ORANGE you glad I didn't say banana?

It's Friday.

I can't tell you how nice it is to FINALLY be able to say that.

It seems the sun going down at noon (OK, OK....5:00 in the afternoon) is wearing on me a little worse than usual this year. It's wearing on me so much, that I think I'm going to get up tomorrow morning, grab a blanket to lay on, and just find a spot in the middle of my yard. I'll lay there as long as I can...soaking up as much (50 degree) sunlight as humanly possible.

I thought I'd roll with the outdoors frame of mind, and use it as the afflatus for this weeks Thematic Photographic entry. Thanks to Carmi for providing the inspiration!!!

"...theme, orange. To be a part of the fun, simply post an orange-themed pic on your site, then leave a comment here so everyone can find it. Repeat as often as you wish. Click here if you'd like to learn more about Thematic Photographic."




Taken one evening during a kayak trip on the Upper Iowa River. We finished paddling for the day, went back to the cabin, made some smores and hung out around the campfire.

The sun is going down in this picture at around 9:00 pm or so. I hate summer. The heat, the humidity, the bugs....... But this is one thing about the season I love!!! :-)

Thematic Photographic 71 - Open

After a break away from providing weekly photo themes (due to family circumstances), Carmi is back these week with a challenge.

"This week's theme, open, comes to us courtesy of Mojo. It's a great theme for me to return to, as it represents what lies ahead, what's possible, what awaits us and how we intend to make it ours. It's a lovely little metaphor for life, and I think it'll be good for the soul - mine and, hopefully, yours - to explore it and ponder the bigger meaning."

I might be swaying away from the bigger meaning of this theme a little. But isn't half of the fun seeing other people's take on an idea?? I think so.

This past weekend was our annual weekend long camping reunion. We hold it on the second weekend of October every year.

Friday afternoon, my "home" was open to one participant, new to the traditional weekend - Sugar.



She found her way into my tent through the open door...and spent all afternoon napping there. I never would have imagined my tent was going to be feline housing for the day.

It was just one of many surprises for the weekend. :-)

Thematic Photographic 67 - Urban

TGIF everybody!!!!

And thank you to Carmi, for providing this theme.

This week's Thematic Photographic theme, urban, reflects my belief that the seemingly endless process of paving and repaving the planet leaves lessons behind that we'd do well to learn. It's not a question of, to quote The Hulk, "Urban/bad, nature/good." Rather, it's a reminder that we should never be in such a rush to get through the day that we don't stop and wonder how the places that surround us came to be.

Actually, this one was hard, because I had quite a few shots I took while in Korea that I thought applied to the theme. Harbor views from our hotel windows, or the streets of open air malls lined with scooters and dotted with Starbucks.

Those shots seemed a little too obvious for this weeks' theme, which is why I chose the following shot.



I remember walking around a particular temple city (the name escapes me), looking at the temple buildings....admiring their simplicity and their complexity, all at the same time. Everything was so quiet.

At one point, I looked up over the rooftops, and suddenly found myself holding my breath. Seeing the modern city buildings looming, almost encroaching, caught me off guard.

Ribfest.....Mmmmmm......

Welcome to Friday morning everybody!!!!!

Three cheers for Friday!!! Hip Hip Hooray, Hip Hip Hooray, Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!

(ahem) Sorry 'bout that.

As usual, I thought I'd take a stab at the theme photo challenge Carmi provides each week.

Or in this case, maybe I should have said I was going to take a "slab" at it. You'll see what I mean. :-)

This week's theme....Shiny.

It's fun to say, isn't it?? Come on, say it with me......ssshhhiiiiinnnnnyyyy.

You're smiling now...admit it.

:-)

I took my shiny picture this morning, as I was packing my lunch for work. The boys invited us over to their place last night for "ribfest." The table was covered in brown paper, and piled high with meat.

Meat, meat, meat.

A carnivore's dream!!!!!!

There were also red potatoes, corn on the cob, crawfish (that kept staring at me...ick!) and shrimp.

Oh, and cornbread straight from the cast iron skillet.

(drooling)

It was most pleasant!!!!!!!!

It's all in your perspective

Thematic Photographic is fairly simple and fun, and I hope you'll take part. All you have to do it take a picture reflective of this week's theme, then share it. In this case, perspective can be optically tangible, or it can be a little more topically abstract. The fun lies in how you choose to interpret it.

I was going to skip Carmi's photo theme challenge this week. I had some pictures taken at different angles...stuff like that. But not exactly the idea behind this weeks theme.

Perspective

Then, this afternoon, it hit me. I have the perfect picture to share. It may not be the best composition, lighting, etc.....but I think it really displays the "perspective" theme quite well.

I snapped this shot while down in New Mexico a few weeks ago for my grandfather's funeral. The town in which he lived is small....really small....and slightly depressing. The buildings are deteriorating and the population is dwindling.

I was taking pictures of the buildings on old Route 66, and didn't see the additional "message" until I was looking through my pictures later that weekend.


You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger, and look closely. :-)


Have a great long holiday weekend everybody!!!!!!!!!

Bigger Than Life

Carmi at Written Inc posts a weekly photographic theme, and I thought I'd join in on the fun this week.

" Thematic Photographic is kinda simple. Just post a pic that follows the theme......"

This week's theme - BIG!!!!!!!!

I'm constantly frustrated with trying to capture the feeling of how large something is....via a photograph. I think I've taken some awesome shots, and when I get home to look at them....well...they usually just don't live up to my own expectations.

Numerous times I've stopped taking pictures because "I'm just not going to be able to show the size, or beauty that I'm seeing with my own two eyes. "

Having said that, I thought this pic was fun.....and came close to showing exactly how BIG this thing really was. :-)