Weekly Photo Challenge: Change
Have you ever tried to?
Change your mind about something or someone?
Change-the only constant of our lives.
Oh, you changed your hair.
“You’ve got to change, baby”
Change trains.
I have a friend who can change the subject on a dime.
Many people don’t enjoy change.
I can change a diaper. Four quarters for a buck. Switch directions in the car when necessary. Change lanes.
But change?
Really truly change. Change my ways. Change my habits. Change my thinking?
Lots of people are worrying about Climate Change.
Subtle change, drastic change.
Here are some suggested change illustrations-
Hot Dog Vendor checks his supply of change.
Architecture changes over time.
The window dresser changes the window.
Waiting for the red light to change.
And you can always count on the weather to change,
the seasons to change-
although sometimes the pace is agonizingly slow.
Thanks to everyone who sent good words for the milestone 1300th post. Now what? Can’t change it up now, so here’s #1301.
This is a sad change- what it looked like about 7 years ago
On the way into school Friday morning. Steeler umbrella, daffodils, new green grass and a Spring rain NOT snow! A change for the better.
What Laura and James Found While Digging in their Garden
It’s gardening season finally. Planting grass seed. Thinking about what vegetables to plant. James and Laura were preparing their garden and found this Old School original Fisher-Price Little People® girl. Wooden head. Wooden body.
I think she got transferred from my son and his wife’s house to my daughter and her husband’s house. Not by a bird but a grandchild. Will have to check and see if the same girl is living in two homes.
Awhile ago I did a post on the various generations of the Little People® I’d come across at the family’s house in Columbus.
No worries about choking hazard when these were manufactured. And here’s the crazy part. I discovered a site that identifies the Little People®.
From what I could determine she’s from late 60s early 70s. On the site she is listed as Occupation: Girl.
I think they are a match!
Here are the three generations from the October 2011 post
Need an Ohio Spider ID
How do you feel about spiders?
Found under the kids’ sandbox when cleaned out on Sunday. Not sure if it is a biting spider or not. I had no idea there were so many types of spiders in the world.
Looked at some photos online but started to feel confused. Hope someone can tell what kind of a spider he is and if we should worry he is making his home underneath the sandbox.
Anyone have a clue?
I remember reading the kids a book when they were little -Be Nice To Spiders.
Longaberger Baskets Home Office Guest Blog
Laura drove past the home office of longaberger ( click for building specs)
Longaberger Baskets in Newark Ohio
Thanks for the shot today Laura! (taken March 25th )
I have to go there one of these days soon.
This basket shaped building was listed in the book of Ohio Oddities and you can tour the building but if you have a large group,call first.
Weekly Photo Challenge: A Day in My Life
The challenge came out Friday but this day is Saturday night til Sunday night- Easter! Not an ordinary day.
Puppeteer, Prometheus, Pizza and Pencils
Somewhere I read that alliteration should be avoided.
A rule somewhere. For writing or blogging but I can’t find the source with the rule about not using it, so here is the puppeteer on a break.
The kid on the scooter is looking at the puppeteer as if to ask what time is the next show? Central Park.
Prometheus at Rockefeller Center , Bringing Man the Gift of Fire.
A slice of Pizza on Bleecker Street and Seventh Avenue

And my friend R alerted me – March 30th is National Pencil Day. The date the patent for the pencil with the eraser on the end was granted in the year 1858.
Thank you Hymen Lipman!
I gathered up what pencils I could find and added the new box of Cedar Pointes I had in my computer bag. I love to write in pencil on a yellow legal pad. I’ve never liked mechanical pencils although I know some who swear by them. On March 30th we’re to write with a pencil but that will make blogging a challenge.
Five facts about pencils excerpted from this site
- A single wooden pencil can write 45,000 words
- A single wooden pencil or draw a line that is 35 miles long.
- Pencils can write under water.
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- John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 pencils a day. His novel East of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write.
