I’ve never been a girly-girl so pink has very little space in my closet. It’s not because I don’t like it. I do. But I never think of myself in pink. My husband says I don’t look good in pink. I disagree because I happen to think everyone looks good in pink. It’s one of those colors that brings out life’s natural blush and who doesn’t look good in blush?
I’ve always made a point of putting my boys in pink. Yup, I was one of those mothers. I wasn’t keen on teaching them that blue is for boys and pink for girls. That there are differences in the sexes sure, but color choice isn’t one of them. And damned if they don’t look great in pink!
Still, pictures of people in pink I do not have. Nary a one. A shame it is too. But one thing I do have is nature in pink. Lots of it. Light, medium, dark – you name it, nature’s got it. So, while I may not be able to show you how gorgeous a couple’a handsome dudes are in pink, and because nature lovers will leave pink all over the page…how about I leave you with a little man-made Pinkishness?
Wow…I’d say London’s Museum of Natural History looks darn good in pink!
Is it possible that I’m a dreamer?
Do I spend too much time with my head in the clouds?
Or my nose in the air?
Or my eyes on the sky?
Maybe, just maybe.
Because when I was getting photos together for Ailsa’sTravel Theme Challenge theme BELOW, I realized how much time I spend looking up and how lucky I am I haven’t fallen over and broken my nose!
But then again, perhaps it’s not so much dreaming [though that’s okay] as what I like to think of as paying attention, seeing the whole picture, taking stock in everyday life, seeing beauty in the ordinary…
Right?
Oh alright. I’m a dreamer then and damned proud of it!
So let’s see what a dreamer with her head in the clouds, nose in the air, eyes on the skies, is all dreamy about then.
And if you are a dreamer too…would you see what she sees when the lens go vertical?
The Tate Museum in London from an ant’s perspective:
A Lloyd Wright design as seem from this lowly architecture lover on the ground:
Reflections are just reflections until they become art. Can you see the cranes? Construction never looked so good!:
It would be shameful it no one paid attention to the details of something as innocuous as ceilings…but when they look like this, it would be a crime!:
Bridges are a favorite of mine, and the Tobin in Boston is no exception. This, however, was taken on the fly and yes (shhh) I was driving! Thank goodness for sun roofs 🙂 Oh, and thank you God that I’m still here (dumb, I know):
Street light art? If you’re in London, the answer is a resounding YES!:
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s a ….yup, like that:
It’s a religious experience!:
Clouds are the ultimate source for wonder and awe from below:
Considering the amount of PRIME tagging surface in and around the city of London, I was amazed and impressed that the graffiti artists show so much respect for their city by adding creative value where they doodle rather than taking value away by defacing beautiful architecture. (Either that, or the laws for graffiti are so tough it’s not worth getting caught!)
Anyway you look at it, what graffiti and murals I did find, were photo worthy and I’m happy to share them here, as well as some from the coastal town of Whitstable, where I was lucky enough to plant my arse in the same seat where Peter O’Toole planted his! True story 🙂
This mural, painted high up on the side of an old building supposedly depicts the royal family. I don’t know if it’s offensive to them, but personally, I think it rocks!
The above three pieces of wall art, are on the walls and a concrete column surrounding an area kids use for skateboarding and bike tricks. It’s quite clever what they’ve done and the murals are fantastic! And yes, that’s OUR fearless leader; so popular in Bonny Ol’ England. That’s something huh?Glad we cleared up who the author is right? Would hate not knowing! 🙂This one was just too cute to pass by…no clue what it means, but me likeyGraffiti’s answer to the Rorschach test?Talk about creative! This is actually a beach hut in Whitstable, painted entirely with these characters. Tiny though the beach hut is, it HUGE on funAnd finally (blurrily?)… Life is Beautiful. Yes. Yes it is!
I love finding the odd ugly and even more so, seeing the odd beauty in it.
Let’s see if I’ve managed to do that here.
Just remember…to each his ODD!
Yes. Yes I do. I find it ODD that Marmite yeast spread is the highlight of the Christmas lights on Oxford Street in London. ODD-LY beautiful though, isn’t it?Which may be the reason I photographed this when I was caught totally by surprise while shopping long ago. Do you think it’s because I was in COLONIAL WLLIAMSBURG? (ba dum dum) I guess I still find it ODD-LY beautiful (if not disgusting-ly awful)
I mean, if I have any photographs of photographers taking photographs it would be in my photographs of photographing London (phew)
So…on a mission, I went through my London photogr…oh nevermind. I went through my pictures and found exactly 2…TWO with people popping pictures
Okay. Well, then I thought, hell…I know that everyone everywhere on every High Street corner over there, is being photoged by someone somewhere, so I looked for the eyes in the sky rather than the lens on the land and what do you think I found?
