Life – Page 4 – Travelcraft Journal

February 5, 2018

December’s Last Sunset and 2017 Photos

The sunset the last evening of 2017 was gorgeous – nature’s fireworks to celebrate the New Year.

A couple of the year’s other beautiful sunsets showed up on my Instagram Best Nine, fitting neatly into its unintentional bright pink/purple/royal blue color scheme. All of my most-liked photos were taken in Arizona, so, of course, they include some desert scenery.

Only a few coincided with my monthly photo picks.

1. #LOVE sign at airport protest 2. Star Wars Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) 3. Sunset behind palms 4. Tovrea Castle, Phoenix 5. Buildings in Old Town Peoria 6. Hotel Congress sign, Tucson – July 7. High Desert Trail, Black Canyon City – August 8. “Let’s Be Better Humans” campaign bus – March 9. View from Picacho Peak – en route from Tucson

I thought the photos I’d picked for 2017 were more varied than the automatically-generated Best Nine list. But, looking back, almost all are plant- or architecture-related. I guess it was a good year for both those categories.

I wonder what 2018 will bring.

January 1, 2018March 23, 2021

The Way Trees Grow

My elementary school art teacher didn’t like my trees.

The drawing I had been working on was of a whole forest of them – with trunks that were bent and twisted all different directions.

“Trees grow straight up and down,” she criticized. “Not like that.” She made me start my drawing over.

I remembered this while I was hiking recently.

And I wanted to laugh every time I passed yet another example of nature showing that I had been correct all along.

Find more trees over at Happiness and Food’s Tree Love Thursdays!

October 16, 2017October 15, 2017

Travel Partner

Fountain Hills

I was scanning Google Maps, planning for our Italy trip, when something piqued my interest that other people might think of as mundane. I mentioned it to Phillip.

Me: Did you know there’s a grocery store in Vatican City?

Him: We should totally go!

Me: That’s what I was gonna say!

***

Another day, researching tours for the Doge’s Palace in Venice, I started to tell Phillip about the options…

Me: Okay, this tour costs a little more, but you go through secret passages–

Him: Let’s do it!

***

I’ve traveled with a lot of people, but Phillip is definitely my favorite.

Microblog Mondays: Write in your own space

January 26, 2017June 24, 2020

Art, Nuance, Resistance

It’s Thursday, and I’ve been working on other things this week besides getting today’s post finished. I’m also fighting off a big headache. So let’s just wing it today, shall we?

I’m really saddened by the news of the president signing an order to keep refugees out of the U.S.

I believe that, just as intercultural travel enriches an individual, a diversity of cultures ultimately enriches a country. And the fact that we are turning away so many people seeking refuge breaks my heart.

What is it the Statue of Liberty says? “Give me…your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”? I don’t recall it ending with “LOL! j/k” but I dunno. Maybe I’m misremembering.

When my sister-in-law asked on Facebook yesterday where everyone was finding hope, all I could think of was art.

I’ve been mulling this over for awhile now. Maybe since the election results came in and I couldn’t stop thinking of Goya and of Picasso. Maybe before that.

Even now – especially now – art is vital. Stories are vital.

The best art is nuanced, has layers of meaning, expresses truth.

When I think about how we got to this point in the U.S., I believe it has a lot to do with black-and-white thinking, with ignoring nuance. Saying “this is 100% evil” or “this is 100% perfect” and refusing to recognize the layers of a situation or the mix of good and bad that lives in all of us.

Creating something that comes from your heart, that expresses a piece of your experience, that puts authenticity over agenda, is a form of resistance against oversimplification and prejudice.

So let’s make things and speak truth and recognize people making art in our communities, because every person that makes/writes something that is true of themselves is also helping to paint a wider, truer picture of humanity.

Artwork in the photos:

1. Colibrí mural by Mata Ruda

2. Tempe Library art exhibition by John Randall Nelson

3. Studio and work of Judy Bruce

4 + 5. Murals in Clarion Alley

6. Colonel Platoff on His Charger by Kehinde Wiley

January 16, 2017January 11, 2017

Photos of 2016

Near the end of 2015, I posted the collage of Instagram photos the Best Nine app considered my best nine. (I think they’re just the most liked.)

Looking at the collage, it didn’t feel very representative of my year, though.

So, with encouragement from Traci and others, I decided to choose one of my Instagram photos every month that felt significant or like it just fit, and then compare it to my Best Nine at the end of the year.

The photos at the top are my “best nine”, and here are the ones I chose for each month…

They don’t really overlap, except for that weather-beaten tree. I remember almost choosing some of the same ones the app did – some months had a couple photos that seemed like a good fit for that month.

I’m still on the fence about whether I want to do this again, but it is really cool to look back and see snapshots of the past year this way.

Locations of Best Nine photos (l-r, from top):

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, AZ
Seven Magic Mountains, near Las Vegas, NV
Our Airbnb rental [referral discount] in Tucson, AZ
Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV
Kehinde Wiley exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Nothing, AZ
Downtown Las Vegas, NV
Barrick Museum at UNLV, NV
Phoenix Chile Pepper Festival, Phoenix, AZ

My monthly photos from 2016: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.