Entering: Timeless Zones

Sometimes in that ever so fleeting moment, time seems to stand still.

A metal flower sculpture in Old Town, Albuquerque.

The south portico on the Plaza at Santa Fe one early fall morning.

And the old, weathered and gnarly juniper tree trunk at Slide Rock State Park in Arizona. If I turn the image around 180, I see the 'profile' of a dodo bird's head! Silly me...

All silliness put aside, time seems to stand still in each of these images; I am mesmerized.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Thankful for the Mundane

Let us give thanks to the mundane things in our lives...

Yes, we should give thanks to those things that we overlook from day to day.

For the weeds in my yard that take pleasure in undermining all my hard work. For it is when the task is done and I am tired and exhausted from getting rid of the weeds that I am able to step back and appreciate the fruits of my labor. Even if they do return again and again. For we must be reminded again and again to appreciate that which is the most mundane things in our lives. Doing laundry. Cleaning the house. Washing the dishes. Cleaning up the messes and putting things away. Commuting to work. Getting stuck in traffic because you are commuting to work. Your camera battery dying on you and you have no back up. Oh yes, even cleaning out the stinky kitty litter boxes.

These are the things that we forget to be thankful for! But, we should. Having weeds in my yard means that I have a yard. Doing laundry means that I have enough clothing to have to launder them instead of only having to wear what is on me. And that I am lucky enough to have a camera to take this lovely photo with.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! And don't forget to celebrate the mundane!

Of Sweet Slumber, Somas and Solliloquys

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "S".

San Felipe de Neri

This could be one of the most photographed churches in New Mexico. It is a very old (is 300 years old enough?)and small Catholic Church in Old Town in Albuquerque. The name of it is San Felipe De Neri.

Skulls

Taken on some beautiful farm property up in Angel Fire, NM.

Shed

I wish I could say that this is my shed! But no, it belongs to someone else who lives in Jemez, NM. On the property of a really sweet Bed and Breakfast Inn.

Snapdragons

These lovelies were taken on the same property as the shed. You do know why they are called snapdragons, don't you?

Sachem or sagamore. I hope I remember at least half of these new words I teach myself each week! !

Strop. Wow. This one was really fascinating. It's that leather strap used to sharpen razors with in barber shops. I thought they were just called straps.

Soporific. This has to do with sleep (and hypnotics). I hope you're curious enough to find out more by following the link! ; )

Sollpsism. This has to do with a viewpoint or perspective in philosophy. Loosely translated on my part, but check the link for a more accurate description!

Whew! That did me in...I'm ready for some sweet soma now!

Doors of Taos

Whenever we get up to the town of Taos in Northern New Mexico, I love to make it a point to stop by this place because it is a yard full of wonderful antique doors for sale. I believe the name of the establishment is Taos Doors (no website that I know of). They are just are few doors down (no pun intended) from a restaurant that is famous for it's diner food-and a favorite of the locals, called Michael's Kitchen. If you plan a trip to Taos, make sure you stop by to eat at Michael's-on weekend mornings, there is a line waiting to get seated, but they "turn 'em and burn 'em" pretty fast, so the wait is never horrendous.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Roll Out Those R's!!

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "R".

ROCK

Or, in this case, rocks. There and literally hundreds upon hundreds of these stacked rocks in the Cathedral Rock State park in Sedona, Arizona. Most of you know these stacks to be 'cairns'.

REFLECTOR

Macro shot of a road reflector off of the Hwy 44 by Valle Grande.

ROADSIDE

Roadside decorations. Here in New Mexico, as we get near the Christmas Holiday, there are a lot of juniper trees off the roadside. Just about anywhere. The stretch of the I-25 freeway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe seems to be an area where seemingly random tree decorations occur. I think a group of people must take it upon themselves to pick a tree and each year, the same trees are randomly decorated. Which isn't random, but it does LOOK like it is. Mind you, these trees are along the roadside to a freeway, so this is not a safe and easy task. I can tell you that it is very heartwarming to see these trees. If you live locally and want to see these, they appear about a week before Christmas and there is usually a bunch of them between the rest stop that is north of La Bajada and south of Cerillos Dr.

RUST ABSTRACT

I call this my 'rust abstract'. I have a series of these in my private stash of images. They are macro shots of an old retired train from the Santa Fe rail yard. This retired car lives in Magdelena. If you like aged surfaces, rust, patinas, etc. this retired car will make you weak in the knees!

Gazing at this image up close (click on it for a larger view) is like looking for shapes in clouds. In this image alone, I saw turkey feathers, fish scales, two necks, a top hat (funky one), an elephant eye, seagull's head profile, a smoke plume, a series of mesas, and the detail around a dove's eye. And yes, I am indeed sober in finding these!

