Who doesn’t love Natalie the Explorer’s shining smile and glorious posts about Toronto? Moreover, she has lots of love for everyone and their challenges. She just posted on my Photographing Public Art Challenge, sharing her murals for all to see. I wish I could do that and write one post a week that had something for everyone. I can’t. I look forward to this one because I can reach out to many challenges that I just missed.
First – Arizona Weather!
Brought to you by Hammad’s Weekend Skies
On the way home from our Anniversary lunch in Cottonwood, AZ, I snapped these pictures as we drove into and out of the monsoon.
This was the first hard rain we experienced and had we stayed home, we would not have experienced it. It happened about thirty miles from us in Dewey-Humbolt, AZ. The monsoons pinpoint and pour.
Word of the Year – Curate
“Curate” might not have been the wisest word I could have chosen for this year, but it is a challenge. Here’s what I’ve learned so far about curating.
- A curator’s work is never done. No resting on your laurels if you have them. My laurels are fairly large, so I do a lot of resting on them, and not as much time curating as I should be doing to satisfy the voracious appetite of my WOTY.
- It’s incremental. Vince curated my objects d’art on the patio yesterday A TINY BIT, and moved Miss Froggy to a table. She’s much happier being the center of attention. She wants to talk about her book, so that’s the next heading when I get off my WOTY laurels.
- Curating is always learning. I came home from my trip yesterday and tackled Lightroom Classic. All the keywords I saved on my new photos disappeared when I opened the files in Bridge. So clearly, I have more work to do learning Lightroom.
- Curating means cleaning and throwing away. Have you ever seen a dirty museum? I hope not. Out with the old in with the new – or at least move things around. In the case of the refrigerator throwing out is preferable. The same is true with the morning coffee you thought you would finish as soon as you did something else. If there’s a ring, it’s evaporated. Time to quit drinking coffee for the day. The same is true of a finger covering most of a photo. It’s okay to throw it away.
- I had a few more thoughts yesterday, but someone curated my mind and threw them away.
Musical Entertainment
Each week all summer the Courthouse Square hosts two nights of Concerts in the Park. Some of them are fabulous and some are just a little less than that. Vince and Cindy and I enjoyed this week’s concert. There will be a Blue Grass Festival tonight at 7:00 and tomorrow at 3:00. Here’s a snippet of the the June 23rd concert.
READING THIS WEEK
I have thoroughly enjoyed Trent and Yvette’s Bleak House Challenge this month. I’ve worn Trent out, I think just when they thought the month was ended. You still have five days to make your comments. If you haven’t read the book and you are a voracious reader, no sweat. If you’re like me, you might finish before the deadline with chapter one – which would be a good start. I hope they do another challenge like this next year. I will definitely start earlier and participate more.
This Week’s Challenges
Keeping up with Story Chat, WQW, and PPAC keeps me hopping. But as I meet more and more people, I want to participate in more challenges. This is all the time I’ve had left this week.
#Thursday Doors
I chose to separate two of the doors challenges – one from LAPC, which I did the other day because I’d already contributed to Dan’s for the week. Here are some Cottonwood Doors from our anniversary date.
CBWC – Doors
So many doors this week to choose from. This little courtyard looked dreamy as you looked inside through the contrasting black door.
Thursday Trios
Cee’s Flower of the Day
Featured Challenges
- CBWC Doors and Drawers
- FOTD
- HAMMAD’S WEEKEND SKIES
- NATALIE’S WEEKEND COFFEE SHARE
- #THURSDAY DOORS Dan has really been busy with his new book launch. If you missed it, he has all the posts on his blog. I’ve read several, but here’s one of them.
- THURSDAY TRIOS
Ongoing on Always Write
- July Story Chat, “Not a Proper Job” by another new (to us) author, Philip Cumberland AKA Fenlandphil’s Blog goes live July 5th
- WQW #23 (Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays) – “Summer Colors/Summer Solstice” The only rule is to have at least one quote in your post about the topic. Remember a song can be a quote, too. Then just post a story, poem, or pictures that tie into and respond to your quote or quotes. The last day to post links is Tuesday at 12:00 noon Phoenix time.
- PPAC #52 Jumbled Jars and Other Junk – Anniversary Issue
If only we were having coffee together!
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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