- Henry David Thoreau penciled Walden Pond. After all, his father was a pencil manufacturer
- The last time I blogged about pencils was two years ago New Years when Anna sharpened every pencil in the house
NYC Afternoon
Corey is filming his cousin Michael and his brother Justin is resting up for his ride. Watched this effort for awhile. They used to skateboard. I talked to them and asked if I could put them on the blog.
And now it is Justin’s turn
E Rossi Co doesn’t have any pictures of the new pope yet, but are expecting delivery soon.
Seems everyone is on some sort of device.
The hair color (above) matches the shoes on the man below!
And a Fiat 500 but not sure what year? Anyone??
Bleecker Street West Village
On a cell phone while making a delivery.
Good thing it isn’t the Sunday Times
Found Shopping List
Sunday afternoon I drove across the Monongahela River to the Waterfront at Homestead, PA and did a little grocery shopping.
When I wheeled my cart to load the car, I saw this little list on the pavement of the parking lot.
I used to photograph found lists, little wrinkled slips of paper, write poems about them. Some lists abandoned in a cart- seemed like poems when I found them.
I’d think about the people who wrote them. Sometimes they’d written the oddest mix of items.
I have a friend who keeps a magnetized shopping list pad on her fridge and when she uses something up, she writes it down immediately so she can replenish the larder. I’m not that disciplined. I’ve written a list and then left it at home but it can help when trying to remember what I’d written down.
There are even tablets of preprinted lists and you just check the boxes of what you need to get at the store. That’s not my style of list, either. When I entertain I’m more likely to write a menu AND a shopping list. Cross things off as I put them in the cart.
What is your “list style”?
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime
Lunchtime lately has been from the students’ cooking at the Carrick Cafe. You’ll see a couple of orders in takeout boxes and containers below. I thought this week’s challenge a fun one to create.
WordPress is hoping for some “offbeat interpretations, mouthwatering photos”. The photos are supposed to be taken with a phone. I got that about half right. Once I started searching I had to just stop as there were too too many images of meals consumed at lunchtime!
I think of lunchtime as a short time, dictated by bells. Here is a lunchtime medley from the archives. Some shots I probably would not have blogged before.
And from the online etymology dictionary
lunch (n.) “mid-day repast,” 1786, shortened form of luncheon (q.v.). The verb meaning “to take to lunch” (said to be from the noun) also is attested from 1786:
But as late as 1817 the only definition of lunch in Webster’s is “a large piece of food.” OED says in 1820s the word “was regarded either as a vulgarism, or as a fashionable affectation.” Related: Lunched; lunching. Lunch money is attested from 1868; lunch-time (n.) is from 1821; lunch hour is from 1840. Slang phrase out to lunch ”insane, stupid, clueless” first recorded 1955, on notion of being “not there.” Old English had nonmete ”afternoon meal,” literally “noon-mea
The Deli Counter at La Groceria Italiana (shot on Friday March the 15th with an iPhone)
Fish Tacos with a fresh lime
Ohio State Fair Food Booth
Star Shaped Peanut Butter and Jelly onWhole Wheat Columbus Ohio
Food Truck Festival Columbus
Steak Salad at Silky’s in Sharpsburg PA
Another shot at the Food Truck Festival
Extra Pickles
Ahhh, Onion Rings
New York City Hot Dog Carts
Blackened Catfish, Rice and Beans and Cornbread Lunch from the Carrick Cafe
Maura has a lunchtime picnic at Grandma’s House
Lunch at the Museum of Modern Art New York City
Hmmmmm What’s for lunch? says Mar
Soup and Sandwich in Stamford , Connecticut
A Slice of Pizza
Thelma’s for lunch in Roanoke Virginia
Lined up for Fries at the Potato Patch, Kennywood
Lunchtime on Fellow Bloggers Blogs
I think Francine in Retirement had a wonderful offbeat interpretation of the zoo animals enjoying their various lunches! (click here)
and Angeline M shows the pans behind a local taqueria in her post
See some greens on Chronicles of Illusions
and after Kayaking around Manhattan check out Wind Against Current
Figments of a Dutchess or check out Falafel in Switzerland
Patricia pretty salad lunches while playing WWF
and a few more
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Jinan Daily Photo
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Ese’s Voice
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime – Joy and Woe
- photo-challenge-lunchtime | Flickr Comments
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Beijing Daily Photo 2
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | patriciaddrury
- Weekly Photo Challange: Lunchtime | allnuttadventures
- Weekly Photo Challenge (Not)Phoneography : Lunchtime | bambangpriantono
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | So where’s the snow?
