Category Archives: Uncategorized

Word Press Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern

13 Replies

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After twenty days in a hotel, we returned home to our highrise this week.  The vestiges of the flood lingered in the garage, which smelled of fish and salt.  The walkway by the river was filled with sand, swept ashore and piled into drifts.   Thankfully, our apartment was far from the flood waters.  But still, I spent hours on Wednesday evening, cleaning the refrigerator, washing the floors, vacuuming.  It was my way of creating order from the chaos of evacuation.  As I put shoes back in closets and dusted bookshelves, I was recreating my little corner of comfort and predictability.

That’s what patterns do for us.  The repetition creates a visual rhythm.  Even if there is no message intended in the sequence of lines, circles, squares, we look for one and find comfort in the predictability and orderliness.    That’s what I was searching for this week.

The photos I selected are full of patterns–all created by human hands.  They decorate a bus shelter in Chicago, a window display along Michigan Street, also in Chicago, a foyer in the Brooklyn Museum, and and a herring truck, parked on Zandvordt Beach at the fringe of the North Sea in the Netherlands.

Do you like any of these patterns?  Which one?

Great posts on this week’s theme:

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

6 Replies

One afternoon a few years ago, my son and I took an elevator to a balcony above Grand Central Station.  Peering out over the main terminal, we caught a glimpse of a conductor, walking leisurely, while passengers dashed around him.

Looking down at the conductor at Grand Central Station, New York

Looking down at the conductor above the main terminal, Grand Central Station, New York

I love the view from above.  It calms me and brings clarity to my unruly thoughts.  It also brings  order to events that seem chaotic at ground level.   When I was a restless teenager, I took flying lessons with the Civil Air Patrol.  I  loved hovering above the waves of Long Island Sound, looking down at my diminutive city, miniature cars and roads.  It reminded me that the world was much larger than my little suburban house and my family–with all its strife.  It also confirmed that I had the power to rise above, create my own orbit in a very different path.

To succeed it is necessary to accept the world as it is and rise above it.
Michael Korda

These days, I get that same perspective from looking out the windows of our apartment on the 27th floor.  I gaze at the city sprawling below or the river rushing past.  I miss that view, now that we’re displaced from our home because of the floods two weeks ago.  Yesterday, I climbed back upstairs to get a few things and immediately soaked in the light and airiness of our space–as if we were in a plane coming down for a landing.  We’ll be back in a few more days and I promise myself not to take that view or perspective for granted.

How do you rise above?

To see other interpretations of this week’s theme, click:

Weekly Photo Challenge: (Michigan) Culture

5 Replies

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So the Midwest nourishes us (…) and presents us with the spectacle of a land and a people completed and certain.  And so we run to our bedrooms and read in a fever; and love the hardwood trees growing outside the window and the terrible Midwest summers and the terrible Midwest winters (…) And so we leave it sorrowfully, having grown strong and restless by opposing with all our will and mind and muscle its simple, loving, single will for us:  that we stay and find a place among its familiar possibilities.  Mother knew we would go;  she encouraged us.”

― Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

This quote captures my impressions of the Midwest.  It is a very strong culture that is confident and sure.  It celebrates its traditions, its history.  It remembers the past.  The Dutch Americans in Holland, Michigan still teach their children clog dancing and celebrate their ties to the Netherlands in their annual tulip festival.  Families still pause to bow their heads and pray over a meal even if they are eating in a Bob Evans restaurant.  Church-going is the norm;  so is conservative politics.  The image of Richard Nixon as a villain would hardly get a second glance in New York, but here it is unusual.  Patriotism and football are the cornerstones of the society.  So is a love of the local heroes, Gerald and Betty Ford.  When Betty died a year ago, people wrote notes and bought flowers, and left them by the Gerald R. Ford Museum wall.

This same certainty of religion, family, tradition, and country rankles some–especially the young, who chafe against it.  And so, the 20-somethings leave when they graduate college, but they never forget home and family and Michigan.  Above all, they are loyal, coming back to marry, to have children.  The tug to return is strong, so strong that over and over we hear, “I came back because I want to raise my children here.”   The rebels who stay must carve out their own identities–separate from the norm, like the banjo player who drives around in his vintage VW bus–singing Bob Dylan ballads.

