Tag Archives: Recreation

Saying Goodbye to 2011: A Year of Transitions….and Blessings!

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2012 Is Right Around The Bend (Taken December 30 2011 in Philadelphia PA.). The older I get, I find that I'm more inclined to speak through my work than through the written word. And this picture encapsulates in one frame what this year meant to and for me.

 (You can also find this image in my Flickr photo stream….)

December 31, 2011

Here we are, at the end of another year.  This is the point where we are supposed to take stock of how good or bad 2011 was to us.

For me (and others, from what I can see online and off) 2011 was truly a wild and bumpy roller coaster ride, presenting a lot of highs, lows, ups and downs.

I moved.  A lot.

I lost.  A lot.

Certain situations I had to face down and work through, requiring a great deal of intestinal fortitude, courage and a double dose of faith.  Many many dark nights wrapped me in despair and hopelessness.  There were other days where I found myself wanting to give up and go back to my old life.  Many tears were shed.

But as it is written in Psalm 30:5 (New International Version), “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

So I had to pick myself up, dust myself off, dry my tears, and open myself up the blessings that awaited me.  I learned that a closed fist never gets fed.

My blessings, on their face, were a mixed bag, but for all of them, I am grateful.

Several people were placed in my path to lift me up and remind me of the true meaning of humanity.  For your generous, honest and loving friendship, I thank you.  Other people were placed in my path to try to tear me down.  Despite your malicious intent, I thank you.  Others still left my life, hopefully never to return.  Thank you for making a space in my life to be filled with the love, life and laughter of people who choose to be in my life and accept me for who I am, scars and all.

In short, through it all, I endured.  I survived, and I thrived.

I love you all.  Without your patience, support and encouragement, I don’t think I would have made it this far.

To 2012:  I’m ready.  I’ve looked around the bend and all I see is an open road.  I pray that the blessings and lessons that await me in the coming 12 months will make me into a better human being.  mother, sister, cousin, friend and photographer.

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(Weekend) Photo of the Day: Basketball.

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Taken April 4, 2011 in Philadelphia, PA

Hey errbody..hope you’re enjoying the weekend so far.  It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Philly, but I’m stuck in the house, working on this blog, trying to get it to where I want it to be.  Blame it on my perfectionist Virgo nature, but I’m never really satisfied with anything I do.  I’m always trying to find a better way to do things, including my photography, this blog, my life, etc.

At any rate, since I’m all excited about my new blog template, I thought I’d post a new photo.  I came across a young man dribbling a basketball the other day, and I walked up to him and asked him to simply hold it out with both hands.  He did, and I snapped this photo.  Nothing to it. 

Anyway, I’ll be back on Monday with more photos.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Photo of the Day: He Rode By.

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I thought I’d post this as an ode to spring that is taking her sweet time making a grand appearance.  Happy Friday, and don’t forget to play a friendly prank on someone in honor of April Fool’s Day today!

Photo of the Day: He Ran Out of Chalk (At 3).

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Determined to shake off the isolation and decay-induced blues from last week’s photowalk, I was pleased to have a chance to go outdoors, take some new photos, interact with Philadelphia’s finest, and enjoy the crisp spring air and bright sunshine.

I came across some men and young girls in Vernon Park, and the man was having a bit of trouble sketching a hopscotch grid on the sidewalk. Seeing this as an opportunity to take a few candid shots, I walked him through the process of drawing the boxes with the numbers.  He seemed pretty adamant about doing it right, so I tried to be very patient with him.

Well, after he finished writing the number three on the ground, he announced that he ran out of sidewalk chalk. 

LOL!!!

So at the point, there was really no need for me to stay. Someone else walked up, and they began a pretty animated conversation about who was going to get the chalk. Since that wasn’t going to be me, I left.  

But when I came back around a little while later, the group was gone.  But guess what? I guess he found some chalk and finished the grid!  I would have gotten my hopscotch on, but alas, my ankle just wasn’t cooperating. 

The only question I had from that encounter was this: When did men start involving themselves in childhood girly games like hopscotch?  Did I miss something??

Visit my Facebook Fan page to check out more of my hopscotch photos and tell me if you played hopscotch as a kid.

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Photo of the Day: Cigar Guy #2.

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“Cigar Guy”  is an older gentleman whom I’ve observed several times on Germantown Avenue over the past week or so.   When I see him, he’s usually chomping on a smelly cigar.

