Flowers | Kanlaon

A PHOTO A WEEK CHALLENGE: YELLOW

August 19, 2019 at 6:55 am (Eavesdropping, Family, Flowers, Insomnia, Links, Philippine History)
Tags: Garden, photorphy, Sundays

The theme for the week is YELLOW.

Self was cleaning out son’s room when she came upon a box of legos. Was fascinated by the little people and their yellow heads.

The box contains all of son’s Matchbox car collection. There’s a yellow car at the very top.

My Life of the Party Rose has two colors of blooms: pink and yellow

Stay tuned, dear blog reader. Stay tuned.

Photo A Week Challenge: STILL LIFE

August 18, 2019 at 1:17 am (Flowers, Links)
Tags: California, Fridays, Garden, happiness, memories, photography, Redwood City, summer

Self LOVES still life. Taking pictures of things are a lot of fun.

So happy to join the Photo A Week Challenge this week.

Still Life with Reading Material: Home in Redwood City, August 2019 (Self brought that shell all the way from the Philippines)

More Redwood City: Dining Room, July 2019

And Still More Redwood City: Front Porch, July 2019

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

Lens-Artists Challenge # 57: TAKING A BREAK

August 3, 2019 at 10:31 pm (Books, destinations, Flowers, Links, Movies, Places, plans, Recommended, Weather)
Tags: California, Garden, inspiration, psychology, Redwood City, Saturday, summer, summer movies

Self’s current book, Mihaly Czsikszentmihalyi’s FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE is a very, very interesting book.

Her son and daughter-in-law were Psychology majors at Claremont, the school where the author taught. In fact, she read about him in the Claremont Graduate University alumni magazine, The Flame.

She is trying to practice Flow thinking (see graph below). She is trying to achieve “complexity” in her consciousness. This will be her project for the rest of the summer.

She thinks this goal is very much tied in with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: TAKING A BREAK.

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Today, she walked downtown, which she hadn’t done in two weeks. Courthouse Square was empty. Nevertheless, the trip was not in vain, for she saw a movie: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Is this a ‘Flow’ experience? Self thinks it is. Watching movies is one of self’s most enjoyable activities.

Mid-Afternoon, Courthouse Square, Redwood City, CA

And, she spends A LOT of time in her garden, where her efforts are repaid with gorgeous blooms like this one, on her Sheila’s Perfume rose:

Sheila’s Perfume, last week of July 2019

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

8 Comments

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 55: DREAMY

July 22, 2019 at 2:26 am (Artists and Writers, destinations, Family, Filipino Writers, Flowers, Links, Places, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: fairy tales, flash fiction, Hotel Amerika, inspiration, Literary Magazines, Manila, Mendocino, The Philippines

Thanks once again to viveka for inspiring self to try posting to the current Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: DREAMY.

Self is a short story writer (though some of her stories are over 50 pages!).

This Red Riding Hood Lamp followed her from one childhood home to another; self’s parents gave it to her when she was about five.

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She brought it to the States with her, when she left for grad school. And here it is now, in self’s home in Redwood City, California.

It was the perfect gift — one that nurtured her imagination and encouraged her to dream.

Here’s an image from the cover of Hotel Amerika, a literary magazine (based in Chicago) which published self’s flash, Ghosts. She loves the surreal, and so she loves the image.

Hotel Amerika, Vol. 8 No. 2 (Spring 2010)

Finally, a landscape absolutely made for dreaming: Mendocino.

Mendocino Headlands: April 21, 2018

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

4 Comments

Shades of Pink: Nadia Merrill Photo-a-Week Challenge

July 14, 2019 at 5:37 am (Flowers, Links)
Tags: flower photography, Garden, happiness, Redwood City, Saturday, seasons, summer

Self was inspired by viveka‘s fabulous post on this challenge on her blog, my guilty pleasures.

The prompt is from Nancy Merrill.

Hydrangeas on Self’s Front Porch

U.S. First Class Stamp

Razzleberri Fringe Flower, Backyard, March 2019

2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: 5+ Items

July 10, 2019 at 4:37 pm (Flowers, Links)
Tags: California, Cee Neuner, flower photography, Garden, happiness, seasons, summer

It’s always a good day when self can participate in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. This week, it’s 5+ Items:

Simply make sure there are at least 5 items in your photo.

Without further ado:

Backyard, Yesterday Evening Around 8 p.m.

Front Porch: Self has about six potted hydrangeas.

One More from the Front Porch

Love summer. Love flowers.

Stay tuned.

2 Comments

Poetry Tuesday: Mary Ruefle

July 9, 2019 at 10:37 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Flowers, Personal Bookshelf, Recommended, Women Writers)
Tags: poetry, summer

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You’ve wasted another evening
sitting with imaginary friends,
discussing the simplest possible
arrangement of an iris.

— excerpt from “Replica”

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Patterns

March 6, 2019 at 5:25 pm (destinations, Flowers, Food and Drink, Links, Places, Recommended)
Tags: Cee Neuner, Garden, indulgence, Redwood City, restaurants

For this week’s Fun Foto Challenge, PATTERNS, self is posting pictures from Lovejoy’s, an English-style tearoom tucked away in downtown Redwood City, CA, only a block from the library; and a picture of a plant with bright orange flowers that just began sprouting in her backyard. This winter saw heavy rain, hopefully in a month or so there will be tons of flowers blooming.