Monthly Archives: September 2015

Taking Over Creation: Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge 9/30/15

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                                               Taking Over Creation

For the past 14 years, every year in November there is an event that brings the top artisans from all over Mexico to Lake Chapala for a three-day show.  It is the Feria Maestros de Arte Mexican Folk and Indigenous Art Show.  This year it will be November 13-15 at the Yacht Club in Chapala.  Eighty artists will participate, along with music, dancers and other entertainment.  The unique feature of this show is that it costs artists/artisans nothing to participate.  The Feria Committee, comprised of both Mexican and Ex-pat inhabitants of the Lake Chapala area, pay for transportation, shipping, accommodation and meals for all of the participants and their families.  There are no booth fees or any other fees.  For many of the artisans, the sales they make during these three days comprise their entire year’s salary. Others count it as their top show of the year as it draws thousands of not only local art lovers but also collectors and gallery owners from the U.S. and other countries.

The Feria, which was the brainchild of Marianne Carlson, who last year handed over the reins but still acts as publicity director and board member and woman-of-all-jobs for the Feria, was conceived of in an attempt to allow artisans to continue to create their traditional homemade art: clothing, carpets, furniture, sculpture, toys, beadwork, paintings, pottery, paper making, jewelry, tapestries, rebozos, knives, glassware and photographs.  With the decrease of tourism at various times, without this show, many of these artisans would have been driven to abandon their skilled artistry to take other jobs, which in many cases would mean the demise of an art form that they are one of the few artisans still making.

If there is interest in the subject, I’ll write more about this subject and/or these artisans, but the reason I am talking about this in Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge can be better demonstrated by a few pictures:

IMG_4869IMG_4878 (1) IMG_4880

Every year, volunteers get together to make decorations for the Feria.  This year they made 100 large paper flowers that will form part of the Feria decorations. For more information about the Feria, go here: http://www.mexicoartshow.com/

To Cee more flowers, go here: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/09/30/flower-of-the-day-september-30-2015-dahlia/

3:08 AM (On the Night of the Blood Moon Eclipse)

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IMG_56513:08 A.M.
(On the Night of the Blood Moon)

A donkey’s bray saws through my dream,
opening sleep’s creaking door.
Three hours slumber is not enough.
I float the night in search of more.

Like a porthole letting in the day,
night’s shadow cusps the bloated moon.
Its light invades my stubborn dream.
I am awakened too soon, too soon.

A message honed on the strop of night
slices through my dream’s light gown.
My mind’s eye heavy with lost sleep
sees truth disrobed and writes it down.

When waking we feel taught by dreams,
it may not be as it appears.
Who knows what sophistries have been
whispered in unwary ears?

IMG_5663Skype conversation on the night of the Blood Moon Eclipse, 9/28/15

[1AM] Judy: Isn’t it weird how in my photograph, the clouds seemed to form a moon shape around the moon?

[1:01 AM] okcforgottenman: OK here’s my prompt for tomorrow, “She cusped the bloated moon.”

*

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Life’s a Candy Store.” You are a 6 year old again How would you plan a perfect day?

Version 2My dad and I at the Deer Huts when I was about 3.

Black Hills Reverie

My dad is coming with us–he doesn’t have to work.
Corn muffins in the oven, and coffee on the perk.
It’s orange juice for sis and me.  I take a little sip.
We woke up really early to start out on a trip.
We’re going to the Black Hills where we will spend the night.
We’ll start out just as soon as we have had a little bite.
We’ll stop to pick up my best friend who will go along
They’ve let me plan the whole long day, so nothing will go wrong.
En route we’ll stop at Wall Drug and have an ice cream cone,
then drive on through the Badlands, as dry as any bone.
My dad will sing a song for us–“Lonesome Mountain Bill”–
and let up on the gas petal as we crest the hill
to give our stomachs all a lurch and a little flutter.
My mom will say “Oh Ben!” and then my older sis will mutter.
But Rita and I love  this trick and we will urge another–
an action nixed first by my sis and then by my mother.

We’ll stop at Petrified Gardens and see the fossils there,
buy rose quartz and mica and other rock chips rare.
Then on to Reptile Gardens where they wrestle crocodiles,
to ride on giant turtles and view other reptiles.
We stop next at the Cosmos where gravity’s gone amuck.
We’re doing everything I wish. I can’t believe my luck!
On to old Rockerville Ghost town where we have our dinner.
If I resisted cherry pie I know I would be thinner,
but with a scoop of ice cream it really is delicious.
Just try to keep it from me–I’m likely to turn vicious!
Next we drive the pigtails, where the road just curls and curls
passing over and over and thrilling three small girls.
We’re going to see Mt. Rushmore–those giant perfect faces.
Perhaps we’ll buy a souvenir if we’re in Dad’s good graces.
Then on to drive Custer State park with the begging burros.
We’ve saved some treats from Rushmore–some peanuts and some churros.

