These were magical
on the dark December nights.
Time to take them down.
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photography
About everything
Fiction is too beautiful to be about just one thing. It should be about everything.
~ Arundhati Roy
I absolutely agree with Ms. Roy. Fiction should include the smooth, the rough, the soft, the sharp, the bright, the dull, the everything. Right now, however, I’m struggling with a bit of overwhelm in regards to the EVERYTHING I’m contemplating for this current project.
The good news is that I’ve (temporarily, at least) eluded my panic, and am whittling away at one piece of EVERYTHING that I hope belongs in the story. If it turns out this piece doesn’t belong, I will still have learned something.
Disclosure: That mature sentiment will fade if this project turns into one long-ass process of elimination.
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Twofer Tuesday: Monarch Butterfly edition
When I was in Florida visiting my mother last October, we took many walks around her community. On one of those walks, I spotted the familiar orange-and-black-and-white markings of a Monarch Butterfly. It was completely intact but no longer of this world. I gently cupped it in one hand for the rest of the walk and, when back at my mom’s, carefully wrapped the body in a tissue and tucked it inside an empty medication bottle.
I forgot about my little treasure until today.
While we have lovely butterflies in Colorado (lots and lots of Swallowtails), I have never seen a Monarch here. I know they’re struggling as a species, and that hurts my heart. It’s strange to have lived a childhood filled with these beauties feeding on milkweed plants, and then exist without them.
I was very happy to find this one on our walk, even if was no longer in flight. Nothing else looks like a Monarch.
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Acts of defiance
If bumblebees can defy the laws of physics,**
I should be able to defy the ennui of January.
So here goes:
Look at me!
I’m smiling!
(Okay, maybe it’s less smile than grimace, but I want a gold star for trying.)
**Brief online research revealed a lack of agreement on this issue.
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Gump philosophy
Life may, indeed, be like a box of chocolates. The chocolates in this Belgian sampler were certainly full of surprises.
All that remains from Zebu’s gift to us from his travels in Belgium.
Yum, chocolate curry.
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Friday Haiku
A banana box
becomes a cardboard playhouse
for a creative.
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Happy National Bird Day!
I live just west of Denver where it’s currently a whopping 8 degrees. There are about seven inches of snow on the deck railing and snow continues to fall.
I’m cold and grumpy.
It did, however, perk me up to discover that today is National Bird Day. Rather than scout for a bird to photograph out my window, I went to the archives. Here’s a majestic Tricolored Heron I saw in Kapok Park in Clearwater, Florida, last October.
Look closely and you’ll notice that there’s no snow and no sign of shivering. Clearly what we’re looking at here is an exceedingly intelligent little Tricolored Heron.
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Wordless Wednesday: Finch feeding frenzy
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Bunny Monday
I miss seeing the rabbits around the neighborhood. Don’t know where they go in the winter, but it’s not my front yard. So here’s a photo from October:
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Here comes 2017
I wanted to end the year with a photographic image I’d created on the last day of the year. So I grabbed my camera and in the fading daylight, captured this image of Loki:
Whoa, that’s kinda scary and weird. Slightly disconcerting. An image that overstays its welcome fairly quickly.
And then I captured this:
Ahh. Delicate beauty that evokes peace and calm. An image that grabs my attention without gimmicky extra eyes or blurred pink tongue.
And that about sums up the philosophy I want to carry into the coming year. Every day is going to have its bizarre-scary-weirdass-infuriating-heartbreaking-unjust moments, but there will always, always be moments of beauty. It’ll be up to me to notice them.
Here comes 2017.
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Wordless Wednesday: The ‘now what?’ edition
Marcel awaiting my next editorial move.
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Hanging with Stu’s chickadees
Zippy and I are celebrating Christmas today with his siblings and mother. It’s the first Christmas without my father-in-law Stu. There will be a layer of sadness, but all his chickadees will be together.
Maybe someone will fall asleep and begin gently snoring, and we’ll put a rubber duck on their head before taking a photo. Stu would like that.
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No blue without yellow
There is no blue without yellow and without orange.
