from troubling to beauty in a turn of the head.

My trip to Arizona was filled with beauty everywhere I looked.  I probably have close to 1,000 shots taken while there.  This shot in particular caught my eye as Terri and I wandered the streets of the Barrio in Tucson.  Do you suppose the owner of this motorcycle bought this particular color with the BMW logo to match his house??  I choose to think he did.  And because it has a little fence separating the bike from the house I am joining Theresa at Good Fences and Kim at Little Things Thursday because daffodils after all are little.

"Surround yourself with people who make you a better person." ~ Unknown

Until next time.....

If It's Monday It Must Be Yellow (or Orange)

What a lovely, lovely day today was, as I type this the evening is approaching and tonight I will be going to Bunco, a pleasure I have not had for awhile. Now any of you that do not know what Bunco is, I could pull your leg by saying it is an extremely difficult game that only the very sharp minded can enjoy, but instead, it is an extremely easy game that all can enjoy. There are 12 ladies that eat, drink, catch-up on all the family affairs, styles, TV shows, work issues, you know all that real important stuff. And while we are at it, we solve a few of the world problems, at least the way we would solve them if we were in power. All this while playing Bunco. I am happy to re-join this group, I have missed them all.

Catherine (my photo buddy) called this morning with news that she made it home from her trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons with 3,000+ pictures and tales of great times. We met for lunch to catch-up since much has happened in the week that she has been gone. Isn't it nice to have friends to share a lunch with at the spur of the moment? And now dinner with my Bunco buddies, how in the world am I gonna lose that weight before Lane's wedding??!! Oh well, I'll start tomorrow.

Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday challenge this week is the color orange along with one of her textures, ofcourse.  After my lunch date with Catherine I stopped at "The Growing Place", my fav nursery that is too conveniently located near our home.  I needed to find some orange for Kim's TT.  As I strolled thru the grounds, yellow is definitely the color of the hour.  I was hoping for some burnt orange mums that are nature's fall icon, but none to be found.  Not yet, anyway.  But this is what I did find......

Isn't this a fan-my-brow fabulous late season bloomer?  All those deep lush colors just scream autumn.

The same blazing flower just a different angle.  This is my entry for Lisa's Creative Exchange this week.  She always has such amazing photos on her site and many words of wisdom.  Hop on over and enjoy Lisa and all the entries for this week's Creative Exchange.

More beauties basking in the sun....

After all that complaining I did in July about the heat and humidity, August, for the most part, has been filled with delightful temps, low humidity, striking blue skies, the perfect "sitting on the back porch" weather.  I had to show off the blue sky again, and I am hoping that all those places that were ravaged by Irene have bright blue skies and sunshine today.  My heart goes out to all those who suffered losses. 

These little flowers reminded me of fall with their orange and yellow petals....



And finally, my entry for Texture Tuesday.  I used 2 of Kim's textures, 1 layer of cracker jack at 100% soft light, duplicated the same layer and changed it to linear burn with about 30% opacity.  Just play around with the opacity for linear burn, sometimes it can be really harsh but by reducing the opacity it can become quite nice.  Then I added a layer of "stitch in time" 100% soft light.  I removed some of the texture on the flower with a soft brush set at about 50% opacity. 

I hope your day was filled with yellow sunshine and your week brings sunshine to your heart. 

"You never know when you are making a memory."  -  Rickie Lee Jones

Until next time....