#AugustBreak2015

August was…a happy blur

A special little boy, looking for all the world like Christopher Robin, dashes through the park in a summer rainstorm

Funny, the way summer seems to pass more quickly, the older we get. Hours, days, weeks…they slip right past us, in the blink of an eye. And then, whoosh! We’re rushing headlong into autumn.

Feels like we just started the #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge, but here we are, at the end of the month. I confess to blurring past a few scrapbook pages. Life intervened, so I flipped to the next page and moved forward. But I’d sign up again, in a New York second! So much fun, to transform the daily prompts into photographs, and to stretch my storytelling capabilities in new directions.

I appreciated your suggestions and encouragement, and most of all, that you shared your summertime memories with me, too. See you in September!

If you want to scroll through the entire collection of photographs in my #AugustBreak2015 scrapbook, click here. The last prompt of the month, represented above, is August was…

 

Loosening the string on your kite

You will find truth more quickly through delight than gravity. Let out a little more string on your kite. —Alan Cohen

P1190172

Yesterday’s highlights: A last-vestiges-of-summer picnic, and a kite that danced in the shimmery clouds at sunset.

This, at the tail end of a decades-long genealogical search that came to a sudden, dark conclusion.  The shadow’s reach is long. But it’s all for the good, because when secrets are exposed to sunlight, their gravitational hold is lifted and the healing process begins.

Day 30 of the ‪#‎AugustBreak2015‬ photography challenge. Today’s prompt is smile. It’s out of sequence, because…vacation! I’ll upload my retrospective snaps to a single post, before this month is over.

Sugar Cookies and Sweet Memories

FavoriteRecipe_AugustBreak2015

Ethel’s Sugar Cookies, from the Betty Crocker Cooky (sic) Book

Given the food-spattered page, coupled with the vintage cookie cutters, you’ve probably guessed that Ethel’s Sugar Cookies is a go-to favorite in my kitchen.

But when it comes to baking cookies, it’s really not about any one recipe or set of utensils, now is it? It’s the magic that comes of asking a small, aproned child to help you measure and mix the ingredients. It’s the random bits of dough, pinched from the stegosaurus’s tail by tiny fingers. Shhhhh, I saw you eat that, but I’ll never tell. It’s the conspiratorial winks you share when you snap a warm-from-the-oven cookie into pieces–one for you, and one for me, so yummy! It’s the satisfaction that comes of admiring your artistic genius, more Monet than Martha Stewart, and the joy that comes of spreading the sugary goodness among your friends and neighbors.

 

#AugustBreak2015, Day 27. The prompt is Favourite Recipe. I’m a bit behind on my daily photos, for having been on vacation, so I’ll catch up over this coming weekend.

 

 

Feel-good Treats from Depressed Cake Shop

We’re known for sunny skies around here, but when the clouds of depression roll in, even the brightest days turn gloomy. To the rescue: Depressed Cake Shop!

I’m planning a full write-up on the Orange County, California pop-up, but in the meantime…feast your eyes on these decadent treats.

HazelnutCake_DCS

Depressed Cake Shop: Removing the stigma around mental health, one grey cake at a time…

Although shrouded in grey frosting, these are truly sweet delights–in large part, because they invite  discussion around the typically hush-hush topics of depression and mental illness. Not to be overshadowed, hope is symbolized here by flavor bursts and pops of color.  (via my initial blog on DCS).

BandaidCookies_DCS

Sometimes a bandaid isn’t enough

EndTheStigma_DCS

#EndTheStigma

 

#AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge, Day 19/31. The prompt for today is sweet delights.

What do you see when you look up?

Again with the hummingbirds…I know! But hey, I’ve got something really cool to show you.

Look how shiny this little guy’s gorget gets, when he lifts his beak toward the sun! Hot stuff, and if you were an Anna’s female, you’d be all over that.

Male Anna's Hummingbird, flashing his gorget

Male Anna’s Hummingbird, flashing his gorget

And oh, those fancy flight maneuvers! While I was snapping pictures, this guy was dive-bombing a potential mate, as they do. Again and again, he reversed directions– tiny wings whirring at 200 beats per second –like a fighter pilot, but minus any special equipment to help resist the forces of gravity. I’m not sure how irresistible those aerobatic feats proved to that beleaguered female. But if they didn’t hook up, it wasn’t for his lack of trying.

hummingbird_AugustBreak2015

Absent the magical effects of sunlight, his gorget feathers are black.

 

Day 18 of the #AugustBreak2015 photography challenge. Today’s prompt is looking up.

Graffiti 101

P1180268

Tagging at a freeway offramp, snapped through a car window

On my way to the garden nursery, I spotted this seemingly random, messy stylized group of letters. What was the artist trying to say?  I wondered, so I took a quick, online course in Graffiti Comprehension.

A tag is someone’s assumed identity, the coded name. Tagging is the writing of that assumed identity. Every graffiti artist starts his or her career with getting a tag name and then learning to develop a tag style to go with the name. This name is chosen either by the writer or it is an extension of a mentor’s name. It is this name, which is the core of graffiti, and the tag is the quickest and simplest representation of this coded identity. The tag is the subject matter, the structure of the art that is graffiti art. The work of the graffiti artist revolves around the development of the name. A tag is the one colour signature of the graffiti artist and their identity. –Excerpted from “How To Read Graffiti,” by Jason Dax Woodward

Day 17 of the #AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge. The prompt for today is reading.

