Focus on : ? (really, ?)

...in which we pick our own prompt. 

How wonderful, how freeing how....terrifying! Hey Sally, if I could pick my own inspiration, I wouldn't have joined your challenge, now would I? But seriously, in honor of our 26th week of Focus on Life, Sally has challenged us to find our own prompt. 

So, being my self, I waited until something jumped out at me. The photo opportunity gave me the inspiration for the "prompt." Now what was that again? Oh yeah. "Take a closer look."

Wednesday night I gave my daughter a ride home at dinner time, and we stopped to get a pizza. It was going to be a ten minute wait, some I took my camera, and wandered around to the back of the shop. 

Were there any birds around the Dumpster? Not many.

 Was there a good view of  the farm down the hill? No. This looked about as good as it was going to get. 

But here is where you have to take a closer look. 

Take a closer look at what other participants chose for their free choice week! The Studio Sublime. 

Bead Hoarders Blog Hop

Yep, I am doing it again. I've joined the Bead Hoarders Blog Hop, sponsored by Lori Anderson of Bead Soup fame.  We are asked to use the beads that are laying in our drawers, waiting for a special occasion to be used... and declare a Special Occasion. 

Now, this is going to be a trick, because the Port Jervis Arts Walk is that day. But if I don't have my piece made by then... well it won't get made, will it? I just am going to have to delay the "Hopping" a day!

To sign up, just click on the link above. 

Focus On: Who we are.

Answering the question we spend our whole lives trying to figure out.

This week, the prompt sent out by Sally Russick of The Studio Sublime asked us to fill in with a photograph the blank in this sentence,"You are __________________."

Hmm. Having been around for 58 years, I think I must be a lot of things. 

But I decided to keep it simple. My profession is Librarian. I help people find information, and try not to judge or censor. 

So when asked to complete that phrase, I chose this, inscribed on my well worn tote bag by the folks at unshelved.com.  

I turned to my camera's trusty timer for this, and almost ran out of battery...I might have gotten a better shot had I not been in a hurry. But this will have to do! 

Visit with the others who are exploring their identities this week at The Studio Sublime.

Focus on: Growing Green!!!

Where can you look and NOT see green?

My world is green. Everywhere you look, everything that either should, and in some cases should not be green, is green around here. So responding to Sally Russick's prompt "Green" was not very hard. 

You may remember these babies from Our Focus on Macro posting.

Sempervivum dormant

Sempervivum growing, day by day

Some other selections from the container garden - and green containers!

To see more greenery, stop by Sally's blog, The Studio Sublime.

Focus On: Typography

Looking at How Letters are Chosen, Not Just What is Said.

When Sally Russick started her Focus on Life photography challenge, I looked upon it as a chance to change my photography habits, which at the beginning of the year consisted of snapping pictures of my pets and the snow, in addition to photographing some of my jewelry. 

I wasn't sure I would be able to take a worthy picture every week, but so far I have managed to come up with something. And most weeks I have managed to comment on most, if not all of the blogs of the other participants. As I sit before my computer this evening, and put together this week's entry, my heart is full of grief, as I lost a friend and former co- worker to cancer. She admirably shared her last year with many friends on Facebook, so I can hardly shirk this very pleasant obligation and skip a week. 

This week's prompt was "Typography." I got stuck on this one, since I wanted to take some pictures of old advertising on the sides of buildings. Surely some of the towns near us still had some.... Nope. All painted over. So here is the one site I found with interesting metal work letters. Kind of fitting it's a cemetery, no? 

I found the metal work quite lovely. It might have been better to take the pictures in nicer weather in full daylight, but I tried to do the best I could with photo editing. 

And, just for fun, here are a couple of pictures I took at other times.

 

I hope you go visit the other participants linked at Sally's blog, The Studio Sublime.