Weekend Snapshot 52 and the Opening Doors Challenge

Here I am with another combo post for weekend snapshot and a new challenge. When I heard that Jienje who blogs at Heaven in Belgium was starting a new challenge that would run from Monday September 1 through Saturday, I doubted I'd be able to participate so soon after having done 3 challenges in a row. However, since I loved the idea of an "Opening Doors" challenge, I spent a little time over the weekend looking through my photography for doors and, or entrances of any kind.
Although I didn't shoot these photographs this week, I figure they qualified for weekend snapshot since I cropped out the doors from photography I took previously and I did locate them in my archives over the weekend. To an extent it was a weekend project.These doors are located at the old part of the medical campus at Duke University in Durham, NC, US. They go to show you that a beautiful door doesn't always lead to something pleasant. The opposite can be true with shabby doors leading into a fairly pleasant home (my doors at home are pretty tattered). These doors took me into an oral surgeon's office where my impacted tooth was pulled, OUCH.
Who guessed that teeth are pulled behind these doors? The H on the side of the door is a clue that it's part of the hospital complex. I did get a pretty good photo shoot out of the ordeal and I posted full shots of the building in old posts. However, I never cropped out the doors, so this is somewhat new. If anyone is interested in joining the opening doors challenge, you can check it out at Heaven in Belgium on Monday.
If anyone is interested in Weekend Snapshot, that is a Monday meme. Weekend Snapshot

Photohunt: Beautiful and Day 7 of Bridging the Gap

I am combining my photohunt post with the last day of Bridging the Gap. Alice mentioned that she may turn this into a weekly challenge for anyone who is interested so be sure to check out her site if you are interested. The photohunt theme this week is beautiful. I thought I would feature a walk which included a bridge on one beautiful day from each of the four seasons.
The shot above was taken in November of 2007 at Shelley Lake which is close to where I live. You can see the long bridge better if you click inside the picture but the bridge itself isn't particularly unique. None of these bridges for my last day of the challenge are particularly special but they are pleasant to walk across on beautiful days throughout the year. I've even slid on parts of them when they were icy although I'm not quite that adventurous any more.
The second photograph was shot in February 2008 and was taken at Lake Lynn which is also close to where I live. I don't go there that often because Shelley Lake has a 53 acre park and many side trails so I tend to go to the lake one mile from me as opposed to the one that is two miles from me. Lake Lynn has a long bridge which you can see above in the winter shot. It's a much smaller park than the one at Shelley Lake but it has a longer bridge. The shot above shows two bridges on a beautiful May day in 2008 when all the trees have leafed out. I was walking on one of the many side trail which extend out from Shelley Lake.
I end where I started, back at Shelley lake looking at the bridge, but this time it's a beautiful morning a few weeks ago in August of 2008. I have enjoyed this bridge challenge so much and thanks to Alice at Born2cree8 for coming up with it.

To find beautiful photohunter posts you can go to PhotoHunt or photohunt

Day 6 of Bridging the Gap

If anyone is here for my photohunt post, I will be posting that early Saturday morning with Day 7 of the Bridge Challenge, instead of early like I usually do. However, Snap2Days, my parallel lives photoblog with SabineM has our Photohunt "Beautiful" post up now. This is my post for Day 6 of Bridging the Gap.
The shot above shows two parallel bridges. The one in the front is a foot bridge over the creek which water from the lake I frequently walk around pours into. The bridge in the back is the road which goes over the creek, as well as over the walking path which goes under the road.The shot above shows the bridge which goes under a bridge on the other side of a tunnel. The tunnel is how you walk under the road by the creek. I'm having a hard time making my sentences comprehensible in this post so I'm hoping the photographs make it more or less obvious what I'm saying.On the opposite side of the dam and the lake, there is another tunnel I walk through and another bridge I walk under, and after I walk a ways I come to the bridge above. I like this walk during the different seasons. Above is a summer shot and below is a winter shot of the same bridge.
If you want to find other bridge shots please go to the site of the host of this challenge at I was born2cree8.

Day 5 of Bridging the Gap

For day five of the bridge challenge, I thought I'd feature the foot bridges in the neighborhood park where I grew up. When I was a child, the only bridge across the park's creek was the one above. It has been repaired and changed but is similar to the bridge that was there when I was a toddler in the late 1950s. As a girl in the 60s if we wanted to cross the creek at any other point we jumped, hopped stones or climbed across limbs like the one below (although I shot that limb at another park).
I think our physical development was greatly aided by having to jump, hop and skip to bridge the gap, unless we walked to the one bridge. These days I guess kids have to find other ways to build their strength because there are now 5 bridges in this fairly small park.The bridge above is located in a spot where I perfected my broad jump back when there wasn't a bridge. We would get a running start and jump, with the occasional accidentally on purpose falls into the creek. We didn't have a picnic shelter back then either. I liked the absence of such amenities since the park was my enchanted forest, where a wicked witch turned me into a human being. Enchanted forests and picnic tables don't really go together. By the way I was a flower fairie until the witch changed me into a human girl, just so you know.
If memory serves, the metal rail bridge above went in when I was a teenager in the early 1970s. I think that was the second bridge to be put into the park.

