Focus on You

Today concludes our Words of Love theme. It's been a grand month sharing the love with one another on our Flickr page. This week seemed to be a week of newborn and almost newborn babies. I chose all three because is there anything that says love any better than a newborn babe? There are no words needed to describe the love in our hearts for these brand new little people.

The first photo comes from the Flickr stream of 'Life Unscripted', also known as Penny Pierce. Penny captured this very moving and special life event for a friend and when I read Penny's words about this photo, I was speechless. Here's what she had to say:

It was the most touching thing I have ever photographed. I'm not sure I will ever have the opportunity again to capture a tiny human's first breath of air! It was amazing! I'm just glad I didn't get so caught up in the moment that I forgot to click! :)

The second baby love photo comes from our friend, Anita, also known as 'austinsGG'. Again, if you'll follow the link to Anita's Flickr stream, you'll be blown away by inspiration. The sight of a newborn babe is such a miracle and sure to warm anybody's heart.

And, finally, our friend Roxi Hardegree has shared this beautiful photo of her new grandson with his daddy. Doesn't this just make your heart sing? It does mine! If you don't follow Roxi's Flickr stream regularly, do yourself a favor and go visit right now. 

Thank you to each and everyone of you who shared the love this month at FOL. On Monday we'll be introducing a new theme, so be sure to tune in to find out what it is. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Focus on Phoneography

Lots of love in the air this week on our Instagram feed, making it so hard to choose just nine. But I forced myself and here are the nine featured photos for this week.

Top Row:  @mommadmalone @lyahle @kybarb
Middle Row: @bekearns @gailo_oliag @coppercurls55
Bottom Row: @karenpickles_images @saurand @tammy635

Thank you all for sharing your love and beautiful art with us. Remember! There is one more week for Words of Love so let's light up our Instagram feed with love.

Focus on You

Oh, my goodness! There were so many beautiful Valentines in our Flickr gallery this week but in the end, I couldn't pass up this delicious low-key photo by Barbara Carroll. The deep red tones of the rose and the matching font color are perfection.

I've been a fan of Barbara's photography for a long time and a stroll through her Flickr gallery is an impromptu photography lesson. I encourage you to visit her here. And if you have not done so, check out all the great Valentines photos on our page.

We have one more week to celebrate love with our Words of Love theme. Please keep the love flowing through our Flickr page and our Instagram feed.

Focus on You

It was a tough choice this week but in the end I selected this photo by Gina Gold. Gina is a frequent contributor to the FOL Flickr page. You can see more of Gina's beautiful photos on her Flickr photostream and I do encourage you to visit because there are some marvelous photos there. I think you'll be inspired.

What drew me to this photo was the simplicity of the composition, the simple but powerful message, and the creative use of the green ribbon. I also love the depth of field. A Lensbaby perhaps?

There are two more weeks for the Words of Love theme on Flickr and on the Instagram feed. Remember, words aren't necessary if your photo sends the unspoken message of love. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is Good ...

by Dotti

... but it isn't always easy.

Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.

                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                   ~ Fred Rogers

Did you watch Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood with your children? My daughter and I watched it every day and talked about it together. I loved his straightforward approach when talking with children, teaching them without insulting their intelligence. I wish I had a quarter of the wisdom that man had.

Last week I came across this quote and I’ve been pondering it ever since. I seriously doubt that children understood what he meant but perhaps a seed was planted and sprouted many years later. I don’t know but I sure hope so. In any event, there is an important truth here, as there was with so much of what Fred Rogers said.

We’ve all experienced it. How easy it is to love when a person is kind to us but how difficult it is when somebody we love is rude to us. Everybody loves a cuddly newborn baby but it's a much more of a struggle when she has colic. 

It’s easy to love our significant other when he/she brings us flowers but when he/she leaves the gas tank in our car on empty, it's another story and thus another struggle ensues. 

These are, admittedly, momentary blips in the big picture. Real life throws us many more difficult ongoing circumstances that are much more challenging than these examples. But by working through it and accepting the situation and where the person is right now we enable ourselves to maintain our love and chances are our love even grows through the process.