As I was walking down the Avenue Saturday afternoon, I noticed that he was walking ahead of me with his hands clasped behind his back at a very slow pace, so I caught up to him and took this and a few other images.   Cigar Guy #1 can be seen here.

My goal is to get some images of his face, smoking on a stogie.

The Way I See It Today: My Bucket(Head) List.

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Cover of "The Bucket List"

Cover of The Bucket List

Good afternoon my friends,

I know you all are tired of hearing all of the gloom and doom on the news. I know I am.  Sometimes you just want to have a good laugh and relax.  As the world falls apart around us, poking fun at ourselves, our frailties as human beings, our faults and our missteps, is, to me, the best way to put all of this craziness into perspective .  So I decided to write a post that does just that.

As I ventured out today into the snowy, icy tundra that is northwest Philadelphia, I got to thinking:  Why am I out here again?  I’m risking life and limb to check my mail? That’s gotta be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.

And then this thought led to another, more profound question:  What has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done? (No, not that.)  The other dumb stuff I’ve done in life?  Stuff I’ve done that was so stupid that I wouldn’t even tell my best friend about it?  And what if I compiled all of these dumb and stupid things that I’ve done into a Bucket(Head) List?  This would be a twist on the premise of the movie, The Bucket List, where Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are terminally ill and decide to do all these fabulous things and go to all these awesome places before they die.  {DISCLAIMER:  No, I’m not terminally ill, and no, I’m not on my deathbed, and no, I don’t want to go to Disneyland.} 

So as I was walking (read slipping and sliding) down the street to the Post Office, I began itemizing (inside joke) and prioritizing my list, in a way only a true Virgo could.  So now that I’m back home, I am proud to debut, to you, my loyal readers, my Bucket(Head) list.  Folks, I did a google search, and I’m here to tell ya….you’re not gonna find a Bucket(Head) List anywhere else.  You are gonna see tons of Bucket Lists.  Why?  Because everyone likes to show off and one-up everyone else. 

See, I’m not all about trying to impress people. I don’t need to tell you where I’ve been and what I own.  People who do that are very insecure and spend too much time trying to cover up their insecurities by showing how great they are.  Me?  I have no problem telling you how screwed up I am. Why?  Because I hope that someone out there can learn from my mistakes and have a good laugh at my expense.  No matter what anyone thinks about me, I may fall down, but you damn sure better believe this:  If I fall down, I’m gonna pick myself, dust myself off and keep on going.  And you better believe I won’t keep making the same dumb mistakes because I’m too afraid to say to myself that I effed up. 

At any rate, I hope, for a brief moment, it’ll take your minds off of what’s going on in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, the economy, the Dems vs. the GOP vs. Obama vs. the Tea Party, and Snowtorious B.I.G. (thanks Cliff) that’s barreling down on the Rockies, the Midwest and the East Coast.  They say that over 100 million people will be affected by this storm.  Do you realize that’s like 1 out of 3 Americans (and counting)?  Know your facts and make sure you’re protected (oops, this isn’t an STD PSA.  My bad).

Okay here goes my Bucket(Head) List:

1.  Opening a can of soup and realizing that it needs milk and all you have is water. Why didn’t I see this WHEN I WAS AT THE STORE AND COULD HAVE GOTTEN MILK???  Dumb.  Anyway, I fixed the soup, added water, and didn’t notice anything less spectacular about it.  So maybe this wasn’t so dumb after all.  *shrugs*  Besides.  I’m lactose intolerant anyway.

2. Walking gingerly in the snow to avoid slipping on the ice, and stepping right in some dog poo.  ARGH!!! Eff it, I’m gonna just walk like I’m taking no prisoners next time. Might as well, because chances are not only will I step in a steaming pile of poo, I’ll slip and fall on the ice.  That’s killing two birds with one stone, and my friends, that’s efficiency at its best.

3.  The bleached blond loc phase.  That was dumb. Very dumb.  It pains me to look at pictures of myself during that dark era of my life.  And no, I won’t post any, so don’t ask.

4.  St. Louis.  Another dumb move.  Seven years of my life I’ll never get back.  Coincides with #3.

5.  Undergraduate classes/coursework.  Again.  4 years of my life I’ll never get back.  I don’t use any of that crap I learned, and I’m still trying to pay on my student loans.   And then they got the nerve to call and email for donations?  GTFOH. 

