Cee’s Which Way: To The Beach
Passport
My Passport expired. About 10 years ago. The last stamp is dated January 2002, Israel, the one before that July 1998, England, when we went to visit friends. The Passport that expired before that one had stamps from a trip to Europe in 1983- Italy and France, and 1985 Israel. I haven’t flown anywhere since 2009 after flying a few times that year and each flight worse than the next. That combined with security at the airports after 9/11 making traveling a whole new experience, one not suited for my nerves. I also prefer to have my feet on the ground. Most people are aghast when they learn my Passport is expired and I am not interested in flying, thinking my life can only be enriched if I am able to take flight. I am more than happy to get in the car and drive an hour to sit by the ocean, to explore new areas not far from where I live. My passport is my computer which allows me to find new places to visit, places I can see before choosing to go, by visiting a website and using Google Maps to find my way there.
With a Passport
Venice 1983
Jerusalem in snow January 2002
The Kotel 1985
Blenheim Palace England
Without A Passport
Thursday’s Special: Illusion
Reflections on water present an illusion – we are seeing double, especially when the water is so still
And even more of an illusion when the photo is turned upside down and presents an illusion asking us to question where is the sky and where is the water
Feathers on Friday
The great black-backed gull, also known as the greater black-backed gull or, informally, as the black-back, is the largest member of the gull family, and is the largest gull in the world. The adult great black-backed gull has a white head, neck and underparts, dark grey wings and back, pink legs and yellow bill. The adult great black-backed gull is fairly distinctive, as no other very large gull with blackish coloration on its upper-wings generally occurs in the North Atlantic. The legs are pinkish, and the bill is yellow or yellow-pink with some orange or red near tip of lower bill. The maximum recorded age for a wild great black-backed gull is 27.
The great black is fairly common to the area I live in and I have been fortunate to capture photos of them. I always marvel at how large they are-as big as a small dog!
Feathers on Friday
Wordless Wednesday
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Spring – Wood
Singing Spring
This beautiful Robin sat singing in a tree as I walked by on Monday afternoon. Sitting amid the buds of Spring he was most likely looking for a mate.
A Song Sparrow was calling out too- all puffed up to show off his feathers
The sounds of Spring in the air!
Sharing My World
Does your first or middle name have any significance (or were you named after another family member)?
My mother chose my first name because she liked it and at the time it was not a common name. Apparently many other women thought so too as there were always 2 or 3 of us in every class I was in throughout school. My middle name is Pauline, my mother’s name and my maternal great grandmother’s name.
Music or silence while working?
Usually silence unless I am doing something at the computer in which case I may put something low on in the background.
If you had a special place for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronics, people or animals), what would they be?
I have begun to rid myself of possessions that seemed to be possessing me as I grow older. I can’t bring myself to parting with certain things my father gave me that have very sentimental value and remind me of him. To name my 3 most special is hard- probably the jewelry my husband has given me over the years.
The Never List: What are things you know you never will do?
Bungee jump, sky dive, and go on a cruise
One Heart
I am sharing the following post written by my cousin, you can find the original here. An uplifting song written and sung by her daughter (and her band Iridesense) She writes; One Heart is all about diversity, and acceptance. It explores the reality of our differences. We all look differently on the outside. Different hair color, skin color, eye color. We even like different things. That’s not what’s most important. If you look at who we truly are, at our core, we are all the same. We need to spread this message to children, and to the world. Especially now when everyone is taking sides. Politically, religiously, etc. We are a multicultural world. Our differences on the outside make us unique, but our hearts need to be unified. One heart. It is also being made into an illustrated book for children.
I have used some of my photos as a backdrop for the song, depicting our outward differences, which often we are judged by, but should not be. Others show the love between people despite their differences. One heart.
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Black & White Sunday: After & Before
Paula has invited us to show after and before: show the same photo, regardless of the subject, in both monochrome and colour.
It is a gray, cloudy and cold day today. Spring has chosen not to make an appearance just yet. I ventured out anyway and took these photos. I liked the different textures in the first photo, the hay in front, the reeds behind and then the trees and clouds in the distance
After
Before
I liked the reflections in the water below, the logs and algae. This body of water curves leaving us wondering where it goes
After
Before
Thursday’s Special: Winding
Welcome to Thursday’s Special photo challenge again. Today’s theme is WINDING. Instead of sharing why Paula chose today’s theme, she would like us to read this great quote by Yeats:
“Life is a journey up a spiral staircase; as we grow older we cover the ground covered we have covered before, only higher up; as we look down the winding stair below us we measure our progress by the number of places where we were but no longer are. The journey is both repetitious and progressive; we go both round and upward.”
Similar as on the roads and paths we travel. We cannot always see what lies ahead around the curve, sometimes it will be familiar and other times unexpected and new. 
Ordinary
When I saw the prompt for today I sighed at seeing the word ordinary. Such a lackluster word.
Ordinary: with no special or distinctive features; normal. Synonyms: usual, normal, standard, typical, common, customary, habitual, everyday, regular, routine, day-to-day.
Not that ordinary is a bad thing. For those struggling with health challenges, loss of jobs, money issues, they long for the ordinary, the regular, the usual. The word itself just seems to contain a combination of letters that when put together and sounded out sound so, well, ordinary. In any case, an old Harry Chapin song popped into my head when I saw the word ordinary, it is called Any Old Kind of Day. I embrace my “ordinary” days, and here I share a bit of them with you. Have an extra-ordinary weekend!
