Focus On Life 2013 Week 52 - Saying Goodbye

I won't be continuing this journey with Sally in 2014.  I need to focus on my job and where that is taking me this year.

I'm traveling to Switzerland to teach and I have to focus on preparations for that.  I've never been to Europe and I hope to spend an extra 2 weeks when I'm done teaching to do some more traveling.  As long as I'm there, why not?  I'll also be teaching in Oklahoma this spring so I'm going to be busy.

I also want to say this journey for 2013 has been fun.  My life hasn't been easy and I may seem sad and lost at times.  And I probably am.  But for the most part I try to portray myself as someone that has it all together. And I do, most of the time.  I've learned to embrace my solitude.  After all, it's been given to me so I may as well make the most of it, right?

With that said, I'm leaving you with these two photograph's I took today.  It was lovely, temps were in the low 30's and I wanted to go snowshoeing.  I enjoy going alone and today was a perfect example of why.  If someone had been with me I would not have taken the time to play in the snow and make spirals.  I wouldn't have taken the time to take over 50 photo's.  I would not have enjoyed the solitude of this grand winter day.

Carry on my friends, may 2014 be good to each of you.

  

Focus on Life Week 51: Togetherness

This is a tough one for me because as you all know, I'm flying solo here. And to be honest, I kept thinking we were doing red this week, lol, so I took pics of red. Again. Sheesh.....

It's hell to get old.

So I'll post an old one of me and Santa...



Happy Christmas everyone, and to those that don't celebrate, have a happy day.  Travel safe.

xoxo

Focus On Life Week 49 and 50

Greetings.  I've had problems logging in here for 2 weeks now! WTH??? blogger!!!

So I'm a week behind and I'm going to do 2 posts to get caught up.  First I'll start with last weeks, SPARKLE.  And boy, do I have sparkle.  :)

I was going through some boxes that I had not opened since I moved, more than 5 years ago now. And look what I found SPARKLE! 

So many little jars of glass frit that were gifted to me a number of years ago, I'd completely forgotten abut them.  Now that is a lot of sparkle, lol.

This week we are doing red.  I have many red photo's to share. Thank god for cell phones, cuz I use mine ALL THE TIME, lol.

I had a few more images that I wanted to show but they keep coming out upside down and for the life of me I can't get it to change.  la tee da....

I've got stuff to do so I'm outta here.  Have a great week!

Focus On Life: Week 48 Giving Thanks

Thankful for everyone in my life; past, present & future.
Thankful to be here alive today.
So many things to be thankful for but I have to admit
I wish I had some family around to enjoy holiday's with
cuz
spending them alone SUCKS.
I spend almost every day of my life alone.  Not just holiday's.

I took this photo Thanksgiving morning 2013.

Week 47 - CENTERPIECE

I have a "centerpiece" on my dining room table. It's a lovely piece of pottery I grabbed when I was running through an airport somewhere, sometime.  It's filled with pine cones (which I dearly love) that I also gathered here, there and anywhere.

But I'm mostly centered when I'm being creative, whether it's making beads..

or some jewelry

or photography when I'm out and about hiking.  Whether it's wilderness here or in Alaska, that is when you'll find me most centered.

Deep in the Alaskan wilderness snowshoeing at minus 12*.

I was in my glory  :)

And staying centered on the road when I'm driving through 12 inches of fresh new snow.  Otherwise, I might slide right into the ocean (2nd pic)

But I really become centered in a place like this.  It's where I find my true north.

Or when I can pick up a piece of frozen glacial melt that is millennia years old.

I have to stay centered in these places.  My life and those around me depend on it.  There is no making mistakes in these kind of elements.

I love it. 

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Week 46: REFLECT

This was a difficult week for me. Sally mentioned joy, peace and happiness in our lives. I can't really say I have any of those. Sad as it may sound, it's true.

Holiday's are very difficult for me as 99% of the time I spend them alone and I reflect on what I am missing out on. Christmas Eve I usually take my dogs for a walk around town, listening to the snow crunch underfoot and hearing the tinkle of church bells tolling in the distance while I peer into the windows of the houses I pass by wishing I had family gatherings and loving people surrounding me. Reality is, I don't.

Joy = opening my kiln each morning
Peace = no longer being in a abusive relationship
Happiness = waking up each morning

That about sums it up for me.

Week 45: Industrial Photography

I was a bit busy yesterday and didn't have time to do this until right now.  This was one of those weeks where I wished I lived in a big city and not the small town I  do.  There is nothing much here to photograph so I chose to grab a shot of my own equipment.

Have a great week everyone!

Focus on Life: Week 44~ Saints, Souls, Sugar Skulls and Scares

My pics this week aren't exactly saintly but I did take them earlier this week at a local pumpkin patch and some on Halloween.  So enjoy, it was fun...

