Fascinations, Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my latest fascinations is mail boxes! ("Letter boxes" for those of you in the UK.) These are disappearing around the US too, just like parking meters. Replaced by safer and more efficient shared post boxes, these are a bit of life that is going away. I remember the excitement as a child, of putting up that flag when the box had mail and seeing it down later in the day after the postman had come. I would run to see what had arrived in the mail. It's sad, I don't even have one in front of my house now. We walk up the street with a key to see what arrived, and it's usually junk. Bills don't even come anymore, they are sent via email.

Mail boxes are a symbol of so much else disappearing too, personal mail and the written letter. We all love to get mail but how often do we send it? Not so often. That's why the Liberate Your Art postcard swap was so much fun for many of us. For a little while, we got fun mail!

In honor of little-used mail boxes everywhere, let's all send a postcard or a letter or a note to someone we care about today. I've got my pen out now! Won't you join me?



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What's going on around The Kat Eye View of the World...

• The current Exploring with a Camera theme is Process of Elimination. Check out the post and explore with us.
• Do you want to deepen the connection between your heart and soul and your photography? Registration for the fall series of the Find Your Eye e-course is open! Visit here for more info.
• You can subscribe to the Kat Eye News to stay up-to-date on all the happenings.

Scooter Love in the Pacific NW - and GIVEAWAY!!

Who would have thought it! I went to Portland (1.5 hours north) on Saturday with a friend to see the traveling production of Mamma Mia. After the show we headed to the Northwest section of the city and what did we run across? Vespa scooters. Not one, not two... Seven in all. Seven!! I was in scooter heaven! Especially this one, parked in an empty garage against a textured wall in some moody light. It was calling my name. Luckily, I had my little Canon PowerShot with me to answer the call.

Someday, I will have a red Vespa scooter. And I will park it in front of every texture-y wall I can find to take pictures. Until then, I will take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way to live vicariously through taking photos of someone else's red Vespa.  And I can do this in Portland. Who knew?

What a weekend though! Not only was there fabulous scooter love to be found, but we received our container from Italy. Yay! Early Saturday morning, the truck pulled up and there was the container waiting to be unloaded. All sealed and packed, just as it was as it left from our apartment on Via Matteotti. That means, however, that our lives are in disarray again. The semblance of order and routine we had been able to create for a few weeks is once again dismantled as we unpack boxes and try to figure out how to fit everything in to our house. Our house in the US and our apartment in Italy were the same size in square feet/meters, but there was so much more storage in the Italian apartment. Add the belongings that were in storage in the US to the items we collected over two years in Italy, and you have the makings of one gigantic garage sale in a few weeks. First priority is to get to the point I can walk through the house without tripping over anything though!

On top of that, the Liberate Your Art postcard swap blog hop was going on. So fun! I had such a great time hopping around, seeing where the art ended up. It provided a much needed break from the unpacking. The swap turned out better than I imagined, and the blog hop was a blast. I can't wait to do the swap again in 2012!!

Until then, I have tons going on around here...

• Find Your Eye registration is open for the September-October class series! I'll be running Starting the Journey and the all-new Journey of Inspiration. Right now the August class, Journey of Recognition, is going on and has it been fantastic. I couldn't ask for a better group of participants. I love doing this!
• We are exploring Night Photography in Exploring with a Camera. I had forgotten how much I love taking photos at night! I hope you will join us and link in before Wednesday. You can still get the Night Photography Camera Companion if you sign up for the newsletter too. I'm sending a "catch up" newsletter to all new subscribers this week so that new subscribers don't miss out.
• You still have a few more days to catch Superhero Summer Camp too. Sign up for this fun and free six-week class closes on August 31. 
• And finally - in honor of the seven Vespas of Portland - how about a GIVEAWAY!! My first one on US soil. I am going to give away a set of my new "Classic Italian Transport" postcards to one lucky reader, and a Vespa mousepad to another.

I will draw for the postcards on Wednesday morning when I write my blog post, from the comments left on this post. Let's make it fun, you can have more than one entry. How about a whole bunch of entries!! Leave a separate comment for each of the following:

1. Just to say hi!

2. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook

3. If you are a newsletter subscriber

4. If you have registered for a Find Your Eye course (past or present) 

5. If you link in to Exploring with a Camera: Night Photography

Good Luck!

