Today’s issue of Picture to Ponder is a slightly different “take” on one of our recurring themes that of “paying attention.” I admit the photos certainly appear to be an odd combination. On the other hand, I hope they bring you the same smiles that I get when I snapped and then reviewed them. More below.

Before continuing, I do want to acknowledge, should you have been wondering about it, the absence of Picture to Ponder last week. I was away on a cruise. It was the weekend that my beloved Sam, were he still here, and I would have been celebrating our 50th Wedding Anniversary. So that I wouldn’t be wallowing in sorrow (a possibility) I made arrangements with a dear cousin to be away for a portion of the time.

Should you be interested, I did honor our marriage with a photo of our cutting-the-wedding-cake, plus quotes on family, love and marriage on our 45th Wedding Anniversary. See WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. I do know that I am truly blessed that Sam and I did have the years together (47 1/2) that we had along with our resultant wonderful family.

Lastly, in a different conversation, if you are in business, I invite you to check out three links I have below the Queries for programs being offered by leaders whose work I value.

Today’s Featured Photos -

Today’s Photo Stories -
As I wrote above this certainly seems like an odd mix. Is the Whistling Duck above querying, “What is she doing here?” or is he simply posturing an open-ended invitation to be in the moment? In either case, or whatever meaning you want to give to him, he popped up and brought a smile to my face when I was sorting through some totally unrelated photos for a different purpose. I thus chose to bring him to you today.

Do you see the bright yellow eye (on your left) and large nose in the middle photo? The face image was undoubtedly created by a piece of lemon and ice in the beverage – tea on top of the lighter weight lemonade, according to the couple sitting at the table next to us.

The curled lemon on the lip of my daughter-in-law’s cocktail glass caught my attention both for the color and curlicue movement. Unfortunately it grabbed my eye as my daughter-in-law was in the middle of sharing stories about the exciting things happening for my granddaughter in her first week of college. Again, I went for my camera and started taking pictures of the lemon.

I was even considering moving tableware and glasses around for better “staging” of the photo when my daughter-in-law stopped in the middle of her story and lightly, by suggesting the possibility of my having ADD (attention-defecit disorder), quite emphatically pointed out that I was not giving her my full attention.

I realized she was justifiably upset with me for not being fully present with her as she spoke. I did immediately stop photographing, though I will admit I was pleased that one of the two photos I had taken did come out clearly.

NOTE – In further acknowledging the blessings of the people in my life, although she was annoyed in the moment, my daughter-in-law totally understands, accepts and loves me for who I am.

Self-Reflecting Queries -
In both of the situations described above with the two different glasses, I was following my usual, “If something catches your eye, photograph it,” strengthening our powers of observation and discovery.

In the case of the glass in the middle photo, my cousin and I were conversing, off-hand and in general, with the couple at the table next to us. There was not a particular focus to interrupt at the time I noticed the face. And, I did stop and ask permission to come closer and photograph what I saw. Then that became another opportunity for conversation when I showed them the photo on my camera screen.

On the other hand, my behavior with the lemon image, unintentionally, showed almost a complete disregard, thus disrespect, for my daughter-in-law and her words. Were a similar situation to occur again, and I felt it “critical” to take a photograph before something in the scene changed, I would explain what was going on with me and request the other person pause until I was ready to give him or her my full attention. If he/she denied my request, I would respect that and “stay” with what had been transpiring.

I invite you to look in your life now, or in the past, and notice when you might not have been paying full attention to another. Are there particular times when this might occur? Can you see any kind of patterns? Seeing that, would you like to make any kind of changes?

As I reflect, I recall my other son commenting at times when we’ve been out on how I suddenly “move my attention” away from our talking when I might get distracted in a restaurant, or other place, by stray bits of other conversations I may overhear. Have you, too, experienced this?

Simply reminding myself to stay fully present to the person or persons with whom I have been interacting can make the difference for me. What about you? We can also become more cognizant, momentarily excusing ourselves, explaining what’s going on and taking responsibility for our actions.

Remember to have fun with the queries. As always your thoughts are appreciated in the COMMENTS section on the BLOG.

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I hope that the top photograph brings the same chuckle, or laugh, to you as it does to me every time I look at it. I’m presenting it here in fun and also for the possible inquiries it generates.

All three of  TODAY’S PHOTOS are the result of explorations I did cutting both an apple and a turnip during the last Expand Your Vision teleclass series. During that time, I actually wrote, on my blog, about the turnip – a “Metaphor for Aging, As Personified By a Turnip.” Curious, I guess, as to how they would “turn out,” I kept these pieces, rather than discard them

The apple slice was lying flat on my kitchen window sill, the turnip pieces in a tiny dish. For the “portrait session”, I placed the face on a little plate stand and reversed it for the second round. It is the same slice presented in two different views.

The texture of the dried apple slice brings back memories of the Apple Dolls that were popular and the one I made during the same time period. If you have never seen an Apple Doll, AppleDolls.org, features them and shows you how to make one.

I was surprised to discover that the turnip pieces turned “rock” hard, reminiscent of the avocado pit cuttings we turned into “beads” years ago when I taught Art in an elementary school.