I guess I'll end this trip down memory lane there because I fear I was up to no good as a teenager hanging out in the park.

To find other bridging the gaps posts please visit the host of at I was born2cree8.

Day 4 of Bridging the Gap

I had to crop this out of a much larger shot and it's still hard to see the little stone bridge which is on the trail around the pond at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park in Blowing Rock, NC.The second shot which is a crop from another picture shows the bridge somewhat better. You can click inside to enlarge but neither really does justice to the little bridge. I was shooting large landscapes and had to do a major crop to show the bridge at all. You can see the horses better in the first shot if you enlarge it.The last shot was taken at Cannon Gardens in Blowing Rock, NC. I have a different issue with this shot. I took a closeup to get the detailed rocks and I'm honestly not sure if this is technically a bridge at all. Next time I'm in Blowing Rock I'll have to refresh my memory. My mother was from near there and I still have a lot of family in that area.

This fun challenge is being hosted by Alice at I was born2cree8 and other participants can be found there.

Bridging the Gap: Day 3

This small footbridge is in the woodland part of the NC Museum of Art's Art Park. What I like about this bridge is its simplicity. It isn't screaming out, you are in an art park so the bridge is going to be functional art. Sometimes a bridge is just a bridge.
Then again, sometimes a bridge is not a bridge. Technically the structure above bridges a gap (gully). The question is: why does this structure bridge a gap? Are you supposed to show your dexterity by climbing up and over and jumping off the other end? I think not, so I'm left to ponder whether a bridge is a bridge when the exit is barred. I'll have to go back to the Art Park soon and refresh my memory about whether both ends are barred.

Alice is hosting this fun bridge challenge at I was Born2cree8.

Bridging the Gap Day 2

If anyone is here for my weekend snapshot post, that one is below this post.For Day 2 of Bridging the Gap, I thought I'd show you a bridge I spotted on the road to another bridge. I don't know much about this bridge except we guessed that it was a pedestrian bridge and it was very close to the James River Park which is near the Blue Ridge Parkway where Virginia and NC meet. The shot below is the bridge we were heading to when we spotted the one above.
The left hand side shows the highway bridge crossing the park, the right hand side shows the pedestrian part which crosses the James River and the highway is on top of that. I have more about this bridge in this recent post and then I also covered it on yet another post almost a year ago.

If anyone would like to find other bridges or participate in Bridging the Gap, please go to I Was Born2Cree8 where Alice is hosting this fun challenge.

Weekend Snapshot 51 and Bridging the Gap

I am cheating a little with my weekend snapshot post. I didn't take this photograph this week but I could have. It's a bridge on one of the trails a few miles from my house. I thought it was a good shot to serve both for WS and for my first Bridging the Gap Photo, a new challenge which Alice has started.
I was surprised to jump into a third challenge straight after dragons and reflections but I love bridges. Sort of like I love dragons and reflections. A quick look at my photographs revealed many bridges in several states in the U.S. I thought I'd start with one near home which I've walked across many weekends. My city has over 27 miles of greenway trails allowing people to walk and bike in preserved areas that cut straight across the city and through many neighborhoods. Because the areas that the city has kept for open spaces is mostly along creeks, lakes and rivers, there are a lot of bridges. However, this is the only red one I've spotted so far.


You can browse other WS posts at technorati here weekend-snapshot and on Monday at the Weekend Snapshot Home.

To join in on Bridging the Gap you can visit Alice at I was Born2Cree8.

Reflection Day 7

If anyone is here for photohunters, that post is below this one. This is my last day of the reflection challenge.I still have a zillion of reflection shots so it was hard to decide which one to use for the last day of this challenge. I went with this one because to me it looks like a painting done with a pallet knife when it's really just the trees reflected in a moving stream. If you click inside for the enlarged shot I think you'll see what I mean. Thanks so much to Quilly for coming up with this fun challenge. I have enjoyed it a great deal.

Photohunt: Wrinkled and Day 6 of reflection challenge

This is a combo post for photohunters and Day 6 of the reflection challenge. The photohunt theme is wrinkled and as you can see my shirt is wrinkled. I can't stand ironing and although I don't mind a slightly wrinkled look, I don't want a wadded up in the bottom of the drawer look. Therefore, I hang clothes in my bathroom while I shower. The steam from the shower helps get rid of the worse wrinkles. Doesn't help with the wrinkles on my face, oh well.
The entire photograph above is a reflection in my bathroom mirror. If you look at the top of the window, you can see the lights from the mirror being reflected in the window and then reflected back to the mirror. The reflection challenge is hosted by Quilly's Pacific . . . Paradise?

Snap2Days has a parallel lives shots for wrinkled.

