At The Museum: The DeYoung... Fruit Still Life, By Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick

 "Fruit Still Life

By Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick

DeYoung Museum

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco, California

May 5th, 2009

"Great art picks up where nature ends."

~Marc Chagall

As we head into the last couple weeks of summer, this photo reminded me of how much I enjoy a big bowl of summer fruits! That is one more of my favorite ways to transition the seasons, by arranging a bowl of the best of summer and autumn fruits and veggies, photographing it, and then making something really delicious and creative with it. That is how I invented my famous Pear and Havarti sandwich that I enjoy every Thanksgiving for lunch. Maybe it's time to see what yummy organic deliciousness is available this week!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #71: Weather

"Some people like snow, I find it the unnecessary freezing of water."

-Carl Reiner







EMPS #71: WEATHER. NOW CLOSED!
Your photography assignment this time around is an easy one , simply show me the weather in your neck of the woods as it looks this week! NO ARCHIVED photos for the main assignment, but you can use the archived ones for the Extra Credit part of the assignment. You see, I want to see what the rest of the country looks like as we begin 2010! So, show me the WEATHER!

Extra Credit: Show me an archived photo of your favorite weather conditions.

**PLEASE READ**
This photo shoot assignment closes next Sunday evening at 9:00 PM ET. Please submit your entry by that day and time by getting your photo, uploading it to your blog, journal or website, and then comeback here with the direct link back to it. Please remember the link you leave must go back to an entry which is specific to this week's photo shoot assignment. A general link to your site will not be added to the Linking List. Also, please include a link back here in your entry, so other folks can find the assignment and play along with us.

Linking List for EMPS#70: My 2009 Gallery 12/28/09

NOW CLOSED!

1. JRC

2. Sherrie

3. Fredamans

4. Jama

5. Suzanne

6. Duane

7. Carly (Yep, I played too!)

8. Greg

9. Mike

10 Karen (Here) and (Here)

I enjoyed all your photos very much! Thank you for your participation in 2009! Well done! See you next Monday with an all new assignment!

-Carly

So Long 2009... And The Horse You Rode In ON!

From For Ellipsis

"An optimist stays up till midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old one leaves."


-Bill Vaughn



Well, didn't 2009 just suck rocks? The death of some of my favorite celebrities, a near economic depression, both nationally and in our own home... LOL... I haven't hated a year so much since 1995, the year that brought me Epstein-Barr and the death of my father. I still miss my dad. I would have loved to know what he thought about Sarah Palin. Knowing my dad, he would have been beside himself for the entirety of the Bush Administration. LOL. And when gas approached nearly $5.00 a gallon, well, let's just say I could hear him turning over in his grave! LOL. Oh my, but Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving, and I know he an I would have shared a laugh or two at her expense. Yea, I come by my sense of humor honestly, I got it from my Dad. Thanks for that Dad!



:)



It's up to you if you believe we start the new decade this year or next, as for me, I think I am going to start things now. I am officially letting go of the "AUGHTS." Here's to the "EENS."


-Carly

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #70: Your 2009 Gallery

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you are forced to."

-Bill Vaughn










EMPS #70: YOUR 2009 GALLERY. NOW CLOSED!
New Year's is upon us, so, let's take a look back at what we all did this last year, as far as our photography went. This week's photo shoot assignment is to create a gallery of your best photography from 2009. Best in this case doesn't necessarily mean the photos you thought were perfect, best can also mean the ones you simply enjoyed taking the most. How you choose the photos for your gallery is completely up to you. You can choose a special gallery, such as florals, or landscapes, or maybe you will choose to highlight your best portraits. It's all up to you, but the photos you choose MUST be from 2009, and of course, your photos can be previously published.

EXTRA CREDIT: Caption the photos you choose for your gallery.

**PLEASE READ**
As always, this photo shoot assignment closes next Sunday evening at 9:00 PM ET. Please try to submit your entry for this assignment by that time, because I close the comment thread promptly at that time. Please submit your entry by getting your photo, posting it to your blog, journal or website, and then comeback here with the direct link back to it. REMEMBER the link you leave must go back to an entry which is specific to this week's photo shoot assignment, a general link to your site will not do, and NO HYPERLINKS ARE ACCEPTED! Also, I would appreciate it if you would link back to the assignment so other folks can find us, and participate as well!

Linking List for EMPS #69: Holiday Music 12/21/09

NOW CLOSED!

1. Suzanne

2. Liz

3. Carly... Yep, I participated also!

4. Karen

Thanks so much for all your participation in the Monday Photo Shoot this year, your support of this project has been appreciated more then you know! I am looking forward to seeing all your photography in 2010! You are awesome photographers, and you are only getting better!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

-Carly

Remember, the return of the Round Robin Challenges is this coming Saturday! Our first challenge of the New Year will be... "Roots."

How Did We Get Here?

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."

