Hay Fever...

My whole life I have endured summer allergies! Hay Fever to be exact! I remember once upon a time, I had it so bad, my mother and father took me to the hospital. I could hardly see out of my eyes, they were so swollen.  I remember it was such a scary place for me, the hospital!

Hay Fever.....

I also remember the doctor coming at me with a needle that was atleast a foot long! Im not kidding! even today, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Another vivid memory I have is my sister and I on the bus, heading home from school. It was our last day and I was crying. I didn't want to say goodbye to my teacher, Mrs. Schaver. I had just completed my kindergarten year and I felt like my world was coming to an end.

My big sister, who had just finished first grade, held me in her arms while I cried, warding off the other classmates, as they made fun of me for crying! "It's her Hay Fever!" She told them and to leave me alone.... She was my hero that day, and I can tell you, I remember as if it were only yesterday that she had me in her arms.

It is that time of year once again, but now I have a different kind of Hay Fever......

I find it quite, how should I put this delicately... Hot! to see those huge farm vehicles plowing the fields, the men in their wranglers or Levi's or what ever it is that they wear, and their stained tee shirts, soaked from the summer sun, and the endless hours behind the wheel of their hay rakes and balers and such oh my!

To see a convoy of farmers in their farm rigs coming towards me on a country road takes hold of me like no other. I can't quite explain the feeling that comes over me, but I would like nothing more than to pull over, grab my camera and record every second I can.

Gypsy, looking for her dad

I spent a summer with my uncle while he cut and baled his fields and filled his barn to put up for the winter for his cattle during the cold winter months.

It is very hard work. I have hefted a bale or two (the small ones)  and they are each about 60 pounds!  I have a high respect for all those who put on their boots and gloves and hats despite the heat of the summer sun every year and do what they gotta do, and do what they gotta love.

I can't imagine a farmer who would be doing it because he or she hated it.

So the next time you see a farmer driving down a country road, with his flashers on his rig, whether it is an antique or the newest model on the market, pull over, give a slight nod and enjoy the view!

Thanks for coming by,

S~

Life...

Life, it's better when you have someone to share it with....

I have had such a full week! House / cat sitting while taking care of me own house and me own adorable kitty Saphira, two birthday parties, of which both celebrated milestones and a family reunion!

Whew!

They kept me busy!

MaryEllen celebrated her 90th birthday this week! Oh.... the things she must have seen in her lifetime. The changes she has witnessed, the technology, the presidents she has seen sworn into office, Halley's Comet has come around twice since she was born!

She has seen her sons grow into men, and they in turn have raised their own families and her legacy continues.

When I arrived at MaryEllen' party, I hugged her and wished her a happy birthday.  She looked into my eyes and with a smile said "I was hoping you would be here, I would like some family pictures"  I smiled back at her and said... "I think I can take care of that for you".

MaryEllen,

There are no words to describe the impact your words had on me at that moment. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wont apologize, as this is who I am, but I kept the tears inside and me heart grew a little bigger in that moment!

You made me feel welcome from the moment I met you, and I thank you.

Happy birthday sweet girl, I hope all of your wishes have come true.



Life, it's better when you have someone to share it with....



Hugs,

S ~

World Beat Festival 2012

World Beat Festival 2012~

It is all "worlds" coming together in celebrating us, as a "whole" people. We are truly all the same.  We have different back grounds, we have different beliefs, we live in different parts of this planet that we call Earth, and we are all the same.

We are one in the manner that we all require the same things in order to live and to survive. We all require nutrition, we all require the warmth of the sun, without it, we could not survive as it is as good for our bodies as it is for our fields. We require water to sustain us, and sometimes, it just happens that it separates us from our neighbors. We require love and affection, without that, we will not survive as a people.  We as a people love, and bleed, and hurt, and grieve.

I took my camera to capture some of the intimate moments in peoples lives, people from all walks of life, who came together to share their story, their culture with anyone who would care to take a moment and see.

There were people from all corners of this planet at the festival.

Two women were walking by, dressed in their "regalia", so bright and colorful. I grabbed my camera and snapped a photograph of this beautiful woman.  Our eyes met as soon as I took the camera away and set it in my lap, and she thanked me. I was speechless.  I bowed my head ever so slightly to her in the only way I could say you are welcome. I wanted to cry, if I was alone, I would have. We were two people who live worlds apart and we had such an intimate moment only her and I could share.

I was now bent down on one knee taking photographs of dancers from Africa. Such beautiful people, and very sensual. I don't know exactly for sure what their dances meant, but from what I could gather in my own mind, they were saying they were ready for a mate.

While I was taking the photographs, I noticed this little girl in her mothers arms, her mother set her down on the ground and she came to me and put her hand on my knee as she looked into my eyes and smiled. My heart got a lot bigger in that very moment.  She snuggled right in and watched the show with me, as if her and I were from the same family. It was comfortable and it was right!

I learned that her name is Maria and she is 16 months old and her father is from Africa. I would like you to meet them as they were so kind to let me take their photograph and let their baby girl comfort me for a while.

We as a people are not alone in this world. Sometimes water and land separate us. So we build bridges and roads. But mostly beliefs and ignorance are the biggest problems we face and it must stop.

