Weekly Photo Challenge: Order

The Paradox of Order

When we all dream of a place, do we think of all things being streamlined and seamlessly flawless? How dreary would that be? I think the beauty of nature and humanity is that we carry imperfections in every bit of  orderliness. 

Counting Steps, TULUM, 2016

Organize your life around your dreams and watch them come true.

Author Unknown

          We perceive that tidiness and order commensurate to divinity, and rightly so. We expect perfection, yet sometimes, all we may pursue is excellence.

Tivoli Travertine by Meir , Getty Center, 2016

One example of a masterpiece with precision that I am a great fan of, is the Getty Museum, situated atop the busiest freeway of the ubiquitously famous 405 in Los Angeles.

The Getty Museum is designed by Richard Meir, who arduously perfected the use of travertine marble in this architectural beauty. Imported from the quarries of Tivoli in Italy, ( http://www.getty.edu) the marble stone’s fluid design is patterned after the surrounding hills, slopes which is just so precisely accomplished with lots of Beige color and linear order. Stunning is a subtle description for it, absolutely brilliant!

To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.

Confucius

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Road Taken

    Road Warriors 

A respite from the grueling week makes it imperative to decompress the mind and feed the heart, soul and spirit with nature, truth and beauty. These are basic goals for my spouse and myself, to take a zippy ride on the road…

Road to the Falls, 2017

I can’t explain it, except, it’s a liberating experience, driving out from the city to the open- space road. We always have the high expectations of  encountering uniquely magnificent discoveries!

Light , 2017

With a O% precipitation and 30% chance of rain,(http://www.weather.com)Sunday was begging for us to be on the road to Central Coast, and the outcome was astounding!

Four Hogs & A Burro,2017

An enormously, long period of drought in California, dried out hillsides and foliage tawdry and wilted. Today, we witnessed endless miles of velvet green on mountains, seventy shades of insanely beautiful green on the wayside, trees, hills and vales.

Jalama Beach, 2017

Mustard Flowers, Jalama,2017

Jalama Daisies, 2017

The rewards are immeasurable… any road trip is always different from the last time even if it could lead to the same place…As a famous poet once stated:

…the journey ,

Not the destination matters.

~ T.S. Elliot

Red Road Warrior, 2017

Weekly Photo Challenge: Names Empower

Names have power.

~ from “The Lightning Thief”

By Rick Riordan

             Names are hugely important, they designate each person, property, animal, location, and other possible possessions we’d like to uniquely differentiate. Names define personality, character, beauty, substance, and essentially, authenticity.

There are some trips one never forgets, one of them was the time we unveiled the sacred place where Leonardo da Vinci was laid to rest. Amboise may be off the beaten path from the city-lights of Paris, yet in a good way! It’s the wonderfully picturesque town that captures your heart, actually, allured The Maestro to his retirement place…

Maestro, Amboise, France, 2015

Some hefty machines are powerfully designed and identified explicitly to function for significantly long journeys. With such high importance, names give recognition for their purpose .

Extreme Speed, London, 2015

Perfection!, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2016

             My breakfast is just one of the highlights of my morning, and getting it right starts with perfect “over – easy”, sunny side eggs just turned over. And this restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona absolutely got it right !

“Names and attributes must be accommodated to the essence of things, and not the essence to the name since things came first and names came afterwards.”

~ by Galileo Galilei, ” Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Narrow

“Alleyways and half-open doors, seesaws and water slides, spaghetti and electric cord… the world is full of narrow things” ~ Ben Huberman

An inspiring theme from WPC this week invites bloggers, to unravel photos of NARROW 😊

a href=”https://atureaud.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/img_4237-1.jpg”> The Palms, Kaua’i,2016[

      Defining NARROW, means simply revisiting the magnificent  island of Kaua’i … Long, about ninety feet tall palm trees are spread throughout the island. These tropical trees were originally brought here by Polynesians thousands years ago.

Grace and Elegance, Kaua’i, 2016

It’s absolutely a beauty to behold, there’s nothing else taller than these natural foliage trees, since skyscrapers are forbidden in the most ancient island of Hawaii.

Coco on the Coast, Kaua’i , 2016

http://www.to-hawaii.com/kauai/beaches/haena-beach-park.php

Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry on Top

Schmaltzy succulent agave plants and other bulbs give life to the lovely freeway skyline.

THE GARDEN AT THE GETTY

The Artist, Robert Irwin designed the garden at the Getty. http://www.getty.edu/visit/center/gardens.html. I have come to my favorite museum in LA more than four times, and each time, the Garden looks more stunningly beautiful than the last time! It would be so easy to focus on the bougainvillea trellis as the cherry on top  which makes the Garden so attractive, but, actually, every detail, has real beauty of its own.

Red Trellis (Getty Center, 2016)

The artist intended that the landscape would invite visitors to meditate, reflect on walkways toward streams, awaken the senses and appreciate nature. Truth is, every step one takes, wonderment continues to unfold.

