Life: Through the Lens

Seul Choix Lighthouse, near Manistique, MI   A blog I follow, Meri's Musings , runs a Thursday's Theme - "Share the Joy Thursday."  I have not participated until today, not because I don't have any Joy in my life, Thursday or otherwise, but because I haven't taken the time to carve that purposeful post out of my day.  Until now. A lot of things bring me JOY - the arrival of a new grandchild (by Thursday next week, I hear!), time in nature, sharing a joke with my husband (or a tear) - so for today I chose something that always makes me smile and go "Ah ha!"  That is finding a picture within a picture. On our annual summer excursion with the St. Johns Camera Club we explored an area of the Upper Peninsula which we hadn't spent much time in before. The ruins themselves were fascinating, a story of another time in our Michigan history, when the Great Lakes were used for business purposes.  Port cities and lighthouses are abundant. ...

Its’ been a long, dry spell.   My creative juices have all been spent on a job transition, one which went from part time to full time…and very long days.   So the end of the day comes and there just isn’t much I want to do other than sew or sit quietly with my husband, and decompress from a long day. Yet there is always something lacking when I do that.   The need to create is very strong in me.   And even as I sit watching TV, or in the car on a drive with my husband, I think about taking pictures, about writing, about travel…and I sure wish I had a camera with me all the time.   Of course, you’re supposed to have one with you all the time.   Everyone tells you that.   And I have loads of good intentions along that line.   But…there I am.   Quite often without a camera. On my drive to work each morning I do a lot of “looking.”   As I cross over the river I look at the reeds where a family of swans has been hiding all summ...