sharleenstuartTell me a story: June 2016
Posted on June 30, 2016
Tell me a Story is live and this month the quote is from Deepak Chopra:
“To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do this, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions”
Solitude for me often comes when we go away to the beach. While Richard burns his energy kayaking, cycling, and snorkeling. I on the other hand find my solitude and rest in a book, walking along the beach, and watching nature. The sound of the waves is a balm to my soul. Being on the beach allows me to gather my thoughts and contemplate the answers.
We recently went down to Long Key State Park in the Florida Keys. We have not been there for a number of years and decided to revisit. Here are a few of the reasons why the trip to the beach is my balm, and which helps me to be silent.
Time to relax, enjoy, regroup – on route to the beach at Long Key State Park
Once you hit the Florida Keys the calmness of the ocean begins to soothe your soul.
A place of rest and reflection.
Life relaxes and you begin to enjoy the beauty that creation has to offer you.
Nature at it’s best -catching what it needs for the day – pure simplicity.
Silent meditation can come in the way of fishing.
Sitting on the beach watching the Osprey soar in the sky is a time of contemplation for me. Watching it dive for fish is pure pleasure.
Seeing it rise out of the water – goal accomplished is encouragement in itself. You have to try to achieve.
Feel the sun on your face – rest, relax, breathe, contemplate, restore.
Marvel at the simple things like clouds in the sky.
Enjoy nature – appreciate the beauty of a Seagull flying by.
Enjoy the evening as it begins to close on the day – marvel at the beauty that surrounds you.
Chill, allow the stresses you brought away with you to fall away.
Let the day close, along with it any troubles that you may carry.
Tomorrow is a new day, rise, shine, enjoy…
It’s a brand new day, and a brand new beginning.
Thank you for joining me for this month’s Tell me a Story. This is a circle blog. Please take time to visit my fellow blogger Mindy Sauvageau and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.
If you are interested in seeing more of my photography take a look at my Facebook page, my Flickr Page or my Instagram Page.
30 Minutes in the Life: June 2016
Posted on June 27, 2016
30 Minutes in the Life, June 2016 is due to go live in a couple of weeks and I was at a loss to where to go. Boca Raton, is not like a big city. There may be a few high building but honestly it is not like Seattle or Denver. Like the rest of Florida it is pretty flat. I decided to head on out and pick up some test results and then head on out to Mizner Park shopping area. Mizner Park is on the east side of Boca and definitely the more upmarket side of town. While the weather may look bright and sunny, it actually has a light shower of drops just after I took the first image. The temps were incredibly high and the air is humid. While I managed to walk Mizner Park without getting wet, I was not as lucky an hour later when the clouds came over, the wind picked up and it felt like a mini tornado was heading through the area. Severe weather warnings, lightening in the sky, and apparently what appeared to be a water spout attempting to form.
In between the good and bad weather meander with me through Mizner Park……
The Amphitheater at Mizner Park. What I do love about this place is they have a lot of concerts. While you have to pay to go into the amphitheater, folks generally arrive and set up camp in the middle section of the street. Yes, I have done it as well. You bring your chairs, food and drink and you get to hear, not see, a free concert.
You want a photo in a big chair. Just hop on up.
This fountain sits at the base of a golden lady just outside the amphitheater
Make big plans, aim high in hope and work….
Let your watchword be order
and your beacon beauty
~ Burnham
I walked down the center of the two roads for a while to get a feel for what I was going to be looking at.
I like to take the lensbaby sweet 35 out with me because I never know what sort of image I will get.
Preparing for the day ahead
Waiting, perhaps resigned.
I crouched down to take a photo of this curly tailed lizard and the next thing I heard was and exclamation ” Ooh she is taking a photo of the lizard – I have never seen one this size before” Clearly a visitor to Florida.
Reflections in the window
You want to win a new bedroom – drop your slip in the jar.
At the opposite end of Mizner Park. I am ready to turn around and head back to the car.
South Florida in black and white.
A table with a view
Alone
Thank you for joining me for this month’s 30 minutes. This is a circle blog. Please take time to visit my fellow blogger and friend, Stacey Markel Photography | MD Family, Child & Senior Photographer and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.
30 Minutes changed their name to Journey to an Artist. If you want to know more about Journey to an Artist head over to their Facebook page, or to the blog page. There is new and exciting happenings going on with the group Journey to an Artist that you are sure to want to check it out.
If you are interested in seeing more of my photography take a look at my Facebook page, my Flickr Page or my Instagram Page.
Seattle City Scenes
Posted on June 19, 2016
When I first heard that my brother was coming to the US, my head said I wanted to be with him, my heart said I wanted to visit my daughter in Macedonia. Richard however, said we were going to Seattle. I was so torn. We went to Seattle, and I have to be honest I fell in love with the city. There was so much to do, so much to see, and we did not even get to see all of it. We walked Seattle from one end to the other and each night my feet ached but I felt like it was well worth it.
When I came to editing the image I was so drawn to editing in black and white. I had to force myself to go to color. Seattle was a little drizzly, a lot gray, and bustling with people. We stayed in the city. We walked to Pikes Market. We walked to the Library. We walked to the Columbia Building. We walked to Chinatown. We walked to Olympic Park, and we walked to Capital Hill. We caught the monorail to the Seattle Space Needle, but we could have walked. We ate happy hour, and Chinese, and seafood.
