Thematic Photographic -142- Treedom

This week's theme for Thematic Photographic is reaching upward....or sideways....but it's roots are lodged within......"Treedom" rings..... and if you find yourself hanging around ...outside searching for something to do (as I did yesterday morning after yet again another hopefully last snow fall of this spring) follow along and see what I discovered......

Just in case you want to play along too, go here 
http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2011/04/thematic-photographic-142-let-treedom.html


and so it goes in the life of a tree and the daily seasons that affect it...and how they survive.....

A lost ball, and the old tree house, not forgotten just waiting....... 

Sorry birdies, this won't last long.....

Oh the simple power and magic of these powerful familiar trees firmly rooted in our life.....

You see, just last week this is what I found outside my door...and Monster (grounds keeper# 1) resting happily on a past tree turned to bench......"Oh how my life is good....)

I can only wish this view was tucked within our land....this is along Minnehaha Creek in Minneapolis, and shows that spring was breaking through step by step....

One last view from one of my gardens, (now sadly covered mostly in snow) is another spring time view from last week ...but as I look out my window this morning.....spring is trying to take over again.

Saturday Centus - 16 April - Week 50 - Shake' em up, up, up!

                     Oh Miss Jenny you're playing with silliness on this great adventure in honor of week 50...and you're so right it's totally golden!   So not to offend anyone, by an ill review or selecting one post as better than another I'm going to review ...well you'll just have to read and find out!

If anyone else wants to play along and has no idea what this Saturday Centus is all about just go here
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2011/04/saturday-centus-shake-em-up-up-up.html

Every week it's a bit different but in the end it's so much fun and eye opening in so many unbelievable ways! Try it out, you'll see!

As instructed by Miss Jenny, here is my choice to review, "April Showers Bring"... - by Karen S.

          Taylor’s true passion for this centuries old art began from her keen eye for flower design. Victorian people used symbols and gestures instead of words with special meanings for certain flowers. Camellia for graciousness, daisies for innocence and Wisteria for steadfast and so Taylor magically weaved each bride to flower.

         After grooms swallowed their bait, putting all doubts aside and holding a carat before his bride to be, he would ask for her hand in marriage. Love being too insistent to ignore, dates would be set and ultimately after April Showers bring May flowers; Taylor presented, the loveliest of springtime weddings.


This is my review:  (granted it's my own piece) about Taylor and her flower crafting!

         For years I’ve reviewed author’s material from a hot bath! This essay caught me soaking up claims of a compassionate flower designer; yet once the bubbles disappeared it’s only an unconfirmed rumor that Taylor was exceptional. Simply, it lacked hugely important images, and presented a scary thought of another expert amateur designing with her eyes wide shut. This lack luster approach beckons drowning instead of keeping it safe and dry as other writings penned by this author. Seek her Flying Boat poem collection or American Chop Suey Recipes, and let this one swim with the fish!

Six Word Saturday - 6WS

Good snowing this morn, (keeping it positive) and welcome to the game that let's us share our life in six lovely or silly (the list is endless) ways!  If you want to share too just put six words describing life for you right now and do it here











If I were being completely honest my six snowy words would be, My grass is greener without snow!  But for the better good of your day as well as mine....I'm going to another more favorite thing happening in my life (sort of)....
             No I didn't bake a cake either but today April 16th 1889 Charles Spencer (was he related to Di?) Chaplin was born in London, England ( a country very close to my heart) and if who he was has slipped your mind, after all he died on Christmas Day in 1977...

     ...he was an English comic actor, (silent film after silent film too) a film director and composer, and a good friend to all he knew.  He would have had 122 candles on his cake this year.  Robert Downey Jr. brought Charlie to life in the movie Chaplin.....a must see at least once.
   So my six words today are in honor of Charlie and one of his quotes (put in six words.)

"A day without laughter is wasted."

                  Happy birthday, Charlie whereever you are!

What's A Whispered Secret

             I ask you, "What is a wonderfully warm whispered secret between friends........?"...one that lifts your heart with unbearable excitement....in this thing we call.....living.....



 We Can't Live Just For Ourselves...sometimes you just have to reach out....and offer a moment of your time... and maybe a flower.

It was a lovely spring break, away from familiar things.....and my daughter made unusual friends along the way... stepping away from normal.....

Some didn't have much to offer in the way of words....

