Ninth of May Pictures?

WHERE are those May 9th photos? I don't think I shared those and I feel like I'm getting behinder and behinder. Let's just look through my photo album.

OK, now on to the 10th - femminismo

May Eighth and Ninth ... Catching Up with "M's"

Facebook is so easy to use that I always get my May "M" photos posted there. I haven't got them all today, but getting close. Here are the pictures for May 8:

You will need to use your powers of deduction on two of these! - femminismo

And For Today, May 7th

Here we go:

For you all: magazines, mug, motorcycle, milkshake, manhole, McDonalds "M", and ... and ... Microwave! Yes, I know. This is getting crazy.

What Happened to May the 6th's M's?

I am left wondering what happened to some of my m's. I've looked in the draft folder and guess I will have to catch up on here. Six m's for you:

And just for fun:

Cinco de Mayo "M's"

I set up stringent rules for the projects I do, especially if it includes taking photos. When I decided to take photos of "M" objects for May - one on May 1, two on May 2, three on May 3, etc., they had to be pictures I took myself ON THAT Day. I am not looking forward to the 20th or the 30th or any of the larger numbers. I guess (duh!) I never thought ahead to how many images I was going to have to find. So on Cinco de Mayo, these are the ones I took. (And, yes, I'm catching up and I know today is May 7th!!! The Marshmallow picture from yesterday was actually taken on May 5th.

femminismo

M is For Many Things

"Aha!" you shout. "I knew she couldn't keep up her "M's" in May. She's dropped the ball on so many other projects!" Well, nyah, nyah, nyah! Eat your words! I just stayed out too late last night and didn't have time to post. Here are the four objects beginning with "M" for May the Fourth. First, we have: Musicians!!

And next we have a beautiful Moon over Alberta Street.

And for the last two on the fourth day of May, I took this photo of Matt and Marissa, or monsieur and mademoiselle. Two "M's" with one shot.

Today, of course, is Cinco de Mayo and we were cleaning out the cupboards looking for the tequila. Found these and they needed to be tossed for fresher ones. Marshmallows ... an "M" of course.

More "M" Words For May

i have two more "m" words for May - or pictures, actually. Here is one:

and here is another one:

The third photo did not come through yet. I'll post it tomorrow with my four photos. Best to you all - femminismo

The Whole of April Has Been Swallowed Up

All those days and all those adventures of April are over. Rarely has a month gone by so fast. It was my birthday month and there were celebrations galore and things to do and places to go. Too bad I didn't take YOU along! I saw the musical "Chicago," and tried writing my own play by joining Script Frenzy. (From the same people that bring you NaNoWriMo.) One hundred pages of play writing in one month. It didn't work for me, though. I was just about ready to give up on myself, but then I wrote a small book for my granddaughter Zoe (to celebrate her 10th birthday) and colored a pirate's treasure map for Lincoln all in a weekend. When the pressure is on I can achieve the (nearly) impossible. We have had some illness in our family and I am hoping that all will come to a good resolution. We have found out we have a hereditary disease that is fairly "silent," in that it doesn't give a lot of warning signs. But I am certain we will deal with that as best we can and what will be will be. I had a lively birthday party at work - thanks to my coworkers - and the next day spent time in Portland for their Saturday Market, with music, food and art booths. We also saw the movie "Bully," which is a great attempt to bring people together to talk about how everyone might contribute to altering this dynamic. I have begun May with my own feeble attempt at an original project. I am taking photos of things that begin with the letter "M," and it is amazing how your mind goes blank as you look around for things that meet that qualifications. On May 1st I took one phone of a magnet! How original. How mundane. But it got worse. Today I took these photos:

AND this one:

I intend to take three "M" photos tomorrow and consequently higher numbers until the 31st of May when I will try to find 31 things, all different, that begin with the letter M. I think I will take photos with the M object nearly hidden so YOU will have to look for it. Don't you think this is a good way to stretch the brain cells? Or do you think I'm crazy? Whichever, let me know. Leave a message for - femminismo

Another Spring Day in Oregon

It couldn't have arrived at a better time, just when I was thinking of sewing myself into long-johns permanently! I felt as if I were vacationing in Southern California. The beautiful, warm, sweet breeze flowing through the flowers! EW! What's that smell? Is there a skunk nearby? No, it's only the bright yellow flowers of the skunk cabbage.