- William Shakespeare

It's winter. And for some reason winter seems to bring the blues, even if the sun is shining everyday. I have been a little blue lately, even as we have been experiencing the record setting warmth here in the Bay Area. Why? Good question. I am not sure why. I have some a couple ideas though. It could be that Inauguration Day can't come soon enough for me. I am still going to sleep every night grinding my teeth in anger at what Bush has done to America, and the insidious way he is trying to rewrite history. But that isn't the only thing on my mind, and this entry isn't about him.

Something happened here in the Bay Area a couple weeks ago, that I am not sure has gotten the nationwide attention it probably should have. I touched on it a few entries back. A young man named, Oscar Grant, was on his way home from San Francisco in the wee hours of January 1st, when a fight broke out between two groups of young men while riding BART. The fight was responded to by BART police, who broke up the fighting, then proceeded to arrest the men accordingly. The next events are somewhat mysterious and tragic. During the process of arrest, Oscar Grant was shot in the back, and killed, by a BART police officer, Johannes Mehserle.

There have been many, many amateur videos of the shooting playing on every news channel since the beginning of January. Taken, of course, from different perspectives around the BART station where the incident occurred. They show what happened from different angles, and different time frames. Oscar Grant was laying face down on the platform, with his hands behind his back, and another BART police officer bending down next to him. He was well restrained and not resisting arrest. But in one of the clearest videos, you could see clearly that Officer Mehserle pulled out his gun, pointed it at Oscar Grant, and pulled the trigger. Oscar Grant died a few hours later.

What happened? Why did Officer Mehserle pull the trigger? Did he snap? Did he make a mistake? Or was it a case of cold blooded murder? The videos don't tell you his side of the story. But make no mistake. There was one. We just have to get to it. The video is strong evidence against him. It was unthinkable. After I viewed it I immediately felt angry and sick that something like that had happened. I was just as outraged as everyone else in the Bay Area as the investigation seemed to drag along, with very few answers being offered. BART did not handle things well. Not well at all. And the family and friends have had to endure the pain of losing a son, boyfriend, friend, father, at the age of 22. What a way to begin 2009!

Mr. Mesherle was arrested a couple days ago in Zephyr Cove Nevada. The police knew where to find him, and there is no indication he tried to run. In fact, he went with the arresting officers peacefully. The evening news showed a clip the his extradition hearing, and I had expected to see a monster walk into the courtroom, based on what I had seen for myself through the videos on the news, but the young man who walked into that courtroom was anything but a monster. He was shackled, and visibly shaken. He stood tall, but had a child like innocence to him. He had a look on his face, which I believe was genuine. It seemed to say, how did I get here? What happened? I don't understand. Mr. Mesherle is just 27, making him just 5 years older then the man he shot.

No one understands the death of a 22 year old. No matter how it happens. No one understands the cowardly act of shooting a person in the back. No matter why. No one understands murder. Justice is very often misunderstood. How to give it and how to achieve it. Mr. Mesherle will be in an Oakland courtroom later today to face charges of murder. Time will tell to what degree of murder it will be. Some things are certain at this point. An unlawful killing took place at the hands of Mr. Mesherle. Two tragedies took place that night. Two families have lost a son in their 20's and every ones life is a little different right now. How this will play out is anybodies guess, because so far only one side of the story is apparent. I want to know more.

Why did he pull his weapon on an unarmed, restrained man? There is an answer to that question, but for the life of me I can't think of what it might be. In the meantime there is grief all around. Two peaceful protests regarding this case, have been turned upside down by rioting, resulting in multiple businesses being vandalized by splinter groups of the original peaceful protest planners. How damaging businesses that have nothing to do with the case completely escapes me. But there are opportunists everywhere I suppose. All I know is that the actions of those involved in the rioting amounts to an injustice, which is strange, because isn't that what the peaceful protest is pleading for? Justice? But I wonder, considering what's happened, can there be justice at this point?

Oscar Grant's life is over. Mr. Mesherle is facing years, maybe more like decades in prison if convicted. Can he get a fair trial under the circumstances? Are there 12 people out there right now who haven't seen the video for themselves? What happened? Why? My heart goes out to the family of Oscar Grant, and to the parents of Mr. Mesherle, who woke up this morning to a bomb threat. Why hurt his parents because of his actions? It is all so sad. No matter what, life will be forced to go on, and we may never know what happened, or why Oscar Grant had to die.

:( {{{WEEP}}}

ABC 7 Video Page (Several videos of different aspects of the case are available)

-Carly
"In Janaury"
San Francisco, California

Happy New Year 2009!

"We will open the book. It's pages are blank. We are going to put words on the pages ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and it's first chapter is New Year's Day!"

-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

It's finally here... 2009! I am ready for the New Year, and all the wonderful opportunities waiting for me. People, places, things, it's all fresh and new, and I am ready to take it on! How about you? Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to in the coming year? Tell me what you think. Will 2009 be better then 2008? Do you have big plans in terms of how you will face the coming year? If you feel like sharing, please do so. I would love to know what you think. Look into your crystal ball, and tell what the New Year will be like. Good, Bad, or Otherwise.

From Our House To Yours... HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love, Carly, Alan, Hendrix & Dylan

Happy New Year 2009
San Francisco, California
December, 2008
Early Evening