Shutterbugs and photo-lovin’ friends glad to have you join me for The World Through My Lens 03.2023. Today I am sharing my snapshots for the March prompts provided by my blogging buddy Terry at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives. Terry hosts the one-prompt-a-week Sunday Stills monthly photo challenge. For the winter season, I also created my own list of prompts for a winter 2023 photo challenge. Did so in hopes that I would take a little more time to notice the beauty in the world around me.
You can find my last The World Through My Lens post, here, if you missed it. This month, we have had a couple of hiccups in our world that have kept me from focusing on the beauty of the world around me. And I hate that. Our plum trees bloomed and I hardly noticed. The peach tree is starting to bud now. Need to get out there and snap some pictures before all of those blooms blow off with our spring winds.
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WORLD THROUGH MY LENS 03.2023
I had just started taking photos again in January so waited to combine that month with February’s pictures. You can find those here. And you may have seen a few of my photos on Instagram, here. (Are we IG friends??) Then I slipped back into a slump but have tried real hard to finish up my winter 2023 photo challenge in a big way,
WINTER 2023 PHOTO CHALLENGE
I had planned to collect photos for my winter 2023 photo challenge until the first day of spring. But when I came up significantly short, decided nobody would care if I went a few extra days to finish the challenge at the end of the month. Here are the prompts for the challenge.
MY PHOTOS FOR THE WINTER 2023 PHOTO CHALLENGE
Here are all the prompts with just checkmarks for those pictures I have shared in earlier posts.
- Through the window
- Door
- Snuggly: when it is chilly at night or Purrsimmony just isn’t feeling well, she becomes extremely snuggly. Crawls up beside me on the couch, kneads and gently nibbles or sucks on the velour blanket we share.
- Shopping: ran into Walmart for kitty food but had to pass through the women’s clothing, of course, to get there (not). So many cute things. Love the print on this cute spring dress.
- Cozy place: I loved everything about this spa. The sounds, the scents, the coziness of the heated bed and the dim lighting.
- Fancy
- Weather
- Lights: Lucia and Camila were mesmerized by these large globe lights on the grounds of a Japanese restaurant in Santa Fe.
- Twinkle: pretty sure each of my 4 grandchildren has a twinkle in their eyes but Declan has such a spark!!
- Fragrance: these cinnamon rolls and orange roll filled the kitchen with such a spicy-sweet fragrance. I made both the day before Easter. Lucia made a special request for the cinnamon rolls which she calls ‘brown bread.’
- Pattern
- Workout
- Shadow: not sure if this is a shadow or reflection or both. The curly design on the wall of our neighbor’s house is the shadow of a wrought iron piece that hangs over my buffet in the dining room. The round shapes on the right side of the photo are distorted reflections of the dining room windows onto the neighbor’s house. Weird.
- Something red
- Frosty: everything about Santa Fe was frosty but this beautiful frozen waterfall said it all.
- Relaxation: Purrsnickitty settles into her bed most evenings for a few hours of relaxation before the day is done.
- Toasty: PC built one heck of a fire…so toasty, we had to open the door to cool off.
- Movement: Cami is in almost constant movement. Declan is, too, these days. Lauren and Francisco have registered the girls for gymnastics. I think they will be naturals. Check out Cam mid-stride at Jump World.
- Something I’m Working On
- Still: can’t believe how still Purrsimmony was laying so the girls could snuggle her.
- Love: in our family, you can’t pass a snapdragon without making it say, “I love you.”
- Sweet: a brand new, tiny Dunkin Doughnuts has opened within walking distance of our house so we ‘tried it out’ the last Friday that Paul had off. I debated between getting an old fashioned dunkin’ doughnut and a toasted coconut. Went with the coconut which was a whopping 21 Weight Watchers points – my whole day’s worth – and a whole lot of sweetness.
- Handmade: do scrapbook pages count as handmade? This was my last 2-page spread for our summer 2021 trip to South Padre Island. My sister and I always scrap together while Facetiming and joke that no one is probably ever going to look at our scrapbooks. But we have fun doing them.
- Savory
- Winter clothes: snowsuit, boots, hat, gloves, and a full layer of everything underneath that.
