microblog mondays, color pops

Well, here it is dark outside. I’m sooooo tired and have been doing all sorts of things today. Luckily, it’s Microblog Monday!

I am more energetic and also in more pain, so lots of exercise of the walking kind was in order today to get the blood pumping. Along the way I took lots of pictures of pops of color, which was today’s photo prompt. I’m not super happy with any of them, and wish I could edit them better or more or something. I’d like black frames, because they would give the color pops extra pop,  but I’m too tired. Been trying this app and that, and have come to two conclusions:
1.  I need to allow this post to be imperfect.
2.  I need to learn photoshop.

These are both things that have to do with making my life easier. First, it’s just easier sometimes to say, “this is what I can do today. The end.”  Secondly, sometimes you gotta do something hard to make things easier. Project Easier sometimes should be called “Project Contradictory.”

Another hard thing that we did today to make things easier in the future: Pupper and I walked to visit friends who have a new big dog, in addition to their old big dog with whom we are already friends. It was a barking, growling fest as three shelter dogs got to know each other. It was rough, as we two dog moms sometimes feel that we were raised in shelters too. Everyone getting altogether too frazzled. Too fast. Too much. Dogs barking and growling. So tiring.  We thinking we might be doing it wrong. Most likely, they’ll all three be hanging out happily in a couple of weeks or maybe sooner.

It was FH’s last day at a job where his boss has been less than pleasant toward him for two years.  So hoorays were in order. A lovely Indian Buffet Feast. So full. I know that the new job will be so much easier. FH and I seem to have let this grouchy person invade our relationship somehow. I think that the unpleasant boss has been projecting his anger onto FH, and then FH projecting it on to me, and then me, acting frustrated and confused. Maybe I’ve had too much therapy, but the fact remains that if people don’t express their bad feelings, someone else winds up experiencing those feelings and it’s not fair or fun. It’s weird. I’m burning sage like a madwoman to clear the air! Life as an empath. Very strange.

This is turning out not to be very micro, but here’s the lovely badge for MicroBlog Mondays!
Microblog_Mondays

 

The Natural World in Photos

Click on a circle to start the slideshow, see a bigger version, or see the caption.

One reason I love taking photos is that it helps me look and SEE.  I can get so caught up in my thoughts that I forget to really look at what’s around me.  The thing is not to get too caught up in taking photos, as opposed to just being there.  I wonder about how our lives change for the good and the bad when we record everything, and yet, I love to look at these pictures and remember and appreciate the beauty and elegance (okay, maybe not the beetle, but look at those studs on his back, very haute couture, no?) of nature.

The Beautiful Paradox of Alone: Not Alone

IMAG0453
This photo was taken at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania on a trip a couple of years ago.  For me it conjures feelings of satisfaction, deep breathing, and connecting with nature.  There’s a sense that in meditation (formal or informal) we are one with everything, it’s a solitude, and yet the very opposite of solitude.  The beautiful paradox of alone: not alone.  Inside and outside, alone and not alone.  Kinda hurts my brain.