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With camera in hand, safari-style, I gathered up a few items – mementos and keepsakes – from various rooms throughout the house, plucked from the kitchen counter, the dresser in our bedroom, the desk in our office, a shelf in the guest room.

Color. Texture. Remembrance.

  • A painted plate from a holiday craft venture with my son
  • The unique picture frame with a photo of my father
  • The silk comb I wore in my hair on our wedding day nineteen years ago
  • Sawdust and wood-shavings from Dad’s sawmill in a Mason jar, tied with a bow made from a strip of fabric from one of his old flannel shirts

Yes, these are a few of my favorite things.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: My Favorite Things, Verse one

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In some ways, my inner self is practically salivating at the prospect of writing exactly what’s on my mind in a post to be read by any number of targeted ‘dream readers’. I even went so far as to list, on paper, the name of each person I would love to address in such a forum.

My motivations, not unlike those of Frank Costanza with Festivus pole at hand, are rooted in a variety of (mostly) well-placed intentions: for some, there is indeed a sincere desire to steer these Readers toward a better path, to prevent them the heartache and hardship that surely awaits them given their current self-destructive behavior while for others, an opportunity to inform them of how I and others perceive their smug self-righteousness, bigotry, arrogance and hypocrisy and how much hurt and hard feelings their actions have caused to others.

For any number of reasons, I recognize that, yes, it is probably wise to just keep these thoughts to myself. There are some things in life best learned by trial and (much) error and besides, who am I that any of these Readers should take what I say with anything more than that proverbial grain of salt.

Oh, but to devise some ingenious method of projecting ones thoughts and views onto another’s psyche in a gentle but firmly anonymous manner, one where you can get your point across, get results and yet have not a shred of skin in the game!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Write to Your Dream Reader

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One of the things that I most enjoy about blogging is exploring – with my Reader! – what others are writing about out there.

Freshly Pressed is amazing in its diversity and one of my goals as a blogger is to someday have a post of mine featured there. So many talented writers and photographers!  Here are a few of the blogs that I discovered (and now Follow) on Freshly Pressed:

Running on Sober
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice
The Gravel Ghost

Another way to find other interesting blogs is to participate in some of the WordPress forums. I ‘met’ one of my favorite blogging buddies this way when I provided some feedback on a post she was working on. Her posts are fresh and quirky and humorous and sometimes quite telling. Oh. And she has a knack for capturing life with her camera (and post-processing!) that I often envy. Her name is Mara and you can connect with her via Mara Eastern’s Personal Blog.

Many friendships have blossomed in just the short seven months since I cranked out my first post. I’d like to give a shout out to these wonderful ladies whose work and blogs I very much admire:

Martha at Therapeutic Misadventures
Julie at Frog Pond Farm
Roberta at Words Like Honey

My life is richer and fuller because of these new relationships and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful, new world of blogging! It really is a community of like-minded individuals – all of us striving to make ourselves heard (and read!)

I’m humbled and honored to a part of it all.

Assignment: Blogging 101: Say Hello to the Neighbors

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Hello everyone! My name is Julie – I go by JulieAllyn in The Land of Blog – and I’ve been a WordPress blogger since June 2014.  Like many of you, I suspect, I was curious as to whether I had a story in me or not – or at least one that might connect with others.

The experience thus far has been most satisfying.  I love being able to meld both photography and my thoughts, views and ramblings into a public forum AND getting to meet some pretty amazing and talented bloggers from all across the globe.

I recently discovered the world of photo challenges here on WordPress and love it.  Posting old favorites and hunting for interesting and appropriate new shots to fulfill the assignment themes has been great fun.  And participating in these photo challenges has boosted my traffic stats as well!

While I greatly enjoy the photography aspect of posting to my blog, however, I want to focus on and strengthen my writing and storytelling abilities.  So here I am.  I’m looking forward to stretching and expanding and being challenged to grow my skills and to also making some new friends along the way!

Assignment: Blogging 101: Introduce Yourself

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On New Years Day, Bill and I spent a pleasant hour or two reading the paper and sipping our favorite hot beverages in downtown Des Moines. This particular Starbucks, a favorite haunt no matter where it’s located throughout the city, shares retail space with the South Union Bread Café in a grand old building that houses The Temple for Performing Arts.

Both my husband and I work in a suburb area of Des Moines so neither of us is all that familiar with the many wonderful old buildings downtown but the main floor of this locale contains more than a few keys to its past and is a delightful place to sit and relax or grab your camera and explore. Since I couldn’t decide which avenue to pursue, I did both!

This Starbucks has been remodeled and redecorated in just the last year or two
This Starbucks has been remodeled and redecorated in just the last year or two
Courtyard area outside Starbucks
Courtyard area outside Starbucks
Painted pipework, bricks and the exit to the courtyard
Painted pipework, bricks and the exit to the courtyard
Painted trim on columns in the lobby
Painted trim on columns in the lobby
Freemason engravings on door leading in and out of the main lobby
Freemason engravings on door leading in and out of the main lobby
Box office for The Temple of Performing Arts
Box office for The Temple of Performing Arts
Hurry! Intermission is almost over.
Hurry – Intermission is almost over!
Reflections on the library windows next door
Reflections on the library windows next door

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With the new year – and thus, a new beginning upon us – I’m reposting a personal favorite of mine. Happy New Year everyone!

julieallyn's avatarA Sawyer's Daughter

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My 20s and 30s – and a sizeable chunk of my 40s – were spent allocating far too many hours, days, weeks (and more) agonizing over matters of little import, wasting precious time, energy and mojo fixated on imperfections, minutia and Other People’s Business which only served to diminish my own standing with self.

It should be easy, intuitive even, to recognize that the less stressful path to peace of mind is best pursued not from forceful, hand-wringing, futile attempts to guide events toward a self-determined outcome but rather in accepting and responding to life’s outrageously misfortunate slings and arrows with as much dignity and resolve as we are able to muster.

Don’t like how something has turned out, unfolding in directions that are out of alignment with your own wants, needs and desires? Adapt and / or find your own way, your own path, your own happiness, your own…

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