Flowers are Optimists

Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. ~Jim Carrey

Hello, blog friends! I'm back from my Florida vacation and we had a wonderful time. It was hard to leave! I took many photos with both my "real" camera and my iPhone, and I look forward to sharing some in the next couple of weeks. We spent time with family and also made a couple of day trips, to Disney and to a farm that had corgi puppies...cuteness overload! My heart about burst open with joy. Nope, we didn't come home with a corgi puppy, for those who were wondering. But, I got some precious photos that I'll share soon!

Most of all, we spent some relaxing hours at our future retirement home and have all sorts of ideas about what we'll do with our house and garden once we're there full time. It's exciting to think about!

Today I'm linking up with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, and this week's prompt is "nature". Florida has such pretty flowers and I kept seeing this dainty purple one everywhere. I don't know what it is, but I intend to find out and plant it in my future Florida yard.

Where would we be without flowers? They're nature's cheery optimists, bright with happiness while they're alive and always looking at the sunny side of things. For the above image, I used Kim's "Touch of 2" texture for the background at Soft Light/20%. I also put it through Radlab, and messed with Levels in PSE to give it a little bit of a matte appearance.

Another bit of news is that while I was away on vacation, I was the featured weekly poet over at Poets United (click HERE to visit).



I was very flattered to be asked and enjoyed being interviewed about my poems, photography, art, and writing process. If you want to try your hand at poetry but are hesitant, Poets United is a wonderful place to participate! I've gotten nothing but kind comments from the great group of people who write poetry over there (no critiques, only support and encouragement). Please check it out and join in if it's your thing. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by - have a wonderful week.

App Happy Wednesday

Even its name fills
With possibilities: “Yes,
You may.” Month of blossoming,
Month of true beginnings
And the soft perfume
Of petals when it rains,
Month of Maia, month of Mary
And month in which to praise
Kept and unkempt gardens
And outdoor days. ~Diana Der-Hovanessian

What a lovely poem about May, written by Diana Der-Hovanessian! I stumbled upon it and wanted to share...I can't believe how May is flying by.

It's time for another App Happy Wednesday...I always look forward to talking about camera apps! I love the apps that allow you to add text to your photos. This image was first put through Snapseed for basic editing, and then I used one of their "Grunge" filters to make it look, well, grungier. I love that for any of the grunge filters in Snapseed, you can adjust it slightly or dramatically to your taste by adding contrast, making it darker/lighter, etc. Next, I put the image into an app called Doodle, where I found the "spring" text. Finally, I moved the image into Mystic, which has some really adorable frames. I chose the dots, which really added a cute final touch.

Also, thanks to all of you who commented on my last post regarding my iPhoto crisis...thank goodness we were able to solve the problem. The photos weren't lost - my Mac just wasn't pointing to their location properly and we had to figure out a way to "reunite" them. With a little Googling we were able to find a solution on how to fix it. Phew. Thanks to all of you for your supportive comments!

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks - we're leaving on Saturday for a Florida vacation. I haven't mentioned it here before, but back in February my husband and I purchased our future retirement home in the Ocala area. Three more years and we hope to move there full-time! Meanwhile, we have to make do with visits south every few months.

I'll be back in the blog world in the first week of June, and hopefully in my "real life" world I'll return home with a nice tan and memories of sunshine and palm trees. Until then, thank you for stopping by!

Upside Down

Hello there, blog world! How is everyone? Kathy's Song-ography prompt this week is absolutely perfect for me because I'm having Mac problems and can't upload any images right now from my camera. This has definitely turned my blog world upside down.

Yesterday while attempting to access iPhoto, I got a message about having to upgrade before I could go further...after hitting the upgrade button, ALL of my photos in my iPhoto library disappeared (thousands and thousands). I am completely challenged when it comes to the technical side of computers, so my husband is investigating the problem. Apparently the photos are still "out there" somewhere, but they're floating in space, kind of like Sandra Bullock in Gravity.

Meanwhile, thank goodness I can at least still post iPhone photos via Dropbox, so I'm sharing a photo of our gorgeous community lake. I swung by there a couple days ago while out running errands - the clouds were so pretty. I used one of my favorite apps, "Luminance"...this app has such gorgeous filters.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope my photography life will be "right side up" very soon!

Aglow

I was just passing by when the wind flared and the blossoms rustled and the glittering pandemonium leaned on me. ~Mary Oliver

I was so happy to capture this image of the setting sun shining through this leaf and setting it aglow. It took my breath away! It's always so exciting when you witness something like this and are able to capture it perfectly with your camera. This is exactly how it looked in that moment...beautiful!

Simple, everyday things give me the most happiness - seeing this glowing leaf was one of those moments. I'm wishing you a wonderful weekend - thanks for stopping by.

Coffee With Sugar and Sunshine

The sun has come out... and the air is vivid with spring light. ~Byron Caldwell Smith

May sunshine is so fresh and bright...I'm joining in at Kim's Texture Tuesday today, and this week's prompt is "cuppa". I couldn't resist bringing in a couple of azalea blooms to add some prettiness to my plain, white mug. The azaleas are in full bloom right now, and what a sight they are in my yard...they make me smile every time I see them!

I used Kim's "Touch of 1" texture at Soft Light/42% for this photo, and also tweaked it in Radlab.

Thank you for stopping by - may your day be vivid with spring light!

Morning Has Broken

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep. ~Rumi

I'm not often up when "morning is breaking", but every time I am I think to myself that I need to do it more often! There's just something about the sunrise...it casts such a special light on everything.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up today with Kathy's Song-ography.

Sweet Shadows

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides. ~Junichiro Tanizaki

Nature mimics life in such striking ways, doesn't it? I didn't even notice the sweet, little shadows cast by my lily-of-the-valley image until after I uploaded it. Life is filled with both light and dark, sun and shadows, joy and strife. It simply is. And it's up to us to find a blessing in all of it somehow, to continue growing through both the good and the bad. This delicate flower reminded me of this...there are moments and lessons to find in every nook and cranny of nature.

Thank you for stopping by - have a wonderful weekend. I'm linking up today with Kim's Friday Finds. Please go visit!