Thinking

Craver gave us the theme of thinking. Now, themes that are concrete are fairly easy to find something for. Green--pretty obvious. Round--lots of possibilities. Jumping--we know where to look for those shots.

Abstract theme ideas are harder. Thinking is one of those.

Oh, what to do????
 

Being gloomy weather, not fit for adventure, and with hubby nursing a nasty cold, instead of going out to find a new shot for thinking, I went searching my files. The choices I came up with seemed to mostly revolve around animals, or the question "What was he/she/I thinking?" The grandchildren offered me some good thinking though.

I first searched my pictures of Maryhill Museum. Home to a special exhibit of Rodin sculpture and exhibits about his process, I figured I could find some thought there.

Alas, nothing of "The Thinker" is included, but Leesa provided her own thoughts about the sculptures that were there.

She also had to put some thought into the chess game in the children's room. After all, her sister Mosha is twice her age and has played for some time longer than she. Their brother Sasha found the challenge of creating a sculpture from a piece of aluminum foil more to his liking.

Several years ago some thinking went into the solution of the bull in the backyard. The whole story is here. The solution was to bring a lady cow on a rope to lead the bull home.

More animals thinking:

 George is thinking we might want to take a break on this bench.









The bunny is thinking we can't see him.

 Hmmm. The pup is thinking there are a lot of other dogs at the pet blessing. Cats, too. This could get interesting.















And the gulls--they are thinking that there must be a way....

And here the deer--thinking of how steep this trail is.





















And what was -------- thinking?

myself, when I climbed up on the troll's hand?

...and whoever........in the world.....?

 

Creating that caption reminded me of climbing to the top of the dome of Santa Maria degli Fiori in Florence--otherwise known as the Duomo. The stairway within the walls of the dome is narrow, and steep, and long, winding around as it does. As I climbed it with a group of classmates (this happened a lot of years ago) we passed others who had been to the top and were on their way down. One such was a diminutive Italian Franciscan friar, heard to say as he passed (and loosely translated here) "...if I ever ...puffpuffpuff...get my hands...puffpuff...on whoever talked me into...puffpuffpuff......." The rest was lost around the curve of the dome, but one can only imagine.

More grandchildren and others lost in thought:

Mosha lost in a book while the rest of the family browsed the stacks.

Is Leesa thinking what was I thinking? Probably not. More like "Wheeeeeeee!"

Thoughts during a biking break.

Just think about it, Dad!

Benjie lost in thought.

 

Six of us have a bit of competition each week with a new theme for our headers. You can see what the others are thinking about by clicking their links in my sidebar. Wait till Wednesday, though, as I am posting early because I expect to head out for the day on Wednesday(gloom notwithstanding, a little retail therapy may be in order.) Of course, before then you can see how they handled "What's that up in the sky?" the theme Tom gave us last week.

I archive my header choices in my pages, so if you are visiting this some time other than the week it is posted, you can see what I have done each week.

Oh, now for what I will put in the header itself this week? I decided on the grandkids again. (BTW, you only see a few of them here, I have more.) In this case it is Benjie, thinking about that peanut butter sandwich which he obviously just devoured.

Pub Signs (and some others)

When more or less restricted as to where I might go, I sometimes go wandering to places I have been. And of course, while looking for something else, you sometimes find a collections of things that spark a note of interest or nostalgia.

Thus while wandering through photos from our trip to the UK in 2010, I was intrigued by the signs--mostly advertising pubs. Some are decidedly fun.

Legal and clerical fields well represented.

Alice? where have you gone?



Some addresses address history.

more history?

fine clothing

Some addresses bring fictional characters to life.

from Edinburgh, Newcastle on Tyne, Lincoln, and London

What's Up There in the Sky?

Tom gave us headbangers the theme "What's up there in the sky?"

I present something up in the sky and how it got there.

At the Prosser Balloon Rally a couple of years ago I followed this balloon from ground up.

Last September, high winds made it impossible to launch.

There are usually twenty to thirty balloons at the event, arriving Friday and launching Saturday and Sunday.

Good job for a small town---when weather does not interfere.

Other headbangers are also looking to the skies today. Check them out from the links on my sidebar.

 

Photos from the Ground--a Headbanger Theme

I gave the headbangers group a couple of weeks to come up with an idea for from the ground. I got my header up this morning--in fact took the header picture this morning in my driveway. The snow has come and is going and, as usual, leaving "Lake Sharman" in the driveway. You can see the hop poles across the road reflected in the puddle.

From the ground could be across the ground or looking up. I have a variety of these pictures from the ground from visits to Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Arizona.

Looking up at summer skies

Not sure what this slug has picked up along the way

Many years ago the boyfriend of an Italian friend told me to put a "primo piano" in all my pictures. I have tried to do so ever since. A primo piano is a first floor--and shooting from ground level can give that first floor that gives depth to a picture.

But sometimes you don't need a primo piano--but some bokeh  is pretty cool, even if it is accidental.

Looking up--way up--in Arizona

The lawn had been thoroughly clipped and cleaned, then the wind provided a new carpet of leaves.

My daughter is happy for new construction in their neighborhood. The bursting of the housing bubble had left their development with many vacant lots.

Chihuly from the ground.

I posted my header this morning, but did not have time then to do the post. I have not been to visit the others, whose links are in my sidebar. I wonder what they have done with the challenge.

Visiting Lew's post reminded me that I probably had some from the ground shots from Yosemite. Well, it would take me all day to find all my good from the ground shots. But take a look at this one as we looked up at El Capitan from the ground. I am posting it very large so you can see--right where the stripes of lighter colored rock cross:

climbers