L-APC: Large to Small

Lens-Artists host this week, Patti, has given us an interesting challenge: Pick a color and choose photos with objects of that color from large (like a wall or a building) to small (like a mushroom or an earring). I picked two colors: White and Pink.

WHITE

Largest: a snowy landscape

Large: a round white barn…

…and its door

Medium: Our niece’s wedding dress (with blue embroidered flowers!)

Smallish: Styrofoam chest with ribs and intestines

Small: Flower – hydrangea blossoms

PINK

Large: Pink building façade

A little less large: Pink ice cream truck, “The Original Rainbow Cone”

Medium, whole: Andy Warhol cat

Medium, in pieces: Bridal Shower Jeopardy

Medium, Pretty: frilly dresses & Medium, Patterned: 60s dresses

Medium, delicious: Birthday cake

Smallish: Umbrella

Small: Orchid

CFFC: Winter Textures

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is Textures. These photos were all taken in the past three months – winter months.

Textures on screens in winter

Textures on water and ice

Textures of tree bark

Three different textures in a still life on my mantel

Texture of my favorite sweater

SYW: Of Crimes, Birds, Change & Birthday Gratitude

It’s time for a new week of Melanie’s Share Your World!

Questions:

Is it ever okay to commit a crime?  Please explain.
A crime in which someone is hurt or property damaged is not OK. However, sometimes one might kill or injure someone due to legitimate self-defense (such as domestic abuse). Some so-called crimes are not really crimes. For example, the only “crimes” I have committed consist of smoking marijuana when it was illegal and stealing a few pencils or pens or small things like that from the office where I was working. I don’t think taking drugs of any kind should be a crime, but it must be a crime to sell or smuggle them. And while it’s OK to drink alcohol or smoke marijuana, just don’t get in a car and drive when you are under the influence! Because that is irresponsible and also a crime!

Do you deal with change well?  (not money, because I know some wit out there is thinking how bulky coins are. Well I did any how.    ) Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Facing change, whether good or bad, always causes me anxiety at first – fear of the unknown. Everyone must learn to cope with change – it’s part of life; but it’s not easy.

Do you like birds?   The sound of bird song in the morning, taking pictures of them, as food?   
Of course I like birds! I do like to hear the chirping of the birds and trying to identify them. When I take decent photos of them, I feel proud of myself! Photographing birds is especially fun when you have a chance to see exotic ones, like when on safari in Africa. But I also like to catch them in flight, with their wings extended. As for eating them, well, I do like chicken and turkey, and occasionally duck. But I’m not a hunter and I think the birds destined for human consumption should be raised more humanely, so they can have a semblance of normal bird life.

What’s the least used item of clothing you own?
A few months ago, I noticed that nearly all of my decent shirts were striped, and I became obsessed with adding shirts to my wardrobe that had different designs on them other than shirts. So I bought several on sale from an online catalog, but I have only worn one of them! Shortly after they arrived, the pandemic lockdown started and I had no reason to wear them. So they are the least used clothing I have, but hopefully not for long!|

Gratitude:

If you care to share, what are you grateful for?  
I’m grateful for the warm weather and for all the people who called me or sent me cards today to wish me happy birthday!

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Square Tops: My Closet

Welcome to my closet! All of our closets are overflowing with clothes. We culled a lot before moving, but even so, there just are too many clothes for the space – of course, we also buy new clothes…

For Becky’s April Squares challenge with the theme of top, I am posting photos of most of my tops!

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These are my dressy tops and summer tops.

I have an upper and lower hanging space, which is great for tops, but I have too little space for my long clothes – pants, dresses, and such.

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These are the tops I’ve been wearing this winter.

New tops!

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We live in a senior community and people dress up a little for dinner in the dining room. I didn’t have many nice tops and the ones I had were all striped! How unimaginative! So I ordered 6 new tops from an online catalog, but when they came, in early March, I never had a chance to wear most of them!

So they sit waiting in my closet, for when this quarantine is over and we start going to the dining room to eat again!  (Currently, and at least until the end of May, the kitchen staff delivers the dinners to our door.)

While I was in the closet taking these photos, I noticed someone else in the closet too! 😀

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I must have surprised her, by the look on her face and her fur sticking up – she had “bed hair!”

 

 

 

CFFC: Shirts of Opposing Colors

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge ends her color theme this week. The topic is opposing (or complementary) colors. The three primary colors are: yellow, blue and red. The secondary colors are: green, purple and orange. To make green, you combine blue and yellow. To make purple, you combine blue and red. And to make orange, you combine red and yellow. So complementary colors are when you match a SECONDARY color with the PRIMARY color that is NOT part of the combination. So for example, red’s complementary color is green because green is made by combining blue and yellow (NOT red). 

