May 4, 2024 – Daily Photo Challenge

May 4th: “City Lights”

OK, so I failed already……hahaha!!! I promised myself I would try to not go to my archived photos for these Daily Photos! I would do my best to get a fresh photo each day to satisfy that day’s topic. Of course, sometimes, it just isn’t possible to get a fresh photo, so I know it might be necessary to choose something from my archives on occasion……BUT……if it is possible, I was committed to always use a fresh photo!

Then, today……I didn’t even consider waiting till night time to get a photo of our downtown area lit up…..I went right to my archives because I absolutely LOVE this photo I took from my hotel room window looking out over Honolulu the night before I got on the Norwegian Spirit of America to take a Hawaiian Cruise in January 2020!!! The second I saw today’s topic, I immediately saw this photo in my head! To be fair, I did try to resist….but, it didn’t work….obviously!

I will reset my promise to myself starting tomorrow and try to have better willpower going forward! 😉

Today was another amazing Spring day……mid-high 70s, light cloud cover, calm breeze…..I spent the day organizing a supply room at the church, meditating in our lovely sanctuary by myself for a bit, a nice lunch, and then did some work, reading, and sun worshipping in my yard! A totally wonderful day!!!

May 3, 2024 – Daily Photo Challenge

May 3rd: “Music”

Oh what a beautiful day!!! Mid 70’s….sun shining full force….stunning blue sky with stark white clouds!!! Just what the doctor ordered!!! I spent the day just enjoying life…..I popped in at the church to take this photo for today’s daily photo topic…..met up with a friend to go for a ride to get gas at the Rez and have lunch at the Indian Falls Log Cabin Restaurant……ran a few errands…….mowed my lawn……and now I’m writing this and will go outside on the deck to sit and read for a bit when I’m done!

About this photo — I opened our hymnal to the first hymn – “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”, which is one of my favorites and just felt right for today – a day full of joy and beauty!!! I put it on the music stand on the piano in our sanctuary and focused on the view over the pews to the stained glass window of St. John. It was deliberate to fade the focus on the hymn…..not to diminish it, but to show that the music is fills the room. I also took the same shot with the music in focus and the background out of focus – I’ll post it below – but, decided my first instinct for the photo is the one I really wanted to go with. Although, both photos represent today’s photo topic well….just from different perspectives!

So, I’m posting this and heading out to my deck to read and soak in some more of this glorious day!

May 2, 2024 – Daily Photo Challenge

May 2nd: “Close Up”

Lavender! Aroma Therapy at it’s finest! This plant was given to me for Admin Assistants Day by our Pastor last month – I am our church’s secretary. I planted it in my garden right beside the deck and patio, hoping it will bring much joy and aromas for years to come! I don’t know much about how to care for lavender — I know it needs a lot of sun and good drainage, so I think the spot I chose will make it happy! I’ll read up on it to find out what I should do to ensure it makes it through the winter months – if anyone reading this has any advice, feel free to leave a comment!

I have asthma, so I can’t bring highly aromatic flowers into my house, but I can enjoy them outside in the fresh air…..I am really looking forward to having lavender add to the aromas of my roses and my peonies! When the peonies are in bloom, I love taking time to go around and stick my nose into them and take in a deep breath…..and then take in some fresh air to get my lungs back to normal! hahaha It is worth the momentary asthma revolt to smell that amazing scent! My asthma isn’t bad…..I don’t take daily medication for it, anymore – there was a time when I needed that, but no longer – and some scents bother me more than others and some I am surprised to find don’t bother me at all…..and lavender is one of those. I like to put a light spray of lavender on my pillow case to help me relax and sleep better – I read about it and thought it would really trigger my asthma, but tried it and it worked and didn’t cause any distress! So…..lavender in my garden is a welcome addition!!!

And…..IT’S PURPLE!!!!

May 1, 2024 – Daily Photo Challenge

Good Morning!!! Spring has sprung and I have been inspired to return to doing the Daily Photo Challenge! I had the idea to post the photos daily (or as I have time, but still separately) so that I can also convince myself to write a little bit about the photo or the day. Let’s see how long this lasts! hahaha

Here is the May list

May 1st: “My Favorite Place”

The first day of May – May Day – Wednesday! The day before, the landscapers came to do the spring clean up and put down new mulch – unfortunately, they did most of their work in the rain that day, but on Wednesday the sun came out and it was a stunning day. The lawn had been freshly mowed, fertilized and rolled within the past few days, so my back yard looked GREAT and this shot became my photo of the day to represent “My Favorite Place”!

Green!!! When spring takes a solid hold and everything starts to turn to a vibrant green, I get all excited! Historically, I have not been a big fan of the color green….I don’t have much (if any) green in my wardrobe and typically green things don’t catch my eye. BUT…..the green of nature bursting out all around me is always a thing of beauty and awe! I never get tired of seeing it…..and when it is hiding during the winter months, I am sad. When I lived in NC, I worked hard to keep my lawn from “browning out” in the peak heat of the summer and had winter rye seeded in the fall so that it stayed a vibrant green throughout the winter – yes, it still needed to be mowed about once a month, but that was OK with me!

I love spring — it ties with autumn as my favorite seasons because Mother Nature really shows her stuff with color in both! I do love summer – it comes in at a very close second – but spring and fall are the ultimate seasons. Winter…..I tolerate it! hahaha

That’s all for May 1st!

I’m Still Here….

Yep, I’m still here….I know it may not seem that way because I haven’t posted anything in a while – since the end of November, to be exact. But, I am definitely still here!

