Theme Thursday - Reason

"Reason in man is rather like God in the world."

Theme Thursday takes me back to one of my favorite places in the Valley, the St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Avondale.

St. Thomas, the "Angelic Doctor",  was a medieval Catholic priest of the Dominican order and is considered the Church's greatest theologian and philosopher. He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology.

Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more posts about Reason. (Haha! We did it!)

Theme Thursday – Gone Fishin’

Looks like our friends at Theme Thursday have started their Holiday a little early and hung out the Gone Fishin’ sign. They "otter" know better than that!

This is a photo I took from quite a distance on our hotel balcony on our trip to Monterey. This man was out early one morning. If you look very closely you can see that there are a couple of sea otters floating beside him.

Why don’t you grab a pole and join us?

All Things Being Equal

I’d rather be here right now.

Along the 17 Mile Drive between Monterey and Pebble Beach in California. Taken with my camera phone - unedited and one of my favorite photos of the entire trip even though I had THREE different types of real cameras with me.

Go figure. I guess you could say this camera phone was equal to the task at hand.

Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more takes on "Equal".

Theme Thursday - Brush

There they sat, on the vanity in my aunt's guest room.  The vanity was a beautiful piece of furniture from another time that made me feel like a princess. The mirror, comb and brush were treasured items sitting in a place of honor.  I would sit on the stool and brush my hair for hours talking to myself about all the things that would happen in my life...all the dreams that would come true. The vanity is gone, my aunt is gone, and now I have the brush on my dresser in a place of honor. And sometimes I brush my daughter's hair and tell her all about the things that will happen in her life...all the dreams that will come true.

Theme Thursday - Brown

Just what shade of brown would you call this? I know what I would call it....mushroom brown.

Find other takes on the theme "brown" at Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday - Light

The 50 foot Star Tower along Estrella Parkway was designed as a spiral configuration, resembling the shape of the Milky Way constellation topped off with a rusted steel sail. The tower was built as a tribute to the many cultures that have studied the desert night sky.

The tower twinkles with light at night, and the spiral staircase and viewing platform give an amazing 360-degree view of the city skyline and the night sky. Several star-gazing events have been held at the tower. This is where Magpie and I have unsuccessfully tried to photograph the moon rising above the mountains the past few days. As you can see, the monsoon clouds have rolled in.

This is a Theme Thursday post. Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more thoughts about light.

Theme Thursday - Help

 
Raul & Teresa's has been a popular Mexican restaurant in Avondale since 1968. Over the years the restaurant has grown by bits and pieces to the size it is today. Teresa has sadly passed away and Raul is working at other things, but the restaurant is still family owned. We have family members who have to go here every time they're in town for the Teresa Special.

They seem to be "missing" a letter. Can you help them locate a capital "D" for their sign?

Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday for other takes on the theme "Help".

Theme Thursday - Ball

I know, I know. You are probably sick of seeing fireworks pictures by now. Theme Thursday has rolled around and Magpie and I just can’t get inspired to come up with anything remotely clever for this weeks theme.

So, here is another fireworks picture which I chose because of the “ball” in the center. Also, we had a “ball” at the fireworks show at the Wigwam last weekend. I would have posted a fireworks picture right away, but decided to give you all a break. Instead, I just ended up delaying the inevitable.

Our apologies for a lack of creativity this week! Have a ball viewing other takes on this weeks theme at Theme Thursday.

Theme Thursday - Triangle

A triangle of light spills through this stained glass window.

Our friends at Theme Thursday nearly tripped us up with this one.

Theme Thursday - Camera

Photo by Magpie

This is a photo of an old Bell and Howell 8mm movie camera similar to the one my Dad got shortly before I was born. Because of this there are many home movies taken of me between birth and 5 years old when we stopped using it so much (I'm not sure why). In fact, my relatives joke that they can watch the movies (since transferred to DVD and narrated by my oldest sister and my Mom) and play a drinking game called "There's Tracy".

I don't know what happened to the original camera, but I bought this one on eBay several years ago to add to my camera collection. We also had a projector, and floodlights (yes, they were called floodlights) that mounted on a bar across the camera and were so bright they could rival any of the lights on a movie set.

A little trivia about Bell and Howell:

• It was a Bell & Howell 8mm camera (though not this model) that was used by Abraham Zapruder to capture the famed footage of the assassination of President John F Kennedy.
• Charles H. Percy, Republican senator from Illinois from 1967 to 1985 was chairman of the board between 1949 and 1964.
• Bell and Howell designed the first all metal camera which was introduced in 1912.
• In the early 1900s, its development of equipment addressed the two most important problems plaguing the movie industry at the time: flickering and standardization.
• During World War II, Bell and Howell developed the gun camera used to assess the accuracy of machine guns, the retriflector sight used in B-29 bombers, the flight simulator employed in training pilots, bombardiers, and navigators to use radar, and an adaptation of the Eyemo camera for military purposes.
• In 1951, Bell and Howell was awarded its first Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for technical achievement. Four years later, the 16mm Filmo 70 camera was adapted for Admiral Richard E. Byrd's journey to the South Pole. Other developments included the electric eye camera in 1956 and the first zoom lens to fit 8mm projectors in 1957.

By the way, I don't know if it's polite to ask other photo bloggers about their gear or not. For me, nothing fancy. I use any of three cameras right now : a Nikon D40, a Canon SX20, and a Canon S90.

What about you?
Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday to read more about Cameras.

