Year of Color Update

There are lots of things I think of to do and blog about but things often don't work out the way I plan. The challenge of the Year of Color group at flickr is helping to keep me feeling as though I'm paying attention to the world and being somewhat creative. Certainly I'm walking around with my eyes more open to my surroundings a lot of the time which is uplifting and inspiring for me. It also reminds me to talk to my daughter about what we're looking at as we walk around the house, the town, and the world at large which can only be a good thing. So I want to keep sharing my pictures here from time to time to show that I'm doing something with my life other than accumulating links!

Week 5: Red + White (I'm linking to the discussions for each week which have mosaics of favourite pictures of the week and late entries, other photos for all weeks can be found in the group photo pool)

I found this one challenging, not that there isn't plenty of red and white out there but I found picking something interesting and different was hard.

My first picture I took to document my current obsession with making cobbler for dessert. This is my favourite combination -- peach and raspberry. I noticed that the red raspberries and the white spatula were quite dominant in this photo.

Walking around town during week 5 made me notice that there are a lot of buildings around with red and white dominating. Here's just one that I got a picture of for the challenge.




Lastly, and I think the picture I'd choose if I were giving you just one for the week, is of a red reflector in our driveway (in theory to help the guy who ploughs our driveway in the winter although he doesn't always follow the handy helpful hint) and in the background the white of the porch and the screen door.




Week 6: Pink + Orange

When I checked on Sunday to see what the new colours for the week were I noticed I was even wearing them (see second photo on the bottom row)! Then walking through town that afternoon I saw so many places where there were pink and orange flowers together (you can see examples of some of those in the mosaic).
I also found quite a few examples of the colours in my own home: The peach and raspberry cobbler baked and served up in a bowl becomes a pink and orange dish; One of my daughter's cloth books with an orange and a pink pig on opposite pages lying open where she left it; popsicle (ice lolly) sticks; a straw in the dish drainer; a pitcher and boxes on top of the fridge; yarn waiting for me to knit something new.

(You can see all the photos here.)

Week 7: Yellow + Black

Another week that seemed tricky. There's a lot of yellow and black around -- lines painted on the roads, street signs and so on. So I was looking out for things that were not quite so everywhere. There were actually a lot of things I looked at and never actually photographed, and then I did take a (somewhat blurry) picture of traffic lights which are among the everywhere things!
Also somewhat among the everywhere things are the black eyed susans, quite a few pictures of these in the flickr pool in fact. I wasn't going to take more flower pictures this week until I passed this big blooming bush of flowers (with some other yellow flowers right next to them) while walking to the park. And then more of the examples of yellow and black around the house: utensils in a can; a push pin my husband found somewhere and put on a black canister in the kitchen; an old poster kept for scrap paper; the most yellow of the granny squares in a blanket made by my grandmother; tool bits and pieces lying around while my husband and his father are doing some work on our house; marmite jars (I am English after all -- not that everyone English likes marmite -- I bring big jars over with me and the one in the top right is currently in use for toast and stock while the other ones have been cleaned out and now hold loose tea and dried mushrooms from the bulk section of our co-op).
You can find all of these pictures individually here.

Colourful posting

I've been enjoying keeping my eyes open and taking in my surroundings as I look for photo opportunities for the Year of Color 2 flickr group I mentioned. I haven't done such a great job keeping up with posting the pictures, but I'm going to take a few minutes to get up to date right now!
Week 2: BROWN+BLUE

This is a picture of the wall in my kitchen. This is how it was decorated when we moved in, we have lived in this house for 5 years now and not redecorated anywhere, sigh.

I don't mind the wall paper (though I doubt I'd have chosen it) but I hate the varnish of the wood, and although I quite like that colour of blue at the bottom I wish it was represented in something more pleasant than plastic paneling. Ah well, at least I won't be heartbroken if (when) my daughter starts colouring on the walls!

Mostly I've been finding pictures for the project when I'm out and about walking through town with my daughter. Perhaps this is because she's so busy watching everything around us that I have space to look around me for more then a few seconds at a time!

This next picture is of the multi-story car park. I put it in with the week 3 pictures but I guess it could also qualify under brown+blue as the darker bricks are more brown?

Week 3: ORANGE+BLUE


I noticed the blue mail box behind the orange bollard as we crossed the street and stopped to get a quick snapshot.

The flickr group pool has some wonderful shots with these colours. I notice some people make mosaics of their favourite shots of the week, if I can keep track of my favourites and find a few extra minutes I might have a go at that -- it's interesting how images strike people so differently sometimes.

Week 4: BLUE+GREEN

Here I am back up to date (just!). This is a colour combination that I see everywhere (especially at this time of year), so I've got quite a few shots this week. Now I just need to pick which ones to send to the group pool. Here's a mosaic (put together here) of all of my flickr photos tagged blue+green (so far):


1. blue sky + green trees, 2. blue jeans + green grass, playing at the park, 3. blue sky + green mountain, 4. blue + green in the stroller, 5. blue can + green grass, 6. blue + green paint job, 7. blue clothed baby + green cart handle, 8. blue trash can + green surroundings

What's New

I've not even been manage to keep up with editing and posting my links this last week or so. Firstly there was my daughter's first birthday so I was baking cakes and preparing other party food (for two parties no less, one with friends near home and one with my husband's family at his parents' house).

Then last Sunday we got a call to tell us that a dear, wonderful friend had died that morning. It was such a shock to us, we knew she had had some health problems but had no idea that this was coming. Although I can't jump in the car and go help out with her little ones or do errands I have been spending more time than usual on the phone (I hate the phone) and emailing people announcements and updates and so on in an effort to do something helpful. My daughter has started having play phone conversations, and is more than ever determined to help me type and steal my mouse (I have one with a tracking ball thing, she likes to take the ball out and roll it along the floor, then pull down the mouse and stand on the buttons). I think she's looking forward to things settling down a bit.

I have been keeping up with writing my 10 things (as I talked about a couple of weeks ago now) most nights before heading for bed. Sometimes when something so sad happens finding those 10 things can actually be easier. Certainly it has brought home once again how lucky my husband and I are to be part of a wonderful community of singers. They sent cards and email and sang and brought food to our first daughter's memorial service just over two years ago and sustained us through those hard times. Now we can be part of the community helping our friends husband and two small children as best we can.

Amidst all of this I have another thing to add to my things to do. Another thing I came across at happythings blog in fact, her Year of Color group. I noticed it a little while ago, but the year was almost up. However she's just launched A Year of Color 2 (a flickr group) so I decided to join in. It's about time I remember to take pictures of things other than my daughter a little more often!

The first week just ended, and being rather preoccupied this week I just snuck my pictures in rather late in the day. Technically it's Sunday, but I still think of it as being Saturday still because I haven't gone to bed yet, and she didn't post colours for week 2 yet so hopefully I'm alright. For A Year of Color 2 "we will enjoy photos focusing on a DIFFERENT COLOR COMBINATION every week for a year." The colours for Week 1 are pink+green. Here are my pictures:

The first is a lone flower fallen on the side of the path which I noticed when walking home from the store the other day. I don't know where it came from, somebody carrying flowers home perhaps since there were none growing anywhere near that I could see.

The second picture I took the other evening sitting on the couch knitting. I'd pulled up a prayer shawl I'm knitting for our church's prayer shawl ministry. I haven't worked on it in ages but have felt drawn to this week. Caught on it somewhere was this yarn end from knitting soakers for my daughter. There it was on my green stripey pajama trousers.

I think I'm going to enjoy this project!