Category: Uncategorized

So many words and phrases have been added to our vocabulary in just the past month and a half.

Social Distancing.

Covid-19.

Corona Virus.

Flatten the Curve.

Zoom meetings.

And let’s not forget, homeschooling. Not a new word, but so many of us have been thrown into it with very little foresight or planning.

There is so much anxiety, uncertainty, confusion, frustration, worry and just plain exhaustion out in the world today. I’ll be honest, there have been days when I have gotten out of bed and immediately started planning when I could get back into it.

The good news is we have been able to get out almost daily for walks and bike rides. That has really helped. Exercise has always been a means of rejuvenation and energy for me (I miss the gym!), and we have been so fortunate to have nice weather for the most part. Spring is here, my online friends have been keeping me company, I have lots of books to read (we live in the age of library kindle books- how amazing is that?) and we have been together as a family,  so I guess if there was a “good” time for this to happen, it’s now.

The world keeps on turning, and we will heal from this. Life will continue on. Maybe we will be a little bit better for it on the other side.

I’m keeping everyone who has been affected by this horrible virus in my thoughts.

Hang in there, friends.  Stay healthy and keep the faith.

 

The Serenity Project is a collaborative photography project. The goal the photographers participating share is to find moments of peace and calmness, even in difficult times. Please continue to Wendy May, NE Scotland Photographer to see what brought her some serenity this month.

 

 

My husband (sweetly) gives me roses every year for Valentine’s Day. By my calculation, that means he gave me my 300th rose this year!

Part of the joy of them for me, aside from the thought and the look and the smell, is photographing them. Every year I take photos of them. I love macro photography and I find it to be very relaxing and a practice in mindfulness. This year, though, the photos of the flowers themselves didn’t do much for me. So I branched out and photographed some of the greenery. And those images were my favorites from this session!

(Lensbaby Velvet 56, edited in LR and Exposure with texture added)

Sometimes it helps me to branch out and think beyond the obvious.

 

The Serenity Project is a monthly collaborative photography project. The photographers who participate aim to bring a sense of peace and calm with their imagery. Please continue the circle to Pamela Douglas, PD Creations Photography to see what brought her some serenity this month.

We have had a very, very warm winter. I have only lived here (less than) two years, but it’s been interesting to see the difference in weather– last year was one of the coldest (Arctic Blast! Polar Vortex! These were new terms for me.) and this year has been one of the warmest (60 degrees! Record highs! These are not new terms for me!) We had our windows open Christmas morning! Not that I’m complaining.

We did have one good snow so far, in early December. Recently I put out a bird feeder and I have loved seeing the birds it has attracted.

We have really enjoyed watching them, and they do look especially lovely in the snow.

Maybe we will get some more snow this year, maybe not. It was certainly cozy and peaceful while it lasted!

 

The Serenity Project is a  monthly collaborative photography project. Please continue the circle to Wendy May, NE Scotland hobbyist photographer to see what brought her serenity this month. I know life has been a bit hectic for her lately and I hope she was able to find a moment of peace.

Oh this past month has been a doozy, my friends! We moved for the third time in less than three years. This time it was just across town, so in that respect it was easier than usual. Honestly, though, in many ways it was one of the most difficult moves we have done. It felt very drawn out, and affected me emotionally in a way no move ever has. I am so thankful it’s over!

We are feeling as “at home” as we can in our current home and are now able to enjoy what summer has to offer us.  For us, this means plenty of swimming, hiking, firefly catching, s’more and watermelon eating, grilling out, spending time with friends, and even, hopefully, a little travel! My husband also took my daughter fishing (I sat in the shade mostly). It was a beautiful morning, and they had a lot of fun!

 

One fun thing about being in a different house is discovering the light. I know other photographers will relate to this! It’s always interesting to me to see where light falls during different times of the day and year.

 

So, that’s been my hodgepodge way of stealing a bit of serenity this month! Life has been feeling a bit chaotic but things are settling down for a moment and we can breathe a little bit better now. Summer is a time to slow down where we can and sometimes we just have to take what we can get!

I hope you are finding a bit of magic this summer and enjoying the little gifts  the season has to offer us!

 

The Serenity Project is a collaborative group project. The participating photographers aim to bring a sense of peace and calm to their imagery. Please continue the circle to Wendy May, Nature Photographer, NE Scotland
I can’t wait to see what brought her some serenity this month!

 

That morning, there was fog,  frost in the trees and snow on the ground. The fog makes the world quiet and calm, and even the golf course has a nice atmosphere. I snapped this image from the car  passenger seat as we headed downtown. Fog is fleeting; it was gone by the time we got home. But it was so beautiful while it lasted.

