Back to Blogging with SITS - My First Blog Post Evah

One of my favorite blogging communities that I belong to is SITS - The Secret is in the Sauce.  It is a fantastically supportive community with just tons of amazing bloggers.  SITS is running a fun blog prompt exercise this week with some amazing prizes so check it out! 

Thelma and Louise are devestatingly beautiful ... sigh ... front end loaders and TEAL ... and I think I would move my house just to have room for them!  And the blog prompts are fun!

Here are the topics:

Monday, September 13: Re-upload the first post you ever wrote on your blog. If interested, re-write that post, showing us a before and after look at the piece.

Tuesday, September 14: Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you.

Wednesday, September 15: Re-upload a post with a title that you are particularly proud of and explain why.

Thursday, September 16: Write a new post about a woman who inspires you.  (As an example, you can see Mama Kat’s recent Women Who Inspire post here.)

Friday, September 17: As your last assignment to jump start your return to blogging, write about what blogging means to you. Why do you blog? What purpose does it serve you and how have you benefited from sharing a piece of yourself online this way?
And here are Thelma and Louise ... sighhhhhhhh ...

You can thank the awesome sponsors of Thelma & Louise here:  Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances.  Truly - SPONSORS ROCK!

So get over to SITS - check out the rules and get your blog on!

Now to get MY blog on ... I went back and scavenged for the first post I ever made into the official blogosphere ... and it is almost five years ago!  Beehive Blog was my new blog for Utah that I started in Fall of 2009 although it now contains posts from my London Yankee blog that started in 2007 which I began when I moved to London.  Funny enough, my blogs are very place oriented and in that vein ... my first public blog post was about moving to Arizona in October of 2005 from Florida.  I set the blog up to keep in touch with family and friends.

Dated October 26, 2005:   

Big Hello from the Land of Cactus and Coyotes!

One week after arrival I am still assimilating the new environment! And watching with no small amount of nausea what happened in Florida... Hurricane Wilma left her category 3 mark... I have not heard from anyone except my parents and that was bad enough.  What divine forces were at work that we got out of there 4 days before she rolled in?

Here in Arizona, I am working on firsts! And they are cool (I think) and very foreign (to this East Coast chickie)...

Saw my FIRST saguaro Cactus and they are HUGE!

Heard Coyotes Howling in time with the fire sirens - HA!

I watch the sun set behind the White Tank Mountains - every evening! and then the STARS! WOW...

Hiked in the White Tanks and actually bought a pair of hiking boots!

Enjoying the dipping temps (who would have thought?!?!) - it was 56F this morning!

SO...suffice to say...I am settling in...Job in Florida is so totally on hold as they have NO communication at all and the office was almost completely destroyed so I am job searching and just booked my third interview...

I think I might like it here! More Later.........HI TO EVERYONE!!!!!!! And please please please Pray for everyone in Florida!

Phoenix

Fast Forward to Present Day ... and some of my thoughts on this post ...


There are a bunch of things that are bittersweet about this post.  Hurricane Katrina had just hit a few months prior which was the impetus for this move to Arizona where my brother and his family lived.  I picked a date out of thin air in the beginning of September and it turned out that my son and I left Florida only four days before Hurricane Wilma devastated South Florida.  My Mom and Dad were there for Wilma and it was horrific.  The house we had rented lost most of its roof so divine intervention was at play for sure.

I loved seeing the pics again, especially now that my son (standing with me in the middle pic) is 13 and taller than me.  Phoenix was good to us and my love of Utah is in part because it has some of the things I really loved about Arizona - the friendly people, the western sentiment, the DRY, and the mountains.

I wished there were some more details in the post and that the pictures were better but honestly, blogs are blogs and we capture that moment ... and it is very evocative for me. 

OK SITS Chicks and other blogsters - What was your first blog post evah?  Leave me a comment so I can check it out!   

You Can Call Me "Bug Girl"

Since starting my journey in photography, I have to admit to a fascination with bugs.  Not like any bugs and not bugs in my house or bugs touching my body but taking pictures of bugs.

It really started with the dragonflies.  While living in Florida, I had close encounters of the dragon kind every day and I love them.  OK - I am obsessed with them.  Folks in my photo groups call me the Dragonfly Whisperer although I am fairly certain that the dragonflies would concur with Dragonfly Stalker.

My obsession does not just extend to stalking dragonflies or running after bugs in the wild, but I also began to read about them, especially dragonflies.  I knew it was bad when I would wax enthusiastic at family dinners about species and experiences during my photographic journeys, adding in all the neat new facts that I had uncovered about bug behavior.  Blank stares and even my Mom asking me if I needed to see a therapist were the results.

 
The idea of going out to stalk dragonflies and other various denizens of the buggy kingdoms has gotten me out of bed at dawn, led me into standing in swamps motionless for 20 minutes to get a shot and hanging upside down the side of a canal to inspect a cocoon.  Weird, right?

In my defense, I have documented over 26 types of dragonflies, identified invasive species harmful to the Florida ecosystem, submitted to various scientific and scientific groups and  gotten a few darn cool photos along the way.  I even realized that my serious and debilitating arachnophobia could be controlled if I breathed and looked through the lens.  I do not wax poetic about spider behavior ... you are safe.

