Quiet Hour – a welcome break in often fast and furious days. Since I’m retired, I can make time for quietness whenever I choose to – one of the many blessings of this phase in my life. My blog is about being, although doing is part of being, being is more than doing. Making space for quiet time is an integral part of the shift from doing to being. SH, a brave guest-host this week, invites us to share, through our photography, how we experience Quiet in our lives.
A bench on Orcas Island, WA facing Rosario Strait, welcomes wanderers to stop for a moment and soak in the peace and quiet of this lovely place.
It’s early morning, the sun is just up and mist lifts from the waters of Odell Lake in central Oregon. Stillness is accompanied by the gentle lapping of water on shore.
A Western Swallowtail wafted by me and settled on a branch of holly by my deck. As I watched, it gently fluttered its wings a few times then spread them to absorb sunlight.
There is no breeze, the tide is out and our sun will disappear behind the earth soon.
My go to place for Quiet Hour is right under this bower in my own back yard. Here I rest on a comfortable loveseat, (usually with a beagle beside me) and the lazy splash and sparkle of my pond waterfall before me. City sounds fade into the distance as I read, write, photograph and enjoy this little sanctuary I’ve created with the guidance of nature.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
A big shout out to SH for suggesting another calming theme for this week’s challenge. It is a big job to take on hosting, and I compliment him for being willing to jump into the fray! To see his original post here.
Anne-Christine begins a new series from the Lens-Artists hosts which, now and again, will feature challenges from the past. She has selected challenge #42: Creativity which was originally published on April 20, 2019. It was spring so I focused on landscape gardening. Today I will start with three original short stories with my color pencil illustrations, all hand crafted.
What is Creativity? Oh, there is the dictionary answer which is not especially helpful, so I invented this definition: Creativity is a vast concept that provides space for imagination, inspiration and innovation to combine various components into something novel.
Dale Chihuly certainly has filled our world with beautiful glass creations evocative of nature, so for the remainder of this post I am pairing his glass sculpture with a nature photo from my archives that resonates with his creations.
Major Wheeler Honeysuckle echos the bulbous shape and closely resembles the colors of Chihuly’s garden art.
When I first saw the gorgeous blue statues grouped together in a pond, my first thought was Blue Heron! What do you think?
Many of the Chihuly glass works featured in an exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Gardens were sun images. I chose the big bowl above for this post because the stunning color reminded me of red sunsets we are sometimes blessed with at Long Beach, WA.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thank you to Ann-Christine and all the creative Lens-Artist hosts who give people like me a place to express myself visually!
Such a wonderful challenge Anne presents this week, as she invites us to show photos featuring reflections. There are many shiny surfaces that reflect the world around us, and the one that resonates with me is water, so this post features images of nature reflected on marshes, lakes, streams, and the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Birds are fascinating. I study, identify and photograph them and love every minute! First up is a Red-necked Phalarope, working one of the marsh ponds at the Breakers, Long Beach Washington.
A hen Mallard stands on guard with her mate right behind her. They have a nest in the the Breakers marshy grasses and are diligent protectors of their roost. Below; I have many photos of Bald Eagles in my archives and this is the best one of a Bald Eagle reflection on the shoreline at Long Beach. (And yes, they almost always look this fierce!)
Some of my earliest memories are of camping and fishing with my family. Being by water, in water and on the water is integral to my soul. Photographing still-wild natural beauty reflected in water, stirs my sense of wonder and feeds my serenity
Above & below; Odell Lake at the summit of Willamette Pass, Oregon. Shadows and reflections on this vast lake mirror the treasure of Deschutes Nation Forest. Let us work to preserve it and all our National Forests and Parks.
“You are the sky. The clouds are what happens, what comes and goes.” Eckhart Tolle.
When clouds are in our sky and also upon the water, I pull out my camera. Above, Odell Lake, below a lightly cloudy sunset reflecting on the marshes at the Breakers, Long Beach.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Thank you to Anne for another challenge with many possibilities!
A warm welcome to Beth, as she joins the Lens-Artists Challenge hosts with the challenge Stormy. Indeed, these are turbulent times in the USA and in many countries throughout the world. However, my post this week will focus on blustery weather that can happen in any season at Long Beach, WA, especially in winter and spring!
Gale force wind blasts spray off the tops of breakers as they surge ashore, and whips dune grass to-and-fro in front of me. Rain is in the clouds, and on a day like this it will soon be blowing horizontally, making umbrellas totally useless, and squall gear essential.