Linking in to Creative Every Day and Creative Exchange, as always. Happy Monday! 

The Answer

So, what's your guess for today? USA or Europe? Just kidding, I won't drag you through another day of suspense!

Today's image is from Carbondale, Colorado.

Yesterday's image was from Old Colorado City, Colorado. Old Colorado City is the historic part of Colorado Springs.

Monday's image was from Burano, Italy.

What do you take away from this little exercise?

The Daily News

I discovered something new on my excursion around town a couple of days ago - newspaper boxes! These were so fun to photograph, and are something I would not have even seen in the past.  Such great texture, color and shape in these weathered boxes.

They also made a great repeating pattern, all lined up in a row. The color differences make it more visually interesting, breaking up the pattern.

Do you have any of these around your town? Have you noticed them before?

Learning Traditions of other Cultures

We were in Greece on Easter Sunday so we had the opportunity to learn some of the local traditions for celebrating Easter. A red egg, a symbol of renewal, is served to each person at breakfast. Isn't that a gorgeous red? I loved the primary color combination at our breakfast table that morning. Brandon loves the yolks of hard boiled eggs, so he ate all three of them.

The other Easter tradition we learned about is the large gatherings of family and friends on Sunday afternoon, where a whole lamb is roasted over an open pit fire. It was an interesting sight, these whole lambs rotating over a bed of coals. Nothing I particularly cared to photograph though! Patrick loves lamb so he enjoyed having a platter of freshly roasted meat at both lunch and dinner. I'm not fond of lamb, so I stuck to other options like a yummy Greek Salad.

Learning about the traditions of other places is one of the fun things about traveling and living abroad. You learn that there are more ways of celebrating, believing or even day-to-day living than you could ever imagine from the point of view of your home culture. I don't think you ever stop being surprised, but you become more open and accepting of just about anything.

I think our world would be a more accepting and friendly place, if we all just travelled more. Do you agree?

In Search of the Tricolore

Tricolore in Italian means three colors. It's the nickname of the Italian flag with its green, white and red, similar to our nickname of "stars and stripes" for the US flag. Yesterday, the three colors were found everywhere for the celebration of 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. It was a special "one time" holiday, and schools, banks and businesses were closed. We hadn't known about this in advance, so it was a bonus day off for us. We enjoyed a lazy morning at home and then went into Milan to see what was going on.

I don't know if this is the same in all European cultures, but on public holidays Italians seem to gather in the piazzas and pedestrian zones. They get out and about. The museums and restaurants are always open and full, even if the shops are not. Surprisingly the shops were open this day, which made it even busier.

There were probably a lot of special events such as concerts going on, but we just enjoyed walking around. Our excursion became a quest to spot the Tricolore, since the colors of the Italian flag were creatively displayed in many unusual places. The colors could be found on public buildings (above) and the light posts became flagpoles in Piazza del Duomo.

Sometimes it was as simple as a flag added to a display, as in this elegant mens clothing store (note the price of those pants - 1590 Euro!)...

... or neatly stacked shirts.

They ranged from a complete window set up, like my favorite store Campo Marzio...

... to a subtle little addition in an otherwise full display.

Who knew there was so much to be found in green, white and red? You could outfit your whole desk or wardrobe! I loved these little clocks.

You can't forget jewelry. Swarovski had a special edition crystal to commemorate the anniversary.

The street vendors were not to be left out. It was a rainy day so you never knew when you might need an umbrella.

The vendors who usually sold scarves or other trinket merchandise were in on the holiday too.

Flags could be found everywhere. On heads...

... and in hands.

The pride in country, through display of the flag, was visible everywhere. We ended our day in Milan by finding a special tram, painted in the tricolore and covered in lights.

We were nearly home when we saw an amazing light show, at the Villa Reale (Royal Villa). Just up the road from us, this "villa" was once the summer home of the king of Italy. They occasionally change the color of the lights, but we've never seen the tricolore before. It was a great end to our color-spotting day.