At the end of the day, I think it's all worth it. What do you think?

Happy Valentine’s Day to each of you!

And don’t forget to post all your photos about love and Words of Love on the Flickr page and on the Instagram feed. We love seeing your photos!

Focus on Phoneography

 

 

 

This weeks mosaic will put a smile on your face! Love is in the air!

Top row- @alajamie @karenpickles_images
 
Bottom row- @omgitsshawnn @kateterhaar

Thank you for sharing your pictures with us!

...

Focus on You

I've chosen this photo by Jennifer Matthews-Jamison, from Ontario, Canada, who posted this lovely photo on our Flickr page. I just love the feeling of mystery and romance plus the wonderful word art. It seemed perfect to start off our Words of Love month.

Thank you, Jennifer, for posting your lovely photos on our Flickr page. You can see more of Jennifer's work on her Flickr photostream.

We have three weeks left for this fun theme. You may interpret it any way you wish. Just be sure to share your photos with us on our Flickr page.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Words of Love

by Linda

Recently, I was scheduled for a minor procedure. After discussing it with 2 doctors, I was assured that it would be very minor, only take about an hour tops, just a small needle, local anesthetic only,  they only needed a few cells. I was confident I could drive myself to and from the appointment.

Trophy husband offered to take me. No, that wouldn't be necessary, I could do it myself. My dear friend offered to take me. No, thank you, I'll be fine.

My daughter offered to take me, I of course digressed but she offered again. She wanted to take me so I said ok. She rearranged her schedule-job wise and her littlest has pneumonia so her trophy husband stayed home with her, and off we went. Once we arrived I learned the appointment needed to be rescheduled to another location and that meant another day. I apologized to my daughter for inconveniencing her, but she was only concerned that the appointment was moved.

Once again, many offers were made to take me and once again I refused.

My son asked who was taking me to the new appointment and I said I was taking myself. He asked when and what time the appointment was, I told him, then he said "well, I'm taking you, what time do we need to leave?"

I said "you don't have to, it's NBD"
he said "and it's NBD to take you"

There are many ways to say "I love you" and these 2 wonderful children of mine said it loud and clear to me.

...



A little word fun . . .

by Kim

 "Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it

cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform

you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could."

- Barbara de Angelis

I spent some time over the weekend ( a ridiculous, lose all accounts of time ridiculous), having some fun with words... words of love. For this one I used a poem I wrote several years ago.

I have to admit it was a bit addictive once I got going. 

And once I started getting into the groove, all kinds of ideas just started flowing.

And then I remembered one I did last year with the word "FLY" and butterflies, that inspired this one. 

And, I've got a few more ideas I want to see if I can work out, with the help of some coffee and chocolate...of course! Both are part of my love language.

Now I need to go print some of these out, get a pen, and write a little love note on the other side. One I know will be sealed with a kiss.

Have a wonderful day!

Kim

February Theme: Words of Love

by Dotti

Love is a flower … you’ve got to let it grow.

                                                                                                 ~ John Lennon

My first thought when pondering this month’s theme was that we can never celebrate love too often or too much. So why not celebrate love all month long here at Focusing on Life?

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. And I hope we’re going to have some fun with it.

There are so many different kinds of love: romantic, parental, sibling, friends, pets … the list goes on.  As we search or create our photos for this month, let’s consider all kinds of love. Some of our photos and thoughts will be poignant; some will be sentimental; some will be humorous. All that and more is exactly what I’m after this month.

You can even go into your archives for these photos, as I did for this one. I’m sure we all have some photos showing a particularly tender moment between people who love one another. But let’s get creative, too. Let’s try to stretch our imaginations as we seek to illustrate Words of Love.

You may want to put some words or quotes on your photos. Or not. Anything goes. Maybe the photo itself says all that needs to be said. It’s all good. Follow your heart … and share with us what you find.

You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,

Love like you’ll never hurt,

Sing like there’s nobody listening,

Live like it’s heaven on earth.

                                                                                           ~ William W. Purkey