So it goes, first a whisper shared between friends, and....

as Benjamin Franklin once quoted....
"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle..."

We must never stop offering kindness, no matter how brief, or slight it may be.....or one day it may be too late.

Don't forget to feed some friends along your journey.

Sandbagging

Gazebo in Lowell Park, at Stillwater

    

Please excuse cell phone photo of...... The St. Croix River at Stillwater, slipped slightly below 87 feet-flood stage- as of 5 PM (photo) that meant the Stillwater Lift Bridge was closed on April 8th, by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, but could reopen soon. The Lift bridge is on the right side of photo.  (The water is touching the bridge at this time.)

The mere act of sandbagging is no small thing..... really. 

We cannot change the rising waters, it's far better to accept and prepare .....and hope for the best.  Bring your camera.

Normally you could just walk down to this lovely gazebo in Lowell Park at Stillwater......except during flood stage....every year it seems lately....

Whimsical Wednesday wk 21 Apr 13 - Apr 19

Happy Whimsical Wednesday ...... where almost limitless possibilities become possible....in art form...
if you feel like engaging with your own bit of whimsy too,  just go here
http://dthaase-lines.blogspot.com/p/whimsical-wednesday.html

Anticipating the Unanticipated

Or
Fuzzy Logic of sorts…..


A real long time ago
In Aqua Land
I enjoyed
Tiny bubbles
Like poetry on water
Inside a tiny fish bowl
and I met
A fairy-mermaid
Swimming with the fish.
So I asked her,
Is it cat proof?
and she said,
Good grief
Clear as mud
It’s not!
They need a speedy getaway!
Wouldn’t you say?



Saturday Centus - Wk 49 - April showers bring

Welcome again to Saturday Centus brought to you this lovely, sun filled morn.....after a weekend of so much joy but little composing time.....I am SO VERY deLIGHTed to see Jenny going after my own heart and serving up springtime madness for us all!  I promise Jenny not to put anything scary, or um you know into this post................no need for hubby to um, look under the bed tonight!    Enjoy and if you are reading this and haven't offered your own Saturday Centus....why not?!



       Taylor’s true passion for this centuries old art began from her keen eye for flower design. Victorian people used symbols and gestures instead of words with special meanings for certain flowers. Camellia for graciousness, daisies for innocence and Wisteria for steadfast and so Taylor magically weaved each bride to flower.


       After grooms swallowed their bait, putting all doubts aside and holding a carat before his bride to be, would ask for her hand in marriage. Love being too insistent to ignore, dates would be set and ultimately after April Showers bring May flowers; Taylor presented, the loveliest of springtime weddings.

Thematic Photographic # 141 Windows

So before I could look outside my window the new theme for Thematic Photographic was up and it's all about windows.  As always the theme is wide open!
If you feel like following along with your own post just go here
http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2011/04/thematic-photographic-141-windows.html

This was a very full weekend and it all began on Friday.......

I enjoy taking long walks and looking at windows along the way, wondering what lies on the other side...I remember doing this as far back as my days of trick-or-treating.......

My grandbaby, Karina's Baptism today........
The windows of my soul are made of one-way glass, don't bother looking into my eyes if there's something you want to know, just ask. - Ani Difranco

We dined here Friday night and took a stroll outside in search of windows....
"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade."  - Tom Peters

Friday was a day to say hello to our dear old feathered friends.....one was too busy peering out the window to bother showing his face to us!

While a few other feathered friends (this is Mo) was more than happy to chat with us!

In all that you may do this week......"Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard." - Anne Sexton
and you will find life to be good.....

Six Word Saturday - 6WS - April 9

Not even a hint of sunshine outside today, in my world.... so I'll bring it here...If you want to offer your own simply, stunning or otherwise hopeful, thankful or any other ....words just go here



My six words today are, well my thoughts are so busy that I offer three of the same theme!


                        


 Don't like today, change your fable!
         
      Thinking about rewriting my fairy tale!
                       
                      So free and happy to be!

Sepia Saturday 69 : 9 April 2011

It is that time again.....

Courtesy of Photo of The day Free Images.

  

and we welcome a very special lady to the Sepia Saturday mix!     This photo of a bear cub and Mary (aka America’s Sweetheart) is a perfect example of who Mary Pickford was in everyday life.    Mary’s stunning and curly golden locks complimented her large, dark eyes that were bigger than life, and they constantly showed her all that was right with the world.  It was through her enjoyment of life, that she was able to offer it to us in return.  