Happy Anniversary Italy! We were happy to be here to see your celebration, and the colors of your country so proudly displayed.

PS - I didn't forget! Today was the drawing for the giveaway of the Florentine papers. The winner is Deb of the blog Learning As I Go. Congrats to Deb, and thank you all so much for entering.

A Glimpse of Carnevale

We stopped back home last Saturday night briefly before flying out to Sicily, just long enough to download my Carnevale photos and sleep for the night. Here's a little glimpse of Carnevale to whet your appetite. Does it leave you wanting more?

I'll see you all on Monday!

The Next in the Series

OK, here it is. The third in the series I showed you yesterday. This is another image found on the streets of Parma. I'm toying with calling this series "Classic Italian" but we'll have to see how it forms up. So far, it seems to be classic red vehicles on the streets of Italy near some sort of grocery crates. I don't know if that will hold, but who would have thought I would have three of these? We'll see what I find next week, when we visit Sicily.

The Exploring with a Camera: Breaking the Rule of Thirds link is now closed. The winner of the "C is for Camera" journal is Michelle, who goes by Pixie Dreams on Flickr. Congrats Michelle! Thanks so much to all who linked in, it was great to see all of these wonderful images. Don't forget to visit Tammy Lee Bradley at Bliss and Folly to see who won the Vintage Camera trio.

Come back tomorrow for the next Exploring with a Camera post, this week we're going to Capture the Sky!

Share Your View: Holiday Lights

What fun, holiday lights! This is the holiday streetcar in Milan, where for the price of a transit ticket you can take a ride and get your picture taken with Santa. What a fun holiday tradition, and such festive lights!

Now it's time to Share Your View. Link in your recent or archive image of holiday lights below to share and then visit the other links to see what others have found. Share what you've learned in the process, and any tips or tricks you figured out - either in the comments here or on your blog, we would all love to learn from you too.

Link will stay open for 30 days, so feel free to come back any time you have a great capture of holiday lights. I can't wait to see your view - thanks for participating!

The Next Destination

You never know what you are going to find, as you wander around a city. This photo is from Turin, and is one that is hanging on my living room wall. At the time I was looking for photos I could do a "spot of red" processing to match my decor scheme, so that's what I saw. Today I look at it and find it more humorous... these stately buildings and this proud statue, looking down on the red plastic chairs and umbrella. What must his stone lordship think, to have these plastic things mucking up his piazza? The blend of modern and historic in one place provides plenty of opportunity for these types of photographs here in Europe.

We are off to visit a new destination, for the next week, and I will be absent here. We are travelling further south in Italy, to Naples and Sorrento. We plan to visit the Amalfi Coast, Capri, and hopefully, if it hasn't all collapsed yet, Pompeii. That is quite the scandal here, what is happening with the ruins in Pompeii.

I'll see you in a week or so, with photos from a new area. In the meantime, I have a couple of posts scheduled for you, including the Share Your View on Holiday Lights. Please come by and link in, I can't wait to come visit all of your photos when I get home. Have a great week!

Random Radishes

This morning I came to the blog... and had no idea what to write. So I just looked through my photos and picked this one of radishes. Kind of random, but I love radishes. Both the taste (the stronger the better) and the pop of color they provide. This bunch was spotted outside a fruit and vegetable market in Bologna. There is something so wonderful about a storefront lined with boxes of fruits and veggies. As if there is so much abundance it has to spill out onto the street and get in the way of passers-by.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! There is still time to join the giveaway and blog hop that started yesterday. Come on by!

Colorful Expressions

While it is wonderful to travel to new places, it is also nice to go back to places you love. Places that inspire you in some way, that sing to your soul. I have been so lucky to be able to visit the Venetian lagoon so many times. It is a place like that for me. And every time, I seem to find a different focus for my photography. I am in a different place in my life, my creative development, and I see different things.

This time, in Burano, it was all about color and form. Color for color's sake, how color and shape and light come together to make a beautiful composition. The primary colors of the interior of this boat, are just one example. I could see beyond the colorful canal vistas of the houses lined up in a row, the lace shops, the bussolai (which are the yummiest cookies ever!), to see some of the most wonderful details of colorful expression to be found.

