Tag Archives: Judy Dykstra-Brown Photos

Cee’s Oddball Photo Challenge, 2015, Week 23

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I don’t know why I was so fascinated by these solidified drips of syrup on the pitcher in the restaurant where I went for breakfast with my cousin Jayne and her daughter Sara, but I took six different shots. This was my favorite. Do I need to get a life?
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Jayne’s son David challenged her to use chopsticks at the hibachi restaurant we went to. Toward the end of the meal, she accepted the challenge.  I tried to show her how, but…

IMG_0503as you can see, she found a way all her own to conquer the sticks.  Where there’s a will, there is a way!
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/06/07/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-2015-week-23/

Mexico is the Definition of VIVID!!!!

viv·id    adjective   producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind.”memories of that evening were still vivid”graphic, evocative, realistic, lifelike, faithful, authentic, clear, detailed,lucid, eloquent, striking, arresting, impressive, colorful, rich,picturesque, dramatic, lively, stimulating, interesting, fascinating,scintillating

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Stink Think

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Stink Think

Scotch broom makes me nauseous. Roses make me sneeze.
I abhor the scent of jasmine on an evening breeze.
Room deodorants should be banned, as should scented candles.
I’d rather smell my brother’s sneakers or a vagrant’s sandals.

Now that we want each thing to smell like something it is not,
there’s a different odor on everything we’ve got.
There’s perfume in detergent, in dryer tabs and soap.
Scented toilet paper makes we want to mope.

Unscented’s getting almost impossible to find
It leaves allergic folks like me in a real tight bind.
Gardenia in my hand lotion or chamomile or peach.
Hairsprays  smell as fresh as air or like a summer beach.

Floor cleaners smell like forests of freshly gathered pine,
as though without this pungent scent our floors would smell like swine!
These odors leave me gasping and running for some air.
Their vapors make my eyes run, causing much despair.

I do not want my table waxed with lemon or “fresh scent.”
I believe that everything should smell as nature meant.
I’ve done a lot of research, and  I’m fairly sure
that perfumes out-stink everything they’re meant to obscure!

The Prompt: Smell You Later–Humans have very strong scent memory.  Tell us about a smell that transports you.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/smell-you-later/

 

Great Blue Herons

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Nested in a giant tree on Little Goose Creek in Sheridan, Wyoming, we found these amazing Great Blue Herons, complete with chicks.  I was using a X30 optical zoom and still some of the cropped ones are fuzzy.  I’ll try to get back there before I leave, but with no tripod, I probably won’t get any better results. Still figuring out my new camera.

 

The Peace Of Wild Things – Poem by Wendell Berry

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/on-the-way/

Circle of Life 3

Okay, I’ve finally figured it out.  When I posted my second post on this subject, I inadvertently published it over my first posting instead of opening a new post…I erased the content of the old one–everything except the comments.  So, those comments from Cee and Nancy actually were for this image, which was an enigma to all.  I do think I’ve figured out what happened.  Guess if you wish, but I’ll post what i think happened below. Please note that I did not edit or change the image in any way.  This is exactly how I snapped it.
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SPOILER–if you want to guess what happened, comment before you read on.  My guess at what happened: I think I inadvertently had the panoramic setting turned on.  I snapped the picture, then put the camera up to take another picture not knowing I was still taking the other picture.  This must be what happened. Can’t think of any other explanation short of photographic poltergeists.  But, why was the image not longer like other panoramic shots??? Mystery of life.

Small Reunion

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Small Reunion

At the piano, the music chords easily.
The soprano’s voice slides smoothly from her throat
while we others strain until “Dear Heart” syrups our vocal chords
and we slip with less effort up and down the scale–
old friends singing even older songs.

The small dog snuggles in,
balancing on the plush chair back.
The mother of the pianist and the soprano
observes from her frame atop the piano.
All husbands out and about other business.

Old letters reread, old memories pulled from forgetfulness,
each of us left at the end richer–hearts refilled
from a shared past. Every word
a song of its own.
Our notes blending together
into perfect harmony.

Disclaimer: I obviously haven’t mastered the art of taking pictures with my cell phone, so these are terrible, but they do convey a bit of the action and mood, so I’m including them.  Unfortunately, I had the camera on video during the entire singing session, so no photos…too bad. 

Love Song: Sunday Stills, The Letter “L”

I was as drawn in by their love songs as they were!  They brought me out of the house and into the street to try to find where the beautiful calls were coming from. (More)
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https://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2015/05/24/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-the-letter-l-3/

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The Window

opens onto an empty lot.
Guamuchil trees and wild castor beans
rise from its slope to lift toward
where I sit above, hands engaged
in taking me away to a place
far beyond ideas.
It is that destination dreams only point us to–
that place where, perhaps, I’ll float
after the feared moment
when I’ll leave this world for good.

I dread it so, that zone,
and yet if what my fingers have just told is right,
it’s where I choose to go again and again,
escaping to that little house
down in my garden
where I keep my tools and paint
and ten thousand small objects
all of which have a particular place they want to be fastened.

I am just here to help them go where they want to go.
Where they have, perhaps, been created to go–
taking me with them to the zone,

all of us
headed toward
the inevitable.

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“The little house” is my studio, here seen from the garden. The earlier view was of the wild lot next door, seen from the window of my studio.

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A message from the zone. Click to enlarge, then hover over objects and click again to see more detail..

The Prompt: Tell us about your favorite way to get lost in a simple activity — running, chopping vegetables, folding laundry, whatever. What’s it like when you’re in  “The Zone?”

Beautiful Faces: Cee’s Black and White Challenge: Heads or Facial Features

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http://ceenphotography.com/2015/05/21/cees-black-white-photo-challenge-heads-or-facial-features/

Incredible Wyoming

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Remarkable scenery and my friend Patty (accompanied by sister Patti in the backseat driver’s seat) pulled over at least once for me to snap a picture as she drove me from Billings to Sheridan after my flight from California. Good thing, however, that we didn’t LINGER long–

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The skies were spectacular but frightening as we could see the storm building up in front of us.

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Can you see the tension in my friend Patty’s fists gripping the wheel as we try to outrun the storm?

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Although we didn’t entirely miss the storm, we did escape the worst of it.  Minutes after we passed, this area was deluged by hail.  Patty’s new car would not have fared well. She at least speculated that she wouldn’t have to water her garden when she got home, but alas….


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When we got closer to Sheridan, we learned that in fact no rain had fallen there.

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In lieu of rain, We saw this good boy patiently waiting for his master to come back to his big rig.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/linger/