Food for Thought Friday - A New Year

Happy  New Year, everyone!  I hope that everyone had a meaningful holiday season and is looking forward to whatever 2016 has in store for you.

Thank you to all of you who took the time to tell us what you'd like to see us share here in 2016.  We have made a list and are checking it twice to makes sure that we do our best to include those things that you all are interested in.  We will be baking some pies, some spaghetti sauce, some cold weather comfort food, and you know us...there will be some sweets thrown in along the way as well.  Sorry to those of you who have sworn off sweets in the new year.  We'll also give you a peek into how we each do what we do.  That may be good for a few LOLs!!

We are approaching the first anniversary of Pixels, Plates, and LOLs, as well as our hundredth post.  Stay tuned because we are going to give you a chance to join in our celebration of these small, but meaningful, milestones.  

I stumbled across this poem on the Internet awhile back.  Interestingly, the only attribution I could find was John.  So I thank John for these words.  He describes well what we as photographers might feel like on that day where we are too tired, too busy, too bored, too disconnected to pick up our cameras with us.  I know that I have been in the emotional place that is described   in the poem "Silhouettes" and it does not feel good.  One of my intentions for 2016 is to pick up my camera and shoot not judging my life in the moment, but letting the photos speak for themselves once the moment captured becomes history.  

I hope these words penned by "John" resonate for you as they did me.  

Silhouettes

These words are only being typed

because of the camera I didn’t bring.

.

Had I but thought ahead,

I may have grabbed the moment

as it should have been preserved-

light and dark sandwiching themselves

through space.

.

Instead, this is a poem

of penitence.

.

The tapping of keys

sounds like raindrops of regret

spilling from rusted gutters.

This black electronic ink

flashing over fake paper

remains a poor excuse for the silhouettes

of the young bodies at play,

flinging themselves from the rocks

into the sea.

.

The glare of the late afternoon sun on the waves

does not lend itself well to Times New Roman,

and I wonder-

what is the font of childhood?

How many stanzas are needed

to frame salt water and sunburned bodies

savoring the last moments before dusk?

What meter would best capture

the dripping suits

the screeched challenges

fire on water?

What is the rhyme of youth?

.

Now, I will admit arrogance-

no slip of my trigger finger

could have caught all the vernal glory

that plunged itself again and again into the bay,

but at least then I wouldn’t have had the burden

of trying to express the inexpressible in words.

.

In the end,

these musings do craft a suitable frame-

not for that of the August sun,

but rather,

the exquisite torture

of a poet

on a couch,

waging a war on two fronts-

somnolence and frustration.

© John

May your 2016 be filled with light and love and lots of photos!




by Tracey G

I can't believe it's January 1st 2016 already!! Wow, 2015 flew by! There is so much I want to accomplish this year - nothing "huge", well, back to losing weight, again, but that's ALWAYS on my list of to-do's and so not really a "new" thing for the new year. I don't really do resolutions -  to me when I do that sort of thing I set myself up for failure and/or disappointment, lol. So, I usually just come up with some goals of things I'd like to accomplish. Usually though, it's on my Birthday in February that I take stock, and the question I ask myself every year - for example this year the question would go " what do I want to do with my 47th year?" So I guess starting January 1 is my "pre-thinking" days, gives me 55 days to come up with ideas, lolol. So, here I sit, with a cup of tea plotting and planning!!!

I know Kris and I want to put more into the blog - I see it as a learning-as-I-go process, what I can do and what I can't to do, along with what I want to do and not want to do, lol. I have so many ideas that I usually overwhelm myself, so it's nice to have Kris as a partner to bounce things around with, make our lists, compare, scratch things off, add different things etc. I just know that it's likely going to be some great fun this year. It really is a growth process, not just for the blog, but for me personally. I'm learning to find my voice, and I'd like to learn to use it a bit more consistently if possible, lol. Some days I am full-on and some days I'm lucky if I'm barely on, lol. I have this crazy excitement for this year, and I don't know why, lol. I know that sounds funny, but this year feels different somehow and I can't pinpoint why or what, but I am not going to question it - a happy excitement is a good thing - and here's to hoping it doesn't fizzle out! :-) Thank you all for taking this ride with us, you have no idea how much it means to Kris and I!!!

Happy 2016!!!