Journey

The SECOND photo is Linking with  Bonnie at Pixel Dust Photo Art, -self portrait

The first photo is linking with: 

Studio Waterstone~ I Heart Macro  the last one. :-(

ABC Wednesday , -J is for Journey  

Our World Tuesday ,Wordless Wednesday NC Sue,, 

And down below a heart  image for Random Heart Thursday.

Huckleberry Trail, Blacksburg, VA- 03-06-2012

Unplanned Journey

This journey started from a point I know longer remember.

How many curves have I slammed straight into?

  To see elegance in this bending and winding

I must find a still space.

Is a trip unplanned if it is just a trip you have avoiding?  The reluctant traveler sagas continue. The night before my trip, I thought I would actually become ill with panic. This was a trip to Buffalo. Time to bite the bullet and get in the car for that 10 hour drive. Of course there were snow squalls before we (my 18 year old nephew on spring break made the trek with me) even hit the West Virginia border. There were at least 10 of these delightful and blinding white outs on the 70 mile per hour curves of West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. By the time we reached the flats of I-90 the snow had pretty much abated. The family was all visited and seen.

I was as always most happy to be home in my own bed on Sunday.

Self Portrait - taken by my dad, edited by me

Coffee Stain Heart on the Counter

Kitchen Counter, Buffalo NY- 03-14-2013 

And just one more thing-

Snow

Draper Rd, Blacksburg, Va- January 18, 2013

Draper Rd. Blacksburg, VA- January 18, 2012

Backyard, Blacksburg, Va- January 18, 2012

For three days it poured and poured. Every ditch flowed with dirty water. We told ourselves we needed the rain. On January 17 it began to snow at three in the afternoon. The world was transformed. Life was transformed. Things flickered, and then we were left in the dark.

In the morning, as if waking from a dream encumbered in sogginess, we blinked blindly, closing our eyes to the white snow and sunshine. Life was moving on. 

Snow

January 25, 2013  - a small Stone 
Snow by  Teri H Hoover


A hush 
of silent transformation.
Gently kissing each transgression 

with pure white forgiveness. 


 

Leaning

 March 15, 2012-Three Muses Challenge- Theme...One 

 Small Stones

 

Arches National Park, Utah- March 4, 2010

One thousand years of secrets

the tree bent close

to listen.

 

Walk Until You See It

Slalom Run Drive, Park City Utah- Mar 1, 2012

When I walk I always find what I am looking for.



`

Stirring Turquoise and a Little Snow

Blacksburg VA- February 13,2012

This is a photo I took on February 13, 2012.  The turquoise bell sits quietly most days in our garden.

Two days ago, while I was working in the garden, a little breeze sent the bell into a frenzy. It was the harbinger of the winter snow, that finally found us yesterday.

In the image below I blended my image with a pre-made background, from digital artist Alice Popkorn. (her other links are Faceook and  flicker photostream). She is a master of the digital image.

This image is my contribution to Take a Word Challenge  with Marie.  The word for this week is turquoise. 

February 20, 2012 Take a Word Challenge, Small Stones

Stirring Turquoise by Teri H Hoover

Stillness falls between the branches,

just before the wind finds its way.

Stirring the turquoise bell.  

  

And on another note it snowed yesterday~ the first snow of the season. February 19th and it is the first snow.  I suppose there were other little snows... but for a girl from Buffalo, NY this was the first SNOW. And while I am not necessarily a big fan of the white stuff, when God gives something gorgeous my first impulse is to want to run out and photograph it .  So I did.

Dogwood in Snow, Blacksburg VA- February 20, 2012

 

Front Porch, Blacksburg, VA- February 20, 2012

host and banditry

January 22, 2012-Prompt-Photography by Dan Habermehl

host and banditry by Teri H Hoover

A changing sky of bright white clouds,

emerging into a snowbound contentment 
` 
observing
`

A cheerful insurrection of chickadees and sparrows,

painted into the passive leaves of winter.

`

photography by Dan Habermehl- Jan 2012

Process notes- Thanks to my brother Dan  who takes wonderful photos. He posted this one on his Facebook page on Sunday. It seems we both immediately saw a collection of birds among the dried leaves. It took a bit of untangling the image into words. And then came time for a title.  I was aware that there were many collective nouns for groupings of birds... but not THIS many!! A shout out to Red and The Peanut - a great birding blog I just found.  I learn so much in the time I pause to write.

Returning

Blackcreek NY- February 28, 2011

~walking through

the snow~ 

    together

a moment of bliss~

I have been away a lot... It seems I have been going away most of my life. And all I want to do is stay. I want to stay home. This last trip was an unexpected but necessary one.

