This week Tracy challenged me to present my photographs representing the surreal.
When I retired from teaching I enrolled in many local community college classes here in Sacramento to improve my Adobe software knowledge and improve my digital photography. At that time Photoshop CS2 had just been released, and I had just upgraded from Photoshop 5. Class assignments helped push me out of my comfort zone. I found some examples of surrealism from my work at that time.
Colorized Sunflower
I titled this collage, ”Communication”
I used a Topaz filter to create this image.
Titled ”Time Flies” gives a nod to Salvador Dali
I visited a Salvador Dali exhibition in Monterey a couple of years back.
Fungi always seem a bit surreal to me.
Another capture in nature with a surreal feeling
A captured reflection near the Space Needle in Seattle.
Movement from a taffy-making machine
Came across this in the Gold Country many years ago. Don’t remember where and never saw it again.
Surreal looking faces
I’ll end this surreal journey with my interpretation of three words – flaming, expanding and door.
Flaming Door Expanding
I hope you enjoyed this look at my surreal photographs. Is time feeling a bit surreal for you, it is for me!
In California March 20th was the start of statewide lockdown. Self quarantine was advised for those over 65 earlier in the month. Using a calendar it comes to about 8 weeks since I have had any face to face interaction outside of my home.
I think it was March 7th when I last babysat my grandchildren. It was supposed to be the start of my grandsons’ baseball season. Now I don’t remember if it was called off due to rain, or the start of the novel coronavirus restrictions. But it was my son-in-laws birthday and my daughter wanted to celebrate sans kidos. Baby Colton slept through the event at 5 weeks old. The three boys – Eli (8), Lucas (4), and Wyatt (2) all dined in and everyone was entertained. Little did we know the extent that life would change so quickly.
David and I had already determined that we would postpone our 10 trip to NYC. On March 14th we drove to Orland, Ca. to visit Serenity Springs Labradoodles, and without touching and being sure to sanitize were selected our puppy Charlie now 5 weeks old. Powered by Purell Hand Sanitizer and gloves we did make one stop for fast food. We were the only ones eating out.
With a push to ready our house for the puppy, the Internet became our lifeline to online shopping. I made two trips to the stores to shop for groceries. Again, I had gloves and hand sanitizer. Thinking ahead, I looked for items that would help in the long run. This was before the supermarket run on some items. Toilet paper was being limited in Costco to two, Purell was limited to 6, and I bought some extra Bounty (needed for puppy plans). But at least the stores were fully stocked. I also planned to have some items on hand for desserts. I figured, if we were staying home we would need the extra sustenance. And some wine!
Otherwise with no where to go we slept in. Plenty of telephone calls to family and friends. Plenty of time watching television. The calendar and the watch reminded me to time passing. But my plans to organize the garage fell into the procrastinating bin. Maybe tomorrow. There doesn’t seem to be much daily change. Until I look at a calendar.
What time is it? Does it matter when in quarantine?
Thinking about time, and what it means. Pulled out these images I collected over the years.
So for the procrastinator does quarantine life give you permission to take it slow and not be moved by the clock? And after we return to an open for business time will time fly?
CoVid19 means that I am homebound. There is nowhere to go and stay safe for everyone. So I stay home. At first, I tackled each day with a purpose. Using recipes that call for more time. Adding some baking to my repertoire. Reorganizing my rooms. Catching up with all those piles of stuff. I took this time at home as a challenge to work on my hobbies of quilting, photography, and genealogy. But then Charlie came into my life.
My latest involvement has been puppy training. After being in the home for two weeks, he and I are developing a rhythm. The past two nights he has slept through to breakfast. Ok. It is his breakfast time, 5:30 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. But I’ll take it. So the day starts earlier than I am used to. My goal of getting to bed at around midnight is working, but I still can’t seem to want to eat that early.
Charlie takes three longer naps during the day. If it was up to him they would all take place hugging my foot ensconced slipper. Sometimes I slip out and leave the slipper. This doesn’t fool Charlie much. Nothing more pathetic than a puppy crying for me, and I am just down the hall. Got to shake this soon.
Crate training has taken longer with Charlie than with my Libby. After two weeks he readily goes into his “Room” around mealtime. A food-filled Kong can keep him occupied for the moment. But when food is gone Charlie wants out. It starts with a small whine, then some digging, and yapping. I give Charlie the “shush” signal, and when he quiets I let him out. I am making slow progress. I plan to talk to some friends who have had more experience raising different pups.
So I am trained to have eagle eyes and watch for all house training signals. In and out we go to the potty, and back out again. Most of the time he gets with the program. Sometimes we miss the signal, a subtle look. I just added a string of bells, and I am teaching Charlie to ring the bells. Sometimes when Charlie is busy my macro lens finds other things to focus on.
We picked the last of our oranges. Here is the start of next year’s crop.
Each area of the house is a new adventure for Charlie. His approach is very cautious. Outside Charlie is calmly able to explore.