Think about that... if you are always traveling to new places, you don't get to uncover the layers of the places you love. A trade-off that must be made, one of the hardest, I think!

By the way, the postcards arrived yesterday! Yay! You still have time to go comment on yesterday's post and enter to win them. I'll pick and announce the winner tomorrow, and tell you all about what's new around my little world here.

It's That Simple

A pot of flowers on a step. Some color. Some texture. Some contrast. Nice light.

Seeing this made me happy.
Photographing it made me happy.
Rediscovering it in my image files and editing it made me happy.
Sharing it today makes me happy.
Writing about it makes me happy.
Looking at it makes me happy.

Can happiness really be that simple? A photograph of a pot of flowers on a doorstep? Yes, I believe so.

What simple thing makes you happy?

(PS - You can also share your answer here!)

A Single Rose

A single rose, catches my eye, as it climbs up the wall and peeks out beside a now-defunct gate.

A single rose, luscious red contrasting with deeper green foliage and grey stone, becomes the star of its surroundings.

A single rose, a promise of more to come, of more beyond, than just that solitary blossom.

A single rose, found on a walk in the town of Murten, Switzerland, transcends the place it was found. It could be anywhere. Take a walk today, and see if you can find it where you live, that single rose.

Abundance

As I was going through more photos from Split, Croatia yesterday, I came across this one from the market. It gave me such a feeling of abundance. Maybe it's the color, such rich deep reds punctuated with the lighter colors. Maybe it's the fact that they are laying there in a pile. I mean, how often do you just see a pile of flowers? A pile of roses? Roses are far too noble and revered a flower to just pile up, unless you have too many of them.

Isn't it amazing and wonderful that such a simple thing, an image of a pile of flowers, can give a feeling of abundance? That means, it's all in our outlook. Feelings of abundance are all in what we choose to see in our world, not just what we have. We can see the abundance in life around us, or the lack.

And think of all of the flower images I have, that I've shared here. Look at me, I'm rich! And I'm so happy to share my riches with you.

Fresh and Juicy

So red. So fresh. So juicy. So delicious. I'm not usually a big cherry fan, but even I like these cherries. We picked them up last week, while driving through the hills outside of Vicenza. We just wanted to see the countryside, and it turns out we were in a region that grows cherries. And they were ripe. And we saw a roadside stand. So, since Patrick loves cherries we did a u-turn back to it and bought their minimum amount for 10 Euro - 3kg (for us Americans, that's 6.6 lbs). That's a lot of cherries!

I took this photo for a photo challenge with the theme of "fresh" and it makes me smile. Maybe it's the color. Maybe it's the story. Not my usual shot, but at least they are Italian cherries!

Back in Italy

Home again, home again... it's good to be back home in Italy. I had a fantastic week last week visiting with friends when I wasn't working, but it is truly good to get back home to my family and my cat and my own bed. And, it's a nice sunny morning as well, so there is nothing in life to complain about. I hope you all have a good Monday!

Spring!

There are signs of spring here in Oregon, like this gorgeous barrel of daffodils at the Rogue brewery in Newport. Unlike our home in Italy where it's still been cold and frosty, it was beautifully clear and sunny in Oregon last week. I love seeing these signs of spring, Oregon has such a long and colorful spring. It will be interesting to see what it's like for us in Vedano... when it starts!

Love at the Sea

This heart art was found at an overlook of the Mediterranean sea, it Boccadassee (a little fishing village that is part of Genova). These little overlooks or benches in public parks are often places that young lovers will meet for a bit of privacy. It's not really private exactly, but when so many people live in such close contact it's all relative I guess. You will often find "love" graffiti in little spots like this.

Happy Valentine's Day

We are in the states this week, our "Home Leave" in Corvallis, so starting with Valentine's Day today I thought I would post a few pics of various hearts I've collected in my photos.

This photo is one of my early favorites from our time here in Italy, from Bergamo. I actually didn't see the graffiti heart at all when I took the picture, but when I was reviewing on the screen it just popped out at me. This is a time I'm sure that my inner eye saw something that my conscious brain didn't even register. These types of images are what make me trust my instincts in my photography.

So enjoy this heart today, and a Valentine's wish from me!