Focus On Life - Week 43 - In the Shadows

Greetings!  I've been MIA for a few weeks. First I was out of state for 2 weeks, on my yearly trek home to Alaska.  And 2nd, I can't for the life of me figure out how this inlinkz thing works.  Last week I did post but had trouble linking up so if you'd all be kind enough to scroll down you'll see what I posted.  Thanks.

Going to make this short and sweet this week. 
Shadows...I wish I'd have taken some pics yesterday when my daughter and I were out for an afternoon hike but it was terribly windy and nothing would have worked anyway.  Instead I'm going to post an old photo I took a couple winters ago when I was out snowshoeing along a river. I came across this beach ball frozen in the ice which I thought, given the time of year it was, an oddity.  So I took the photo just for kicks and giggles.

Have a FAB week everyone! 

Week 42 - All In A Day

I've been MIA for a few weeks.  I took a trip back home to Alaska mixing business with pleasure for 10 days.  It's the only way to go, I can write off part of the trip.  GO ME!  :)  This was the first time off I've taken since this time last year.  It felt great to leave behind everything and just "be".

Two friends went with me.  I met one in Seattle, the other flew in a day later from Boston.  3 older ladies alone in Alaska, painting the place red.  :)  We had a grand time and lived through an epic wind storm while we were in Homer.  There were wind warnings out for 90 to 120 mph wind gusts and boy did she blow.  We were staying in a beach house, right on the edge of the ocean.  No more than 50 feet away from us huge waves were crashing all night long.  In the morning it was still blowing but not quite as bad.  Needless to say, we couldn't do much that day besides sit in Two Sisters sipping coffee and having a sweet and go shopping.  Shopping in Homer is fun, but it's a small artsy fishing village and many places close up for the winter months so it didn't take long and we were done.  We spent more time at Two Sisters until it was time to figure out what to do for dinner.

All In A Day, well, I could write a story about each day away.  2 days of flying, 2 days of driving hundreds of miles, 2 days of a bead show, 1 day of great hiking, days of rain, take your pick.  I'll just post some random photo's from a day in my trip and apologize again for missing a few weeks.

I'm pretty sure I need to go back for the bachelor auction, who wants to go with me?

Focus On Life Week 39: Your Best Shot

Last week I was unable to link so if you want to see what I posted please see below post. Thanks.

My best shot, hmmm...I love taking photographs of my daughter.  She loves to be photographed.  :)  Some of my best shots I took of her on a trip to Alaska March 2012.

The pic below was taken at Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, MN a few autumn's ago.

Like any Mother, I am partial and proud of my Daughter.  She is my only child and only living relative I have contact with.  She is my life.  Of course, I have other best shots too but I wanted to let the light shine on her today.

Focus on Life - Week 38 - A Quiet Moment

My quiet moments are in the evenings, after I've spent a day in the studio, which usually is 7 days a week.  I spend my evenings walking the dogs then coming home and making a nice supper.  But my most favorite quiet moments are spent hiking in wilderness area's, preferably in Alaska, but that doesn't happen as often as I'd like since I live in the midwest.  But at least once a year (sometimes more) I indulge myself with a trip back home. When I am alone out there in the wilds of either place I am at peace.  I am always on the hunt for the perfect photo.  Some of these are from where I live now and some are from hikes in Alaska.  Enjoy.

My friend and I hiked a 9 mile remote day trip up Greywingk Glacier in the Kenai Glacial Fields of Alaska last summer.  This rock reminded me of salmon when I found it.  I couldn't leave it behind so I threw it in my backpack (all 7 pounds) and with everything else I had in there (bottled water, energy bars, bug dope, extra jackets, sunscreen, etc.) my pack was heavy. We still had about 5 miles to hike after I found this rock.  It now graces the mantle of my fireplace and evokes many fond memories of a place deep in my heart.

Sometimes we find some odd things on our hikes.  This was an old one seater airplane we came across at the end of Kachemak Bay, where if any of you watch on TV The Last Frontier-Meet The Kilcher Family, is filmed. 

If you click the pic you will be able to see how small the cockpit is and that it's just made out of plywood!

And some old boats in the same area.  I wonder how long they've been "parked" there?

And my most favorite picture I've ever taken anywhere.  Overlooking Cook Inlet and the beginning of Kachemak Bay.  Taken at the scenic overlook just before driving down into Homer, Alaska.

And lastly, one of moi, doing what I love best, a quiet moment on the shore of Kink Glacier.  This was taken a few years ago, I've lost 25 pounds since this and let my hair grow long.

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I spent my quiet moments.      

Focus on Life - Week 37 - Motion

Opps, it's Sunday morning and I forgot to do this yesterday.  FOR SHAME.
I thought about this prompt all week.  And came up with nothing.  Oh, there were things I thought would make great photograph's of motion but I don't have the right equipment to capture what I wanted to capture. Make sense? Best I can do instead is put up a couple pics of Rosie in motion.  Click on them, you can see them so much better.

Have a great week.

It rained here last night, YAY!!!