‘La Popa’ Church Courtyard – Cartagena, Colombia
Bright azure skies,
crimson flowers.
A peaceful spot
to sit for
hours and hours.
Soft, muted moments
to gather calm,
in restful simplicity.
An unobtrusive sanctuary,
on a summer afternoon.
A painting
for our eyes
to glimpse upon.
2016©Isadora DeLaVega
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Daily Post – Sanctuary
to join in click here
Dear Friends ….
It is time for me to take a brief respite.
I will be out on the high seas gathering energy from the wind and salty air:
Listening to the Music of the waves.
I will be ever vigilant to catch up on all of your blogs upon my return.
In my absence, there will be a great many things that
you’ve done that I will, no doubt, lose sight of.
Please feel free to send me a note on those you’d like me to read.
It would be disappointing to miss a single one of your stellar writings.
Namaste …
Isadora
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I will leave you with this very important health message.
Say Good Bye and Good Night to “night time” leg cramps…
This exercise works wonders on circulation. It originated by the Watusi tribesmen.
It also slims you down without medication.
I have been doing these simple workout moves for a week
and I am already feeling much better.
I recommend you start right away.
This video shows what you should do daily
to help leg and knee pain and stiffness.
Once a day is sufficient for assured success!
Good luck.
Zaouli de Manfla
In May, my hubby and I celebrated our 50th Anniversary. Our actual anniversary date is August 21st. We celebrated early because of the ports we were interested in seeing. The Panama Canal was one of the many ports. I’ve been trying to get posts written on each one of the ports but it’s happening very slowly.
As it turned out, when I arrived home my back pain, that I had had before I left for our trip, became much more unbearable. I was bedridden. Despite my being a high risk patient, reluctantly, I decided to have the back surgery.
I’ve been progressing slowly since the surgery. I’m far from healed. But, with patience, I can see the light at at end of the road.
While on our cruise, we renewed our vows.
These were the words I spoke.
Enjoy …
Isadora
Take my hand and walk with me
in quiet places;
where butterfly wings create a melodic song.
Sing and play in secret meadows;
where grasses sway
with soft summer breezes
from dusk to dawn.
Share with me a simple life
of placid days and starry nights;
where we can lie on yielding grasses,
while waiting for the morning light.
Take my hand and dance with me,
until stars twinkle brightly in your eyes.
For simple pleasures love can hold;
even when winter’s edge grows bold.
2015©isadora delavega
Giovanni Marradi Romantico
Standing on the pier, I see you floating in the far distance. Little sailboat, you’re calling me.
Beckoning, you cry out, I travel upon the open sea. We can sail away wherever the winds take us. We can move, aimlessly, along the coasts to find new passages and adventures. Each day, my little sailboat, will take me to magical islands filled with peaceful bliss. Where rest and solace are key. A life on the ocean that’s relaxed and carefree; full of mirthful blithe.
Can you feel the salty water on your sturdy bow?
Are the gusts of the wind kissing your sails with tender delight?
I can feel the oceans breeze blowing its’ moist salty air upon my face with a special caress only for me.
Soon, we’ll find those enchanting islands. They lie somewhere. They’ll embrace me with islanders waving a welcome.
2015©Isadora DeLaVega
Genre: Flash Fiction
Word Count: 144
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Priceless Joy – welcomes you to the 33rd Challenge for
Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers
to join in click here
To read the stories written by others – click on froggy
Silver Cross Cabo San Lucas
2015©photography by Isadora DeLaVega
When I travel I enjoy visiting and taking photo of churches. I’m able to thank God for giving me the blessings I’m experiencing on my travels. Plus, I get the benefit of bringing back stories about the different churches.
This silver cross was in a shop in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I loved the simplicity of it. I was tempted to purchase it. I’m fond of religious items from all denominations. When I inquired about the price, I decided to reconsider. Price: $350.00 American Dollars.
Church in Costa Rica 2015©photography by Isadora DeLaVega
This is a church in Costa Rica. It is across from the town center in the middle of town. Our guide gave us a great deal of time inside this one. There is beautiful stained glass on the walls throughout. It reminded me of the church I attended as a child. I will post more photos soon. The alter was majestic.
Rainforest Chapel 2015©photography by Isadora DeLaVega
As we wandered through the rainforest in Costa Rica with our guide, we came across this little chapel. It was tiny but had a sacred holiness that was felt from the minute I entered. A perfect place to express the gratitude I felt to have been be able to enjoy his earthly creations I was seeing that day.