Annie touches on the weather-the terrible summers and winters.  I beg to differ.  She obviously hasn’t lived in New Hampshire where the winter begins in November and ends on Memorial Day!  For us, the spring was the hardest month.  The floods of the past week sent my husband and I and thousands of others fleeing from our homes.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/04/post_368.html

But still, this place has its beauty and joys.  It startles us with the unexpected–the stunningly beautiful Meyer May House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and lovingly restored by Steelcase, Inc;  the magnificent Lake Michigan beaches, and the annual Art Prize Festival which brings thousands of creatives from all over the world to Grand Rapids in for a week-long celebration of the visual arts.

What are your impressions of the Midwest?

See other Interpretations of this week’s theme:

Related articles

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

13 Replies

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.  Oscar Wilde
 
I love this quote by Oscar Wilde, which reminds us (me) that it’s easy to get mired down in our little worlds and petty concerns.  This is entirely human.  But if we stop to look up, we can break free of our self absorption, and our tiny and limiting orbits.   In that moment, we are uplifted and taken beyond ourselves, our egos, and our little lives.
 
This is especially true today.  An hour ago, we were evacuated from our apartment because the Grand River flooded its banks and is filling the basement.  Elevators are out, water is shut off.   We all tramped downstairs with backpacks and suitcases.  Residents are huddled in the lobby, pacing, on cell phones, trying to figure out what to do next.  We escaped.  Our terrific neighbors invited us to their cottage on Lake Michigan.  We’ll head up there later this morning. 
 
Here are some photos taken at various points in my life when I stopped to look up–at the sky behind Westminster in London, at the dome of a building in Paris, at the stained glass windows soaring above the nave in Riverside Church in New York, at a little girl on a ride with her father on the Navy Pier in Chicago, at the dome soaring above Grant’s Tomb in New York, and a funky metal fish on the roof of a marine repair shop in Boston Harbor.  Enjoy!
 

Here are some great posts and interpretations of this week’s theme–Up:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

14 Replies

Color is startling, bringing us back into the present moment, jarring us from our worries and preoccupations.  I still remember the moment when I turned the corner in Monterroso and saw this door, which reminded me of spring grass.

IMG35A 3

And, this in turn, reminds me of a quote from John Calvin, the fiery preacher, who started the Protestant Reformation.  The history books never hint about the fact that he paused to smell the proverbial “rose” and yet, he’s quoted as saying:

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.–John Calvin

He reminds us that opening ourselves to the beauty in nature can bring us great happiness.

The photos I selected this week have vivid, surprising splashes of color–from a butterfly that just emerged from its cocoon, a field of Alpine lupins in Bethlehem, NH, multicolored tulips blooming during the Tulip Festival in Holland, Michigan, and a cottage wall near the beach in Malibu.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For me, color is energetic and emotionally charged.  I hope these photos remind you that a flash of color is an invitation to pause, to take a deep breath, and get lost in the moment.  Enjoy!

Related articles

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day In the Life

9 Replies

For this challenge, I found inspiration (once again) from Viktor Frankl:

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Viktor E. Frank

So, here’s the meaning I drew from this day, filled  with celebrations and food.  Let’s start on my early morning walk.  The light was hitting the trees, glowing red–with the promise of sunshine and branches about to burst into bloom.

Fiery Trees

Early Morning View from the Amway Grand

For lunch, I baked a blintz souffle and brought it to my friend Len’s birthday party.  He is a kind and gentle man that reaches out to others despite the sorrows in his life.  An inspiration.  For me, cooking is a way of showing my love to others.   The souffle has 3 types of blintzes–cherry, cheese, and blueberry and is covered by a custard (made with sugar, eggs, sour cream, and OJ) and baked in the oven.  Delicious!