Red and Green Lattice (Getty Center, 2016)

I promise, your visit will be as glorious, shall I dare say, really impressive?  Surely, let nature take its course.

http://www.getty.edu/visit/center/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Dance

SHALL WE ALL DANCE?

I shall gladly take this challenge that Ben invites WordPress bloggers to capture “rhythm in movement “.

Shanghai Street Dancing, Shanghai, 2012

Dancing is a beloved preoccupation in most parts of the world ~ an ubiquitous means of expression of emotions, burst of celebration, God-sent abundance, and simply, response to rhythm…

Breezy Blues, Kaua’i, 2015

The Tradewinds in Kaua’i blow from the south and west, making these areas the most drenched and greenest, lushest tropical gardens. Completely stunning, and windy! Palm fronds constantly dance, often, faster than usual, if stormy, and carry hot sticky air in the summer.

Wedding Dance, Kaua’i,2015

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.

~ Terri  Guillemets

Pax de Deux, Kaua’i, 2015

• You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching
• Love like you’ll never be hurt
• Sing like there’s nobody listening
• And live like it’s heaven on earth.     ~ William W. Purkey

Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art

                  The Heart of the Arts

Cheri Lucas Rowland’s challenge for this week is too tempting not to dare. I thought it would be inspiring to capture the heartbeat and intensity of San Francisco ~ with the monochromatic effects that my favorite photographer ~ Ansel Adams  style was so famous for …

The Palace by the Lagoon, SFO, 2010

An idyllic walk by the Bay Area is inevitable…especially when the fog hovers over the waters.

The Bay, The Bridge, SFO, 2010

And don’t , forget… You have to visit the Painted Ladies ! They are a charm… just search for the TransAmerica and you will find them!

TransAm Icon, SFO, 2013

Life is your art. An open , aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes and easy smile is your museum.

~ Ansel Adams

Weekly Photo Challenge: Alphabet

                      PLAN A, B or C

      Michelle W.  offers us a whimsy interlude into basics, the alphabet!  “This week, let the alphabet be your inspiration: find a string of letters…”

 

More than Words…, Mutianyu Great Wall of China, 2012

 
Before we embarked on the long, long,hike up the Great Wall of the Mutianyu trail, I took a  serious view at the landscape and this sign.

I advise capturing photos of signs when you’re traveling ~ one never knows the hidden message behind it…😉

If Plan A didn’t work 

the alphabet has 25 more letters.

~Jake Jenkins 

Comfort & Joy, Montreal,2014

I cannot recall the name of this restaurant, but it was the warmest, brightest, refuge we could find that cold snowy night in Montreal. Rue St. Michel looked gorgeous in silvery/blue, two of us just couldn’t stay long enough to enjoy the show…’tho, these neon alphabet letters look pretty festive, our warm food and hot soup offered us tons of calmness & comfort.

A picture’s worth a thousand words But a single word can make you think of over a thousand pictures in your mind, over a thousand moments, a thousand memories.

~ Rebecca  McNutt, Smog City

Weekly Photo Challenge: Transition

“Eventually, A River Runs Through It”

Jen H. offers bloggers to “share an image that depicts transition “…

Colors of Fall , Multnoma Falls, Oregon, 2015

Our Thanksgiving visit to Oregon this week,  took us on an absolutely stunning tour of  Mother Nature’s wonders.

Cascade, Multnoma Falls, Oregon, 2015

The Mulnoma Falls in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, has an upper Falls which drops to 542 feet, and the lower Falls that has a drop of 69 feet.  Ultimately, the Falls lead to other tributaries that are as beautiful…

Stream, Multnoma Falls, 2015

The cascading waters of the Falls decrease its flow,  and merge into  inlets, a serene creek,  and transitions into a trickle.

Trickle , Multnoma Falls, 2015

 Eventually,  all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

~ Norman McLean “A River Runs Through It and other Stories”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio

    

                  POWER OF THREE

After a most challenging week the world has ever been through last week, we have a wonderful respite with Cheri R.’s invite: “What comes in threes?”

Nereid Monument, The British Museum, 2015

The power of three is an element of Greek mythogy as seen in sculptures, for example, as displayed here at the British Museum.  This is a reconstruction of the  Nereid Monument, c.390 B.C. The monument is actually, a sculptured tomb, built like a temple.

Sea Nymphs, The British Museum, 2015

The three nereids are sea-nymphs, daughters of Nereas, the God of the Sea.  These female sculpted figures draped in soaked linens, are believed to guide the souls to the afterlife…these faceless gray-yellowish characters seem to float above the pedestal in their surrealistic art form. Words do not suffice to describe its beauty,  every visitor gazes enraptured at all three Nereids.

 There is something magical about three you know ~ a trio is tight and nicely economical .

~ Ian Williams