Storm-watching is an exciting activity along the Washington and Oregon coasts, where perigean spring tides create impressive and often dramatic wave action. When the ocean is this turbulent, I prefer to watch (and photograph) from our condo deck!
Skies like the one above bring to mind a line from Donovan’s song Starfish on the Toast: “Big cloud tumbling high, the amazing flying sky.”
This storm moved in so fast all I could do was snap a shot, cover my camera and head for home!
For the first time, this past February I was actually in Long Beach when it snowed! What a different sensation snow created. Here, clouds heavy with moisture droop across the horizon sometimes seeming to touch down upon the ocean.
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
Congratulations to Beth as she takes on the responsibility of regularly hosting Lens-Artists challenges. It is a lot of work; first deciding on a theme, then providing explanations in words and photos, and then responding to all who participate! Here’s to you Beth, and to all our skillful Lens-Artists hosts!
“Life often interrupts even our most cherished routines. But the sky, in all its quiet vastness, remains—unchanged, patient, and always waiting.” Hammad Rais
April, 2025
May 2025
June 7, 2025
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
This week Sofia invites us to continue our break from the harshness of everyday life with the theme Mellow. In the northern hemisphere it’s late spring/early summer. It’s time to relax in soft tones and shapes, to enjoy the season’s warm glow and quiet environments and find places where “there’s no sense of urgency; everything is calm and mellow.” My first image exemplifies just such a venue; dawn at Crescent Creek, with sunlight creeping over the tall evergreen trees, mist rising from the stream, and lovely wildflowers in the meadow.
Crescent Creek Sunrise
Light is a key element of mellow images. Soft, suffused lighting and golden hour glow are especially effective in creating a sense of comfort and warmth.
Tone is another key to mellow photographs. Be the colors pale and creamy or vibrant and rich, out-of-focus backgrounds deepen the dreamy impression.
Mellowness invites us to be quiet and simply contemplate life in the now. Our moon rising in a light blue sky above a golden dune-grass berm asks that we honor our earth, her living plants and creatures, and her celestial neighbors.
Moon Rising
Even with the Pacific Ocean surging toward land, my final photo stirs the sensation of time standing still; a realization that in this moment “life floes on within you and without you”. George Harrison
Time Stands Still
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
A big thank you to Sofia for a challenge that is “right up my alley”.
For this week’s challenge, Ritva invites us to “share our most creative photographic interpretation of anything related to books.” Her post is gorgeous, and you can find it here. Creighton and I love to read. Our bookshelf sometimes gets stacked to the point where it is impossible to see the books alphabetized behind, as the stacks in front grow. Luckily, I had recently re-arranged the chaos to a semblance of order.
Ritva asks us to show what significance books hold for us, and suggests we highlight the “beauty and allure of books.” Neither Creighton nor I have opted to read books on-line. We both love the feel of a book in our hands, the sound made when turning the pages and the fragrance of paper and ink. I especially love illustrated books, like this one.
The Wind in the Willows, (Kenneth Grahame) illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
Handmade books are another joy to behold. A dear friend from high school, judi goldburg, has encouraged my writing and illustrating over the years. Her hand-pressed volumes of poetry are unique and lovely. https://judigoldberg.wordpress.com/
Reference books are also favorites. Yes, I can and do get a lot of information on-line, however having resource books, like my bird identification ones, are essential!
I’ll close with a classic stack of bibles. The large one is from Creighton’s maternal grandmother’s, maternal grandfather, and has his signature on the first page, dated 1874. The earliest date entered in the Births registry is 1843.
A big thank you to Ritva for another intriguing challenge. Before I go, I want to apologize to Anne (Slow Shutter Speed) for not participating in last weeks challenge. We all get whelmed at times, and last week it was my turn. Trying to take on something completely new & out of my comfort zone wasn’t in the cards for me, though the concept and possibilities are tempting!
On your walk with life, please honor our earth, encourage dignity and share kindness. 🐾
With so much ongoing turmoil in our world, Tina invites us to continue to find pockets of serenity and share some humor through our photography. The challenge is to choose amusing/interesting photos, and caption them with what the photo brought to mind when seen. So, here goes – take off your serious-thinking cap and sit back for a bit of silliness!
Hey, come on in, the water’s fine!
Hellooooo in there…
Bottoms up!
…in the name of love…
“Here’s our chance – full steam ahead!”
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!
Lindy Low LeCoq 