Blintz Souffle with cherry, cheese, and blueberry blintzes

Blintz Souffle with cherry, cheese, and blueberry blintzes

In the late afternoon we took a walk through DeVos Place.   This huge interior space reminds me of an airport–filled with light and visions of distant places.  Apparently, my subconscious is telling me that I need a vacation!

Late afternoon walk through DeVos

Late afternoon walk through DeVos

And for dinner, we took our son for his 24th birthday to the Heritage Restaurant, run by students and professors in the culinary education program at Grand Rapids Community College.  I love that we are helping students attain the skills they need to achieve their goals–to work in gourmet restaurants around the country.   It was also a great reminder for me–in my role as a parent.  And a reminder to my son that not long ago he was a student wondering and waiting for his future to begin.  In the year since graduation, he’s learned so much about the visual effects world and himself.

IMG_20130329_223602

Panorama of the student center, Grand Rapids Community College

And so, now you know about my day and the meaning I found in these everyday moments.

For other interpretations of this week’s theme, take a look at:

Weekly Phoneography Challenge: Future Tense

10 Replies
Deca 2

High school students walking towards a future in business, hospitality, and management

The other evening we came across hundreds of high school students who were in town to attend the DECA conference.  This organization prepares teens for future careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.  Dressed in  their best business attire, they were heading towards the auditorium in DeVos Place for an awards ceremony.  As they rushed towards the auditorium, I paused to take this shot from the second floor balcony.

They remind me of the fragility and eagerness of that age.  And how for teens, hopes and ambition can soar or be ruthlessly crushed.  My wish is that their futures be bright and filled with opportunities.  And when they face disappointment–as they most certainly will because no one can avoid it–may they rise to the challenge and be tenacious in the pursuit of their dreams

Other interpretations of this week’s theme:

Weekly Photo (Phoneography) Challenge: Lunchtime

19 Replies

Here’s some food for thought:

Chili in Cincinnati

Chili in Cincinnati

What is it?  Great question.  My son thought he was buying “chili” in the Cincinnati airport, but when he opened up the dish, it was a confusing mix of spaghetti, corn, carrots, and ground meat in a bland tomato sauce.  It wasn’t Italian and it certainly wasn’t Mexican.  One taste and it went into the garbage.

Here’s where I get on my culinary soap box.  For me, this dish represented the worst of American ingenuity.  Our country is famous for innovation, for taking an idea, injecting a little creativity, and transforming it into something greater than the original.  Think of how American chefs have elevated the humble hamburger with apple smoked bacon and carmelized onions.  Think of what we’ve done to pizza by adding smoked mozzarella and pancetta.  But in our eagerness to embrace something new or different, we can also stumble.  Think of deep-fried oreos.  Think of pizza that comes pre-made in a box, frozen for weeks, microwaved, and then eaten.

Ready-made pizza in a box

Ready-made pizza in a box

Think of the disaster of the Cincinnati chili.   It’s a culinary crime to bastardize great food, suck the flavor out of it, and create a confusing mess with no taste, no flavor, and certainly no nutritional value.  This is not food.  It is merely fodder.

Some dishes are best in their original form.  Some cuisines should not be fused.  The beauty, simplicity, and taste of the original dish should not be tampered with.  And that’s the end of my culinary rant!   Comments?  Reaction?  Thanks for listening and stopping by.

(All photos taken with the iPhone 4.)

Other Interpretations of This Week’s Theme:

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss

27 Replies
Psyche and Cupid the moment before the kiss.

Psyche and Cupid the moment before the kiss.

Love is surprising and unexpected…even among the gods.

This photo was taken at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago, a grand example of a Gilded Age mansion.  Industrialist Samuel Mayo Nickerson built a palatial home a few blocks away from Michigan Avenue.  Over several decades it deteriorated, reaching its nadir as the offices of the American College of Surgeons.  Decades later, it was meticulously restored by Chicago philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus.  Imagine if you had this statue in your solarium and marble– not only on the floors, but on the walls of your home.  This is just a hint of the grandeur.

For more information on the Driehaus, click here: http://www.driehausmuseum.org/

For other fine interpretations of this week’s photo challenge, explore some of the links below: