Soaked in the Warmth of the Rising Sun

by Deanna

“I’m quietly sipping my coffee,
sitting on the porch,
settled in to my little jungle of herbs and buzzing bees,
letting my thoughts wander, soaked in the warmth of the rising sun.
Breathing in and out the soft air 
filling the moment with fluids of peace.” 
― Anna Asche

And It Was All Yellow

by Leigh

A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.

~Eudora Welty

The One Window

By Carol

"There is a beautiful complexity of growth within the human soul. In order to glimpse this, it is helpful to visualize the mind as a tower of windows.  Sadly, many people remain trapped at the one window, looking out every day at the same scene in the same way. Real growth is experienced when you draw back from that one window, turn, and walk around the inner tower of the soul and see all the different windows that await your gaze.  Through these different windows, you can see new vistas of possibility, presence, and creativity. Complacency, habit, and blindness often prevent you from feeling your life. So much depends on the frame of vision -- the window through which you look. "

  

                                                                                                    John O'Donohue

                                                                                              Excerpt from Anam Cara

It is yellow week at FOL this week! Post your images featuring (and tagged) YELLOW - for a chance to be featured on Friday in Focus On You. Yellow is a happy color - hope it helps you have a happy week :}

Focus on You

Glorious green!  Thank you Larraine Zungolo for your submission this week.  

Be sure to check out Larraine's flickr stream 

Crayola Happiness

By Cathy

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination."   ~ Robert Fulghum

Green Loveliness

by Dotti

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

                                                                                        ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish writer

Instructions for Life

by Kelly

Instructions for living a life.  Pay attention.  Be astonished.  Tell about it.  ~Mary Oliver

Green, Green

by Terri

"Green, green, it's green they say

On the far side of the hill.

Green, green, I'm goin' away
To where the grass is greener still.”

~The New Christy Minstrels

The color we're focusing on this week is green. Green is everywhere! It’s the most common color in the natural world, and it’s second only to blue as the most common favorite color.   It’s the color we associate with money, the environment, and aliens, and it’s the color of revitalization and rebirth. 

 

And lest you think there is no green in the desert, this beautiful Queen Victoria Agave is thriving right here in Arizona. It is my very favorite agave with its lush green and white markings.

Post your green images in the FOL Flickr gallery this week and let us see the green you find in your world!

Focus On You!

Susan Bolton stole my heart this week with this dreamy, turquoisy image of the beach, called "Fading Summer."  Sue is a long time friend of FOL from Galveston, Tx. You can see her flickr stream here.

I also adore a second image from Larraine Leslie. She really captured the brights of summer in close focus. Her Flickr stream is here.

Congratulations for making our summer break more beautiful. As always. we appreciate the participation! See you next week for some GREEN.

The Realist

by Deanna

“The pessimist complains about the wind;

 the optimist expects it to change; 

the realist adjusts the sails.”

 ~ William A. Ward

by Leigh

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way."
~Georgia O'Keeffe

It's Turquoise Week!

by Carol

"It's not everyone who has a passion for dead leaves."

                      

                                                                                                        Jane Austin

FOY - The Color Red

The August Break color for this 2nd week of August is red, one of my all-time favorite colors. I know that this particular image does not contain a huge amount of the color red, but it gives this beautiful piece of architecture just the right pop of color. The photographer behind this photo is Justyna Dark. Visit Justyna to see more of her photography on flicker here.  Thank you Justyna for contributing to Focusing On Life.

Our third week of our August Break brings us the color turquoise, a beautiful color in the summertime. Let's load the flickr pool with the many shades of turquoise. Thanks for being a part of our community.

Playing With Red

By Cathy

“I am often accused of being childish.

I prefer to interpret that as child-like.

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things.

I tend to exaggerate and fantasize and embellish.

I still listen to instinctual urges. I play with leaves.

I skip down the street and run against the wind.

I never water my garden without soaking myself.

It has been after such times of joy that I have achieved

my greatest creativity and produced my best work.” 

~ Leo. F. Buscaglia

Find the time

and

just play!

RED Power!

by Dotti

I love the color red! In fact, I have a loosy-goosy "motto" about red and photography: If you see red, shoot it!

Why? you may ask. Simple. Even a spot of red can stand out in a photo and make it more noteworthy. To support this theory, take a look at this fun link about using the color red to impact your photography.

http://www.lightstalking.com/using-the-color-red-for-impact-in-your-photography/

So -- if you see red, shoot it -- with your camera, of course.

Just Keep Going

by Kelly

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther."  ~J. P. Morgan

Seems like there are so many unanswered questions in my life right now....'What about this?' 'How will I find time for that?' But instead of freaking myself out and driving myself crazy trying to answer the questions, I've decided that I'm just going to keep walking in the direction that feels right.  And when I get as far as I can see, I'll be able to see farther.

Until next time,

Kelly

Let's Paint the Town Red!

by Terri

"Don't forget -- no one else sees the world the way you do,
so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell." ~Charles deLint

And, might I add to that quote, no one else can capture an image the same way you do. That's one thing that has always fascinated me about photography: ten people can take a photo of the exact same subject and no two come out exactly the same.

This second week of our August Break, we are focusing on Red. I can't wait to see the Flicker gallery turning red with all the beautiful things you capture!

 

Focus on You

A lot of beautiful purple images in the Flickr gallery this week for our August Break Purple theme! But this one stood out. I love the little fuzzies on the petals and the look into the inner part of the flower. Such a gorgeous shade of purple too!  This was posted by Barbara Vautier.  Thanks so much, Barbara, for sharing your photos with us here at FOL.  Next week our focus will be on Red, so don't forget to keep posting your color photos as we continue our August Break Color weeks.

Looking for Purple

by Linda

Found-

at the local farmers market

...

Sum-Sum-Summertime!

by Carol

Happy sizzling August everyone! As you may know from past years, we at FOL slow things down a bit here each August. We want to be hanging out at the pool with the rest of you, resting our bodies as well as our brains.

So for the month of August, we each continue to post,  but we keep them short, sweet and simple. We use colors for our Focus on You themes, and your color shots light up our Flickr page like a summer bouquet!

Check out the Monthly Focus tab above to read about our first week's theme - PURPLE! Remember when "Grampa dropped his glasses in a purple pot of dye?" Well that's our gallery this week!

Happy posting - and happy vacationing!