While Creeking One Day/Rocks

Addendum July 18th: When I saw that the photo hunter theme was 'rock', well......

One of my favorite things to do when I was a child was 'creeking'. I lived in an area that had several small tributaries, shallow and teaming with life. We would put on our old tennies and spend hours stomping through the crystal clear water, over turning rocks to see what Mother Nature had hidden beneath. There were creatures in abundance for us to find...fish, crabs, salamanders, snakes.

Those days spent with my feet immersed and my hands exploring all things slimy were passed on to my children, as I still live in the same house. Though I will say it was my husband who spent most of the time in the shallows with them, for he too had many hours of experience in the creeks. I married a neighborhood boy.

And now we pass the tradition on to a third generation. A freckled face lad who came to know the secrets of the creeks at a young age. Papa introduced him to the rocky bottom shallows and its hidden secrets when he was about three and he has been captivated ever since.

But it was me who took him on this particular day...the day we found a treasure of a different sort. Left by whom...I don't know. But we took our picture and left it for someone else to find.

In Memory of Memory

Memory...those vignettes of things past that bring us joy, or perhaps even moment of pain. Memory...the place we go when the present is momentarily too painful and the past is serene. Memory...a way to bring those who have left us back into our lives even if only for a moment. Memory...crucial to negotiating day to day tasks without thought or concern.

But what of those who have lost this precious gift? Where once there were pictures and stories to be recalled, what is there now? Do the thoughts that created the pictures, the pictures that created the words, the words that created the stories, vaporize into thin air leaving a vacuous chasm instead?

I have seen first what those who suffer from complex memory issues go through. It is disheartening and sad not only to those who are afflicted memory disorders, but also for those who love them.

My husband suffers from a condition known as Transient Global Amnesia. It is a complex and complicated condition but supposedly benign. The amnesia is temporary, but he never regains the time and events that he loses during the attack. Time... it is as precious as memories.

It gives me pause, our situation, for while my husband's medical condition as frightening as it can be, is temporary and benign. I stop and think about those who are in the midst of the clouded effects of Alzheimer's disease...a progressive, degenerative, devastating illness that robs the mind, body and soul of who we are, leaving nothing but an empty shell in its destructive path.

I believe we are all guilty...guilty of taking for granted a blessed gift...the gift of memory. Do you ever consider what life would be without it? Stop a moment and do so...for then you shall never take for granted again the things you can remember.

Photo Hunt - Yellow

Yellow

I cannot wear it but I sure do love it!

Visit Tnchick to see what others have down with the color of the sun.

Creative Photograpy #15 - Photo Hunter Reflection

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When Nature meets Technology

This is my 3rd entry for the 15th Creative Photography. I shot this photo along a river that runs at the bottom of my street. I love the way the light pole mixes with the trees as if it is planted right along side of them. Oh and of course it is a Reflection...my favorite subject to shoot!

Update: I have also added this to Photo Hunter this morning as the theme is Reflection! How convenient was that!

Chasing the Blues

BLUE

Today is a beautiful fall day...the sun is shining and the fall colors are brilliant. It is a perfect day to mount the iron pony and chase the blues away!

I Hunted and I found!

Lazy

Even a basketball has to rest sometime!

Hunting for a Photo! SAD

SAD

A Broken Butterfly

Two Posts With One Flash!

SELF-PORTRAIT SATURDAY

VIEW

A VIEW through the looking glass

Click on the above emblems to see more Views and Self-Portraits!

Photo Hunt - Road

“When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it.”

Charles de Lint

Photo Hunters - WILD!

The faint of heart need not look farther

Now that is WILD!!!!!!

Wrinkled- Photo Hunter

Extremes -Fire and Ice

Photo Hunt - Colorful

Click to enlarge

USS Arizona

Almost 65 years after the Japanese wreaked their destruction on the base at Pearl Harbor, oil from the USS Arizona still rises to the surface. The colorful iridescent film is a reminder for those of us who visit this hallowed ground, to give reverence to the nearly 1,200 men who make this water their final resting place.

If you look at the right of the photo, you can see part of the ship.

PhotoHunt - Dark

I found a cool new blogsite...check out my sidebar. Tnchick created PhotoHunt. A new theme every week.

This week's theme is 'Dark'. I like to think outside the box and don't think this photo needs an explanation.

I took this in D.C. on a trip with 40 some eighth graders. That in itself could have been considered DARK!