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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Summer Vibes

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Miriam Hurdle 66 comments

Andre is the guest host for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week. His theme is Summer Vibes. He posted some biking, mountain climbing, hiking, swimming, diving, sailing, surfing, kitesurfing, and beach sailing photos.

He said, when it comes to the style of spending this most valuable time of the year, wishes would differ following their personal preferences.

I spend a lot of my summer in my garden

I love the cheerful sunflowers. The bees like them as well.

This baby grasshopper stayed on the African lily long enough for me to take a few photos. It’s the size of a grain of rice.

The monarchs have been doing very well this summer. I’ve raised about 50. There are still two chrysalises and one caterpillar. Then I’ll be done for this year because I’ll be away quite a bit the rest of the summer.

I also take summer trips with my husband and family

Hubby Lynton dived in Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Our family went on a whale-watching trip at Huntington Beach.

Photo on the left, Lynton and I went hiking at Waimoku Falls in Haleakala National Park. Photo on the right, we watched the crashing waves on Makena Beach, Maui, Hawaii

I love to watch my granddaughters having fun in the summer

Autumn and Nora were building sandcastles at the beach in Three Creek Lake Campground, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon.

Autumn is getting good at paddle boarding at Three Creek Lake, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Summer Vibes

What are your favorite summer activities?

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #143 – Colorful April, National Poetry Month

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Miriam Hurdle 41 comments

This week, for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Amy invited us to look at the colorful April that spring brings us. Every year, the cold of winter melts away and spring brings a new beginning.

April is National Poetry Month. I’ll include a poem “A Light Exists in Spring” by Emily Dickinson.

Every year, the cold of winter melts away and spring brings a new beginning. The nature and the creatures wake up from their hibernation, stretch the limbs and pop the heads up to give us a big smile.

The flowers in my garden invited me to give them a visit.

When I take my afternoon walk, the vibrant colors stopped me more and more frequently to capture their beauty.

I’m grateful for living in a community with the walking/hiking/horse trails snake through the cities. These trails are in the neighborhood yet they seem to be away from the distractions of voices and noises.

A Light exists in Spring
by Emily Dickinson

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

Written in around 1864 but not published until 1896 (as with many of Dickinson’s poems), ‘A Light Exists in Spring’ beautifully captures the way that spring slowly appears in our consciousness, like a light in the distance. The final stanza of Dickinson’s poem also seems to acknowledge what we now call ‘SAD’ or Seasonal Affective Disorder, with the passing of spring affecting our contentedness.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #143 – Colorful April

Two Hikers Found a message in a Bottle and Helped Rescued a Stranded Family

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Miriam Hurdle 28 comments

There was a CNN news update by Cheri Mossburg on September 11, 2019 about two hikers helped to rescue a stranded family. The family wanted to thank these two hikers and made the news on this day.

Curtis Whitson, his thirteen-year-old son and his girlfriend, Krystal Ramirez went backpacking at the Arroyo Seco River in central California for the Father’s Day weekend. Their goal was to reach the Arroyo Seco narrows, float through the water shoot and down the waterfall before joining friends to float the last couple of miles down to a campground. After two-and-a-half days, the family reached the narrows, a spot in the river surrounded by solid rock up to 40 feet high on each side. But the water currents were too strong for them to pass through. After trying to hike up and over, Whitson and his son kept hitting dead ends. There was no way out.

The family couldn’t see anything past the canyon walls, but they heard voices on the other side. They tried yelling for help. They carved a message on a stick and throwing it over. But they realized a stick wouldn’t be enough.

Whitson spotted a lime green water bottle and carved ‘HELP’ into the exterior of the plastic. Ramirez, his girlfriend had scratch paper. She scratched out a note and popped the paper inside the bottle.

The family carved 'HELP' on a green bottle

The three made sure to include a note in the bottle

The family went back up the river to a small beach where they had stopped earlier for lunch. They floated down from the beach in about two minutes, but it took about 30 minutes to get back upstream. After they got to the beach, they spread out a blue tarp in a clearing and assembled white rocks to spell out “SOS.” As the sun set, they used a headlamp to keep that message illuminated.

SOS

After midnight, the sound of a California Highway Patrol helicopter woke them up. Someone said over the loudspeaker, “This is Search and Rescue. We have found you.” The rescue crew told the family to stay put and stay warm. They arrived early the next morning to bring them to safety.

The rescue officer told Whitson two men found the bottle and hiked two miles to their campsite to give the message to the site host. Flight Officer Todd Bainbridge said the crew used night vision goggles and FLIR (forward looking infrared) technology to spot the campfire and located Whitson and his family. The two hikers left before the rescue team arrived.

Whitson and his family are grateful for the two hikers and the crew member who saved them. He wanted the news media to help him find the two hikers who found his family’s message and saved their lives.