The Call: Fading Images — Cheryl

I probably have close to 100,000 photos on my hard drives. In recent years, I’ve likely printed up a dozen or so. In contrast, the actual, physical (I can hold them in my hand) pictures from my childhood, early adult years and my parents’ early adulthood fill box after box and album after album. I sometimes wonder which ones are more likely to survive for my kids and theirs.

The Response: There Stands Jackson — Jessica

…to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…

(now, in one of those happy coincidences, I just happened to be taking my 6 year old to a birthday party at a facility right next to the Manassas battlefield. Finding the bouquet of flowers for Stonewall Jackson was another happy accident.)

The Call: Forgotten — Jessica

Ballet was my life for many years. Now my old pointe shoes lay forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.

Response: Stepping Out on a Beautiful Day — Cheryl

Our warm, sunny day was so out-of-the-ordinary, it made Stella want to sing and dance.

The Call: Serving Up Swarovski — Cheryl

“This creative approach toward exposure will reap countless rewards if you get in the habit of looking at a scene and determining what combination of aperture and shutter speed will render the most dynamic and creative exposure for that subject. The choice in exposure is always yours, so why not make it the most creative exposure possible?”
—Bryan Peterson, Understanding Exposure

The Response: Art — Jessica

You can never have enough exposure to great art.

The Call: In a Sea of Grass — Jessica

Sometimes the ideas for the calls don’t pop into my head. Today was one of those days. In those cases, I do what any modern, self-respecting educated person does: I turned to google. Typing in “Reign quotes” (or whatever the call is) always turns up something! In this case, I found a new favorite quote:

No one would have doubted his ability to reign had he never been emperor.
— Tacitus

The Latin is just as good (even if I can only understand a little bit of it): Omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset.

Response: Purple Crocus — Cheryl

When we lived in Colorado, snowdrops reigned as the earliest harbingers of Spring. Here in Maine, that distinction goes to crocuses.

The Call: For the Artwork as Much as the Contents — Cheryl

Over the years, I have spent a lot of money on seeds, but haven’t reaped much benefit from my investment — generally because I haven’t invested as much time as money. If only I weren’t so attracted to the beautiful packaging! : }

The Response: Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns — Jessica

Seed is a good analogy for how I’ve been approaching this 365 project. After I get the call every morning, I spend a little bit of time turning the word over in my mind. Usually one or two things will pop out immediately. Sometimes, when my mind has to be pre-occupied with other priorities (like paying the bills, or getting kids to appointments) then I have to go with those initial thoughts.

On good days, though, I am able to take that seed of a thought and let it germinate over the course of the day until something really lovely emerges. Although, often times what emerges can be just about as fuzzy as the giant oak in our backyard.

The Call: Baseball Evenings — Jessica

Double exposures are all about trial and error. Lucky for me, I’ve got plenty of time while I sit here at my son’s baseball game.

Mistakes Aren’t All Bad — Cheryl

It can take years to learn that errors are a part of life and a great way to learn and grow.

The Call: At Sword Point — Cheryl

LAERTES Have at your now!
In scuffling they change rapiers, [and both are wounded].
KING Part them. They are incensed.
HAMLET Nay, come—again! [The QUEEN falls.]
OSRIC Look to the queen there, ho!
HORATIO They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?
OSRIC How is’t, Laertes?
LAERTES Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric.
I am justly killed with mine own treachery.
— Hamlet, Act V, Scene II by William Shakespeare

The Response: Thorn — Jessica

With thorns this sharp, you would think that the deer would leave my knock-out roses alone. So far this spring they seem to have escaped the ever-present, ravenous deer. I am not too confident that it will last. In the past, they have managed to nibble all the leaves and new shoots off of the bushes.

The Call: Sun & Leaves — Jessica

“Radiance characterizes total emission or reflection. Radiance is useful because it indicates how much of the power emitted by an emitting or reflecting surface will be received by an optical system looking at the surface from some angle of view.”
— Wikipedia.org

Response: Starstruck — Cheryl

O Gloriosa Domina

Hail most high, most humble one!
Above the world; below thy Son,
Whose blush the moon beauteously mars
And stains the timorous light of stars.
He that made all things, had not done,
Till He had made Himself thy son.
The whole world’s Host would be thy guest
And board Himself at thy rich breast.
O boundless hospitality!
The Feast of all things feeds on thee.