Elvis Presley – How Great Thou Art (with lyrics)
**********************
Ben Huberman’s photo challenge this week was to share what being
connected – click here – means to us. I posted on my photography blog
photos of my spine. A very important part of me. To view click here.
I thought these photo represented the word connected too.
Hope your enjoy … Isadora
2015©isadora delavega
Boutiques, art galleries and seafood restaurants bedeck main street.
Its’ traditional Florida cottages retain the charm of a quiet fishing village.
We dined at the famous Sandy Hook restaurant which offers a variety of items on their menu.
Fish, steak, salads and scrumptious deserts like Key Lime pie.
The photo above is your beautiful view while dining.
Leoma Lovegrove – Colorful Home
Leoma Lovegrove, local artist in residence, should be elected the queen of color. Her home is as colorful as her gallery.
The gazebo, in the rear of her gallery, offers a quiet place to take a short respite after you’ve viewed her artwork.
There is an abundance of outdoor art offerings you to view, too.
She showcases other artists in addition to her masterful works. She does little to hide that she is a huge fan of the Beatles.
She pays homage to them in some of her paintings and by playing their music inside and outside the gallery.
Artist Leoma Lovegrove
Florida artist, impressionist-expressionist painter, wife, celebrity, local historian, patriotic,
colorful, energetic, business savvy, kooky, vibrant, marketing genius,
Midwest transplant, animal lover, fisherwoman, devoted friend and did we mention colorful?
These are just some words one might use to describe the fun-filled gal that is
Matlacha Island, Florida artist extraordinaire Leoma Lovegrove.
Take a step inside her color-filled island life and enjoy the ride.
She’s known worldwide for her colorful artistic depictions of flora and fauna.
She calls Matlacha Island, Florida her home.
It is here that she is inspired within her own waterfront gallery
and gardens where she greets thousands of visitors each year.
Leoma’s contagious love of Florida has been instrumental in encouraging tourism to the state.
Her works are on display in galleries throughout the world and are in two Presidential libraries.
She was also honored at an artist’s reception at The White House given by First Lady, Laura Bush.
These are just a few of the reasons Bealls Department Stores
has partnered with Leoma as their Florida Artist.
Her Good-Day Sunshine collection created exclusively for Bealls is currently in stores statewide.
info from her web-site: http://www.leomalovegrove.com/
Leoma Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens Matlacha, Florida
Matlacha Island, Florida
http://www.leomalovegrove.com/
Lovegrove Gallery and Gardens Matlacha, Florida
Leoma Lovegrove Paints painting in Three Minutes
If you’d like to read part 1 of this story click here ….
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Stunned and a bit battered from the car rockin’ and rollin’, we took a minute to breathe and regroup.
My husband began to try to get the car alarm to stop. He didn’t have a clue on how to do it. Eventually, the alarm would stop only to start again when a truck would drive by and shake the car. Apprently, the car alarm is sensitive to movement. This was news to us.
I must mention that my husband is not and has never been a car fixer kind of guy. In fact, before we leave on any road trip he takes the car to the mechanic to give it a once over. It’s always maintained and is fairly new.
2015©isadora art and photography.com
After quite some time, the state highway trooper arrived. My husband had already called our emergency car service ‘AAA’ (automobile assistance of america). They had given him an estimated time of one hour for the repair truck to arrive. The police trooper told us he had called an emergency service too. That service arrived first.
Now, let me also add that, my husband does know how to change a tire and we did have a spare tire in the trunk. But, the area where the car settled was at an angle and the dirt was soft and swampy. It would be impossible to change a tire on that.
The repair service eventually arrived with its’ special equipment and changed the tire. He informed us that the tire was a donut tire and could not be used to go faster than 40mph. We had been driving 70mph which meant we could run out of time before we arrived at the pier. The state trooper said he would follow us until he received another call as a courtesy to my husband; a former NYPD officer. I thought that was very nice of him.
Time was diminishing quickly.
However, within 35 minutes we were at the pier. As we pulled up a skycap helped get the luggage out of the trunk of the car. I sat on a bench while my husband went to park the car at a long term parking garage.
Because I have knee issues from time to time, I get a wheel chair brought out for me whether at airports or cruise ramps to keep me safe from falling. It’s difficult for me to climb stairs or to walk up angled ramps, too.