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Lunchtime | Canoe Communications
- Lunch | wingrish
- Take Your Lunch | bukaningrat ™
- Baked potato | Philosophy & Photography
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Bams’ Blog
- Who is Bzebza | Philosophy & Photography
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | The Eager Traveller
- Harvest Time | Mother Russia
- Weekly Photo Challenge : Lunch Time | Moments In Your Life
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Drops of Ink
- Lisa on the Phone at the BBQ Shack. | Luddy’s Lens
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | The Eclectic Eccentric Shopaholic
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | MixerUpper.com
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | cupcaketravels
- New Camera Fun with Daffodils
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Lunchtime « LargeSelf
- Weekly Photo Challenge : Lunchtime | Simply Me
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime | Irregular Ventilator
- The Good Salad: “Lunchtime” Weekly Photo Challenge | steph’s scribe
- Weekly Photo Challenge – Lunchtime | Chittle Chattle
Miniature Sprinkles Cupcake and Clementine Scene
Once again inspired by Christopher Boffoli and his tiny food worlds.
I had taken the cupcakes and fruit into school on the student teacher’s last day. The little HO train people were in my desk.
I thought “food scape” and some students photographed the little people shoveling in the icing. But I thought it might look like a food museum and there were falling sprinkles to be mindful of so
the little hand-painted mom picked up her baby out of the stroller and held it close. Maybe she is waiting for transportation.
Night on Bryant Street- Italian(2), Belgium, Japanese, Thai, a PayPhone, the Laundromat, a Market and a Bus
Monday night when we drove through the neighborhood in the rain, none of the restaurants were open except for Smiling Banana Leaf. (Thai).
Joseph Tambellini’s is the first exterior I photographed and you should taste the delicious meatballs.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Neighborhood
Phoneography special. The weekly photo challenge I have been talking about it for days. Unable to do it for a variety of reasons. Out of town. Too dark. Many people shoot with their phones. All day, everyday. Don’t think much of it, the photos sit and take up space. They have them in the phone and that’s about it.
This is just a snippet.
Tonight Steve drove us over to Shadyside for 1/2 price burger night at Shady Grove. I’ve added some shots around town I already had in the phone. This is not an attractive time of year to showcase where I live. If you want to see Pittsburgh at it’s best you can check out Francine in Retirement of Frizz in Germany. I take photos of Pittsburgh frequently. This is a collection of the everyday. The Historical Marker is where musician Billy Eckstine lived in my neighborhood.
The snowy park is the neighborhood I live in Highland Park. There are 80 neighborhoods in our city. The edges of neighborhoods are where I drive through everyday to school and across the bridge, over the Monongahela. I’ve thrown in a few you’ve seen before just to round out the gallery.
Last Wednesday’s view of the Highland Park Entrance. The second one is what my driveway looked like! It’s all gone now.
Music and Chocolate Cake in Zagreb, Croatia
So I got home from my weekend in Ohio, Sunday night with no chance to photograph the neighborhood for the weekly photo challenge as it was dark outside. Changing the clocks didn’t help me with enough light by the time I pulled in the driveway
-but in my inbox I found a message from my son Matthew who lives in Zagreb, Croatia (9 years already!)
The subject of his email: Guest blog
The dilemma of what to post? SOLVED!
