Holiday Scavenger Hunt: 12.22.13

Hard to believe it’s only three days til Christmas. My holidays are usually small and quiet and I’m feeling ready now. The decorations — not many, but enough — are up. Gifts have been wrapped and placed under the tree or mailed to far-off places. I’ve enjoyed shopping with my daughter, and getting together with friends for a meal or a movie or just a cup of tea and a chat. On Christmas morning presents will be opened in front of the fire, in pajamas, accompanied by carols on the stereo.

Meanwhile, there’s still time for Scavenger Hunt Sunday! This week’s list includes: Lights, Tree, Big, Makes You Feel Merry, and On the Door. Let’s see what we can find.

Lights

Lighting Up the Night

It would not be my choice to leave this light on all night, but the other tenants and the landlord like the security it provides. We had more snow Tuesday night, and the warmth of the bulb caused the falling flakes to melt and icicles to form on the cover.

Tree

‘Tis the Season 112/365

A friend hung these ornaments on the bare branches of a small tree in her front yard. I loved the unexpected color against the wintery woods on a cold, drippy morning.

Big

Red Door

Big house, big yard, big snow (another 10 inches), big blue sky, big trees and a big shadow.

Makes You Feel Merry

Highways and Byways

Waking up to fresh, fluffy snow and seeing that the squirrels have already plowed their way between the trees and the house made me laugh. The one you see climbing the trunk had just jumped from the roof into the snow, disappearing completely for a second or two before digging his way out and rejoining the main “road.” You can see where he landed and came up again in the foreground of this photo. The interesting thing is that they NEVER jump off the roof onto the bare ground. How do you suppose they know it’s okay to do it into the soft snow?

I love the squirrels and birds and all the wonders and mysteries of nature that surround me wherever I am. They make my heart merry in every season of the year.

On the Door

Simplicity

On the front door is a simple balsam wreath adorned with a red velvet bow. In typical Maine fashion, only the mailman and strangers ever come to the front door. Rather a shame, really, because it’s such an elegant entry.

That’s it for my official scavenger finds, but I’ll leave you with one more that actually incorporates most of the prompts in one image:

Pink Santa 108/365

Lights – check
Tree – check
Big – sigh of relief to have the tree done, check
Makes You Feel Merry – ho, ho, ho! check
On the Door – well . . . Santa won’t have to knock on the door, cuz I have a chimney for him to come down. Check?

Wishing those of you who celebrate Christmas a happy and blessed one, and to all a happy Winter Solstice. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, that’s something to rejoice about!

Come check out this week’s linkup at Ramblings & Photos.

On the Hunt 6.9.13

It’s Sunday and Scavenger Hunt time again! This week’s prompts were an interesting bunch: Dishes, Favorite Color, Sunflare, Expression, and Sticky. Without further preamble, here we go.

Dishes:

Mystery Dish

I’m fascinated by this bowl that my sister bought at a rummage sale this spring. It’s about 8 inches across, a bit uneven, crudely hand decorated. It’s old and much used — the blue-green inner glaze is scratched and dull and the top edge is chipped and worn all the way around, as if it had been used for years to hold keys and change. It has no identifying markings on it. It’s probably a souvenir from someone’s trip to Chinatown years ago, but it’s more fun to imagine that it was unearthed on an archeological dig somewhere in far-off Asia.

Favorite Color:

Pretty in Pink

It’s not very sophisticated of me to admit it, but I love pink in all its many incarnations. Cool pink, warm pink, hot pink, these oleanders have it all. I also happen to love oleanders; their sweet scent transports me back to childhood summers. Where I grew up, they were just about the only flowering plant I knew. They’re supposed to be poisonous and we knew better than to put them in our mouths, but that didn’t stop us from playing in and under and around them. I used to weave the leaves into floor mats for fairy houses.

Sunflare:

Rim Shot

Little Green Apples

Our apple tree, which earlier in the spring was loaded with blossoms and bees, is now loaded with fruit. It looks like we’ll have a bumper crop along about September. I don’t often go out to deliberately create sunflare, but I had fun playing with my camera and the late afternoon sun under the apple tree for this prompt.

Expression:

What You Lookin’ At?

I don’t know, do birds have expressions? This one sure seemed to. He helped himself to dinner, then sat on the perch for another five minutes, grooming himself and stretching this way and that, before humming off to wherever.

Sticky:

Opal Essence

These sparkling gems are actually drops of pine sap, fallen from a freshly trimmed tree limb. Anyone who has ever gotten this stuff on their hands knows that it is practically the definition of sticky.

And that’s my take on the hunt for this week. Linking with Ashley for Scavenger Hunt Sunday — come along and join in the fun!

The Last {In the Picture} Show

We’ve come to the end of our year-long self-portrait project, {In the Picture}. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking with it for the entire year. I knew this would be a year of change for me, and I really wanted to document it in some way.

As one who is usually taking the photographs, I’m not often seen in them. It’s been a change to put myself in front of the lens, and even more challenging to learn to look at the results objectively. It has definitely been a growing experience, and one that I’ve enjoyed much more than I expected to.