Yup…Big Brother!
So…for this challenge, I challenge you to find the spying eyes on the Highs (streets, that is) in these chock full o’ stuff pictures
Once I found one, I couldn’t stop!! I couldn’t have kept going (there are 1200 of them, yikes) until the evereadies died, but I controlled myself
Anyway…besides giving me a whole new way to look at my Zoom with a View, I got some good practice taking them from color to black and white. I don’t have any special photo editing software, so I just play around with what’s available on my computer. Still, it’s a practice I shall endeavor to get better at, but in the meantime, please enjoy my entry and thanks for lookin’ (you will of course need to click on each photo to get full size…it may help)
Can ya see it? This one ‘blends’In the financial district…naturallyThis is the top of the Southwark Cathedral…where SHAKESPEARE is buried! Think they are spying to see if he’s writing again? Can ya see it?Absolutely need to spy on people’s comings and goings into and outta the pub. Right?The epitome of Eye in the Sky. See it? Talk about a Crow’s Nest!Captured from the top of the bus (man, what fun those buses are!)…cameras are like birds on a wire!This one isn’t shy…front and center and proud it! I figured I’d give ya an easy one
Today’s Reflection comes…why?
Because it’s Friday?
Because it’s the 70th Anniversary of D-Day?
Because it’s the last day my baby boy will live in his 20s?(eek)
Maybe
Maybe not
Why then
Why Reflect
Why Reminisce
Why Record
Why Remember
Why not?
Does there have to be a Reason?
Do we need an excuse?
Does there have to be a catalyst?
Why not just because today is as good a day as any?
Better yet, why not just because I feel like it?
A double edged sword, to be sure
As many will make us weep as make us smile
Some take us to unhappy times in unhappy places
Some remind us of simple pleasures, small joys, and the blessings we enjoy
While others bring back the people, places, and things, that helped shape who we are, for better or worse
I like to think they are all of value in our lives
Lessons in patience and tolerance?
Lessons in loving and winning or losing and letting go?
Lessons in living in the moment so we may appreciate what we have and not focus on what we don’t?
Sure…all of those things, and more
It could be said there are as many Reasons as there are Reflections
And it could also be said there are as many Reasons not to
But I’m a survivor of the past…yet I believe in ghosts
I may have my windows open in the present, but the back door is still unlocked
Should I close and lock that back door?
Set my sites strictly on what’s ahead?
I could, but there’s just something…in spite of it all
That I can never and will never, leave behind
I’m an old soul
And that’s okay
I’d rather see and know where I came from
Appreciate where I am today
Than worry about where I am going
Because one thing is for sure…
We all end up here, in some form or another…we all end up here
And it all matters…it’s all worth A Reflection
I wanted to share some of the beauty I found while in London during the fall of 2012. One of my favorite days was spent wandering the winding paths through Abney Park Cemetery with probably the only person I know who appreciates it as much as I do, but perhaps for different reasons.
I did feel the history as well as the sorrow of what once was, yet was at once at ease in my surroundings. I saw nothing ugly in the tilted and tipped over stones; felt no outrage at the lack of care for each individual plot. It felt as natural, and looked as beautiful, as any place I’ve ever seen. Most laid in that hallowed ground, have been there longer than my own country has existed. Imagine. The moments of reflection and wonder spent there will be with me forever.
Yesterday I visited a too-long forgotten toy box brought to mind by a friend.
Today I found something I’d thought lost when an earlier laptop decided to commit Hara-Kiri.
I love these reminders that I’m getting old…because now when I think I’ve lost something irreplaceable, I can at least hold out hope (if I remember to) that I’ve just forgotten that I took steps to make sure that didn’t happen.
It’s like that AH HA moment of opening the freezer and finding your favorite pair of underwear!
“Ah Ha! Now I remember, I put you in there to help with the night sweats.”
I’m not the only one.
Right?
RIGHT?
Okay, sure, whatever…I’ll just say it made sense at the time and I’m glad all I did was forget I put them there and not that I forgot I had them, or that I lost them, or shit….now I’m so confused.
What was I looking for?
Oh, wait…I found something. That’s it.
