After we picked up our friends, Joan and Rudy at the airport in Mesa a couple weeks ago, we had an al fresco diner dinner under the trees at Joe’s Farm Grill in Gilbert-what a delightful place! We fell in love with the HUGE trees that seemed to be made for climbing- in fact, NO CLIMBING signs were everywhere.
Wouldn’t you love to sit in the fork of this tree?
Spotted in Jerome:
I love this new-ish tradition- although I know it can be viewed as vandalism.
I know I posted a photo of this store display Elvis before (with Joan)- but the juxtaposition of Elvis with these Day of the Dead skeletons amuses me.
When we had visited Jerome in the past, we’d always taken note of the Spirit Room, a bar on the corner of the main drag. We had never been actually able to get inside, but always paused outside to listen to the band inside and to observe the scene- motorcycles pulling up out front and the crowd spilling out onto the sidewalk. I guess we had never been there early in the day before, because when we went in to get some water (yes, water) last Saturday, it was basically empty. While we sat and drank our waters, the motorcycles began to pull up, and by the time we left, it was getting full.
Another apache plume for today- I love their inherent messiness!
These apache plume seed heads weren’t really blowing in the wind, but they look that way to me.
Our friends of 45 years plus, Joan and Rudy, came for the weekend to celebrate Joan and my birthdays- just 5 days apart. It was a quick visit, but we managed to have an outing to the old mining town of Jerome, just over the mountain from us. Joan had been there before with us, but it was Rudy’s first trip there.
Jerome is a funky and fun town, which inspired a bit of silliness in us.
The photos were edited with some HDR-ish effects in On1 for an over-the-top look which I think is fitting for Jerome.
Another day, another thistle- this time dressed up in shades of gray. . .
I guess it does pay to get up early, even though you’re retired. It’s a rare day that I don’t wake up before the sun comes up; however actually getting dressed and out of the house is more challenging. The golden light backlighting the flowers after sunrise caused me to dash outside with the camera- it seems like Spring is here at last!
This is the flower from the Apache Plume plant that we have by our street- in color and with 3 black and white edits.
It has just a hint of “gesture”, wouldn’t you say?
Purple thistles abound in our area! We have a lot of weeds and native plants in the strips along the roads and sidewalks and in fields near our house, and this time of year is great for finding them in bloom. And every year I photograph thistles.
I added textures to these thistle photos and then took them into On1 for frames, stepping outside the box a bit when I chose these cool emulsion borders.
Perfect imperfection and impermanence!
This week, my little photo group is meeting to discuss photography and share photos. We took photos this time that have some aspect(s) of the principles of wabi-sabi. Here are three of my photos that celebrate imperfection and the passage of time.
Just ordinary stuff- some frayed dishtowels, a basket detail, and my childhood cereal bowl and creamer:
Just yellow this time. . .
melinda anderson photography 