WW Photo Challenge: Z for Zinnias

Posted on December 28, 2018 by Celia Reaves

Z is for Zinnias

Well, here we are at the end of the alphabet, the end of the year, and the end of the WordWacker Photo Challenge. I’m closing with this picture of some lovely zinnia blossoms, spotted along the walk one day last September. Zinnias are adorable little puffball flowers that come in some really intense colors, and these are good examples. I’m happy to end my challenge on these beauties.

I’ve been giving some thought to the question of whether to continue the challenge into next year, and I’ve decided not to have a formal challenge. Aside from my buddy Olga Godim, posting her custom book covers every week, I’ve only had one other person who participated once (thank you, Alice DeForest!). So while I’ve had fun doing it, it seems that it was not meant to catch on.

I’ve got a whole end-of-year reflection coming up, so I’ll save the discussion of my blog plans for 2019 until then. In the meantime, let me just say thanks to everyone who followed, liked, commented, or just sent me invisible support vibes through this experiment. It’s been great.

You can join in on the photo challenge one last time! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter Z. Or, indeed, any photo you like; it’s the last week, so anything goes! Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim contributed her last custom cover to the WordWacker Photo Challenge with one about zebras. Check it out here. Thank you, Olga!

*Just so we’re all clear, you post your photos on your own site, which means you aren’t giving control to me or to anyone else. We’re all invited to view the images you post (and comment if your site allows for comments), but nobody has the right to use your images in any way without your permission. Got it? Great!

WW Photo Challenge: Yellow Daisies

Posted on December 21, 2018 by Celia Reaves

Y is for Yellow Daisies

As we come to the end of the alphabet, it gets hard to find images for the letters. Last weeks’ X entry was especially challenging, but i had trouble with Y as well. I mulled over my options for weeks until finally my attention was captured by a field of yellow on the side of the road on my way to work. The flowers offered up the most vivid yellow there is, without making any demands for cultivation or admiration. I did admire them, though. I hope you do too.

Next week will be the end of this journey through the alphabet in images. As i look back at 2018 and think about 2019, I’ve got to decide whether to repeat the alphabetical photo challenge, think of a different way to challenge myself to post photos, or put the whole idea aside. I’d love to hear any wisdom you, my readers, have to offer on this topic. Have these posts been interesting or entertaining/ Would you like to see them continue? Please let me know, and thank you for your attention.

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter Y. Do you have a yurt? Maybe some colorful yarn? Share anything you’ve got for this week. Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim picked Yoga as the Y-word that inspired her custom cover this week. Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: The X Fence

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Celia Reaves

X is for the X-shaped support structure for this fence
(X is a hard letter)

I looked for months to find something that starts with X that I could take a picture of for today’s post, and I failed. The closest I could come is this rail fence with its X-shaped supports. Aside from the letter X failure, I quite like the image. I have a fondness for strong diagonal elements in my photos (here are a few examples). I also like the feeling of rugged competence it invokes. Someone knocked down a bunch of small trees, lopped off the branches, and piled them up without fasteners to make a serviceable fence. Well done, anonymous person! When civilization collapses, I want to be on your team.

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter X. If you find a xylophone or an X-ray machine, more power to you! Otherwise, how abut anything X-shaped? Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim found a different solution to the X dilemma, with her custom cover based on the sound of X. Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Wood Wall

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Celia Reaves

W is for Wood Wall

In this part of the world, boats generally don’t stay in the water over the winter. Our sailboat right now is “on the hard,” as they say, perched on its cradle, wrapped in plastic to keep out the snow and ice. The marina uses big blocks of wood, roughly chopped from 8″ x 8″ lumber, under the keels of the boats to support their weight and provide a little cushion. In the summer these blocks are stacked up on pallets. I was struck one day by the visual texture of all that wood, and this picture is the result. Now, as the snow is falling outside my window, I find this image invokes the lazy warmth of summer. I hope you enjoy it as I do!

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter W. Show us water, weeds, or wrinkles. Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim has a cover for the letter W featuring a magnificent wolf! Check it out here.
And this week we have another image! Actually a whole set of beautiful photos on the theme of the wishing well, from The 59 Club. Stop over and visit them!

WW Photo Challenge: Vines

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Celia Reaves

V is for Vines: Virginia Creeper

These gray boulders are shrouded in the bright green leaves of Virginia creeper, a hardy vine that grows vigorously and abundantly in the Eastern US. It’s actually a climber, not a creeper, but if there’s nothing around to climb on it will sprawl on whatever is handy, like these stones placed there to guard against erosion from Lake Ontario. It’s vivid in the summer and turns gorgeous shades of red in the fall.

People around here consider Virginia creeper a nuisance plant (the web site I linked to above describes it as “thuggish”), and spend a lot of time and energy figuring out how to kill it. This is understandable. It will use sticky pads to climb your house, and pulling it down will damage the wall. It will swarm over your trees, shading their leaves and stunting or even killing them. But Virginia creeper is hardy and tends to keep coming back. I confess to a certain admiration for its tenacity, which is easy for me since there isn’t any on my property.

What do you admire that others hate? Do you harbor any sneaky sympathy for the anti-hero you want to confess today?

