Sunday Selections #358

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.  River is having a blog break at the moment (and will be missed), so I am keeping the meme warm in her absence. 
 
Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week?  Sort of.  I have had a difficult few weeks.  A family member has a life threatening/life changing medical condition to deal with.  It is getting hotter by the day and my MS is thriving in the heat.  And this busy time and my inability to say no is doing my head in.

However my special talent (you know the one we all have) is as an appreciator.  Appreciating the big and small wonders (and a black sense of humour) keeps me more or less afloat.

So here are some of the things I have appreciated (muchly) this week.

 Ellie Foster  is a blogger I follow.  Like me she is a reader and a gardener.  Unlike me, she is a dedicated, talented and creative crafter.  Earlier this year she started making felt sheep.  I fell in love with them, and she very generously sent me a pair - which arrived on a black day this week.  I love them.  Himself loves them.  And we have put them firmly out of Jazz's reach.  The hand-made card which accompanied them is proudly on display too.

I have been revelling in the sky too.

Our night-flowering cactus also gave me joy.  It only lasts a day, and I was fortunate enough to notice it was about to come out.  And document the beauty.

I am so very lucky.
There are more photos (of course) from Hyper Real, but I will post them later. 

Words for Wednesday

This meme was started by Delores a long time ago.  Computer issues led her to bow out for a while.  The meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast. 

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...  We can use some or all of the prompts.

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants.  If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
 
This month the prompts will be posted here but provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton.  The prompts will include photographs taken by Margaret's friend Bill. .

This week's prompts are:

The show must go on

And /or

The straw that broke the Camel’s back

Have fun (Giraffes last week, camels this...)

 

Sunday Selections #357

Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
 
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life.  The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent.  Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.  Clicking on any of the photos will make them embiggen.  River is having a blog break at the moment (and will be missed), so I am (hopefully) keeping the meme warm in her absence.  

Like River I usually run with a theme.  This week I am taking you back to our National Gallery.  They have a special show on at the moment - 'Hyper Real' and of course we had to go.  The link I attached to the words Hyper Real takes you to a slideshow from the exhibition.

As you bought the tickets staff warned that there was nudity and that some images might be challenging.

I don't know that challenging was the word I would use, but I did find a lot of the exhibition beautiful but very, very sad.

So I will probably only show a few of the sculptures this week.

 This was just outside the entrance to the exhibition, and somehow I neglected to record the artist's details as I did (shame on me) on the next sculpture.

Some of the sculptures I wandered around and around, taking photos from lots of angles.

 Hyper real was no exaggeration.  Sometimes I had to look more than once to see whether I was looking at a sculpture or a person.  The first comes from Duane Hanson's Two Workers installation.

The second is Caroline by Daniel Firman. 

This next one is Embrace by Marc Sijan.

And another by the same artist titled 'Cornered'.

Just one more today.  This one is by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu and is called Old People's Home.  The electric wheelchairs ran in a carefully choreographed fashion.  They didn't run into each other - but sometimes spectators had to step out of the way.

Do you see why I found it sad?  Beautiful, and very skilful, but my melancholy mood stayed for days. 

In my usual fashion I took many, many photos (some of which are less than stellar) and we can explore the exhibition further in later posts if you are interested.

Words for Wednesday

This meme was started by Delores a long time ago.  Computer issues led her to bow out for a while.  The meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast. 

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...  We can use some or all of the prompts.

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants.  If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
 
This month the prompts will be posted here but provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton.  The prompts will include photographs taken by Margaret's friend Bill. .

This week's prompts are:

1. Giraffe
2. Puddle
3. Thorny
4. Evergreen
5. Distant
6. Tubular

And/or

1. Torrent
2. Cab
3. Aspidistra
4. Faucet
5. Teddies
6. Carbuncle

Have fun.