Theme Tuesday: Things to that Make Me Smile

I thought I would post some photographs of mine that just make me smile.  I’m featuring animals and people today.  Hope you ENJOY the show.  By the way, the balloon twister with the magenta hair is Chris.  I love the little boy concentrating on what she is making with the balloon.

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Hugs and blessings

Cee

The Red Hat Society

I was feeling pretty down today and feeling a little sorry for myself.  Actually more accurate I’m grieving the loss of my adulthood.  Having been sick for all of my adult life and not knowing it.  I have no idea who I could have been if I wasn’t sick.  I just know that I am now healthy enough to want to rejoin my life, but I have no idea how to do that.

I’ve lost my sociability skills.  I’ve learned to take life way to seriously and really don’t know how to have fun.   One of the things I was was talking and crying to Chris this morning is that I don’t even know what I want to do.  I want friends and some kind of social life, but I have no idea how to be a friend or have a social life.  I don’t know how to play, be silly, or have fun.  Having had Lymes undiagnosed for so many years, I slowly stopped participating in groups I belonged or any social activities.   Now since I’m getting healthy for the first time in my adult life, I want to do something, but have absolutely no idea what that “something” is.

So going through my email today I saw Lady Barefoot Baroness Blog where she mentioned The Red Hat Society.  All of a sudden a light came on.   The Red Hat Society would be a great place to learn how to play again and be social with other ladies my age.  I’ve seen them all dressed in purple with their red hats having a lot of fun when Chris and I travel on photo shoots.   I don’t know that much about The Red Hat Society, but I do know they have a lot of fun.    So I’ve joined.  Now I need to find a local chapter.  This is hopefully going to be fun and I get to meet a lot of new ladies.

For my photo for today.  This is a young girl I took at the beach.  She reminded me of how I usually feel.  Alone with no one around.

 

Hugs and blessings

Cee

 

My Parents Drugged Me!

The My Parents Drugged Me! – Anonymous (see below) was initially found at both DiDi-licous blog and  The Conservative Hillbilly blog and I’ve reblogged it here.

How many us are still hooked on being drugged by our parents (or anyone else)?

I know at times I still struggle with the being drugged.  The most potent drug my parents instilled in me is that I’m not good at anything or I never stick to anything longer than a year.  Even though I’ve been in a relationship for over 22 years.  When I worked I stayed no less than 4 years, unless I was contracting.  I’ve been in love with photography forever and serious now for five year.  I’ve been practicing some kind of energy medicine for over ten years.  I had my first car for 18 years.  The list is endless.  But yet there are times, I just can’t break that cycle.

I would love to recapture the innocence and wonder of children.

My Parents Drugged Me!

“The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question: “Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”

A Fun Trip to the Park

It had been raining off and all day yesterday.  And when Chris came in back from the gym yesterday afternoon announced we were going out,  I said do I need my camera?  She said we are going to the park.  So I grabbed my little Lumix FZ100 and off we went to the park.  Hope you enjoy coming along with us.  I know some of these aren’t my best, but they are just a cool sampling of our outings

Just more llines of the ducks. Can you tell I just love water!

This was the view as we drove Pudding River runs right through the Canby Community Park, and this was the view. The skies were dramatic.

I liked the raindrops in this capture. I took this in our front yard.

Chris got out of the truck and tried to get the goose to cooperate with us so I could get some photos. I was at least able to get out and grab this shot as they jumped into the pond.

Up close and personal with a goose. These guys are about 3 feet tall. This goose was right outside my truck window and I got it the best I could.

I just loved the lines the ducks made swimming across the pond.

Some one getting their photo at the park. They had been feeding the ducks in the pond prior to me capturing this shot.

Crocus are nearly in bloom. This was taken a house just down from where I live.

This little guy loved posing for me!

As always scroll down for larger views of the photos.

Expression – Jakesprinter Sunday Post

Here is my take on Expression.  See Jake’s post.

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An alpaca up close and personal…I so adore them.

A guy taking photos of a statue downtown Portland.

A carved pumpkin from last October.

Blue M&M costume

A goat who definitely has attitude even without being able to see its eyes.

 

Hugs and blessings

Cee

A-Z Archvie: F Challenge – A little bit of everything

For this week’s A-Z Archive:  F Challenge I decided to add a variety of Fs.  I hope you enjoy the show.  As always please scroll down to see the enlarged views.

I thought this angle of these feet was just fun!

Fire hydrant and Foot. Two F’s in one!!

A fence.

Photo a a water fountain.

Father and son on the beach.

Family – These lovely people let me take photos at Lincoln Beach.

US Flag on a windy day!

Have You Ever Asked Yourself “What If”

Last night Chris and I watched one of our all time favorite shows NCIS.  The show was all about the What Ifs in Leroy Gethro Gibbs (main character) life.  See Chris’s blog NCIS is a Great Teacher for more information.

The show made me think about the big what if’s in my life.  Here are a few examples of some obvious what ifs in my life.

When I was in high school in southern California, I wanted to be editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times.  I always have liked journalism.   So what if I took my scholarship and got a journalism degree?  Would I have found photography and become a photo journalist, perhaps travel the world and end up working for the National Geographic?  Now that could be awesome.  But then I could have been a small town newspaper reporter writing about events that happened last week and trying to make those events sound interesting.

When I was 20, I had a chance to work with the CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency) in their Los Angeles, California office.  I had to have a Top Secret clearance before they would do the final interview in Washington DC.  Those months I was connected to the CIA were the most interesting months of my life.  I was a naive, wide-eyed 20 year and I loved every minute of it.  The only reason I didn’t get the job, was someone didn’t file the right paperwork and the job went to someone else.  Many years later, I met someone who was retired from the CIA and he said I would have been well taken care of by the Agency, but my life would have been so very different.

A-Z Archive: C! Challenge – Small Town CARNIVAL

This is my submission to Flickr Comments by FrizzText for his A-Z Archive: C! Challenge

There are a lot of reasons I love living in a small town.  And one of them are the activities.  These photos were of a Carnival that was in the parking lot of some big stores in Woodburn, Oregon.  The day was partly cloudy to drizzly.  They didn’t have a wonderful turnout, but the few children that were there were having so much fun.  They’d start a ride for just one child.  Oh the thrills of a small town.

To see enlarged photos please scroll down.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

The Weekly Photo Challenge this week is family.

I had the privilege to photograph a very special outing for a wonderful lady named Geraldine.  At 93 years old, she is the matriarch of her family and she had one of her wishes granted.  To ride a horse again.  Adaptive Riding Institute near Salem, Oregon granted her that wish.  Her entire family came to watch.

93 year old - Geraldine