And, now, for 'dessert'! The really random (and somewhat obscure) "R" words!

Rabbinate. Alright, perhaps not obscure to those of you of the Jewish faith, but for me, it was! It is the supreme religious governing body of Israel.

Radon. The 'geek' in me had to include this one! A radioactive noble gas (the heaviest one). Radon is formed as part of the normal radioactive decay chain of uranium.

Reticulation. One of my most favorites words. And, one of my most favorite occurrences in art. Wikipedia didn't have a definition for me to put a link here and all the other web dictionaries didn't do it justice. The "free online dictionary" wasn't too bad, but that page was so full of ads, you'd never find the definition! So, here it is from that page:

Noun 1. reticulation - (photography) the formation of a network of cracks or wrinkles in a photographic emulsion photography, picture taking - the act of taking and printing photographs formation - natural process that causes something to form; "the formation of gas in the intestine"; "the formation of crystals"; "the formation of pseudopods" 2. reticulation - an arrangement resembling a net or network; "the reticulation of a leaf"; "the reticulation of a photographic emulsion" network - a system of intersecting lines or channels; "a railroad network"; "a network of canals"

I can get acrylic paint to reticulate too. Toner washes are really fantastic for creating reticulation. Reticulated metal is also amazing.

Recondite. Little known. Obscure. Sounds like me! Anyway, check out the link for more on the definition of this fabulous word!

So, there we go, girls and boys, ladies and gents! (drum roll here) The letter, "R"!

AKA (Shadow, connections)

Aka ( pronounced ah kah) is a Hawaiian word describing shadow, connections.

Our shadows are connected to us; symbolically and physically. How many of us as children have tried to runaway from our shadows on a summer's day on a sidewalk? Oh, I have! I found it fascinating that it was always with me. There is the dark side and the light side to us all. We cannot escape that, but we can choose to stay in the light.

The Hawaiian language is a very descriptive and intuitive language. It deals with the abstract. I thought this was a befitting title to use today.

These shadows are courtesy of a strip mall that has a Cost Plus store and the architect was kind enough to design benches that span the area in front of the stores there. This one is graced with a shade which cast this lovely shadow. I wish I could thank the architect in person for this consideration of a place to rest and to the one who footed the bill for this shopping area. I'm glad they didn't cut this out of the plan!

And, as I promised a few weeks ago to reveal more of the images from the Canoe Club at Molokai, here is another one. These canoes have a lot of 'mana'-Hawaiian for energy. It is as though they beckon to you to come and take them out to sea. They are all ready for their paddlers.

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Of Quatrains, Quahogs and Quarks

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "Q".

Oh, the mighty Q!

Quarai Church

This is the Quarai church ruins which is part of the Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument Park. It is breathtaking to see this in person. I was quite moved when I laid eyes on it for the first time. What is even more amazing is that it is built entirely by women (that is how the division of labor was dictated at that time in the Pueblo culture).

Quince

I've tried one of these (quince) and I wasn't overly impressed with it; I'm sure it tastes a lot better if tree ripened and picked fresh. That doesn't mean I don't like it-I just haven't had a 'real' one I think!

Quinine

Oh, I've never liked the way quinine tasted, so I never give it much thought. However, in boning up for this post, I learned more about it that was truly fascinating! Follow the link to find out more and why this image is glowing! The image is, of course from Wikipedia's site.

Quail

This one is the California Quail. I've tried to take pictures of quail in our yard as we've had the Gamble's quail here this past season (gosh, I really love them), but they are anxious creatures and take flight at the slightest of stirrings. I love quails, though. Oh, did I already say that I love them? : )

Quahogs. A hard clam. Apparently, there are two different species that are called "Quahog". The ocean Quahog is prized for Japanese sushi. These clams, it has been found, can live a long time (unknown as to how long). In 2007, a clam dredged off of the Icelandic coast was found to be around 405-410 years old!

Quatrain. An ancient form of poetry that dates back to Greek and Roman times. There are quite a few ways to express this 4 line structure of poetry; best check it out if you are curious to learn more!

Quaff. Drinking a beverage with hearty enjoyment. Remember the lyrics to the song, "Drink to Me Only"? Boy, if you substituted "quaff" there for "drink", it sure gives it a different feel, doesn't it?

Quark. "An elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter". It wasn't that long ago that the existence of quarks was not known. So, if you don't know that something exists because you can't see it, does it exist? Oh, and the earth is flat too!

Eeeeewww!

The GIANT Spider!!!!