You can browse other photohunt posts on technorati photohunt and on Saturday at the home of photohunters PhotoHunt

Photographic Reflections Day 5

For the fifth day of this challenge, I have put together a collage of various reflection shots I've taken. You can click inside the photo to see an enlarged version. Quilly is hosting this challenge.

Day 4 of Photographic Reflections

I took this shot over a year ago and may have posted it before. I like the way it looks like the birds are holding hands (wings) in the reflection. Quilly is hosting this fun challenge.

Day Three of Photographic Reflections

I took this shot of the great blue heron yesterday (Monday) morning when I went on a walk. I wish the photographic quality was better but I like the way those long legs look even longer because of the reflection. To find other photographic reflections or to join in the challenge, you can go to Quilly's site.

Combo Post - 2 years of blogging, day 2 of reflections, 2 many doctors

If anyone is here for my weekend snapshot, that post is below this one.
Quilly is hosting a new challenge where everyone posts photographic reflections, as I mentioned yesterday. I recently realized that I have been blogging for two full years which started me reflecting back.
In a few weeks I start with a month of too many doctors. I started blogging as a way of dealing with the aftermath of cancer. Happily the further out I get without recurring, the more my thoughts and blog branch out to other more pleasant aspects of life.
One of my ways of dealing with having too many doctors has been to take my camera with me to appointments. All of the reflection shots in this post were either shot on my way in or out of a doctor's appointment, or at a stop I made on the way home to take the edge off with a photo shoot.
One year ago I wrote a post titled: It's been a blogging year. I was pleased, after reading that post, to realize it wasn't half as negative as I thought it would be. I was even more pleased when hunting for reflection shots to realize that in spite of limitations from physical problems I've had following my groin lymph node dissection, I have a pretty damn good life. I am able to go on pleasant walks and trips with my camera by my side, to remind me later that my situation isn't half as bad as I sometimes make it out to be in my head.
I even get photo ops when I'm going to my oncologist(s), dermatologist, rheumatologist, pain specialist, and gynecologist, or when I'm getting scans. I have photographs in my archives from visits to each of them as well as to opthamologist, physical therapist, dentist, periodontist, and oral surgeon. Did I mention that I have good major medical and dental insurance? That is HUGE on the I'm thankful list.
I'm not expecting any big problems from the five doctor's appointments I have next month. However, the plus side of too many doctors, is one or the other of them is bound to trip over it if there is a problem. That means I should be able to stop worrying about issues which fester at the edge of my thoughts, if I let them.
I had intended to write a post about my anxiety over the looming doctor traffic jam. Then I realized I had been blogging for two years so I thought I'd spin it more in a more positive light. My blog has gone from being preoccupied with my life after stage III melanoma to being primarily a fun diversion and more photography oriented.
I felt even better after the photographic reflection challenge came up and I started hunting through my photographs. I was reminded of trips to the mountains and frequent walks around the lake and on reflection, life seemed pretty damn good. You can find other photographic reflections at Quilly's Pacific . . . Paradise?

Weekend Snapshot: Number 50 and reflection challenge

I didn't do anything special this weekend so I'll fall back on my old standby, the lake which is up the street from me. I never tire of photographing the lake because depending on the sky, reflections, time of year, and other factors it is ever changing. I'm adding this line after reading early comments. I can't see the lake from my house. It is very close but it is at the end of the road I live off of and is protected by woods. I do walk around it a lot.
You can browse weekend snapshot posts at weekend-snapshot and on Monday at the home of Weekend Snapshot.

I found out today that one of the dragon hunt challengers is starting a new reflection challenge this week. Not sure I'll be able to post every day another week in a row but I do have a lot of reflection shots so it's a natural and fun one for me. As it turns out this photograph has reflections in the lake so it will also be my first reflection post. If you are interested in this challenge you can learn more at Quilly's Pacific Paradise.

Day 7 of the Dragon Hunt

If anyone is here for my photohunt post, that is below this one. This is the last day of Melli's Dragon Hunt. In my effort to show details on the dragons in past posts, I was shooting outside and tinkering with saturation to make the image clear. For my last post, I decided to put some of the pieces with dragons on my kitchen table and attempt to gets shots that show the actual shades of color on the pieces. You can click on any of my shots for an enlargement.
The rose medallion pieces (bowl on stand in back, teacup on front left and plate on far right) don't have any dragons. They are part of my inherited collection and I thought they fit in. The round candy dish with a brass guy on the top lid was supposed to be my last dragon. However, on closer inspection, I realized he's not a dragon at all, merely ferocious.
The shot above was taken in the corner of my living room and some of the dragons I featured are housed in the cabinet. I wouldn't be surprised if more dragons lurk in the back but if I keep hunting in there, eventually the dust will knock me out. So, without further ado, I bring you a special dragon. It is special because I colored it for Melli's hunt.
If you have any dragons to add to the hunt, this is the last day. You can visit Melli the inimitable dragon hunter to see her dragons and others who have been contributing their dragons to the hunt. A big thank you to Melli for this fun challenge.