The ship was leaving the pier at 4:00 p.m. We had arrived at the pier at 3:15 p.m.
I have never been whisked through customs and checked-in so quickly. In a matter of 10 minutes we were in our stateroom with our luggage. Usually, the luggage arrives very late. Too late to sort through and find clothes to wear for dinner. It’s the reason they allow you to wear resort casual in the dining room the 1st night.
2015©isadora art and photography.com
Upon entering the room, we noticed there was a bottle of champagne and some green apples along with fresh flowers waiting for us. We popped the bubbly and sat out on our balcony to exhale and relax. At the sound of the fog horns announcing our departure, we sat back and watched the stress of our day go out to sea with our ship.
2015©isadora delavega
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To be continued ….. more disclosures to come including my injury!!!
Because of my injury, I am unable to sit, stand or lie down for any length of time without discomfort. Due to that, I hope to add the rest of this experience in segments. I’ll pop over to visit your blogs from time to time. I hope to catch-up with all of you.
Thank you dear blog friends for your emails and notes of concern.
You brighten my day with your kind friendship hugs and love.
Namaste,
Isadora
It’s been eerily quiet around this blog as of late. I haven’t been well but not, ill, in the sense of sickness.
Our 50th Anniversary is this August. We thought we would celebrate with a cruise through the Panama Canal, down through Central America on up to South America then finishing with a weeks stay at the last port San Francisco. Although it’s earlier than our anniversary date, we chose this time due to the itinerary being offered by the cruise line. I had prepared for this trip for months.
The night before our departure the winds were blowing and the rains were torrential. When we awoke my husband did an inspection of our lanai. To his surprise the storm had broken through 2 of our lanai screens; tossed our patio chairs into the pool and my orchid arbor had been moved 6 feet. While he was quickly repairing the screens to prevent birds and wildlife from creating homes on my lanai, I snapped into preparing for our departure.
1. Luggage in car – check
2. Passports / ID / charge cards – check
3. Camera – check
4. water bottles – check
5. purse / sunglasses / kindle / hat – check
It was time to go.
Once in the car, we exhaled and sat back to enjoy our 2 1/2 hour drive to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
We were still on time for our 9:00 a.m. departure. This would get us to the pier at 12:30 p.m. It was the right amount of time for a stop along the way to rest. There was plenty of time to find long term parking for our vehicle since the ship would depart at 4:00 p.m. We were prepared.
It’s an easy car ride to the pier. We have to travel from the west coast of Florida to the east coast across the lower part of Florida on a road called Alligator Alley.
Yes … it is called by that name because it was built over swamp land where alligators, to this day, still occupy. The road is fenced with barbed wire at the top to maintain a clear road from these primitive alligators laying out on the road.
With one lane going west to east and one lane going east to west you do not want to run into any type of vehicle problem. Help is slow coming and the bugs from the swampy stagnant water can make for an uncomfortable wait in the heat.
After a bit of conversation and a few fun happy tunes on the radio, I decided I’d get my Kindle out. I wanted to start reading one of my books from my summer book list.
BTW – I was reading ‘Never Look Back’ by Lorna Lee. If you haven’t read it – shame on you. It’s a page turner or slider as in the case of reading on a Kindle. LOL
Suddenly, I heard a rattling sound from my side of the car. I popped a glance over at my husband.
Looking quite serious, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I may have to stop and see what that is”.
With no exits available that meant a rest stop. Fortunately, there was one about a mile away.
We pulled off there so he could check-on what the noise was. I made a quick stop to the ladies room as long as we had stopped. When I came back he said he couldn’t find any reason for the noise. With some apprehension, off we went once again.
Ten minutes down the road, as quickly as you could blink, we are off the road in a tire blow-out crash. Because I had my seat in a reclined position while reading, I could see him trying to keep our car from rolling over. The side areas are soft – remember swamp.
I tried to sit up but the angle was steep. Finally, I got my seat up as he’s managed to get the car stopped. We literally sat there with the emergency alarm on, stunned and in disbelief.
2015©isadora delavega
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To be continued *****
Because of my injury, I am unable to sit, stand or lie down for any length of time without discomfort.
Due to that, I hope to add the rest of this experience in segments.
Thank you dear blog friends for your emails and notes of concern.
You brighten my day with your kind friendship hugs and love.
