Day 19 ~ Shadows


“I like my shadow; it reminds me that I exist.”  ― Mehmet Murat Ildan

Light and shadow.  Shadow and light.  I think subconsciously I have always known that I have a fascination with shadows.  However, when I was trying to think of what to write on day 19 and was scrolling through some photos from trips home to help out with dad, I found a common theme in many of my photos.  There is something about the shadow of a person that often attracts me more than the person itself.  It’s a solid view of them, yet so different. It’s like them with no chance of argument.  Sort of like viewing folks through a glass.

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“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.”
― C.G. Jung

Reflections and shadow stalking started as a mental break for me. Sort of like looking at clouds and trying to see what shape they were.. a cat.. a dog.. a castle.. etc.  Like I know who is in the shadow, just like i know who is behind the glass.  But if you were not there and didn’t know, then you just might never know.  Like a mystery or a puzzle that needed to be sorted out.

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“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
― Sylvia Plath

Who are those magnificent beasts?  Could it be me?  But who else?  So interesting right?  I mean to me.. these are my thoughts. Yeah, as previously noted, I’m a bit nutty.  But seriously.  Who are those characters.  One looks super strong and the other sort of pinched up, but is that real?  I wonder. Well, what do you know!! Here they are again.

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“Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)”
― Horace

I really do love shadows.  They can expand the emotions you already feel.  They can cause fear.. what is it lurking in the closet.. in the hallway.. in my mind…!!!!  They can create abstract art and viewed from so many different angles to see so many different things.  Similar to a person and yet so much deeper.

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“What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?”
― Mikhail Bulgakov

We use shadows to judge shape and size.. but that can be deceiving and surprising as well.  Light and shadow exist together.. like the shadow is tied to the light and the light almost always casts a shadow.  Even so, shadows have so many different meanings in our society and throughout the world.  They carry implications such as death, soul, knowledge, life, and mystery.  Light is light.  Simply put, just light. I love light and prefer the light to the dark.. but that does not diminish my love of shadows.

“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.”
― George R.R. Martin

One thing I love about shadows is that they imply the presence of light.  Seems obvious but a shadow without light is just the dark.  When it’s dark I like to sleep.  When there are shadows I like to find the light.  I also like to see how small or big I can make my shadow. It’s super fun with kids in the classroom as well.  I remember both of my kids, at about the age of 2, tried to get rid of their shadow. I remember it being funny.  Screaming like mad and running from their own shadow.  I could not convince them that that was them.  They were the shadow.  It was a CONCEPT.  Luckily they grew out of that.

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“Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow…”
― Louisa May Alcott

“Come back. Even as a shadow, even as a dream.”
― Euripides

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
― C.G. Jung

“Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.”
― W.H. Auden

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself. It’s like your shadow. It follows you everywhere. -Komura”
― Haruki Murakami

The eye is always caught by light, but shadows have more to say.

― Gregory Maguire
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“Maybe the only thing each of us can see is our own shadow.
Carl Jung called this his shadow work. He said we never see others. Instead we see only aspects of ourselves that fall over them. Shadows. Projections. Our associations.
The same way old painters would sit in a tiny dark room and trace the image of what stood outside a tiny window, in the bright sunlight.
The camera obscura.
Not the exact image, but everything reversed or upside down.”
― Chuck Palahniuk

Well, well, well.. here they are. Out of the shadows and into the light. Light and shadow.  Shadow and light.  That’s all we really are…. or is it?

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Day 17 ~ Minnehaha ~ Little Italy ~Word


One thing I love about Spokane, Washington is the numerous hikes you can take.  So much nature.  So many outdoor activities. All so close to where ever you live in the city.  During a recent trip home, I hiked Minnehaha.  This is a park that is on the outskirts of what I recently found out to be “Little Italy”.  I had no idea that I had spent most of my childhood being raised in an Italian neighborhood.    

I hope you enjoy the views from my hike in Minnehaha.

