Do you ever sit over a cup of coffee and go through photographs. I do it all the time when I blog.
This week I’m inspired to combine K.L. Caley’s WritePhoto Challenge using the poetry forms I learned from Tanka Tuesday’s Colleen Chesebro to meet Natalie the Explorer’s for this Weekend Coffee Share.
I think Natalie might enjoy this exploratory trip down an abandoned alley. The picture is far from Prescott, AZ, where the weather has been snowy, cold, and blistery even though temperatures in the 40s and 50s sound mild compared to the extremes in the Midwest and North.
For visually challenged writers, the image shows a cobbled alleyway with green doors located along it.
Mother and I found abandoned buildings at dusk a safe place to sleep. A quiet alley rutted cobblestones hold pain of difficult times sad pillars of stones mark past clandestine meetings behind mossy doors Suffering souls sleep alone on splintered floor boards faint rhymic breathing the drenching rain stopped sometime after I dozed off warm in mum's embrace ©Marsha Ingrao 2023
This Haiga, or observational poetry according to Colleen Chesebro, was inspired not only by the photo of the abandoned alley but by two quotes from which I borrowed a few phrases and words.
The irony for me was that the young person describing the scene felt serene, secure, and warm in a place that most people would avoid or find scary. I get the feeling that he even felt grateful for a place out of the rain and he felt sorry for the poor souls that were less fortunate than he, who were sleeping there as well.
Detroit is a city that really stands out.
It’s been through a very difficult time. There’s been a lot of pain here, and the city, physically, has suffered. You can see it in certain neighborhoods, and there’s buildings downtown that have been abandoned.
-Michael Imperioli
My mother and I took over abandoned buildings to sleep in.
–Mark Webber
No Photos Yet in 2023
This week my camera was silent so I don’t have any compelling photos to share. Even though I went shopping with friends yesterday, I spent time trying on clothes for an upcoming trip instead of taking pictures like I usually do.
Blogging
This week I had fun blogging. I love to curate still, so I worked on getting my new page ready for WQ, Wednesday Quotes for the year. I cleaned up my categories a little, read lots of blogs, and wrote three challenge posts and a couple of poems.
Next Thursday, January 12th, I am excited to host at least two blogger friends and their guests to Prescott for a special meetup starting at 10:00 am. We will be touring Sharlot Hall, then going to lunch, and looking around Prescott for photo opportunities.
“Sharlot Hall Museum is named after its founder, Sharlot Mabridth Hall (1870-1943), who became well-known as a poet, activist, politician, and Arizona’s first female Territorial Historian. She was one of the West’s most remarkable women; as early as 1907, Ms. Hall saw the need to save Arizona’s history and planned to develop a museum. She began to collect both Native American Indian and pioneer material. In 1927, she began restoring the first Territorial Governor’s residence and offices and moved her extensive collection of artifacts and documents opening it as the “Gubernatorial Mansion Museum” in 1928. After her death in 1943, the museum was named in her honor.”
Sharlot Hall Museum Website
If you are in the area and are interested in joining us, please email me at alwayswrite01@gmail.com.
Upcoming and Ongoing on Always Write
- WQ Page NEW CHALLENGE TOPICS FOR 2023
- WQ #1 January 4th: RESOLUTIONS v WORD OF THE YEAR
- WQ #2 January 11: PIQUES INTEREST
- WQ #3 January 18: BELLY LAUGH/WHITE OR GRAY COLOR CHALLENGE ALIGNED WITH SUNDAY STILLS
- WQ #4: January 25: ENVELOPED/WRITER’S CHOICE/DOUBLE DIP CHALLENGES/
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
56 responses to “The Write Photo with a Cuppa”
[…] The Write Photo with a Cuppa – Marsha Ingrao – Always Write […]
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This is such a wonderful entry to #writephoto Marsha. The poem has a beautiful combination of sadness but with light and hope penetrating it. That museum looks like lots of fun. Thank you so much for joining in with the #writephoto challenge and for sharing this fun post with us. KL ❤
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I’m so glad you like it, Kl.
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I really enjoyed your photo and poem Marsha. I hadn’t thought about describing my photos in more detail. Hmmm…I suppose that would be helpful. I almost fell out of my chair when you said no photos. What?! Haha! Just kidding, sometimes it just doesn’t happen. Oh fun, a meet up!!! That museum sounds interesting.
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I think that was one way I mourned Nutter Butter – no energy or enthusiasm to take new pictures. But I was also busy! That changes today. Janet arrives this afternoon.
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Ooo yes! It is so easy to “get lost” while looking at photos. I spend a lot of time looking at photos, sometimes I even go through old photos in my head, weird as that may sound. The photo from Prescott is intriguing. Thank you for sharing.
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I think about certain photos in my head, too. Even photos of others I remember and think about.
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Happy to hear I’m not the only one 😊
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If you were, you’d be rich because no one else could do it.
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The picture & poem are lovely. Happy New Year! Nice meeting you through the Weekend Coffee Share. Karen
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Thanks, Karen. Nice to meet you, too. 🙂
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I am not a coffee drinker but you can usually find me working with a tall glass of iced tea. 😉
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That works for me in the summer, but not in the winter. 🙂 But join me with any beverage of your choice, Pepper! 🙂
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ah yes…alwasy a cuppa coffee at my computer. Enjoy Thursday. I know you will plan the nicest event for our fellow bloggers.
