Wander Life
Wonder Life
Photographs, artwork and gifts!
The Beauty of Life is seen through the Rays of a broken prism! RPM
Off the subject of photography for this one but don’t worry, I won’t digress for too long. But every year, I take stock in what I’ve done, seen, loved, and been through. Think of it as an evaluation for the goals I set for myself and life. I have learned to give my life and goals a bit of grace in the last few years because of Covid. I look at all things as being a learning experience; so Covid inadvertently taught me how to roll with the punches a lot better than I ever had before. It taught me that some happenings were just completely out of my control and to shift gears as to what was possible, I would still come out satisfied and happy. The gift of happiness never lied with the chasing of money or material things but with the pursuit of ones’ dreams and overcoming adversity to get those dreams. This year the adversity to achieving those dreams was an injury to my knee that I sustained a week before last Christmas. There were several months that I was in a brace barely making it through work days let alone any extra training for hikes to take pictures. I thought I would have trouble walking properly and for long distances let along running or hiking long distances ever again. For someone who values travel and freedom as much as I do, this was devastating. But I refused to just let it all go. I constantly pushed through to pain to straighten my knee again, stretching every day. The amount of pain I went through for this, was worse than having a c-section! My goal was to at least be able to hike again, even if I never ran again in my life. It was slow progress, lots of Advil and Ibuprofin, it took 8 months to be able to walk without pain again. From there, I started working out that knee, leg and my entire body to restrengthen it. I also had to go to a chiropractor to reset everything because I had been carrying more on my left side, taking weight off my right knee, putting me totally out of alignment and causing more pain. And now, one full year to the day, I can again regularly run 3 miles. I have to slowly boost my stamina for longer treks and hikes but I am thrilled to say the least. My goal is to be able to crosscountry ski the 11 miles to Moraine Lake this April to grab some awesome pictures (though I need to learn avalanche training before I go, something new!). So even though my knee has become a very good barometer and weather predictor, it has become much stronger, stabilized and ready to hit the ground running for more! Let’s do this!
I’m raising a toast to everyone during this time of year. It’s one of my favorite times. When I was young, I would sneak downstairs, not to peek at my presents but to stare at the beautiful tree all lite up and glowing in the darkness. I love the smell of fresh pine so much that I will brave touching it and itching to get a real one every year. That’s saying something since I’m allergic to pine trees: spores, sap and smoke! But I make a ‘day’ out of getting it and bringing it home totally separate from the decorating day. You see: I can’t do what some people do where they leave all their decorating, gift buying and wrapping and food planning to the last minute. If I did that, I would have a complete anxiety attack. I start buying gifts months in advance and hide them in my closet. And then through the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I spread the decorating out between 2-3 days each served with food, wine and fun. This way, tree comes home, everything gets decorated, there’s flexibility to my schedule incase something crazy pops up that I just have slide in and get done. Because we all know ‘stuff’ happens….. like putting together presents that don’t work and have to be taken back or running out of stamps for Christmas cards and have to go buy them before you mail them out. Or Strands of lights that worked when you tested them but not when you put them on the bushes out front. But it’ll all be worth it when the last semi finals are studied for and done, all the cookies are baked and you can sit down in front of the fire with a glass of wine and a beautiful tree! Cheers and best wishes! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As humans, we go looking for the beautiful things outside our daily lives. We come to feel comfortable with our everyday lives making these everyday things mundane and dull. But if someone else happened to see these things, they would consider them beautiful… because they didn’t have them. SO I have always tried to set my life looking at everyday things to find their beauty. Most of the time, I see the colors from within but even I, when I’m tired or have a heartache from life, can have a hard time seeing it. Here’s one of those moments when I slowed down and caught a glimpse!
News!
I took the trip to Charleston a week early because I saw the chance to get into town for early morning photos. Autumn is one of my favorite times for this town: It’s still colorful and beautiful but with a different distinctive flair. The added benefit are the cooler temps bring a clearness to the skies and a beautiful color to the river! I really wanted to get sunrise pictures from multiple locations: White Point Garden was one and also from the bridge. I picked the Garden for this morning but what I hadn’t known was that they are still repairing the park after the last set of storms that rolled through. I saw several places that were hit and still flooding because of the tide from the supermoon we just had the last couple days. Thankfully, this hurricane season is almost over, the damage could be worse and it’ll give me an excuse to make another trip to get some more sunrises from multiple different places! I’ll be picking my favorite photos from the trip and posting them in the store very soon! Happy exploring!