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Dear Ma, Yesterday I spent the evening with the Kaplowitz family. My dear friend Joe Kaplowitz is pretty much the only American I know over here and he invited me over for an American-style chocolate cake. Not only is he a brilliant jazz musician but he is quite an accomplished baker to boot! His beautiful wife Lela is a marvelous singer and they recently came out with a big-band album of original compositions called With Every Breath that you can hear (and buy!) here After enjoying a generously-sized hunk of cake chased by a glass of milk, Joe, Lela, their daughter Lucija and I played a cut-throat game of Name That Tune. Lucija is also a budding musician, so as you might imagine the competition was pretty stiff. Then we headed to the parlor for a concert. Joe and Lucija, who plays the violin, teamed up for a set of traditional Croatian melodies played over some soulful blues piano. Perhaps I was witnessing the concept for the next album being born. Joe’s cake was so tasty that I plan to go back over tomorrow for another sliver. In keeping with the spirit of the blog, will get the recipe tomorrow and send it to you! Love, Matthew p.s. Here is the recipe, just in from Zagreb this morning4 Fireplaces at the Red Light on Fifth Ave and Kirkpatrick Street
Taken with the iPhone. Through my dirty windshield. I was at the end of Birmingham Bridge ready to go up the hill onto Kirkpatrick Street to Centre.
Not ideal conditions but there were those four fireplace openings staring at me as I sat and watched the cars come down Kirkpatrick Street.
Different from my daily route, it was my old route from last year’s school but I’d gotten my hair cut on Carson Street and was headed home.
You might remember Jurassic Pittsburgh from April 2012 if you ‘ve been following for awhile. I took that shot of the dinosaur-like demolition machine on the way to my former school. Added it here at the end cause who has time to back and look. But this is the result of the demolition.
Below are the photos from April 2012 that I took on the way to my former school.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details
Thank you for all of your thoughtful comments and emails of sympathy in response to yesterday’s tribute for Theresa.
Sharing your kind, caring words and blessings meant a lot to the whole family at this difficult time. Thank you.
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The Weekly Photo Challenge
The theme this week seemed the most cryptic to me to decipher. I looked at the excellent example by Christopher Martin and read about how to go deeper into the scene. What to do when you are actually photographing. How to go “beyond the obvious”.
I didn’t go out and shoot specifically for the challenge but looked at what I had in my archives and tried to look into the photograph to see a whole new photograph within the image. Showing both photographs seemed the way to go so as to compare but I have decided to try to go with the challenge as intended, instead of justifying my edits.
One thing I learned- I photograph the obvious and need to consider the photograph hidden within the one that presents itself. We’ll see how it goes in the weeks to come. Intentional lost in the details photographs instead of edited ones I have already taken. I will look for the picture within the picture as I shoot.
My theme might have ended up being “Crop in the Details” as I try to not crop my images. Once I read about not cropping in an article Henri Cartier-Bresson.
So by looking for the “lost” part of the challenge I definitely “found” some new photographs.
Viewers can judge if the choices I made for the challenge are successful or not.
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Waiting for Spring
The Spring Equinox is March 20 at 7:02 AM. Just THREE weeks to go. I checked the Old Farmer’s Almanac for the official word.
In another 5 weeks, it’ll look like this in our part of the country….I have to keep it in mind.
Blossoms and green grass, bulbs shooting up through the earth. The RedBud will bloom.
Three weeks ’til Official Spring. This photo was taken two years ago the first week of April.
March is Friday. I think I have it calculated right.
Old State Road in Columbus on the way home. (I pulled over!)
Raggedy Duo in Public Domain But Does Anyone Play With Them Nowadays?
Never used nowadays lately but had to look it up to be sure I spelled it correctly.
While in Ohio this past weekend, I was helping sort through some toys in the playroom. Matchbox cars here, a duffel bag of puppets, strollers and baby dolls and a whole tub of action figures like Batman and Star Wars light sabers. A box of wooden blocks.
The grandchildren are growing up and many of the younger toys aren’t being played with and room needs to be made for new ventures.
These Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls were gifts from Great Aunt Bobbie when Anna(9) was born. They looked exactly the same way they have smiled at me for all these years. No change in expression. Just grinning. They looked almost brand new.
