The Life in My Years

An anthology of life

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Everything has a price. I’m not giving away anything really tangible here. Everything has a cost. In this case the cost is your time. I hope that it’s time well spent. The mission for this post was positivity and I grappled with that – mightily. There …

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The nice thing about photographing trees is that they’re more cooperative than most other living things. They don’t whine like teens. They don’t move from the perfect pose to sniff at the lens like dogs. They don’t photobomb like idiots. Even when trees do move, or their parts at least, the effect can still be …

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This week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, hosted by Amy focuses on negative space in  photography.  My understanding is that negative space is the area that, by definition, you aren’t necessarily supposed to focus on. Negative space is the lack of clutter surrounding the main subject that allows us to focus on the main subject. The photo below …

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This week’s CFFC photo challenge is a special request topic Wilting, dead or aging flowers and leaves. This is a great topic because not having a whole lot in the archives I was inspired to take camera in hand and go on a search.  To view Cee’s photos and to find links to other contributors …

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This week’s Lens-Artist Photo Challenge comes from Ann-Christine who suggests that we find images with delicate colors in celebration of Spring. While sunrise and sunset often treat the viewer to brilliant, bright and vibrant views, dawn and dusk can also deliver the softest hues. Below are two views of nearby San Pablo Bay at sunset. …

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Another breath of viral free air to celebrate the beauty of America with some favorite images of mine (some previously posted in earlier pieces). Maine. Our time in Maine last summer was unfortunately cut short when Cora became seriously ill and we had to fly home. During the few days that we spent in Maine …

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This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge presented by Patti is “Change your perspective,” in other words look at an image or shot from a different point of view.  Take a break from the tried, true and sometimes trite perspective of straight on from your standing eye level. “Look up and down and round about you.”  ~ John …

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For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, the topic chosen by Amy is narrow. Water creates its own path through the narrowest of spaces, eventually eroding cracks and making them channels. Below are images of California’s Stanislaus River from a narrow rapid to the narrowest of passages. Below, a narrow section of waterfall cuts through Oregon’s …

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Red is a strong, happy, optimistic color, and I like having fun with it, you know? Like, when colors clash – I love that strangeness. ~ Victoria Beckham This weeks’ Lens Artist Photo Challenge is….wait for it…. find the red. Lens Artist challenge # 81  from Patti challenges us to a scavenger hunt for red. …

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There should be some winter images in the offing but today I’m celebrating winter solstice with more images taken at the San Francisco Botanical Garden on a very hot Saturday in June. 

It’s the thirtieth day of November. We’re on the back side of autumn and moving headlong into winter. I could just as easily have phrased it as being on the home stretch but that assumes something pleasant at the end, a finish line, a goal. Autumn doesn’t captivate me like it does others. I find …

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It’s chilly today. Let me qualify that, it’s in the low 50’s, which for me is chilly. I realize that I’ll get no sympathy from those who are bundling up to go out in the snow. When I took a trip to the San Francisco Botanical Garden it was an unseasonably hot day. The Giants …

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When you enter the gates of the San Francisco Botanical Garden you exit the urban turbulence of the city. It’s acres of quiet paths, manicured lawns and gardens with over 9000 different plants from around the world. It’s Eden in the city; Eden that is without a naked couple discussing the pros and cons of …

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Friday Fotos took a week off and is feeling very refreshed. This week FF decided to dig into the archives to come up with a medley of images from the past. Green Apple Books In the heart of San Francisco’s bustling, eclectic Clement Street on the city’s western end is Green Apple Books, a venerable, …

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The little village, aware of its charm dresses up for the part with vibrant bouquets of flowers splashing the town with color. 

For me The Passion Garden was the highlight of our visit.

The overabundance of rain this winter and spring has created a deluge of color in the yard. When the flowers are in bloom as they are this spring Cora likes to say that they’re happy. The bougainvilla at the corner of the garage seems to be almost giddy with joy. Instead of taking in the …

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Cover photo: A tree reflects through debris and points of sunlight in a park puddle. Here in Northern California we’ve been having some prodigious rainstorms. According to the weather guy on TV (who is quickly becoming one of my least favorite people not living in Washington DC) we’ve been hydrologically pulverized by an atmospheric river …

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