joy – Page 4

Loosening the string on your kite

August 30, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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

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

August 27, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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.

Two sons, two minutes

August 20, 2015 by Melodye Shore

I have two sons, neither of whom is slothful. They have incredibly active imaginations, though, which is how this picture came about.

Day 20 of #AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge. Today’s prompt is two.

Feel-good Treats from Depressed Cake Shop

August 19, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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.

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).

Sometimes a bandaid isn’t enough

#EndTheStigma

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

What do you see when you look up?

August 18, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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

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.

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

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

Sparking Creativity, Forging Community

August 16, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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

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.

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.

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

August 15, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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!

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.

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

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.

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!

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

August 14, 2015 by Melodye Shore

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?)

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 among the roses, estimated 1916-1926

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

Throwback Thursday: Paradise found

August 13, 2015 by Melodye Shore

I have arrived. I am home. –Thích Nhất Hạnh

It seems like just yesterday that the moving trucks rolled into our new driveway, but we’ve lived in this place for a little over a year, now! We’re slowly transforming our garden into a drought-friendly place; and little by little, we’re personalizing each room and emptying the boxes.

Birds of Paradise

It’s easy to get swept up in the day-to-day minutiae, to the point that we forget to celebrate just how far we’ve traveled. Conversely, when we focus too much on the future, we eventually lose sight of the joys available to us in the here and now.

No doubt you’ve already guessed that by ‘we,’ I mean ‘me.’

Mindful as I am (or try to be), I still live on planet earth. No one’s immune to its gravitational pulls. But when the songbirds perform their morning serenades; when our kitties nap together in the afternoon sunshine; when ocean breezes drift into our backyard, and palm trees sway in the surrounding hillsides…well, now! Color me grateful, same as the day we first called this place home.

#AugustBreak2015 Photography Challenge, Day 13. The prompt for today is last year.

Living on the Edge

August 11, 2015 by Melodye Shore

Crescent Bay (Laguna Beach, California)

We live at the edge of the miraculous. — Henry Miller

These cottages are nestled into Crescent Bay, at the western edge of the North American continent. When the sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean, they are bathed in its afterglow. I couldn’t quite capture that effect with my camera, but I’ll work on it. Until then, it’s a fixed image in my mind’s eye.

I love that this photography challenge is encouraging me to reach past my current limitations. and to venture into the realm of possibilities. “The edge of the miraculous,” as Henry Miller says–where magic lives, and light.

#AugustBreak2015 photography challenge, Day 11. The word for today is edge.