~ Vincent Van Gogh
Injecting a splash of color and Goldfinch-y goodness into this late-December morning. We’ve got sunshine today, but are sadly lacking in vibrant color.
And oddly enough, Mr. Van Gogh, the yellow’s making me feel less blue.
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Friday Haiku
Our solar panels
soaking up free energy
sunshine is the best
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One hawk, two thoughts
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
~ Salvador Dali
Cooper’s Hawk. Photo by Zippy.
For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent.
What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice,
necessity and importance of political and social rights.
~ B. R. Ambedkar
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This is a first
We have about nine inches of snow on the deck railing which, in the past, would have resulted in a nine-inch muffin top on the patio table. Not this time (as Lucille Bluth might say). For whatever reason, the wrought iron surface acted as a sifter; snow fell through the holes and only piled up along the seams.
The snow looks a bit like fancy icing on a big round sheet cake. However, it’s much too cold to go outside for a taste. It’s currently 7 degrees.
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Friday Haiku
Alert to danger
this dog isn’t man’s best friend
and she will whistle
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Wordless Wednesday: Portrait of a Lazy
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You can teach an old dog new tricks
Zoey has lived with us for the past eleven years and for the majority of those years, remained in either the house or yard. She (and Coco) didn’t get to go on neighborhood walks (or open space hikes) because they were out of control on leashes. When they saw another dog, no matter how far off in the distance, they’d bark, growl, lunge, and generally behave in a bat-shit manner.
Zoey right after we got back from today’s walk.
At one point early on, we spent a whole lot of money to have a personal dog trainer work with us. That strategy ultimately failed because of a lack of consistency. The dogs responded to me as the alpha, but couldn’t care less about pushover-Zippy’s commands or young Wildebeest and Zebu with their high voices and unassertive attitudes. The dogs still believed they were the alphas who needed to protect the pack.
It all came to a head years ago when I took Zoey and Coco for a walk. They went nuts when they saw another dog, and in their ensuing barking / twirling / lunging, knocked me to the ground. Both my knees were thoroughly black and blue.
That was it for me. I no longer felt guilty about having two dogs that never, ever left the yard.
And then Coco died. To help Zoey through her grief, we started walking her once a day. I’ll admit that it hasn’t been an entirely pleasant experience (one walk lasted a full three minutes because I had to drag Zoey home after she went ballistic at the sight of another dog), but I am pleased to say we’re having some enjoyable walks. Today’s, for example.
Zoey still has an alpha attitude, but she’s older and wiser (and a little less strong). I’m grateful we can give our old girl the gift of a daily walk.
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Saved by the birds
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
~ Albert Einstein
Great Egret at Kapok Park, October 2016
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#SeaLionSaturday
Zippy has started the task of scanning photo negatives from long ago. Right now he’s revisiting July of 1992 when we lived in Alaska and one of his sisters was visiting. We did a boat tour in Kenai Fjords National Park where we saw this handsome sea lion:
Because we have approximately one metric shit-ton of negatives we haven’t looked at in years, I’m guessing we’ll unearth more sea lion photos from our time in Alaska. That means there’s a very good chance I could begin posting one every Saturday, and #SeaLionSaturday could become a real thing. (Especially if 50 people started joining me in posting sea lion photos each Saturday. Friends, they might think it’s a movement!)
All I’m saying is that #Caturday isn’t the only catchy hashtag.
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Friday Haiku
Played with the settings
now he’s not just a dark blob.
Black cats tire me out.
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Wordless Wednesday: Frigid Edition
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Feeding frenzy
There’s a snowstorm headed this way, and the finches and chickadees are very busy at the feeders and heated bath. I’m grateful for my warm home and wish I could open it to my feathered friends tonight.
Then again, it’s probably not very cool to invite birds into a household that includes two cats.
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Synchronized sunbathing
Marcel and Zoey soaking up the sun together.
Zippy took this with his phone so quality isn’t great, and I’m wishing I’d adjusted Zoey’s tail to match Marcel’s (and maybe also Zoey’s rear left leg), but other than that, it’s a perfect photographic representation of their friendship.
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Tracy Abell 