In response to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Things That Are Smooth.
Smooth Sand, Seagull, Sea
nature
Hoping Heart
you can see right through a heart so open hoping unreserved giver filled with transparent desire to empty of all save love Copyright ©2016 Terry Boswell
Last week I had to travel into New Jersey. After driving for a few hours, I stopped to get out of the car and stretch my legs. I was surprised and delighted to find this magnificent heart-shaped tree trunk as I wandered a bit into the Watchung Reservation. Such a find! I’m posting it, along with a tanka that I hastily wrote, in honor of Valentine’s Day.
I hope you enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
From Under Armor
leathery dots of color
. e from muddy water
. g
. r
. e
. m
. e
s t r e t c h i n g h e a d and l i m b
out from under armor,
exposed
.
.
. g for the sun
. n
. i
. h
. c
. a
. e
. r
copyright ©2015 Terry Boswell
This is my response to Jennifer Nichole Wells’s One Word Photo Challenge: Armadillo. I have no photos of armadillos so I’m featuring another armored creature native to my part of the world. The Wallkill River is frequently dotted with these colorful painted turtles stretching their heads and limbs out of their shells to sun themselves.
I took these photographs earlier this year on a day when the river was reflecting the surrounding landscape beautifully. To see more photos from that afternoon, click here.
To see another turtle shot, click here. And to see another photo from another day on the Wallkill River, click here.
Trio of Terns
shore birds fly and light
september terns migrating
mistaken for gulls
copyright ©2015 Terry Boswell
This is my response to The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio.
winter slumber
dry leaf, brittle twig
pale white blanket a l l
a r
o u
n d
roots slumber d
e
e
p
l
y
~ copyright ©2015 Terry Boswell
This is my response to Jennifer Nichole Wells’s One Word Photo Challenge: Winter.
Rain Diamonds
Delicate diamond drops
strung shadowed on rain laced branches
trace shimmering lines of delight
moving my mind's eye
ever
inward.
copyright ©2015 Terry Boswell
Thank you Jennifer for the One Word Photo Challenge: Rain.
Green River Scene
Another photo featuring green in anticipation of spring.
In response to Cees Fun Foto Challenge: “Colorful Monotones.” Thank you Cee for the challenge!
Click the badge above to see the other bloggers Cee has featured this week. 🙂
A Day Of Memorable Moments
This post is in response to the Photography 101 prompt “moment.” I had intended to post it Friday and include only this first photo, which I took a few days ago, of a fun moment of motion captured in my backyard. I sat down at the computer, edited the photo a bit and uploaded it.
That’s as far as I got before I became distracted with the activity outside my kitchen door.
My neighbor’s chickens wandered over to peck under the bird feeders. Then a squirrel joined the party and began going through his gymnastic maneuvers to steal lunch from the feeder.
Neither of these things is an unusual sight in my backyard. What made it unusual was that even though it was the first day of spring, there was a steady picturesque snow falling.
How many more opportunities this year would I have to look out my door and see this scene highlighted by large fluffy flakes drifting down? Probably none, so of course I grabbed my camera.
I took some photos, did some work, and then began to process a few of the photos, but new and beautiful moments kept presenting themselves in my peripheral vision.
Time after time I found myself wandering to the door to take pictures. Throughout the afternoon I was constantly distracted by the activity outside. It just kept getting better.
When the deer wandered up to the feeder I was ecstatic. This is something I only get to see every now and then since they usually raid the feeder in the dark of night.
The falling snow made it all the better.
I quickly corralled the dogs in the other room so they wouldn’t scare the deer by jumping at the glass door, and gave my son, who was about to walk outside, strict orders to stay put until I was done capturing the visitors with my camera. I was extremely pleased to get a few nice shots before an unknown something caused the pair to bolt.
Not long after, the red winged blackbirds showed up along with the grackles.
Grackles are scary, wary birds.
Now you see them…
…now you almost don’t! It’s amazing how the sparrow and cardinal are completely unperturbed by the sudden explosion of grackle wings that turned those three birds into vague black blurs.
Varieties of birds sighted throughout the day included the cardinal, purple finch, goldfinch, downy woodpecker, blue jay, chickadee, sparrow, tufted titmouse, grackle, red winged black bird, morning dove, junco, cow bird, starling, and of course, chicken! Missing was the nuthatch, red bellied woodpecker and northern flicker which I sometimes see.
I’m very fortunate to have this show of splendor outside my kitchen door, and for that, I’m most grateful!
Click an image below to start a slide show of all the photos I’ve included from that snowy first day of spring.
Squirrel acrobatics with a cardinal in flight.
A cow bird sits on the feeder with three female cardinals and a red winged blackbird perched nearby.
A starling and a female cardinal.
cardinals, sparrows, juncos, purple finch and chickadee.
Red winged blackbirds and morning doves.
Red winged blackbirds and a grackle
Grackles, a cardinal and a sparrow.
The cardinal and sparrow look on as the grackles disappear in flight.
A tufted titmouse waits for his turn at the feeder while it’s occupied by sparrows and a cardinal.
Cardinals, chickadees, a sparrow and a goldfinch.
Solitude
A solitary gull
gliding upon nature’s breath,
small but significant,
animates the stillness of
snow, sky, sea and earth.Copyright © 2015 Terry Boswell
In response to the Photography 101 prompt, “solitude.”
This is also my third post in the Five days challenge. I was invited by Amy, from Snapshots, Snippets and Scribbles to participate in the Five Days Challenge, asked to post five photos, one per day for five days, and to write a story to go with each photo. For each day that we post we are supposed to invite one person to participate.
Today I’m inviting Terri from Perspectives On…. If you would like to participate, post a photo every day for five days and write a story to go along with each photo. Your story can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be a short paragraph, a page, or a poem. Each day, please select one person to carry on the challenge. The challenge is not mandatory and can be refused. I hope you accept and have fun!
Through the Lens of my Life 