The rest of the photos are from newspaper articles and others who posted to a group I belong to about the area.  I just can’t get enough of the old pictures and data that these folks have been providing.  It’s like revisiting my childhood.  There was the school I went to, the library I visited, the store across from the school I shopped at, and the park I played in.  With no parental supervision.  Those were the days.  I mean, maybe they were and maybe they were not.  Great memories!! Enjoy.

 

Day 14 – Orange you glad I’m still here?


“I feel a little dizzy,” said Orion. “But also wonderfully elated. I feel that I am on the verge of finding a rhyme for the word orange.”

“Oxygen deprivation,” said Foaly. “Or maybe it’s just him.”
― Eoin Colfe

Orange is my favorite color.  I do not think orange gets enough attention.  We all know that Orange is the New Black but that is not enough. Orange is a great pun, part of a pivotal knock-knock joke, an impressive part of sunsets.  There are way more than 50 shades of orange.  But no one cares.  No one takes note.  Not any more.  Not on my watch.

Today’s post is dedicated to this very important issue.

What does the color orange mean?
Orange. Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. … In heraldry, orange is symbolic of strength and endurance.

In nature it’s the color of vivid sunsets, fire, vegetables, flowers, fish, and many citrus fruits. In our contemporary world, orange is the color of marmalade, Traffic cones, life rafts, cheetos, and Halloween. Orange symbolizes energy, vitality, cheer, excitement, adventure, warmth, and good health.

“Plants are more courageous than almost all human beings: an orange tree would rather die than produce lemons, whereas instead of dying the average person would rather be someone they are not.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Orange was a symbol of the glory and fruits of the earth in the early Christian church and was also known as the wisdom ray.

“In my head, the sky is blue, the grass is green and cats are orange.”
― Jim Davis

The canary’s orange colour isn’t a natural thing. Initially, the birds were a green-brown but cross-breeding made them yellow, combine this with a diet of red peppers and they become orange.

“FALLING IN LOVE WITH OCTOBER

Leaves descending to the ground,
Orange, magenta, green & brown
The cool crisp breezes in the air,
Autumn season must be here”
― Charmaine J Forde

Orange has one of the strongest measurable physical effects of any color. Orange stimulates the appetite, increases energy level, and even stimulates the thyroid to boost metabolism. Orange is powerful. We can’t ignore it, which explains why people have such marked reactions to it.

“The orange of the golden carp appeared at the edge of the pond. . . . We watched in silence at the beauty and grandeur of the great fish. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw Cico hold his hand to his breast as the golden carp glided by. Then with a switch of his powerful tail the golden carp disappeared into the shadowy water under the thicket.”
― Rudolfo Anaya

Orange relates to ‘gut reaction’ or our gut instincts, as opposed to the physical reaction of red or the mental reaction of yellow.

The color orange is a very hot color and often provides the sensation of heat. While orange is a common color associated with summer and the hot sun, often associated with being the main color of harvest and autumn due to the changing color of the leaves and pumpkins.

“Meanwhile the sunsets are mad orange fools raging in the gloom….”
― Jack Kerouac

“An orange day, a happy day, a brand-new day in the secret language that only the three of us seemed to understand.
“Mmmmm,” Daddy said, taking a bite of his roll. “Orange wakes you up, but cinnamon makes you remember.”
― Judith Fertig

It’s no surprise that such a powerful color inspires negative associations as well. Orange can be strident and exhausting if it’s overused. Too much orange is overpowering, and a large number of people consider orange their least favorite color. We associate orange with danger, and its attention-getting properties means most designers use it sparingly.

With its enthusiasm for life, the color orange relates to adventure and risk-taking, inspiring physical confidence, competition, and independence. Those inspired by orange are always on the go!