But the real reason that I am so excited about bugs ... beside the darn cool photos is that they saved my life.  Two years ago, I had just returned from London.  My husband and I had separated.  I had just been laid off.  I hated Florida.  The economy had made finding a job in my industry virtually impossible.  I was depressed and then one evening during a walk, I sat down in a field of dragonflies.  I was entranced and that was the first of months of daily walks.  Instead of going to bed and staying there (which is what I wanted to do), I went outside, took photos, did research and formed awesome networks on Flickr.  

 
I am through the bad patch now but my love of photography and capturing all the wonderful and weird things around us, no matter how small, has definitely stuck.  So, yes, you can call me Bug Girl.  or the Dragonfly Whisperer/Stalker, or as one friend dubbed me - the Reigning Queen of the Dragonfly Nerds on flickr.  But the bugs and I know ... I owe them.

   

All Photos Are Mine so Please Respect Copyright ... or the bugs will get you ... seriously.  

PhotoQuest - 5 Favorite Photos

I have been a passionate amateur photographer for several years and via my vox community and flickr, there are occasionally some super fun photoquests and photo duels that I like to participate in so I thought I would share my entry into the most recent!


The task was to submit your 5 favorite photos that you had taken ... not quite as easy as it sounds but here are my submissions - What do you think?

  "Beachcombing" - This photo is of my niece looking for seashells on the beach in Boca Raton, Florida.  It was actually a runner up for the Fodor's Florida photo contest for Palm Beach County.  I like the simplicity and timeless feel - I remember doing the same thing when I was her age.

"LIBRA" - orchids are one of my passions - photographing them, not growing them because I have a black thumb and it would be unfair to commit orchicide.  So I admire them and photograph them.  When I lived in Florida, I was a few minutes from the American Orchid Society headquarters and I spent many hours in the gardens and hothouse.  I am in awe of the perfection of all varieties of orchids.  this is a slipper orchid - they are like ballet slippers for fairies!

Following close in my passion for my family and orchids are dragonflies.  I am a dragonfly stalker and I have photo documented over 26 kinds.  My photo community calls me the dragonfly whisperer - lol and me?  well, I just love them.  They are amazing to observe!  This is a Halloween Pennant taking a sip on a grass stalk in South Florida.

"The Eyes Have It" - burrowing owls reside in South Florida and I had a chance to sit in complete delight outside of one of their burrows as they popped in and out. 

"Utah Does Good Moon" - Moon rise over the Wasatch Peaks - my favorite!

Here is a mosaic of a few more favorites and please check out my flickr if you would like to see more - What are your favorite pictures that you have taken?  Pop a link into comments and share!

some completion

A little over three years ago, I began a journey that took me out of country, cross country, traveling to multiple countries and just a general lack of a "home".  My life was fractured with little bits of me in Arizona, Florida and London.  I try not to be materialistic but this journey has included an incredible amount of material loss - like my library of 800+ books, family photos and other treasures. 
Simplification has certainly been the order of the day ... of necessity going from an almost 6 figure annual income, a marriage, a beautiful home and an exciting career track to barely keeping my head above water, a separation waiting for the legality of divorce, a new little home and a decimated career due to the economy.
But that is what life is all about, right?  Challenges, Joys, Sadness, Contentment, Grief - And our characters are measured by the grace and fortitude with which we weather the tsunamis of life.  I get that.  but sometimes I cannot help a bit of a whine ... or feelings of deprivation ... and then the immediate guilt that follows because so many are in far worse shape than me.
Living in Utah and restarting with nothing but a few tubs of personal items and clothing has been a great learning experience and has certainly led me to appreciate the simplicity of life that I have found here.  We have a little home but the key word is "home".  It has become a sanctuary and a place that my son and I feel safe and relaxed and ... finally ... content and settled.  PHEW.

sometimes ...

Some of my posts are transferring in ... sigh as VOX that I was so tickled to get back to is closing their platform ... bear with me friends as posts are incoming ...
 
Sometimes we need to come back to where we were, like putting on a favorite shirt or visiting a place that brings good memories.  That is how I feel about VOX *grin*.  I have spent an enormous amount of time in the big, bad blogosphere and I like it, but I felt the need to return to a space that was comfy for some more private thoughts and different sharing.

I always loved my VOX community and I was tickled pink to see so many of my favorite people are still active.  It feels lovely to step back into this comfy shirt.

It has been almost a year since I last updated and, wow, things have been crazy but in some really good ways.

I moved to Utah.  In fact, as I sit here and type, I only have to raise my glance over the top of my computer to see the Timpanogos peaks to the north and the face of the souther Wasatch front to the east.  Big, gorgeous mountains.  I moved last October.  Some friends had relocated to Provo and since Florida felt more and more claustrophobic, I decided to accept their invitation and join them.  So, Zach (the munchkin man who is now taller than me at 13)  and I packed everything we could in about 10 tubs and off we went, sight unseen, to Provo, Utah.

now look surprised!

bee butt

Sunrise - Delray Beach, Florida

anole

burrowing owls

tree hugger

button flower

droplets on hibiscus

sneaking up on a blue dasher

dinner on his chin

piano key butterfly on mexican sunflower

Birdwing Butterfly

Heart of the Lotus

scarlet skimmer princess in gold

upside down bokeh