They need to find a way to let people skip college and go straight to grad school.  Hell, if a high school basketball player or football player can get drafted straight into the pros, then why can’t I?  What’s the point of spending four of my best years in college when all I did was is drink, eat greasy food, go to lame parties, skip class to watch bad tv and play cards til 4 in the morning?

6.  Relaxed hair.  I’m not knocking all my black and brown sistafriends who do the chemical straightening thing, but I know my limitations, and I should have stopped doing that ish in 1988.  I’m still trying to recover from all that frying and dying of my precious locks (see #3). Besides, have you ever stopped to think about what we may be absorbing into our brains via constant use of those chemicals??  Brain damage, anyone?  Maybe we’re not crazy because we’re black, but we’re crazy because we’re poisoning our brains and altering our brain chemistry.

7.  Credit cards are the devil. No further explanation necessary.  Most of the stuff I bought on credit, I don’t even own anymore.  What’s the point?

8.  Quitting my job later rather than sooner.    I was talking to someone earlier today and the person pointed out that a lot of my respiratory problems (coughing, hacking, upper respiratory infections, wheezing, and all out behaving like Steve Urkel) I was experiencing while working in the Bronx went away after I left my job.  Go figure! 

So basically, all I was doing in sticking it out was aiding and abetting my own death. Isn’t that like suicide?? Dumb!!  The takeaway for me was this:  No job is worth losing your health, family, friends, sanity or peace of mind.  If you value your job more than those things, then you, my friend, are losing.

9.  Pretending to be friends with people I don’t even like. How many years have I lost behind that?  Too many to count here. 

10.  And last, but certainly not least:  Not being there for my family in their time of need.  See number 8:  Wash, rinse, repeat.

So, here’s the question of the day:  If you could write your own Bucket(Head) List, what would be your Number One item and why? 

Photo of the Day: Woman on a Mission.

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Congratulations!  We made it to the last day of what has turned out to be a pretty eventful January.  2011 has gotten off to a pretty interesting start wouldn’t you agree?  I know it has for me. 

At any rate, I hope you all have found this month to be a productive and positive one.  I have a confession to make:  I haven’t been all that pleased with my work output lately. I know it’s cold outside, and it’s the dead of winter and we’ve got like 10,000 feet of snow, but there’s only so many snowy landscapes a person like me wants to take.

So when I went out today to check my PO Box and pick up some items from the supermarket, I took my camera, as I always do.  Upon leaving the post office, I pulled it out, and headed up the street.  As I was walking along, a woman was quickly coming up behind me, and she looked to be pulling something, like a rolling cart or luggage of some kind.  She caught up to me, and in a fit of annoyance, picked up her cart and pushed ahead of me as if to say, hey you, you’re walking too slow, I got places to go. 

Well you know what?  Perhaps I was.  I have a bum ankle, and frankly, I’m learning in all of my pain, to take things much slower.  The grocery store will be there, and I’m not rushing for anyone anymore. 

However, I realized, at that moment, here’s your chance! Before she could speed off, I took a photo:

Bye! 

What’s funny about this situation is that once I got home, I realized that the autofocus toggle switch on my lens had been switched to manual.  As it turned out, this was the only image out of the handful I took today that turned out to be of any use.  Lucky me.

Hoping February turns out to be a lot better than January. Maybe not, since it seems that we’re gonna get hit with more snow this week.

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Photo: Love and a fishing pole (and umbrella)

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Here’s my final selection from 2010….This photo was also taken at Battery City Park.  The couple was sitting at the end of the boardwalk with their boombox, under the umbrella for shade, with a fishing pole propped up against the fence.  Very adorable. 

I think I have a thing for photographing couples young and mature, so I will focus on that this year, among other things.

Photos: In My ‘Hood (Seasons Change – Audubon Park, Jersey City)

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 I took this (and others) during a summer day in late August.

And then I went back and snapped a few photos last Friday evening. 

Boy, I love how the seasons change. 

Photo: In My ‘Hood (Do you Ever Think? It’s Against the Law…). October 1, 2010

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(c) 2010 Mom of Three Photography, all rights reserved

 

This is a continuation of the God Wall.  I think this photograph needs no explanation.  

When I saw it, I started cracking up, because I was like, damn, it had to be pretty bad for someone to have to take the time to paint a sign on the wall?  

And are there really laws in New Jersey against urinating against a wall?  Must be, because there are laws for everything else here in the Garden State.