STITCH LINES...... Ramblings on life as a quilter, stitcher, traveler, photographer, gardener and lover of books, cats and fine chocolate....

Saturday, March 8, 2014

March Personal Photo Challenge

Today is the day for the March Personal Photo Challenge, and this month's theme is words and letters. Once again, I'm late to the party! I didn't think I was going to be able to participate this month as I haven't been taking many photos lately, nor did I feel like braving the wicked cold temps we've been having lately (ha- all winter) to go out and search for inspiration. So, I thought, I'll have to look back through my "archives" and see what I can find, even though words and letters are not something I photograph very often. Then ... my laptop crashed. Don't know what happened, but it seems I need a new hard drive.  So guess who has lost all her photographs from the last number of months (unless they can possibly be retrieved from the old hard drive. Fingers crossed...). All I have for the past 8 months are those that are on my current memory card.. Anyway, enough of my tale of woe...



Here is one photo still on my memory card, taken in Florida in January at a craft market in Jensen Beach. I could not resist the colorful signs. I didn't buy any but the booth owner gave me permission to photograph all I wanted. Are they not the cheeriest most colorful signs you have seen in a while? Lots of words, and interesting letters here...






I decided it might be quicker to try and find a few more photo possibilities around the house this afternoon than spend hours searching through archived photos. But what to photograph?  And then it came to me.. my mother's handwriting. One's handwriting is very personal and I've always thought that both my mother's writing and printing were beautiful. When I look at her penmanship I can actually see her hands in my mind. Hands that worked hard all her life, both as a nurse and a mother, and later a business owner. Hands that played piano, knit countless socks, mitts and sweaters, hands that made bread every week, hands that gardened and did needlework, rubbed backs and wiped away tears. Hands of love. This is an old recipe book of hers in which she wrote all her favourite recipes. You can see this was a popular cake as the page looks "well spattered". I saw her use this book almost daily as a child, in fact when she taught me to cook, this was always the book I looked through for a recipe to try.


After she died, I found this book of hand-printed poetry - I had never seen it before. She wrote poems she liked in it, as a young woman, and later on, she added poems clipped from the newspaper or a magazine. I think her printing is lovely- as a nurse in the 40's and 50's, good penmanship was important in charting and keeping records. Too bad young people today are not made to practice penmanship. Keyboarding skills seem to be more important. Another skill/art that is being lost....

All photos are "as is" straight from the camera. No edits, no tweaking... I use a Pentax K20D.

I am linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge. Why not stop by and see what others have done with this month's challenge?


Peace,
Linda

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace." ~ Buddha

11 comments:

Vee said...

Well I am charmed by your choices...most especially your mother's cursive and print. Such treasures are worth so much. Have you baked that cake lately? (So sorry about the heartbreaking loss of photos. It has happened to me twice and I hope that it never happens again.)

Donna said...

I am so sorry to hear about the computer crash! I had mine crash in spectacular fashion last year, but thankfully I had a backup of all my files. I hope you will consider investing in an external hard drive for file backups! Fingers crossed that the computer techs can recover your files.

I adore that old cursive too. What beautiful penmanship! I think it is a huge mistake for the younger generation to be losing handwriting skills. I also love all of the colorful signs. That was nice of the artist to let you take photos to your heart's content.

Thank you for participating in the challenge, even though you had some adverse circumstances!

Mary said...

Hello Linda - what a great post. Love the story of your dear mother, all those things you said about her hands brought memories of my own mum……….sounds like we each had one of the very best! Loved that you shared her perfect penmanship, and yes, you are so right about the lack of writing skills these days.

Sorry about your computer and losing your pics. RecentIy lost all mine (through my own stupidity no less) of several months that I hadn't backed up during the busyness of the holiday season etc. I spent $140. trying to get them retrieved by a professional (I use a MacBook) but he couldn't get them as they were already fragmented! Hopefully you'll have better luck. Taught me a lesson though, now have a backup system in place - also copy my photos to individual portable hard drives more often! Technology is far too complicated for me - I really just muddle through it all day by day, LOL!

Happy weekend - glad you were able to join Donna's always fun challenge, and of course hope with the warmer weather coming you can get out and take more pics!

Mary

Wendy said...

Linda I loved this post! The subject matter of course was very interesting but I love old diaries, journals etc. Very touching to see your Mom's handwriting...makes me think of the few Handwritten recipes I have of my Mom's. The words on the signs made me smile...one especially stood out to me, even though all the words were not visible, I'm pretty sure I know what it said....It Is What It Is...
Another thing I found quite interesting is the thought of this "instant" age we live in...we get instant photos through digital imaging...no need to develope them...download and "poof" instant photos, no need for the post office...just fire off an email...but then things happen, like crashing computers and all that "instant gratification" is out the "Windows" (sorry, couldn't resist that little pun) and yet you have words written with pencil and paper(how quaint) that outlasts your instant gratification machines and gives lasting comfort and memories. Thanks for the great post!
Sorry about your computer tho, i do hope you at least retrieve your photos.

Pamela Gordon said...

Your computer crashed??? Yikes! That is awful, Linda. I hope you can get your pictures off the hard drive. I back mine up externally once a week, thank goodness. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them all. I enjoyed your photos and the one of the signs is very colourful and fun. The ones of your mother's penmanship are really special. So neat and they speak so much of your mother's life. A treasure. The weather is warming up. Time for a walk soon. KL this weekend or the following one??

podso said...

Wonderful choices. I love the signs--so colorful. And they remind me of a quilt--maybe that's one reason you photographed them! Yes I love the penmanship ones. I wonder in the poetry book if she wasn't printing them (still in a slant). My hand tends to grow weary when writing or copying too much so the handwriting dwindles into sloppiness, Not so your mom's There are precious keepsakes for you..

Cristal @ Dapple Design said...

I enjoyed all your photos today, but that first one with all the colours is my favorite. Lovely and lively. Happy weekend.

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

I hope your photos can be retrieved - what a tragedy.
Your mother had nice penmanship and finding her book of poems and reading through them must have been heart warming.

Sheila said...

Sorry to hear your computer crashed and I do hope you can retrieve your photos . Those signs are so colourful , very cheerful and I think your mothers recipe book is a real treasure and she had beautiful penmanship . Think I will try that recipe ;-)

Lynn Holland said...

What a great read your post is and I love the coloured word signs.
Its my first time at this challenge, everyone is so different. Its great

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

What a treasure you found in that little book of your mother's favorite poetry written in her own hand. Wonderful pictures, so personal thanks for sharing.

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