Even though it's not real, it still elicits this inner response from me: eeewwww!

This is the 'leftover' Halloween image. If I had a memory that I could rely on, I'd save this for next year. But since I don't, I will defer to use it a week after the holiday as it does have a fabulous shadow!

It is fun as the little ones that are on the brave side like to point out to me as they come to my front door Trick or Treating, (in costume of course) that there is a giant spider on our house. And, I can't help but reply with, "Oh, I hope that that spider is not hungry or that he is a friendly spider!"

Nothing like stirring up the imagination of a child!

Every week, a group of us from around the world post our shadow shots over at Hey Harriet. Entertain your muse and be amused by stopping by to see what others have posted!

You can also view all Shadow Shot postings I've done by scrolling all the way down and on the left side you will see an archive of labels for my posts. Look for Shadow Shot Sunday and click on that link for an "all you can view" buffet of shadow shots!

Precious

I've posted this image about three years ago when I had completed it.

Statistics indicate (from what is reported, so I'm sure in reality, it is higher) that in this country, one out of four girls are molested by the time they hit age 13.

It is a shocking and unacceptable statistic.

What was interesting for me was to observe people's reaction to this piece when this was exhibited. I got to watch without anyone knowing that I was the artist. Kinda cool. There is usually not much conversation, but a really heavy silence. In some people, it was clear that there was a level of discomfort. And, in sharing this piece with fellow artists and friends I would either get some form of retraction or, "I was one of those". For those that did talk about it, there was a sense of relief.

It is a topic that people have trouble talking about. It involves feelings of shame. Betrayal. Hurt. Discomfort. Often the perpetrator is someone within the family or connected somehow.

For me, this was about raising the level of social awareness. If we don't talk about it and publicly say that this is unacceptable and that it needs to stop, it will only continue.

But, we need to make it OK to talk about it and make it OK to get help.

The reason why I'm posting this again (as you might guess by the title of this post) is because the movie, "Precious" is opening in select theaters this weekend and will continue to open across the country over the next few weeks. The movie is raw just like the subject matter. It isn't pretty. It's dark and ugly. But, it is a direct and honest look at what occurs too often. They do say that it does ends with some level of positive resolution.

As difficult as it may be to see this movie, go see it. I know I will.

Of Palavers, Panicles, Panjandrums and Piques

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. Our Host, Mrs. Nesbitt hails from Great Britain. Says Mrs. Nesbitt: "Some have been with us from the very first round, others have joined in along the way! What fun! Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture! ABC Wednesday is now entering a 3rd year of fun! I'll raise a glass to you all!". We started with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "P".

Petroglyphs

At Bandelier National Monument Park in New Mexico. Click on the image to see more detail. We are looking up at a cliff wall and in the indentation, there is a petroglyph of a parrot. Yes, parrots were part of the trade route along the Rio Grande river in the hey day of these cliff dwellers.

Pretzel

I'm sure this isn't the pretzel; you envisioned! But, I thought this was hilarious. Notice that this is a vendor selling chips. I love the ingenious way of marketing! This is at Hilo Bay in Hawaii.

Pitcher Plant

Is there anything you cannot get at the Hilo Farmer's Market? This vendor was selling Pitcher plants (they catch flies and other insects). A novelty more than anything else as these plants are slow in their capture and consumption of their meal. If you have a fly problem, you'd have to get a lot of these plants to be efficient!

Pahu

A Hawaiian drum. They are used in hula performances. Hula is the native dance of the Hawaiians. When a dancer apprentice meets the criteria where they too can teach hula (it is a long and demanding process), part of the ritual to achieving this is to make your own pahu (the link here takes you to a video which is one of many of in a series that demonstrates how a pahu drum is made-note too, that no power tools are used in this process!). This is not something that you would go to the local Hawaiian instrument store and purchase. Making the drum is a rite of passage. When you have been given permission to teach hula, you can then claim the title of Kumu Hula.

Oh, these "P's"! Here are four of them that I found fascinating:

Palaver. A long parley usually between persons of different cultures or levels of sophistication.

Panicle. "A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers (and fruit) attached along the secondary branches (in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes)." (from Wikipedia). Think Lilac flowers here...

Panjandrum. An instrument of destruction from World War II. Sadly, we've gotten so much more efficient at destruction since this one was created.

Pique. There's supposed to be an accent over the e, but I don't know how to do that in Blogger! Originally I was thinking of pique from my ballet classes-French for "prick" or "stimulate". In ballet, these are a kind of a turn. But, the link I have for this one is even more interesting as it has to do with textiles (click on the word).

Hey! And let's not forget my name: Paula!