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Thanks, Donna. We will miss you! Wish you were able to come. 🙂
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Me too, laughter, and creative minds would be great for me right now. My dental appt won’t be quite that fun.
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I could make it fun by showing you our dentist’s office. Did you know I used to be a dental assistant as a teen?
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Hahaha. No! You would be great because you have an interesting life, and hopefully you don’t ask questions with hands in the mouth.
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No more like foot in mouth for me. LOL
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hahahaha. Ill bet you were a great teacher…too.
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I loved teaching and was pretty creative with it.
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No doubt.
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This is so sweet Marsha.
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Thanks, Sadje. 🙂
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You’re most welcome
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I’m almost drinking tea so that works for me. Looking forward to Wednesday and whatever we find. Might need something warm at some point if it stays cold, which it looks to do. I like the alley shot.
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That is not my picture, but is the prompt for WritePhoto this week. 🙂 It’s a great shot, but not one that I’ve ever seen.
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Marsha, I would be curious to explore that abandoned alley and ask you to come with me 🙂 I look forward to your update after the bloggers’ meet-up next week. Thank you for sharing your beautiful poem and photo with us at #weekendcoffeeshare.
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Thanks, Natalie. I think that would be an interesting alley to explore, but not after dark or in the rain.
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I do that all the time except I sip tea and look through pictures because I don’t drink coffee anymore. Loved the poem.
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Tea works. Anything warm and wet and cozy.
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What a beautiful heartfelt poem Marsha!❣️
“the drenching rain stopped
sometime after I dozed off
warm in mum’s embrace”
So happy you are having so much fun curating all your photos.
when you’re done, I have plenty here for you to do 🤣
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Hi Marsha, your poems are beautiful and filled with meaning. I don’t see the image, but that didn’t matter.
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I copied it from KL’s post and it posted in a format that I guess WP didn’t recognize. It will be the same for all the Write Photo posts this week, so you’ll probably see it. I’ve fixed it now, so I appreciate you telling me.
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Wow, Marsha thank you so much for mention. For whatever reason, I don’t see the image, or I’ve not looked at the right place. Your senryu poems are stunning and filled with poignant emotions. I love your new blog. Did you switch to the business plan? How is that going? Huge hugs to you, my friend. ❤️
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First of all, thanks for letting me know. It was probably a file that WP didn’t recognize. I saved it as a jpeg, so I hope that helped. Secondly, thanks for the kind words about my poetry. I want to focus more on that – along with images this year. I do love the syllabic poetry types and after pouring over your cheatsheet again, I decided that the senryu was the best type for that photo. Finally, I didn’t switch to a business plan, but I changed themes about a year ago to the Lens Theme. I love it. Finally, a happy, happy new year and many hugs back!
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What a great theme! I’ve seen it before. Are you self hosted? WP has been giving me fits. I figured the block didn’t take the image. Bravo to you for writing more poetry. I love it! ❤️
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I am not self-hosted either. I tried that for about three or four years and it was more expensive and trouble than it was worth. I’ve managed self-hosted blogs for several organizations as well. Some work well, but I didn’t like the WP one that I used. I’m sorry WP has given you fits. Are you self-hosted or a business account?
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No I’m on WP premium. The themes have shrunk to almost nothing. WP wants us to use their FSE full site editing themes which are really plain and ugly. They are hard to set up too! It’s frustrating.
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Oh no again! I’m reading from most recent to first comment! I’m on WP Premium, too. I have not had a problems with it so far except that their chat function doesn’t seem to exist anymore. And if you do chat, the problem continues after the chat.
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Yes. It’s changing quickly and the lovely themes we once had access to have dwindled to almost nothing but these FSE themes. Ugh!
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I looked at them yesterday, and you are right, they are boring. I guess you could start with a blank slate, but that is difficult, too.
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You have to build the FSE themes yourself. I’ll have to take a class. I’ve tried, but they are not easy, nor are they attractive. LOL!
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LOL, they would not be attractive if I tried it. 🙂 I think your site looks beautiful. Some people never change their site and I get tired of the same look, so I have changed many times.
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Me too. I like to change things up. The themes are always an issue.
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I know, I’ve changed many times.
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I just looked Marsha. They retired your theme. If you start to have issues, that’s why. The same thing happened to Charli at Carrot Ranch. Her theme is also retired. 😦
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OH no!!!! How could they? And I love Charli’s, too. Her blog looks like one that was professionally done, and is one of the most organized, easy to use in the blogosphere. That must be frustrating. Are you self-hosted?
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No. I’m on WP.com the premium plan. I’m using the Dara theme which is fine. I just hate that all of our blogs end up looking the same because of the limited themes.
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You have a good point. I think Blogger might be doing a better job of that because they don’t seem to all look the same. I have a Blogger Account for my Tulare County History posts.
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I agree. There are other places to blog from. LOL! They just don’t have the same community.
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That is true. However, I notice that many of Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share links are Blogger links. Fortunately I have the Blogger account that allows me to comment on their blogs without being anonymous. I’m just used to WP because I use it so much more.
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I know what you mean. I’ll stick with WP. I guess I will have to figure out how to create these new themes. I’m just not impressed. LOL!
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My former ones were boring. I like this one because it’s easy for people to pick other posts to read.
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Exactly. It looks great, Marsha. I hope you can keep it for awhile. 🧡
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Thanks, Colleen. 🙂
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