But there were also johnny-jumpups, little yellow violets. And oxalis and trilliums with a ghastly, sneaky secret visitor!

I got hit in the eye by a tree branch that snapped up and caught me. I expected to see blood and pictured myself wearing an eye patch for the rest of my days, but I came out OK. The buds of the fallen tree were still trying to open. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is, but I am hoping the Ocean Spray bush didn't get smashed. We'll just have to wait until spring moves along a little further, I guess - femminismo

PS - And someone(thing) had a much worse time of it near the spring.

Going a Little Crazy

The need to create is strong and will not be denied - however much we would like to keep our butts stuck to the couch. So April 1, yesterday, I began an April journal. And I have a photo taken toward the end of March to show you how things are in our part of the world. I hope you are experiencing the yearning to create something and you are ready to try something that is outside of your comfort zone. That is where we do all the growing and the couch is where we eventually do all of our dying.

Happy Spring Day!

It's official. Spring is now here and the weather only has so many days to fall in line and obey the dictates of the calendar. Please, please, please!!

I hope it is spring soon - wherever you are - femminismo

So Close ...

SPRING, of course, is the thing that's so close ... yet seems so far away. There are snow showers and hail forecast for the next two days here in our part of Oregon. Creeks are riding high. I told my cousin in Canada that we didn't just pass through the Ides of March. We passed through the "Tides of March." Lots of people were anxiously monitoring creeks around their homes on the web, due to melting snow and torrents of rain. Facebook serves its 21st century purpose by sending out the question, "How are the roads in your area? Are they flooded yet?" "How deep is the snow on the summit?" "Is it icy on Hwy. 47?"

Some trees, however, bloomed last month - like the witch hazel - and the deciduous trees now are beginning to push off their greenish/reddish coverings in preparation for the leaves bursting forth. The forsythia cannot be stopped. You wonder how nature does it until you realize it has no choice. No choice. This morning, in a local department store, I saw young parents with twins - a boy and a girl. I am guessing they were about 1-year. They were sitting together on the back of one of those huge shopping basket/child seat type carts. The parents stood in front with the cashier and they had another child, older, and perhaps one more - I was trying not to gawk - with them. The twins were right beside me, watching as I dumped my silver-wrapped spiral cut ham on the conveyor belt. The little girl solemnly looked at me, then casually reached out and started to investigate her brother's face by squishing it around between her fingers. He started to squeal so she stopped. Mission accomplished: Remember you're with me. You and me against the world, brother. (Just like any brother and sister.) Both the twins were children with Down syndrome. Down syndrome happens before conception. Down syndrome occurs when there are three, rather than the usual two, copies of chromosome 21 in every cell of the body. Instead of 46 chromosomes, a person with Down syndrome has 47. Such a tiny - nearly invisible - thing. Kaching! Nature has no choice but to give us spring, and occasionally a child who's "different" from birth. I guess this moment was especially rich for me since I had watched the the HBO movie "Game Change" about the McCain/Palin campaign and observed "Trig," the actor/baby and heard Palin's quotes about having a special needs baby. Whatever else that movie brought up, it was very educational and revealing to see a family - even if it's only a theatrical family - bringing forward an issue like this. I also happened to be at this department store with my brother who grew up facing some special needs too. Sometimes you get your eyes opened so you are ready for new experiences. Perhaps nature gives us these anomalies, even if they are beautifully perfect anomalies in their own right, to show us how life can go on whatever the challenges and however long we have to wait - femminismo