Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

IWSG: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 ~. Everything's Coming Up Roses!





It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.






To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are Janet Alcorn

I hope you have a chance to visit today's hosts and thank them for co-hosting.
I'm sure they would appreciate a visit and an encouraging comment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's featured question is: 
How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy April, Everyone!
I hope you are enjoying the beginning of a new season that arrived with the equinox.
Spring has sprung or summer is done.
Regardless, I wish you happiness and creativeness.
Meanwhile, everything's coming up roses for me!

Oh, Terry!  You Shouldn't Have!
March 27, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved

Just kidding ~ Terry didn't envelop me in roses!
I just have a rosy outlook, 
which feels wonderful after the challenges I've faced since April 10, 2021.

I seem to have turned a big corner healthwise and so has Terry,
incrementalism is easing my stress and helping me accomplish personal goals,
and I'm working on my memoir on a regular schedule again. 

Gorgeous Roses! 
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The Strip, ⁨Las Vegas, Nevada, ⁨United States
March 27, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved





All the Pretty Roses! 
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The Strip, ⁨Las Vegas, Nevada, ⁨United States
March 27, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved


I'm so glad that this month's question is about blogging!
This genre has sustained me throughout my retirement.
I launched my blog "Standing Into Danger on August 14, 2012,
and, no matter what happened throughout the years since,
I have blogged regularly and published 760 posts, not counting this one.
Whenever I was discouraged about my "real" writing,
I would remind myself that blogging was writing too, 
and I was doing it!  I was a writer.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas
March 27, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved


(We won't mention my defunct "Mrs. Barbour's Wonderful World of Science blog,
which published one post on Asian and African elephants and then shut down.
My school district had encouraged its elementary teachers
to start classroom blogs, particularly to engage young boys.

Well, I went for it, circa 2010, publishing photos I had taken
at Sairung Elephant Camp outside Khao Lak, Thailand.  
And then, I discovered to my chagrin, that my highly engaged third grade boys
had figured out how to enlarge the photos I had embedded in my post ~
large enough to see the outline of the breasts of a woman
riding an elephant while wearing a sheer blouse.
Blog terminated immediately, photo deleted immediately ~ lol!)  
 
Feeding the Asian Elephant That I Rode 
Sairung Elephant Camp
Outside of Khao Lak, Thailand ⁨United States
December 14, 2008
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved


There are several things I especially like about blogging.
First, over the years it has honed my writing skills, for which I am grateful.
Next, posting about my family's time in the North became the basis for my memoir. 
Then, blogging allowed me to showcase my photography,
which I love pursuing almost as much as writing.
Finally, and most importantly, I treasure the friendships I've built over the years.

It's the friendships, the relationships, I've made that have kept me blogging.
I have special friends all around the world, both in the IWSG and outside it.
Some, like Pat Hatt, I've met in person, and I hope to meet more!
I've found understanding, encouragement, and support.
Often my online friends get me more than my offline friends.

Terry and I with Pat
Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada
July 28, 2023
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue. All Rights Reserved

The biggest change I have seen is that the number of people blogging has decreased.
It is a time-consuming undertaking, and our lives have gotten busier and busier,
so I understand why some people have stopped blogging.
I worry that it will die out as a form of communication in future years.
But, then again, maybe not, because friendship is a powerful motivator.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas
March 27, 2024
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved


Have a creative and fulfilling April!
Enjoy IWSG Day!  And a big thank you to the co-hosts!   




Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

My next post will be soon!🤞

Friday, August 26, 2022

City of Roses


Yesterday, I was looking at my photos of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada,
which I think is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Terry and I haven't been there in a few years, and I miss this gorgeous place.

Victoria is known for many cultural and historical things, 
but I think of it at the City of Roses.
I've spent hours and hours in its lovely rose gardens, 
and I return to these gardens each time I visit Victoria.

City of Roses
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
September 12, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Pope John Paul II Hybrid Tea
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
September 12, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


Yesterday, I was supposed to be eliminating photos 
that were too similar, poor shots, or blah,
but I find it difficult to trash a photo of a rose.
I'm embarrassed to think of how many rose photos I have in my collection.

One of my favorite rose gardens, the Premier's Rose Garden,
is hidden behind the British Columbia Parliament Buildings
which are home to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.
Often I wander alone among the rose beds
enjoying the roses from baby buds to lush blowsy blooms.

Buxom Beauty Pink Hybrid Tea
Behind the Parliament Buildings
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
iAll Rights Reserved






Apricot Pink Grandiflora
Baby Buds to Blowsy Bloom
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



I love and appreciate it when flowers are labeled in gardens.
I always want to know their names.
Fortunately the roses in Victoria's gardens are named.

Rose Beds Behind the Parliament Buildings
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Easy Going Yellow Floribunda
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Rose Beds Behind the Parliament Buildings
Easy Going Yellow Floribunda
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



Souvenir de Baden Baden, Pink/White Hybrid Tea 
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved





Buxom Beauty Pink Hybrid Tea
September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved






Kosmos Fairy Tale White Floribunda 
 September 10, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



One of my favorite memories of Victoria was an unexpected random act of kindness.
I was walking down a street near Beacon Hill Park
and a woman cutting roses in her garden saw me passing her yard.
She snipped a brilliant red rose and gave it to me saying,
"Have a wonderful day!"


Not the Rose, but a Lovely Red One Nonetheless
Amour, Grand Red Hybrid
September 8, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved






In a Rose Garden Somewhere in Victoria
September 8, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


The theme for my friend Rain's Thursday Art Date this week is Gestures and Movement.
I'm sharing a photo for each.  There was no time for me to create art this week!

A welcoming gesture from a friendly greeter for visitors near the Ogden Point Breakwater.


Along the Waterfront
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
September 11, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved



I captured this movement photo with the zoom on my point-and-shoot camera,
braced inside a zodiac raft bouncing on waves.
It may not be my sharpest photo, but certainly it's one of my most dramatic shots.


An Orca Strikes
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
September 15, 2017
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


A talented artist, Nicole, who regularly participates in Rain's TAD,
posts Friday Face Off every week.
I thought I'd join in this week and share one of the sweetest faces I've ever photographed,
a darling Cambodian boy in a local market outside Siem Reap.

A Beautiful Cambodian Boy
A Local Market Outside Siem Reap, Cambodia
November 10, 2008
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved


Have a great weekend! 






Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

  My next post will be on 
Wednesday, September 7, 2022.



On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved