Color Your World: Tickle Me Pink

Click on the “Color Your World” badge to learn more about the challenge.

Color Your World: Tan

Some of Crayola’s colors are different that the way I would label them. This is the color they call “tan.”

While I had no photo that fits the color exactly, this one comes the closest.

Endless Beauty

Every year, I am awestruck by the beauty that surrounds me. Some views I marvel over each year. Other sights have been in front of me for years and I have never noticed them. For me, the glory of nature feels ever-new. (Click galleries to enlarge pictures.)

A block from my house:

Looking down my block:

In my front yard:

Looking across the street:

A closer view of my neighbor’s tree:

Magnificent!

Seven days ago they looked like this:

And today:

(Click gallery to enlarge photos.)

Wordless Wednesday

Power and Mystery

There is a block close to my house that I love to walk down. It is lined by six huge trees that feel sacred to me. I experience the sense of their power and mystery every time I walk under them. (Click on gallery to enlarge the photos.)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape

Jefferson Park is a city park located near my home in Seattle. When my children were young the park consisted of a community center, a tennis court and a golf course. The land behind the park was owned by the Seattle Water Department and it was used for a water reservoir. They allowed a playground to be built in an unused portion of their property. My children spent many hours in that playground.

In the late 90’s and early 2000’s in collaboration with Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Seattle Department of Transportation, the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Department of Neighborhoods, and many community groups, the park was developed into the 6th largest park in Seattle. The project started with the reservoir being buried.

The landscape pictures below show a small portion of the park as well as some of the neighborhood, city and mountain views. (You can enlarge the photos by clicking on the gallery.)

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Landscape

Seeing What Is

In 1973, when Al and I bought the house I still live in, the yard was beautiful. An elderly couple had lived there for more than 40 years. It was obvious that much of their time had been devoted to taking care of the grounds. Because of divorce, child-rearing, working, going to school, etc. it was impossible for me to do all the work that was necessary to maintain the yard and the landscaping disintegrated. I yearned to have the property be beautiful again.

One day, I was standing with a friend in my back yard bemoaning the disarray. She said “Karuna, just look around you.” That was probably 15 years ago, so the trees are taller now, but what I saw when I looked around that day was similar to these photos I took yesterday. (You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on the galleries.)

The view was stunning. I realized that by putting my focus on what I didn’t like, I had become blind to the beauty that surrounded me.

Last year, I discovered another situation where I was not seeing something that was in front of me. The tree in the photos below is so close to my top deck that some of the branches actually touch it. The tree’s budding and blooming process is fascinating. How could I not have noticed it before?

(Note: To see the whole tree go to Branches Reach for the Sky.)

Have you ever not seen something that was directly in front of you because you were so focused on something else? I believe that experience takes many different forms, whether it be like the examples I’ve shared in this post, or a lost item showing up in a place we’ve looked for it many times. It could even be not seeing how lovable and capable we are or how much other people care about us because we are focused on traumas from the past or fear of the future.

Consider sharing ways you have not seen what is in front of you in the comment section below or in one of your own posts!