The first day of first grade, our teacher asked her students to raise our hands if we couldn’t see what she had written on the chalk board. I raised my hand, so she directed me to a desk closer to the front. When I still couldn’t make it out, she told me to walk toward the chalk board until I could read what was written. I stopped about a foot away from it. By the next day, mom took me to the optometrist to get my first pair of corrective lenses.
Lindy in fifth grade distributing valentines.
Around when the above photo was taken, while sitting in the optometrists chair as he made adjustments to my new pair of glasses, I gazed out the window and was amazed at how clear things were. “Look mom,” I exclaimed, “it’s snowing!”
Hard contact lenses were a new technology when I was fitted for them at the age of fourteen, and eventually I had gas-permeable (more comfortable) contacts. As I aged, I continued to wear contacts and somewhere in my fifties I needing to add reading glasses. Through all these years, I was never able to just open my eyes in the morning and see anything unless it was at the end of my nose!
Then, in 2017, I had cataract surgery and my cloudy natural lenses were replaced with artificial lenses that had been engineered with my needed correction. It was like magic! When I woke up I could see everything around me perfectly. Truly a new experience!
When I was out and about I could see many more details distinctly, even in the distance. It was much like being transformed from living in a photo with the background a blur, to having the clarity of a telephoto lens.
Thank you Anne Sandler for this challenge and your introduction with a photo tour of Australia! Anne asked us to show and tell about a new experience we had, which stumped me for quite a while. I had just ordered a new camera for myself with a larger capacity telephoto lens, and thinking about it opened up the idea to relate my journey with near blindness. With each new technology, from glasses to contacts to cataract surgery, I have experienced the world around me with fresh acuteness. Being able to see is a joy – a privilege that I have treasured all my life.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
My gardens consist mostly of perennial plants, trees and shrubs designed to provide food and shelter for birds, year-round. Some time ago I stopped pruning back the deadheads of Cone-flowers, and left the dry mop-heads of Hydrangea on all winter until about this time of year. Below are daffodils blooming amidst the cone-flower stems.
For three days in a row this week we actually had seasonally warm spring weather, so I dedicated as much time as possible to cleaning and re-landscaping the back yard. I removed one shrub and one tree, both of which I considered ugly, and the tree shaded out other much nicer shrubs. Two mottoes that guide me in the garden; “if it’s ugly – out it goes!” and when pruning , “if it was meant to be here, it will grow back.” Below, a scraggly shrub in the willow stump that was ugly year round.
Above, lower photo is after trimming the fern, removing the ugly shrub, and transplanting a golden mock orange shrub into the newly empty hollow of the willow stump.
Today the temperature dropped and the rains returned. We may even have snow tomorrow! But for those few days, I had a productive time in my gardens with the faithful companionship of both beagles; Daisy always on patrol, and Max looking on approvingly from sunny spots!
Thanks to Sophia Alves for inviting us to share spring images this week. It took me a while to decide to share my messy gardens, however it is the reality of spring – always a lot of cleaning to do!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Those who follow my WordPress site know that nature landscapes are my favorite subject. Our host this week, John Steiner suggests this is “the road I’ve chosen to take most often.” A subset of nature landscapes that I love as well, is learning about birds by taking photos of them and identifying their names through bird id resources. For this challenge, I’ve selected an assortment of songbirds of the Pacific Northwest photographed in their natural habitat.
This week’s challenge from Tina, took me into a thoughtful consideration of what elements of life bring me a sense of internal peace. Visual elements include soft pastels, puffy clouds, water ripples and sunlight.
Pastel Sundown
Over the thirty years I worked as a high school counselor, I knew that we would have time in summer to sit on the deck at Cabin #1, listen to the soft lapping of waves over the pebble beach, and watch incredibly lovely sunsets. During stressful times, I just had to visualize it to have a moment of peace.
Cabin 1, Beach Haven, Orcas Island WA
Sounds have a profound influence on my perception of peace. Folk based acoustic guitar music is my restful background as I write this. Water on beaches, streams and my handmade pond at home are all calming places where I am immersed in tranquility.
Crescent Creek, OR
Long Beach, WA
Koi Pond
It is March on the Long Beach Peninsula. Marsh ponds are swollen and hosting ducks, geese and frogs. At dusk, legions of tree frogs begin their nightly refrain, a sound so primal and peaceful it often lulls me to sleep, even on a full moon night!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thank you Anne-Christine/Leya for this opportunity to share how much I enjoy alone time. A true introvert, I renew my mental, physical, spiritual and emotional energy by having time on my own in nature.
Welcome to Bren, of Brashley Photography who is our guest host this week. She challenges us to show softness in our photos by lowering clarity and with the use of software. All the photos I feature in this post are “straight” shots; the image that my camera captured in the moment, straightened and cropped for clarity and balance.
Softness comes from the natural light of the Pacific Northwest, where clouds, mist and fog are perennial. This view from Fort Columbia State Park, across the Columbia River toward the community of Astoria, OR, is an ethereal landscape. Big clouds and hazy mountains in the distance add to the hushed feeling here.
Early morning mist rises above Crescent Creek, as sunlight accentuates wildflowers on its bank. This image is one that conjures in my mind, a vision of “the land of dreamy dreams.” (Willamette Pass, OR)
Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), refresh in the surf at the Breakers beach, Long Beach, WA, with their ever-present companion gulls. A very gray overcast sky, restless ocean waves and birds in constant motion meant this batch of photos all came out blurry. What I love most about them is their natural velvety quality.
Hydrangea thrives in my Vancouver, WA gardens. In late spring to summer their gorgeous alluring colors invite me to come out and play with my camera. This close-up features many hues of blue and lavender in the blossoms, as sunlight provides just enough clarity, while keeping the whole image “soft and gentle”.
Many of my better photos are a consequence of being in the right place at the right time. When I saw the sun blazing on and through this small patch of cyclamen, I ran for my camera. The radiance of each tiny blossom set upon the shaded background of the pond waterfall, is one that truly does make me “feel alive and blessed.”
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Amy leads today with a challenge that has stumped me. Although I have traveled across the USA I have few photo records of places I visited, and the only countries outside the USA I have been to are France and Canada. All those photos are years old and didn’t provide enough inspiration to fire me up. Instead of conceding defeat (which of course is a legitimate option!) I’ve chosen to warm our mid-February with images of the sun.
We know the sun doesn’t rise – that is the shorthand we use to acknowledge our earth has rotated through the night and now our sun is visible again on the eastern horizon.
In the same way, the sun doesn’t set – our earth has continued to rotate through the daytime hours and our sun will soon be eclipsed by earth’s western horizon.
It is a perfect harmony, an easy arrangement to life. It guides the behavior of all living things and is equitable; having no preference for one life form over another.
I’ll end with a shot of Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) flying south at day’s end. Maybe because it isn’t crisp, this photo is a quiet statement of nature’s inherent beauty. Thank you Amy. Though not exactly what you were after, I hope you enjoy this bit of sunshine!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Walking With Eagles is a collection of original poems and photographs by Lindy Low Le Coq. A lifelong naturalist, amateur photographer and bird enthusiast, Lindy’s verse, composition and photographs open a window into the essence of her subjects. Her poems and photography reflect the rich natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest.
Bald Eagles mature over the course of five years. Walking With Eagles invites the reader to take a poetic and visual tour of this odyssey.
view ~ Walking With Eagles ~ in top menu bar for a preview, though the folio is much nicer!
