This week’s prompt was sugar. Here are a few from the archives:
Sugar cane with passion fruit in Portugal:
Sugar skulls at the market in Oaxaca, Mexico:
This flower looks like it’s made of sugar to me:
And I colored my own sugar one year for sprinkles on cookies:
Finally, my friend Karyn’s shop sign, in reverse, which is still as sweet:
This week’s prompt was Criss Cross. A few photos from the archive:
A knot at Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto:
Crossed knot at Hasedera Temple in Kamakura, Japan:
Skylight at Bendel’s Department Store in NYC:
Celtic Cross in Seattle:
And finally, a snowy knot in Seattle:
This week’s prompt for 52 Photos Project was fire. The first picture that came to mind was a picture I took in 2005 of lava on the Big Island in Hawai’i. But it turned out that was before I had a digital camera and I never got it scanned or digitized. I suppose I could figure out where the print is and hunt it down and scan it now, but … well .. didn’t happen.
And then my friend Rebecca posted a picture that reminded me of this coal-powered iron I took in Kampot, Cambodia:
A few other fun flame pictures:
Jack-o-Lantern in Seattle:
Temple Candles in Nara, Japan:
Lamp/chandelier in an office in Portland, Oregon:
Playing with Fire (chocolate!):
This week’s prompt was clouds. Seattle certainly has plenty of them, but they don’t usually make for dramatic images. So I dug in the archives for you this week:
Mont Blanc peeking out of the clouds, a nice sister to Mt. Rainier:
Clouds resting in a valley in Sapa, Vietnam:
Clouds reflected in the bog, Saranac Lake, NY:
And my favorite of this bunch, steam meets sky at Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park:
This week’s prompt was petals.
While I probably have thousands of pictures of flowers, I thought I’d take the prompt a little bit further. Here’s a boddhisatva resting on a lotus bloom at the Todai-ji temple in Nara:
But I’ll throw a few flowers from various gardens in the mix:
And some African tulip blooms that I came across while I was in Si Satchanali, Thailand:
When I saw this week’s prompt, I initially thought I was going to take a picture of a Shona sculpture my sweetie got me for my 30th birthday. It is about 2 feet high and made out of serpentine (I think)? It’s two figures holding each other, and there is a story about how the sculpture was one of the few to survive the Nisqually Quake in 2001. And how it was so heavy my sweetie had to take it home on the bus, because it was too heavy to carry home.
But then EPIC TEA happened.
Let me back up. Last week I sunk down into a pit of sadness. This happens from time-to-time. I understand generally why it happens and have some strategies for responding. In the midst of this, Lis, tweeted about having tea at the Queen Mary Tea House. I responded to her tweet, and the next thing I knew, she was arranging to meet up with me and three other women on Sunday for tea.
It turns out that yours truly was the catalyst and force for bringing together this particular group. There was Lauren, who I had inspired to start
Then there was Jess, who I’d met through the food tweeters a couple of years ago. And she brought along her friend, Kiri.
So Jess and Kiri were friends, and Lauren and I were friends, and Lis was the bold soul who organized the event, but the five of us had an incredible time. I mean, I felt completely comfortable in my skin, with these ladies who are smart and bold and strong and sweet and beautiful. We talked about life, creativity, dreams, religion, feminism and photography, just to capture a few of the topics that swirled around. I didn’t cackle my head off, but I was soul-satisfied, in a way I didn’t even realize I’d been parched. There was no awkwardness, just joy and celebration about each person and what she brought to the table.
After tea, we visited the cherry trees that are blooming on the quad at the University of Washington. It was a zoo.
But I did capture a few tranquil images:
As I start another revolution around the sun, I want to carry this particular gift and share it as much as I can this year. Thank you, ladies, for what you gave to me.
For this week’s prompt, Where Would I Take You, I had many thoughts. Seattle is beautiful and I have some iconic pictures of the Space Needle, Mt. Rainier, Pike Place Market, the downtown skyline, and plenty of pictures of birds, flowers and nature. I felt overwhelmed, because there are so many places I would take you.
I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that my adventure of the day was going to the library. One of my friends suggested I take pictures of the library to share. She didn’t even know I was still looking for a focus.
So, dear reader, I’m taking you to one of my favorite places in Seattle – my branch library. I hope you enjoy it.
Let’s start with this World Book set of encyclopedias. Anyone still use them? I remember them opening the door to the world for me.
I imagine so many worlds, beyond what is known. On the left are the science fiction and fantasy novels. Dip a toe in!
My mom loved to read to me and my brother and sisters when we were children. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins was one of her favorites – and ours! A classic:
The library is where lights go on:
When I’m finished with my materials, I return them:
There are a few more pictures included in the full set. Thanks for letting me show you around my library!
The Week 45 prompt is Where People Gather.
A few hot spots in Seattle’s Georgetown. First stop, coffee:
All fired up, one can shop till you drop at the Trailer Park Mall:
You may want to get some groovy tunes:
Just beware the narwhal:
Apparently I missed the deadline, but I’m still going to post here. Last week’s them runs the green gamut. Here are a few from the archives, plus one I snapped while at my writing retreat in the rainforest last week.
Dreamy Dahlia
Green Path
Green Caterpillar
And a little bit of a cheat, Marigold Melange from the shop “Marigold and Mint”:
This week’s prompt, in honor of Valentine’s Day, was hearts. I collected quite a few in a Flickr Gallery, but I’m going to show you a few of my favorites here.
I left my heart in San Francisco:
Temple bells, heart clappers. I took this picture in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was quite common to see bells with the hearts hanging from them, like this:
A string of bleeding hearts, which always remind me of our neighbor Esther, from when I was a child. Esther had a Hummel collection, and she told us if we touched the dolls, our fingerprints would stain them. She also had bleeding hearts in her garden.
Hearts (and bones) loteria at the little Mexican shop on Broadway, on Capitol Hill:
And this coração on a wall in Lisbon, Portugal:
