Category Archives: Photo Challenge

Farewell (of sorts)

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Where is the good in goodbye? ~Meredith Willson, The Music Man

WordPress has decided to end its weekly Photo Challenge. It’s been running this feature since 2011, though I just joined the fun at the beginning of this year.

I imagine those of us who enjoyed a dare are sad to see it come to an end.

The final challenge is “All-Time Favorites” and asks us to share our favorite photos. Nope, not gonna happen — there are too many photos to wade through, too little time in which to do so, and I’d have far too much trouble choosing just one.

So here’s my interpretation of goodbye instead.

Farewell, my pretty

You served me admirably

Rest in peace, okay?

 

Note: It’s been almost two years since an accident totaled my car. My scrapes have healed, but my heart remains heavy for the car that gave its life for me. During the summer months, there are more of us on the roads and some are driving distracted. Please be mindful!

Mangled Again

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Careless lawn service

Twisted metal spout again

Might need new glasses.

Note: This is my interpretation of Twisted, the WordPress Photo Challenge for the week. The exact opposite of a straight line, I suppose. Anyway, I took this one this morning, after the lawn guys ran over the gutter downspout yet again. Sign.

Snow Zoomies*

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Nothing like some snow

To send even an old dog

Into wild zoomies!

Note: This is my interpretation of Liquid, the WordPress Photo Challenge for the week. We’re supposed to share a photo of liquid in whatever state we’d like. If memory serves me correctly, this shot from December 2014 captured one of our early snowfalls, and my dog gleefully joined me outside as big, fat flakes swirled down from the sky.

*The “zoomies” are sudden bursts of crazy energy that are totally normal for healthy dogs.

Clouds

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You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds. ~Henry David Thoreau, American essayist

Don’t give up the ship

You’ll find your place in the world

These things just take time.

Note: The theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is your Place in the World. “Where do you belong?” is the question we’re supposed to interpret. I’m finding this one hard. There are many places that call to me, and I’m often accused of having my head in the clouds! I took this shot in July 2015.

Abundant Gratitude

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“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.” — Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, writer, and visual artist

Tiny grains of sand

Circling this ocean basin

Prolific beauty.

 

Note: In this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, we’re to portray “Prolific.” To me, that means large quantities, abundance, even fruitful. Since this time of year around here is hardly lush with spring flowers yet, I’m opting for a photo from a few years back, back when I was on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

New Life Emerging

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Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot little puppies. ~Gene Hill, American writer

Dallas and his siblings, December 2006

A puppy’s whole life

Wraps around his litter-mates

And his mama, too.


Note: The theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is Awakening. Yes, I thought about a nice photo of Mother Nature emerging from her winter’s sleep, but that’s lagging a bit this year. Thus, you get puppies … three of them, to be exact! Dallas and his siblings were just about two and a half weeks old at this point. Hard not to fall in love with a tiny animal, right?!

Smile for the Camera

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Happiness is a warm puppy. ~Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist (creator of Peanuts)

Hugging a best friend

Brings a smile to both faces

Love without limits.

Note: For the WordPress Photo Challenge this week, we’re asked to show something or someone who makes us smile, whether it’s a literal smile (ours or another’s) or something that’s brought joy to our lives. I snapped this shot of my son (who doesn’t want to be identified) and our dog Dallas (who’s a shameless camera hog!) back in 2014. These two make me smile!

A Blushing Sunrise

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Sunrise Nov. 2, 2016, 7:12 a.m., Central Illinois

Blessed to be alive

Enjoying a spectacular sunrise

Giving thanks to the Creator

In all ways bounteous and wise.

New beginning, new day

New shades of pink and gray

In the heavens a feast

Never tire of the splendor

Glorious gobstoppers of color

Sticking around for mere seconds.

Note: This is my take on Rise/Set, WordPress’s Photo Challenge for the week. We’re supposed to feature either a sunrise or a sunset, trying to show what that time of day means to us. I’ll be taking a few days off to celebrate the upcoming holiday — Happy Easter, my friends!

Favorite Place … to Pray

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Come humbly to pray

Ask for faith, light a candle

Leave in complete peace

Note: This is my interpretation of Favorite Place, this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme. The idea is to share a photo of our “happy place” or a spot we love returning to over and over again. Officially called the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, this shrine at the University of Notre Dame is one-seventh the size of its French counterpart. I took this shot when my son was a freshman there, and I never failed to visit it when I came to campus thereafter. I’m told it’s the site of many a marriage proposal, an urgent prayer for help on exams, and daily Rosary.

Wishing, Hoping

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Hope is the physician of each misery. ~Irish Proverb

Fed up with winter

Longing for warm sandy beach

Need a vacation!

Note: This is my rendition of I’d Rather Be…, WordPress’s Photo Challenge for the week. We’re supposed to photograph something we’d rather be doing, or a place we’d rather be, right now. Mine is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and I suspect I’m not the only one eager for a change in seasons!