Close ups at the beach…
Which Way
Nurturing Thursday
Catch the Train
The inspirational quote from Debbie at Travel with Intent
The only way of catching a train I ever discovered
is to miss the train before.
– G.K. Chesterton
Seeing this week’s topic took me back to July 1983, Â when I was taking my first ever trip to Europe. Traveling with my sister to France, then on to Italy by train with our Eurail passes, to see the sights in Venice, Rome and Florence. We did make a short unexpected detour to Milan for 2 hours to catch a glimpse of the Last Supper. My sister spoke a tiny bit of Italian, and all I knew how to say was Quanta Costa-How much does it cost-and would then turn to my sister to translate the amount for whatever fabulous item I had found. We stayed in inexpensive hostels with shared bathrooms. Oh to be 25 years old and not mind sharing a bathroom with strangers.
We were traveling on the train, seated in a compartment that had a rattling sliding door, with bench seats that faced each other. It was just me and my sister, no other travelers were sharing the compartment with us. The ticket collectors kept coming into our compartment at every stop to check our passports. I had my Walkman headphones on, music blasting as we made our way from Florence to Rome. We became accustomed to pulling into the stops and waiting as the train idled before leaving the station once again. At one point it did seem that we were idling longer than usual, but I didn’t think much of it. Until suddenly a ticket collector appeared interrupting my musical reverie, gesturing wildly and yelling something in Italian including Andiamo! Andiamo! My sister had fallen asleep so I quickly gave her a shove and asked her what they were saying with such urgency. It seemed the car we were sitting in had been unhooked from the train, and the train was leaving the station. Without us. We  needed to grab our duffle bags post haste and run to find another car to sit in, near the front of the train as only those cars would be going all the way to Rome. I remember running through the cars, opening the ancient sliding doors between them, then shutting them behind us, slowed down by our cumbersome duffle bags. We raced to find room in another car. Finally we found seats, and then we burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all- picturing ourselves sitting unknowingly in a detached car while the train moved on to Rome. Here are some of the photos from that time, when I traveled abroad
On the street in Florence
RDP Wednesday: Sprout
You may think this rotted old tree trunk is done for.. but something has chosen it as a place for new growth- sprouting from within.
A month later….
Wordless Wednesday
Share Your World
If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
Probably spend more time on the computer reading blogs, or binge watching my favorite shows. Playing Candy Crush. Attempting to take night photos. Empire State Building below…needs improvement.
What job would you be terrible at?
Anything having to do with math. Right now we are learning fractions in my 3rd grade class. It’s giving me a headache.
When was the last time you climbed a tree?
I can’t remember ever climbing a tree. I had a cousin who was able to climb the monkey bars to the top at the age of 2Â (much to my Aunt’s dismay) and I remember her climbing trees as a kid. Not me, kept my feet firmly planted on the ground. Still do. This photo is proof… note my cousin who is 3 years younger than me sitting on the bar of the swingset. Me, one foot on that swing, and holding a pocketbook. Telling, no?
Do you count your steps?Â
Sometimes. I bought a Fitbit using gift cards I had saved up from Target- every time you buy something in a certain quantity you get a $5 or $10 gift card. I had saved up $100 in gift cards, and decided to use them to buy a Fitbit. I sort of thought counting steps was a waste of time, but on the other hand I was curious how many steps I took in a day, so using the gift cards meant I wasn’t really spending the money on it. I reset the 10,000 steps a day to 6000 which was a more realistic goal. The school I worked in last year was very spread out, with stairs everywhere. One day I clocked 5 miles in a school day. I don’t wear my Fitbit everyday now, usually just Sundays if we go somewhere and I am curious how far I went. I did buy different bands to change it up from the black Made it more fun to wear.
Bonus question (just because it’s really silly)  What’s the dumbest way you’ve injured yourself?
Not paying attention as I walked past people on line at a check out and tripping over someone’s foot- going airborne and landing on my elbow- the olecranon- that knobby thing that sticks out, and smashing it to bits. Lesson learned. Don’t rush- and always pay attention where you are walking. 
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Nature
Where to begin… I love everything about nature. My father instilled in me the love I have for nature. Especially my love of birds. Being in the silence of nature, with nothing but the sound of birds calling to one another, or water lapping at a shore, there is no better way to re-set, and bring peace to oneself.
Nurturing Thursday
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Made by Humans
We spotted these sculptures made by hand by Michael Alfano at a local crafts fair. You can read about his work here.
Hands, made by human hands. This piece is titled Peace Offering.
The artist 
Would You Rather?
With Every Good Wish asks the question,
Would you rather donate your body to science or donate your organs to people who need them?
This prompt popped up in my reader at exactly the time I had been thinking about organ donation. I had just found out that a friend from childhood who had had a heart transplant 11 years ago at the age of 50, just had another one last week. I have known this friend since 1st grade, and straight through high school.
She was the girl who always had a little more than the rest of us, her parents were more “upper” than middle class. She was the girl who always seemed to have the boys pursuing her, the first to have a long term boyfriend. She dumped him and moved on to someone else who had shown an interest in her. I remember visiting her in college over a weekend, same scenario there. She wanted to be a lawyer and so she became one. She married a really nice guy who was also a lawyer and moved to one of the highest income towns in the New York metropolitan area. We lost touch by the time she married, moving on with our lives.
