bold as love’s Neighborhood

I'm taking this week's topic from Darren Rowe's weekly newsletter.  My rules are a little different.  Since we are getting into the busy time of the year...Holiday Season...you can use old photos or take new ones.  Take some photos of your pets, your neighbor's pets, your parent's pets, the school pets, or neighborhood pets.  Here is a link to Dareen's article on taking photos of pets  http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-pets.

Have some fun and dress up your pet or take a photo of a pet in an unusual place.  You can use photoshop to change the photo background or change the shape or position of the pet.  You can clone your pet or pets....anything goes this week...show me your creativity!

Boy we had a great turnout for the #78 Photo Quest on Diagonal Lines.  Thanks to Cap'n Stephel, Darcy, Yancunyong, Trailblazer, anthrogrrl, Maju and Spike for some really amazing photos!  I'm not sure the Trailblazer wanted in but I'm including her. 

For each person that posts to the quest I pick the one photo that I liked the best and that fit the Photo Quest the best.  Just because I pick one photo does not mean I dislike the others!  It isn't easy to pick one from each participant as the photos are so good!

I'm going to start with Spike as she was the first to post for this week's quest.  My favorite was the "Steve at the Reaper Miniatures factory looking like the kid in a candy store", photo.  Look at how all the toys on the wall form long, multiple lines drawing your eye right to Steve.  I also like the texture created by the toys and the fun way she used diagonal lines in the photo great job Spike!

Maju just took my breath away with her photo of Regent's Canal 02!  This is a BIG WOW photo!  Notice how the walkway, the trees, the reflection in the water pulls your eye right to the bridge.  The composition on this photo is wonderful with the bridge right at the ROT point!  In this photo even the light areas with no details, water without reflections and the sky pull your eye to the bridge.  Wonderful work Maju!!

Next was Antrogrrl and what a nice surprise that we get to see some of her "old archaeology photos for this challenge."  You made it hard for me to choose one photo as you had so many great ones this week.  I have to say I liked 2 snow tracks the best.  The tracks in the snow, the diagonal line of the plants, the mountains and the sky push your eye right to the furtherest point.  The angle of the photo and the diagonal lines give the photo a feeling of a never ending landscape.  The tracks in the snow tell the viewer the snow is fresh and the people in the vehicle where the first to see this landscape.  This photo tells a great story, super photo Antrogrrl!

Trailblazer posted two interesting photos to the Photo Quest Group.  My favorite was the first photo Ink-and-surf-jpg.  There are several diagonal lines in this photo.  The surfers arms, legs, the surf board and the surf all provide great diagonal lines.  I really liked the way we have two diagonal lines coming together with the surfer in the forground arms, forming one diagonal line and the surf board forming the opposite diagonal line.  The intersection of these lines draw your eye right to that point.  Nice capture Trailblazer!

Yan's many wonderful photo all with great examples of diagonal lines really caused me to stop and consider all the photos before I made my selection.  I really have to pick Photographers @Mt. Gomadan as I loved all the photographers lined up with their tripods to take photos of the fall colors.  This is a very fun photo full of color and lots of interest in what the photographers are doing and thinking about how each one is taking their photos.  Great photo Yan!

I pick Darcy's photo of her son playing the in water sprinkler as my favorite.  What a fun photo.  It makes me want to run in a sprinker too.  Here Darcy has framed her son with the diagonal lines of the sprinkler on either side.  This was a hard shot to get as she has the camera shutter slow enough to capture the sprinkler water in drops and the camera set fast enough to get a very clear shot of her son.  This is another photo that tells a story of Darcy's son enjoying his summer.  Love this one Darcy!

Last but not least are the photos from Cap'n Stephel.  Her photos are always full of personality.  You got to look at the snowman in the pumpkin patch!  The photo I liked best from her post is the first one of the trail.  The fence and the shadow of the fence give the photo a great sense of depth, distance and mystery.  She didn't tell us the whole story here as we can't see the end of the trail...we keep looking be we can't see that far as the trees cover our view.  Very nice photo Cap'n!

2008_11_13 - Fall Thursday 010.JPG - Vox

I worked today, so no time for pictures.  I did make a unique cake this afternoon, but I had forgotten to take my camera with me today.  I'll have to make another one tomorrow.  We received three new kits in today for new Disney designs.  I'll have to try them out to see if I like them or not.  One of them is iCarly which we have gotten several requests for. 

No real news on the medical front, but it looks like my hubby is leaning toward keeping the quality of life that he has now and taking a chance on living for at least a few more years.  He read a lot of information today that our daughter had given him, and all of it regarding the operation was depressing.

Since I didn't take any photos today, I decided to go back to this time last year and see what I was doing.  In addition to making pot holders and table runners, I was still outside taking pictures.  This is an edited version of a spider's egg sack.  Last year I took lots of pictures of spiders and praying mantis, but I hardly saw any of them this year. 

It's in to work early again tomorrow morning, so I'd best get myself off to bed.  5:30 comes early for me.  There should be three of us, but I think someone is going to have to help the donut people, so that will slow us down.  We made most of the Friday cakes today, so we should be able to make a big dent in the Saturday orders tomorrow.  I'll still try to get a couple of pictures.  Toodles! 

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Do you ever wonder what might have happened to people who are essentially strangers to us?   

Next door to my office building is a retirement & assisted living place -  it used to have the word "Alzheimer's"  in the name and we joked about just trading one place for the other as our minds went; usually with the assumption that too much work was going to cause such a decline.

