I’ve written before about photography and how it’s changed. It wasn’t always this way, a sort of obsession about recording ourselves, our food and our experiences. Digital photography has changed how we see the world and how we see ourselves. I had fun today because I found a small set of photographs from 1978, all taken with what was called an instant camera. I couldn’t see the results until months after I returned home from my experience. I picked up these and other photos, in slide format, from a drug store. I didn’t know that I had purchased ‘slide film’. Sigh…I know. It’s different.
Outward Bound…an amazing and forever-memorable experience. Here are a few photos. I love that through the years and through the conversion of these to a few photographs, I have such fond and wondrous memories.
A three day solo…began with the construction of my shelter…a process I completed just as the sun went down. I grabbed a quick photo of that moment…although I had no idea what the image would look like until some months later. No filters and no photo shop.
In the morning, I explored my neighbourhood after dusting off the spiders that were warming on the inside of my plastic lean-to. A glorious home and a lovely rest after weeks of athletic training and climbing. I had three lemon flavoured candies. I decided to eat one each evening as a ritual. Funny…but fasting is the very thing that busted the nerve of some of my peers. It meant nothing to me to go without sustenance. I wrote. I warmed myself on the heat of that great boulder.
The rock was beautiful beautiful granite…so different from climbing crumble. This photo was taken just minutes before heading up my first chimney. In looking back, I’m glad it captured the essence of the rock.
Looking at the view…quite something. Here, a view of Amphitheater Mountain in Washington State. Quite a different sort of photograph than appears on-line today.
Two of my lady-friends…I remember Sue is to the far right and Marianne in the middle. We have reached a summit here. Heck if I can remember the name of the mountain…we climbed 11 mountains to their summit in 31 days.
I’ve shared this one before and I’ve written about it. I’m glad that I located some others. They make me smile, especially as I look down at this cast.
In my youth, I have very few photos…no selfies for this chick, but archives like this are enough.
We visited about happy times spent along the river. We remembered that our Alberta rivers include the Elbow and the Bow rivers. We talked about skipping rocks, fishing and the differences between oceans and rivers, what a community is. We also prepared our panels with gesso. The students each took a turn rolling paint on panels, an act that elicited a number of stories and memories as well! The students received their site word list.
Having been hooked up fully on the classroom technology front, I also had the children gather on our community carpet to watch Mayor Nenshi’s invitation to make art on the topic of the flood. Later that day, we began reading river stories. Many good books are written about the river.
Since arriving home, I’ve tried to put some sense to the gardens, as well as, very gradually, set things right in the house. It’s a slow process! When I arrived home from running errands yesterday, I stooped over to clear out some weeds around a bush. I wasn’t wearing garden gloves. It was near the completion of the job that I felt a sting and saw, beneath some compost, a bee struggling to free itself. At first it didn’t register that I had received my very first bee sting, but within moments, as the pain intensified, I put two and two together! OUCH!
I ditched the garden and headed for the house, took a swig of liquid benylin in the kitchen and reached for the phone to call my daughter. I could see the stinger, but given that it was on my right hand on my ring-finger, I couldn’t sort out a way to get it out. And man, did it hurt! My son-in-law kept me relax-breathing (lol) while my daughter headed over with her tweezers. The sweat broke out on my forehead as I feared a reaction. My finger was swelling as the minutes ticked by. I smile as I type this drama now, but it was all about the ‘new’ and the ‘unknown’ at the time.
Two doors down, my neighbour grabbed her tweezers and pulled the small-but-painful stinger out and I experienced immediate relief. These neighbours have come to my aid more than once! In fact, her husband once patiently talked me through the change of an oven element, so that I would always know how to make that repair myself. Good friends, definitely!
When my daughter arrived, we sat and chatted about my first bee sting. I expressed my gratitude to her and my son-in-law for their quick support and love. I’d really enjoy reading your first bee sting story! Please, do share! I will never again shrug off someone’s account of their ‘clash’ with the insect world!
