Harmonious Hues
(Click on first photo to enlarge, then on arrows to move through gallery.)
(Click on first picture and then on arrows to enlarge photos and move from photo to photo.)
http://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/03/01/one-word-photo-challenge-bed/
Up a very steep hill to the very top–and you’ll find a Shangri-la worth the climb. It is the adobe and palapa home of mosaic and mixed-media artist Mazinka Rutherford. Her art is such an integral part of her house that the entire environment is like a mixed-media assemblage. Here are some of its ingredients:
(To see the photos in an enlarged format, click on first photo, then click on each arrow to proceed through the gallery.)
All of the art pictured is by her creation. One of the homes on the site is for rent. The adobe was hand built by Anaxazi’s competent hand with Mazinka as helper. She did the gorgeous tilework in the bathroom floor that is pictured above. He also built the adobe/bamboo/palapa treehouse that I stayed in five years ago that is the setting for this video. The woman pictured is, of course, Mazinka.
One Word? Absurd!
In truth, if I may be so bold,
these one-word prompts just leave me cold.
They do not give a hint to me
of what the topic’s meant to be.
If I want a prompt so curt,
so brief, so blunt, so short and pert,
I could go to a dictionary;
but one word simply doesn’t carry
enough thought to jog my mind.
I do not like prompts of this kind.
So WordPress please just heed my plea
and send a sentence prompt to me.
Then I’ll shut up and cease my rant.
But answer one word prompts? I can’t!!!!
Hibiscus Schizopetalus
(For a larger view of both photos, click on first photo and then on arrow.)
Thanks to Steve Frowlne for identifying this flower found in my friend Carol Lopez’s garden.
Here is a bit more information about it, thanks to Wikipedia: Hibiscus schizopetalus is a species of Hibiscus native to tropical eastern Africa in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Its common names include fringed rosemallow,[1] Japanese lantern, coral hibiscus, and spider hibiscus.
It couldn’t be further away from Cee’s tulip that is her flower of the day. To see hers, go here:
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/03/01/flower-of-the-day-march-2-2016-tulip/
The Secret Life of Gardeners
My gardener of fourteen years
has a stern unsmiling wife and grown children
that I used to know well.
I set his morning coffee on the terrace table
and there is some secret
twining through the dense thunbergia vine
that causes the flowers
to nod their heads.
Later, the man who does not know I watch
drinks his morning coffee grown tepid in the cup,
coughs gently (or is it a laugh?) behind the hand
that cradles the telephone,
sly smile betraying a secret love
as clearly as the small child
who sometimes accompanies him to work.
Some senora’s, he tells me,
but the child
has his eyes and solid legs,
his shy manner,
lives with his mother and her husband,
but sits on my steps with a sugar cookie––
betraying no more secrets
on purpose
than his father does.
(This is an extensive rewrite of a poem written three years ago. Since this is the fourth time I’ve written to this prompt in three years, it seems fair to do a rewrite on this round!)
Click on first photo to enlarge and on arrows to move through gallery.
A friend suggested I add this link for those who wonder about the story of me sitting in the surf in the chair. Have a look at this link: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2014/08/05/de-picted/
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/29/cees-fun-foto-challenge-things-that-are-wet/
At first I thought this was two different plants, a thunbergia twining through another. But from the last picture, I can see that it is two different types of bloom on the same stem. Does anyone know what this beautiful plant is?
Leapin’Lizards
Iguanas, lizards, gekkos, turtles, toads and frogs and snakes
are not the things that we should fear in life, for goodness sakes.
These creatures in their own domains present no awful threat.
Just leave them where they are, for none were made to be a pet.
Our tame lives seek to steal the wildness from such natural things,
but wildness is not what curtailing wildness ever brings.
We must learn to leap ourselves––by entering our lives
and breaking free from prisons–our cages, pens or hives––
to buzz the world around us and see what we can find
to release us from our lethargy and the ties that bind.
If you do not know the way, just go and find a child
and follow him or her to places where they keep the wild.
The beach or any sandpile may serve to be your clues
of how to color your own life with more vivid hues.
A thing as simple as wet sand can take a child to
places where you had forgot you could be taken to.
Castle moats or rivers, dams, mountain tops or caves
huge mansions that are sacrifices to that evening’s waves.
Our wild imaginations are where we all should go
to find a little wildness when our lives are slow.
Go find a dog to walk with if you need a pet
then take him out to some wild beach–and both of you, get wet!
Wildness is for doing, not for sitting on a shelf.
So free the creatures pining there and find some for yourself!
(Click on first photo to enlarge and view gallery)
Those baby sea turtles are being set free, not being collected. Happy Leap Year!!!
(If you want to know more about the release of the baby turtles, go HERE.)
This poem was written partially in response to this strange strange news from my home town that was sent to me by two friends yesterday. Read about it here: http://www.chapala.com/webboard/index.php?/topic/60430-tiger-in-la-floresta/
It was also in response to the prompt “Leap,” in honor of this being the extra day in this leap year! https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/leap/
Painting with Photos
Sometimes when I have a photograph I really can’t use, either because of the subject or the aesthetics, I Just play around with the editing tools. In this case, I came up with two abstract paintings gleaned from the plume and the gills of a roosterfish that a fisherman had left lying on the beach.
(Click on the first photo to enlarge all photos, then click on arrows to see all.)
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/28/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-2016-week-9/