“I am captivated by the beautiful colors of Fall,
Show me,show me,
Show me All!
Orange, yellow, purple, reddish-brown,
And the rustling of the leaves as they fall to the ground.”
― Charmaine J. Forde

“Orange pekoe flavor, with that gold confection dust on the top.” She holds one up to demonstrate. “Mascarpone filling.” She bites it clean in half and shows me the middle. “Rose jelly in the center.”
“Sounds good to me. What shall we call it?”
“I don’t know.”
I reach over and pick up a macaron, the texture, weight, and balance all perfect. Symmetry, lightness, both shells with excellent feet, wedded together with a smooth filling. Nodding with approval, I place it on my tongue. She is right; the orange and rose flavors melt lustily in your mouth. It’s just like Mama- all bright and full of surprises.”
― Hannah Tunnicliffe

Now I ask you again.. ROOOAAARRRRNGE you glad I am still here?

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Useless orange facts:

  1. Orange is the color between yellow and red on the spectrum of visible light.
  2. In painting and traditional color theory, it is a secondary color of pigments, created by mixing yellow and red.
  3. It is named after the fruit of the same name.
  4. In English, the color orange is named after the appearance of the ripe
  5. The orange color is one of the carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, oranges, and many other fruits and vegetables.
  6. Carotenes are pigments that convert the light energy that the plants absorb from the sun into chemical energy for the plants’ growth.
  7. Similarly, the hues of autumn leaves are from the same pigment after chlorophyll is removed.
  8. In Europe and America, surveys show that orange is the color most associated with amusement, the unconventional, extroverts, warmth, fire, energy, activity, danger, taste, and aroma.
  9. It’s the national color of the Netherlands and the House of Orange.
  10. In Asia orange is an important symbolic color of Buddhism and Hinduism
  11. In the 18th century, orange was sometimes used to depict the robes of Pomona, the goddess of fruitful abundance.
  12. Her name came from the pomon, the Latin word for fruit.
  13. Oranges themselves became more common in northern Europe, thanks to the 17th-century invention of the heated greenhouse, a building type that became known as an Orangerie.
  14. The French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard depicted an allegorical figure of “inspiration” dressed in orange.
  15. In Ukraine in November–December 2004, it became the color of the Orange Revolution, a popular movement which carried activist and reformer Viktor Yushchenko into the presidency.
  16. Regarding painting, blue is the complementary color to orange.
  17. As many painters of the 19th century discovered, blue and orange reinforce each other.
  18. The painter Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that in his paintings, he was trying to reveal “the oppositions of blue with orange, of red with green, of yellow with violet … trying to make the colors intense and not a harmony of grey”.
  19. In Confucianism, the religion and philosophy of ancient China, orange was the color of transformation.
  20. In Europe and America, orange and yellow are the colors most associated with amusement, frivolity, and entertainment.
  21. It is often used in marketing campaigns to recreate these feelings to potential clients, and consumers.
  22. Orange is the color most easily seen in dim light or against the water.
  23. This is why it is the color of choice for life rafts, life jackets, or buoys.
  24. Highway temporary signs about construction or detours in the United States are orange, because of its visibility and its association with danger.
  25. The word orange derives from the Sanskrit naranga and the Persian narang.
  26. Naranjas are the oranges in Spanish.
  27. The blood used on the set of Sweeney Todd, had to be orange to render properly on the de-saturated color film.
  28. Orange was a symbol of the glory and fruits of the earth in the early Christian church.
  29. It was also known as the wisdom ray.
  30. In Feng Shui orange represents fire. Colors are very significant in the ancient concept.
  31. The nobility were the only ones during the Elizabethan Era who could wear orange.
  32. Orange is often biblically associated with saints and represents strength and courage.
  33. The first operator in Europe to commit to pushing NFC across its territories was the mobile network giant Orange.
  34. Orange’s well-known slogan was “the futures bright, the futures orange”.
  35. An orange vehicle apparently says you are a fun-loving and trendy person.
  36. Frank Sinatra had a love for the color orange, once saying “Orange is the happiest of colors
  37. The color of the United States Army Signal Corps is orange.
  38. Orange is a very popular color in the world of sport with American football teams including Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, and baseball teams including the San Francisco Giants having their primary color is orange.
  39. The fruits’ orange appearance isn’t a common occurrence in other parts of the world.
  40. Vietnamese oranges and Thai tangerines are orange on the inside and yet bright green on the outside.
  41. The Netherlands soccer team, or ‘Oranje’, play in orange kits.
  42. An orange’s skin turns orange as the weather cools but in hotter areas, the chlorophyll stays and the fruit remains green.
  43. The canary’s orange color isn’t a natural thing, initially, the birds were a green-brown but cross-breeding made them yellow, combine this with a diet of red peppers and they become orange.
  44. Originally carrots weren’t orange.
  45. The most common color was purple.
  46. The orange variety came about by the 17th Century when Dutch growers seemingly crossbred white rooted, mutated yellow and wild carrots.
  47. Every 25th day of the month is known as “Orange Day” by the UN’s campaign called UNiTE to End Violence against Women.
  48. The day is to raise awareness and act to stop violence against women.
  49. Consumer research has proven that an orange lawnmower is easier to find in long grass than a blue one, this was why in 1977 Flymo changed from blue to orange.
  50. Orange is the Dutch Royal Family’s color. Descendants of William of Orange, the color became the symbol of the Netherlands.