My bother D~  has  been suggesting (for quite some time) that I head back to Buffalo. I have not been back since my nephews funeral -( a year and three months-) every time I thought about going my stomach tightened and my brain short circuited.  Long story short I went back to Buffalo over the weekend and just returned last night.

Everything went well-  I rode up with my brothers step-daughter - she has a lot to say so I had no time to be overcome by anxiety about going back.  I stayed the first night at my brothers house and then went to my parents house for lunch on Saturday. At 2 I went and had a nice visit with my 100 year old grandmother- I brought the quilt her mother made and turned the conversation to her childhood- it was a special time.  I then returned to my parents home and we went out to dinner and had a wonderful meal and lovely time.  I then stayed there that evening and slept with a dead pope, just kidding- (My mom is into Pope John Paul II and the room I slept in is filled with books about him or written by him.)

In the morning I went to my childhood church for mass with my parents. In the "that is not a coincidence department" there was a baptism planned for that day- the child's being baptised had my name, Therese Marie.

I left my parents home after lunch and visited with my youngest sister for a while- she showed me all the rooms she has painted and we went to an antique store. I left there at 4 and headed 2 hours away to visit my other sister and spent the night there and the next day. (The photo above is from our time spent walking on her land.).


My next trip is not unitl March 17th-

A Black and White Contribution

Dulles Airport, Washington DC -Jan29. 2011

Black and White

(and shades of gray)

A contribution for the art challenge blog   The Three Muses  

As most of you know I am away from home and the internet has been a bit of a challenge for me. I thank the The Three Muses for their sneak peak into this weeks theme. It allowed me to play where I am most comfortable.  With two feet on the ground- and without skies!  I am in Verbier, Switzerland- with my husband and a crew of exceptional skiers. I could be an exceptional skier except for one teeny tiny detail- I have a desperate inability to deal with moving at high speeds on an incline of greater than about 10 degrees. Anyway I have made peace with this ( as has my husband.)  My sweet husband did take me out on Wednesday and I had a wonderful morning on a very easy trail.

I only met up with one slope  that indeed informed me that I still had a mental aversion to steep slopes. I side stepped down with my husband standing guard above me so no one would run me over.




Bravery comes in all sizes- I observed myself this week dealing with what challenges me.  Just what degree of incline slows me to a crawl?  Ski slopes and large groups of people... I broke down black and white ... And truthfully I was immersed in gray emotions of defeat on and off. But today balance has returned and so has glorious color.  Ironically my last post is a photo of the very place I sit now- I did not know the first day it was an internet cafe!!

I have taken away so much from this week!  Tomorrow I am off to the country of Cyprus. Oeuvre from Switzerland-

Along the Edges

Huckleberry Trail, Blacksburg, VA- Jan 11, 2011

A River of Stones- a 30 day challenge in observation

So today was a day for interior work- again. (Except for my walk)

 

Things like going through the Christmas cards to cull address- SO you can organize your contact list -SO you can get the needed peoples addresses to your daughter for the wedding invitee list. 

A day to get the soy sauce out of your new jeans by doing some laundry.

A day when you ponder if you should go out and by the next size down in those very jeans cuz you are feeling lighter. (the thought of a store kills that idea).

A day where you turn on Pandora Radio but forget to turn on the speakers for two hours. 

A day when you are organizing your two calendars and realize you missed a get together on Sunday.  

A day where you try to figure out how to work your new phone - so it does not keep turning off when you are trying to take photos during your walk.

A day when you get your blog post done before dinner. 

That is a good day. 

Imaginary Mountains

Far

A mind wanders-

When my eyes are allowed to see 

 

A River of Stones - A 30 day challenge in observation

 

   

Huckleberry Trail, Blacksburg, VA - Jan 8, 2011

My imagination takes a ride-to the sky above a mountain range 

 

 

Transitional Spaces

Virginia Tech Campus, Blacksburg VA- Dec 26, 2010

Weather Warnings

Tv Room, Blacksburg, VA-Dec 15. 2010  

Sigh

An Easy Piece

Historic Smithfield Plantation Blackburg,VA- Dec 4, 2010

From grey flannel skies

Sifting snow softly hisses

Announcing winter

I would like to thank SD for the lovely words  that accompany my photo-   SO ...Thank you to my ambulance driving mother of four, grandmother to one, cooking diva, and quilting friend to all the Easy Piecers/Geezers.  Ms SD please send me more!!

16 Days Later

Huckleberry Trail, Blacksburg VA- Dec 5 2010on

or 

Walking with Autumn

Reprise

Not in Nashville

Backyard Garden, Blacksburg, VA- Dec 4, 2010

I was thinking about going visit my son and his wife in Nashville.

They were playing tonight

But I chickened out and stayed home.

Here is a link to my son and his wife's new CD.

You Knew Me When