 The Serenity Project is a  monthly group photography project. The photographers who participate aim to bring a sense of peace and calm through their photography. Please continue the circle to my good friend, the talented Iris Nelson- Metro Phoenix Photographer  to see what brought her some serenity this month.

It seems we had a very short fall and then went straight into winter! The seasonal weather has been a nice change for us.

The frosty mornings are beautiful, and very fun to photograph.

 

Mostly it’s just frosty in the mornings, but we did have one ice storm. Beautiful but a little scary to drive in. Fortunately, the roads were cleared quickly.

We haven’t seen any real snow yet, but maybe by next month’s Serenity Project there will be.

The Serenity Project is a collaborative photography project featuring photographers who aim to bring a sense of peace and calm to their imagery. Please continue the circle to Amy L Smith Photography To see what brought her some serenity this month.

 

The question I get asked often these days is “are you feeling settled in your new home?” The answer is, happily, YES.

My husband and I like to make our houses feel like “home” as quickly as possible. Typically we get out of boxes and everything put away within two to three days. While this process is hardly serene (and is exhausting and perhaps slightly insane), it is good to have the house organized quickly so we can get on with our lives!

And normal life has resumed. We are really enjoying this area so far. We aren’t used to so much greenery and flowers. Luckily there are plenty of beautiful parks to explore and enjoy. It’s also a nice perk to be outside in the middle of summer! While it has been surprisingly hot (surprising to me, anyway), it’s cooler by a good 20 or 30 degrees than what we were used to in Phoenix and San Antonio. I’ll take it!

I’m pleasantly surprised how fast this area is feeling like “home”. That wasn’t our experience during our time in Texas unfortunately; it took at least a month for our space to feel like ours. We haven’t yet been here a month and already it feels pretty normal. I’m still learning my way around of course, but getting lost less and less each day!

With the return of school this week, we will start to get into more of a routine. There will still be plenty of time to get out on the weekends and hike, bike, walk, and photograph!

I so enjoy these times with my family. Moving often is inconvenient but I do love that it gives us the opportunity to discover new places.

(All images taken with Lensbaby Velvet 56, at the Cox Arboretum, Dayton, Ohio)

The Serenity Project is a collaborative photography project. The women who participate in this project aim to bring a sense of peace and calmness to their imagery. Please continue the circle to Wendy May to see what brought her some serenity this month.

August was a month where I put too many books on hold at the library, only to have them all appear at once (as I type this, I just got another notification that yet another one is ready for pickup! Guess I have my September, and perhaps beyond, reading lined up for me). I started one and didn’t finish it (Yesterday by Felicia Yap), which put me behind in my reading (I generally give a book 50-100 pages and if I’m not into it by then, I put it down. Life is too short to read books you just aren’t into). Hopefully I will finish the stack of library books I now have on my nightstand before they are due in September.

Imagine Wanting Only This by Kristen Radke – Another graphic book, only this is a memoir. This book is kind of about the heart condition that runs in the author’s family which killed her uncle… kind of about abandoned cities and buildings and the temporary nature of it all… kind of a memoir about her early 20s and finding her way.. it kind of rambled. I expected more from it based on the reviews I had read; it wasn’t as good as the graphic novel I read last month.

The Job by Steve Osborne –  The author of this book was “discovered” after an appearance on The Moth, where he told a story about his time as a NYC police officer. He served on the force for 20 years. I listened to this book, and I’m glad I did because I am not sure I would have enjoyed  reading it. Listening to it in the car as I ran errands was OK. I found some of the stories interesting, but a lot of his comments became a bit tiresome. I enjoy memoirs and learning about other people’s life experiences through books.

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti – The title of this book implies a book that involves something supernatural, à la The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, The Confessions of Max Tifoli or Replay (that last one is the best of that lot, in my opinion, if you are looking for something along those lines). But this book is not that! It’s about a single man raising his daughter and the stories of his past are interwoven in the book. I liked it OK, didn’t love it.  Much of it dragged for me and I wasn’t really pulled in, but I did finish it so that’s something.

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery- I became interested in reading this book after I saw a video online of a large octopus squeezing through a tiny hole on a boat. Apparently there are some theories out there that octopuses (I’m assuming this is the correct plural form, as that is what she uses throughout this book) are actually aliens living among us. That’s not addressed in this book. An interesting theory, but not one I subscribe to. Parts of this book I found really interesting, and some of it I really didn’t. One criticism that comes up in reviews of it is that she talks too much about scuba diving. While that didn’t bother me per se, it is a hefty portion of the book. It’s a book about octopuses, but it also is about empathy and consciousness (and scuba diving). If you are interested in learning more about octopuses, it’s probably a good book to pick up. If not, skip it.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t read any books that really blew me away this month. But, I have a stack of potentially amazing books on my nightstand. Better get started!