In addition to learning to see and appreciate myself in new ways, I’ve loved being able to see my fellow photographers on this journey. I love having faces to put with the personalities that I’ve come to know through your photography, art, and writing. I’ve been moved and inspired by the honesty, courage, and creativity with which you have revealed yourselves not just physically but emotionally.

Our optional theme for the month of December was “celebrate.” 

Celebrating Myself!

I’m one of those lucky people who have a close-to-Christmas birthday. In honor of the occasion, my sister and brother-in-law took me on a day trip over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house . . . oops, wrong story. Actually, we went to Little India in Cerritos for some delicious Indian food, which I love.

We drove over the Angeles Forest and Angeles Crest highways and the views were amazing. The devastation of the wildfires two years ago is heart-breakingly evident, but the regrowth of vegetation is encouraging. The weather looked frightful but wasn’t, and really added to the drama of the scenery. In reality I’m just holding my camera here, but I like to think my arms are outstretched to embrace all the beauty around me and whatever the next year will bring.

Celebrating Memories Past

Next came Christmas. You knew there had to be birds on my tree, right? One of the things I love about all our family’s Christmas trees is that each ornament brings back the memory of a time, place, person, or event. I have ornaments going back to my kids’ first Christmases.

The goldfinch is from a favorite place in Maine where my daughter and I vacationed several times. The little crystal bird is new this year and stands in for all the new birds I’ve discovered here at my new home. And that tiny angel was a gift from a dear friend and her small son a few years ago.

Celebrating Memories Future

I raise my glass to all of you! I hope you have been able to celebrate whichever holidays you observe at this time of year with love, joy, and hope for tomorrow.  My wish for every one of us is a happy, healthy, creative, and prosperous New Year.

Come to our final linky party and celebrate with us! Once again, many thanks for Christy’s inspirational lead in hosting {In the Picture} all year long. It’s been a rewarding journey.

SHS Oct 7

Happy Sunday! I’ve enjoyed thinking about Scavenger Hunt Sunday all week, and looking for images to fulfill each prompt. This week the topics are: Shadow, Keys, Smile, Unedited, and Spice. Here we go . . .

Shadow:

Sundial

This noontime shadow of a pine tree in my garden reminded me of the symbol for a tree used on architectural drawings. I liked the crisp outline of the branches clearly showing the circular shape of the tree from the sun’s-eye view.

Keys:

Breakfast Bar

I didn’t find any interesting literal keys to photograph, so I’m going with a more metaphorical interpretation. One of the keys to successful gardening is knowing the challenges to growing things in your area. A couple of days ago I saw for myself the reason why this particular plant never seems to grow.

The other key here is not to believe everything you read on the internet. Many sites state that bunnies will only nibble as high as their noses. My mistake was in thinking that meant from the ground. Clearly my rabbits are smarter and more athletic than average.

The filter-blur effect is from an actual filter . . . my screen door.

Smile:

Hello, Handsome!

This guy has been hanging around a lot lately, making me smile every time I see him. He’s just so darned cocky. Did you know that roadrunners eat other birds, as well as lizards and snakes? And that they stalk their prey like a cat? It’s fascinating to watch him as he hunkers down flat and creeps along the ground trying to sneak up on the smaller birds in the garden.

On this day, I saw him through the window, grabbed my camera, and quietly stepped outside. He came trotting through my open gate and up the flagstone walk straight toward me while I snapped away. About four feet away, he noticed my presence and veered off. He paused on these timbers and had a casual look around (“I’m not scared of you!”) before heading on up the hill.

I think he’s so beautiful. If you click on the picture, you can see there’s a lot of green in the feathers on his back. When the sun hits them just right, they’re iridescent.

Unedited:

Owl Drug

I went into the bathroom one afternoon and my eye was caught by the late afternoon sun coming through the pebbled glass window and illuminating these bottles. I took several images and will probably play with some post-processing later, but this is my favorite SOOC (straight out of camera).

Spice:

Hot and Cold

Lunch — a homemade tamale and spicy green salsa from a vendor at the farmer’s market, with sliced cantaloupe from a local grower for a cool, sweet counterpoint.

And that’s a wrap for another Scavenger Hunt Sunday. Check out the links over at Ramblings and Photos and see what everyone’s been up to this week.

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Photo-Heart Connection: July

In Her Dreams

A few days ago, I noticed this little garden fairy in a tree in my sister’s special memorial garden. I loved the light she was sitting in, and the way the branches framed the mountains and valley behind her.

When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time sitting in trees. It was a good place to be alone, above it all, to think and dream and make wishes. This little figure reminded me of my old love for tree-sitting solitude, but she also speaks to me about myself and my life right now.

No, I don’t climb trees anymore. But she looks a lot like I feel: relaxed, at peace, comfortable. Gazing out at the distant mountains. Listening to the quiet. Her hands are filled with ripe fruit, almost more than she can hold, like the bounty I’ve been harvesting at the farmers’ market each week.

In time, she will spread those wings and fly, exploring and experiencing more of this place where she finds herself. But for now, she’s content to just sit and take it all in. Thinking. Dreaming. Making wishes. And making them come true.

I’m linking with Kat Eye Studio’s Photo-Heart Connection for July. Each month, we choose one of our own images and write about how and why it speaks to our heart.