Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure

The WordPress challenge this week is about adventure. The greatest adventure is Life, the life we have been given. We don’t know anything about what’s waiting just around the corner…we only know that we all are going to die one day. This is what we all have in common.

My greatest adventure then, is following my children grow up and helping them discover the world, themselves and their special gifts and possibilities.

My daughter, my eldest child, is now turning 24. Even if she has travelled with us to many places in the world, her greatest adventure was living and working with nature issues in New Zealand. She stayed for two months, learned many important things, and was a different person when she came back home.

 

My son has not yet been working abroad, but here he is hiking the Azoric island of Flores. A great adventure for us all.

So…following the two of them along their different paths…

…on their adventures – is my great adventure. And the thing is, that you never know what’s waiting around the corner. What is prepared just for you? Surely an adventure worth entering upon!

Travel theme: Merchandise

Merchandise is the theme this week at Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack? I got hooked up on eggs – why not participate yourself and display something totally different?!

 

Travel Theme: Edge

Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack? is now inviting us all to the theme Edge. These two guys and the lonely man on the pier are all standing…very close to the water. On the edge. I’m not too fond of standing on the edge when it comes to heights – I would rather stand a comfortable metre or two behind…

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Black and White Photos

This is not something I usually do, B&W, but …well, I’ll give Cee’s Black and White a try. This young man I found sitting on the wall in Greyfriars’ churchyard. We were slowly walking through the silence towards Greyfriars Bobby’s grave – the famous little Skye Terrier who faithfully stayed on his master’s grave for 14 years.

Then I saw him. Alone and contemplating he was – I just had to… not forget him. And everything was…black, white and grey.

 

The Virtual Blog Tour

Scrapydo at http://scrapydo.wordpress.com/ invited me to take part in a Virtual Blog Tour on Monday August 11, 2014. Thank you for inviting me!

Being a retired  teacher from the Netherlands and South Africa, she now lives in New Zealand. She’s an animal behaviourist and her best friend and mate is Trompie – a sweet Schnauzer. ”In March it is going to be my third year in N Z. I love it to be here,…”, she says. I understand that completely, as I had the pleasure of seeing something of NZ for a month some years ago.

Do visit her creative and interesting blog! She loves everything crafty – and her lovely companion!

  • Virtual Blog Tour

    The Virtual Blog Tour is a relatively new project for bloggers.  The rules are fairly simple:

    • Compose a one-time post which is posted on Monday (date will be given to you from whoever passes on the tour)
      1. What am I working on? 
      2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
      3. Why do I write/create what I do? 
      4. How does your writing/creating process work?  
    • Answer four questions about our creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires us to do what we do.
    • Then pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers. Get their permission first and give them rules and specific Monday they are to post.

    So –

    1. What am I working on?

    I am still travelling and still loving photography even if I’m not a trained photographer. Attending a photography course is one of my goals once I retire from teaching. My trips this summer went to Scotland and Denmark and all those photos have not been sorted out yet…And, I’m constantly loving my dog, Totti, of course.

    From Scotland  –  Highland Cattle grazing – while a ship is sinking…

    17th Century house in Köge, Denmark

    2.  How does my work differ from others of this genre?

    Maybe it doesn’t differ that much… but I try to show the world around me, focusing on nature and other architectural marvels. Usually I give some information about the photos too, or show them as a short story in a gallery. I also have a blog for photos that I cannot easily fit in to a story, but are favourites anyway. http://faialflores.wordpress.com/

    And, recently I started a third blog for the love of trees, for my hikes and car tours, http://treetreats.wordpress.com/ – here I also want to feature guest posts!

    3. Why do I write/create what I do?

    I think this started because of my work as a teacher. I spend so much time correcting students’ papers and essays – but I never get to write or express myself only because I want and need to. Another reason is my neverending love for nature. Nature is soothing and ever changing, listening and answering many of my questions…I think maybe it’s giving more than me some of the best reasons for living on this planet Earth. Creating posts here is also a must when I try to relax after a tough day at work.

    Photography gives me the opportunity to capture special moments as well. Literature, theatre and movies are other great interests – I try to review as many as I find time for in my blog.

    4. How does your writing/creating process work?

    It usually starts with a view…a photo, or a series of photos,  and then I try to give some interesting information around it/them. Sometimes facts I have read and sometimes I just try to put the reader in the same mood as I was when the photo was taken. I love weaving short stories of photos.

    Can you feel the mood in this one – ?

    Now I also hope to have the pleasure of introducing you to Maria at http://mariayarri.wordpress.com/ : I love animals and especially dogs … I´m half way to the hundred and during my life I have always been a person who like our nature in generally and forest in particular; and I try to combine that with my other interest photography 

    She is a marvellous nature photographer and doesn’t forget to include her friend Yarri in her posts. He usually has his say about things too…The other important part of her blog is about ageing parents and how to deal with Alzheimers.

    Thank you for joining us on Monday, Maria! We’re looking forward to your contribution.

 

Travel theme: Endearing

Here comes Electra!

 

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Biting Totti everywhere – but – he just waited patiently…for her to stop.

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Then she tried my knee…

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…but finally settled for my daughter’s fingers.

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And there she remained for the rest of our visit!

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For more endearings, click here.

Cee’s fun foto Challenge: Metal or the Season of Autumn

This week Cee is asking us for something metal or from the season of autumn – my choice is The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland.  Impressive metal sculptures that took my breath away this July.

The Kelpies, made by sculptor Andy Scott, stand 30 metres tall in the 350 hectares Helix recreational space in Falkirk. They are the world’s largest equine sculptures and towering over the Forth & Clyde Canal they form a gateway to the canal entrance. These sculptures are meant to pay tribute to central Scotland’s working horse heritage on the canals from years gone by. Read more about them in my post  here.

For more entries, click here.

 

And, thank you Cee for featuring my entry on Harvest last week!

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Travel theme: Meeting Places

Ailsa’s Meeting Places is a real treat – now we can find places to meet in reality – and virtually – all over the world!