Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves

Fun with curves! That is what this photo challenge is about. After all, there are curves around us in great abundance, probably more so than straight lines.

Curves are sexy, mysterious, how can we not love them? There is a softness and charm in curves. Like the charm of a curving road and the gentle wave of the mountains in the picture below that I took a couple of months ago while driving from Amado to Tucson – a place not very far from the border with Mexico.

Thinking about this photo challenge last night, I decided to focus on curves that are around us in our home. Well, there is a good reason for it – it is very hot in Tucson lately and not much fun to be outdoors – we are still waiting for the monsoon to arrive….

So I took some photos to honor the curves that are often unnoticed and taken for granted in our busy life, yet they define the charm of that daily life. Here are just a few of them:

Fuzzy Curves

Stacked Up Curves

Great Companion

Light in the Hallway

Sea Shell

The shell in the last photo is a small treasure connected to my writing life. It sits patiently on the bookshelf most of the year, but in summertime (and it is summer here!) in the evening when the house is calm, I can hear it whisper – “Go to the ocean, go to the ocean….”

I might just do that…

Alicja

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Text and photos copyright © 2013 by Alicja Mann

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting

OK, fleeting, passing swiftly, not lasting…. The clouds on our famously characteristic blue Tucson sky are seldom present and are very welcomed but…fleeting.

Pink and fluffy clouds

At dusk

Brief shower

Gathering for the monsoon

Clouds bring the promise of rain so badly needed in this part of the country, especially now when temperatures are repeatedly 105 F daily, and the official beginning of summer is still 10 days away. They come and go and often nothing happens – till the monsoon arrives. Oh, and then what a relief! These heavy rains are worth waiting for, and they are celebrated with joy! So far we are waiting, we are waiting….

I wrote a special post about the monsoon – please check it out. Here is the link:

https://alicjamann.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/monsoon-report-from-the-patio/

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Text and photos copyright © 2013 by Alicja Mann

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sign Says

Signs are all around us – warning, informing, communicating, decorating, and often irritating. They seem to be more visible when we travel by car.

I looked through some of my travel photos and made a choice of just a few, but with signs that differ greatly.   

This huge rooster is welcoming visitors to the small village of Hatch (population less than 2000) in New Mexico, located 40 miles north of Las Cruces. This village is proud of its bountiful chile crops and the annual event – The Hatch Chile Festival. The village is known as the chile capitol of the world!

Warm hospitality is part of the charm of Hatch and will stay in my memory as strongly pronounced Americana sprinkled with the chilli powders that I purchased there.

While Hatch is a small village and there are so many small villages worth visiting, I had no idea that it is possible to have an official town of population 1… till we stumbled upon Lost Springs while driving along highway 20 West in Wyoming. So there it was – a green official highway sign stating just that: POP1.

I took this photo in 2010, not being aware that Lost Springs had a lot of media attention due to its demographic uniqueness at that time. Today, I learned, Lost Springs lost considerably its attraction since its population grew to 4 in 2011. Oh well… some gains and some losses.

This Sherwin-Williams Paint truck took my attention immediately. The Cover the Earth slogan reminded me of a political joke from the Cold War times when the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States also generated a strong competition in the exploration of space. Although in reality the Soviets did not land on the moon, for the sake of this joke they are placed there together with the Americans.

The Joke

Two teams of astronauts, one from the Soviet Union and one from the United States, were sent to the moon. After their landing, the Soviets immediately started to paint the surface of the moon with red paint – the color of their flag and symbol of Communism. Concerned, the Americans called Mission Control and reported that. They were advised to ignore the Soviets’ action.

When half of the moon was covered with red paint, the Americans called Earth again asking, “What shall we do?” The answer was, “Wait and do not worry!” So they did.

After a while, the American team called Earth again – this time with great urgency. “Look, the Soviets have already covered most of the moon with their paint – the whole world will see the moon in red!  What shall we do?! “

Mission Control now gave them an order, “Wait till the Soviets have covered the entire moon with red and then paint in huge white letters Coca Cola.”

The End 🙂

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Text and photos copyright © 2013 by Alicja Mann

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