I found something I thought I’d lost because I forgot I saved it just in case I lost it because I had forgotten to save it.
Ahhhhh. There…that’s better.
Right?
So…what did the Old Lady That Lived in a Freezer find?
1200 photographs of her ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to London.
I KNOW right? What a thing to think was lost and gone forever!
I was crazy pissed off at my(self) laptop for dying with my magical mystery tour locked inside.
But…I must have had a non-senior moment the day I put them all on DVD, which I found in the last box of ‘stuff’ pulled out of the garage because hubby finally got my bookcases put together.
And imagine my ginormous, humongous, silly ass, what in the hell did you do this time comes spewing out of the hubby’s mouth as he comes running to see what’s happened cause the wife is going ape shit, reaction?
Yup…like that.
Seriously, I swear I’ll never get pissed off when I lose something again (if I remember to) because chances are I’ll remember I just forgot and I’ll find what I lost, or remember what I forgot to remember about where I put it or…crap!
This is too much work. I’ll just try to remember next time that I might have forgotten something.
Right?
Oh…and for the foreseeable future, I’m heading back to London. I’m sure I’ll find something to share.
Four friends, who hadn’t seen each other in 30 years, reunited at a party. After several drinks, one of the men had to use the rest room.
Those who remained talked about their kids.
The first guy said
“My son is my pride and joy. He started working at a successful company at the bottom of the barrel. He studied Economics and Business Administration and soon began to climb the corporate ladder and now he’s the president of the company. He became so rich, that he gave his best friend a top of the line Mercedes for his birthday.”
The second guy said
“Darn, that’s terrific! My son is also my pride and joy. He started working for a big airline, and then went to flight school to become a pilot. Eventually he became a partner in the company, where he owns the majority of its assets, he’s so rich that he gave his best friend a brand new jet for his birthday.”
The third man said
“Well, that’s terrific! My son studied in the best universities and became an engineer. Then he started his own construction company and is now a multimillionaire. He also gave away something very nice and expensive to his best friend for his birthday, a 30,000 square foot mansion.”
The three friends congratulated each other just as the fourth returned from the restroom and asked
“What are all the congratulations for?”
One of the three said
“We were talking about the pride we feel for the successes of our sons. …What about your son?”
The fourth man replied
“My son is gay and makes a living dancing as a stripper at a nightclub.”
The three friends said
“What a shame… What a disappointment.”
The fourth man replied
“No, I’m not ashamed. He’s my son and I love him. He hasn’t done too badly either. His birthday was two weeks ago and he received a beautiful 30,000 square foot mansion, a brand new jet and a top of the line Mercedes from his three boyfriends.”
For some, you may be thinking “Ah Ha…Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
For others not so biblically inclined, perhaps this…
London Bus advert that caught my eye
For myself…Let it Be
And when the broken hearted people Living in the world agree There will be an answer, let it be For though they may be parted There is still a chance that they will see There will be an answer, let it be Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Yeah there will be an answer, let it be Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer.
One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog.
He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself.
Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
♦
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings.
An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
‘I want to repay you,’ said the nobleman. ‘You saved my son’s life.’
‘No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,’ the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer.
♦
At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.
‘Is that your son?’ the nobleman asked.
‘Yes,’ the farmer replied proudly.
‘I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.’
And that he did.
♦
Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London.
He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted
There are times, quite often in fact, when we let our experiences dictate the path of our lives. Usually, the bad ones, or the self-destructive ones…it’s surprisingly harder to stand up than it is to fall down. I’m sharing Kyle’s post DEMON for the very reason that I struggle daily with my own demons and it’s always comforting to know I am not alone. Equally so, to have a friend who can bear the naked truth of the dark side of some of our choices yet show there is light to be found…IF we are willing to look. Thank you Kyle.
they’re a bunch of fucking natives, and they spout all this hippie shit about self-discovery and journeys into my soul and what-not. i nod politely and agree, but just so as to be polite. i don’t want to offend them, but its all a load of crap as far as i’m concerned. i’m here for the trip of my life. i’ve heard about these mushrooms, ever since i started taking drugs. the most powerful hallucinogenic on the planet. the trip of a lifetime. they are legendary and until now, i wasn’t even sure they existed at all. i look at the pile of goo the old woman spits onto the plate. i understand why she has to chew the mushrooms first. she has been doing this for years, and there are enzymes in her saliva that will break down the mushrooms and prevent me from vomiting too much. novices have…
50 Shades of Gray Hair 
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