I joined Facebook in 2009 and began reconnecting with childhood friends, including this woman. It was then I found out about her heart transplant. She had gotten a virus, just a virus that she felt a bit under the weather. It turned out that virus attacked her heart, causing her to go into heart failure. She was told she would need a transplant. Her youngest child was 11.
We met for lunch and then tried to get together once a year either with a group of other women we had gone to school with, or alone.
Last January she and I had lunch and she told me about something that had happened while she was on vacation, quite scary, as she was short of breath and knew it wasn’t a good sign. As she shared more it became clearer to me how even though she has everything one could want for, an enormous beautiful home, 3 healthy successful kids, a husband who adores her, the ability to travel all over the world (and she has) her life is also filled with moments like those, her health always a concern. Her morning begins with a slew of anti rejection pills, she must be monitored for rejection, having biopsies of the heart, her neck bearing the scars of those biopsies where a needle is threaded into her and down to her heart. It haunted me for days last year after seeing her. It also brought home for me that no matter how much one may have in the “material world” health challenges do not choose between those who have and those who do not.
I have not seen her since last January, only through communications on Facebook. I had hoped to get in touch over my winter break this year but wasn’t able to. She posted on Valentine’s Day and mentioned she had just had another heart transplant. I was dumbfounded. I do not know if it was expected, if the lifespan of a transplant has finite years, I hope to get together with her when she is home from the hospital, there will be time for those details then.
I watched a short video her husband had posted about the number of people waiting for transplants, there were so many children in the video. There are many people in the community I live in who have donated kidneys, one of them donated a kidney and then a year later donated part of his liver. Both times his donations went to strangers, not family members or someone he knew. I know I am not cut out for that, but my friend’s experience got me thinking about the importance of organ donation after death. A weighty decision.
January 2018
February Photo a Day Challenge: Moon
This is the first time I was actually able to get a decent photo of the moon. It was very early morning so the sky was not so dark, but there was that beautiful full moon. 
February Photo a Day Challenge: Roses
Pull Up A Seat Photo Challenge
A view from a porch in Belmar, New Jersey. Perfect place to pull up a seat
I happened to be sitting across the street from that row of chairs in my own seat!
Fly South Why Don’t you?
Yesterday was a snowy day, changing over to sleet and ice by afternoon. School was called off, giving me the gift of a free day. Naturally I spent it watching the birds from my kitchen window while drinking endless cups of coffee. My husband wondered aloud why these birds don’t fly south to where it is warm. Well, these are hardy birds I suppose, able to withstand the colder temps and the blowing wind. I like to think I help them along by offering them sustenance. I find them fascinating to watch, real entertainment.
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Wordless Wednesday
A Photo a Week Challenge: Depth of Field
This week Nancy talks to us about depth of field, which is her theme.
Depth of field in photography (and light in general) is how narrow a strip of what you are looking at is in focus. In photography, the depth of field is controlled by two things: your f-stop (aperture) and the length of your lens (mm). To narrow your depth of field using aperture, use a smaller f-stop number. This will open your shutter wider and let more light in. I know this seems counter-intuitive, but that’s how the light refracts. Also, longer lenses (50 mm and higher are so much fun for portrait work) will give you a narrower depth of field. So if you want to shoot something up-close and personal with great bokeh (blurring) in the background, use a smaller f-stop and a longer lens. If you want to capture a grand landscape, use a shorter lens with a higher f-stop.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Horns
Pull Up A Seat Photo Challenge
This bench faces the river on one side, and backs up to a pond on the other. Beautiful views either way, any season.
Friday!
I got home from work, checked the weather and it said this:
So I did this…
For a total of 3 miles. This is what the sky looked like… no filters, no enhancements, it was really that blue.
Hope you all have blue skies too for your weekend!
Orchids-FOTD
My Orchids are in bloom! A few weeks ago I noticed new stems shooting up, and then buds.
This is the third time this Orchid has bloomed since I have had it. Here it is budding…
Now they are open
There are still 4 more plants with unopened buds- I will share them when they bloom!
Nurturing Thursday
These are two friends of mine. I met them when I was volunteering at a center for people with Aphasia. Aphasia is a speech disorder usually occurring after after a brain injury, from an accident or stroke. It affects a person’s ability to speak, either at all, or the wrong words often come out. The brain is thinking one thing, but instead some other word comes out. Often speech is halting. The woman in the photo was in a car accident at the age of 27, leaving her with aphasia and paralysis of her arm and leg. With years of therapy she is able to walk with the aid of a cane, and speak, though haltingly. The man in the photo suffered a stroke in his 40’s which left him with aphasia and unable to walk. He had been a Nurse. The many members who came to the center showed me and taught me what support and kindness can do for someone. How healing it is. Their support and friendship was truly something to behold. I was fortunate to have volunteered there for 10 years which left a lasting impression on me. Seeing kindness and compassion and the difference it made, everyday I walked through the Center’s doors.
If you are interested in reading about some of my experiences at the center, I wrote about them here, and here
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Orange and Pink
Sunset. Colors just as you see them, not retouched or filtered.
Sunrise
And my favorite place to be, wearing pink and orange.
Wordless Wednesday
Weathervane Wednesday
This cow weathervane stands at attention at the Brookfield Farm Bed and Breakfast in New Paltz, New York, We visited there a few years ago. Located on 20 acres of land, there are 3 Scottish Highland Cows living on the premises. 
It was a welcoming and lovely place to visit.
A Day In The Life 
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