While I was there at the festival, there was no prejudices. There were people, celebrating each other, and all the while I was trying to figure out how I can get to these other places like Africa and India, and will that ever happen for me. I hope so.

It does make me sad that I will probably never see that beautiful woman again, or Maria and her family. What does life hold for them, and will they think of me?

I hope you have enjoyed my blog. I am posting a lot of pictures on my facebook fan page (too many to post here. you can copy this link and paste it into your browser)  or search Sandra Lynns Photography in your facebook search window. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandra-Lynns-Photography/271691662904788 if you would like to see more of what I saw.

Thank you for coming by and truly, love your neighbor.

Hugs, S ~

Sarah

The dock from Misawa Japan

I drove to Newport Oregon yesterday to get some photographs of the dock that washed ashore from the tsunami that hit Japan last year.

Autumn...

I don't have television, and I rarely watch the news, as most of the time it is depressing. If it hadn't been for Yahoo listing it in their ticker part while I was going to read my email, I may not have known about the dock until someone perhaps mentioned it to me.  

Dock from Misawa Japan after 5500 mile Journey

The Coast Guard

Agate Beach

So, I decided to take a day trip to the coast and see what kind of photographs I could get, and document a little piece of history for myself. I knew I should have waited to go until the following day. The weather promised to be a tad nicer, but I was excited to get there.  Who know's how long it would be there. The tides brought it to us, they had the power to take her away again.

She landed on Agate Beach. I kept my eyes open for the Agates, but was a bit difficult as the wind was blowing my hair into my face, I had my snood on, pulled up over my nose, blocking the infamous coastal winds, the warmth trapped inside my snood which in turn was escaping out the top of the snood, fogged up my sunglasses! :O)  good times for me :O)  I remembered the pony tail holder I grabbed just before leaving my house and whipped my hair up into a tail. Yet still, there were no agates to be found.

There were tons of tracks in the sand, it's funny how I only noticed the tracks leading to the dock. The motto "build it and they will come" came to my mind as I, my friend Janet and many people, with their dogs in tow and some in the lead made their way across the hills of sand to the "dock from Japan". There were women in dresses with clenched fists holding onto their skirts in order to preserve their modesty with the wind wanting to make sails out of them, there were children, well, being children in sand, there were boots and sandals and there were feet.

By the time I got to the dock, I was amazed to find it was solid! solid concrete! I have been trying to figure out, how this massive, 66 x 7 x 19' beast was able to float at all!  There she sat, pointed towards land and sea for us to wonder.

By the time I had arrived, the scientists had rid her burden of sea life. 

How, over a years time had she gone unnoticed? how many islands had she seen? how many birds have landed on her? so many questions. Most important and maybe what we have forgotten, are the people from whence she first came and the reason behind it.

Will the scientists leave her be? If she decides to continue her journey, will they try to stop her? Is it their right?

I captured as much as mother nature would allow and headed back the half mile to my car, and this is when I noticed the tracks, leading back to a life more certain. Remnants, now, our past.

Memorial Day 2012

I attended my first Memorial Day service in a small pioneer cemetery in Brownsville Oregon.

                                              

Color Guard

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow.

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flansders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

to you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields

A life time ago, yet, only yesterday

Remembering

In Memoriam 2012

 

 

Paying Tribute

Playing Taps

I went up to the cemetery the day prior, to get photographs of the flags that were placed at the headstones of the veterans who served our country.


While I was walking through, and listening to my own thoughts and the wind and the silence, I began to see the lives of these people, and the families who let them go, for us.



I came across this flag, marking the grave of one of our soldiers. Alone.
I couldn't help but cry.

God Bless America

When the ceremony was about to come to a close, one of the coordinators said they don't usually have such a big crowd, but they would like everyone to take and hold the person next to them, their hand.

As everyone sang God Bless America.

We thank our veterans on this special day, we can not forget the families either, as their sacrifices have been just as great.

This will not be my last service.


Thank you.

Rhody Fest 2012

I spent the day in Florence at the Oregon Coast this last Saturday with a couple of my friends. I have lived here in Oregon for 12 years now, and only learned about the Rhody festival over the last couple of years.

Rhody Fest

And all the while, I was under the impression it was in celebration of the Rhododendrons in bloom!

Ketchikan, the small town I grew up in holds a Blueberry Festival every year, in celebration of the Blueberries, so I assumed this festival being held in Florence was the same type of thing. It makes sense right?

Everywhere you looked, you would see a motorcycle! and if you didn't see one, you were sure to hear one! There were old and new and fancy and not so fancy. There were Harley's and Ducati, there were green ones and blue ones and red ones and even pink for the ladies.

And all that leather! Oh My!

Florence Or. Rhody Fest

After a little research, yes, it is the festival of the Rhododendrons in bloom!


The first annual festival was in May of 1908! and it consisted of a clam bake on the beach and a parade through town. I am inserting the link from which I found the information.

It states the Rhododendron Festival, (Rhody Fest for short) was started in order to attract business.

The "bikes" started showing up in the 80's which was fine by them, as it afforded even more revenue for the township.

So the Rhody's, whether flowers or bikers go hand in hand.





http://www.northwestmagazines.com/oregon_coast_florence_rhody_days.php