Nov
Poetry Page
Totally off the normal subject of photos, I have started a poetry page. I have written hundreds (probably thousands) of poems and had 2 books published but I hardly ever mention this to anyone. My aim had been to publish another this last year but I hadn’t been able to put in the time to design and lay out the book. But I still want to share them. Just click the button below… and then back to our regularly scheduled program! LOL
The second annual holiday sale is ready and full of favorites. Sale starts and runs 11/18-12/31! 20% off of certain items!
Happy Holidays!
Most of the planning for the April trip is done but there was one more place I really want to catch before the end of the year. It’s Charleston, SC and the goal is to capture it on a sunny autumn day. So, I will be taking a day trip down there to the lovely city, praying the weather cooperates for what I need with this theme. I will also be second annual Holiday sale which will run from Nov 18th- Dec 31!
Happy Exploring
Late Oct
October has always been my planning month for future trips and this Oct is no different. While there are still many places that are on the bucket list, there is one that is topping all others and for very good reason. I have been eyeing ticket prices for both Madeira and Tokyo for months. But then I got a visit from an old friend, Mr Bill. Years ago, we had bonded over the way our late spouses had gotten sick with Alzeimer’s Disease and all the crazy stages they go through till the end. Since I went through it first, I could guide him through the roughest patches. In going through these rough days, you had to always keep a light at the end of the tunnel for hope. Ours was traveling. I had told him of my plan to go to Iceland and then showed him the pictures when the trip was complete. So he made a plan: that after his wife passed, he would take one last trip and sail around Iceland himself. He just got back from his trip and showed me his pictures. They are awesome! My inspiration from him was the story where he took his wife and family to Banff Canada and Lake Louise. It has been on my list ever since our talk. I just feel it’s right and would be full circle to take our next big trip there and return to show him my pictures before he is called to join his wife.
Mid Oct
We only have a few more days before we fly out to Detroit. this was a quickly planned trip to see family and my grandmother who may or may not make it through these next holidays and as I can’t get the holidays off from work, its better to go sooner than later. Better to spend time while people are here rather than mourn our losses when they are gone. I will be driving to take pictures of Lake Huron which will be something new. That’ll be an achievement, having seen all 5 Great Lakes. Because this trip is fit into my son’s fall break, I only have three major things on the itinerary: Spend time with my grandma, have a paintball gun fight with some zombies and either hike or kayak the coast of Lake Huron. I am watching the forecast, looking to see if there is a possibility to see any Auroras while we’re up there. Fingers crossed, it looks like there might be two nights where the Kp index hits a 4 so we’ll see!!
Update: we are back and while I didn’t get any pictures of the Auroras, I did get some really beautiful pictures. Michigan is beautiful in the fall with the changing of the leaves!
Late July/ Early August
This latest trip up to Quebec City with two stops on the way up and two stops on the way back down was quite alot of fun! Kinda crazy, true! But then it wouldn’t be one of our trips if something crazy didn’t happen on a trip! Fortunately, the only crazy thing that happened on this trip was getting stuck in a elevator for about 10 minutes till one of the hotel staff rescued us! The first stop was Valley Forge, PA and Philadelphia. Followed by a day at Fort Ticonderoga. The next two days were then spent in Quebec City where we hiked the Montmorency Waterfall…all 478 steps up and down! Yes, they have a lift for those who would rather not exercise that much but we had been sitting in the car for far too long! Besides, the massive downpour cooled us off after all that hiking so it was well worth the work for all beautiful shots! I also recommend renting a bike and biking around the Ille d’Orleans. It was wonderful stopping at the strawberry farm that has been on the island for more than 400 years along with Chocolaterie de Ille D’Orleans. And the Cassis Monna & Filles is a perfect spot for lunch and a glass of their wine. I am breaking up the individual cities into their own pages so just click on the link under their names to visit! Happy exploring!