Today, he even watched me go inside, and chose to continue chomping on a twig. He deals with the front of the house differently. The Corona Virus has hindered his socialization. I have taken him out front and from a distance my neighbors have met him. I am holding Charlie, he watches, but there are no tail wags for strangers.
Charlie’s finds plenty of distractions outdoors
The past two days the new experience has been riding in the car. Our 2-hour ride home from Serenity Springs Labradoodles ended with Charlie’s breakfast all over me. So for these two short trips I decided to feed him when we returned. Yesterday we drove to my daughter’s house and showed my grandsons the new pup. Charlie was stressed out, and after lunch took a long nap. Today we picked up our online nursery shopping at Green Acres Nursery. The order went in a couple of days ago, and I got the call to pick up our vegetables this afternoon. This time I brought some water for Charlie, and I think he felt comfortable enough to sleep. Not too interested in looking out the window yet.
My husband planted 5 types of tomatoes, 1 pepper, 1 two-toned squash, and 1 eggplant.
My Citronella Plant is in bloom Queen’s Tears from the Bromeliad family
Charlie’s nature is to remain cautious with new experiences. Staying home works with my nature as well. I like a peaceful environment, sunny days outdoors in my backyard, and a relaxing agenda. I like to focus on one thing at a time. And with a new puppy that is about all that I can accomplish. So I will set my site on that and call it a day fulfilled. The garage can wait, the quilting can wait, and the piles of stuff will remain in neat piles. And that is all for now.
Well, not exactly. The answer to my question is not really! Hey, but that is life. What is your take on the subject?
My parents were very diligent and took great care with photographs. Essentially their photographic life started for them after WWII. At first they used corners on each picture, and my Dad carefully lettered the page. Later they moved on to using self sticking albums. Later still, they added slides, a case, a projector (built like a truck), and screen. Again each is labeled. They treasured these memories. Once when the family was living overseas in Karachi, Pakistan and the idea that we might have to be evacuated arrangements were made to keep the albums safe.
All of this is now at my house. And I need to think about what to do with this history. In truth, I favor looking at the older family photos. Starting to piece together my parents life in Europe before 1945. I found some documents with photographs on their ghetto cards. These ID cards were required by the Germans. The scanned images are poor, but with a bit of work I can see my mother around the age of 14 years. I need to get in touch and see if I can get a better scan. When I started my family genealogy in the 1980’s I uncovered a family photograph from my father’s side taken when a family member visited. As often the case after a visit a photo is placed in an album and the others in the photograph never sees the image. Luckily, in talking to this cousin my father was able to see the last photo of his mother and family before the Shoah.
My parents documented their extensive travels. These beautiful landscapes hold less interest for me. Maybe I should catch the travel bug while I still can travel. When the family scatters, group photos only happened at times of celebration. A few weeks ago my family gathered to celebrate a wedding. So nice when the occasion is such a happy one. My brother’s marriage now extends my family into Argentina. The last time I studied Spanish was in 9th grade (some 55 years ago). I wasn’t any good at it, and rolling those R’s near impossible. I am trying out Duolingo and Babbel. But if I am serious I will check out some of the other online learning programs. So far in Duolingo I can only drink aqua or leche. I can eat una manzana or él pan. Just figured out how to put in accent marks on my iMac. But probably there are more interesting things to eat. Don’t want to live on bread and water! Has anyone had a good experience with a language program for conversational Spanish?
Am I spreading myself out too thin? Sometimes I feel like I should just stick with one thing, but then I get pulled in another direction. You can probably tell from the way this post is flying all over the place. Maybe I need to figure out just what I want from my life. I just retired from babysitting my grandkids. Another story for another day. Not good. Photography connects many of my directions. Learning, travel, connecting, collecting memories, and family genealogy. This I share in my blog. I sometimes share on my Flickr site, but Facebook needs my attention if I want to connect with my local peeps. I will try and wean myself off of following FB and use my time differently. Continuing to search my genealogy ties draws me into the Holocaust and my Second Gen family friends. Such a great group of friends. I just want to find out my parents, and grandparents’ story. Now I’m thinking of Spanish? Will I ever travel again? Then I need time to do my yoga stretches and my therapy exercises to get rid of my plantar fasciitis. I need to kick up my activity level just to stay in shape. Libby has been getting the short end of the stick since my plantar fasciitis kicked in. No daily walks, just play time in the backyard.
Ok I’m a bit panicked. I have spent the better part of this month reorganizing my photo collection in Lightroom CC. Thought I knew what I was doing, but somehow keywords for 6000 images were deleted. Finally got it back, backed up the photos, and the catalog, and right now my images are not synched with my catalog. I know this is more tech info than most want to know, but I wanted to add images to this post, and I can’t. Time to walk away from the computer and hope that the backup problem resolves soon. 15 more minutes to complete second backup. Technology is great when it works! Sorry no images today. Got to figure out Lightroom synch.
It all takes time. I just hope I can figure out what I want to accomplish and have time to do just that! That’s all I can ask of myself.
A Photo's Worth 