Here are the combinations:
Blue & orange
Red & green
Yellow & purple

Artists have long made use of complementary colors to make their subjects “pop,” painting these colors next to each other. The contrast serves to emphasize objects in the painting. I love to use these combinations also, when I do coloring pages. Here’s an example – every shape or combination of shapes in this geometric pattern is made up of complementary colors of different hues. It is one of my earlier experiments with gel pens.
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Purple and yellow shirts
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Bears shirt
20200103_192657.jpgEver wonder why Christmas colors are green and red? – Complementary colors!
My nephew in his new shirt – a present for Christmas
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CFFC: Red

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is the color RED.  These red items are mostly from my travels. Excerpts from my color essay on red are included.

Red says, “Look at me!” And we do because red stands out.

Many flowers are red – tulips, roses, dahlias and many others can be red – maybe these beautiful flowers are why some people choose red as their favorite color.

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Zinnia in Arlington Heights, IL

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Dahlia in Tacoma, WA

Wearing red clothes makes a person stand out.

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A friend arriving at Tel Aviv airport, Israel

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My brother-in-law’s barbershop quartet doing their annual “singing Valentines” – this one was for my sister at the Moorings.

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Me sitting in a tall red chair at our hotel in Tiberias, Israel

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Whimsical glass figure made by a child, on display at the Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA

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Red building in Poulsbo, WA

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Facade of a church in Nurmberg, Germany

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Famous cafe in the Jewish district – Budapest, Hungary

 

Some very delicious fruits are red – tart apples, succulent raspberries and yummy strawberries. Red tomatoes and red peppers are good and juicy too. But watch out! Red peppers can be HOT.

Raspberries & peppers in community garden, the Moorings, Arlington Heights
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Sign in front of a winery, Miltenberg, Germany

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Omaha Beach memorial, Normandy, France

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Cake served on our river cruise ship, Viking Sigyn, on the 4th of July

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Helio Oiticica (Brazilian artist) exhibit at the Art Institute, Chicago, IL

Speaking of hearts, we normally think of hearts as red. We give each other cards on Valentine’s Day with red or pink hearts.

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Dale’s Valentine to me on Valentine’s Day 2019. 

And by the way, Dale’s birthday is Valentine’s Day!

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Dale celebrates his Valentine birthday with a dessert of flan and a margarita, Mexico Restaurant, Des Plaines, IL

CFFC: Fashion Near and Far

Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge this week is about fashion.

In The Bistro Restaurant at Lyric Opera of Chicago, there is always one of the beautiful dresses worn by the lead female character on display in a case with a mirror behind it so you can see both front and back. This was the dress on display last December for Il Trovatore.
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These miniatures were on display at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines, Sept. 2018, as 19th century public figures decked out in their finery.
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1960s fashions – exhibit at Evanston History Center (Dawes House) during Open House Chicago, Oct. 2018.
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Muslim women & men in Old Jerusalem, Israel, January 2019.
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At the Israeli Diamond Center, Tel Aviv
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Mannequin, Le Pijp Market, Amsterdam, Holland (June 2019)
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Store display – for bridesmaids (?), Wurzburg, Germany (June 2019)
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Ribbons for hats, Regensburg, Germany (July 2019)
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Not sure what this mannequin is advertising, but she looks rather fashionable, don’t you think? (Regensburg, Germany)
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When I saw the design on this T-shirt in Regensburg, I had to go into the shop and purchase two of them for our daughter and son-in-law, who have a particular fondness for skulls and food!
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December Squares: Ugly Sweater Time!

Becky is hosting her December Month of Squares with the subject time. It’s that time of year to attend holiday parties – get out your “ugly Christmas sweater!”

Wearing “ugly Christmas sweaters” to a holiday party has become an American holiday tradition. So much so that now stores are marketing ugly sweaters and other garish items of clothing. Today I saw “ugly” clothing for sale while shopping at Meijer, such as this skirt covered with colorful shiny bows with a golden garland fringe.
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Maybe you would prefer to attend the party dressed in a Santa suit.

And here it is, the classic “ugly sweater!” (This is my favorite!)
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I can’t help but include, in a nod to my Jewish family members, my stepdaughter at her bridal shower with a special gift: an “ugly” Hanukkah sweater!
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