Life · photography

Visiting British Columbia

It even says it on their license plates, Beautiful British Columbia, as if our eyes are deceiving us. Yes, this is a beautiful place.

I had to fight the urge of pulling over on my drive up from Seattle to take some pictures. The mountains are breathtaking. The trees stand tall, erect, pointy and somehow brave.

It’s so very different from the Northeastern US, where the mountains are lovely, but older. The trees are also lovely, but more are deciduous; they seem to go with the flow of life instead of the unmoving strength of those giant pines.

Ah, I know, I’m probably way off base. The oaks and maples have deeper roots, right? And I’ve seen tall pines toppled with their root system, shallow and broad, turned on edge like a wall.

But this is my submission for Stream-of-Consciousness Saturday — a day late — and I’m not going to go back and correct what may need correction. When I saw that the prompt was “Photograph,” I thought, Yup, I’ve taken a few photographs over the past few days.

We’ve gone walking every day. Two days ago, my son and his wife wanted to take me to see some glorious vista — which I’m sure would have led to not a few photographs. However, we started up the logging road and it got steeper and steeper and steeper.

“Are we there yet?” I quipped two minutes into the hike.

Twenty minutes in, after a couple of rests, I asked them to guesstimate if we had gone a quarter of the way yet. He studied the map on his phone. “Umm…. maybe just under a quarter,” he said.

We turned back at my request. I walk A LOT, just not straight uphill.

Instead we walked along the Fraser River which was lovely. The only photograph from that walk was of an immature eagle who stared down on us as we passed.

Yesterday, we walked along the Vedder River, a river which changes its name to Chilliwack once it passes under a bridge, so I saw the Chilliwack River, too. In fact, I only photographed the Chilliwack.

Chilliwack River

But my favorite picture of the day was one I took immediately as we started on the path. It made me laugh — and it still makes me laugh.

I love when people have a sense of humor.

I really want to know who thought of the poop fairy.

In Beautiful British Columbia.

photography

From My Window

In 2024, I want to exercise my creativity. In searching for ideas of how to do that, I stumbled across a creativity challenge from the UK that included 31 prompts. (64 Million Artists)

Here is today’s: From My Window

I read the prompt while I was at work this morning, and it was still dark out. I took this photograph:

I was quite taken with the lights of tree inside reflecting out, and the lampposts in our parking lot, still lit, shining in.

Half an hour later, I took this shot:

The lights in the lampposts are out. The Christmas trees still reflect, but not as brilliantly.

Somewhere in all this is a poem. It’s about darkness and light and reflecting.

I’m just too tired to write it.

Can you?

photography · poetry

Dragonfly

Dragonfly
In my hand
Delicate
Fragile and

Beautiful.
I took you 
From the cat —
Still you flew.

I’m awed at
Your mettle.
You shimmer,
You settle,

And then you
Fly away —
The nothing
That you weigh

That fluttered
In my hand
Lingers — so
Fragile, grand


This is my second attempt at a Cethramtu Rannaigechta Moire, an Irish poetic form that requires 3 syllable lines in quatrains. The second and fourth lines rhyme.

It is in response to the W3 prompt this week from Sadje —

  • Write: a syllabic poem or: a poem in free verse;
  • Topic: “What inspires you to write?” or: “What inspires you to write poetry?”

It’s funny — but I think what inspires me to write a poem is often something that I can’t put into words. Like holding a dragonfly.


I scoured my photographs for dragonflies. Here are two:


family · photography

Happy Memories

A lifelong blessing for children is to fill them with warm memories of times together.

Charlotte Kasl
All my children (at Helen’s wedding – 2022)
All my children to this point (1999)
All my children — except the oldest who was away at college (2003)
All my children — plus a daughter-in-law (2015)
Half of my children (2015)
Two of my children (2010?)
All my children (again) kicking up their heels (sort of) (2022)

Trying to find photographs of all my children proved tougher than I thought! However, I’m pretty sure they would all agree that they have plenty of happy memories together!

A to Z Blogging Challenge · photography

G is for Glory

A tree gives glory to God by being a tree.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation


Fall 1968

In the spring of 2012, my father’s home insurance company sent an inspector. As a result, the insurance company required two changes: part of the roof needed to be replaced and two trees needed to come down, one of them being the tree shown above.

The roof and the tree

Standing tall though stripped of its glory

May 2018 — the stump

“I am sorry,” sighed the tree.
I wish that I could
give you something…
But I have nothing left.
I am just an old stump.
I am sorry…”

Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree

The flowers around (and on) the stump — August 2018

Well, an old stump is good for a garden.
Come, plant flowers and enjoy.

A purple coneflower gives glory to God by being a purple coneflower and a petunia gives glory to God by being a petunia.

Life · photography

God’s Handwriting

I knew the blue heron was there because I had seen it land, settling in the mid-pasture marshy land.

Can you find the heron?

Does this help?

How about this?

As the heron flew off, I did my best to capture him in a photograph. For a moment, he was easier to see.

Charles Kingsley said,

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God’s hand-writing — a way-side sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank for it Him.”

He forgot “in every heron.”