SELF-REFLECTING QUERIES -
The images and experiences in today’s photographs can be viewed as representational of our lives, demonstrating that transformations are multi-dimensional and can be quite long-lasting, often in unexpected ways.

What in your life, in your memory bank, has taken an unexpected turn and left you with something for which you can acknowledge yourself? Perhaps it would forward you to simply make a list of some of the memorable things in your life.

And, to complete the circle on where we started – the humor in the apple face – look around you. What can you find that will put a smile on your face? It may be require something as simple as picking something up, turning it over or “reframing” it… putting it in a different “environment”, in the same way that the apple slice became a “pedestal” piece.

As always, have fun with these queries.

OPPORTUNITIES for creative activities -
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A lady in the top photo with a very wide collar and a “blowfish” in the lower photo.  Neither was posed as such. The top photo was a random arrangement of art peels and the lower “simply” a half orange.  I was mainly interested in playing with the contrasts of the ceramic dish as background.

Have fun seeing whatever you do/will in the photographs.

Expectancy? Exposure?

What Awaits?

A juicy, delicious orange,

Nothing more need be said.

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Today’s Picture to Ponder Photos
The upper photo is a very bright Full Moon, early in the evening, adorned with clouds and framed by trees in Green Cay Wetlands.

The lower is a cut Saturn, also known as Donut, Peach in a Ceramic Dish

These two may likely seem to be a strange combination of photographs. “What might be the theme?” you could be asking. The lower peach photo is part of a series I describe on the Photography and Transformation blog, per my intention to post fruit photos daily for a week.

My attraction to the peach photo here has nothing to do with the peach itself. When I view the image, I’m caught up in the almost abstract quality of it, when I don’t think about what the main object is. For me then, it’s simply the play and repetition of lines and textures, as well as, very subtly, colors.

The moon photo also has an abstract quality and feeling and given the colors and shapes are somewhat similar to those in the lower photo, I thought it would be interesting to put them together on one “wall”, our Picture to Ponder page.

Today’s Self-Reflecting Queries
Today, I invite you to look into your life to see:

1. where there may be situations, projects, people that you keep totally separate and distinct – compartmentalized.

2. Is anything, or anyone, standing out, as you look at this here?

3. What elements are there that brings this/these to mind now?

4. Is there any commonality with/among what you are noticing? If so, do you see a way in which putting them together might empower you, them or the situation?

5. If “yes”, I invite you to have fun creating something new.

My Story of the Day leading to these queries:
There is really not much of a story today beyond the photos that caught my attention. As usual, the queries evolve as I wrote.

Actually the full moon photo was an unexpected one in that it was very late and almost dark when I started my Green Cay Wetlands walk. I almost left my camera in the car thinking it would be too dark to photograph. Then that voice in me that reminds me to ALWAYS take make camera, “You never know what will show up,” had me bring it along.

I was so glad I paid attention, for shortly after I started walking, I had one of the “on-rare-occasions” magical sighting, at least for me!

Have you ever experienced glancing up at the moon and seeing it as a HUGE globular, ball of light, which doesn’t last for very long? Although not huge this time, I did, as I was walking, see an extra large and very orange light beyond the trees.

I scurried to catch it, with my thankful-I-had-it camera, and “grabbed” what I could in photographs, mildly chastising myself for not having started walking from the opposite direction, where I would have seen more of the moon show earlier than I did.

Once again, I could dwell on possible missed opportunities or, more powerfully, be with those that did develop.

I’m sure additional queries could come from this for you. If that happens, certainly, be with and expand on whatever it is that comes up.

Today’s fruit posting is the Saturn Peach (label in supermarket), also known as the Donut Peach, according to pages found on Google, because of its flat shape. Actually, I bought two of them, partially for what I saw as their almost “heart” shape, or so I thought, for photo subjects as well as eating. This peach is also said to be very sweet, tasty and juicy, none of which was my experience.

I had committed to posting a fruit a day and was disappointed when at a late hour I started photographing the peach. The first one I cut was somewhat rotted and bland in taste. I put it and the second, uncut, in the refrigerator letting my disappointment rule my behavior. I didn’t even bother to download the photos until two days later when I took the second peach out to photograph.

Before starting, I checked the first photos and was pleasantly surprised.  There was a glistening and lushness to the fruit in looking at it on the screen, an experience I did not have initially. I therefore went out on my patio, for the lighting, and happily started photographing, playing with backgrounds, more photographing, as well as cutting into the inside and grabbing more interesting photos.

Again, I discovered that the second peach also was rotted in part.  Between this fruit and the apple photos of last week, I could make it mean something, AND I won’t!  I did go back to the supermarket and did mention the poor quality of the fruit to them.  I did not attempt to return the two for credit.  I figured I got my money’s worth from the photo experience.

Phases of a Cantaloupe Being Readied for Consumption

Time is running out for the day. I committed to one or more fruit photos per day this week and the cantaloupe, sitting in my photo folder called out. This particular cantaloupe is long gone. Earlier today the images were inspiring poetic thoughts. Not jotted down, they are gone. Maybe later.

The place mat on which the subject poses was made in India – 80% of it is from the banana plant. A cousin of mine who lives in India gifted me with this set. She knows I love my banana “tree” – which is actually an herb. In India, she shared with me, EVERY part of the banana plant is used in some way!