Happy Halloween!

I had some fun carving these pumpkins last night. Tonight I’ll put them out on the front porch, all aglow and halloweeny, and hope for some trick-or-treaters. To pass the time while I wait, I’ll indulge in my yearly Halloween ritual since childhood, watching It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! 🙂

 

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
~Scottish Prayer

May Jack-o-lanterns burning bright
Of soft and golden hue
Pierce through the future’s veil and show
What fate now holds for you.
~Author Unknown

When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam,
May luck be yours on Halloween.
~Author Unknown

Happy Halloween!
~Terry

Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art

The quest to simplify my life seems to constantly elude me. Just when I think I’m beginning to make headway, complications develop. Sometimes I think this happens because I didn’t make use of a well-timed “no” when a demand was being made upon my time either by another person or my own desires. Sometimes it’s just life throwing me a curve ball. No matter the obstacles, moving toward simplicity is a necessity. So many of us are simultaneously blessed and burdened with excess availability of activities and acquisitions. I think it’s imperative that we choose things wisely to live a life that’s happy and fulfilled, and not just filled up. This post is my response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art by Pete Rosos.

“For this week’s Photo Challenge, stimulate your creative process and imagine which of your images you would like to see gracing the cover of a book, an album, or a magazine.”

I think I prefer my color version of “Cover Art” to the sepia tone version. How about you?

Two Lovely Blog Awards

I would like to extend many thanks to gahlearner from Flights of Fancy, and Linda from Sofia Wisdom of the Ages for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award! I was notified by these two lovely bloggers in September and October, only two weeks apart. Receiving two nominations in such a short time was very, very encouraging and a pleasant surprise since my blog is so new!

The One Lovely Blog Award recognizes blogs considered to be lovely, written by bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner to connect with their viewers and followers. The nominees are chosen by fellow bloggers, and the nominations are presented to new and up-and-coming bloggers. The purpose of the award is to not only give recognition, but to help the new blogger reach more viewers as well.

If nominated, in order to “accept” the award, you must follow these guidelines:
* Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
* Add the One Lovely Blog logo image to your acceptance post.
* Share 7 facts/or things about yourself.
* Nominate about 15 (I have seen 10 as a suggestion as well) bloggers you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.

With that, here are my nominations for the One Lovely Blog Award.

Blogging 201: Set Three Goals

Here I go with a new round of  Blogging University! Blogging 201 has begun and the theme is branding and growth. The first task involves setting goals and defining purpose. I’m not so sure what my “brand” is, but I do have purpose.

In Blogging 101 I decided that this blog will be fairly broad, limited only by my interests and inclinations; a way for me to exercise my voice, expressing thoughts and ideas via words and photography; to present myself, so to speak, to the world, … which, I’ve discovered, is literally what happens when you click Publish on WordPress.com. With just a click, my blog post travels the globe creating the opportunity to interact with people from all cultures anywhere on the planet. How great is that!? Absolutely incredible! I’m enjoying connecting with others who have put themselves out into the blogosphere and taken a few moments to read my posts. 🙂

I’m also blogging to create and build a web presence while becoming more familiar with the tools to do so, and it’s a catalyst for me to further develop my skill taking and editing photographs on a regular basis. For me the process of building this blog activates the same pleasure centers in my brain that light up when I do a complicated jigsaw puzzle. 🙂 Lot’s of delicious visual and intellectual pieces to fit together and figure out! It’s always a challenge, it frequently stumps me, but I enjoy the process and the results when I succeed.

I’m also hoping that creating this blog and my participation in the WordPress Blogging University will be a means to inspire, improve, and revitalize my other two websites which are hosted on GreenGeeks using WordPress from WordPress.org.  They both need lots of tweaking. (The websites are bostree.com and terrybyoga.com if you feel inclined to take a look.)  There’s also a SmugMug website I’m working on where I intend to sell prints of my photos. If it’s within the WordPress.com regulations, I’ll link this blog to that website sometime in the future.

So in a nutshell, ThroughTheLensOfMyLife is a work in progress, an exploration, and a catalyst. It’s a way for me to grow, create, learn, express, and connect with others.

A few concrete, simply defined goals which I’ve made for myself are…

1) Participate in the weekly photo challenge. I have already instituted  this. 🙂

2) Post more of my  photography, in addition to the weekly photo challenge, at least once a week beginning this week.

3) Make at least two text focused posts, or posts with no photos, challenging myself to write, at least twice a month.  This post is number one.

4) Spend one or two hours a week interacting with other bloggers.

Hopefully while working towards these goals, I’ll attract more followers, follow more bloggers, build a better web presence and enjoy discovering my brand!

Feel free to leave a comment to let me know how it all looks from where you’re reading 🙂

 

 

Refraction

This is my response to the WordPress weekly photo challenge: Refraction. I took these photos in 2011 while visiting with friends in St. John, US Virgin Islands.

I was very happy to capture that little bit of a mirage along with the slight alpha shape of the sun as the light was bent through the atmosphere. Some of the very center of the sun was blown out. I cloned-in the surrounding color, but I’m not sure if I’m happy with that. Constructive feedback in the comments below would be helpful!

I also came across this quote by J.R.R. Tolkien from Tree and Leaf.

“Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that move from mind to mind.”

It reminds me that we are all individual expressions of the One Universal Light with the power and responsibility of sub/co-creators. We can help or hurt. Hinder or facilitate. Create or destroy. The choice and the struggle is ours from moment to moment, circumstance to circumstance. Are we an asset or a detriment to creation and our fellow co-creators?

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week.

Blessings 🙂