Round Robin Challenge: Before And After

"Think about the photo before and after, never during. The secret is to take your time. You mustn't go too fast. The subject must forget about you. Then, however, you must be very quick."

~Henri Cartier-Bresson

RRC: Before and After

See that cutie above? That's my Dylan. You might say... we picked each other out. LOL. The day we met, he was sad, having just been left behind when his mother was hit by a car, and I was sad to, having just lost my cat Elvis just a few weeks earlier. I think we connected through our shared grief. Elvis was the last kitten in his mother's litter, so when she died he needed to know he wasn't alone, he needed a mother, and I needed a little boy who needed me. It's love. We are family.

But Before Dylan... Came Hendrix...


He is my boy to, but he and Alan bonded first. Alan is his person. But when he needs a mommy, he comes to me. LOL. They are my two boys! :)

Now, here are the rest of my Before And After subjects...

A Beautiful Butterfly


Potatoes Ready For Planting And The Leaves A Few Weeks Later


Fireworks From 2005...


Dahlias From The Golden Gate Park Dahlia Garden 2012


Okay, that's my contribution for this round. Be sure to go see what everyone else has posted for this challenge! We have some wonderful photographers who participate in the Round Robin Challenges! Just click the link at the top of this post to be redirected to the official Round Robin blog, where you can find the list of participants, and all the information you need to play along!

~Me :)

Shells

"Try to be like the turtle... at ease in your own shell."

~Bill Copeland

Isn't that turtle the cutest little thing? I read somewhere that turtles think about turtles, which makes perfect sense, but I can't help but wonder if they don't also think about butterflies or grass, or the little islands they sometimes rest on. If I were a turtle, I wonder what I would think about? It's easier to realize what I wouldn't think about... like mortality. Politics. Pain. Disappointment. Spiders crawling across my leg in the middle of the night. LOL.

Some species have all the luck! LOL.

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Great Southern White

Great Southern White ( Ascia monuste) (Male)


"The flesh in which we live is nothing more than a cocoon, and only when we step out of it do we truly begin to live."

~Nancy Stephan, The Truth About Butterflies: A Memoir

Yesterday, Alan and I went to the new butterfly exhibit at the Conservatory Of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It was lovely to say the least. It opened on May 8th, and will be continuing through the summer and part of autumn. I was able to photograph a nice variety, and for the most part I am happy with the results. It's been several years since I have had a chance to get in practice with a collection of butterflies, so I found I was a bit rusty. That's okay, I will be visiting the conservatory as much as possible. I am looking forward to posting a lot of new photos of my favorite subject... butterflies.

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Seriously, Don't Drink The Water!

"I would not know how I am supposed to feel about many stories if not for the fact that the TV news personalities make sad faces for sad stories and happy faces for happy stories."

~Dave Barry

It's been a strange week for news. The IRS targeting the Tea Party. Yet another sex scandal rocks the Pentagon. The government spying on the Associate Press. And it's only Wednesday! All very interesting mind you, but I think my favorite story so far this week has to be the CIA agent caught in Russia with 2 wigs, a map of Moscow and $130,000 to be used to hire a Russian security officer to act as a spy for the U.S.!

Damn!

2 wigs, a map, and a relatively low amount of money? Hello? 1940 called, they want their spy back!

LOL. Sheesh!

I think this story needs to be made into a movie, with maybe Bradley Cooper in the lead! The whole situation reminds me of the amazingly funny, "Don't Drink The Water" by the great Woody Allen! So it just seems like a natural for him film it. Woody, if you do make the film, all I ask is a minor mention during the end credits. Just something simple like... "As suggested by the weird girl who took my picture on 20th and Lexington, while I filmed Blue Jasmine in San Francisco! I will know who you mean!



;)

Mood: Silly

~Me :)

Life I Love You, All Is Groovy

"When you photograph people in color you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white you photograph their souls."

~Ted Grant

I am pretty sure it's true for bridges also! :)

Mood: Feelin' Groovy



~Me :)

Mr. Blue Sky

"Pink is a beautiful color because it is one of the colors that the sun makes at twilight and in the dawn."

C. Joybell C.

This past Saturday had one of the deepest, loveliest, blues skies I had seen in a long time. And right in the middle of the blue sky, came this arrangement of yellow and pink balloons. Yellow and pink, especially in this hue, is my favorite color combination. I couldn't help but watch them and smile as the floated up... up... up... and away to some far off party, maybe on a distant planet, or perhaps a local car dealership holding a hootenanny. One never really knows about these things.

:)

Mood: Happy

ELO "Mr. Blue Sky"



~Me :)

Happy Mother's Day

"I want to grow a flower for every time someone tells me "*F*** You!" Then I'll go back to the person and pin the flower on their lapel in a gesture of friendship. And while they are looking down on it in astonishment, I'll bunch up my knuckles and punch them in the face."

I hate Mother's Day! Hate It! HATE IT I TELLS YA! LOL. Nah, it's not that bad. I know most folks had normals moms, it just so happens I didn't. My mother was mentally ill by her own choosing, and stayed that way by her own choosing. She will be gone 10 years this fall, which is fine, we have never been closer! LOL. I suppose it isn't fair to complain about how insensitive it can feel to the child of a less than Harriet Nelson mother, to hear about all the ways she should be honored every second Sunday in May. Sigh. Mostly I ignore it, or like I am doing here, I mock it.

It just is what it is.

I don't really think about her that much, but when I do, it's usually the good stuff, like how she would fix me a bowl of Campbell's Vegetable soup when I had a hard day at school. Or how she taught me to care for and love animals. She had a funny laugh, and she gave warm wonderful hugs. She loved funny movies, and Coca~Cola. She bought me pink champagne cakes on my birthday, she loved me, when she was lucid. I wish mental illness didn't carry such a stigma with it. Maybe she wouldn't have fought fixing her problems so hard, had she not been so afraid to admit she had them.

It just is what it is.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)