Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #113 – A Labor of Love

First of all – thank you for so many inventive, creative and fun interpretations of last week’s challenge – Pick a Word! Fabulous!

Rusha Sams of Oh the Places We See is our host this week, and she has chosen to highlight all those people who work for a better society and a better world. A Labor of Love.

As so many of us do these days, I think of the health care workers, police and firefighters – all those brave people helping us in this unruly world. But my thoughts also go to all those who work for a sustainable world and helping vulnerable species to survive – because biodiversity is essential to us all. Without biodiversity we will all perish and our planet is lost. Even if we are living in a pandemic now, we know that other problems will not go away – we have to fight them all, simultaneously. Tough. But, the pandemic is also a result of how humans have abused and misused Nature and our only home, planet Earth.

In the header, the dotterel beach in Coromandel.

In 2016 we went to Ecuador, the Amazon Basin and the Galapagos Islands. Threatened already then by the oil industry and new settlers burning down the rainforest, but little did we know of the many fires that would arrive through mismanagement and the pandemic.

A vast piece of jungle was once bought by a man from the Netherlands who wanted to save it from getting destroyed. We stayed at his eco-lodge with local people guiding and lecturing about herb medicine and Amazon plants and animals. These people were born and raised here, lived here and knew the jungle like the back of their hand.

They took us out on crystal clear waters…
…silent canoe days
…and if not out on the waters – then bird watching high above the Amazon jungle.
Luis was one of our skilled guides, helping us find essential plants for cuisine and health. This was certainly a Labour of Love for him – a way of helping his people, animals and plants survive. He could also recognize and identify several hundreds of different bird sounds.
For Andi, his Labor of Love meant that several villages could survive – and thrive.
This journey is the most highly treasured one of all my journeys through 47 years. To see these people’s loving faces in preserving and teaching about their natural environment was a great joy and to learn how deep their knowledge is of Nature’s secrets was truly humbling. Knowledge and skills of this kind can only be yours if you are born and raised here. I am forever grateful to have met them all.

”We hope you’ll join us in sharing your interpretations of “A Labor of Love” whether you showcase a person or a group or an object notable for the labor or laborer involved.” Publish your post and add your link to the Comments section at the bottom of Rusha’s post. Please don’t forget to add the tag Lens-Artists so you can be found in the Reader.

Next week we will be back on schedule, and Amy will be our host for challenge #114. Until then – stay well and be kind. To yourself as well.

THURSDAY’S SPECIAL – Pick a Word – 2020 – 1st ed.

Paula is back with her monthly challenge Pick a Word! If you haven’t seen it or participated before – have a look at her lovely blog Lost in Translation. Excellent photography and simple rules for the challenge.

ESTIVAL in the header

CUISINE

RIFT

INSTRUCTIVE

SPAN

About the images:

Estival – The last of my Bougainvillea against a hot summer wall

Cuisine – The biggest Sami market in Sweden – with lots of tasty food

Rift – Thingvellir, Iceland, lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

Instructive – New Zealand sheep shearing champion on how to do it fast and effective

Span – Valle Verzasca, Switzerland, with its fantastic Roman bridge

The Changing Seasons – My August 2020

I decided to join in The Changing Seasons at Su’s place, where each month, you should post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month.
Use only new shots. I think this is a brilliant idea. Fun and good for my memory.
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them.

The last jigsaw puzzle was finally framed
Autumn arrived

Thank you, Su, for making this possible!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #112 – Pick a Word…

Pick a word and illustrate it with a photo! This used to be a favorite challenge of mine when held by Paula of Lost in Translation. Unfortunately she is not running it anymore. So – how about a revival at Lens-Artists? It is easy: Choose one (1) word or more – choose all of them if you like! The words available are the following:

Comfortable

Growing

Tangled

Crowded

Exuberant

In the header – Comfortable? Yes! If you are safe and living in the Galapagos Islands!

Swimming is normal for me. I’m relaxed. I’m comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It’s my home.  – Michael Phelps
 

Gunnera

Growing

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.

 – Pearl S. Buck

19800 Cranes at Hornborgasjön, Sweden

Crowded

In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.  – Seth Godin
Double exposure from my windows to make tangled even more tangled…

Tangled

A word garden blooming within the tangled weeds.
Jazz Feylynn

Holland, flower festival at Keukenhof

Exuberant

Exuberance is beauty.

 – William Blake
 

Thank you for a marvelous response to Patti’s Everyday Objects – you really made us all open our eyes and SEE what we have around us!

A new announcement: We have the pleasure of having Rusha Sams  of Oh the Places We See as guest host for September 5, #113. Be sure to visit her! Until then – stay well and safe, and be kind, to yourself as well.

Have you seen these:

Thursday Thoughts – Autumn is Coming

So now we are here…Autumn is inevitably coming to the northern hemisphere.

A short drive to town – and along the road the familiar landscape is slowly turning into soft autumn colours.

 

Some fields are aglow in the evening light. The harvest is in and a calmness is settling over the landscape.

This year, being a farmer has been a positive thing. Working outdoors all the time,  and the weather staying kind to the crops.

We have to take care of and treasure the few positive things this year – the year of corona. I returned home with a calmness in my soul and a soft smile on my lips. Just like natured showed me .