Namaste,
Isadora
******
Reading this title, you must be thinking I am about to talk about a magician.Someone who will create an illusion right before your eyes. There is an illusion involved but not with the human eye. Instead, it happens in your photographs.
Intrigued? Curious? Eager to know?
Okay
A recent vacation took us to the waterfront of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. I came across a brochure advertising magical ice sculptures. It was called Magic Ice and I was curious. In August, St. Thomas is very, very hot. Having been to the island several times before, we were looking for something we hadn’t seen or done.
We decided … Hot = need a cooler place to be …. so off we went to find this Magic Ice place.
The front entrance doesn’t give you any indication of cold.
Owners description: We welcome you to the biggest permanent ice gallery in the world! Magic Ice`s entire exhibition is constructed of crystal clear ice consisting of beautiful sculptures, a kids slide, wedding chapel and a pirate ship bar, all made of ICE!Large parts of the exhibition will emphasize the rich history of the Caribbean. You will get a glimpse into the 18th century lifestyle. Here you will find sculptures from the “Golden Age of Piracy” and at the pirate ship ice bar you will receive your drink. Photos and videos are welcomed and our staff look forward to taking you on a tour!
We entered and paid our fee of which included a shot of any flavored or plain
Cruzan rum in addition to the shot glass with the Magic Ice logo. Non-drinkers can enjoy a cold shot of soda.
Dressed in our cold weather ponchos with furry hoods and gloves we were ready to view this ice sculptures. The cold blast as you enter is a shock in comparison to the brutal heat left behind. My glasses fogged up as soon as I entered. Laughing at our oversized ponchos and my inability to see through foggy glasses, I had a sense this was going to be fun.Upon entering, a guide told us the ice sculptures could not be touched with the exception of the throne chair where we could sit and take a photograph. He explained that it was a self-guided walk and we were welcome to take as many photos as we’d like.
I found the ice throne chair a bit cold when I sat on it.
The ice sculptures appear white when you view them. The colors appear in your photos. It’s achieved by leaving your flash off.
Magic Ice Colors
This is the bar where your Cruzan rum is served in a chilled shot glass. There was a large crowd that day. You could purchase additional shots if that is your thing. It was a lively group with the bartender taking photos of you and your drink.
Ice Bartender
After a bit of festivity, our friendly bartender asked for my camera as he was going to take the photo of us in the midst of this chilly fun party. He tried several times to capture the photo. Finally, he said the camera button was stuck. I took the camera and tried to take a photo.
After I captured 3 photos that looked like this ….
I panicked. Abruptly, I turned and started looking for the exit. I thought my camera was ruined. I had one thought and one thought only … I’ve got to get this camera outside. I couldn’t remove the big poncho and gloves quickly enough. I sat on a bench and hugged my camera. I was beside myself. After my very patient husband calmed me down, he viewed the lens and found it did have fog on it. I had no idea what to do. I put it in my carrying case and decided I would look at it after I had calmed down a bit more. Eventually, I took it out and I was able to capture a few photos of some flowers and trees as test shots. It has been okay ever since.
The photo above still shows a hazy cloud … The one below is a little better but not quite there. However, I was much more hopeful once I saw these 2 photos.
I don’t know if there’s a special camera lens for photos in colder climates. If anyone knows what happened and would like to share, please do, or if you have a post on this type of photographing leave the url and I will add it to my story. Overall, it was a fun place to visit. I captured the ice sculptures I could considering the amount of people visiting that day.
2015©Isadora
A Bronze Medal
Humbly, I stand before you on this podium and receive my Bronze Medal proudly. I am among countless distinguished photographers. Each photo I’ve taken has been with the artful creativity of celebrating whatever I may be documenting in them at that time. Your appreciation and recognition for that gives me an enormous feeling of joy. I hope all of you will visit the other winners and see their wonderful photos. http://thedarkglobe.wordpress.com/2012/08/19/and-the-winners-are-tdg-tell-us-a-story-results-are-in/ It was a pleasure for me to have participated and to be among the other winners.
“Thank You’” to all of the judges for selecting me as one of your winners in your Dark Globe “Tell a Story” Photography contest. A bronze medal is far more than I ever could have imagined. You hard work and dedication in doing this contest is commendable. I am shockingly stunned and grateful to have received this.
Gratefully,
Isadora
To see my entry for “Survival” go to: https://insidethemindofisadora.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/the-dark-globe-tell-us-a-story-photography-contest-survival/
Inside the Mind of Isadora 