photography

Caturday at the condo

/ Tracy Abell

Over the past week, the entire household moved room to room, following the sun. The Costco Box Condo is typically a prime late-morning location, but ever since I put the bed on the upper level, Marcel (in white) won’t go up there because he has an aversion to all non-human beds. This means Brother Loki is free to lounge in the penthouse or on the second floor. He’s happy most anywhere he can nap.

In this image, though, it feels as if Marcel is silently admonishing me for ruining his perch. Know what? I’ve just decided I will remove that little bed.

Well done, Marcel.

Warm imagery

/ Tracy Abell

This morning my phone told me it was –10 degrees outside which would explain the frost and ice on the insides of the bedroom window. It eventually got a little warmer, but was still so cold that when Zippy went out for a few minutes to shovel, he lost feeling in his fingers. I haven’t gone outside today and am exceedingly grateful I had the luxury to make that decision.

In case you’re also enduring brutally cold temperatures, here’s a photo from July 2020 when I crawled beneath the day lilies as they reached for the warm, blue sky:

I look forward to seeing those cheery flowers again.

Wishful thinking

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

It’s currently 6 degrees (and according to the weather app, “feels like  –6”) so I’m warming myself with a memory of last July when we were camping in Routt National Forest.

Not only was it much warmer on that day, we could also hike on the trails. Around here, it’s been so wet and muddy that I haven’t been out in the open space for a couple months. And today I haven’t even ventured outside, not even to walk Emma. It’s too damned cold.

But yesterday? It was in the upper 50s.
Make it make sense.

A little pretty because so much in the world feels really sh*tty

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Here’s my beautiful orchid that abruptly lost all blooms several weeks ago after blooming for months. And now look!

Not only do we have new orchid blooms (and more on the way), I survived my dental cleaning this morning. Not one tear! Also? I ran in the sunshine with my short-legged doggie and then ran some more after she bailed on me. Endolphins!

Yes, humans are creating much outrage and heartache in this world, but good stuff still happens. I’m calling today a WIN and hope the day also brought you some joy.

Sunday Confessional: my disappearing act

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

Not sure what it is, but whenever I take days off from posting here, it’s hard to get going again. The blog-less days stack up and it seems I’m powerless in the face of all that inertia.

Or maybe the truth is that I’m at peace with my state of rest.

Until I’m not. And I guess today was my limit. However, I don’t have a whole lot of energy, news, or imagination right now so I’m going to post a photo from December. This sun-bathing Marcel represents the entire family this winter as we all follow the sun as it shines through different windows throughout the day.

This photo also symbolizes the many ways I’m at peace with my state of rest in terms of housekeeping. As you can see (pun intended), that window is quite dirty. I take the blame for the dust and finger smudges, but those sneeze speckles are Marcel’s fault.

So, that’s the post. Whew.

Etiquette question

/ Tracy Abell

You’ve probably noticed how when someone says hello or smiles at you, your automatic reaction is to say hello or smile back. ~ Shawn Achor

January 3, 2023

Yes, but then there are situations in which that other being stares and flicks its tail. How does a tail-less individual reciprocate?

The more things change

/ Tracy Abell / 4 Comments

I enjoy looking at photos from the same date in earlier years, just to see what I was about to at the time. Apparently, I’m very much a creature of habit.

Here’s what I was thinking about and photographing exactly one year ago today:

And here’s my photographic muse on January 21, 2020:

Clearly, I’ve got robins on the brain. And what about January 21, 2021? Well, I didn’t take any photos that day. However, tomorrow it’ll be exactly two years since I photographed this Cooper’s Hawk which, by the way, is staring quite intently in the direction of the bird bath.

How about you . . . do you check out your photos from earlier years? And if so, do you have a more diverse repertoire than me?

The face of a dog

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

I’m tiptoeing into a new project. And because I haven’t added anything to the draft in two days, I’m experiencing that panicked sensation of “what if the words don’t come today?”

What if I fail? What if today’s the day I’m exposed as the imposter I am?

Well, those feelings are exactly why I must get to work in order to disrupt that fear and show it to the door. To quote (in translation) Gabriel García Márquez:

“Necessity has the face of a dog.”

I must do what needs to be done. But, don’t worry, Emma. I’m fairly confident neither of us will be harmed during the writing of those words.

