Day Five of Seven

Day Five of Seven Days of Black and White

I have to say I’m very grateful to my uncle for this image. He’s the one who taught me how to use a bounce flash (and bought me my first one). This was taken with my Olympus DSLR, which is what I used the most before I purchased my Nikon. I guess you could call it my first love.

For this image, I isolated two flowers from a bouquet I bought at the store. Yes, I know you’re shaking your head, knowing that no flowers come into my home without being photographed. They make the best subjects because they don’t blink when the flash goes off. LOL.

Next, I put these up against a white backdrop, arranged them the way I wanted, used the manual mode on the camera, and positioned the bounce at different angles until I got what I wanted.  I did this on the patio, where the ceiling was lower. I found that high ceilings don’t work very well for getting this kind of effect. The light from the flash has to travel too far.

Have a great weekend, dear ones. Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

 

Turning Up the Heat

I have no idea what these flowers are because (as I told you before) I am not a botanist. Ha! Isn’t that the truth! I have only one living plant in my whole house … a pothos vine (very hearty, but I do talk to it and thank it for being in my life).

With that said, I believe plants and flowers to be nature’s gifts to all of us. And I seem to be noticing their growth more than usual. Is it the hot weather? Or am I becoming more conscious of growth in general? Nature HAS turned up the heat lately, even here in the Northwest. But I’m also noticing a “newness” about human beings as well. Encounters with most people these days seem to be more patient, kind and compassionate. Maybe it’s because I’ve given myself a permission slip to embrace the interactions I have with others, even the ones that aren’t quite what I’d like them to be. It’s OK. It’s all OK. Each is on her/his own journey and yet I know we are all connected. Namaste’

Serious About the Cereus

A little play on words today. For throwback Thursday I decided to resurrect one of my older images from 2009. It’s a shot of one of the many night-blooming Peruvian Cereus flowers that grew at our home in Tucson.

Getting up early in the morning to capture images of this amazing plant was such a thrill for me. I’d walk outside and talk to it, asking for it to give me all that it had … and it did not disappoint. This is one of my all-time favorites.

Happy Thursday! Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of the Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

 

Black and White Challenge – Day 3

Day 3 of the black and white challenge … keeping it short and sweet today.  Enjoy the roses (and remember to stop and smell them).  Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger

My Christmas Card to You

I am so looking forward to Christmas this year because it will be the first time in many moons that I get to be with both of my children at the same time.  Yes, they’re grown adults now but the feeling is magical.  I am so blessed!

And I am also blessed to have a wonderful, loving husband who is so much fun to be around and takes such good care of me and Daisy.  Right now he’s outside splitting wood, using the hydraulic wood splitter for the first time.  Our really cool neighbor came over this morning to help out, so we’ll have to think of something to repay him for all of his help.  I even got into the act and stacked as much as I could in the garage, but there’s a lot more to go.  What a job!

I truly hope that you, my faithful readers, all have a magical Christmas and a prosperous, healthy and joyful new year.  Thanks for reading my blog.  I’ll be back after the holidays.  Much love.  Namaste’

Regina (Gina) Arnold is the author of Uncomplicated Ways to Find Your Financial Freedom, a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

Night Bloomer

The southern Arizona desert has some interesting plants and flowers.  Recently I was combing through some of my images and found these.  The top one is an image of a night-blooming Peruvian Cereus, which was in our back yard at the “Cactus Ranch.”  Unfortunately, the hard freeze that we had a few years ago destroyed the plant.  I found that to be particularly sad, but everything has a life cycle, including us.

The good news is that we can leave behind something of beauty if we choose.  We all have that opportunity.  I’m grateful to our Cereus plant for sharing her beauty with us, and that I was able to capture these images for posterity.  I did some digital enhancements on the top one because I’ll be using it for cards.  The bottom image is what the plant looks like with several blooms.  Namaste’

Regina (Gina) Arnold is the author of Uncomplicated Ways to Find Your Financial Freedom, a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist,  and photo blogger.

Daily Prayer of Gratitude

Many years ago, when we first moved to the Old Pueblo, we went out to breakfast and I spied one of those free papers that hang out in front of a lot of restaurants.  It was called the Awareness Journal; a small publication, chock full of really cool articles and ads.  And, if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m an avid reader of things metaphysical.

The publisher of the Awareness Journal had a dog.  He was a black Lab and had his own “corner” where he did his “dog speak” … an article written from a dog’s perspective.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did our dog, Jingles.  (I read her the article each time it came out.)  It was so much fun, and I was sad when the paper shut down.

But there was one thing a contributing writer wrote that I cut out and memorized because I thought it was perfect.  Below today’s picture is A Daily Prayer of Gratitude.  Maybe you’ll find it to be a good way of expressing your own gratitude.

The image below is one of a flowering plant that’s on the patio where we moved my Mom.  She seems to be doing well there.  It’s an adjustment for her, being in a residential care home, but she’s such a trooper.  Love you, Mom!  Namaste’

DAILY PRAYER OF GRATITUDE:

Thank you, dear Creator, for this, another day of life.  Thank you for my abundant supply and for that of my family, my friends, and for all beings of all planes, dimensions and realities.  Thank you for leading us to the places that we shall go, the work that we shall do and even the dwellings we shall reside in.  Thank you for knowledge, courage, the love of the light, and the wisdom to use it wisely with our brothers and sisters.  You are my shepherd; I shall not want.  I love you, dear Creator.

 

Easter Blessings

It’s been rather busy around the old homestead lately and I’ll spare you the details.  But I’m glad to have a few minutes to wish my readers and their loved ones a very blessed Easter.

I happened to see the light streaming in through the bedroom window and liked what it was doing with the glass flowers.  And, of course, I added some digital enhancements. Consider this my Easter contribution.  Namaste’

 

In Like a Lamb

Here in sunny southern AZ, I’m finding that Spring is edging ever closer.  New plants are starting to come up all around me and I love it.  I just wish I could send it to the other parts of the country that are still knee deep in that cold, white, frozen precipitation.  They’re getting all of that, and we’re praying that the prediction of rain for us tomorrow will actually come to pass.  Go figure.

Mother Nature can be tricky sometimes but she always escorts Spring in like a lamb.  It just takes longer to get to some places.

I did manage to see this crop of yellow wildflowers and since they were on the ridge behind our house, I had to stand on my tiptoes and zoom way out to get this image.

So this is for all of my friends who are still frigid.  Don’t take that the wrong way 🙂  Namaste’

Smell the Roses

Just a quick post today.  I found this image of some roses that I had earlier this year and it reminded me that I must stop and smell the roses more often.  I hope you do, too.  Namaste’