Welcome to our picture page!

If you're looking for Debby and Carol's photo challenge, you're in the right place! Like many creative people out there, we've decided to challenge each other to each come up with a picture a week for the next 52 weeks, taking turns picking each week's theme. However, unlike most others, we're not using fancy cameras and showing off our PhotoShopping skills. Nope, we're limiting ourselves to our phones, and our pictures will be undoctored. Join us here each week for a new picture!

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Week 5: Quiet Time

Debby

When I had a baby in the house, and that child was asleep, it was all about quiet time. Later, when my kids needed to wind down from a busy day, it was “Quiet Time”, that interlude between the day’s activity and bedtime. A time for cuddling as I read them a story, or snuggling as we watched television.

My life is all about quiet time now, as I live alone. And I have no complaint, as most of my activities are solitary. Things like reading, writing, painting, even my crochet.

Yet, I find certain places to be ‘quiet time’places, where I can go to be even more alone, where I don’t have to look at the sink full of dirty dishes, the overflowing laundry basket. The lake is such a place for me. I love to watch the water beat against the shore, how fast and how hard an indicator of Mother Nature’s mood that day.

Lately, when I’ve been out driving with my granddaughter, we often get a take-out cup of tea and sit by the lake to visit. This is our quiet time as she is a teen with many commitments; family, friends, part time work and school.

She’s also a natural choice for my photo for this week; she takes my direction and photographs so well. Thank you to my lovely companion for giving me the time and inspiration.



Carol

I freely admit that when I chose “quiet time” for this week’s subject, I had an image in mind. It was similar to the picture I took, but in my mind the wing chair was beside a fireplace. Of course we don’t have a fireplace, so my office had to do.

I’ve been on the hunt for a reading chair for my office for a long time and I wasn’t sure I’d find one in time for the picture. I did have a substitute in mind, a chair very similar to the one in my picture, only in a dark red velvet (which is why I didn’t put it in my office – it would have clashed with the wall colour).

To me, there’s no better quiet time than sitting in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and a good book. All that’s missing from the picture is a footstool where I can put my feet up.


Thursday, April 19, 2018

Week 4: Granddaughters

Debby

Granddaughters are one of life’s simple pleasures. I was blessed with four, and with them have experienced hours of fun shopping, cooking and crafting.

Not to negate the boys, my two grandsons, but they are an entirely different kind of joy. When my daughter remarried a few years ago I gained another granddaughter, so the count is five, ages nine to nineteen.

I recently spent hours on my laptop sorting through decades of photos for the photo collage frames I purchased. Then I got an E mail from Walmart offering a sale price for prints, how timely I thought, and then I saw the books. This led to my ordering these 20 photo, soft cover books from Walmart. At that sitting I completed the order for four books for the grandkid, and will need to go back to complete the remainder.

While doing the books, I realized I didn’t have very many pictures of the newest member of the family, and none for the years before we met. That is why, when the opportunity presented itself, I snapped a photo.

This was not the photograph I intended to take for this week’s challenge, but I think it works very well for this topic…Granddaughters.



Carol

At first glance Debby seemed to have an unfair advantage when it comes to “Granddaughters” because she has four to my one. But I see my granddaughter almost every day and probably have a lot more photo opportunities so I think it evens out in the end.

Choosing a picture was as easy as scrolling through my phone. I try to clear the pictures off my phone at least once a week, so they were all current ones. This is actually one of the reasons why I finally got a cell phone. My digital camera was starting to get rather iffy, and I wanted something a little more reliable for taking pictures.

I chose this particular picture because Ellie’s mischievous personality is shining through – she thinks she’s getting away with something, standing in the open door. She’s smart, and funny, and imaginative, and I love her to pieces. She’s my little sweetie pie sunshine.


Thursday, April 12, 2018

Week 3: Is It Spring Yet?

Debby

March 20th was the official first day of spring, but Mother Nature doesn’t like to follow the rules. She gave us a tease of warmer days to come, and then on April first, April Fools’ Day, she gave us another taste of winter in the form of freezing temperatures and, yes, snow.