First….I did take pics for the Daily Photo Challenge throughout December and even kept up with the Advent Photo Challenge AND did a 10-day “Life is Good” challenge! I just forgot to post them….and, to be quite honest, there weren’t any that stuck out as exceptional or inspiring. Which brings me to my second point of why I’ve been an absent blogger: I stopped doing the photo challenges. I got really bored with it. As of the end of December, I had been doing the challenges in some version for eight years…with the exception of a couple little breaks here and there. It felt like the prompts weren’t very interesting or creative, anymore. I was just going through the motions of taking a photo of something….anything…..every day and it felt forced! So, I stopped! Maybe I’ll go back to it someday, but I don’t have any interest in doing it again anytime soon.

I hoped maybe I would get back into some form of creative writing. That is how this blog first started back in August 2007! I logged on every day or every few days and just wrote….I’d pick something that happened that day and write a story about it. I really enjoyed that and I’m not sure why I let my blog evolve away from that format over the years. So, I was thinking maybe that’s what I’d do with it, again! But….well….with anything like this, you gotta get in the habit of doing it and life got in the way and I just didn’t make myself sit down and get started! Maybe this will help me kick off the chance to get back in the habit. We’ll see…..hehehe!!!

I did go on a little adventure that I didn’t write about in December. I went with the Busy Buddies group to Sight and Sound Theater in Pennsylvania to see their “Miracle of Christmas” show…..WOW!!! If you’ve never been to Sight and Sound, you really should experience their shows – any show – they are all wonderful…..BUT….if you ever get the chance to experience “Miracle of Christmas”, you absolutely have to! It was incredible! We stayed at a very nice hotel for the overnight trip, ate lots of great food, did some shopping, and saw the show. Photos aren’t allowed during the performance, but I got this pre-show shot of the ad for the show coming and one off their website of the cast during the finale. The word SPECTACULAR doesn’t do it justice at all!

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The fun part of this adventure was that I served as the tour escort! I was asked if I might like to escort the group and I thought – why not???!!! So, I did! I had a BLAST! My job was to coordinate with the contacts at each stop, be sure everyone made it on the bus before it left each stop, we got everywhere on time, and everyone knew what to do and when to do it. I had a couple hiccups that were easily sorted out and I didn’t lose anyone….so, I guess I was successful in doing my job! 🙂 And, I had fun doing it!

We’ve had an easy winter here in WNY, so far…..one storm came through a couple weeks ago that resulted in a good dumping of snow over a few days and we just got about 2-3 inches from last night through this morning and that’s about it…..so far….knock on wood!!! It’s been cold, but not half bad…..and that rascally rodent didn’t see his shadow, so as far as he’s concerned we’ll have an early spring! Time will tell…..of course, regardless of what ole Phil says, the calendar always says that spring is six weeks from Groundhog Day, so there is that! Today, the sun is shining and the sky is a gorgeous blue and all is well in the world….except for the snow on the ground, but, hey, it’s winter in WNY, right?

So…..that’s my “brain dump” for today…..let’s see if I can get in the groove of writing or doing some sort of post fairly regularly from here on! Fingers crossed!

Daily Photo Challenge – November 24 – 30

Well…..November 2023 is in the history books! Here is the last set of Daily Photo Challenge Topics for November:

A VICE

LEAVES

YUMMY

I REMEMBER

TO DO LIST

A VIEW

IN MY BACKYARD

See you in December….

Daily Photo Challenge – November 13 – 23

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Here is the next set of Daily Photo Challenge Topics for November:

OLDER

MINIMALISM

I LEARNED THIS

IN THE MIDDLE

LINES

CALM

SHARP

GOAL

SUGAR

APPLE

WHAT I’M READING

Daily Photo Challenge – November 1-12

Time is really getting away from me……it’s almost mid-November already…..almost Thanksgiving……almost Christmas……almost 2024!!! I know, I sound like a broken record about this and I shouldn’t be surprised – I’ve heard my whole life that the older you get the faster time flies…..but, I AM surprised and, quite frankly, disturbed by it!!! I’m at a time in my life when time should slow down so that I can really enjoy my “golden” years! But, alas, it is already….in the blink of an eye….almost mid-November, etc…..

So, I’m a tad late in posting the first grouping of Daily Photo Challenge Topics and my only excuse is that I blinked and here we are! Hahaha

HERE I AM

SOMETHING SMALL

SOMETHING BIG

BRAVE

2 PM

TREES

FAVE SHOES

TIME

TRIO

EYES

FLUFFY

PETALS

See ya the next time I blink! 😉

Daily Photo Challenge – Oct 23 – 31

I am definitely not ready to admit that November begins tomorrow and that DLS time ends on Sunday and that Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be here before we know it……nope, not ready at all!!! But, regardless of whether or not I’m ready to admit it, it is true…..where did the time go???

To prove that October is done, here is the last set of Daily Photo Challenge Topics for October:

DARK

LIGHT

PASTEL

VIBRANT

GOLD

SILVER

DOTTY

SUNSHINE

RAINBOW

And, as always….for those inquiring minds…..here is the November Daily Photo Challenge Topic Lise:

Catch ya on the flip side…..

Daily Photo Challenge – Oct 16-22

Time for the next set of Daily Photo Challenge Topics from Oct 16-22:

STRIPES

FLORAL

POP OF COLOR

ONE COLOR

TWO COLORS

PATTERN

MATCHING

Catch ya next time……