- Feminine
- Boots: trying on Gabba’s boots.
- Candlelight: I have been lighting this candle on Wednesdays when I write. Pumpkin Thyme from The Country Corn Crib. Might be a more appropriate fragrance for writing in fall but it works in spring, too!!
- Fun
- Golden hour: I am just so happy with how our pool repair went. Everything looks so pretty. So right!! Just added our solar lights around the deck tonight. Will lay out the rugs tomorrow and mow and want to plant some little pots of flowers to set out around the spa. Of course, everything looks pretty in the light of golden hour. But I am so happy.
SUNDAY STILLS 03.2023
03.05.2023 out of this world: we have begun taking the girls to a new-to-us park where they pretend this rope jungle gym is a spaceship and they are being rocketed out of this world and into the universe where they encounter alien robots – AKA Gabba (me).
03.12.2023 monthly color challenge, green (any shade): for my birthday, Brennyn, Mustafa, Cadence and Declan sent me chocolate covered strawberries and the most magnificent green bouquet. Interspersed between the sprigs of greenery, and the blooms in assorted shades of bright green, were some white tea roses and small white carnations. It is still beautiful, almost 2 weeks later.
03.17.2023 “I’d rather be…”: “I’d rather be home,” said Simmie when I took her to the vet, and to the vet again, and again to the vet. Poor baby. She has had an ongoing respiratory issue/asthma/allergies since August. Then most recently, the vet thought she saw a mass on Purrsimmony’s spleen but further investigation revealed she is just very chubby.
03.26.2023 peek: somedays you just have to peek out at the world before you fully commit to the day…at least according to Purrsnickitty.
YOUR TURN
What have you captured lately in your lens? I have enjoyed the photos of my friends on Instagram as spring arrives to their communities. Our grass was still very brown and dead until just this week. Unusual for El Paso. But we haven’t had rain since sometime early in March and then it was nothing to write home about.
We are waiting to hear when PC’s surgery will be. I had planned a getaway weekend in May for his February birthday gift. Purchased tickets to see Steve Martin and Martin Short together in a stand-up comedy performance in Austin, Texas. Now I worry that it is going to interfere with his surgery. LIFE often makes it hard to plan anything.
Thank you for popping in. I appreciate the time you spend with me. Hoping to do a whole lot of blog reading tomorrow afternoon while PC watches the Cincinnati Reds play baseball. Will be by to visit YOU!
Hugs and kisses,
Gale
Hi, Leslie! So good to see a post from you again! All of your pictures are so interesting. Your grandkids are adorable! Congratulations on getting your pool right! It looks positively gorgeous and so relaxing. Continued prayers for PC. I hope y’all are able to attend the comedy performance next month. With Steve Martin and Martin Short it’s sure to be a hoot! Do you watch Only Murders in the Building? We like it. Happy belated birthday, too!
Terri Webster Schrandt
That winter challenge was wonderful with so many prompts, Leslie. I like how you combined different elements into one image–very smart! Thank you for sharing your images for March’s Sunday Stills themes. I love your grands’ imaginations on the playground and the cute kitty peeking! Hope all is well, my friend!
Leanne | www.crestingthehill.com.au
Hi Leslie – I loved all your photos and your interpretation of the different prompts. It was such a nice peek into your world.
Marsha Banks
I love how you chronicle life through your photo prompts. I will be praying for PC and you. Hugs, my friend.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Deb
What beautiful photos! Perfect for every prompt.
Joanne
You did a great job! I missed at least one or two prompts for the Winter Photo Challenge.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Photo challenges really help me ‘see’ the world. Thank you.
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
I just love the photos of your sweet kitties. And their names are the cutest. We have a Dunkin Donuts here and I really need to get a yummy coffee and a couple donuts sometime just for the heck of it. Ha, ha! Those baked items/cinnamon rolls look so good and I bet they smelled great!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Stephanie Bock
I love the candle photo! It has a great moodiness to it. I’m a sucker for pumpkin any time of the year! I’ll have to try that particular scent.
Lysha
So many great shots. I love the shadow pic.