Let hearts and lips speak loud and say
Hail door of life and source of day!
The door was shut, the fountain sealed;
Yet light was seen and life revealed.
The door was shut, yet let in day,
The fountain sealed, yet life found way.
Glory to Thee, great virgin’s Son,
In bosom of thy Father’s bliss.
The same to Thee, sweet Spirit be done.
As ever shall be, was, and is.

—Richard Crashaw

The Call: Peace is not a Place — Cheryl

It has taken me about 45 years to figure out that peace has more to do with state of mind than physical location.

The Response: Peace-filled Slumber — Jessica

Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee
All through the night
Guardian angels God will send thee
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loving vigil keeping
All through the night

— Welsh Lullaby

The Call: Kitchen Sink — Jessica

The key to a stress-free 365 project, as everyone knows, is to get the shot of the day as early as possible. It would seem that I had forgotten that this week. This long, full of appointments, catch-up, back-from-spring-break, week. It’s almost over and I’m looking forward to the weekend, even though it is already full of baseball, softball and school soirees. The pace will only pick up as we turn into May so I better start getting use to it and working really hard to get that shot as soon as I can in the morning.

Sometimes it’s really hard to be creative that early.

Response: Upcycled Keys &#151 Cheryl

I’ve long had a penchant for typewriters. One of these days, I’ll have the room to amass, house and display a collection of vintage machines. In the meantime, I appreciate these bracelets my sister gave me.

The Call: Words are Everywhere

Well, my attempts at getting shots for today’s Call were numerous and varied. It wasn’t until I had already downloaded my photos that inspiration struck. So, back into the camera went the SD card. Even then, the shot took shape as I manipulated scrapbook letters and came up with new ideas.

The Response: Modern ABCs

Tommy and Luke play with the leap pad before bed…

The Call: What’s He Doing? — Jessica

The human face and especially the eyes are such a strong element in a photograph that once our eyes find the subjects eye we will automatically follow their gaze — even if it is out of the frame. The trick is to capture a gaze that directs the viewer back into the frame. One day…

Response: Blue Page — Cheryl

When I’m creating something artsy, I find myself spending a great deal of time gazing at the work in progress, and not necessarily as the work is underway. I place the paper, canvas, or what-have-you where I can easily see it throughout the day. I need all of this input to figure out the next step. This particular art journal page amuses me, because it started out so completely differently than it ended up.

The Call: Peanut Butter — Cheryl

When I was growing up (here in Maine), we called lunch, “dinner” and dinner, “supper.” Now, at our house (here in Maine) we eat lunch and dinner, not dinner and supper. No matter what you call it, lunch time seems to last for hours. In fact, it’s hard to separate breakfast, lunch and teatime. This means that there is almost always (at least until dark) a jar of peanut butter on the counter, along with a peanut-butter-smeared knife.

The Response: After Dinner — Jessica

Dinner is the start of the race to bedtime. It comes fast and furious from that point on: dinner, clean up, dishes, bathtime, stories, bed. Finally, by 8:30 (or 9 on a rough night) I can get to the pots and pans that were left to soak in the sink.

The Call: Piles & Piles — Jessica

When people find out that I have seven children, one of the typical responses is something like, “How do you do it? I can barely manage one (or two).”

“Well,” I reply (channeling Rodney Dangerfield), “Not very well — have you seen my house?”

Well, now you have seen the house and it’s actually in pretty good condition in this shot. Only three or four loads left of laundry waiting for their time in the washing machine and the clean clothes haven’t piled up too high either.

The baby is having a nap in the stroller. Don’t all babies nap in strollers? At least every child after the first, right? We were at the park and he fell asleep on the walk home. It was only then that I realized he hadn’t had a nap yet. It was 4:30pm. Yeah, I’m a real manager…let me tell ya!

Response: Stitching — Cheryl

Today, I actually managed to start a project AND finish it. That makes me happy. (Disclaimer: I did not do any of the embroidery. That was done by my mom: on an apron I deconstructed.)