weekly photo challenge

This week’s photo challenge is about capturing a fleeting moment. I had the perfect photo in mind.

I took this photo on a walk with a friend recently just as a group of dense, rain-filled clouds was quickly rolling in and seemed to almost circle our spot in the path and the pond before us. As if nature had been painting a picture for us and waiting for us to get there to see it.

If I hadn’t stopped right at that very second to capture this fleeting moment as these full and heavy clouds were preparing to open for us and as the simply awesome smell of the coming rain was saturating the air … the moment would have been gone.

The photo challenge prompt mentioned an article, Photography 101: Introduction & Philosophy which kicks off a blogging photography series and interviews Danielle Hark who founded a collaborative photography site called the Broken Light Collective. She talks about how photography helps her stay in the present and is her own form of meditation.

This spoke to me, since photography is one of the best ways to make myself slow down enough to be present in the moment. And most likely the closest I get to meditating as well.

Does photography help you stay in the moment? What visual comes to mind when you think of the word Fleeting? Such a simple word that floods my mind with so many visuals. This was just one.

The theme of last week’s WordPress weekly photo challenge was Mine — where you post a picture of something that is uniquely yours.

I’m a day late, but I selected this old GE photo cube that I got from my grandmother’s house after she passed away. When I was little I was fascinated by this cube that she always had out. It has photos on each side and a speaker on the top, with an AM/FM radio that doesn’t work anymore. I thought the radio part was so very cool and I loved to play with it (hmmm…possibly why it doesn’t work anymore). This was back in the days before Shutterfly and all of the sites that let you make photo gifts. It was far ahead of its time.

The cube has a picture of a house I lived in during my early years one side, a photo of my grandmother, her sister and two of her friends on another side, a photo of me when I was probably four years old with my cat Rascal on one side, and my favorite side has a photo of my Dad carving a pumpkin with my sister and I.

This photo cube reminds me of my grandmother in all of her leopard print and gold lamay glory. She made flashy work like no one else could ever pull off because she had a larger-than-life attitude that influenced her every moment. She could play the piano more beautifully than I’ve ever heard anyone play. And she had a whistle that was so magnificent and strong I can hear it now. My dad got her whistle and I love to hear it. She was also a complete bridge-playing bad-ass and could remember numbers like nobody’s business. I wish I had asked her to teach me bridge.

She also had a beautiful voice unlike any other. I loved the way she said my name and the way she talked. She called my Gypsy during the summers of my college years when I changed residences often. She loved it when her Gypsy would pull up in her driveway to say hello. She’d always offer me “Cokie Cola” and cookies and we would sit at her ice cream table and visit while the koo koo clock on her kitchen wall tick-tocked loudly behind us. Then at certain intervals her antique clocks in the living room would chime in a series, making their own little familiar symphony. I can hear those chimes and smell her house now. The aroma of little scented soaps filled the house because it seemed like she had them everywhere in sweet little china dishes.

The picture of my dad and sister and I all together is my favorite side of the cube because it has us all together in it, which I love the thought of. Also because I love carving pumpkins and Halloween is my favorite holiday. And as you know, I have a special relationship with pumpkins as mentioned in a previous post (https://lifeonwry.com/2012/10/04/watch-out-for-flying-pumpkins-gratitude-experiment-day-50/). And the yellow appliances, our outfits, our haircuts and the looks on all of our faces remind me of the innocence of my youth.

This photo cube is uniquely mine and I cherish it. It sits not far from my computer where I write this blog each day, on a shelf with other things uniquely mine and sentimental. For all this, I am grateful. Thanks for reading!