Orangey: Eliza; meander; arlene; amy; susanne; Bren; JoAnn: Ally; Mike: cordeliasmom; Suhita; stoner

Visions of Autumn


Travel Theme: Autumn / Travel Theme: Orange

My all time favorite Autumn photos are of my grandkids and daughters back in Spokane, WA.  I’m sure you will agree they are absolutely LOVELY!!!

Grandkids by Allie Hannah Photography - Spokane

Grandkids by Allie Hannah Photography – Spokane

During my recent visit to Seoul Korea I decided to meet up with friends, go hiking and just walk around some of my old stomping grounds.  My walk to Seoul tower brought me through some beautiful hilly areas with the trees just turning amazing colors.  I met a friend in Insadong and just happened to stumble on a dance and parade.  I tried finding out what the event was.. but will have to just label it improv Korea.  I really do love this place.

Other posts I enjoyed

A Photo That.. reblogged from August 2012


Well, I usually don’t do this but I’m re-blogging one of my old favorite posts. This post was put together based on a contest that had already passed. I liked the idea so much that I decided to follow the post challenge and submit this blog based on that challenge. It’s still one of my favorite posts and I’m actually inspired to try to follow this idea on an annual basis. It was fun looking back and I want to thank the most recent commenter on this post who reminded me about it. Thank you blueribbonfair…

I hope you enjoy.

The Hostel Bookers 7 Super Shots photo challenge was held in January 2012. I wasn’t blogging back then but someone sent me the link thinking I might enjoy the challenge and they were correct.  The photos highlighted on that site were amazing.  I’m not competing in the contest obviously, but it was just a fun way to go back over some of the photos I have taken over the past few years and see what would fit where in each of the following 7 categories.

Even though I know that the contest is over, and you should also be aware of this, I wanted to participate whole-heartedly in this past contest that will reap me no reward other than my own personal satisfaction.  So here goes. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them and revisiting them.

For the purpose of the contest I had to choose 7 of my own photos, one for each of the following categories:

  • A photo that…takes my breath away

  • A photo that…makes me laugh or smile

  • A photo that…makes me dream

  • A photo that…makes me think

  • A photo that…makes my mouth water

  • A photo that…tells a story

  • A photo that…I am most proud of (aka my worthy of National Geographic shot)

I like some of the following blogs for their amazing photographs and style, others for their incredible wit and ability to entertain.  Other’s largely because they offer guidance on some topics I am interested in, like food, travel and photography reviews. Finally, I feel these particular blogs have something to contribute to the blogging world and the world in general.  So in no particular order, here are some of my favorites.  I will probably edit the list to add more, but these are just off the top of my head.  Thanks for reading all.

Emma’s Life UnravelI Miss Me TooUtesmileTahiras,  Beyond Paisley,Where’s my BackpackGrandmother’s MusingsSued 51