Saturday, August 25, 2018

August Afternoons

August in Virginia is an odd mix of summer heat and hints of the approaching fall.

Some days run hot and humid with the air blurry from the heat, other days - like today - have a sharp, clear coolness.

The cooler air invites open windows - open to the sounds of people talking on their porches, children shouting as they play, dogs barking at passing bikers.

An afternoon nap on such a sharp day - cool air and bright sunshine - is a lovely indulgence. Drifting on the sounds of summer, resting into the coming fall.










































Artwork & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.





Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Lessons and Revelations


It's been a busy week - some my own doing, other events beyond my control - packed with work, appointments, errands, and planning travels.

All week, every day, it seemed like traffic was crazy. People running lights and "blocking the box," preventing movement and forward progress. I joined in on the crazy, fuming at delays, screaming in my car at "stupid idiot drivers," and I'll confess, more than once, to honking my horn in frustration.

Then - the revelation. I was driving along the river, actually crawling along because the traffic was so slow. The thought occurred to "be like water." Flow with what is happening, go over and around and through obstacles. If a jam up occurs, flow around it. Progress became easier, seeing the traffic as something I could flow around and through rather than something that was an obstacle made my entire experience more peaceful and calm. Being like water allowed me to see where I could move forward more easily. I can't say definitively that traffic was any better - but my experience of it was and that made the difference.

There were lessons too. Lessons in speaking what I want, and realizing that abundance is possible.

I have been jonesing for a new full frame camera - they are expensive - and I kept talking myself out of spending the money. Finally, I just did it. Went to the camera store, bought the camera, and while I loaded up my credit card, I told myself that covering the extra expense could be worked out later. I walked out excited (and a little nervous) about my purchase.

Got to work and my new boss said, hey, I'm going to give you a camera and lens to use. The exact same camera and a far better lens than the one I had just bought. I was floored. Then I was darn, I just bought one, do I return it? The camera store has a all sales final policy, will they make an exception? My immediate default was to find all the problems I now had to deal because I'd bought a camera and been given a camera. I told this story to a wise friend, and her response was, "Don't you see? You are so blessed that you said you wanted one camera and you got two!" My head almost spun around. Instead of focusing on the abundance that had been gifted to me I had focused on the problems. So now I have the camera I wanted, with a great lens, and the camera store made an exception and let me return the camera I'd bought and refunded my money.

The rest of the week has been a series of events beyond my control, forcing me to change my plans, but always the changes that were required allowed me to do all that I wanted to do instead of having to make choices that were restricting.




Artwork & prose by Terry Rowe.

All work can be or is available for sale, visit www.terryrowe.photography. You can also leave me a comment if there is a particular piece of work you are interested in.

I am grateful for all of your comments and views.