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: View from the Back, Bottom or Underneath
Being Green
Wordless Wednesday
Acceptance
The following post was written two years ago, when I learned that a close friend of mine was dying. I still struggle with accepting the fact that she is gone, that I can’t hear her laugh and take in the calm she always brought with her when she walked into a room. Acceptance of losing friends is something new to me, I suppose as we age it is to be expected, but she was only 66. A year later I lost another friend suddenly- also 67 years old. Her refrain whenever I would see her was “it’s all good”- we’re here aren’t we?” I am but it it is not the same here without you. We are forced to accept, there is no choice, but it changes us, leaves us with an empty place that can’t be filled.
Last Thursday my friend was told by her Doctor, “there is nothing more we can do.” She had been in remission for three years, her recurrence happening just 6 months ago. Her descent into this new reality quicker than any of us, me, her friends, her family, could believe. I am fortunate to never have lost a friend up until now, but am finding I am still in a state of disbelief. It is impossible for me to think that this person whom I have known for ten years, who I see on a regular basis, play Mah Jongg with every week, share in her joys with, who is calm of nature, who lets things roll of her back and doesn’t sweat the small stuff, who is sensitive and kind, who is my friend, will no longer be here. Her laughter silenced, her singing during our Mah Jongg games, her easy laugh no longer heard.
We sat together yesterday, me and three other friends, leaving her room after she fell asleep, to talk and remember happier times together. The trips abroad, grandchildren being born, her love of hiking. The conversation turned to gravesites and headstones, as if we were talking about some abstract concept, not our friend’s impending death. All part of the process I suppose, of acceptance of something none of us want to have to accept. Of something thrust upon us, being forced on us to have to face. Unwilling to have to accept, but left with no other choice.
Sharing My World
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
I always think I am somewhere in my 30’s, until I spend time with people in their 30’s and feel ancient. Been there…. done that…. who cares….things will work out. It’s a funny feeling looking back when confronted with those who have so much of life yet to live. Knowing that life can unfold in unexpected ways, things work out for the best or they don’t. I attempt to stay “current” in an ever changing world and hope to keep that generation gap that has the potential to appear, closed. I think it is healthy to never lose the child within us.
So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?
Unless it is really raining torrentially I don’t use an umbrella, that’s what hoods are for. I have one in my glove compartment in case of a sudden downpour, and 2 in the hall coat closet.
Do you recharge your energy by going out with friends for a good time or by spending quiet time alone?
If I need to vent as a means of recharging I will call my BFF. Most often I recharge by walking in nature, taking my camera and photographing the birds and my surroundings, being quiet and taking in the views.
Name three things you and your spouse, partner or best friend to have in common.
Spouse, partner, best friend= husband and we love taking day trips and exploring new places and going to crafts fairs. We love to take walks, we share an appreciation for music and love a good sense of humor.
Thursday’s Special: Traces of the Past
Paula has asked us to find traces of the past in whatever form we choose, saying it does not have to be a distant one, or rich in history; it can be something personal, or it can even have a human form. I have chosen the personal. The photos are old, and not taken by me, but Paula’s theme lit a spark and I wanted to share my traces of the past through her prompt, I hope she won’t mind.
My mother in laws birthday is coming up shortly, she died in 1998 at the age of 79. I had only known her for seven years, but in that time we became close. She had two sons and no daughters, so I chose to be not just a daughter in law, but in some ways a daughter. I called her everyday, some days it was a quick hello and “check in” other times it was a half an hour or more. She lived alone and often spent her days alone. Occasionally she would meet a few of her close girlfriends for lunch, but as the years wore on there was less of that. I remember joining her at one of those lunches, four elegant European ladies, who without even realizing it lapsed into German, their native language, as the lunch wore on. I didn’t say anything until she turned to me and asked what I thought, at which point I burst out laughing and said I hadn’t understood a word for the past ten minutes!
Her life had not been easy. She fled Germany in 1938, making it out on one of the last boats to leave. She was widowed suddenly at the age of 36, when my husband was 10. She remarried 4 years later, but was widowed again at the age of 60. When I met her she had been fighting Ovarian cancer for 5 years, and continued to do so for 7 more. It took me a long time to get used to not picking up the phone to call her after she died, often wanting to share something with her, missing having the opportunity to. Traces of the past, my past, her past.
The Changing Seasons: March 2017
The days began to grow longer, still light out at 5 pm when my work day ends…
Shadows growing longer
The first Robin appeared, a harbinger of Spring
And a Crocus shot up through the ground because the weather had turned so warm
The Eagles were still around, not ready to fly North just yet, even though the weather was warm
And the call of the Red Winged Blackbirds could be heard, once again signaling a change of seasons
But then we went from this
To this
Today is the first day of spring and it surely has not sprung here yet.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Photo Filters
This week Nancy has asked us to share a series of a single photo with different treatments.
This is my original photo taken in January. I did not apply any filters or change the color. What you see is what I saw.
Here it is again with a “vintage” look. Vintage takes on new meaning as one ages, so in my case this process reminds me of the photos that were taken in the 1960’s when I was a child and teenager.
Here the process is black and white with color highlights. I liked how the sun and clouds looked with these changes.
Travel theme: Four
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Letters E or F
Instinct
Instinct or innate behavior is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behavior.
I am always amazed at the power of instinct when it comes to animals and birds. This seagull’s instinct allowed it to fly above this body of water and spot a fish below the surface
This Eagle’s instinct allowed him to swoop in and steal it
He made off with it. Another day of instinct in play
Weekly Photo Challenge: Atop
This is Minnewaska State Park in the Shawangunk Mountains of New York. It rises more than 2,000 feet above sea level. The park features numerous waterfalls, three crystalline sky lakes, dense hardwood forests, incising sheer cliffs and ledges opening to beautiful views, clear streams, 35 miles of carriage roads and 50 miles of footpaths. Atop the mountain.
A Day In The Life 
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