Bee back soon

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Our neighborhood streets are treacherous right now — icy ruts surrounded by berms of frozen snow. I’ve been wearing Yaktrax for our daily walks with Emma, but they’re uncomfortable when walking on clear pavement, so today I convinced myself there’d been enough meltage that they weren’t necessary.

Wrong. Just minutes from home and the end of our two-mile walk, I was suddenly on my butt in the street. And now I’m grumpy. My left knee is sore from being twisted and my neck and shoulders have that jammed-up feeling that comes from trying to break a fall.

So what’s the remedy? A little yoga plus a warm memory from last June:

I remember sitting next to the Lamb’s Ear that day, photographing the busy bees as they went about their pollinating business. Someday soon, I’ll be back in my happy place in the backyard. It’ll be me, the perennials, and a whole lot of bees.

But no ice.

Mourning Dove at rest

/ Tracy Abell / 3 Comments

The simplicity of winter has a deep moral. The return of nature, after such a career of splendor and prodigality, to habits so simple and austere, is not lost upon either the head or the heart. It is the philosopher coming back from the banquet and the wine to a cup of water and a crust of bread. ~ John Burroughs

#Caturday cattitude

/ Tracy Abell

Here’s Marcel on the coldest day of the year, tucked in between the venetian blinds and drafty window. Wouldn’t be me, on multiple counts. But I can’t fault anyone for following the sunshine.

Fortunately, we’re at a balmy 44 degrees right now. No sun, though, which might explain why Marcel is currently curled up asleep on the bed.

Happy #Caturday to all who observe!

Conjuring warm memories

/ Tracy Abell / 6 Comments

It’s bitterly cold today and uppermost in my mind is that I’m exceedingly grateful for my warm home. We had to take our dog to the vet this morning and it was a slow fourteen mile drive. Many were equally cautious but, of course, there were those who treated the snowy-icy streets as their personal speedway. We had to detour on the way home to pick up something and by the time I was at the red light at the top of our exit ramp, I was looking forward to being off the road.

WHAM!

Rear-ended by someone who’d missed the memo that the streets were freaking slippery. The good news is there was no damage to the car (except the impact knocked the muffler tape loose and now our old Subaru is REALLY loud again). The bad news? The collision triggered my PTSD and I was weepy and shaky for a bit, not to mention suddenly feeling so much anger toward people. The unmasked and the fast drivers, aka the people who don’t seem to give a damn about anyone else’s health and well-being. Part of the issue is that I’ve been rear-ended a bunch of times over the years and I’m really, really sick of it.

But again, uppermost in my mind today as the temperatures dipped well below zero is that I’m exceedingly grateful for my warm home. In that spirit, here’s a beautiful Mourning Dove I photographed at the Chatfield Audubon Center last May. A much more soothing image than the puffed-out birds hunkered down in the trees today.

Peace until all of us.

Happy Solstice

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Today is the shortest day of the year and tomorrow we begin gaining daylight. Despite the incremental change at first, it’s still a huge boost to mental health. And we need it here in Colorado as we brace ourselves for an arctic blast. Tonight it will get down to -12 degrees F and tomorrow’s high will be a whopping -1 degree. And thanks to the climate crisis, we’re also smelling smoke from a wildfire in Boulder County (almost exactly one year after the Marshall Fire last December!) Cold enough to kill people and dry/windy enough to burn everything down. How’s that for messed up?

Anyway, this is some kind of hybrid dragonly/butterfly we found while clearing out my mother-in-law’s house. The six-inch by four-inch, bejeweled curiosity now hangs in my writing room window and I just photographed it as the foothills went dark. The bluish tinge is a result of the Arctic filter I applied, which felt appropriate.

Here’s to more hospitable days. Happy Solstice, everyone!

Two magpies

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

Two magpies flew in front of me as I ran on the streets this afternoon, providing a much-needed boost as my energy lagged. I called out to them, “Hello, magpies! I receive the gift of your beauty!”

Of course, I didn’t have a camera with me so here are two that visited my backyard almost exactly one year ago. The bird on the fence had just finished bathing and my photo session shows a continuous stream of magpies performing their ablutions.

December 19, 2021

I feel incredibly fortunate to see magpies on a daily basis. They’re stunning birds that never fail to bring a smile.