Back to Rockerville we go for supper and a show.
The “Mellerdrammer” (sic) is the place where we’re going to go
to hiss the villain from the crowd, throw peanuts at his back
as he ties the heroine to the railroad track.
Then drive the seven miles to my favorite sleeping place,
though mother doesn’t like it, and she makes a funny face.
“The Deer Huts” are just cabins right up in the trees
and we have to use the outhouse to take our bedtime pees.
We get to walk with flashlights and pick our way with care,
through the ponderosas, where perchance we’ll meet a bear!
I love the moonlit shadows and the night bird calls,
being extra careful to avoid stumbles and falls.
Sometimes we fake the need to pee to take another walk,
and on the way my friend and I walk slowly as we talk
of all the things my parents have let us do today.
We both agree that this has been a perfect sort of day.

 daily life color076 (4)My sister Patti and I in the Black Hills, age 7 and 11.

 In South Dakota, lunch was dinner and dinner was supper.  For the sake of authenticity, I’ve maintained the custom in this description of a child’s perfect day.

Zinnia: cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge, 9/29/15

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Zealous ZinniasIMG_5386 (1)Just when you think all these ladies have left the dance, several pop up in a different place!.
IMG_5385 (1) Shady Lady and Pup

 

“Cee” more floweres HERE!

Shrine to the Vanishing Photo Store (Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge 39)

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IMG_0395-1                                                       Photo Retablo

When my camera conked out in Wyoming, I stopped at Best Buy to buy a new one, then realized I needed a spare battery.  Thinking it would be cheaper on the internet, I decided to wait, but I quickly learned the battery for this very new model was not available online. Researching camera stores on Google, I discovered  that one of only two camera stores remaining in Wyoming was in Casper, which we were due to travel through on our route to Cheyenne.  When we found it, there were three members of the military being served so as I wandered the shop–basically one long counter, I found this retablo, I had to photograph it. How better to worship at the shrine of photography?

When it was finally my turn, I asked why there were so few camera stores in Wyoming and received an answer I should have guessed.  The internet and large chain stores such as Best Buys and Costco had made dedicated camera stores obsolete.  I was very grateful to have found this one. I was also pleased to find that these rechargeable batteries last at least 5 times longer than the batteries in my old camera.

http://ceenphotography.com/2015/09/27/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-2015-week-39/

The Peanut Butter to My Jelly

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What a wonderful story Amanda told to answer today’s prompt about soulmates and people who are the Yin to your Yang or vice versa. How how lucky she is to have the genes of these three couples combined! I’m sure she will find her perfect other if she hasn’t already and that she will know exactly how to choose and to make it last from her parents’ and grandparents’ fine examples. It took me 38 years to find the one I wanted to work that hard with to make our relationship last, but it was worth the wait. Then, after his death, another eight years to find a true soulmate again. This time, although we’ll never be a couple in the conventional sense of the word, I’ve found someone exactly like the 50 percent of me no one else has ever matched so completely. Sometimes we find parts of our soulmate in different people, so that somehow, in our relationships with all of them, we are completed! In these times of so many sad stories, I enjoyed Amanda’s essay and I hope you will, too. And, this introduction to my reblog of her blog forms my essay on the subject as well!

Amanda Kayla Liberty

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Yin to My Yang.”

Today’s Daily Post prompt is, how do you define the term “soulmate”?

I’ve often debated whether soulmates were real. In my mind it was impossible to define, even if you found someone that you loved entirely, what made them your soulmate?

Today I know what it means to find your soulmate. It was in front of me all along – it was so natural to me, that I didn’t realize I was surrounded with people that had found their soulmates.

First, my Grandpa and Nan. They weren’t the touchy-feely kind of couple, but they were obviously in love. I remember my Nan yelling “FRANK!” from the kitchen to let him know that lunch was ready. They watched movies together and they cooked together. They did everything together. My Grandpa would always joke that every time my Nan would touch…

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Mystery Flower: Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge

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                                                Mystery Flower

I took these pictures at my friend Harriet’s house.  She has no idea what it is.  Nor do I.  Al?  Anyone else?  I know someone gave me a link to a place that identifies flowers from a picture but I misplaced the URL. If you know what this is or have a guess, please comment!

IMG_4743 IMG_4744Version 2Version 3IMG_4740 (1)

For more audacious flowers, look here: http://ceenphotography.com/2015/09/28/flower-of-the-day-september-28-2015-american-beauty-checkers-dahlias/

Yin and Yang

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                                               Yin and Yang

I wrote about Yin and Yang in a much earlier post that hardly any of my present followers read. Go here to read that poem: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2014/06/21/changing-lines/

*https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/yin-to-my-yang/