sharleenstuartTell me a Story: July 2016
Posted on July 31, 2016
By the time this blog rolls around, I will be, post foot surgery, bed bound and probably not quite with it. But I am hoping that I will be able to get this linked to the other bloggers in the group. In the past few months we have blogged to a quote. For the next two months we have left it open.
The surgery I was due to have in the beginning of July was postponed and so I decided to take a walk. When I go out into the wetland I always look for the dragonflies. There are so many varieties and so beautiful to look at. They fascinate me. Dragonflies are so mechanical to look at. Their wings are hinged at the back. The back of their heads have strange dots. Their eyes are bulging. Their mouths are real gnashers. With a macro or zoom lens you get to see all the tiny hairs on their legs and body. I find dragonflies delightful to watch, and most interesting close up.
Here are just a few that I saw on Friday.
Four Spotted Pennant
Florida Baskettail
Eastern Pondhawk
Wandering Glider
Wandering Glider
Four spotted pennant
Dragonfly
Blue Dasher
Four Spotted Pennant
Blue Dasher
Blue Dasher
Dragonfly
Having flown the earth for 300 million years
dragonflies symbolize our ability to overcome times of hardship.
The remind us to take time to reconnect with our own strength,
courage and happiness
~ unknown
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 / Orange Moon 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 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: July 2016
Posted on July 25, 2016
How time has flown. This month 30 Minutes in the Life celebrates 3 years of blogging together. It has been an incredible journey for me. I have learned so much over this period for the photographers I have blogged with. I have shared in the highs and lows of their lives, watched their children grow, and come to love the ladies and their stories. Thank you to all of those ladies that I have journeyed along with, it has been a blast
I have just had foot surgery, which means I am not walking anywhere in any hurry for the next 5 weeks. In fact I am pretty much stuck on my bed for 99% of the day. So I prepared in advance for the 30 minutes in the Life because I did not want to miss out on this group.
So what I did was I took a drive down to the local sea life rehabilitation center and wandered through there. Gumbo Limbo sits between the ocean and the Intracoastal. It is a small rehabilitation center with two large reef tanks and some smaller specific tanks.
Walking into this center they had a display of crafted turtles. I love turtles. In the days when we scuba dived, it was always a treat to see turtles swimming by. Beautiful graceful creatures in the water.
Inside the entrance area I spotted this tank with a gorgeous but venomous Lionfish. The Lionfish has some a number of dorsal fins that will deliver the venom in the form of a sting. A sting from a Lionfish is rarely fatal, but can cause nausea and breathing issue and is extremely painful.
I headed up to the two salt water tanks thinking I would spend some time taking photographs of the fish from the top. Fish, I have decided, are like butterflies. Clearly they do not keep still. The best I could get was a Stingray and a Turtle.
I headed downstairs to the outside of the tanks and started to meander around the building looking inside. That’s when I discovered something that I thought I could play with. The reflections in the windows.
I discovered reflections in the glass windows were creative looking double exposures.
Self portrait
Thank you for joining me for this month’s 30 minutes. This is a circle blog. Please take time to visit my fellow blogger 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.
Share Six: July 2016: Kitchen
Posted on July 6, 2016
This months theme, KITCHEN, was chosen by Erica of Woodsy Wonders Photography. The reason she chose the theme KITCHEN was:
I chose “in the kitchen” because it is where I spend most of my days. Cooking and baking treats for the family. It is a place where families can get together and share a meal. The place me and my kids bond. It is the heart of the home ❤
The kitchen is not my favorite place I have to be honest. While I cook each day, I am certainly not passionate about it, nor do I really like my kitchen. It’s okay, but it really needs a face lift. However, since our long term plan is to be out of this house sooner rather than later, I do not want to waste any money changing out an acceptable kitchen if I am going to leave it behind. In fact, in all the houses we have lived in, there has only been one kitchen that I loved.
However, I thought I would share with you a little bit about some of the things that are in or happen in my kitchen.
This is the story of my life. I have one cat that is diabetic. Twice a day she has to have insulin. Both cats are on special diet food and limited to what they eat. Moonshine is a sweetie and when faced with the choice I could not put her to sleep. So our routine is to wake up in the morning feed her, and give her the shot. Same routine again in the evening at approximately the same time. So long as you stay on track she is good. Signs that you may have a diabetic cat – it’s head is constantly in the water bowl, it is urinating outside of her box or excessively in her box, it has a ferocious hunger but is rapidly loosing weight. Chances are it will have a urinary tract infection as well. It is so ironical that for someone who left school and was adamant that I did not want to do any form of nursing, I have nursed my husband, my son, and 2 cats. Added to that I work in a medical clinic environment. So is life.
The only time I cook breakfast is on the weekends, and that is only if we are both at home. Often Richard will cycle on the weekend and then I am just to lazy to cook for 1 person.
Daily routine – protein shakes. Each day I make a protein shake to take to work. Some days will be strawberries, some days blackberries, other days mango. This is how my day starts out.
This old scale has history. It used to belong to my grandmother. She had painted it white. If I remember correctly the basin had been glued back together. When we were kids, my brother and I would go up to my gran for a period of time. She lived about 5 houses up the road from our house. We would play shops. I seem to recall tiny boxes of cereal that we would open out and weigh out and sell each other. I do not think anyone ever ate the cereal and by the time we left my grandmother had a mess of ceral. Over the years after she died the scale sat in my mothers house. When we decided to move to the USA there were 3 things I asked me my if I could have, the scale, an old clock, and a washstand. I had the scale brassed but unfortunately being near water has tarnished some of the items. However, All of them grace my home, and the memories live on forever, over 70 years of history.
This tea cup is part of a 12 piece set that was given to my mother on her wedding day. She looked after that set and when the time came she offered it to me for my use. Tea is part of who I am. As a family we drank a lot of tea. Rooibos is my brand of tea. A unique flavor but once I got used to it I could not go back to “normal” tea. Tea is also a routine drink for me before I go to bed. It goes well with the book I am reading.
Some years ago, while driving out the community with Richard, I noticed an art deco lampstand sitting in someones garbage. In those days the uniqueness of dumpster shopping was still new. Of course, I made Richard go and pick up the lamp. The lamp shade was broken but with a bit of work Richard turned it into a candle holder. This lady graces the half wall in my kitchen.
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 Katherine of Cobert 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 Kitchen throughout the month of July. A new theme will come out on August 6.
Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix and tag your images #sharesix and #sharesix_inthekitchen.
You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com
We cannot wait to see your images on KITCHEN
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