Anyway - over the last couple of months every morning, as I've walked past, an elderly man has been outside hiding behind a pillar enjoying a cigarette.  Every morning I would say "good morning how are you?" and he'd respond with a loud and cheery: "Good morning to you and I'm great"   

The last few mornings he was not there and I wondered if he had died or been caught.  It crossed my mind that I might never know -  I don't think I would've gone inside to enquire about the health of a man having a forbidden cigarette.   

I was so relived to see him back this morning that I almost said "oh thank God you are ok"....    I really had been quite concerned about someone whose name I don't even know.

*******

The bike below used to appear near the office during the day and then be gone by evening.  Then it arrived and stayed.  And stayed and stayed.   If this had been anywhere near I live, it would've been stripped within a few hours.  After more than a month the rear tyre is flat but no-one has stolen the helmet or attempted to steal spare parts from the bike.  

So,  where is the owner?   Did they die at their desk?  Did they walk to the shops at lunch time and get run-over crossing the road?   Or perhaps they developed Alzheimer's and forgot they owned a bike.

I hate not knowing.....  and unlike the missing elderly man, where I could've enquired if I'd wanted to, there is no-one to ask about the bike's owner.  

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SELF PORTRAIT THURSDAY!
11.12.09

Yes, finally back.
But all I do is work now, so I don't really have time to make myself look presentable.

This explains why I look so furry and frumpy. I probably haven't shaved in a month.
(My facial hair grows slowly.)

SELF PORTRAIT THURSDAY! 11.12.09

I might be starting something with this entry but I felt I had to post this in a larger venue. I received a response last night from a plea I wrote last year about educating girls in Afghanistan. You can read that post here.

Here is the response

Anonymous said...

So we should educate them so that they come to have the same western thinking and values we do? literacy is the mark of civilisation. These people have lived for thousands of years without literacy.What then after they have built rows of schools,then rows of malls, then rows of mcmansions?

Here is my reply....

Dear Anonymous,

I don't usually comment on things like this but your response prompted me to reply. Who said anything about Western thinking and values? Maybe if those values mean equal worth of women to men, yes.

Education = good health, tolerance, long life, greater understanding, ability to learn more to help others and yourself.

Afghanistan is ranked number 2 in the mortality of children under 5 years of age. As of 2005, 25% of children in Afghanistan will not reach their 5th birthday. Only Sierra Leone is worse. "Living for thousands of years without literacy" has helped create this situation. Knowledge saves lives.

The life expectancy today in Afghanistan is 44 years. In 1970 it was 35, education and knowledge are responsible for the lowered death rates. Vaccinations started also. Without education, how do programs like this get off the ground?

Only 29% of women in Afghanistan are literate. They are the caregivers and raise the children. They need to be filled with knowledge on how to make their lives and those of their families healthier. 40% of children under 5 are underweight and over half of the children in Afghanistan, 54% suffer from permanent stunted growth!!

As of 2005 the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 8. Out of every 8 pregnancies, one will result in death. Education and knowledge will go a long way to alleviating these statistics.

Broad education can only help, it does not harm.

Do you want to deny these people a chance at an extra 30 years of life? Children their mothers? Mothers their children?

I am sorry, but I disagree with you on the value of educating women and people in general.

I am not a fan of giant malls and mcmansions, I live simply, but I do believe that with knowledge, people are equipped to make better choices and can understand the consequences of those choices. People with literacy know how to find information about the things they are not sure of and can act accordingly. It is a great equalizer.

If people want malls and mcmansions so be it. Who are we to say no? Better malls and mcmansions than poverty, illness, ignorance and death. Creating buildings like these is a choice.

You have a computer, you have internet, you can read, you are educated. Would you prefer sickness, early death and a life with no words? Reading can bring comfort.It doesn't have to mean 'Western", What about the hundreds of Persian authors and the literature they have created over two and a half millennia? Jelaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest poets ever alive was born in Afghanistan.

I believe education is a gift that continues to give long after it has been received.

"All religions are in substance one and the same.
In the adorations and benedictions of righteous men
The praises of all the prophets are kneaded together.
All their praises are mingled into one stream,
All the vessels are emptied into one ewer.
Because He that is praised is, in fact, only One,
In this respect all religions are only one religion.
Because all praises are directed towards God's light,
Their various forms and figures are borrowed from it.
Men never address praises but to One deemed worthy,"

- Jelaluddin Rumi, Masnavi I Ma'navi/Book III, story 12

Good news:

Yesterday Ben and I were asked by our old roommate Talena if we could watch Osa the chihuahua this weekend while there is construction done in her new apartment! =)

To celebrate, I'm including some videos of Ben and I spending time with Osa.

This is Ben making Osa sing:

It's fun to make her howl because she purses her lips.
AND she starts to hack/cough like she's a smoker.

But my NUMBER ONE FAVORITE THING to do is this:

I'm still waiting for the day she leaps up and bites me in the face.
But I think she's too sweet for that.

I think I'm more of a dog person now.
I had a bad cat experience at my last apartment with Gordo. He was too needy. Shed too much.  Ate too much, ate when nervous, ate until he vomited. It all made me not want to leave my room.

Dogs are so much better, I think.

In other good news, Ben J. was featured on Daily Candy yesterday!
It is an AMAZING write-up.
I am v. proud.

P.S.
I might do a self portrait later...

• 20:03 @meghanthefox that's terrible! #
• 20:04 @christinaheart haha that's how I feel some nights. #
• 20:21 @meghanthefox my mom is the exact opposite of your dad in that she thinks that if people say anything about my weight I'll stop eating. #
• 20:26 I ate too much again. I seem to have lost my self control. A bit depressing. #
• 23:00 Kind of thirsty. But way too lazy/tired to go get water. #

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