I took them upstairs and set them up in my father’s old oak rocker which is now in Mark’s office. They didn’t object to being photographed. I started thinking about rag dolls and how they aren’t trendy and I wondered if people are still buying them. These are lovingly handmade in Kansas City and I think of them as classics. Nostalgia sets in. (more…)
Studio 35- Oldest Independent Cinema & Drafthouse, Hosts Free Oscars Event in Clintonville
On my way to Laura and James’ house, I saw this cool theatre, Studio 35, and read the marquee. Pulled over to the curb and got out the camera. Thought it sounded like a fun evening. Took the shot from the car and the day was a gray one.
This theatre looks l like the ones I knew growing up. No theatre in Pittsburgh serves beer as far as I know.
My DIL was teasing about my getting home to watch the Oscars Sunday night, live stream on a computer as I have no TV that gets any channels. It is always fun to see the best and worst dressed though. A lot of hype in the media. But this image evokes nostalgia for me. One of these visits to Columbus I am going to have to go watch a movie here.
BUCKEYES Reflection- Guest Blog
My son Mark sent this to me from his phone today. He was with Anna at an Invitational Swim Meet, Ohio State University - The Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion to be exact. The text he had written to me with the photo was:
Photo Challenge Reflection.
No matter that the Weekly Photo Challenge for Reflection was the beginning of December. I thought it was fun to receive the photo he took with the accompanying words. He saw that and thought of the Photo Challenge Reflection. And he thought of the blog. It was nice to receive and so I’m sharing it you.
Thanks Mark. (more…)
Weekly Photo Challenge: Forward
Forward on the soccer team? Forward as in pushy, aggressive?
I’m thinking FORWARD motion cause that is what I came up with as I skimmed through my photos.
The Weekly Photo Challenge seems like a real challenge to me this week. Guess I am taking the word Forward, literally. The sensation of moving up, plowing ahead, going forward. Here are the photos I chose for the theme FORWARD. (I like to think a bit of blur illustrates the forward motion! HA!)
Trying the new option, well new to me…..click to see the photos. Let me know if it works. (more…)
Night at the Museum for Oh Snap!
The Carnegie Museum of Art had a wild evening featuring the Oh Snap! Project where museum goers are invited to respond to one of the 13 photographs recently acquired by the museum- ”a collaborative project”
and the place was packed when I arrived.
When I came into the crowd I asked a nice couple, what they were in line for and they responded, “Drinks!”
Ahhh.
I went drinkless into the gallery where the thirteen photographs were hung. Surrounding each photograph were several selections from the submissions of photographs in response to the Museum’s 13. (Oh Snap! Project explained here if you are interested in submitting your photo inspired by one of the museum’s) Everyone please consume their snacks and beverages prior to entering the gallery with the photographs on the wall.
No problem for me but others had to wait.
The gallery a bit crowded to savor and digest all the photos on the wall which is often the case with openings, receptions and events. Definitely planning a return trip to take it all in. I saw photographers I knew milling about, checking it all out. It was a vibrant scene. Abuzz. A green screen the backdrop for antics and people with props as in a photo booth. Having a blast being silly. (I remembered the Photo Booth Laura and James had at their wedding, what fun for them to pore over the images of the guests)
Then I headed to the Hall of Sculpture and I chatted with one of the photographers with a Canon on a tripod, capturing the Light Writing with the LED Hula Hoops and various swords, necklaces, and eyeglasses that glowed, sparkled and flashed. It was cool being in the Hall of Sculpture with the lights out. Definitely a Night at the Museum I told her how I worked with the hs students and we’ve done light writing in the former darkroom. How the kids love doing it and the results. We talked settings and equipment a bit and I watched the hula hoopers. The admission? FREE!
When I left, I captured the scene from the bottom of the Sculpture Garden stone stairs. You can see how the new project was well attended.
The goal is to “spark a creative response” and I would say that goal is well on it’s way to being accomplished!
If your photograph is chosen, you get a free pass for admission.

















































































































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