The snow didn’t last but was enough to cover the ground, and shock everyone when they woke to their first look on the new day.

For a while the blue skies and sunshine were enough to balance out against the cold temperatures, but not when you add in the wind chill factor. And windy it has been.

Last week I was driving between our two small towns, along the two lane highway and was amazed at the number of signs blown down and broken, the tree limbs and branches scattered along the road side.

And then I caught sight of the lake. From a distance the water looked brown, and, needing a closer look, I drove to the beach. The waves were pounding on the shore with a fury, churning up the sand and silt, carrying it forward, colouring the water brown.

It was mesmerizing, a beautiful example of one of Mother Nature’s many moods, and I had to take pictures.

The weather channel calls for rain Wednesday, and Thursday, followed by more rain through to Monday. I shouldn’t be surprised really as it is April…and April showers bring May flowers, right?



Carol

Friday we had a bit of a blizzard situation going on, and while the snow did stick it didn’t stick for long and it was pretty frustrating when I missed several great photo opportunities. There was one in particular with the wet snow clinging to an evergreen that would have illustrated my ideas for this post perfectly, but I was driving at the time. Isn’t that always the way?

I did venture outside when the snow was at its thickest, hoping to get a shot of my neighbor’s crocus blooming with the snow coming down on them, but I didn’t see any crocus coming up! My one neighbor had snowdrops, but the wall they were against was grey so you couldn’t really see the snow coming down. *sigh*

The days are becoming more tolerable, temperature wise, but on the weekend we were still waking up to a skim of ice on the pool. Trust me, I wasn’t any more impressed than the ducks. But at least I was finally able to get my picture.

In answer to the question: no, it isn’t spring yet. But I think it’s on its way.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Week Two: A Coloured Door

Debby

Curb appeal. That is a phrase frequently heard when describing a home, and refers to the attractiveness of the house as seen from the street.

Not to belittle the value of a meandering path, foundation shrubbery and colourful summer flowers, it’s all about the door for me.

Years ago we did an exterior renovation to our home. The old clapboard was covered with an attractive grey siding, but what really made the change spectacular was the addition of a covered porch. The new porch deserved a beautiful front door and we replaced the old wooden door with a metal one, with a nine paned half window.

The door came in factory finish grey, a few shades lighter than the siding. It was nice, but lacked that POW factor. I wanted to paint the door a standout deep burgundy, but was over ruled. That red door haunts me, one of those things left unfinished, so it is no surprise that I notice front doors, especially front doors with a POP of colour.

On Good Friday I was the adult driving supervisor for my granddaughter. I felt she needed right turn practice, harder in a van than a smaller car, so we headed for one of the newer subdivisions in town and I directed her to keep turning right, as long as possible.

While she drove, I got a good look at how people decorated their front doors, or porches, and as I wasn’t burdened by driving, I got a good look.

We saw yellow doors, dark green, navy and even a pink door, but were disappointed with the sad looking Christmas decorations still in place, looking more than a little worse for wear. It was a purple door, with a wreath of spring flowers that caught my attention. The house was old, very close to the street so no porch or room for much of a garden. But the door was lovely with its matching lanterns and urns on each side.

This house said spring, it said Happy Easter and it said welcome to me. So, of all the doors I saw, in all the many colours, I picked this one for the smile it put on my face and for the memory of another door, forever dull, from another place and time.



Carol

When Debby first told me her choice for this week was “a coloured door” I figured she either had a door in mind or already had a picture of one. But of course she didn’t.

As the week went on I started paying more attention to doors in general and the ones in my neighbourhood specifically. There were black doors and green doors and red doors, but nothing that really jumped out at me.

But then, on the weekend, I happened to visit a local import place called Primitive Designs and they had lots of doors! My first picture was a trio of doors leaning up against the side of one of the buildings. While they had colour, they were rather weathered and faded. The next door that caught my eye was bamboo and although it was fancy, it was also rather colourless.

But I hit paydirt inside the main building. Upstairs there was a carved wooden door that had just enough colour to fit the bill. Intriguing, isn’t it? Who knows what secrets lay behind it….