July Squares: The Art of Perspective and Photo a Day Challenge: July 31 – Goodbye July.
See You Next Year!
Category: Acceptance
June Has Been Pride Month
For all our LBGTQ+ brothers and sisters. While we should celebrate their lives all year long, each year we especially dedicate the month of June to raising awareness of their lives and their struggles, and honoring their contributions. This has been a June like no other, but even in the midst COVID and all the other uncertainties, I hope that each person who identifies as LBGTQ+ has had someone say to them, “I’m glad you are who you are, and I am glad that I know you.” And my message to each of you is that you are loved.
Posted for CitySonnet’s Photo a Day Challenge: June 30 – Goodbye June
What If………
Black Lives truly mattered.
Posted for the Ragtag Daily Prompt – What If
*Many thanks to my friendly neighbors who let me start practicing my street photography sills.
Waiting
Posted for CitySonnet’s Colors and Letters April 23: Polen.
Growing Despite Hardship
I was, of course, taking my daily one mile walk with my dog when I came upon these wildflowers. They had managed to grow under the fence, up against the sidewalk, and still thrive. I found them to be an inspiration. How can I continue to grow in spite of, or perhaps because of, this difficult quarantine during the Coronavirus? Sheltering inside, except for this one hour a day, (and even for that respite, wearing a mask and keeping 6 feet way from other people), how can I use this time? What new skills can I learn, uninterrupted like this? What books could I read? What items in my apartment might I realize, with renewed clarity, that I no longer need and I could donate? What clutter could I clear out and then organize what remains, creating a more peaceful haven? What opportunities does this quarantine present that I am normally too busy, or too distracted, to notice?
All We Have Is Now
As scary and heart wrenching and even terrifying as it is during this time, now is all we have. The past is filled with our memories, and COVID 19 has so throughly transformed our world we truly don’t know what the world will be like when we emerge on the other side of this.
But what we do with our time, our life of now, is up to us. I’m not advocating that we look at the world through rose colored glasses and pretend that everything is fine. We know it isn’t. I’m saying that each of us have strengths, and each of us know what helps us feel more whole. I can’t see my grown daughters at the moment, and I can’t hug my grandchildren. But I can still notice beauty. And that is one of the things that is helping me make my way through this. What we do right now matters. Our children (or our grandchildren) will ask us one day, “Grammy, what was it like? How did you make it through?” I’d like to have some answers for them.
What is helping you navigate this difficult path forward?
Please leave word in the comments. We can draw strength from each other.
❤ Hannah
My Current Fashion Accessories
Posted for the Ragtag Daily Prompt: Life’s Allusions.
Sunshine’s Macro Monday
Taken with my iPhone. Posted for Sunshine’s Macro Monday.
The Vast Expanse of Beach and Sea
My father landed D-Day +3 on Utah Beach and survived the Second World War. Five years ago, my husband and I took a long awaited trip to France. One of the places we went was to Normandy. As I stood on this beach (the only one of the five landing beaches we were allowed to walk on), I tried to take in not only its sheer beauty, but also the enormity of what had happened here in 1944. I bent down, scooping up a large handful of sand, and held it, thinking of all the soldiers who had landed here to help liberate France and Europe. Many lost their lives in the process.
Everywhere we went in Normandy, we saw plaques, statues and museums to commemorate the beginning of the end of the war and the breaking of the Nazi’s death grip on France. I couldn’t help but be humbled by France’s gratitude.
I think the beauty, vastness and history of this beach has something to impart to us in our own troubled time. The scourge of COVID 19, like WW II, leaves us in a world with the stark differentiation of before and after. Our world has changed, never to be quite the same. I take comfort not only from the memory of the soldiers who landed on this beach, but also from the people of France. They endured great hardship and privation, yet emerged into a world they could rebuild. For me, it helps put the current #ShelterInPlace directive in perspective. Added to that I realize that while this is difficult, I am among the lucky in that my income and housing are not affected while I remain confined to my apartment, and I have access to enough food. All of that makes me think, “This is hard, but I can do this. I may at times be teary or grumpy about it, or overwhelmed, or scared, but I can do this. I must do this. It is a small price to pay to keep myself and others safe.
Posted for Tina’s Lens-Artists Challenge #90 – Distance.
The Tale of a Seagull and a Mussel
In Seven Acts
Act 1: Bringing up a mussel.
Act 2: Ahhh, good…..food.
Act 3: Whoops!!!!
Act 4: Oh dear!
Act 5: Nothing for it…….
Act 6: Hmmm…. couldn’t find it.
Act 7: Oh well…. I’ll look somewhere else then!
Colors and Letters: Water Blue.
Photo a Day: Animals.
Zebra's Child 