Mary Pickford was more than a woman of beauty and intelligence; she was a woman of great appreciation in all things!


Greetings again to Sepia Saturday with Alan’s remarkable new theme of Mary Pickford, mostly a motion picture actress, with the most alluring eyes….



“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford



If you want to join Sepia Saturday about Mary or have other memorable items to share just go here

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/04/sepia-saturday-69-9th-april-2011.html


            However as interesting as Mary Pickford is I'm going slightly off her magic to include some other motion picture stars from way back when....all of the following photos are from a collection I bought some time ago, and I'll include just a bit of their movie career for you now.  Some may surprise you, others you might not remember, but they all shared in the magic of Hollywood......

Irene Coleman chorus girl from Broadway Melody of 1936, (filmed in 1935) Clearly, this stunning star could have been far more famous than she was.  In most of the films where Irene starred she was (uncredited, such a shame)

Irene Coleman another brunette, was born in Nashua, New Hampshire 13, August 1913, and she was Miss Chicago of 1931!  She died 19 July 1975 and a few of her many movies (with limited parts) are After The Thin Man, (a chorus girl) At The Circus,(with Groucho Marx 1939) Slightly Honorable (a curvy brunette 1940) as just a few.

Moving on to another stunning starlet......

Jane Withers born April 12, 1926 American Actress best known for being a most popular child film star of the 1930's and early 1940's. Pictured with Robert Wilcox from "Rascals." (1938)

As well as being "Josephine the Plumber" in a series of TV commercials for comet cleanser in 1960's and early 1970's.  Her first local radio broadcast was in Atlanta, Georgia as "Dixie's Dainty Dewdrop" but then she moved with her family to Hollywood, where her career really took off!  One of her famous lines while starring with Shirley Temple was, "There ain't any Santa Claus because my psychoanalyst told me!"

On to a French and American Film Actress....

Simone Simon, Don Ameche, Robert Young in "Josette" with Bert Lahr, Joan Davis, Paul Hurst, William Collier Sr. Tala Birell, and Jayne Regan in 1938.
Born April 23, 1910 in Bethune, France, (some say Marseille) she was first a French  Film Actress who began her film career in 1931.  Always known for her charm, but mostly for her irresistible smile.  She maintained both an American Film career and that of a French Film Actress.  Simone always stood out for her loveliness.  She died February 22, 2005.

Next straight from Tennessee....

Warner Baxter in "Ill Give A Million" with Peter Lorr, Marjorie Weaver, jean Hersholt, John Carradine, J. Edward Bromberg, Lynn Bari, and Fritz Feld.
Marjorie was born March 2, 1913 died October 1, 1994 and was known as a vivacious and engaging Tennessee born brunette beauty...before becoming a film star she was a band singer, model and stage performer.  She retired from show business in 1945 except for starring in "We're Not married" in 1952.   She married Don Briggs in 1943, had two children and they opened and ran a fancy liquor establishment in Westwood, of Los Angeles.

Last is a glamorous Hungarian....

Franciska Gaal pictured with Fredric March in 1937 from Cecil B. DeMille's "The Buccaneer," which recounts the adventures of Lafitte and the incidents of the war of 1812 in which Fredric March and the little Dutch girl by Franciska Gaal, making her American film debut in this picture.

Franciska was born in Hungary on February 1, 1904 and died in New York, NY January 2, 1973 and she was a popular continental cabaret artist of the 1920's and 1930's and she also appeared sporadically on Broadway.

Since we've been disclosing so much from Los Angeles, California I'm finishing this week's Sepia Saturday with an interesting photo.......care of LAX, Los Angeles International Airport.  There is so much charm and mystery with a witty sort of innovation that makes the town so inviting to visit....at least once......

Skyhigh Restaurant Los Angeles International Air Terminal

This stunning restaurant and cocktail lounge serves people at one of the world's most modern and busiest air terminals.  The photo is circa early 1960's.  It's still open under a different name....come and check it out!
"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." - Dolly Parton

Sexy Sax Man (Careless Whisper Saxophone Prank!!) directors cut

Whimsical Wednesday - wk 19 - Apr 6 - Now You See-Um

Welcome to another new day of whimsy all week long...if you care to chuckle or doodle or draw or create silly whimsy things go here
http://dthaase-lines.blogspot.com/p/whimsical-wednesday.html

Two Minnesota    No - see - ums!

Now You see- um -- Now You don't.

Could it be true

that birds nest

spiders web

moths hide in a pupa

then what about no-see-ums?

What about those itsy-bitsy flies?

That Floridians call "no-see-ums"

What do they do?

Besides being a nuisance, that is true.

Do they have any other quests?

Like favorite things they do?

Or, are they a fictitious fib?

A real cuddly bugger?  You don't say!

I don't think so.

Thank goodness Minnesota has none.

They like to hang around water you say

never leaving too far from their home too

Imagine New York having them

on the subways!

or the diners!

But, where else are no-see-ums

to be found?

Thematic Photographic # 140 By land, sea or air

All things by land, sea or air......it shall be...... "When you live by the sea, there are definite seasons when you can see the weather coming and going which lends itself to photography." by Graeme Le Saux

Okay I'm squeezing in a bit after the first release of Carmi's Thematic Photographic current theme of "By land, sea or air"...or perhaps all three in one...but as always if you're itching to throw one or two or more in just go here http://writteninc.blogspot.com/2011/04/thematic-photographic-140-by-land-sea.html

Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
So blend the turrets and shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air....
    taken from, The City in the Sea - by Edgar Allan Poe

and ..... From....... Idea of Order at Key West

If it was only the dark voice of the sea
That rose, or even colored by many waves;
If it was only the outer voice of the sky
And cloud, of the sunken coral water-walled,
However clear, it would have been deep air,
The heaving speech of air, a summer sound
Repeated in a summer without end
And sound alone. But it was more than that,
More even than her voice, and ours, among
The meaningless plungings of water and the wind,
Theatrical distances, bronze shadows heaped
On high horizons, mountains atmospheres
Of sky and sea.  - by Wallace Stevens

Would you rather sail or fly by air?

Saturday Centus - Exit 181

It's Saturday again..........and gosh Jenny escaped once more from the torments of this week's prompt! Ah it's okay....with a prompt like (Exit 181, 1/2 mile ahead) you could go almost anywhere really............but mine won't take place in Arizona....oh no....

Carly drove the hot bustling interstate through a never-ending colossal of Redwood trees along Oregon’s astonishing countryside.  She left Phoenix, Oregon without breakfast still hashing over stories of hysteria her grandmother told about a haunting frenzy across Oregon’s mountains and prairies long ago.  Those words still haunted her,

“If you don’t behave, the Chuchonnyhoof will get you!” 

Always fearing this “iron-hide” Kalapuya goblin named Chuchonnyhoof, Carly promised herself that one day she would seek the truth to this legend.  Suddenly, the town of Salem, Oregon sprung up from nowhere. This was her Exit 181, ½ mile ahead.

Thanks again for viewing  my Saturday Centus and don't forget Jenny would love to hear your version of it as well!  So give it a try why don't you!

Six Word Saturday -- 6WS - Apr 2

Happy Saturday and here's hoping for April (light) showers to bring (many) May flowers!
If you feel the urge to indulge in some silly madness with six words....just go here

http://www.showmyface.com/2011/04/six-word-saturday.html







 
 
 
 

 

FIND SOMETHING GOOD IN EVERY DAY

Always remember that -- attitudes are catchy!

So would any body desire yours?

In every thing -- that’s unfavorable there

must be one good thing found

So why not look for it!



I stumbled across this awesome Youtube video for "Something Good Can Work!" Their Video is awesome and inspiring.....and they have quite an interesting beat to their music...it's worth a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNeuC-pw38

Have a great weekend everybody!

Sepia Saturday 68 : 2 April 2011

Again with my quest to follow Sepia Saturday's theme, I've gained knowledge about old familiar things, and a couple of  famous photos to follow!

Minneapolis Moline, 1918 Women workers replacing men sent off to fight........

The Sepia Saturday image this week is about American sociologist and photographer, Lewis Wickes Hine, famous for his picture “Power House Mechanic Working on Steam Pump,” taken in 1920. My first image (above) is of a fine group of hard working women and although very much the kind of photo Lewis Hine would search for this was not taken by Hine.


"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera." - Lewis Hine


Lewis Hine’s photography was primarily focused on people, and he was known as one of the fathers of investigative photojournalism.

Lewis W. Hine born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1874 he attended University of Chicago, Columbia University and New York University where later he taught in New York at the Ethical Culture School, where he encouraged his students to use photography as an educational medium. The classes traveled to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, photographing 1000 immigrants who arrived each day, between 1904- 1909. Hine took over 200 photographs and came to the realization that his vocation was photojournalism.

"While photographs may not lie, liars may photograph!" -  Lewis Hine

"The overseer apologetically said, "She just happened in, "Newberry, South Carolina, December 1908.

Having worked himself as a factory worker at the age of 18 due to his father’s early death, he put in 13 hour days six days a week. He spent his life combating child labor, publishing and tirelessly lecturing against child labor. An associate then and full member of the National Child labor Committee (NCLC) he published in magazines such as the liberal Survey in newspapers, posters and committee publications that urged Congress to enforce existing laws and improve the protection of children.


Hine’s “photo stories” were a milestone in the development of photojournalism.

"In my early days of my child labor activities, I was an investigator with a camera attachment, but the emphasis became reversed until the camera stole the whole show." - Lewis Hine.

Addie Card 12 year old "spinner" at North Pownal, Vt. Cotton Mill.

Laws had been passed to prohibit the employment of children in factories and mines, but the laws were ignored by many employers, and it was common in some states for children as young as 8 to work a full shift at a cotton machine as this young girl pictured above.

"Photography can light-up darkness and expose ignorance." - Lewis Hine.

Spinners in a Cotton Mill- taken 1911 (Courtesy of the National Archives, Still Pictures Division, Washington D.C.)

Could you imagine working today like these young girls, with NO shoes, completely barefooted?
Are you a bit weary of child labor pictures yet?  You can see why Lewis fought so hard for the children.  Thank goodness he did.

The photo below is one I know you've all seen before.  Perhaps hundreds of times, and even redone in various styles.  But it wasn't until this investigative journey that I've taken through Sepia Saturday's image by Lewis Hine...that I discovered who the photographer was or just how important his work was in so many ways.

These workman are eating lunch, imagine that today! They are on the 69th floor of the GE Building during the construction of Rockefeller Center, New York 1932.

For those of you reading this post and haven't seen the actual fascinating image this week I am closing my post with it so you too may witness a masterpiece before your very eyes...right here on a Sepia Saturday post...


This image by Lewis Hine (Archives of the US Work Progress Administration) is a pure example of Hine's flowing composition which encircles machine and this one strong armed, handsome, clean cut and yet hard working laborer--uniting him with the steam pump...with just a perfect light shining upon his every turn of his wrench.

If you feel like adding something yourself at Sepia Saturday just go here
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/03/sepia-saturday-68-2-april-2011.html

Legend and Mystery Awaits

The Sleeping Giant of Thunder Bay....shh, don't wake the giant.....

              First I blamed the weather, never the workplace right?  Then I read a quote by Dylan Thomas (who knew he was this deep)  "Somebody's boring me; I think it's me."

                           Ah yes, "Boredom slays more of existence than war." - Norman Mailer
             ...and funny thing boredom still arrives in the middle of your hectic life....really it does.  Boredom for me is not the lack of doing things....it's when my brain, heart and soul become needy.........

From the cliffs at Squaw Bay, the Giant appears, most distinctly....waiting-pleasing- from the city of Thunder Bay on the Park.

        The back of this post card reads, Ontario, Canada  Legend and mystery surround this phenomenon of nature.  Because the secret of the great Silver Mine was revealed to White Man, Nanna Bijou, Spirit of the Deep Sea Water, was turned to stone during a storm that forever submerged the once richest silver mine known.  A lost legend leaves us to wonder about the identity of the Indian Princess waiting for the Great Spirit to awaken.

    I believe my parents took me here as a child, sadly they are both gone and I can't ask them.  But I remember most of my childhood life always thinking, and waiting and yes perhaps hoping that the Great Spirit would ride in one day on his stunning white horse.....really.

This link explains more about this mysterious giant still waiting  for you...

http://www.visitthunderbay.com/sleeping_giant/index.htm

   It's certainly a view you must see for yourself, across the panoramic Sibley Peninsula a formation of mesas and sills that juts on the lake Superior (Wisconsin has these too) and forms a body of water that is Thunder Bay.

               So while I marvel at this most interesting of places to journey to......all boredom flies out the window....... all one must do is.....

Pack your things and bring a friend, four legged or not....just do it!