Sparking Creativity, Forging Community

As the drought deepens and the mercury soars, SoCal residents are increasingly worried about wildfires. Not that I wanted to photograph a conflagration, mind you, but I was thinking along those lines when  I found my inspiration for today’s photography prompt.

Asian Bear, from the Mission Viejo, CA "Bear Project" collection

Asian Bear, from the Mission Viejo, CA “Bear Project” collection

Look! A fire-breathing dragon!  I stumbled upon discovered this bear at the Kaleidoscope Shopping Center, in nearby Mission Viejo. The bear’s mask is an eclectic mix of traditional Asian Masks, and the dragon is formed of rock, stone, and glass. So beautiful…capable as it is, there’s no way my iPhone could do it full justice.

DragonHead_AugustBreak2015

Asian Bear also celebrates 2012–aka the “The Year of the Dragon,” in which the project came to be.

 

Beautiful, isn’t it? Asian Bear was among the first completed entries in “The Bear Project,’ which pays tribute to the beautiful brown bears that once roamed this area. (Mission Viejo’s Oso “Bear” Creek Trail was among the last places they were sighted.)

Each of the nine bears in the collection pays homage to a specific culture. When viewed together, they reflect the community’s ethnic heritage and diversity.

FullSizeRender-2

European Bear’s mask includes the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

 

I never knew about this project before yesterday. But…serendipity! The gallery was open, and Co-Designer Joy Aldrich was on site, affixing mosaic tiles to the bear that signifies the contributions of early European immigrants. We chatted for quite a while, and she graciously allowed me to add three, jade green tiles to the Statue of Liberty’s robes.

I’m planning to revisit the studio in a week or so, to learn more about the project. I’ll take my SLR camera with me, so that I can photograph the entire family of bears, alongside their designer team.

Day 16 of the #AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge. The prompt for today is fire.

 

Memorable Art, at the Orange County Fair

There’s something uniquely artistic (see also: comfortingly familiar) about the food booths at the Orange County Fair. Stuffy galleries can’t contain their glory–these outsized masterpieces are intended for outdoor venues!

FunnelCakes_AugustBreak2015

Here, the nomadic etchings of our favorite childhood memories–all electric blue and shocking pink, with stylized sculptures in every saturated color of the Sno-Cone rainbow. Exposed to temperature extremes and the rigors of constant travel, they probably travel with a touch-up crew.  How else, to maintain this full-spectrum, high-gloss beauty?

My companions roll down the fairway like Templeton, seduced by the smorgasbord of possibilities.

P1170907

Frozen treats and funnel cakes…corn dogs and roasted corn…barbecued turkey legs and deep-fried everything.

OCFAIR_FriedFoods

I find a slightly healthier option, tucked into the shadowy reaches of the fairway. Cashiers call out order numbers in monotone voices, as customers stare, in glassy-eyed confusion, at the menu boards.

GreekFood_fair

It’s a familiar choreography, accompanied as always by a cacophonous blend of rock, country and heavy metal music. Barkers, too, that pull us into their auditory orbit. “Try your luck!” they say, as truck-mounted speakers pulse.

Pass on the whirly-twirly rides; browse the barnyard exhibits before cheering on the racing pigs. I grab my partners’ hands, and we gawk at one last menu board.  Caramel apple, it is!

The trash bins are overflowing, now; sweat and perfume permeate the night air. Last stop: the ferris wheel!

LemonadeStand_Sara

We savor each moment, revel in the sensory overload. Same as it ever was, just as we remembered.  Same as she’ll remember, someday.

#AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge, continued. The word for Day 14 is art. I didn’t have a tripod handy, and I don’t yet know how to take nighttime shots. Still and all, I think these snaps reflect the essence of today’s prompt. 

Stop and smell the roses

Vanilla beans and cinnamon rolls…Lavender and lemon…Crisp, clean air,  after a rainstorm…Fresh brewed coffee in the morning. These are standout fragrances, no doubt about it, but I’d put roses at the top.

Selected by the Vatican to honor the late Pope John Paul II, this luminous beauty has perfectly shaped blossoms and a sweet, citrus scent. Although it’s relatively new to the rose catalogue, Pope John Paul II is considered one of the most fragrant roses of all time. It’s certainly one of my favorites!(Don’t you just wish this were a scratch-and-sniff page?)

PopeJohnPaulRose_Fragrant

Pope John Paul II rose in my backyard

 

But when it comes to that quintessential “old-fashioned rose” fragrance, Damask is the once and reigning Queen. New roses are introduced every year, with various “improvements” to her lineage. Sure, it’s exciting to see all the new shapes and colors, with creative names to match. But once you catch a whiff of her classic pink blossoms, you’ll remember her always. Dreamiest scent, ever.

The Soul of the Rose, aka My Sweet Rose, by John William Waterhouse (via Wikimedia Commons)

 

I suspect my big love for roses stems from my tiny grandmother, Nana. One of my sweetest, fragranced memories comes of seeing her dab Rosewater Eau de Toilette behind her ears every morning and massage rosewater and glycerine into her arthritic hands at night. Oh, and when we ran into her arms after a prolonged road trip, she’d pinch her nose and tease, “You sure don’t smell like roses!” In this undated picture, she’s planted herself among her–our–favorite flowers. I’d like to think it captures the essence of her granddaughters, too, who loved her very much.

Nana_Roses_DateUnknown

Nana among the roses, estimated 1916-1926

#AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge, continued. The phrase for Day 14 is favorite smell.