Thursday, March 10, 2011

Photostory Friday: When the colors run together

Give me your best shot at Better in BulkPhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli



I've never been one for coloring inside the lines. It's not that I think of myself as a non-conformist, I've just always thought the picture was prettier when the colors run together.



That's my life, to tell you the truth. I'm not a very practical person. I have no aptitude for the mundane and the humdrum chores of life. 



I can't fix anything. I can't build anything. I can't even cut a straight line. But, I can see life in color.



My interests, my hobbies, my loves and passions blend together in an impressionistic mosaic that makes up my life.


I write what I photograph. I photograph what I feel. I feel the shades and subtle blending of work and play and family,  of art and life.


The dark colors mix with the bright. Hope and happiness overlapping with struggle and stress.


The warm tones and cool shadows give vibrancy and definition to the world before me.


The colors whirl in a cacophonous flurry of life and love, politics and religion, pain and pleasure. Sometimes the lines blur to the point where I can't tell which part of the picture I'm looking at.


I'm not saying everyone should live this way, it's just the way I see my world. And I wouldn't have it any other way.


Because, the truth is, there may not be a lot of definite lines in my life, but the canvas I see before me, full of colors running together, where somehow the blues fade to reds, and the shadows define the lights, is a picture I've come to love.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Photostory Friday: Happiness is...

Give me your best shot at Better in BulkPhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


When I walk down the street, I hear a tune in my head. It goes like this:

"Hm Hm Hm, Hm Hm Hm, Hmmm Hmmm, Hmmm Hm Hm Hmmm"

The title of this song is "Linus and Lucy" but is probably more well known as "The Charlie Brown Song." You know the song I'm talking about.

I love Charlie Brown, I've always felt like a kindred spirit to the round headed kid (as Snoopy refers to him). He is so eager, and so desperate to be accepted -- and so often behind the eight ball. I can relate.

I think most of us can.

Back in the 60's, a musical was written based on the Peanuts Characters, called "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," and from that play came the song "Happiness" which defines the word, in a series of sentences beginning with the words, "Happiness is..."

We've hit a bit of a rough spot around here lately -- nothing insurmountable, just compounding issues that seem to come in bunches. My water heater is on the fritz. My washer stopped working. My muffler needs fixing. My fence blew over. And on. And on. It's like living in a country song.

Tonight, when I asked my wife what I should write for Photostory Friday, she said two words:

Happiness is...

It was just what I needed.

Happiness is...


...a kiss


Happiness is...


...God's own mural...


...AND...


...being rewarded for patience


Happiness is...


...fighting evil


Happiness is...


 ...turning weeds...


...into flowers


Happiness is...


...getting your sun and your rain at the same time


Happiness is...


...all the colors running together


Happiness is...


...finding love in unexpected places


Happiness is...


...botched cosmetic surgery
(Hey, you never know...)


Happiness is...




Happiness is...


...daring to be different


Happiness is...


...having ANY job but this guy's


Happiness is...


...making the best of your situation


Happiness is...


...being comfortable with your age...


...that's thirty-eight candles on a cupcake!


Happiness is...


...knowing you've found The One


Happiness is...


...new life


Happiness is...


...Sharon's hand in mine...


...and Jordan's eyes...


...and Matthew' heart...


...and Emma's Emma-ness


Happiness is...


...ME!

How about you?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Photostory Friday: Up

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time looking up.


It wasn't that I was short, and it wasn't just that I fell down a lot (did you ever get in the bath tub, as a kid, and wonder where all the bruises came from?). I looked up because I came of age in the warm, but fading glow of the Space Age, and astronauts were up there.


These men who sat atop the Saturn 5 rockets, and blasted off through the stratosphere, leaving gravity, the planet and all of us behind, to see the stars - to go farther and higher than anyone ever had before - were heroes to me.


Actually all of my heroes were up there. Up was where you found Superman and Spiderman. Up was where you found that Galaxy...far, far away.


Up was possibility.


Up was where magical things were happening.


Looking through my pictures tonight, I find that I still spend a fair amount of time gazing skyward.


Up is where things are clear.


Up is beautiful.


 Up is the direction in which we dream.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Photostory Friday: The Kiss

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


The Kiss.

There is nothing in the world like The Kiss.


The Kiss is not A kiss.

It's not a peck. It's not a smooch. It's not a tease. It's not simply the touching of lips. There are kisses before The Kiss, and kisses to follow. 

But The Kiss is different.



The world around you fades to shadow.



Two souls become one.

One heart.

One spirit.

This time.

This moment.


Everything you are, or ever hope to be.

Every dream.

Every wish.

Every challenge and risk.

Every commitment and promise.



The spotlight shines down on you, and the universe erupts with applause.

And you don't even notice.



The Kiss is timeless.



Our lives are made up of millions of mundane instances -- seasoned with a few perfect moments.


The Kiss is perfect.

Happy Valentine's Day!