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter V. Share your pics of vans, violins, or vases of violets violets. Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim shared a charming Victorian custom cover for this week’s letter. Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Unbroken Family

Posted on November 23, 2018 by Celia Reaves

U is for Unbroken

This soapstone sculpture is a stylized representation of a family with two adults and two children. It was carved in Peru, and purchased at One World Goods, a local store selling free-trade and sustainable sourced merchandise created by artisans around the world. My daughter, who volunteers there, gave it to me for Mothers Day years ago. Then, disaster struck – my family was broken!Everyone pulled together. I did some Internet research about soapstone and what adhesives might work. My son-in-law, who worked for years at a craft store, helped me buy the right stuff. Then four days ago we joined forces to mix the epoxy, assemble the pieces, wipe the excess, and hold it all in place while it set. I’m happy to report that the photo at the top shows how it is right now. If you look closely you can see the seams, but it’s all in one piece.

I don’t want to blow this incident out of proportion. I know there are families that are truly broken, and I mean no disrespect to people living that painful reality. I see you, and my heart aches for you. But this little sculpture story has some metaphorical weight for me. My daughter gave it to me after she had moved out of the house, not long before she married. My son had also moved out, leaving my husband and me in the big house alone. There are moments when I feel like my family is in pieces, my children scattered. But my family is absolutely unbroken. I’m the most fortunate of empty-nesters because they all live nearby and come over once a week for dinner and gaming. They were around our table yesterday for Thanksgiving, as they are every year. There is nothing I’m more thankful for.

What about you? Do you have the opportunity to join hands with your family? Are there broken places, held together with epoxy and determination? What are you most thankful for?

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter U. Show us your umbrella, your Uncle Joe, even your underwear if you’re feeling bold! Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Once again, Olga Odim shares a custom cover for the week, based on umbrellas. Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Tower

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Celia Reaves

T is for Tower

Not far from my house is the headquarters for a towing company. Their building is kind of down in a hollow, but they need to be able to keep in radio contact with the trucks in the field, so they built this REALLY tall tower for their communication antennae. I stopped by one day a month or so ago to point my camera wa-a-a-y up and snap this picture. If you zoom in you can see the guy wires that angle off to anchors in the distance, to keep the thing upright. It is noisy with birds and brightly lit at night, presumably so low-flying planes know to keep clear.

It’s an impressive structure, and got me to thinking about communication. We see towers like this one everywhere. People like to complain about how they ruin the scenery, but that’s not what I see. I see the importance we humans place on staying connected. We want our cell coverage, our Internet feeds, our news broadcasts. Yes, sometimes we are overly invested in instant connectivity, so much that cell phone addiction is a real thing. (Here’s a more scholarly article if you’re interested.) Still, it comes from the basic human need for community. So, on the whole, I don’t mind the towers.

What do you think about the? How do you stay connected with people? And what’s your relationship with your phone?

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter T. It might be a textbook, a turtle, or a tie fighter. Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Olga Godim’s custom cover this week touches a favorite idea of mine: Time Travel! Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Scaffolding

Posted on November 9, 2018 by Celia Reaves

S is for Scaffolding

This is how one of the buildings on my college campus looked last summer. The white tiles had proven ineffective and were letting water into the walls, so they had to go. The construction (which is still ongoing as of today) is hard work and disruptive to the learning that goes on inside, but I was fascinated by the intricate lacework of that scaffolding. It’s beautiful!

If you live in the northern hemisphere, as I do, my guess is that there’s been some construction going on somewhere near you. Were you able to find any beauty in the midst of disruption? Or do you have to just grit your teeth and recite the mantra of everyone dealing with renovation: It’ll be great when it’s done!

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter S. Stew? Socks? Silly children? Show us what you’ve got! Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Here’s another custom cover from Olga Godim on the theme of storms. Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Rain Over the River

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Celia Reaves

R is for Rain Over the River

Okay, this isn’t actually a river. It’s Black River Bay, where the Black River empties into Lake Ontario. Close enough, though to illustrate the letter R. It wasn’t raining where we were, in Sackets Harbor, but on the other side of the bay rain was coming down. I got this nice image of the dramatic sky, complete with a wheeling seagull. Very atmospheric (literally!).

Personally, I love rain. Of course there can be too much of it, like there was last summer when Lake Ontario swelled to dangerous levels, not to mention the catastrophic floods people have experienced in some places. Still, a steady rain can be soothing. Especially when it’s not falling directly on me.

How about you? What do you think about rain?

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter R. Rabbits, rutabagas, roses, or rings–anything works. Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Here’s another lovely custom book cover by Olga Godim, this time featuring roses (for the letter R). Check it out here.

WW Photo Challenge: Quality Quilt

Posted on October 26, 2018 by Celia Reaves

Q is for Quality Quilt

My father was born in 1922, and his grandmother (my great-grandmother) made this quilt for him then. She used a fan pattern, and though it’s hard to see in this image, there is extensive quilting in all the blocks and a little ring embroidered at the point of each fan. It’s almost 100 years old, and it still looks terrific! Though I’ve shown it here on the bed, mostly we hang it on the wall, using a system of rings and webbing to make sure not to put too much stress on the hand stitching. I love having such a beautiful, skillfully-made thing in my home, bringing me closer to my father and my family history.

What do you have that connects you to your family and your past? I’d love to hear about it.

You can join in on the photo challenge! Pick any image you created you can label with the letter Q. Show us a shiny quarter, a tree-lined quad on a college campus, even a thrilling game of quidditch! Here’s how to participate.

Post an image on your own blog or website.* All types of images are welcome. If you have serious equipment and serious skills, that’s awesome! If you snap pics on your phone (like me), that’s also awesome!
Post a comment on this page with a link back to your post. If you post a comment that includes a link to your blog, I will add a link to your post below.
Check back over the next week to follow the links. That way you can see what other people did with the theme and join in the fun.

Another lovely custom book cover from Olga Godim for the letter Q: a queen! Check it out here.

Word Wacker

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words. ~~Mark Twain

Tag Archives: Photo challenge