Sunrise over the Willamette River – Spring 2009

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This shot was taken with the Nikon L16 – f4.7, 1/250 sec, ISO-237, 31mm fl.

I pushed the zoom all the way out to the camera’s optical limit,  giving a graininess to the image and creating the effect of a painting rather than a photograph.

The morning sun’s ‘fire’, peeking over the hills to the southeast, cast in silhouette the Marquam Bridge, where it crosses over the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon.

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© 2012 – Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw.  All Rights Reserved.

As I am… Is as I’ll be

For this time

Things may bend, maybe even break,

Yet who I am, I’ll be

Scattered on my path all distraction

Decisions, escapes, love and heartbreak

I know I can’t live this life perfect…

I just need to believe, with every step…There’s purpose.

On the NJ Turnpike.

Inside the Lincoln Tunnel.

Turning west on the New York City side.

Project 365: 144/365 Stay the Course Marigold

A few weeks ago at Random Movie Night we watched Wall-E and Christopher gave us each the little potted plants you see above with Marigold seeds in them.  Well, after finally watering them mine have begun to sprout.  I’m trying to let them get a little bigger and then I’m going to plant them in the empty pot I have sitting on my front steps.

Project 365: 143/365 Shoes

I’ve mentioned reading 7 in a previous post.  Well, last week I read the chapter on clothing and it really made me think about all the clothes I own and how much of them I do not wear.  It also made me decide to take a pictures of my shoes.  These are my TOMS ballet flats.  I must confess, I love these shoes.  They are so comfortable.  If you are looking into buying these shoes I recommend them, because they are a wonderful, comfortable investment.  I also recommend you buy them a half size smaller than what you regularly where because they come a little big.

Project 365: 142/365 Take a load off…

I was feeling rather uninspired last Monday evening when I headed out to take a photo.  So I just took my camera and started wandering around the park.  I’ve always found that if I just start looking through my viewfinder and hit the shutter then inspiration will manage to catch up.  In fact, that’s the best advice I could give to anyone interested in photography.  Just start somewhere.  Look through your camera and shoot.  Well, after wandering around for a few minutes I thought the evening light just managed to light up this park bench and table in a way that made it glow.  So there you have it.  My inspiration for the day.

Project 365: 141/365 Solar Eclipse

Did you see the solar eclipse last Sunday.  Franke and I decided to delay our watching of Sherlock and venture out to see this wonder of nature.  I took my newly completed scraptastic quilt with us as we lounged on the park lawn in my neighborhood.  It was pretty interesting getting photographs of the eclipse.  I’ve never done that before so I had to play a lot with the aperture and shutter speed.  I’m not really sure I got it completely right, but the above was my best photo.

Monday, May 28

God bless America!

We are the Universe…

He’s a great “Fischer”man!!

1. Soon I will be like unto this fish. Oh, no, not immortalized on a lantern to be sold in hobby stores across this great nation, like this one was. Rather, I’ll be swimming like this fish in the little pool off in the background. We just got this pool yesterday. It will make this summer bearable.

2. Looking down on the pea plants from my inexpert lashing of the teepee. Some of the little pea tendrils have nearly reached the vertical supports.

3. I resowed some lunaria seeds in the semi-shade patch adjacent to my vegetables, as it didn’t seem much of anything was happening there after 2+ weeks of waiting. Then a few days after sowing #2, the first batch of seeds finally began to emerge after all, some of them through a path I had just mulched over the old area. What with my mistaking the first seeds for dead and the drastic action I took as a result of it, it’s just like Romeo and Juliet. For seeds.

4. This is actually one of the covers of the septic tank with some nice lichen growing on top of it. One is crude and rough, the other pretty and refined. It’s just like Beauty and the Beast.

5. The castor bean plant’s new little leaf is tentatively making its appearance. It’s just like — well, I don’t know what this one’s just like.

6. The developing fruit of the false indigo

7. This fly is pretty much the mascot of the last three or four days. Everywhere I go, a new batch is ready to mercilessly bite off chunks of flesh. Today I decided to work in the garden right on the edge of the woods, and knew I might not be able to survive the barrage of flies and mosquitoes, so I broke down and went swimming through a mist of Deet.

8. I love the golden speckle that the false indigo flowers take on as they age.

9. The milkweed — of which there is an abundance in the front yard — is about to bloom.

10. I founnd a tiny little egg in my shade garden, near my old cat’s little grave.

11. The much-awaited forget-me-not seedlings by Charlie’s grave.

12. The old poppy flower is a gaudy old dame.

13. Cool columbine seed pods

14. I interpret the body language of this beet seedling as “Howdy, neighbor.” I just thinned them yesterday. I don’t like thinning things. Every germination feels like a hard-won victory, and then I have to rip it out for the others’ good. It just feels wrong.

15. Looking between the rows of onions.

16. A view of one-half of the garden. Onions, strawberries, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, another few rows of onions (probably not visible yet), carrots, lunaria, forget-me-nots.

17. Carrots!!

18. My mom picked up some lovely celosia today.

i’m pretty tired

but not too tired to join my colleagues at the beer tent!

(Too bad I can’t drink alcohol- I could have used a cold one today…)

Here’s the view from my seat.

-Samuel Johnson- 

I am pleased to say that we have perfected the fine art of dropping everything and going fishing.  The boarding dogs went home last night, the sun was shining and there were a million little projects and chores to do.   However, keeping true to our commitment to be spontaneous we dropped everything, put the boat in the back of the truck and headed off to the lake.  We chose the same lake that we ice fished the most during the winter.  It is so close to home, just 15 minutes up the mountain road and we were ready to launch.

The beauty and serenity of the lake never ceases to calm me right to the very depth of my being, regardless of the season.  But today, our first day back up there was beyond all expectations.  The fresh greenness of the spring leaves on the deciduous trees, the warmth of the sun and the gentle lapping of the water against the sides of the boat were all but intoxicating.  It did not really matter to me whether any fish were caught; the beauty of the lake, forest and mountains had worked a spell on me.

There were some fish biting, I caught one Rainbow Trout but it was a spawner…to soft and yucky so he went back into to the lake.  The rest of them ( five) got off my hook just barely in sight of the boat, until the last turn around.  We had set a time limit on ourselves of 3 hours and made our final pass along the east side of the lake when at last I managed to get one into the boat.  It was a good-sized Kokanee…tonight’s dinner.

After two solid weeks of grooming dogs every day and having full kennels on the weekends, what a wonderful treat to get out on the water, wrapped in the arms of Mother Nature’s inexplicable beauty.  Life is good.   And, three cheers for spontaneity!  Do something spontaneously good for yourself everyday…it does not have to be a big something…just a little something that give you a sense of well being and inner peace.  I like that idea.

Today’s “stone”  Day 149  sunshine, fresh air, lake breezes in my hair, ahhhh

We were sold ‘the best lasagne in Brisbane’ which was very very tasty but they obviously haven’t tried the sand crab lasagne near my place.

The Nelson Mandela bridge really stands out when overlooking the city, as the vibrant colours of the lights give contrast to the golden lights.