Theme Thursday - Candy

Politics seem to be invading all aspects of our lives. Now we're even having a "vote" to see which color among the M&Ms is the nation's favorite. Does it really matter?  Who really cares?  We all know the orange ones are the best. :)

Don't miss all the sweet goodness going on at Theme Thursday.

Theme Thursday - White

If white is the absence of color then what is the absence of white?

Theme Thursday - Wrinkles

Wrinkles are a sign of a life well lived....laughing, crying, smiling, frowning, working, playing, or just simply
drying out in the sun....

Please enjoy several different takes on the theme at Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday – Pets

It’s the Millie and Willie Show!

Nancy: This is Millie. Some of you may recognize her as the wearer of a chic nasturtium leaf beret. She came into our lives seven years ago. She was a "Media Pet" which means she was featured on Pets on Parade. My daughter fell in love with her and she came home with us. She was a stray and had soft tissue damage to her front legs and we were told not to exercise her. Nobody told her though and she often runs through the house with her tale tucked to be more aerodynamic and runs a course through the furniture like a greyhound. She pays for it afterward and lays around licking her front legs. She's very pampered and content to lay around all day soaking up attention, but sometimes goes on forays through the backyard remembering something from her long ago past...searching for something she never finds.


Tracy: Willie is the old man of the family. We adopted him when he was 6. Now 16, he barely sees or hears, but can smell a banana from a mile away or has this strange sixth sense that tells him the refrigerator door is open. He used to hate the number “9”. Back when he could still hear, we would say “Number 9, Number 9” and he would start howling. Maybe he’s not a Beatles fan. I don’t know how we figured that out, but it was a cute trick for awhile. Now we mostly see him like this, sleeping. He’ll do a few laps around the house when one of us comes home, but that’s about as much exercise as he can handle anymore. He may be a senior citizen in canine terms, but he’s still our baby.


For those of you who played TT with us last week and tried to guess our mystery feature, here is "who" it reminded me of. These are the Mystics from the animated film "The Dark Crystal" - Magpie

Be sure and visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more Pets Posts!

Theme Thursday - Mystery

So, last Monday Magpie and I went to a local recreational area to play with our cameras. She pointed to  this rock formation and asked me what I thought it looked like. I know my answer, but we’re wondering what YOU see in this mysterious looking rock.

Be sure and visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more takes on "Mystery".

Theme Thursday - Pink

Pink Flamingos

Do you think

All-grown-up flamingos

Ever wish

Their beaks would shrink?

Do you think

Tall standing flamingos

Worry 'bout

Their necks that kink?

Do you think

The fact that flamingo's

knees are ankles

Makes their life stink?

Do you think
Baby boy flamingos

Mind being

Dressed all in pink?

Please enjoy other takes on the theme "pink" at Theme Thursday.

Theme Thursday - Bicycle

I took this photo on a recent trip to Venice Beach, CA. I've been playing around a bit with Lomography in post processing thinking maybe I need to get a Diana camera (or a Diana lens for my DSLR), but I don't know who still develops the film.

Please visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more takes on this week’s theme.

Theme Thursday - Draft

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

(from the song “Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer” as sung by Nat King Cole)
 
Be sure and visit our friends at Theme Thursday for more takes on this week's theme.

Theme Thursday - Lunch

When I posted a picture of my roadrunner back in March (Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?),  Judy at Prescott Area Daily Photo commented that a nice juicy sparrow would be nice. Well....this is life after all and he has to eat "lunch" too. He was none too happy with the paparazzi bothering him while he was dining.

Enjoy other interesting interpretations of Lunch at Theme Thursday.

Theme Thursday - The Box

Once upon a time in the land of hushabye
Around about the wondrous days of yore
I came across a sort of box
Bound up with chains
And locked with locks
And labelled kindly do not touch, its war


Decree was issued round about
All with a flourish and a shout
And a gaily coloured mascot tripping lightly on before
Don't fiddle with this deadly box
Or break the chains
Or pick the locks
And please, don't ever play about with war


Well, the children understood
Children happen to be good
They were just as good around the time of yore
They didn't try to pick the locks,
Or break into that deadly box
They never tried to play about with war


Mummies didnt either
Sisters, aunts, grannies neither
Cause they were quiet and sweet and pretty in those wondrous days of yore
Well, very much the same as now,
Not the ones to blame somehow
For opening up that deadly box of war


But someone did
Someone battered in the lid
And spilled the insides out across the floor
A sort of bouncy, bumpy ball made up of guns and flags
And all the tears and horror and the death that goes with war


It bounced right out
And went bashing all about
And bumping into everything in store.
And what was sad and most unfair
Is that it didn't seem to care
who much it bumped
Or why,
Or what,
Or for


It bumped the children mainly
And I'll tell you this quite plainly
It bumps them every day, and more and more,
And leaves them dead and burned and dying
Thousands of them sick and crying
Cause when it bumps, its really very sore


Now there is a way to stop the ball
It isn't difficult at all
All it takes is wisdom,
I'm absolutely sure that we could get it back into the box
And bind the chains and lock the locks
No one seems to want to save the children any more


Well, that's the way it all appears
Cause its been bouncing round for years and years
In spite of all the wisdom wiz since those wondrous days of yore
And the time they came across the box
Bound up with chains and locked with locks
And labelled kindly do not touch, its war

Kendrew Lascelles
 
 
My all-time favorite performance of this poem was done on Poems, Prayers and Promises by John Denver.
Enjoy other takes on the theme at Theme Thursday.