I had the opportunity to meet up with a special lady and her son, the mother and brother of a good friend of mine, who is no longer with us. They drove us around the city one evening and I managed to get some really low light images at night, since I had not taken my flash with me when we went to dinner.
I hope that you enjoy my birds eye view of Seattle, the city scenes…..
Seattle City Skyline
Out on the streets of Seattle
Symmetry inside the hotel.
Was the wheel missing or just taken for safety?
The Troll under the Bridge – Freemont Seattle
The road we traveled up to see the Troll under the Bridge – Freemont Seattle
Waiting at the bus station.
The Seattle Skyline from the Freemont District area
The Space Needle at night taken from the Freemont District area
While we did not see a lot of this, there were definitely places where we did see overnight outdoor sleeping by homeless people.
The Seattle Art Museum with the huge mechanical statue outside its entrance.
Reflections of a city
Late Winter in Seattle.
Seattle window shopping
Musical Instrument in Seattle – because you need them for the group 101 ways to shoot…
Another exit route
The Tat too parlor on Jackson Street.
Caught the tourists doing the touristy thing.
Inside a coffee shop.
Heading back to the city from Chinatown.
Back streets and alleyways of Seattle
Dragons
The two Africans peering into the Tango Zulu shop
Outside stairways
Waiting at the bus station
Seattle is definitely worth the visit. I enjoyed every minute, minus the sore feet, of the time I spent walking the city.
You can find the blogs to the Chihuly Gardens inside and out, to Pike Street Market, the Seattle Waterfront and Ferris Wheel, Bainbridge Island, Seattle Library, Columbia Building and Chinatown by clicking on the highlighted names.
Keep a look out for more of the upcoming blogs, Olympic Park and Capital Hill. From there we head off to the Orca Islands and to Leavensworth.
Share Six: June 2016: Earth
Posted on June 6, 2016
It seems like time flies. How did we already get to blogging for June. This is the 4th month of Share Six and it has been so good to get to know my fellow bloggers and also to get to know the photographers sharing through their images and their participation in the group.
Kim chose the theme EARTH this month. Part of her thoughts that resonated with me were “therapeutic, calming, relaxing ….connecting to the natural world in a meaningful way”.
I had my thoughts on the topic but decided to go ahead and look up the definition of earth – “the planet on which we live” and “the diversity of life on earth” Both are pretty broad topics. I am an outdoors person when it comes to vacations. We camp a lot. Typically we head to the beach. Recently we were in Seattle. The earth is vast and made up of cities and open spaces, beaches and mountain, humans and critters, sunrises and sunsets and all sorts of various other criteria.
I love critters. Living on the edge of the Florida Everglades I see a lot of critters. This past weekend I managed to rescue a mouse from the jaws of terror, aka Moonshine the cat. I quickly discovered that cats get lockjaw when they have a mouse in their teeth. I had to push my finger in her mouth and slowly ease it so that she released the mouse. Poor little mouse had eyes as big as a small bead. It took off so fast as it was released that Moonshine did not get a chance to catch it again. Then I heard Simba doing his cat growl. Oh yes, when I looked through the slates of the deck the opossum was back underneath there sleeping. Last year she had babies, which we never got to see because she is nocturnal. All I needed was to look up in the tree and see a raccoon. I have done that before. Between these critters, the squirrel who comes to the fence each day, the birds, the gators, and even a bobcat, I have learned to appreciate what this earth has to offer.
This past weekend I took a bit of time to go and sit outside on the grass and enjoy the late afternoon light. My idea was to snap a few photo’s of dragonflies. This is what my brief time out there looked like before the mosquito’s arrived.
Sitting on the edge of the grass are these tiny weeds. Annoying to some but in my mind beautiful because all of the earth has various elements of beauty.
The Four Spotted Pennant Dragonfly is a common sight out on the back canal. I love dragonflies simply because they are one of the most interesting insects to look at. Added to that they eat the mosquito’s that summer brings. They are also food for the baby chicks that are being born in the area. So is the cycle of life.
I had some bread to throw away and so when I went out, I took it with me to feed the fish. It does not take long for the rest of the feathered variety to arrive. This White Ibis grabbed a couple of pieces that landed close to the edge of the water.
As did this Boat Tailed Grackle. Grackles are a common sight out back and at times they will arrive in droves.
And who should wander in to check out all the activity but Big Blue as I commonly call our resident Great Blue Heron. After 30 minutes of watching and waiting he finally got into stalk mode.
Big Blue dove into the water but came up short. No fish for him at that attempt. By now the mosquito’s were beginning to bite and it was time for me to go back in. I love sitting outside and enjoying the activities of nature. This is what earth represents to me. The beauty of creation. The diversity of life and living beings. We are here for such a short time. Enjoy what planet Earth has to offer. Take care of it. Respect it. Love it.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors
We borrow it from our children
~ Native America Proverb
Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six. This is a circle blog. Please take time to visit my my friend and fellow blogger Erica from Woodsy Wonders Photography and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.
If you are interested in seeing more of my photography take a look at my Facebook page, my Instagram page or my Flickr page.
Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Earth throughout the month of June on our Facebook page. A new theme will come out on July 6.
Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix and tag your images #sharesix and #sharesix_earth.
You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com
We cannot wait to see your images on EARTH.
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